Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Fugue ❯ Chapter 3

Nabiki sat in the café, sipping her soda and trying to control her excitement. It was very difficult. Only two more days. Unless things went differently than she expected, the day after tomorrow would mark the end of five years of scheming and scrimping, and the return of what had been taken from her. She just had to make sure she didn't get more than she wanted. It was a shame, too, that no matter how things turned out, people would have to get hurt, but she was willing to accept that responsibility. She took another sip of her soda and surreptitiously glanced two tables over at the girl wearing a school uniform and a black wig and thought, “Sorry, Saotome, but sacrifices must be made.”

*

Ranma sat at her table and tried to stay awake as Nabiki nursed her soda a couple of tables over; it helped that the wig itched fiercely. This was the second day she'd followed the girl after school, and just like the previous day, Nabiki had met a victim at the café, made them buy her something, and then charged them an exorbitant amount for some service or other. Today she was lingering over her drink; could she be waiting for someone else? She groaned to herself as that question was answered by the arrival of Kunou, who paused at the door to intently study a piece of paper before theatrically striding into the room. She wasn't looking forward to hearing his flowery bluster, but at least with her in disguise, he wouldn't be harassing her personally.

“Oh, my beauteous pigtailed goddess,” murmured Kunou as he sat down across from Ranma and took the astonished girl's hand. “It brings joy to my heart that you have agreed to date me, even though you need hide your unearthly beauty so that you may slip from the clutches of that fiend Saotome. Now, let my love release you from that foul sorcerer's spell!” With that, he leaned forward to kiss Ranma, who with a snarl, jumped to her feet and slammed Kunou's face into the table with both hands.

“How many times do I gotta tell you I'm not interested?!” she cried as she raised his head, only to slam it back down while smashing through the table from below with her knee. As Kunou flew back unconscious, Ranma snatched the slip of paper that fluttered through the air: it was a photo; of her; in disguise, as taken from the reflection of a storefront window. On the back of the photo was written a note detailing the name of the café and the current time as the place where the 'pigtailed goddess' would be waiting in disguise. With a growl, Ranma tore the picture in half, and suddenly noticing that the room had gone quiet, looked up to find everyone staring, except Nabiki, who stood by the door, silently applauding before giving her a mocking bow and leaving. Cursing, Ranma tore off her irritating wig and dropped it on Kunou's face; with any luck, it'd give him a rash and keep him home for a day or two. She didn't hold much hope, though; when was the last time she'd had luck of the good variety?

*

“Well, that went well...” muttered Ranma as she walked home. “Not only did I not find out what Nabiki's doing with her money; I end up letting her use me again to make more.” She sighed at how easily her own plan had been used against her. That had been one of her best disguises, too. How could she stay close enough to Nabiki if the girl could see through her disguises? If only she didn't know about the curse. Ranma slowed to a stop as a smile spread across her face—Nabiki may know about her curse, but that didn't mean she knew about everyone's curses.

In a much better mood now, Ranma picked up the pace. “Now, where can the little porker be?” she wondered as she crouched slightly in preparation of jumping to a rooftop. At the last moment, she aborted the jump, remembering that she was wearing a skirt. Not that she was embarrassed that people would be able to see anything—she was really a guy, after all! It was just that she still felt awfully guilty about the four car pileup she'd caused the last time she'd jumped over a busy intersection dressed like that... Well, the longer walk would give her more time to figure out how to approach Ryouga, at any rate. Assuming she could figure out where to approach Ryouga... As a stray gust of wind blew her skirt up slightly, she decided the Tendou home was definitely the first place she'd look. If nothing else, she could get a change of clothes and form there.

*

“I'm worried about Akane.”

“What?! Why?” demanded Ryouga, turning to face his rival. The two were standing in Ryouga's campsite in one of the larger Nerima parks where Ranma had finally tracked down his quarry. Both were currently boys (and dressed appropriately).

“I can't figure out what Nabiki's up to—what she's doing with all the money she makes—and I'm concerned she might get Akane into trouble.”

Ryouga snorted. “Not much of a surprise you can't figure something out. What makes you think Nabiki's schemes would hurt Akane?”

“Remember what happened at the wedding? Someone could've been hurt because Nabiki invited all those people. Who's to say that next time she does something like that someone won't be. Someone like Akane. And what if she ends up bringing the yakuza down on herself?”

Ryouga frowned. Much as he hated to agree with Ranma on anything, he had to admit he had some good points. “Ok...let's say I believe you. What do you want from me?” he asked suspiciously.

Ranma started to pace around the campsite. “Well, before we can figure out how to deal with Nabiki, we have to find out what she's up to. To do that, we have to stay close enough to her that we can both see and hear what she's doing. I tried doing that, but she saw right through my disguise. And it was a good one—not one of the crappy ones that you always fall for!”

“Ranma...” growled the other boy warningly.

“Oh, all right... Anyway, she may be able to see through disguises, but I doubt she'd be suspicious of cute, little P-chan.”

“Absolutely not! No way!”

“Not even for Akane?”

Ryouga paused for a moment; Ranma wasn't fighting fair. As usual. Defensively, he asked, “What makes you think she doesn't already know who P-chan really is?”

“Do you have any money?”

“Some...” Ryouga answered guardedly.

“She doesn't know.”