Fruits Basket Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Neko's Healing ❯ Training ( Chapter 17 )

Disclaimer: not mine not mine not mine boy do I wish they were mine!

 

Dang-nabbed Hibiki Ryoga, butting in from nowhere and running off with a chapter! Pushy little porker! Didn't even notice when I brained him with a file cabinet...must have been that darn Bakusai Tetsu training. Oh, well--I fixed him; I gave him a new girlfriend!!

 

Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!!!!

 

17- Training

 

Over the next few days, the Tendos and Saotomes got used to Nabiki's perpetual house-guest. The formerly Lost Boy was very obedient about not moving unless someone else was leading him, and his sudden tolerance to Ranma's verbal jabs almost qualified him for sainthood. Everyone but Kasumi gave Nabiki nervous looks and kept their distance when they could, wondering just what kind of blackmail she had on him! Ryoga wasn't telling, and nobody in their right minds would risk asking the mercenary girl directly.

 

Ranma was delegated wake-up duty, which generally was at least as noisy as when Genma used to wake the pig-tailed martial artist--though it was quite a bit dryer. Nabiki made certain her future brother-in-law understood the consequences of P-chan showing up because of an avoidable watery “accident;” so there were no water bucket wake-ups, and no pitching Ryoga into the koi pond during the morning wakeup-spar. Ranma was to see to it that Ryoga got up, got dressed, used the bathroom, and made it to the breakfast table in plenty of time to eat his breakfast.

 

Akane was in charge of seeing that Ryoga made it to school, and didn't get lost inside Furinkan during the day. Nabiki had somehow managed, to no one's surprise, to get Ryoga into Akane's class--except for gym, of course. He went with Ranma to the boys' gym class.

 

Ranma, who flat couldn't suppress a flare of jealousy every time his fiancée so much as glanced at Ryoga, was ever hovering nearby--claiming it was to make sure Akane didn't get distracted, and become lost with ol' pork-breath. No way he wanted to think of the two of them lost, alone together, in the middle of some deserted area somewhere on the planet, who knew where!!

 

Even after talking out that `pretend date' she'd set up with Ryoga to try and make Ranma jealous, the pig-tailed martial artist couldn't help but remember the kiss he'd seen her give the Lost Boy--the two kisses. A tiny corner of his brain insisted on keeping in mind that if she could fake that, with Ryoga, she could probably fake any emotion she said she felt with him, too. He was pretty sure she'd been telling the truth about kissing Ryoga just to spur him into getting jealous, and then admitting he cared for her...but a tiny seed of doubt had been planted in his mind, now. It would take a long time to weed it out, if he ever could.

 

He and Akane might have finally started being honest about their feelings for each other, but he knew how much trouble he'd brought into Akane's life. She'd been mistrustful of him ever since the infamous incident in the furo, his very first day at the Tendos'...she was still having a hard time overcoming that. Especially because, though he'd been trying very, very hard with help from Kasumi and his mother, he'd yet to overcome the Saotome Foot-In-Mouth disease.

 

He was getting better at apologizing right away whenever he started chewing on his toes, at least. And he'd stopped shoving his foot in all the way up to the hip...

 

Luckily, Ranma was no longer denying to himself that it was jealousy he was feeling; and Akane was being miraculously understanding of his and Ryoga's, er, “workouts,” every morning and evening. And sometimes still at lunch.

 

Ranma did usually manage to restrain himself from picking figh--erm, trying to spar with Ryoga, unless they were properly in the Dojo. A somewhat guilty sense of pity over the Lost Boy's `enslavement' to the Ice Queen of Furinkan High helped him control himself. After all, if he hadn't gotten Ryoga cursed, Nabiki wouldn't be interested in punishing him for taking advantage of her little sister!

 

The second half of that thought always made him twitch, then glare daggers at Ryoga. Curse or not, nobody had ever forced ol' P-chan to stay in Akane's bed! If pork-breath hadn't cuddled up to her, she'd never have adopted him as her pet in the first place!

 

After seeing one of those looks from Ranma towards Ryoga, Nabiki made it a point to personally supervise their next several fights, making certain the property damage was kept to a minimum. It took a whole week of pointed reminders about bills and pay-back, but she got them into the habit of paying attention to things other than each other in their fights.

 

After school, Nabiki took direct charge of Ryoga, walking him home herself. She made various stops on the way, taking advantage of Ryoga's rather physically intimidating presence. The few times Ryoga felt the urge to protest, the image of Nabiki's Perfect Demon Head would flicker across his sight, and he'd hastily swallow the urge with a bone-dry mouth.

 

He wasn't really sure why it scared the snot out of him so much--it wasn't like Nabiki could hurt him; she'd only hurt herself, if she hit him. All he knew was that something in him just shriveled up whenever he thought of her being angry at him. Maybe it was a secret technique she'd learned somewhere...

 

Ryoga had his blind spots, mainly with regards to Ranma--but he wasn't stupid. Just--a trifle obsessed. Constantly having his obsession engraved into his conscious attention by Nabiki's laser-sharp tongue, every single time he indulged in a bout of Ranma-bashing self pity, had put a tiny little crack in his self-absorbed little world-view. Nabiki had figured that if she could wedge that crack wide enough, an honest-to-the-kamis wit or two might actually dribble out from the depths of Ryoga's brain. Not that she'd ever admit that was the whole reason she'd dragooned him into working for her!

 

The Lost Boy found himself learning a lot that no one else knew about the mercenary girl's dealings--including some of the personal risks she'd been taking for years, not all of them purely financial. There were some people she loaned money to who didn't believe they should have to pay it back to an under-age girl-child. With Ryoga standing menacingly behind her, she didn't have to resort to elaborate schemes and outright bluffing to keep those few in line.

 

Because she trusted him, or at least her hold over him, Nabiki was bringing Ryoga right into the heart of her operations--including letting him see her books. Once she found out he was more than proficient at math, able to calculate in his head almost as fast as she could, Ryoga found himself making entries for her with his tiny, precise handwriting. Just as soon as Nabiki picked her jaw up off the floor.

 

Sometimes, Ryoga would look a bit shell-shocked when he walked through the Tendos' gate at the end of a long day, and would be skittish around Nabiki for the rest of the evening. Other times, he seemed to be working at reining in his temper--but it wasn't directed at Nabiki; he was overly protective of her on those nights, driving her to nearly snap at him as he got underfoot, suspecting ambushes from every shadow and from under every piece of furniture...

 

Sometimes he'd be strangely attentive to her, actually offering to get her things. As long as he could grab someone else to lead the way for him, anyway. The only one who really noticed every time this happened was Kasumi, who would give the Lost Boy thoughtful looks when no one was looking, touching one finger to her lip. The eldest Tendo daughter was much more observant than anyone gave her credit for, especially as people-watching was pretty much her one major form of entertainment outside of her housework.

 

Whatever Nabiki and Ryoga were doing on the way home from school, neither one of them would say a word about it. If it wasn't for Ryoga's reactions, no one would even think twice about what Nabiki could be doing. She never seemed any different when they got home, no matter what Ryoga's emotional state. She was always the same calm, collected mercenary girl everyone knew.

 

No one was willing to risk Nabiki's wrath by prying into her business, though. Whenever the questions started crossing their minds, they'd end up placing a protective hand over their wallets, quickly finding something to keep themselves occupied until the dangerous urge passed.

 

Ryoga, distressingly enough, started picking up a Nabiki-like control over his expression after only a couple weeks in her company. The only part of his face he had real trouble controlling were his eyes; he couldn't seem to master the art of non-emotion quite thoroughly enough for that.

 

He was brilliant at the part of the intimidating bodyguard, though. Standing straight, feet braced, arms crossed; stony-faced; deep brown eyes narrowed just so under lowered brows...all he had to do was drop his lip enough for a fang to show in a near-snarl, and opposition melted right out of whoever thought they could stand up to Nabiki.

 

Especially those that had seen his fights with Ranma. They just saw him coming behind her, hastily grabbed the money they owed and practically threw it at her in their haste to keep one of the most dangerous of the Nerima Wrecking Crew away from their businesses. The only one who did more damage on a regular basis had been that Amazon, Shampoo, with her habit of ignoring perfectly good doors and creating her own!

 

Ryoga was apparently a big enough help to Nabiki, especially in the area of debt-collection, that she was considering expanding her loan operations beyond just Furinkan and local small businesses. Since Ryoga had quickly learned that Nabiki always played fair and square with the people borrowing money from her, he had no problem glaring recalcitrant debtors into paying up what they owed. He'd at first been amazed to see her cut deals, when they truly couldn't pay; lowering payments, canceling interest, and even forgiving one debt to a local elderly shopkeeper who always looked out for Kasumi, when she went shopping near his store.

 

Nabiki had taken the time to explain to Ryoga that happy customers were returning customers...and she'd originally loaned money to some of them because they were going under, and she didn't want to see them replaced. Many were old friends of her family; some were even descendants of vassals to her ancestors. Besides, she felt an obligation to help out her neighborhood, as much as she could; especially once Ranma showed up, and the level of almost-daily property damage went from bothersome, all the way up to insane.

 

Ryoga had winced at that, though Nabiki hadn't even been looking at him. Especially as he was standing directly in front of a nice big patch in a wall, over the hole he'd punched through it just a month before. He'd seen in her ledgers just how much the property damage caused by the Nerima Wrecking Crew had been costing--and he'd been shocked white that Nabiki had been covering all of that. No wonder she was trying to wring money practically out of thin air all the time!

 

The Lost Boy wondered if her family had any idea that Nabiki was basically the top small-business banker for the whole district of Nerima. All she had to do to be a legally registered business, was get a couple degrees, and the appropriate business licenses. Then she could rent some office space and hang up a sign, officially claiming the title as her own.

 

Her business practices were all above-board and legal, taxes paid where due--except for her age. That angle was covered by everything being ostensibly run under her father's name, with her acting as his “messenger.” Nabiki once mentioned that it was the same set-up her mother had used, when she was alive. Everyone knew Soun had no head for business, but his wife--and now his daughter--were geniuses; and Nabiki had never cheated anyone unless they tried to cheat her, first.

 

When she wasn't conducting business on the way home, Nabiki was tutoring Ryoga. Sometimes, if he was having trouble understanding something she said, she'd haul him up into her room after dinner and continue the lesson until he got it, using an easel with a giant pad of paper and various colored markers to illustrate things for him. She'd been pleasantly surprised that the Lost Boy had quite a sharp mind, hidden behind all that brooding depression.

 

If Nabiki thought Ryoga was being purposefully blind about something (usually relating to Ranma and Akane), she'd quickly taken to sharpening her already razor-honed wit on his mental hide. The third time she did this, her sharp eyes picked up clues that Ryoga was catching every single nuance of her most subtle insults, in spite of keeping the most bland and innocent of looks on his face. She'd promptly grabbed his ear and yanked his head over so they were nose-to-nose, then trained her iciest glare directly into his nearly crossing eyes, until his expression went sheepish. Her eyebrow had quirked, brown eyes sparkling; his lips twitched as his eyes showed a matching sparkle...and things had just spiraled out of control, until they were both laughing hard enough that Akane thumped her wall and yelled in an annoyed voice for them to quiet down.

 

They'd realized how late it was, and Nabiki had escorted Ryoga back to the Dojo and his “room.” It was set up much nicer than most places he'd ever stayed in. The futon she'd had put in the little storage room was softer than his bed at home; the dresser, even if it was second-hand, was sturdy, with a vanity mirror fastened to it. She'd had a wardrobe brought in, too, so he could hang up some of his clothes--and he'd been outright shocked to find clothing already in it, in his size and style. Everything just barely fit in the room, with enough space to walk around things and actually get dressed.

 

Angry as she'd seemed when she told him he was going to be working for her for the next three years, Ryoga had figured he'd be lucky to have a little tent in the backyard, and straight rice for every meal! He'd never dreamed the mercenary girl would go out of her way to take more than decent care of him, even to ensuring his education. She could have made him wait outside Furinkan until school let out every day; she didn't have to get him registered, and even pay out money to buy his books. Not to mention the new clothes!

 

At first, Ryoga had been too scared to ask why she would do that. After a while of witnessing her real business dealings, the ones that took place off of school grounds, he'd come to suspect the so-called “mercenary girl” was hiding a heart as big as either of her sisters'.

 

He'd started paying close attention to how she treated her lieutenants at Furinkan, and had seen that they were cared for exactly like they were vassals, and she their lord. Nobody messed with Nabiki's people, or they answered to her for it. If her people needed anything, all they had to do was come to her. If she found out they were interested in something, she'd usually work behind the scenes to see they got it. When she got out in the business world after college, there was no doubt she'd be one of those employers whose workers would be obsessively loyal in response to her care of them.

 

Ryoga only thought of Unryu Akari once, at the end of his first week working for Nabiki. He hadn't wanted to admit it to anyone, but he and Akari--well...she'd realized she didn't hold his heart, though she didn't know who did. She'd had a rather sad kind of pep-talk with him, one night...encouraging him to follow his heart--to whomever it would lead him to.

 

Akari had wished him happiness...and then tearfully asked him not to come back.

 

He hadn't been as depressed as he would have been had it been Akane, saying those things to him; but he'd managed to work himself into a nice little black pit of guilt to wallow in, for even trying to have a relationship with Akari when he just knew he wouldn't be able to love her back. Not as long as he loved Akane!

 

No...truthfully--not as long as Akari ran a pig-farm. He hadn't wanted to admit that to himself, let alone Akari; but Hibiki Ryoga loathed pigs. He detested the pudgy little porkers with every last cell in his body! The sight of Katsunishiki made his skin crawl. Ever since Jusenkyo...when he got his kamis-be-damned curse!!

 

He hated P-chan almost as much as he hated Ranma!

 

Ryoga cringed in on himself, remembering Nabiki's several attempts to get it through his thick skull that Ranma wasn't to blame for everything that had gone wrong in his life. It was simply easier for Ryoga to have someone to blame, than to accept that a lot of the bad things that happened to him were mere chance--or worse yet, his own fault, because of his own actions or inaction.

 

Nabiki had finally gotten it through the Lost Boy's extra-thick skull that Ranma really did love Akane, appearances to the contrary. He hadn't quite managed to accept yet that Ranma really was worthy of Akane; or that the two were actually a pretty good match--when people weren't interfering with them. Nabiki had only managed to get him to keep his mouth shut on his opinion of the couple, after pointing out that her little sister most certainly was in love with her fiancé, whether Akane would admit it in public or not. Nabiki was convinced those two just needed to grow up a good, bit before they could be allowed to marry.

 

Things he'd overheard as P-chan, when Akane poured her heart out to her “pet” right before falling asleep, made their love hard to deny. Though Ryoga would bite his own tongue out before saying it out loud!

 

Nabiki had also gotten it across to the Lost Boy that his directional sense was nonexistent--and that this was, most definitely, A Problem; whether he wanted to admit it or not. One they were going to find a solution to. He wasn't quite sure what Nabiki had in mind, since the GPS unit she'd wanted to put in his backpack had gone on the fritz whenever it got within ten feet of him... Even a simple compass spun like a dervish when he got too close to it! Embarrassing as it was, it looked like having a live person leading him around by the hand might be the only way to keep him from popping up randomly all over the map.

 

The middle Tendo daughter still hadn't figured out how they'd walked to both Cairo, and San Francisco one evening, before finding themselves once more back at Furinkan. That had been the only time she'd experimented, and let him lead the way home after school! She'd muttered something about magic, curses, and asking Cologne, then let the matter drop. Ryoga hadn't been brave enough to question her about it since; if she found a solution, he figured she'd tell him.

 

Ryoga found himself growing more and more comfortable around the Tendo-ke. The place was beginning to feel like home.

 

-.-.-.-

 

Kyo and Shampoo were apparently doing quite well as they got to know each other. Whenever anyone asked Cologne how the newlyweds were doing, the Matriarch just cackled with high good humor. Ranma had gone to work at the restaurant a few times, and said Kyo was fitting in well--Cologne had been teaching him to wait on tables with Shampoo. Mu Tse's morose expression the couple times he'd delivered ramen to the Tendo-ke, coupled with the dark bags under his eyes, gave more than enough clues for all but the most clue-less residents of Nerima--basically, Ranma and Ryoga--to know exactly how the two were doing.

 

Not to mention what the two were doing...!

 

One month after the successful Marriage Challenge, Kyo and Shampoo left the Nekohanten for the first time. When Kasumi answered the door to the Tendo home, her smile of greeting gained true pleasure when she saw Kyo and Shampoo standing there. This was her first time meeting Shampoo's new Airen in person, though she'd certainly heard enough about him by then--and she'd seen Nabiki's tape of the Challenge. She quickly ushered the couple inside, snacks and tea almost magically appearing even as she rounded up the entire household, all in less than two minutes. Everyone was quite pleased to see the couple, once the fathers and Ryoga had been introduced--especially Saotome Genma and Tendo Soun, as Kyo had quite effectively removed one of the biggest obstacles to Ranma and Akane getting married.

 

The Amazon had a remarkably soft smile on her face whenever she looked at her Airen, and she had completely laid off the “bouncing bubblehead” routine. She no longer took verbal snipes at Akane whenever possible; she even referred to her former rival by name, instead of “Kitchen Destroyer.” When she giggled, it was a light, bubbly laugh that was quite pleasant to hear. It was also obvious that Kyo had been helping her with her Japanese.

 

Kyo was...well, he had a perpetually distracted air about him, most of his attention fixed solidly on his new wife. This brought knowing looks to Tendo Soun and Saotome Genma; and sent Nabiki straight into a two-minute giggling fit, when she first saw it. Akane didn't take long to figure that look out, but wasn't about to explain it to her still-confused fiancé--and certainly not to Ryoga! She'd blushed redder than Ranma's shirt, when the pig-tailed martial artist asked her what was going on with Nabiki, laughing like that. She'd bopped him lightly over the head, and told him he'd find out for himself--after they were married!

 

The joyful exclamations of their teary-eyed fathers at this statement brought the usual round of protests that they weren't getting married yet, and they'd better not find a priest waiting around the corner after dinner--!!

 

Ryoga, noting they'd decidedly not protested that they weren't getting married at all, as used to happen, felt depression stir in his heart. Surprisingly, it wasn't anywhere near as strong as he'd have though it would be. In the past month, the thought of Ranma and Akane really getting married had somehow stopped feeling like a knife stabbing into his heart.

 

The Lost Boy found his eyes lingering on Nabiki, who was still smirking at Kyo as the orange-haired boy scowled at the byplay around him, a touch of humor in his deep red eyes. Shampoo was grinning smugly from her place latched on to his arm, resting her cheek against his shoulder, Kyo's free hand absently covering one of hers. Having heard from Nabiki about Kyo's curse, Ryoga understood why the Amazon wasn't hanging off her Airen in one of her normal glomps.

 

That particular sparkle of enjoyment didn't show up in Nabiki's sharp brown eyes anywhere near often enough, Ryoga found himself thinking. It suited her; she looked like a mischievous pixie, with that grin. She was actually prettier than Akane, too. The middle Tendo daughter really was beautiful, in a more elegant, restrained way than Akane's athletic, vivacious beauty.

 

Suddenly realizing just what he was thinking, Ryoga tore his widening eyes away and turned to stare unseeing at the door, heart thumping painfully while his ears roared. He could feel the heat mounting in his face. He flicked an almost frightened glace at Akane, then--almost reluctantly--turned his head and let his eyes follow a familiar draw to look once more at Nabiki.

 

He swallowed, hard, when he found that he felt no desire at all to look back to Akane again.

 

When had he stopped thinking of Nabiki's little sister as “Akane-san?” When had she stepped down off that pedestal in his mind...? He'd been infatuated with Akane for so long...and he hadn't even noticed when it stopped?!

 

He hadn't even noticed...when it transferred...to another girl...!

 

Kami-sama!! Tendo Nabiki?!?! Ryoga all but collapsed into the nearest corner, pale as a ghost and shaking; wondering about his sanity. Luckily, everyone was too preoccupied with the visitors to notice him.

 

How, in the names of all the kamis, could he have possibly become infatuated with Nabiki?!! This was it! He'd finally gone completely insane!

 

A spurt of anger broke him away from that line of thought. What was so crazy about it?! Nabiki was a beautiful girl; he'd already found out she had a heart, just like everybody else.

 

She wants a career; she doesn't want to get married! She hasn't been on a date this whole month, there's not even a rumor of her having been on a real date for over a year! She doesn't even want a boyfriend.

 

She was very, very smart. He'd seen first-hand that she could pretty much out-think everybody in Nerima, and she could likely out-fox old Cologne, too, if she put her mind to it.

 

Too smart to ever possibly be interested in a baka like me...

 

Nabiki was smart enough to know a good deal, wherever she saw it. She'd apparently seen something in him, already; or why would she have gone to all the trouble of helping him, for the last month? She didn't have to do any of that; not the place to stay, the education, the tutoring, ensuring he didn't get lost--especially after what he'd done to her little sister, as P-chan! Not to mention all the damage his fights with Ranma had caused in the past, that she'd had to clean up after. She should have hated him, and arranged things so he never came near her family, ever again!

 

She could definitely do better than some Jusenkyo-cursed fool who can't even find the damned bathroom, without somebody holding his hand!! Who turned in to a kamis-damned pig!!

 

She'd sure managed to see to it he didn't get lost for a whole month, though; hadn't she. Ryoga's thoughts paused there, amazement at having stayed in one place for so long distracting his thoughts for a moment. He hadn't really thought about it, but this might have been the longest time since he stayed in one place since he was in the third grade!

 

And...he had only been caught by cold water eight times. In one whole month! Only eight!! He was used to being caught upwards of ten times, just in one day! That had to be Nabiki's doing, somehow! Hell, Ranma was still getting splashed regularly!

 

Ryoga's eyes strayed back over to Nabiki, who just happened to glance over at him at the same time. He saw her blink, her brow getting that tiny thinking-wrinkle that popped up whenever something was confusing her. He looked down at his laced fingers as a small frown of concern slipped over her face, trying to keep his own face an expressionless mask as he'd learned to do from her.

 

He was unwilling to think any more about it. He could feel the depression trying to smother his thoughts; there was no way in hell he'd risk letting off a Shi Shi Hokodan right in Nabiki's own house!

 

Ryoga closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath and reaching for his center. He couldn't quite touch it; he was too rattled by this new self-discovery. His hands were still a little shaky, but he hoped he didn't look as upset as he felt. It was probably a minor miracle nobody had noticed he was practically having a nervous breakdown, right there in his little corner of the Tendos' living room!

 

Everyone else was busy grilling Kyo and Shampoo, who were refusing to give out the details being asked for. When Ryoga looked up, he saw that Kyo looked about to blow his top--he could all but see a neko's ears popping up on top of his hair it seemed to rise a bit, like a neko bushing. The tight-gritted teeth and fiery glare looked almost painful!

 

Nabiki had noticed it, too, and was moving to stand between Kyo and the tactless fathers, who were trying to get the Neko-cursed Sohma to offer advice on married life to a disgusted Ranma; who looked about ready to boot the two bakas right out into the koi pond. A small half-smirk graced the mercenary girl's features as she expertly calmed everyone down, and asked why the newlyweds were there.

 

Ryoga pushed himself back up to his feet and concentrated as hard as he could on what was happening, trying to ignore the troubling thoughts still circling wildly about in his head.

 

-.-.-.-

 

Nabiki wasn't sure what to make of the expression she caught on Ryoga's face, before she saved the baka-fathers from certain pain at Ranma's hands. It looked like he'd had some sort of epiphany, over there in the corner; and it had well and truly shaken him. She briefly wondered if he'd finally accepted that Ranma and her little sister were going to be married, by their own free will...

 

She snorted mentally at herself. That couldn't be it; he hadn't fired of a Shi Shi Hokodan. She filed it away as something to look into later, and paid attention to Kyo. The neko looked a bit nervous, shifting his weight slightly as he stood there with his wife casually glomped on to his arm. There was a shadow about his expression that chased away all of Nabiki's former amusement. When he spoke, his voice was dead serious.

 

“I have to--visit the Sohma Clan Head. I have to tell him I'm married, now.”

 

Ranma's face went as grim as Kyo's, while everyone else sobered. Ranma knew exactly what kind of consequences could happen, if Sohma Akito took exception to Kyo's marriage; he'd seen some of the punishment Kyo had taken from the Clan Head in the past. Kyo had talked enough about it with Shampoo that she, also, completely understood the gravity of such a visit to Akito. Akane and Nabiki, having heard the explanations Kyo gave on the day of his Challenge to Shampoo, traded worried looks. Ryoga dimly recalled Nabiki mentioning something about the almost evil Head of the Sohmas, with an unusually grim look in her eyes.

 

The fathers and Kasumi, not having any details, had no way of understanding why everyone else started acting like Kyo had announced he was going to his own execution. Nabiki caught Kasumi's eye and mouthed, “later;” a promise of explanations that night. Kasumi nodded slightly. It didn't really matter if Soun and Genma understood anything; they weren't really involved, and could only mess things up, anyway.

 

Ranma took a step towards Kyo and offered, “You want some company, man? When are we goin'?” It was obvious the pig-tailed martial artist planned on following after, if Kyo didn't want him along. It was in his eyes, in the grim determination of his expression. He understood why Kyo was going; it was a matter of honor--he was still a Sohma, no matter how outcast because of his curse.

 

He was obliged to at the very least inform his Clan Head, especially as he'd never asked permission to marry. Kyo wasn't quite eighteen years old; and his biological father was still technically his legal guardian, in spite of the hostile man's not having set eyes on his own son since Kazuma took the boy in. Unless Akito could be persuaded to smooth things over, Kyo and the Amazons could run afoul of several different laws; and they weren't ready to go back to China yet.

 

Kyo glanced down into Shampoo's eyes as she looked up at him, then back to Ranma. “Tomorrow. I guess it couldn't hurt, if you came along...”

 

Ranma nodded, though he looked somewhat surprised that Kyo had agreed to let him come along. Then Akane grabbed her fiancé's hand and told him, in no uncertain terms, “I'm coming, too.” Brown eyes locked onto startled blue, stubbornness meeting its twin.

 

“S'okay, Ranma--both of you can come. Shisho and I are the only Sohmas who are any good at martial arts; there's no real danger, not to you guys. Just don't let anybody know you know about the Jyuunishi curse. I'm just--more worried about what Akito might do to the rest of my family, when I defy him. A show of strong support from strangers might make Akito think twice...” Kyo sighed, looking down as he finished softly, “I hope so, anyway.” He looked back up at Ranma. “I might need your help convincing my cousins to not let him punish them, for what I've done.”

 

Nabiki cast a speculative glance at her little sister, then Kyo. “If a show of strength is needed, why don't you take Ryoga-kun with you? --No charge,” she added with an overly innocent smile at her sister and Ranma, who stared at her in frank disbelief. “Just don't lose him.”

 

Ryoga's jaw dropped as he stared at Nabiki, big-eyed and sweat-dropping. This would be the first time she'd let him out of her sight, beyond school and sleeping! He wasn't sure how he felt about that--especially after just discovering that he had feelings towards her. He didn't know if this meant she was trusting him to accurately report back to her everything that happened, or if she just wanted him out of her hair for a day. Either way put butterflies in his stomach, though for entirely different reasons...

 

Ranma traded a resigned glance with Akane, oblivious to Ryoga's distress, then sighed. He turned back to Kyo, who'd shrugged in acceptance. “Where do we meet, and when?”

 

-.-.-.-

 

I know somebody's gonna hate me for this...but the idea popped up, and wouldn't bloody well go away until I wrote it! <g!>

 

`Sides, I kind'a like the idea of Nabiki + Ryoga. It's certainly not done all that often! ::smirk::