What now? a by now slightly bleary-eyed Ranma thought as she exchanged a questioning glance with Akane.
Akane shrugged. “Might as well,” she said, and Nabiki stepped back out of the way and waved the couple toward her bed.
As the two sat down (and Ranma stifled a yawn) Nabiki closed and locked her door, turned up her music, and pulled out the chair at her desk and sat down with her arms crossed on the chair’s back.
The pageboy-haired girl looked at her sister and prospective brother-in-law for a long moment, then said, “You weren’t as quiet as you could have been at Ucchan’s. It’s a good thing my informant was the closest customer to you, and she thinks from the lack of reaction that nobody else could hear.”
Akane just shrugged. “So what if they did? It isn’t as if it isn’t going to be common knowledge soon enough.”
“Yeah,” Ranma agreed with a grin. “Nothing here you can use to extort money outta us, too bad.”
Nabiki’s smirk vanished, and after a moment she said, “Ranma, I’m not apologizing for how I’ve treated you, but it isn’t something you need to worry about in the future. At least, not except for photos.”
“Yeah, right,” Ranma said with a snort, but Nabiki just shrugged.
“Before, you were just a punk kid freeloading off the family. Now, thanks to Akane’s choice, you are family.”
“But Nabiki, Ranma’s been my fiancé for almost two years!” Akane protested, and that knowing smirk reappeared on Nabiki’s face.
“True,” she said nonchalantly, “but I’ve known you’re a lesbian since before Ranma arrived, so I never took it seriously.”
Akane stiffened, gaping, and Nabiki chuckled. “You weren’t as careful as you should have been the last night you spent with Yuka and Sayuri, and one of my people caught you on camera.” Suddenly, Nabiki brightened and straightened up. “Hey, now I’ll be able to stop paying her that monthly stipend!”
“Wait, you were paying blackmail to protect Akane?” Ranma asked incredulously, and Nabiki sighed. “Yes, I have been, she’s family. Believe it or not I’m not a monster. Anyway, now that you’ve cleared the air between you two and Ranma’s decided to live as a girl, how are you going to handle this?”
“Akane says she’s tired of hiding and I’m not much good at lying, so we just figured we’d tell everyone,” Ranma responded with a shrug, and Nabiki chuckled.
“I thought it would be something like that — neither of you are big on subtlety. But Ranma, do you still plan to teach?”
The redheaded girl nodded, but with a troubled look on her face. “Yeah, at least I’m gonna try. I’m not sure how many students I’m gonna get, though — it’d be tough enough for a normal girl, it’ll be even tougher for a lesbian.”
“You could be right,” Nabiki agreed. “Things are changing, but in the martial arts community not so much. So if you’ll take some advice, don’t go public.”
“I …” Akane broke off, thought for a moment, tried again. “Nabiki, I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t want to live a lie my whole life!”
“So don’t. Don’t lie about it, but don’t talk about it, either — Ranma can spend most of her time as a girl, you two can get married when Ranma’s old enough, and let people think what they will.”
“But what about the fathers? There’s no way they’re going to put up with me spendin’ my time as a girl if we don’t force it,” Ranma protested, but Nabiki waved it away.
“Oh, that’s for the general public, for family and close friends you can be as public as you say you want — you’ll have to, actually. So when did you intend to let everyone know?”
“Tonight,” Akane said curtly.
Nabiki’s eyebrows rose. “Well, when you two finally make up your minds, you don’t mess around. I’ll look forward to the evening’s entertainment. One final suggestion, though — talk to Kasumi, first, get her support. She’ll be a big help dealing with the fathers if she isn’t reeling from the shock herself, and you’ll need it.”
Ranma nodded. “Good idea —” she started, then broke off with a huge yawn, and Akane smiled.
“Maybe so,” she said, “but you leave it to me and grab that nap you were headed for. Let’s get your stuff moved to my room, and then you can sleep until dinner.”
“Right,” Ranma agreed, and the couple rose and headed for the door. As Akane unlocked the door, Ranma turned back, reaching up and scratching the back of her neck. “Uh, Nabiki … thanks.”
Nabiki quirked an eyebrow, then actually smiled. “You’re welcome — and welcome to the family.”
Akane finished hanging up the last of Ranma’s clothing (such as it was) in her closet, walked over and stood smiling down at the petite redhead sleeping on her bed, then frowned slightly. The bed’s not going to have much room for the two of us. Then, grinning, Which, now that I think about it, isn’t that big a problem. Still, maybe I’d better talk to Nabiki about getting a bigger one.
Then, bracing herself slightly, And now you’ve run out of things to do to put this off. Remember, you wanted this. Reaching down, she ran her fingers gently along Ranma’s cheek, then turned and quietly left the room and headed for the stairs.
Kasumi smiled happily as she stood at the kitchen counter contemplating the dinner preparations ahead, then frowned slightly as she looked out the window at the mess in the yard around the damaged dojo. That was going to take some serious work, and Nabiki had actually winced slightly when Kasumi had asked her about once again hiring the workmen needed. Kasumi’s frown deepened as she thought about that wince. I know Nabiki can perhaps be … over-eager … when trying to earn a little extra cash, but what was she thinking, inviting some of those people? She had to know what would happen …
“Uh, Kasumi?”
The eldest sister turned at the sound of her youngest sister’s voice, smiling brightly. “Oh, hello, Akane. I’m afraid dinner won’t be ready for another hour …”
Then the sight of an unusually hesitant and nervous Akane standing in the kitchen doorway registered, and Kasumi’s smiled died. “Akane, what’s wrong?” she asked quietly, and Akane stepped inside and closed the door.
Kasumi, I have something to tell you …”
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(Posted Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:28)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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