Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Third Chances ❯ First Redemptions ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

First Redemptions

 

 

Disclaimer: I don't own this series or any other series. I am just floating an idea. I am making no money, nor plan to, off this venture. If you think of suing me over this, then grow up.

 

I would like to first personally thank all of those reviewing my stories. I enjoy reading your comments, and try to correct the grammatical errors I miss with my final read-through as well as my spell checkers. The suggestions you all make will help make this story better for everyone to enjoy, as well as allow my to fix some plot holes I may unintentionally leave. If you find any, let me know, and I will correct them and repost the chapters.

 

I find that if I let thinks sit for a while in my head; I can play them out farther. Plus by trying and keeping my chapters between 2500 and 3000+ words, it helps keep me from making the story slide out of control, turning a diamond to a pile of shit.

 

Please feel free to review, and make comments. If you find a spelling or wordage mistake, feel free to let me know. Thank you.

 

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One day after they return from the college…

 

Nabiki was in her room, waiting for Ranma to return. Last night had not been easy for her. She had spent much of the night tossing in her bed, partly feeling like she was missing something, but mostly because of her current situation with Ranma.

 

He doesn't remember what we did when we got back to the hotel room, which is good. As long as he doesn't remember, I can pretend everything is normal, and keep trying to get him and Akane together.A small pain hits her in her chest. Damn school lunch, must have been undercooked. I'll have to get some medicine later for it before I start throwing up.

 

But the question is; how do I proceed? Even though Ranma doesn't remember what we did, I do. I can move on, pretend it never happened. But he remembers some things, just not with the depth that I do. And if he were to fully remember what happened, I don't want to even think how he might react.

 

I told him we were even for him flirting with those girls, thanks to him helping me get rid of those losers who couldn't take no for an answer.

 

But the kiss, it was more than just for show, maybe for the both of us. It lasted longer than it should have; it was more passionate than it should have been.

 

But it means nothing now. I can't betray Akane like that. And neither would Ranma. Those memories would only serve to hurt him, hurt him more than anything even Ryoga or Happosai could do to him. If it ever comes up, we can just blame it on the alcohol, and hopefully move on.

 

But the truth is that I still owe him, I owe him big.

 

He saved my life once when Akane took out her own balcony. He saved me again from having to deal with those perverts.

 

And after all I did to him, all I put him through, even with my using him during our brief engagement, he still helps me.

 

Why? Why is he so kind to me?

 

She pondered that thought, trying to determine why Ranma would waste his time helping her, when a knock on her door woke her from her thoughts. “Nabiki, are you in there, Kasumi said you wanted to speak to me?”

 

She turned to face him, seeing his nervous eyes at being summoned by Nabiki, The Ice Queen of Furinkan High. But she also noted his battered appearance. “Ok, first, who attacked you this time?”

 

Ranma began to rub his jaw, a slight bruise already appearing. “It was Taro and Ryoga. I swear those two had it planned if not for the fact Ryoga would've gotten lost before the damn fight began.”

 

She shook her head. Those two would always attack Ranma for one reason or another, mostly whatever was wrong with their lives at that moment. They would have seriously hurt him if they could, but he would just fight long enough to knock them out and leave. Ranma wouldn't fight to hurt you, only to defeat you as quickly as possible.

 

Is that why he helps me? Is it because he cares about everyone, including me? If not, then the kiss might mean something more.

 

It's probably best I don't go there and focus on helping him right now.

 

The pain returned to her chest. Damn Heartburn!

 

She turned to face him again, looking him directly in the eyes, staring him down. “If you think I called you here to blackmail you, forget it. I called you here for a simple discussion only.”

 

The sentence was supposed to calm Ranma. However Ranma had heard this sentence from her before, and immediately backed up towards the door, preparing to make a quick escape.

 

Nabiki, seeing that Ranma looked as if a cat was in her room, frowned. She preceded to hand him a note. “This is what our current expenses are here. You'll note I itemized each expense, from your food to how much it costs on average to repair this place after your fights and Akane's little outbursts.”

 

Ranma took the paper carefully, wary of any traps that might spring on him, after all, his whole life in Nerima was just about one fight/accident after another. The amount was large enough to make his face pale with his eyes growing as large as they can. “We eat this much in food!? Hell, how many times has Akane hit me through stuff!?”

 

She then handed him another paper. “This is how much I bring in on an average month, including the interest from my mother's insurance claim.”

 

He looked at this, his mouth dropping. His eyes kept going between the two sheets, seeing the obvious difference in amounts. “You have less than what you send out, that can't be right? Is my math done gone to hell?”

 

She shook her head. “No, you're right. Since you and your father arrived here, I've had to take more of the insurance money to cover the bills. Granted, what I make off you in school is a lot of money, but not enough to cover the carnage around this place.”

 

She looked at him as he lowered his head. “Ranma, now you know why I do the things I do, place bets on you, and even why I sold pictures of you. It's basically to keep this place afloat. I've been doing this since about a year after my mom died, when I realized my father may just as well be dead, since he had no desire to continue teaching. I was smart enough to know that mom's life insurance would only last for about three years total, so I did all I could to bring in extra money. For a while, it worked. I brought in enough so we didn't have to touch the money, only the interest it made in the bank. But now…”

 

Ranma looked up. “Me and pops are sendin' you guys rocketing to the poor house.”

 

She shook her head yes. “I estimate that unless we get some serious cash, we'll be broke in about four months, five if you and your dad eat regular portions during meals.”

 

Ranma's stomach growled, indicating its opinion of reducing its portions.

 

“Ranma, I should have told you this when you guys arrived. But to be honest, I thought you guys would get kicked out first. Then when I started making money off you, I forgot that you were even here, seeing you as a major opportunity to make some extra cash, and it worked for a while. But Akane's attitude has gotten worse, your enemies are coming more often, and no one is betting like they used to.” She looked down herself, trying to find the courage to continue on. Damn it, just do it. You owe him. “Ranma, as of now, I am erasing your debts to me, and asking your forgiveness and help to keep this place afloat.”

 

The response was immediate: Ranma face-faulted to the floor. No way is she serious! I mean, Nabiki, being nice, to me!? There is gotta be a catch. She did ask for my help, and me and pops are drainin' their bank account; stupid panda idiot not helping' with the bills. Of course, I ain't been helpin' much either. He slowly got up, looking into her eyes, seeing that she was serious, that there was no ulterior motive to her asking for his help, other than to save their home. “Ok, I forgive ya, but I ain't got a clue as how to help. I already tried to bring in people to learn, but Kodachi done messed that up.”

 

She shook her head. She had to admit that Ranma had gone all out to try and bring in business to the dojo. Of course her father had been behind it, until after Ranma returned from the Kuno estate. The end result: everyone; including her, demanded Ranma ask for things from Kodachi, and everyone forgot about trying to revitalize the dojo.

 

Of course that was then. Now the two sat in Nabiki's room trying to come up with a get-rich scheme, something only one of them was smart enough to try and pull off. But still, she needed him to be involved of his own choice, since the idea would end up involving him in one form or another.

 

He looked at her wall. “Too bad my pics only bring in a lil' money. If we could get more, maybe we could make one of those calendar thingies.”

 

She looked at the calendar on her wall, a shirtless firefighter above the month, showing the only vestige in her room that she even liked males. From the mouths of babes she thought. It could work. I mean, the Kunos alone would buy about 100 each, not to mention who might be interested after that little news letter I put out. The question is how many people out there want a calendar like that of Ranma or Ranko?

 

Her inner voice reminded her of reality. Have you forgotten how many perverts seem to end up in this town? Happosai alone might buy 1000 if Ranko wears a bra and panties.

 

She went to her computer and logged into the Nerima High chat room and message boards, where she often tested new ideas, as well as found out how much people were willing to pay for photos of Ranko, Ranma, or Akane.

 

New message:

 

What is the current interest in a photo calendar staring Furnikan's hottest stars, Ranma Saotome and/or Ranko Saotome (the pig tailed girl Kuno obsesses over)? Common prices for these calendars average at about 2700 yen (about $26 American). If interested let me know via this board before tonight, and tell everyone you know. This offer is only good till the end of tonight, so place orders now.

 

She then set up a link to her homepage, which came with a complete ordering guide. She had gotten the software some time ago, but had barely used it with the exceptions of her betting pools. It may or may not work. Gotta hope.

 

With that, the two went downstairs to wait for dinner. Well, Nabiki was going to watch TV and wait for dinner, Ranma was just going to try and do some homework before Akane found him and attacked him with her mallet for some dumb reason.

 

He made it a whole ten minutes.

 

The reason: she didn't believe he would ever do homework, so he must be daydreaming about doing something perverted.

 

The response: the Tendo house received a new skylight.

 

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“You've got to be kiddin' me!?” Ranma was staring at Nabiki's computer screen. The image showed exactly how many orders had been placed for a Ranma calendar and a Ranko calendar. Though the amount of Ranko ones was easily three times that of the Ranma ones, the simple fact that that many people wanted pictures of him was blowing his mind. “Uh, how many is that?”

 

Nabiki sat on her bed, a large smile on her face. “Between the two, about 3000. I even had to extend the deadline by popular demand. Hell, I'm getting orders from schools all over Tokyo. Granted some of them are weird, like this one girl from Juuban who said you look exactly like an old sensei she once had (AN: this is taken from what I have read of Ranma/Sailor Moon crossovers), but the simple fact is we just hit the biggest gold mine in history.”

 

Ranma turned from the chair to face her. “Exactly how much will this bring in? I hate to do this and only add a month to our lil' meltdown.”

 

She shook her head. “Between costs to print and distribute, we'll make about 900 yen per calendar, an extra 1000 yen if you autograph some of them, maybe even have a public signing, which could bring in another 1000 yen. This won't extend the deadline by a month Ranma; it will extend it by a year at least.”

 

Ranma showed her a bright smile, enjoying the fact that he was helping his adopted family out of trouble, even if it cost him a little pride, granted that that pride was now about as large as all of Japan do to the requests for photos of him. “Ok then, but you have to take the pictures.”

 

She looked at him a little shocked. “Why?”

 

He turned back to the screen to read a few of the comments on the message board. “Because I like your work. You gotta eye for takin' them.”

 

Her face blushed a little bit, finding it a little weird to be complemented by Ranma for something not involving cooking or martial arts. Her mind flashed back to the time he had discovered that she was selling pictures of him and Akane to Kuno. He wasn't mad, and even said the shots were quite good, a fact lost on her at the time as she was more worried about getting hit by Akane's mallet.

 

But he was asking her now to photograph him, in both forms, in revealing situations and outfits. Ranma knew what would be expected because she had discussed it with him after dinner, making certain that he knew what would be required of him, making certain he wouldn't feel pressured or surprised if they did this.

 

He trusted her enough to do this, or was it because he was willing to do anything for this family; with the exception being marriage of course. Either way, she would do it. “Ok then, tomorrow Akane is gone all day after classes, so I'll set up some places and we'll get it ready. I'll have to pick your wardrobes of course.”

 

“Sure.” Ranma didn't even turn around, still staring at the responses. “Who the hell is Tenchi and why am I as good a specimen as him? This Washu girl is really starting to creep me out.” (AN: This is taken from a Ranma/Tenchi crossover where Washu wanted to run some tests on Ranma. The story was very good.)

 

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The photo shoots had gone well. It had taken them two days as every once in a while, a fiancée would pop up, offering suggestions or asking why he was doing this or that, including the usual “Ranma take Shampoo on date now, yes” inquiry, or a rival would pop up, delaying the shoot while Ranma had to fight them. It however did give her some good shots for the news letter. After it was all done and the photos were developed, the two only spent a few hours going over the multitude of shots to decide which ones went best with which month, as well as which ones should be kept. To her surprise, he told her she could sell the other ones if she wanted, as long as it was to help the house.

 

In the end, they had placed an order for 6000 calendars, which were delivered a week and a half later. This led to Ranma spending most of the evening signing some of the calendars in Nabiki's room, as it was the only place Akane wouldn't come barging into looking for him if he was quiet. After signing his as Ranma and changing to sign the Ranko ones, he was both disturbed and tired, his hand sore from all the writing he did. Some of the messages were extremely weird, and he was not even counting the ones requested by Kodachi and Kuno. But he signed all of them, tomorrow was the day they were distributed outside of Furinkan High by Nabiki's lieutenants.

 

After he left the room to go wash up before bed, Nabiki had sat in her room, looking at the numbers she was expecting from the sales, as well as the pictures from the shoot she had chosen not to sell quite yet, waiting for the time when the students would begin requesting more of them after getting tired of the calendars.

 

The pain in her chest was not as bad as it had been before as she stared at them, finally beginning to notice what all the ladies and apparently all the guys had noticed about Ranma before. It wasn't just the physique that attracted people to Ranma, but a presence that carried itself even in the photos. But constantly looking at the photos had helped her lessen the pain and return the mask of the Ice Queen back to the way it once was. She openly admitted that both of his forms were very cute, but would not admit that she enjoyed watching him as much as the next pervert.

 

But he was off limits. She had been lucky as none of the fiancées had attacked her when they were temporarily engaged, though she did receive several thank you baskets after the failed wedding.

 

She may have thought he was cute. Hell, she might even be interested in him if he were a little smarter, and if he thought a little more before sticking his foot in his mouth, and if he could speak properly. And after that weekend, not counting getting into bed with him, she definitely would have considered him to have high potential.

 

But she knew how she treated guys. The failed engagement between the two taught her she would treat him no differently, she would only end up using him towards her immediate goals. She would use him, and then ditch him after he lost any use to her.

 

The pain returned to her chest with a vengeance. Granted I might not do that now, and he is helping me keep this money-pit afloat, but still, he loves Akane, and even if I did go after him, I would have three very pissed and determined women out to eliminate more competition. My life is dangerous enough as it is, and I just live with the freaking avatar of Chaos.

 

Like I need my life to change.

 

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Today…

 

Change is the only constant in the universe. No matter how you plan, change will always come; of this you can be most certain.

 

Nabiki was walking down the street, choosing to walk home rather than ride the train. Her life at the moment was forever changed.

 

Her mind was flooded with thousands of questions to herself, her mind trying to form some sort of plan out of this. What am I going to do? Do I keep the baby? Who do I tell? Who can I ask for help? What happens when Ranma finds out? What happens when THE FIANCEE BRIGADE finds out?

 

Her mind kept bringing up anyone she knew who she might be able to talk to. Her father was out because the wedding would ensue within five minutes. Kasumi was out because she would either let it slip out, or continue to tell her that is was best to let everyone know, and quite frankly, she would need time to deal with the other fiancées. Akane was out because she would immediately attack Ranma assuming it was his fault; even though Nabiki's memories all told her she was the one that made the first move, and end up alerting all of Nerima before the mallet hit Ranma's head. Genma was out because he was basically untrustworthy and would do the same as her father, proclaiming how the schools would finally be joined. She didn't trust anyone at school, even her lieutenants wouldn't be able to hold onto information like this before word would leak out, followed by the expected reactions of her family, followed by the assassination attempts by Shampoo, Kodachi, and Ukyo. Dr. Tofu, who would do for any problem, would certainly interfere in this one, add to that a definite run-in with Kasumi, and her life would go downhill.

 

Ranma was out for obvious reasons; he would marry her to preserve her honor, sacrificing his own. His honor was all he really had, and she would be damned if she took that from him. I guess I really do care about the idiot.

 

In the end, it was simple: tell anyone who you currently know and/or have some trust with, then certain things will happen. Ranma will be forced to marry you, and we all know how Ranma loves to be forced to do anything, and she openly admitted she had done too much to him already. The family will be torn as Akane will see this as either a scheme, Ranma as a pervert for getting her sister pregnant, or some other wild reaction that will forever split the Tendo family and leave her and Ranma as outcasts. The other fiancées; both legitimate and illegal, will be out to kill her, possibly critically injuring her, the baby, Ranma, and any innocent bystander within fifty miles. Finally, Ranma will forever be crushed, blaming himself for the entire incident, meaning she would end up with a shell of a man, someone she did not want to cause any pain to anymore.

 

Must be the pregnancy hormones. I usually don't react like that.

 

She sat on a small bench, not tired from walking the two miles back, but more from her mind being exhausted, the sudden burst of questions now turning back to her logical thinking. She needed someone who had no current connections to her family, who she could trust explicitly, as well as ensure they would not run to the dojo and tell everyone. It took her a while, but one person kept coming up in her mind.

 

There has got to be someone else. I mean, she is almost as bad as the idiot panda and my father. If I tell her, that is just asking for Hell to ride up to our house.

 

Nodoka Saotome!? Is she the only one I can talk to?

 

I mean, I could get her to swear on her honor that she will take no action without my approval, as well as leave my family and Ranma alone. That should keep her from killing Ranma and make certain I do not have a marriage all set up whenever I wake up or return home. Hell, she might have some better idea how I can deal with the other fiancées at least. I should make Ranma's life a little easier.

 

But then what? The kid will be born right after my senior year, which means even someone as slow as Genma will see I'm pregnant, and may even be able to tell that I was only alone with Ranma.

Does that mean I have to get him to choose me? Do I have to betray Akane?

 

I would prefer not to, I mean I do love her and hope those two would get together, but even I'm getting tired of all her assaults on him, even before this. I swear you think the girl would trust him by now.

 

So what? Does this mean I want to be with him? She pondered that question, trying to figure out her feelings for Ranma. Is ending up with Ranma what I want? Would either of us be happy with that life? Or would we only be doing it for the child, keeping ourselves in a sham marriage because of our baby?

 

She got up from the bench and headed for Nodoka's house, resigning herself to the fact that she would need Aunt Nodoka's help to make it through this, to figure out what she wanted before everyone else told her what she had to do, when a ringing bell and a voice stopped her dead in her tracks, color fading from her face.

 

“Nihao, mercenary girl.”

 

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If I messed anything up, then let me know including typos.

 

Any suggestions on how I should continue the story or improve it would also be accepted.

 

Also, if you have any suggestions for how this should go, let me know. My own imagination, while vast, always enjoys a new thought. Also, catch me if you don't think I am making the characters true to form, or a way to make them better.