Carrying an oversized bento, Kasumi knocked on Nabiki’s door and stepped in, then took an unconscious step back as Nabiki looked over from her computer monitor and literally snarled at her older sister. Instantly, Nabiki went from a snarl to a ruefully apologetic look. “Sorry about that, sis, I’m just feeling a little frustrated at the moment.”
Kasumi walked over and handed the bento to her younger sister, then looked at the monitor and saw a picture of a sultry-looking nude woman with wings. “It’s time for you to head to school, Akane has already left. So, no luck on finding information on succubuses? That doesn’t look much like Ranma.”
“The plural is ‘succubae’, and no, the problem’s just the opposite,” Nabiki said with a sigh, shutting down her desktop computer. “There’s too much, and every site seems to either be too general, too likely to be false, or contradicts other sites — even the sites that are normally reliable contradict each other. I’m afraid that in this case the ‘net just isn’t going to give me answers I can trust. I’m going to have to go to my magic source here in Tokyo and see if he can suggest a book I can order, and that’s going to take time.”
Kasumi gave her downcast sister a quick hug. “Cheer up, Nabiki, at least we now have a name. So this is a step back, at least we’ve made two steps forward!”
Nabiki had stiffened to the hug at first, but relaxed and hugged Kasumi back for a moment before breaking away to pick up her school bag. “You’re right, and I know just having the name is a huge step forward, but for a moment there I thought we had all the answers. Ah, well, they’ll come with time.” Then perking up, Nabiki added, “Besides, Ranma’s nature isn’t the only thing I’m trying to get answers on. Let’s collect her and I’ll get to school, there should be some waiting for me there.”
* * *
Akane strode down the sidewalk toward Furinkan High School, moving up to a trot. Strange, she thought to herself when she realized what she was doing and slowed down to a stride again, I’m actually eager to face the Hentai Horde and Kuno today. Her face twisted into a vicious smile as she thought of the coming battle. I really need to hit something — or someone — and they’ll do as well as anyone, and better than most!
She reflected on the last week, the way Nabiki was no longer so hyper-focused on everything around her; the way her gaze would occasionally go unfocused, as if she was seeing something no one else could; the way every so often her usual cynical smile would soften. All Akane’s friends insisted that all meant her middle sister was seeing someone, but she’d been unable to find anything that even hinted at who the boy could be (once again Akane firmly squelched the suggestion some of her friends had made that perhaps Nabiki had a girlfriend), and Akane’s frustration was steadily growing.
The school gates came into view and Akane again broke into a trot, then a run, her chanted mantra growing into a shout: “I hate boys, I hate boys, I hate boys, I HATE BOYS!”
* * *
As Nabiki walked down the sidewalk, she carefully looked out of the corner of her eye as she glanced toward the cute, busty and very naked redhead floating along at her side. Yup, that imp’s still following us. At least, I think it’s the same imp. I wonder who set him to spy on me? I’ll have to see if I can come up with a trap. Dismissing the imp from her mind for the moment, she focused on Ranma’s impressive chest with an inward lascivious grin only to see Ranma blush and turn slightly so that her assets weren’t quite as much on display. “Ranma, what’s with the blush?”
“Uh … well, ya see … y-you’re th-th-thinkin’ about me, aren’t you?” Ranma stuttered.
“Yeah, so?”
“I-I mean thinking about me, like in the d-dreams we had the first few nights.”
“Well … yes, I was,” Nabiki admitted. “Sorry if that bothers you, but you’re just so cute.” She chuckled as Ranma’s blush grew deeper. “But how did you know?” she asked.
“I dunno, I just did — I … I felt it, somehow,” the now thoroughly embarrassed nature spirit replied.
Nabiki nodded thoughtfully. “You must be an empath of some sort. Makes sense.”
“An em- what?” Ranma asked, her blush dying down now that Nabiki was focused on something besides her attributes.
“An empath, someone that can sense other people’s emotions,” Nabiki explained. “Is lust the only one you can pick up, or can you sense other emotions as well?”
“Others too, it’s just that, uh … well …” Ranma was a brilliant red again. “I don’t really know what the others mean yet, lust is the only one I’ve been able to figure out.”
“Lots of exposure, right?” Nabiki grinned at Ranma. “Well, I’m sure the rest will come with experience. And speaking of dreams, you weren’t in mine last night, but I woke up alone this morning. Did you not spend the night with me, or successfully stay out of my head and just get up early?”
Ranma brightened, relieved at the change of subject. “Both, I guess. I couldn’t fall asleep at all, so after a few hours I got up and practiced my new katas.”
“Hmmm.” Nabiki gazed forward, deep in thought. “Do you feel tired?”
“No, not really.”
“After hours of no sleep and all that time spent practicing? Then maybe your variety of nature spirit doesn’t sleep, except when occupying someone else’s dream,” Nabiki thought out loud. “Interesting …”
The school gates came into view, and Nabiki paused and glanced around — nobody paying attention to her, good. “We’re almost there, so remember — you can practice your katas on the school fields or explore the town while I’m in class. I’ll be out by the corner of the wall by myself for lunch like always so you can join me then, but this time don’t harass me in class!”
Ranma chuckled nervously, reaching back and scratching the back of her head. “Yeah, I won’t. Sorry ‘bout that.”
Nabiki grinned and started again for the school gates. “Hey, don’t worry about it, just don’t do it again. Now come on, we ought to be in time for you to see the aftermath.”
“Aftermath?” Ranma asked, and then they walked/floated through the gates and the redhead stared at the groaning or unconscious (or both) bodies scattered around with a panting Akane standing over an unconscious Kuno. “Whoa, what happened here?”
Nabiki winced slightly at the odd looks some of the watching students sent her way. None of them were close enough to have made out what Ranma said, but … “Shhh,” she hissed. “I’ll explain at lunch. Now be quiet — remember, even if people can’t see you they can still hear you. Now, I have to get to class.”
“Oh, right, sorry,” Ranma whispered back. “I’ll see ya at lunch.” Then she floated up above the heads of the students and headed toward the field.
Nabiki watched her friend head off, then turned and headed for the school doors through the scattered bodies. An empath. That’s great, just … great. I can hide how I feel, but how do I suppress it? Can I suppress it? Do I want to suppress it? Ranma was just really getting comfortable with what she is again, damn it! But she’s going to have to learn the truth eventually.... I really hope Kazuki has something for me today, I could really use some good news.
* * *
Gosunkugi turned away from the school window as the students below started entering the school, a snarl on his face so intense that the boy next to him actually flinched back from the normally next-to-invisible boy. So now Nabiki’s bringing her fuck-toy to school again. She must have it properly ‘trained’ now, and I can just guess what she’s going to be up to during lunch!
Walking over to his desk, he pondered the past week — specifically, the past week’s silence. And where’s that imp? You would think by now it would have something to report. Well, Nabiki, you can have your lunchtime fun, I’ll be seeing about teaching you a lesson about getting above your station.
* * *
“Kazuki, we need to talk.”
Kazuki winced at the voice and turned to face the approaching brown-haired girl with a page boy haircut. Great, the Ice Queen is back, he thought. However Nabiki may have been acting recently, and whatever rumors had been swirling around her because of it, now her gaze was as sharp and focused as a scalpel, and if she was feeling any emotion at all he couldn’t see so much as a hint on her face.
“S-s-sure, Nabiki,” he stammered.
“Privately,” Nabiki responded, and stared at his friends nearby. With sympathetic glances toward Kazuki they moved out of earshot. Nabiki glanced around, then lowered her voice. “Do you have them?”
“Yeah,” a suddenly sweating Kazuki said. “Nabiki, are you sure about this? I’ve already broken laws getting these records, but the chances of me getting caught are infinitesimal. But giving them to you will break even more laws, and not just for me — you’ll be on the chopping block, too, if we’re caught. And with the data out of my protection the odds of getting caught jump, a lot.”
“No,” Nabiki responded, “I’ll drop by your house sometime in the next couple of days with a flash drive for you to put the records on, then once I’ve verified the data’s good you can wipe your copies — thoroughly. If I get caught I won’t tell anyone how I got them, you’re in the clear.”
Kazuki looked doubtful, but finally shrugged. It wasn’t like he could do anything about it. “And the photos?” he asked.
“I’ll keep them for defensive purposes, but only that — all payments stop as soon as I verify that the records are good. So long as you don’t try and get back at me, we can both forget they exist.” Nabiki chuckled as Kazuki’s face fell. “What did you expect? You’re the best hacker in the school and you have reasons to really not like me. You could do some serious damage to me and mine, so I keep the photos and you leave me alone. But don’t worry, unless you do something stupid your current girlfriend isn’t going to know how far you got with your last one.”
Smiling cynically, Nabiki turned and walked away toward her desk, but inwardly something was — different. She felt … Light. I feel like a weight’s come off my shoulders, or like something inside’s relaxed. Weird.
Gosunkugi smiled viciously as he completed the summoning ritual and the imp he’d tasked with spying on Nabiki appeared inside the circle. It meant skipping his lunch, and it hadn’t been easy maneuvering to make sure he could approach the school shed without being seen by Nabiki eating her lunch in her corner of the school wall with her plaything for company (a surprise, that, he’d expected her to disappear for a different kind of lunch), and he wasn’t sure how well his ad hoc ‘don’t notice me’ ritual had worked on everyone else, and he was going to smell of incense for the rest of the day, but he was sick of waiting.
“So,” he snarled at his minion, “what have you learned and why haven’t you reported back?”
“A thousand apologies, Master,” the imp quavered as it groveled inside the circle, “but your servant hasn’t yet completed the task you set, and you commanded that I report back only when the task was complete.”
Gosunkugi frowned, trying to remember what he’d said a week earlier. Had he left out instructions for regular reports? “And why haven’t you fulfilled the simple task I set you?”
The imp shrank down even more and with a shaking voice said, “It was simply impossible, Master! Nabiki’s ward covers the entire property without a break, there are no holes to slip through. And the ward is too strong. If I was three times — thirty times — stronger, I still wouldn’t be able to break through. And even if I did it would be pointless, I would simply alert her to my presence!”
Keeping its eyes downcast, Gorash looked up out of the corner of its eye and grinned viciously at the ground to see Gosunkugi stiffen and hear his grinding teeth. Didn’t like that little reminder of how badly Nabiki outclasses you, did you, ‘Master’?
Gosunkugi took a deep breath and managed to keep his voice steady. “Did your incompetence keep you from learning anything at all?”
“No, Master, I did manage to overhear the nature spirit’s use-name. Nabiki called her Ranma.”
Gosunkugi waited, but the cringing imp said nothing more. “That’s it? A solid week of spying and all you learned is a useless use-name?!
“Yes, master, the only identification your useless servant was able to learn was her use-name.”
“Of all the stupid, lazy, useless —” Gosunkugi again fought his temper under control, and in a cold voice said, “Begone, back to rot in the hellhole I pulled you out of. You are released from your duty.”
The imp vanished in a puff of smoke, and Gosunkugi sighed and started cleaning up. What a waste of time. Well, it looks like subtlety isn’t going to get me anywhere. I’ll have to see what names I can get from Dad’s list that could break through that uppity bitch’s wards. Maybe one of them would like to play with her toy in front of her before it deals with her? It isn’t like the spirit isn’t already well used, and maybe the experience will make it grateful for a more gentle master ... something to think about.
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(Posted Sat, 09 May 2009 07:25)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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