Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Unlikely Alliances ❯ 180 Degrees ( Chapter 10 )

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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Nabiki looked around as Tatewaki Kuno led her down the hall toward his room, doing her best to hide the yen signs in her eyes as her mind insisted on doing its best to estimate the value of the vases and paintings and paneling and marble flooring and ...

Finding herself hyperventilating a bit, the middle Tendo focused on the Kuno ahead of her and did her best to ignore her surroundings. Then, as she found herself being overwhelmed by a different kind of lust, attempted to not look closely at anything. Focus, girl, focus! she berated herself as Kuno opened his bedroom door and waved for her to precede him through. Remember, Kuno's the key to all this, and you need a clear head to play him.

Looking around, Nabiki frowned slightly at the décor of the sitting room she found herself in, or rather the lack of it. While the paneling and floor were as impressive as always, the expensive accouterments had vanished, replaced by minimalist sketches and some hung weapons on the walls. A fully modern personal computer graced one desk, with another desk next to it with writing materials lying on it. On each side were several bookshelves, one with school-related books she recognized as being assigned by their teachers, the other full of what seemed from the titles to be biographies and histories.

Nabiki found her frown deepening as she tried to reconcile this austere, almost spartan setting with the over-the-top flamboyance that Kuno presented to the public. Finally, she shrugged slightly. I guess he really does take all that “traditional samurai” stuff seriously — they were supposed to be unconcerned with material wealth, so that's the way he'll play it. Still, she found herself feeling slightly off-center — out of kilter from the sudden readjustment of her view of the bokken-wielding lunatic that shared a classroom with her.

While Nabiki had been scoping out the room, Kuno had walked over and leaned the bokken he'd carried from the school against the chair at the computer desk. Turning to the middle Tendo, he crossed his arms across his chest and scrutinized her for a moment. “Very well, Nabiki, we are here. Now, what do you have to tell me about the scourge of Furinkan High and enslaver of my loves, so important that I needed to break off my pursuit of the sorcerer and the radiant Akane?”

Nabiki took a deep breath as she focused back on Kuno, his broad shoulders, sculpted muscles ... Down, girl! Business first, fun later. Carefully keeping her habitual smirk off her face, she walked over to the other chair and turned it to face her classmate and sat. After a moment, she sighed. “For starters, Akane didn't leave with Ranma, she left with the pigtailed girl.”

“Nay, but Ranma was imposing himself on her, the pigtailed girl was nowhere to be seen!” Kuno protested, but Nabiki just shrugged.

“I imagine that's what it looked like, but you were too busy fighting Shampoo and Ukyo to see who she left with — not that that matters, it'll be the talk of the school tomorrow, you can ask anyone and they'll tell you that Akane was carried off by a redheaded girl, not a black-haired boy.”

“And why should that be the talk of the school?” Kuno scoffed. “It is well known that my two loves are staunch friends.”

“True,” Nabiki agreed, “but no more than that. After the way the two were so caught up in kissing that they may not even have been aware of your presence, and left seeking privacy to continue their explorations of each other, mere friendship is much too mild a word. That is what will be causing all the talk.”

Kuno stared at Nabiki for a long moment, then collapsed into his chair, not even noticing when his bokken was jarred loose and clattered on the floor.

“No, it cannot be,” the kendoist whispered in protest. “Akane is a true innocent, she cannot so unnaturally be attracted to her own kind. It must be an act.”

Nabiki shook her head sorrowfully. “No, it is no act — I have lived with her all my life, and ever since she has matured into a woman she has been as attracted to girls as she is to men. That didn't mean she would ever act on that attraction since, after all, what girl in Furinkan would be worthy of her? But ...” she paused artfully, then continued with apparent reluctance, “I am afraid your pursuit of Akane through combat backfired badly — she came to believe that all the boys assaulting her every morning” — including you, idiot — “sought to force her to ... accept their carnal desires ... and any that actually succeeded would have the strength and skill to compel what she was unwilling to give. Add to that the arrival of a girl truly worthy of her attentions, and she has soured on men for the foreseeable future.”

“But what of Ranma Saotome, and his pursuit of my loves? His assault on Akane just this afternoon?” Kuno asked almost plaintively.

“That is a terrible story,” Nabiki replied with a sad smile. “Tell me, have you ever seen your pigtailed goddess and Ranma at the same time?”

Kuno stared at her in confusion at the apparent non sequitur. “Nooo ...” he said slowly.

“That is because Ranma is the victim of sorcery, not the manipulator of it,” Nabiki explained. “The pigtailed girl is his sister, born at the same time and given the same name. Just before they arrived here they traveled through the backwaters of China, and there suffered a curse — they share one body, with only one able to manifest at a time. So long as the curse remains they will never be able to see each other, and the only remedies so far found would have removed the pigtailed girl from existence.”

Kuno stared at Nabiki in shock, then jerked to his feet. “No!” he shouted. “Saotome seeks the hand of Akane, and has ensorcelled her to forget her true love, even if he is unable to turn her love to him! Even if accursed as you say, he is yet evil incarnate!”

Nabiki snorted. “Really? If so, he has a strange way of showing it. Before today, had you hardly ever seen either act even as friends, much less lovers? I don't really think calling a girl a flat-chested, uncute tomboy is the way to get anything from her but a beating.”

Now Kuno was gaping. “Is he such a fool as that? Did he truly say such to that fair flower of maidenhood?”

Not anymore, by now, Nabiki thought, but managed to keep the smirk off her face. “Yes, he has, numerous times,” she said with a nonchalant shrug. “Again, simply ask around the school and plenty of others will tell you the same. Today was the first time he has truly attempted to treat her as his future wife, rather than as a friend or nuisance.”

“But if this is so, then why have I been told that they are engaged?” Kuno asked.

“It's truly sad,” Nabiki said, wiping at her eyes. “When our fathers were young they were students together, serving a fearful master. When they gained their freedom, before they were even married, much less before we were born, they agreed to merge the two schools they had developed by marrying two of their children. Now, Ranma and Akane are fated to marry when they attain legal age, whatever their own desires.” Then, as Kuno began to bellow a protest she added, “Surely a true samurai such as yourself understands a matter of family honor and filial duty.”

At this Kuno froze, staring helplessly at the brown-haired girl, and Nabiki put on a soulful look. “The truly sad thing is that the pigtailed girl my sister is truly attracted to lives but half a life at best, and the two cannot be together unless Akane accepts her brother as well. Ranma and Akane may find themselves bound into a loveless marriage, through our fathers' demands and their mutual love of the pigtailed girl.”

Slowly, Kuno turned his gaze from the middle Tendo and stared at the wall, tears flowing down his face. “This is truly terrible, surely there must be some way to prevent this tragedy,” he begged.

Nabiki shook her head. “No, our fathers are adamant, and even if they died Ranma and Akane would seek to fulfill the agreement between our families, in the name of the honor of our families. Still, all is not bleak for them — Akane and the pigtailed girl will have each other, and Ranma may yet come to find love for Akane in his heart. He may be a fool, but as you say Akane is the epitome of womanhood, what man could long resist her? And while Ranma is crude in manners he has a good heart, Akane may yet come to at least consider him a friend.”

“True, it may well be that they will yet find happiness, even if they are deprived of the glory of my arms,” Kuno said thoughtfully. “I shall have to give thought to how I may aid in this endeavor ... this quest for the happiness of my loves.”

Gotcha! “Hmmm ... I am afraid that after their conflicts with you in the past they will find it hard to trust you, or accept your help — very hard,” Nabiki mused.

Kuno leaned forward in his seat and, resting his elbows on his knees put his face in his hands. “It is true, I have been a fool, and it has cost me any chance of providing aid to those I hold dear,” he tearfully sighed.

Suddenly, Nabiki straightened. “I have it!” she exclaimed. “A way that you can be close to the girls while not seeming to be a threat, whatever your past history with them may be.”

Slowly Kuno lifted his face from his hands, his expression a mix of hope and suspicion. “And how do I accomplish this marvel?” he asked.

Nabiki took a deep breath. Okay, girl, go for the gold. “You marry me,” she said simply.

Kuno straightened and stared in shock. “Marry you!?” he shouted. “Why would I wish to marry you? How would that further my goal of aiding my beloveds?”

“It's simple enough. As my fiancé, you have a reason to come around the dojo, keep an eye on things. The Ranmas and Akane will be suspicious, of course, but they can hardly keep you from visiting me and so long as you aren't too solicitous of their wellbeing they'll leave you alone. And do you think that once we marry I'm going to cut off all contact with my family? Of course not. That means family visits, as regularly as I wish to make them. I'm not going to leave my husband behind, so you're there, too. So, a perfect way for you to be in the presence of your goddesses even more regularly than you are now, watching over their safety while not being considered a threat.”

“And what do you get out of this?” Kuno asked, glaring suspiciously. “Surely you don't expect me to believe the Ice Queen is doing this out of love for her sister and care for my feelings!”

Nabiki shrugged. “Security, of course, and money. I certainly don't expect your father to turn the family fortune over to me, but a hefty allowance I can play with will do me just fine.”

For a long moment Kuno simply stared at Nabiki, then jerked to his feet and stalked back and forth across the length of the room. Nabiki's eyes were glued to her pacing classmate, as she found it harder and harder to restrain the need that had been pounding at her control since back at the school. Finally, Kuno turned back and slowly sat in the chair he had been in before. Again focusing on Nabiki, he slowly nodded. “Very well,” he said in a low tone. “Thanks to my earlier misstep, I see no other way to be near my loves and provide the support they will need.”

For just a second, Nabiki felt light-headed with elation at the success of her gambit. Then, the need she had been suppressing since lunch rose yet again, and she found herself rising to her feet and sauntering toward her new fiancé as her hands rose to the fastenings of her school uniform's dress. “So, let's seal the deal,” she murmured huskily.