Nabiki looked Ranma in the eyes with a calculating gaze. Ranma assumed she was debating how much to charge him, but in fact she was mostly just enjoying watching him squirm - and thinking about the fact that she could still enjoy Ranma's unhappiness.
Apparently, Ranma's feelings still don't matter to me all that much after all - or at least, his negative ones don't. ...I'm going to need to experiment with this. But first, let's take care of business. "Okay, I'll cover up your little fetish. My standard cover-up fees apply." Normally she'd ask for extra for covering-up something this important to the customer (not to mention profitable if she were to instead sell the information), but a) his funding was limited, and b) she had her own secrets to hide here and she would need his cooperation to do so - meaning she couldn't afford to alienate him too badly...
Ranma blinked. He was surprised she wasn't raising the price, since it had to do with something that had happened to her. Not wanting to risk her changing her mind and raising the price, he quickly agreed. "Works for me."
Of course, there was one little problem with the deal Nabiki and Ranma had just made, and they both knew it. Ranma brought it up first. "Er, the only thing is, I don't have any money right now - I just gave all of mine to you."
"I figured as much," Nabiki said in resegnation. "I'll put it on your tab."
Just then, something occurred to Ranma. "Wait a second, you messed up! Thanks to you my wish was wasted! Shouldn't I get a refund for that?"
Shit. Going to have to tread carefully here if I want to keep my money without pissing him off... With just a hint of coldness in her voice, she informed him, "It's my policy never to give refunds, Saotome. Buyer beware, and all that." In a more personable tone, she added as if as an afterthought, "Besides, considering how the genie bungled what she thought was my wish, you're probably lucky you never got to make your own wish."
While Ranma had to admit he had bad luck when it came to magic, he wasn't entirely convinced things wouldn't have worked out better if he'd made the wish on his own. "Maybe if she'd been given a real wish she might have gotten it right."
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Anyway, while we're discussing transactions, there's one other thing you owe me for."
Ranma winced. Here it comes...
Nabiki held out her "hands" and wiggled their toes at him again. "I'm not particularly happy about these," she said (it wasn't quite a lie, since she knew the happiness she felt over how he liked them weren't her natural emotions), "and since they were your idea, I think you should make it up to me." Although that first wave of happiness I felt when I realized he liked my new "hands" made a good first installment - I haven't felt that good in quite a while, even if it wasn't natural.
Ranma complained, "But I didn't ask the genie to transform you! It was her idea to do that! And it was your stupid wish she was trying to grant!"
Nabiki brushed it off. "Yeah yeah. That's why I'm willing to give you a discount. I'll only charge you two-thousand yen for coming up with my new looks, if you do me one simple little favor." Actually, I'd be willing to nullify his debt entirely for agreeing to this... But he doesn't need to know that.
"Uh, what sort of favor?" Ranma asked nervously, envisioning a nude girl-side photo-shoot or some-such.
"Don't tell anyone what my 'wish' was."
"Huh?"
"If it were to get out that a genie supposedly made me your sex-slave, how long do you think it would be before our parents wanted us married? How long do you think it would before the boys at school were pestering you to have me do something perverted for or with them? How long do you think it would be before Akane decided you needed a good bashing?"
"Oh. Right."
"Besides, if other people knew my wish, they might be able to guess your influence on it, just like I did." Mentally, she added, Not to mention what the rumor would do to my reputation. Those people smart enough to realize I didn't mean the wish would realize I wasn't infallible; I don't even want to think about what everyone else would think of me...
Ranma nodded. "So as far as anybody else knows, I don't have a thing for feet, and you didn't accidentally wish to be a slave. So... how are we going to explain..." he glanced at Nabiki's second set of feet, then looked back to her face, "...them?"
Nabiki looked at her "hands" for a moment, as she thought. Finally she looked up and said, "You aren't going to explain anything, because you weren't around when it happened to me; and also because I'm charging for the explanation, and you don't have the money to pay for it."
"Okay, I suppose that works."
Mostly off the hook and with a plan of action in place, Ranma appeared to be feeling pretty good. While the hurdle of convincing Ranma to cover-up Nabiki's "wish" had been passed, Nabiki knew that she still had a rough road ahead; and yet when she looked at Ranma and saw his smile she couldn't help but feel an echo of his happiness in her own heart. It was rather annoying, actually.
Out of curiosity, Ranma asked, "So what are you gonna tell the people who pay?"
"It won't have anything to do with genies or sexual fantasies," Nabiki assured him. "If you want to know more beyond that, well...." She smirked and held out a "hand", sole up. "five thousand yen."
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(Posted Thu, 07 May 2009 03:02)
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