Akane glanced around and surpressed a shiver. "Yeah. Great."
"You should be happy for your sister," admonished Nodoka as she shifted the infant in her arms, "She worked hard to get to this point. Right dear?"
Soun looked up from where he had been making silly faces at the newest member of his family. "Of course."
"You see? So you should try and be more supportive of Nabiki and what she's managed to accomplish."
"I'll try." The shorthaired girl nodded at her step mother, and returned to looking over the place where she found herself. It wasn't much different than any other place for a graduation, but this place had cops everywhere which was not unusual as this was for the police academy. It was a perfectly natural thing for them to be there since some were graduating, others had relatives who were, or they were speakers and guests of honor.
That had the effect of making her feel live every eye was on her. She kept on imagining that every single police officer there, from uniformed officers to the chiefs could tell that she had done something and were considering how they could find out what it was and convict her for it. Her fear was that someone would stand up to say that she had done it and a dozen officers would rise to drag her off to a cell.
It was all compounded by the fact that her step-mother had been Ranma's biological one. Perhaps if she hadn't been around she would have been able to finally get over what she had done, but with Nodoka around all the time, it was like having a living reminder of what she had done. Especially with how the elder woman's face looked to be so much like Ranma's had been. But she had managed to bring her father back to life, and for that she would be ever greatful.
"Oh, Nabiki! Don't you look wonderful," gushed Nodoka, breaking into Akane's thoughts.
"Why thank you," Nabiki replied, posing a bit in her new uniform, "Though it's a bit plain, I think that it suits me well."
"Nonsense. You look wonderful, doesn't she Soun?"
The Tendo Patriarch nodded at his wife's words. "You look... wonderful. But are you sure that this is what you wish to do?"
"If it wasn't I wouldn't have joined the force," the new officer said with a sigh.
"It's just that it's so dangerous..."
Nabiki grinned at him. "Not really. I mean, I could be stuck fetching coffee and reports. And they don't give the really big stuff to rookies like me. At worst I'll be giving traffic tickets or keeping onlookers from a crime scene. It's not like they'll just come over and drop a murder case on me."
"I'm just concerned about you getting hurt..," her father said as Akane winced at her sister's words.
"I know and I love you too, Daddy," Nabiki told him as she gave him a peck on the cheek, "And who knows? Maybe I'll meet a nice cop or lawyer and snatch him up."
That brightened her father, step-mother and older sister up, but Akane slumped. That would not be something that the young woman would exactly want to have happen. Another person trained to discover crimes in her family would be a bit much to swallow with what she had done. It would mean someone else would be close enough to her to learn her secret. But she managed to buoy her own spirits by consoling herself with the knowledge that Nabiki, while attractive and intelligent, hadn't managed to hold onto a boyfriend for some time now.
She never noticed however that Nabiki had been watching her out of the corner of her eye the whole time, and had been surpressing a smile. Her sister obviously had no idea that she had any inkling into what she had done. Which suited her plans just fine.
However, this was the time to celebrate her graduation from the Academy, while:
(Posted Sun, 20 Jul 2003 19:21)
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