Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers) Fan Fiction ❯ Nabiki 1/2 (A Very Scary Thought) ❯ Betting on the Wrong Horse... ( Chapter 6 )

Nabiki 1/2

(A Very Scary Thought)

Written by Jim Robert Bader

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

Based Upon the Altered Destinies Storyline

Inspired by the works of such fans as

Wade Tritshler

Richard Lawson

James Jones

And Many Others

Standard Disclaimer: This is inspired by the work of Takahashi Rumiko and is not my original creation. All characters belong to her. This is only a fanfictional work, and is not intended to compromise the rights of the original owners, distributors and publishers of the Ranma series. I have no money to spare and would very much appreciate if no one tries to sue me.

"SAOTOME RANMA!!!!" a voice rang out through the corridors of Furinkan High School.

Ranma looked up from his desk, recognizing the voice but unable to comprehend what could be bothering Kuno. He exchanged looks with Akane, who gave him a questioning reply in a wordless facial expression.

The door to his homeroom burst open as Kuno--with wooden sword in hand--advanced in full Kendo gear (minus any safety equipment, of course, but Kuno wasn't feeling very safe to be around at the moment). He ignored the Teacher's faint demand that he desist and explain his unacceptable behavior, his eyes blazing with fury as he focused on Ranma with unmistakable loathing.

"Saotome Ranma!" Kuno repeated again, "You base betrayer!"

"Oh," Ranma looked at him in puzzlement, "Ohiyo, Kuno-Sempei. What's up?"

"As if you didn't know, you…Romeo!" Kuno barked as he started to advance, students tumbling out of their desks in their haste to escape his fury.

"What did I do now?" Ranma asked, not acting the least bit worried at the murder in Kuno's eyes. He'd seen Kuno angry before, although never to this extent and wondered what crazy idea had set his friend off this time.

"Nabiki!" Kuno spat the word, "How could you toy with my affections that way? You knew how I felt, yet you dare to court the fair Akane's older sister?"

"Oh," Ranma said slowly, looking at Kuno and ignoring the sword that was only a meter away from his face, "That."

"Did you hear that?" one of the other students murmured in surprise.

"Kuno's jealous of Ranma because he's seeing another woman?"

"I don't blame him! Have you seen that Nabiki?"

"Yeah, but what about Akane?"

"Didn't you hear? The two of them are on the outs! They're splitsville, finished!"

"What? Where did you hear that?"

"The word is all around the campus! Their parents decided to switch iinazuke!"

"I don't get it, though…is Kuno jealous of Ranma…or Nabiki?"

"With him, who knows?"

"I didn't think they were the type."

"Yeah, what a shame that is…"

Very slowly Ranma and Kuno both cottoned on to some of what was being said about them, and for a moment the building tension between them was forgotten as they hastily turned to the others and said, "No, you've got the wrong idea!"

"I'm not like that!"

"Kuno Tatawaki loves no man as he loves a woman!"

"Unless you include yourself in that statement."

"Saotome!" Kuno turned back to his original objective.

"Hey, do you mind?" Akane looked at both of them, "This is no place for this kind of trouble! You guys have a problem, take it outside and let the rest of us study!"

"Saotome-san, Kuno-san," the Teacher finally made herself heard, "Out into the hallway!"

"Hai, Sensei," Ranma sighed as he stood up, turning to look at Kuno, "Better do what she says, Tatawaki, old buddy…"

"You are no buddy of mine, Ranma-kun, betrayer!" Kuno snapped, but in more reasonable tones added, "However you do have a point. The kind of honorable duel that we must use to settle this matter can best be done outdoors without the restrictions of these quarters."

"Right," Ranma said, "The playing field in five minutes?"

"Treasure those minutes well, Saotome," Kuno said as he pivoted on one heal, "They will be your last!"

"Just great," Ranma snorted, then stopped himself as he felt a hand grip his wrist. He turned and looked at Akane.

"Don't you two ever grow up?" she growled, "You're always fighting over something, and now it's Nabiki!"

"Tendo-san!" the Teacher barked, clearly beyond the limits of her patience.

"Just great," Akane hissed as she shot to her feet and slammed her textbook closed, "Now look what you made me do!"

"Just don't interfere or nothing," Ranma told her shortly as he headed for the space where the door had been a moment before, "It's just between us guys, and it's not like this is the first time I've had to go up against Kuno…"

Nabiki suddenly appeared around the hallway, saw them both and called out, "Ranma!"

"Oh, hi," Ranma faltered in mid-step, allowing her to catch up before seeing the worry in her face, which prompted him to ask, "What's up?"

"I came to warn you," Nabiki said without preamble, "Kuno…"

"We know," Akane snorted, "I just hope you're happy about this, Oneechan."

Nabiki blinked and looked at her, "Nani?"

"Don't worry about it, Nabiki-chan," Ranma said, "Kuno gets these weird ideas into his head and it takes a while before he calms down enough for things to return to normal. A lot of stuff he says he really doesn't mean…"

"I wouldn't be too sure of that this time, Ranma," Akane warned, "I don't think I've ever seen Kuno this angry."

"Hah, I can take him!" Ranma said dismissively, "We spar all the time. I know his moves as well as he knows mine…"

"Right," Nabiki said, "So in other words he knows how to fight you."

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked her as they finally reached the bottom of the stairway.

"A little something your father always warned me about," Nabiki said evenly, "You fight with your heart as well as your head and your body, so don't underestimate a well-motivated fighter."

"Hah, Kuno's just a lot of hot air," Ranma said dismissively, "Oh he's a good fighter, but not in my class. Don't worry over nothing, he just needs to work things out, and I could use a good sparring match to clear out some of my own cobwebs."

"Uhuh," Nabiki said, exchanging looks with Akane, who frowned before shaking her head negatively, or perhaps in exasperation.

The field in question was a standard Olympic-style track and field where Kuno was already waiting with a group of students that had gathered about to watch the match as though this were the most interesting thing on the campus. Nabiki decided that it probably was and at once sensed an excellent opportunity to make a little cash on the side, but she saw several people already circulating about with money in one hand and note-pads in the other. Obviously it would take a little work to get a cut of their action, and no doubt require knocking a few heads together should anyone lodge protest.

Meanwhile she had the fight in hand to be concerned about, of which she apparently was one of the stakes, a concept that--while hardly novel--made her feel that a personal stake took precedence over her usual goal of quick profit.

As Ranma left them to approach the waiting Kuno, Akane and Nabiki held back to study the two combatants, then Nabiki murmured to her sister, "Tell me the truth, just how good is Tatawaki?"

"A lot better than Ranma claims he is," Akane replied, "He originally specialized in Kendo, and when we first knew him he was exclusively into his Samurai bit, but Ranma got it into his head to teach the fool some Kempo, the better to round him out, or so Ranma called it. Now Kuno's as good bare-handed as he is with that bokken, and he's even mastered some pretty advanced levels of Nampo."

"Nampo?" Nabiki raised an eyebrow, "You mean he knows Ki techniques?"

"I'm pretty sure of it," Akane said, "How else can you explain some of what he does with a bokken?"

"I wouldn't know," Nabiki said, "I've never seen him actually fight. I thought he was pretty easy to take out…"

"Kuno drops his guard every now and then," Akane said, "But I've always felt that he's a lot better than he lets on. I don't even know how I manage to defeat him when he challenges me every morning."

"Oh," Nabiki nodded, "Well…don't take this the wrong way, but did you ever think that maybe he lets you?"

"You saying I'm not good enough, Oneechan?" Akane bristled.

"I thought that was what you were telling me right now," Nabiki answered.

"Excuse me," said a pretty brown-haired student who turned out to be one of the resident bet-takers, "Would either of you care to take a pool on who you think is going to win this time? The odds are three to one in favor of Ranma."

"Only three to one?" Nabiki asked with interest.

"Well," the girl smiled, "Everyone is hoping that Ranma kicks his pompous ass, but Kuno looks pretty angry this time, so…"

"Put me down a thousand yen on Kuno," Nabiki smiled.

Akane shot a startled look at her, "Nani? On Kuno??"

"It's just a hunch I have," Nabiki answered.

"But…but he's your iinazuke!"

"I know," Nabiki replied, "But this is business, it's not personal."

"You mean you really are Ranma-kun's new iinazuke?" the girl asked with raised eyebrows, quickly jotting something down on her note-pad, "Very interesting! Do you know the betting odds were six to one against that rumor being accurate?"

"Six to one, huh?" in spite of herself Nabiki smiled. Yes, this place definitely had potential, "Mind telling us who started that rumor? It was private news the last thing I heard."

"Well," the girl replied, "There's this guy who hangs around the place named Gosunkugi…"

Just then the two prospective combatants stopped staring at each other and got serious about fighting.

Ranma had been studying Kuno's expression, trying to find a trace of doubt or hesitation. He could not believe how far Kuno was allowing this thing to get to him. This went way beyond his usual capacity for obsession! He tried appealing to him again, "You don't really think I set this up to spite you, Tatawaki?"

"You will refer to me as Sempei," Kuno said authoritatively, "And of course I think that! You think me fool enough to believe that you would not go to such lengths to humiliate me, Saotome? You've wormed your way into my house, chased my sister, and gained my trust, only to throw it all away when I finally meet someone of quality worthy of my affections! Why, I have even sought to take Tendo Akane off your hands, not that I could ever understand your strange desire to be deprived of such a beautiful iinazuke!"

"What?" said both Akane and Nabiki together, having each clearly heard the last part of that statement.

"Hey!" Ranma suddenly realized the unfavorable light he was being cast in, and a glance to the side showed him just exactly what Akane thought about the notion, although he had much greater difficulty interpreting Nabiki.

"Ranma!!!" Akane growled balling her hands into tiny hammer-shaped weapons.

"Oboy," Ranma sighed, "Now see what you've done! What the hell are you thinking blurting a thing like that all over the place!"

"I care not a whit for your insolence!" Kuno declared as he raised his weapon, "Defend yourself, Saotome!"

Nabiki's eyes got wide, "Uh oh."

"Uh oh what?" Akane growled, still livid with anger.

Kuno's slice had the speed and potency of a Hurricane, and while Ranma managed to dodge the attack, the force of the blow kicked up a wind that caught him unprepared and threw him back ten meters distance. Kuno followed up with a charge, but Ranma was quick to recover and vaulted over this new attack, going instantly on the offensive as he lashed out at Kuno with a savage kick that would have flattened the other man had it successfully connected.

"I recognize his style," Nabiki explained, "His technique is nearly flawless. Ranma is in serious trouble."

Ranma darted away, but the two quick strikes Kuno aimed at him came very close to connecting, and it seemed to finally dawn on Ranma that his erstwhile friend was fighting in earnest.

"Wow," Akane gasped, momentarily forgetting about her anger, "I see what you mean! Kuno never went after me like that…"

"It's like I said," Nabiki noted, "Some guys let you win. The trick is knowing when to let them."

Akane was about to ask Nabiki what she meant by that when she gasped, seeing Ranma stagger back, his shirt ripped in the front as though an actual Katana had sliced it. Kuno came on like a rush and pressed his attack, forcing Ranma to dart and dodge away with frantic counter-thrusts using both arms and legs to keep the sword from further connecting.

"Damn," Nabiki growled, "Wish I'd known he was this good."

"Ranma should never have accepted this challenge," Akane grumbled.

"I could have gotten better odds," Nabiki murmured faintly, then saw the look Akane gave her, "What?"

"I can't believe you'd bet against your own iinazuke!" Akane said sharply, "Don't you care at all about Ranma?"

"I thought you were angry with him," Nabiki pointed out.

"I am!" Akane assured her, "But I'd never bet against Ranma! I can't believe you would!"

"Ranma got himself into this mess," Nabiki said, trying to sound more nonchalant than she felt, "And I'm pretty sure he'd resent it if I interfered now to help him out."

"Don't you care that he might get hurt?" Akane frowned.

"Of course I do," Nabiki answered, trying not to show as much anxiety as she was feeling, "But I trust my judgment when it comes to matches like this…"

She suddenly flinched, hearing a telltale rumble in the heavens. She looked up in dismay, seeing clouds forming in what had been a clear blue sky mere moments before, and instinct warned her that there would soon follow precipitation.

"Well, you'd better care about what happens," Akane turned back to study the match, "After all, it's you they're fighting over. If Ranma loses, you can bet Kuno will claim it gives him the right to date you."

"If Kuno wins…?" Nabiki slowly repeated, inwardly cursing herself for failing to take this fact into consideration. She looked up and winced as she saw Ranma fall back, nursing his side as though he had just taken some bruises.

"I have you now, Saotome!" Kuno snarled as he laid in a renewed attack, his bokken becoming a blur while Ranma backed away, arms moving just as quickly to block these thrusts without sufficient room for a counter.

Kuno cried out again and struck with redoubled effort. The first tentative drops of rain started to fall as he finally connected with a solid blow that staggered Ranma, who stumbled back and lost his balance.

"Victory is mine!" Kuno declared, just before Nabiki launched a kick that knocked him sprawling.

"Ranma!" Nabiki cried as she hastened to his side, kneeling down without noticing that her voice was deeper than normal, too much concerned with the welfare of her…now his iinazuke.

"I'm…I'm all right," Ranma assured him, shaking off Nabiki's offer of assistance while holding his side with one hand, "Just give me a moment to get my wind back…"

"How dare you!" Kuno growled as he slowly rose to his feet, turning from Ranma to Nabiki, thrusting his bokken accusingly in his direction, "Interfering in a private duel for the hand of your cousin! Tendo Kaneda! I will permit you to live only if you leave here this instant!"

"Stuff it!" Nabiki said, rising to his feet and slowly turning a hard look Kuno's way, assuming a martial stance as he added, "I won't let you hurt him!"

"Who is that?" somebody asked.

"Kuno called him Kaneda…and did he say he was Nabiki's cousin?"

"What a hunk! I wonder if he has a girlfriend?"

"Phew! He's not that special!"

"But he's going up against Kuno! Poor guy!"

"What a waste of a gorgeous male specimen…"

"Looks a little like Nabiki, I guess they really are related…"

"Hey, where is Tendo Nabiki?"

Akane stared in disbelief, then looked around at the people in the stands and wondered how any of them could have missed Nabiki's transformation. Then at once she understood: everyone had been watching Ranma get the daylights beaten out of him, so no one had been paying much attention their way. For all anyone else knew, Kaneda had virtually appeared from out of nowhere!

"For the last time!" Kuno snarled, and now the rain was starting to fall in genuine earnest, "Leave or be crippled!"

"Like I said the first time," Nabiki replied, "Stuff it."

Kuno charged like a raging typhoon, but Nabiki held his ground almost to the last possible instant. Then he moved so swiftly that he all but became a blur, and Kuno staggered back from a hundred blows that rained down upon him, battering his defenses aside and forcing him to halt in mid-step. Kuno froze in position and remained unmoving. Nabiki turned away from him and walked calmly up to Ranma.

"C'mon, Ranma," he said, "I'll walk you to the Nurse's office."

Ranma looked up at him, then over at Kuno, who remained exactly where he had been standing when Nabiki turned his back on him. Kuno did not move, did not blink, hardly seemed even to breathe, just stood there as motionless as a statue. In dull wonder he allowed Nabiki to help him to his feet, never taking his eyes off the wax figure that was Kuno.

Or the fact that the Kanji for "Baka" was now imprinted on his forehead.

Ranma was able to remain on his feet, and Nabiki allowed him to walk on his own for the sake of his pride, but hovered near to Ranma as if to catch him should he stumble. Ranma glanced at the man who walked casually beside him, then very softly whispered, "Thank you."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Nabiki flashed him a smile, "I've got an investment in you, Saotome, and I can't let you be put out of commission for my sake. That was a pretty brave thing you did back there, but I hope you know that it was also terribly stupid."

"Maybe," Ranma said, feeling his bruised ribs, "But I never back away from a challenge."

"Next time don't be so careless," Nabiki's smile was strange seeing it come from a male face, but Ranma thought it was a nice smile anyway, "You took it for granted that Kuno would be fighting you the way he does in practice. If your father were here he'd be all over you for that."

"You won't tell him, will you, Nabiki?" Ranma visibly cringed, obviously very much worried about looking foolish in front of his father.

"Not unless you bring it up," Nabiki replied, "But he's bound to hear about this. Trust me on that…"

"Excuse me," the brown haired girl from before stopped them both as she smiled at Nabiki in a very different way from what she had used the first time, "My name is Ryonami, and I was wondering if you could tell me where I could find Nabiki-san? I wanted to talk with her about her winnings."

"Winnings?" Ranma asked in surprise, looking at Nabiki.

"I'm her cousin, Kaneda," Nabiki replied, "Why don't you give them to me and I'll see that she gets the money."

"Money?" Ranma felt the tickle of suspicion gnawing at the fringes of his consciousness.

"Sure," the girl replied, obviously very pleased just to be allowed to make hand-contact as she passed along three thousand yen, "Three to one odds, as agreed. I'd sure like to know how she knew that Ranma here would lose…"

"You what???" Ranma turned an accusing look on Nabiki.

"Hey, a girl's got to make a living," Nabiki smiled weakly, then grabbed Ranma by the arm and hurried him along as the girl waved after him with a happy expression. Akane looked in disgust at her then hurried after Ranma and her transformed sister.

The girl named Ryonami continued to wave as she sighed in delirious joy, only to sober a second later as the realization hit her, "Oh no! I forgot to give him my phone number…!"

"What the hell were you thinking about?" Ranma demanded once they were safely home and Nabiki had changed back into her true form, "You bet against me? How could you do that!"

"I knew you were going to lose," Nabiki tried to keep her voice level, but inwardly she felt very bad about the whole situation. This was not the sort of impression she meant to create for her family, let alone her angry iinazuke.

"Oh, and that means it's all right?" Ranma challenged, "How could you do such a thing? Do you know what that makes me feel like?"

"I'm sorry," Nabiki whispered, looking down.

"What was that?" Ranma glared.

"I mean it," Nabiki said, looking up at him again, "I'm sorry. It was a mistake. I did it out of force of habit."

There was something deeply disturbing about the way Nabiki was looking at him, but Ranma was still angry as he asked, "What kind of habit is that? Betting against people you care about…"

"It was something I've done in the past," Nabiki replied, "Only I'm usually the one I'm betting on, or against. Or Uncle Saotome. We often made wagers to raise capitol whenever we ran short of money, which was pretty often with the kind of appetites we have. I didn't mean to slight you when I took that bet, I was just doing what I've always done in the past: weigh the odds and pick the likeliest winner. Most of the time that was me, but a few times I know I'm going to be outclassed, so I bet against myself, figuring I'll still win by losing."

"Ever throw a fight that way?" Akane asked her.

"Hey, I don't lose many fights," Nabiki responded, "In fact I haven't lost a fight in nearly two years. Besides, some of the places I've had to fight in aren't exactly charitable to the loser. A few places, you could lose your life. Other places…well, you can lose a lot more than your freedom."

"I…" Ranma faltered, losing some of his anger as he considered the implications of what she was saying. She had only hinted at the sort of life she and Genma had been living for ten years. Could it really have been as hard as she was suggesting? He suddenly wasn't very sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"Ranma," Nabiki leaned forward, looking up again with as much sincerity as he had ever seen in her expression, "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. That was never my intention. I would never do anything deliberately to hurt you, you have to believe that. It was bad enough for me to have to stand there and watch you get hurt. I'm not used to being on the sidelines…I'm used to fighting my own battles."

Ranma stood where he was, slowly digesting that, when Akane suddenly spoke up and said, "If we have that out of the way, I've got something else I want to bring up. Just what did Kuno mean when he said he was trying to help you get out of our engagement?"

"Ah…" suddenly Ranma felt the other shoe drop and turned a wary look towards Akane, "I…well, you know Kuno, he says stuff. You can't take what he says all that seriously…"

"He sounded pretty serious this time," Akane took a step forward and glared, "Ranma…did you ask him to try and take me away from you?"

"Ah, no, that isn't it…" Ranma saw the look in her glare and hastily lifted his arms to deflect her anger, "Akane, no! You've got the wrong idea! I didn't have to urge him to chase after you…"

"BAKA!" Akane snarled, and punched him in the stomach while his hands were raised too high to block her.

Ranma gasped as he doubled over, sucking wind. He managed to recover a minute later, by which time Akane was nowhere to be seen. Nabiki remained sitting where she was looking up at him, her expression once more unreadable. After a quiet interval she at last said, "So, Ranma…what's the real story?"

"I meant what I told her," Ranma said, growling, "Stupid Tomboy. I never did anything to encourage Kuno to start chasing her…at least not in the beginning…"

"But after you knew he was interested?" Nabiki asked.

"Ah, yeah," Ranma was sheepish, "After I found out how determined he was, I thought. Well, hey, why not? He's my best friend, and he could probably make Akane happier than I could…"

"That's one bet I wouldn't lay odds on," Nabiki snorted, "She really likes you, you know, even if she spends a lot of time denying it."

Ranma eyed her with a questioning look, "You really think so?"

"Why not?" Nabiki replied, "I like you, and I know I'd be hurt if I thought you were trying to get rid of me by using Kuno."

"Ah…" Ranma sighed, looking down.

Nabiki also sighed and got back to her feet, standing directly before him, "It doesn't matter. I know how I feel about you, and I guess maybe you do feel something about me if you're willing to get hurt for my benefit. I hope you know you almost lost me to Kuno with that stunt, by the way."

"I…huh?" he blurted.

"Not that I'd ever agree to something that stupid, of course," Nabiki continued, "But if Kuno won he'd feel like he was entitled to come after me, like he does Akane…maybe more so since in his eyes you would have forfeit your right to be my iinazuke. Somehow I think he'd even manage to convince the rest of the school that his claim was more valid. That's partly why I stepped in to put a stop to the whole farce. The other reason is because I saw you were hurt, and no matter what you think about me, I will always fight to keep you safe, Saotome."

Ranma looked at her, uncertain of what to say, and for once not saying anything to spoil the moment.

Nabiki drew a deep breath and sighed, "I'll make you a promise, and I don't do this very often, so pay very close attention, Ranma-kun: I promise I'll never make a bet against you ever again. I'll never take someone else's side against you, and if we ever get challenged like that again, we'll face the challenge together, just like friends are supposed to do. Heck, you could even say I'll do it because you are my iinazuke."

"Um…" Ranma felt very strange as he looked into her clear brown eyes, "Do you mean that, Nabiki?"

"Never doubt it," she smiled, then added, "Of course you understand that this means that I'm going to have to see to it you never come out this badly against another opponent."

"Nani?" Ranma blinked in confusion.

"We're going to keep up on your training," she said, "Only I'm going to personally instruct you on how to beat Kuno senseless the next time you two go up against each other. Then we're going to try and break Kuno-Sempei of his peculiar obsession over me so that he'll leave us both alone. I do hope you realize that in doing this I'm giving up a very lucrative angle I was hoping to exploit with him."

"Uh…what angle?" Ranma wondered.

"Also," Nabiki's tone darkened, "We're going to have to find out about the rat that gave away our little secret. What was that name I heard again? Gosunkugi?"

"Oh, him?" Ranma asked, then suddenly he got angry, "HIM??? What has that weasel been up to? If he's been spying on Akane again trying to take her picture…"

"Hmm," Nabiki mused, "Sounds like a fellow who needs a little counseling. We'll look into that later."

"Right," Ranma said, then hesitated once more before saying, "Nabiki-chan…you say you did a lot of things during your time with Otosan that you're not proud of? I…look, I know it's none of my business, but…"

"My life is your business as of right now, Ranma," Nabiki informed him, "You have a right to know…certain things…when the time is right for me to tell you."

"I'm not sure if I want all the details," Ranma said, "I just…want to know one thing. I mean, I don't want to insult you or anything, but…well…the way you were acting…about the business in the bathroom…like it was no big deal…"

Nabiki looked puzzled for half a second, then comprehension dawned and she said, "Oh, you want to know if I'm…experienced…is that it?"

"Uh, yeah," Ranma said, "Experienced…uh…whatever."

Her smile was very different from the cocky and cynical smiles she so often adopted, so strange for her that Ranma almost could not recognize it, "You want to know if I'm a virgin, right? You've got some silly male idea that I'd be used goods if somebody had me before you?"

"Ah…" Ranma blinked, then protested, "I didn't mean that…!"

"It's all right," Nabiki assured him, "I'm not a bit surprised that you'd want to know. You are entitled to the truth on that one, Ranma-chan, but…you have to promise me you won't tell anyone else, right?"

"Promise?" Ranma asked.

"I insist," Nabiki sounded serious as she looked at him without smiling, "I could get the wrong sort of reputation if word of this gets out, to say nothing of what my Dad would say."

Ranma felt a sinking sensation as he replied, "I won't tell anybody, I promise."

Somehow Nabiki could sense that Ranma's word was indeed his bond, or maybe worth a lot more than any kind of bond she was familiar with. It made her feel somewhat awkward again, so she hesitated before leaning close to him and whispering in his ear, "You don't need to worry, Saotome. I've never been with a guy…at least not that way."

Ranma started, then looked at her, wondering if he could believe it, then seeing from the expression in her eyes that she was being entirely serious, and even maybe putting herself out on a limb by exposing more of her inner feelings than she would at any other time.

After a very long pause he whispered, "I believe you."

Nabiki's smile was like warm sunlight penetrating through storm clouds as she softly murmured, "Thank you, Ranma. Thank you for believing."

"I…um…think I'd better go get changed…ah…for dinner, that is," Ranma said, hesitating as if reluctant to leave her, then suddenly he moved away and headed for the household.

Nabiki sighed, following him with her eyes, then very slowly her shoulders sagged. Ranma was turning out to be a lot more work than she had even imagined. Of course something in her told her that he was worth the attention, but her rational side knew intuitively that this was an entirely different challenge from anything with which she had ever had to deal. Ranma could be so infuriating one minute, and then the sweetest guy she had ever met the next. There was no dissembly about him, only honesty and pride, a very honorable and likeable sort of person.

Almost the total opposite of what she usually felt like.

She sighed again, then smiled without seeming to enjoy it. She turned to the Kami-shrine at one end of the dojo, kneeling before it to clap her hands in prayer, silently thanking the guardian spirits of the place that Ranma had only been concerned with knowing if another man had shared her.

She had been telling him the literal truth, of course. She had never been intimate with another man…or guy, as she had termed it.

She just never said anything about having done it with another person…

Continued

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