Nabiki groaned as the sounds drifting through her window disturbed her uneasy sleep. Rolling over, she pulled her pillow over her head and tried unsuccessfully to fall back into sleep. Finally, as the sounds didn’t go away and finding that the pillow wasn’t enough to smother them, she propped herself up and glanced at her alarm clock and grimaced. Damn, I haven’t woken up this early since Ranma started sleeping over! But then, she didn’t last night, did she?
Curiosity getting the better of her, she pulled herself out of bed and looked out the window for the source of the noise that had disturbed her sleep (such as it was). Finding nothing out of the ordinary on her side of the house, she stumbled out into the hallway and down to the guest room where Ranma and Genma had spent the night and peeked in — nobody. That’s odd, she thought, and walked over to the window and glanced out, only to freeze at the sight of her fiancé and his father down in the yard beside the pool, in what looked like a life-and-death struggle for supremacy. What brought that on?! she thought frantically as she whirled away from the window, then forced herself to stop. And just what do you think you’re going to do, girl? Throw yourself into that kind of fight — get yourself hurt, maybe killed, maybe Ranma hurt or killed if you distract him? And no point in calling the cops, either — by the time they get here it’ll all be over, if they even come. They usually stay out of the martial artists’ way, anyway. Slumping, she turned back to the window to watch the fight.
It had been a number of years since the short-haired girl had seen a real bout between high-level martial artists, but Nabiki found old memories coming back and soon relaxed as she realized that the pair in the yard were sparring, not fighting for real. With that knowledge, she was able to stop worrying and watch the fight with a careful and soon very respectful eye — watching Ranma perform katas for hours on end was one thing, watching that training put to use something else entirely and Ranma was good.
Genma, however, was better — until he made the mistake of kicking his son into the koi pond. Nabiki laughed at the shriek that followed the splash, as the now cute, redheaded, busty Ranma that only she could see flew out of the pond and Genma suddenly found himself trying and failing to block the attacks of an invisible opponent. Pushing herself away from the window, Nabiki pulled a change of clothes out of Ranma’s backpack and headed for the door and down the corridor to the stairs. I’d better fish his clothes out of the pond and get these to the furo for her, she thought with another chuckle. Then we’ll see what Kasumi has for breakfast.
Nabiki smiled triumphantly as she walked down the sidewalk beside her black-haired, pony-tailed sister as she thought back to her victories at breakfast. First, there was putting a stop to the food duel between Ranma and Genma by threatening to have her and Ranma eat in her room if Genma continued (the mortified look on Kasumi’s face had been priceless), and then overriding Genm’s objections to Ranma attending school (and the flash of fear she thought she’d seen cross the fat fool’s face when Ranma had sided with her had been more than priceless).
But then, the brown-haired girl’s triumphant smile slid away, to be replaced by a thoughtful frown. Perhaps she had pushed a little too hard; while she didn’t thank Ranma would choose to leave if Genma insisted, that didn’t mean Genma wouldn’t try to force the issue by trying to kidnap his son — or attack her. And unfortunately, Genma had had one good point, he didn’t have the money to pay for Ranma’s schooling. And from the way Kasumi winced when I said we’d pay for it, I doubt the household budget can stretch that far, either. My own savings could probably take care of it, but that would blow a hole in my plans for college. It looks like I’m going to have to contact ‘Auntie’ Nodoka, whether I want to or not, damn! Ah, well, worry about that later, when you can do something about it.
Determinedly forcing the worried thoughts away, Nabiki glanced to the side and up to the pigtailed boy in a red and black Chinese outfit walking along the top of the chain-link fence beside her. “And just what are you doing up there, instead of down here with your fiancée?” she asked with a smile.
Ranma glanced down and grinned. “Trainin’.”
“Training?” Akane asked, “And how is walking on top of a fence training?”
“Balance, and when Pop is around, stayin’ alert,” Ranma said, then suddenly jumped straight up as his father shot through the space he’d just occupied, landing with a splash in the canal on the other side of the fence.
“Hah, too fast fer ya, old man! And yer gettin’ noisy, too!” Ranma jeered at the panda crawling out of the water from where he’d landed on the fence, then shouted “Clear out!” to the two sisters as he leaped down to the sidewalk, Nabiki and Akane scattering to either side. The panda cleared the fence with a single leap, landing where the pigtailed boy had just been crouching, but Ranma was already cartwheeling away, easily landing on his feet and bracing for a countercharge. “Check this out!” he shouted gleefully, just before a splash of water caught him full in the face and his suddenly empty clothes dropped to the sidewalk.
“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Akane said snidely, as she turned her attention from the clothes at the feet of the naked redheaded girl she couldn’t see and watched the panda take off at a run. Nabiki, too, watched in amazement as Genma leaped up onto a fence, then from the fence to the roof of the house belonging to the old, white-haired lady that had just turned her fiancé into her fiancée. “Wow,” she murmured, then grinned as she turned her attention to the cute girl floating above her pile of clothing.
“Yeah, ya better run, ya loser!” Ranma was shouting with a high-pitched shriek after her disappearing father, and as Nabiki bent down to pick up the clothes she murmured, “Ranma, you aren’t disguising your voice.”
“Oops!” Ranma muttered, abashed, and Nabiki sighed and straightened with the damp clothing clutched to her chest.
“Akane, why don’t you go ahead and deal with your admirers while I get Ranma some hot water?” she said, and Akane frowned — there was something about the whole situation nagging at her, and it had just gotten worse.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Of course,” Nabiki replied with a laugh. “I doubt my virtue’s in danger from a ghost, unfortunately. Still, there’ll be future opportunities,” she finished with a leer, and Akane flushed as a memory of an afternoon several days ago….
Determinedly, she shoved the memory back and nodded. “All right, see you at school,” she said, and headed down the sidewalk at a trot.
As Ranma floated alongside her fiancée, she examined the brown-haired girl and frowned. Looking around and not seeing anyone within earshot, she asked, “Nabiki, ya feelin’ all right? Ya don’t look so good.”
Nabiki smiled tiredly. “And how do I feel?” she asked back.
The redhaired girl struggled for words, finally saying, “Kinda, well, dull, I guess. Like yer not as alive as normal.”
“That’s a fair way to put it,” Nabiki agreed with a chuckle. “I’m just tired, Ranma, I didn’t sleep well last night and got up too early.”
“Is something wrong?” Ranma asked, concerned, but the older girl just shook her head and grinned.
“No, just missed snuggling with my favorite redhead, that’s all, but thanks for caring. And the morning show you and your father put on in the yard was nice, too — especially where you ended up in the pond,” she added with a hint of a leer, giving the naked girl beside her a thorough looking over and chuckling at Ranma’s blush. The intensity of her blushes is falling off, good, Nabiki thought to herself, then nodded at the building just ahead with signs out front advertising acupressure, acupuncture, and moxibustion services. “And there’s where we can get some hot water for you.”
“A kanpo?” Ranma asked as her blush faded, and Nabiki nodded.
“Yes, Dr. Ono Tofu. He’s been taking care of Akane’s injuries for most of her life.” Then, approaching the door, she said, “Now be quiet while I get the water.”
Ranma fell back slightly as Nabiki stepped inside and talked to the elderly woman that apparently helped out the doctor, and looked around. There was something wrong — something right on the edge of her awareness, like she should be seeing something that wasn’t there. But however hard she looked, through the building walls and the fence around it, there was nothing to see — just Nabiki, the doctor’s helper, and a few patients sitting in the waiting room. Finally, Nabiki approaching with a kettle of hot water, Ranma shrugged and drifted over to rejoin her friend.
Nabiki led the busty nature spirit around the building behind the fence surrounding the building, out of sight, then suddenly turned and splashed the water on Ranma.
“Ow! Hot! Hey, why’d ya do that?!” he demanded, dropping to the ground lightly, and she chuckled, giving his muscular nude form an appreciative once over.
“So you wouldn’t have time to get bashful on me like you did in the furo this morning,” she said as she handed him his clothes. “I don’t know why you’re being uptight about me seeing you nude as a guy — after all, not only did I get a good look at you last night, those first few dreams I did a lot more than look!” Seeing Ranma’s blush covering him from chest to hairline for a moment before his shirt covered most of the view, Nabiki chuckled again and turned him around to head back to the corner to the street. “Come on, let’s get to school.”
Ranma nodded a little sulkily and walked ahead alongside the fence, turned the corner and found himself face to face with a skull. With a shriek, he leaped back and up to the top of the cement pillar at the fence’s corner, taking a defensive stance, only to relax at the sight of his fiancée doubled over with laughter and a young man holding a skeleton looking up at him, nonplussed.
“D-Dr. Tofu, that was great!” she gasped out, and the young man shook himself and smiled up at Ranma.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “I didn’t mean to startle you that badly.”
“That’s all right, doc,” Ranma replied, dropping down from his perch. The two exchanged bows, and after Nabiki was able to get her laughter under control and told the doctor that Akane hadn’t been by lately because she’d actually been able to avoid any injuries needing his attention, the two said their goodbyes and headed off toward the school.
“He’s like you, isn’t he?” Ranma asked when they were alone again.
“Like me?”
“A summoner, a — what was that word ya used, an Awakened?” Ranma clarified, and Nabiki nodded, frowning thoughtfully.
“I don’t know if he actually summons anything, but yes, he is an Awakened, though not as powerful as I am. How did you know?” she asked.
“ ‘Cause he was able to sneak up on me,” Ranma explained. “Before ya threw the water on me I’d taken a good look around, and didn’t see him anywhere, but when I turned the corner, there he was! And I looked around so carefully ‘cause it felt like something wasn’t right — like I was missing something. Turns out I was, him. Somehow, he was keeping me from seeing him.”
“I see,” Nabiki murmured. “Interesting, I didn’t know that was possible. I’m going to have to have a talk with the good doctor, see if he’ll teach me how to do that.” Then she sighed as the gates leading to the school grounds came into view and the sound of combat became audible. “Looks like little sis is finishing off Kuno, we aren’t late. Let’s get to class.”
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(Posted Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:47)
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