Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Unlikely Alliances ❯ Be vewwy vewwy quiet! ( Chapter 3 )

This was originally published by me under the name Anduril at Anime Addventures, with the only changes being a few corrections in spelling, punctuation and the occasional word choice. If you like the beginning of my story but think I've gone off the rails, or have your own ideas for a great branch-off, or think I'm taking too long to update and want to continue the story yourself, come to Anime Addventures and join in the fun!

I claim no ownership rights to any of the works of Rumiko Takahashi.

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“I say we go with not telling Ranma,” Ukyo said. “Nabiki's right — he'll just run or get all noble if we do.”

“Shampoo agree,” the purple-haired Amazon said. “Airen good man, not go along, for sake of girls. So Shampoo and rivals take care of him.”

Akane shot a glare at her father, but he simply looked serenely back (ignoring the slightly manic look in his eyes). Finally, she transferred her glare to the other two girls and growled, “Fine, we chase him down. It shouldn't be all that hard, the pervert!”

The Amazon Matriarch glanced around the room and stifled a groan at the welter of attitudes her centuries of experience revealed in spite of the others' best efforts to hide them. The tense anger between Akane, Ukyo and Xian Pu was no surprise, nor was the pleased anticipation from Soun. The eagerness from Nabiki wasn't exactly a surprise, but was definitely worrisome — that she was up to something was like saying water was wet, and Ku Lon wasn't looking forward to trying to ride herd on the brilliantly greedy idiot. But the real surprise was Kasumi — the disapproval over presumably offended norms was no surprise, but there was something else....

“Now remember,” Ku Lon said sternly to the three fiancées, “this is not a competition — all of you need to catch him for this to work, not just one.” The three looked back at her, innocent expressions firmly in place (except for Akane's, which kept slipping when she glanced at the other two), and Ku Lon sighed. “All right, why don't we take a little time to think over how to do this, and meet back here after the supper rush in, say, three days? And remember, absolutely no one else can know about this!”

The rest gave their agreement and the meeting broke up.

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All right, Nabiki thought as she walked along toward the dojo, surrounded by her family. This is going to have to be the most discrete betting pool I've ever done. Maybe if I made keeping silent a condition of the bet, and if any rumor about what's happening gets back to me the bets are off and I keep the money ... No, that would never fly — if I did call off the bets nobody would believe that I didn't start the rumors myself. Okay, how about if I find out that anyone that places a bet is talking about the race, his bet is off and I keep the money? Yeah, that'll work.

Glancing over at her quietly fuming younger sister, Nabiki suppressed a slight frown. Setting the odds is going to be a bit tough, though — Akane's the one Ranma is really attracted to, but she couldn't seduce a Casanova; Ukyo's the sanest and a great cook, but Ranma really just thinks of her as a friend and won't want to change that; Shampoo's the most beautiful and least inhibited, but she's also the most aggressive and likely to be even more so. Hmmm, that's going to be tough — unless I rig it, somehow. So, how to —

Nabiki stumbled slightly at the sudden flash of inspiration, and fought to keep from giggling. That's it! I'll make the bets for who gets Ranma first, then give the fiancées a week or two to inevitably blow their best shots for first tries, then I step in and snag Ranma myself before they get a chance to fine-tune their approaches — nothing a little blackmail or bargaining shouldn't take care of. If anyone complains, I can claim the girls had their chance to be first, and that it's a life and death matter, and keep the money since I won't be one of the ones people are betting on. I won't even be lying! And I even get laid — oh, this is going to be fun!

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Kasumi frowned slightly as she moved about the kitchen preparing the evening meal, trying and failing to attain her usual serene enjoyment in the familiar, homely routine. But try as she might, she couldn't get the memory of the walk home and Akane's glare out of her mind, except when it was replaced by the hungry smile Nabiki hadn't even realized she'd had.

The matronly sister sighed as she realized her rhythm was off yet again, and turned her mind to a certain black-haired, pigtailed, muscular young man just her height (definitely not the boy she'd first thought) — honest, honorable, courageous, forgiving, gentle ... and if he was also ill-mannered with a near-terminal case of foot-in-mouth disease who was unwilling to show his feelings, what of it? So long as you remembered that he never really intended to offend anyone (except in fights), you were fine. And the cute redhead Ranma sometimes turned into — she could be such a fun little sister....

It's truly a shame that such a fine young man should be treated as nothing but a prize or a challenge, Kasumi thought. Even Akane — and after all he's done for her he deserves better. It's such a shame that none of the fiancées really think of his needs first ...

So why don't you do something about it?

Kasumi froze at the thought, a blush spreading from her cheeks up into her hairline and down her neck to be covered by her dress. No, I couldn't! He's Akane's fiancé —

But Akane doesn't seem to want him, or any other boy other than perhaps Ryoga. So why shouldn't you take him away from her? Besides, he's as much your fiancé as he is hers — he was given a choice, but then never made one, thanks to you and Nabiki. So make it clear to him that he does have a choice.

Kasumi stood frozen in place for long minutes, her mind racing in all directions, emotions roiling, when suddenly a faint whiff of smoke broke the logjam and she whirled to the stove to salvage the food cooking there. Dinner was going to be surprisingly low quality that night — simply good rather than her usual magnificent performance.

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Well, this one is longer, if not by too much. Others will be longer still, promise!