Ranma paused and repeated what Nabiki had said as he looked at her with wide eyes. "We need to talk? What ... what'd I do wrong?" He asked nervously. She looked up at him and flinched at the fear she saw there.
He can't ... be that worried about upsetting me, can he? She thought in amazement. She realized a moment later that she had used the dreaded phrase that usually meant a break-up was imminent. She frowned at herself for her carelessness and leaned into him to reassure him. She slid a little bit on the silk of his Chinese shirt, then settled in against him comfortably before she replied. "It's nothing bad, Ranma. I just wanted to plan our next step together, that's all," she said as she nudged Ranma to continue to walk. She could smell his flowery-cedar scent more strongly as she leaned on him; she really enjoyed that. She gave him a small smile, and squeezed his hand as well and the panic fell off his face.
He squeezed her hand back and visibly relaxed. "Oh, sure, yeah, let's do that. Where did you want to..." he trailed off hesitantly. He clearly wasn't sure how to ask her.
She looked up at him and smiled in amusement at his nervousness. It was sweet. "Let's go check on Akane, and help Doctor Tofu get Ryoga out of the house first, all right? Then we can have dinner with everyone, and afterwards, you and I can decide if you want to tackle either one of the other girls next, or do something else."
He nodded eagerly.
"And, we should also ... plan our own date as well ... soon." She added.
He stopped nodding and smiled. "S-sure, I'd ... like that too."
They entered the house together, and Ranma let go of her hand as they stepped inside. She continued to hold onto his hand for a moment longer, then gave it a squeeze and let go as well. She knew he was still nervous about showing affection for people in public, especially in front of her family.
Ranma headed upstairs, but she didn't follow him, she went looking for Akane. She had expected Akane to be sitting in the dining room with a bandaged ankle and pretending that she wasn't injured. Instead she found Akane hobbling around next to Doctor Tofu in the entryway — pretending she wasn't injured. Akane did have her ankle tightly bandaged though, so she had been right about that. She grinned openly at Akane's predictable stubbornness, then turned her attention to Doctor Tofu. He was tending to Ryoga and ignoring everyone else. She decided to check on Akane first, since the Doctor looked busy.
"How you doing, Akane?" She asked in a quiet voice, not wanting to startle anyone. As she got closer to Akane, she could smell the faint vanilla-lemon perfume that she must have put on for her date. As Akane was moving around and heating her body up more because of her injury, the scent was getting stronger in the air around her.
Akane looked up and smiled. "I'm fine, Nabiki. Just twisted my ankle a bit earlier, no big deal."
"How'd you do that anyway?" She asked as she came to crouch down on the other side of Ryoga from where Doctor Tofu was working, with her back to the door.
"Oh ... um ... well it's silly. We were on our way back home and Shampoo showed up on top of a roof and startled me. I stepped back into a fighting stance and I accidentally stepped off the curb and twisted my ankle. By the time I looked up, Shampoo was gone, and Ranma helped me the rest of the way home."
Well that explained it. She smiled at Akane then turned her attention to Doctor Tofu. Before she could say anything though, Kasumi came into the entryway. "How is Akane, Doctor?" Kasumi asked in a worried tone. She could see Doctor Tofu stiffen as soon as Kasumi spoke as he kicked in his act.
"I'm fine, Kasumi. Honestly, I hurt myself worse practicing." Akane said with a bit of an edge in her voice. She was probably getting tired of people babying her all the time.
"That's good, Akane. And what about Ryoga, Doctor?" Kasumi asked as she came up and put a hand on Doctor Tofu's shoulder.
This should be good. She thought with a rather large grin on her face. Doctor Tofu tightened his grip on Ryoga's ribs, as he had been in the middle of checking him for cracked ribs when Kasumi had entered the room. She was fairly certain she heard at least one rib creak as he squeezed.
Ryoga shot bolt upright at that and yelped with pain as he scooted away from Doctor Tofu rapidly while breathing heavily. It was amazing how quickly pain could sometimes bring someone out of unconsciousness.
Doctor Tofu stayed in the pose he had been in, clutching his now empty fingers at the air. She knew it was an act, but it was still amusing to watch. When he did things like that to Ryoga and other patients, he only pushed as hard as the patients could take. So, Ranma and Ryoga got it far worse than anyone else would. It seemed like Doctor Tofu was willing to use more force with Ryoga than Ranma though. She wondered if it was because Doctor Tofu didn't care much for Ryoga, or if he just thought Ryoga was tougher?
Kasumi smiled at Ryoga as she stood over him. "Oh good, you're up now." Nabiki realized that Kasumi had Ryoga's things in her arms. She blinked in surprise at that.
"Well, we were just about to sit down to dinner now, Ryoga ... so ..."
Was she ... was she dismissing him? That was very unlike Kasumi. She watched with wide eyes as Kasumi handed Ryoga his things and stood over him politely, but in an obviously unwelcoming way.
Ryoga sheepishly took his things and opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again as he tried to work out what to say.
Akane jumped in to defend him. "Oh, it's okay, Ryoga you can—"
"I'm afraid we only have place settings enough for our family with Doctor Tofu joining us, and I only made enough for them." Kasumi said sweetly as she tilted her head a bit and stared at Ryoga firmly with a smile on her face that did not reach her eyes.
Akane gaped at her in surprise and actually took a step back away from her like she'd just been slapped. Kasumi almost never interrupted anyone, and hospitality was practically her middle name.
Ryoga jumped to his feet and bowed to Kasumi formally. "Of course, of course. I'm on my way to mount Hyōno to train anyway, so I should get going." He said weakly.
"That's nice, have a safe trip." Kasumi replied still in her sweet voice, and still smiling with a smile that did not reach her eyes.
"Akane ... I'll catch you later, all right?" Ryoga said as he started to back up towards the door.
"S-sure, Ryoga. Have a safe trip." Akane said with actual fear in her voice as she looked back and forth between the suddenly implacable Kasumi, and Ryoga.
Ryoga fumbled behind himself for the door handle, opened it, and backed out quickly. He bowed once more to Kasumi, then turned quickly and headed straight for the front gates. Fear seemed to give him additional navigational prowess, as he made it straight to the gates and out of them without incident. Of course, the gates were also within easy eyesight, so it wasn't that much of an impressive feat for him.
The last look she got of Ryoga, he was hurrying towards the gates, and looking back over his shoulder every couple of steps like he was waiting for someone to call him back. She looked over at Akane, and she could see by her sister's body language, that she wanted to call him back. She even raised an arm halfway and opened her mouth to say something, but a look from Kasumi who had turned from the door to face Akane, was all it took to stop her. One simply did not argue with Kasumi about issues like this.
Since Ryoga had left it open, she hopped up and went over to close the door. She then turned around and leaned against the cool frame and just stared in wonder at Kasumi. She wanted to ask Kasumi what that had been about, but Akane beat her to it.
"K-Kasumi ... why did—"
"I don't particularly care for people who attack members of my family, for no good reason, in the street in front of our home. Especially when people are asking them to stop. There is training and honorable fighting in the dojo, and then there is that. I don't care for that." Kasumi said simply as she turned to leave the room. "Dinner will be served in a few minutes." She called out sweetly over her shoulder as she turned the corner, like nothing had happened.
Wow, Kasumi now thinks of Ranma as family. When did ... that ... happen? She thought to herself in wonder as she watched Kasumi go with a half-smile on her face. Kasumi didn't put her foot down all that often, but when she did, her word was law in this house.
Akane opened her mouth again like she was going to argue after her. She took a step to follow Kasumi, then obviously thought better of it and stopped. Her little sister looked at both Doctor Tofu and herself with an expression on her face that screamed what the hell just happened?!
She and Doctor Tofu both just shrugged. She honestly didn't care about Ryoga or for him. She didn't really mind him attacking Ranma though. Ranma liked to fight, and Ryoga challenged him and pushed him to be better. And, as Ranma had clearly just recently demonstrated, if he wanted to, he could shut down Ryoga's persistent attacks pretty hard. At least, at Ryoga's current skill level. She silently corrected herself.
As for Doctor Tofu, she seriously doubted there was any way he was going to set himself against Kasumi, especially over someone like Ryoga.
Akane took their indifference in and sighed as she turned on her good heel and headed upstairs. Ranma just happened to be heading down the stairs at the same time. He stepped to the side of the stairs and made room for Akane to make her way up by holding on to the banister and hopping up them. He was wise enough not to offer to help her as she thumped up the stairs determinedly.
Akane paused when she reached the same step he was on, and smiled at him. They said something quietly to each other, and Akane reached her hand out and put it on his shoulder and smiled happily at him. Then she continued to hobble upstairs and Ranma continued downstairs.
She wandered into the dining room after Ranma, who sat at his usual place. He looked up at her and smiled a small smile. That made her happy. She smiled back. Daddy and Mister Saotome came in a moment later and took their usual seats. A few minutes later Akane returned having changed out of the outfit she had worn on her date with Ranma, and into her usual at-home clothes. Doctor Tofu did not join them. She wasn't all that happy about that. She knew he must have slipped outside to guard the house again. She needed to talk to him about that. He could certainly eat dinner with the family, and he didn't need to be patrolling around the house constantly. Just being in the house should be enough of a deterrent now that he had already stopped the Amazons twice.
She thought about going outside and signaling him to come in, but got distracted when Kasumi came in with the food.
"Oh, where is Doctor Tofu?" That was the first thing out of her mouth, of course.
"Oh, I think he went for a walk." Was the best she could come up with as everyone else just looked around and shrugged.
Kasumi nodded and set a place for him anyway. Good, she'd call him back into the house as soon as dinner was over, that way Kasumi could give him her undivided attention. She smiled at that thought as she ate and observed the rest of the family.
In every way possible, their shared meal together passed as normally as it ever did. Akane and Ranma made polite conversation. She made polite conversation with both of them, although Akane's replies to her seemed a bit strained. Kasumi did her usual hosting thing, and Daddy and Mister Saotome mostly ate in silence. Everything was normal ... until Daddy decided to bring up a delicate topic. He set his bowl down and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention then dropped right into one of his usual speeches.
"Well girls, as you know, we still have a hole in the wall of the house. We are trying to have the wall fully repaired by tomorrow, but in the meantime, we will need to continue to have alternative sleeping arrangements again tonight." They all looked at him expectantly. He looked around the room in his usual melodramatic way before he started issuing orders. "Right, well I don't see any reason to displace Kasumi again tonight. So she can stay in her own room. Akane will take my bed which I have moved to Kasumi's room, and I will guard them tonight. Saotome will be walking the halls again tonight, and I will trade with him halfway through the night. And Nabiki, I want you to stay in the guest room again with Ranma guarding you, same as last night." Everyone had been nodding along until he got to her, then she saw Akane twitch like she had just been slapped.
"Wait, what?" Akane said with wide eyes as she rounded on Daddy and raised her voice to a frantic pitch.
"Ranma will guard Nabiki again tonight." Daddy said simply and softly as he met her gaze sternly.
"Again?" Akane echoed him.
"Yes, since they are engaged, it is his duty to protect her first," he looked at Akane kindly, then added when she didn't look any happier, "don't worry Akane, Daddy will protect you tonight, those crazy Amazons won't get to you." He had missed the point of her objection entirely, but that didn't surprise her. Daddy was decidedly old fashioned when it came to things like family honor, duty, love and marriage. She was sure that to him it was the most logical thing in the world for two teenagers to sleep together who were engaged to each other due to an arranged marriage.
She watched Akane carefully to see how she would react. Akane could start fighting for him right now, but that would force her to admit that she had real feelings for him.
"No! That's not right!" Akane said as she slapped the table. Daddy winced at that but didn't say anything right away as he tried to figure out what her objection was.
Or ... she could get upset, that works too. She thought as she cringed from the tears she could see forming in Akane's eyes. In all honesty, she didn't really care if Ranma slept with her again. Until he had made his decision, she was determined to try to keep her distance from him, as best she could, and give him the space he needed to make that decision. She knew that sleeping with her, even as a girl, would have an affect on his decision.
So, she spoke up. "It's fine, Daddy. Ranma can protect Akane tonight, and you can guard me." She smiled softly at Akane as she finished.
Akane shot her a look that was confused, hurt, embarrassed and grateful all at the same time. We Tendo girls certainly are complicated, aren't we? She thought with an inward smirk.
"I-I didn't mean tha-that..." Akane trailed off embarrassed.
Well, tough, you raised the issue, so now you have to deal with it. She thought somewhat vengefully which surprised her. Let it go. She chided herself as she clamped down on those feelings and hid them.
But, despite Akane's protests and her own assurance that she was alright with switching things up, Daddy wasn't having it. "No. It is Ranma's duty as Nabiki's fiancé to protect her. That is the end of it." He stood up to leave but Akane said something that stopped him halfway from his rise and brought him back down to a seated position.
"B-but ... Ranma's not ... "
She raised an eyebrow at Akane. This was interesting, was Akane going to try to reassert her claim to the engagement right now? She waited with an outward expression of calm on her face, but inside she was sick with fear. Already? Really? Damn. She thought in a panic as she fought the urge to yell that Ranma didn't belong to anyone.
She sneaked a quick look at Ranma who had a panicked look on his face. He was looking between her and Akane rapidly, and avoiding Daddy's eyes entirely. She made eye contact with him and did her best to convey silently that she wouldn't throw a fit if he went back to Akane. That was hard to do silently, but she was pretty sure he got at least some sort of peaceful message from her.
"Ranma's not ... what, Akane?" Daddy asked with surprise in his voice. She knew he was playacting a little bit because they had just talked about this a little while ago. Daddy could be sly when he wanted to.
Everyone in the room turned and looked at Akane, except for Ranma who was now just staring at the table. She stopped looking at him to gaze at her little sister. Now's your chance, Akane, if you claim him, he'll probably go back to you. He hates being put on the spot like this, especially in front of the entire family. He'll go along with whatever just to keep the peace, at least for now. She thought in a strangely numb way. She was already inoculating herself as best she could against the hurt she felt was coming. She realized that in a distant metaphysical way, but it didn't change anything.
Akane struggled to get the words out with everyone looking at her. She could feel her own heart pounding in her chest with fear as she worked desperately to control her breathing to keep it calm and slow, and not let it spike fast and panicked like she wanted to.
"Ranma's engaged to ... he's my ..." Akane said hesitantly.
She felt weirdly woozy and suddenly tasted bile in the back of her throat as she watched her hopes dying in a slow-motion crash. Akane was doing it, she really was fighting for him!  Well ... crap. It's all over. She thought miserably as she looked at Ranma to signal to him that it was all right. But he still wasn't looking up. His body language was very negative, his shoulders were slumped, and his chin was resting on his chest as he looked at the table. The dragon inside of her was falling out of the sky, having lost the will to fly.
"He's your ... what, Akane?" Daddy asked with a touch of impatience in his voice, which triggered Kasumi.
"Father, please, this is a very sensitive subject. Let Akane say what is on her mind, in her own way." She turned to Akane and smiled kindly. "Go ahead, Akane."
Of all of the times for Kasumi to support Akane, she really wished it hadn't been now. She shot Kasumi a look of betrayal, and Kasumi met her eyes and quickly ... winked. She did it very fast and without a change in her facial expression, but she had definitely winked. She didn't know what to do with that, but there was nothing she could do anyway. Akane had the stronger claim on Ranma. Akane had put in the time. She knew both Akane and Ranma had feelings for each other. She hung her head and waited for the axe to fall.
"I, it's just ... Ranma is my ... " Akane stuttered as she stared at the table. She was clearly having a very hard time actually saying what everyone knew she was trying to say.
"Are you saying that you and Ranma agreed to switch the engagement back to you today, Akane?" Daddy asked.
That hadn't even occurred to her. She looked up quickly with wide eyes at Ranma feeling extremely betrayed. He could have at least mentioned that on the way inside earlier—
He looked sideways at her and interrupted her thoughts as he shifting his eyes towards her just enough so she could tell that he was looking at her. He then shook his head no with the smallest millimeter-small motion he could possibly make. Then he resumed looking at the table. Akane hadn't noticed.
She didn't know why it mattered, because Akane was about to pull the engagement back to herself anyway, but she was immensely happy that Ranma hadn't gone behind her back and changed the engagement back to Akane without even talking to her about it. Not that it changed anything; Ranma being officially engaged to her or Akane didn't mean the week was over yet. She still had a chance. It was a slim chance, but she still had her own date to go on with him.  Maybe I can still ... she thought wistfully about ways she could convince Ranma he would be happier with her. But if she was being honest with herself, she couldn't think of anything of substance that she could offer him that Akane couldn't.
"N-no ..." Akane said as she looked at Ranma and then back at Daddy. Akane didn't look at her at all, not that she blamed her.
"Ranma?" Daddy asked sternly. Ranma looked up at him using his timid persona. He generally deferred politely to Daddy when it came to trouble concerning any of the Tendo sisters. Daddy continued. "Did you change your engagement back to Akane today?"
Ranma shook his head no.
"Are you still engaged to Nabiki?"
Ranma nodded his head yes.
"Well then, this question goes to you girls. It sounds to me like Akane wants the engagement back. So, we should settle this. Nabiki and Akane, what do you want?"
She noticed that he didn't ask Ranma what he wanted. But she knew he didn't care what Ranma wanted, nor did Ranma's own father, whom she noticed wasn't even paying attention to what was going on, as he continued to eat Kasumi's cooking happily.
She looked at Akane and waited while she held her breath. This is it, all she has to say is she wants him back. She thought. Akane was looking at the table and tracing circles on the top of it with her finger as she blushed. After a moment, Daddy asked her directly. "Akane, do you want to be engaged to Ranma again? Do you have feelings for him?"
Ranma looked up at that and watched Akane carefully.
"What? N-no! That's not what I..." Akane protested as she blushed even harder.
Ranma's facial expression didn't change from the careful neutral that he had it set to, but she could tell that he hadn't been expecting her to say that. Inside, she was warming up. She can't do it! She can't say out loud that she has feelings for him! She smiled as the dragon inside her pulled out of its dive at the last moment, centimeters above rock bottom. It was clear to everyone in the room that Akane did have feelings for Ranma, but at the moment, that wasn't going to be enough.
Daddy turned his gaze from Akane and fixed it on her next and asked her the same question. "Nabiki, do you want to be engaged to Ranma? Do you have feelings for him?"
She could feel the weight of the stares of everyone in the room settle on her. They were unbearably heavy. She immediately felt like she was having trouble breathing. Wow, this is actually a lot harder than it looked. She thought with sympathy for Akane. She swallowed nervously. It was one thing to be alone with Ranma and to tell him things. But, saying those things in front of her sisters and Daddy was ... a lot harder than she had figured it would be. Making it even worse was the suddenly intense gaze from Mister Saotome as he took a brief break from eating to watch her with a critical eye as a new possible future daughter-in-law. She looked over at Ranma as she swallowed nervously while she worked to keep a mask of cool detachment on her face. Sure enough as her eyes settled on Ranma, she found him watching her carefully, just like he had done with Akane.
I am sure this can't be easy on him either, but c'mon, why is all of the pressure suddenly on me? Why does Ranma just get to sit there? She thought indignantly. She sneaked a look at Akane, and saw that she was still looking down at the table and blushing mightily. Not that she blamed her, she could feel the heat of her own blush in her face and neck, she desperately wanted to look at the table too, or anywhere else that wasn't everyone's eyes. Only her years of experience with negotiations prevented her from doing that; she wanted to show strength right now. She let her eyes slide over to Kasumi, and found her beaming at her with sparkling eyes. She could almost feel her older sister sending her cheers of encouragement. She brought her gaze back over to Ranma, and tried to really think of what it would be like to marry him.
I'm not really going to do this, am I? Can I do this? If I do, I will be fully committing to this, I won't be able to back out of it easily. She thought to herself as she gazed into his eyes. Then she mentally slapped herself to snap out of it. What am I thinking about? I was just sitting here worrying about Akane taking the engagement away, and now I am hesitating like some mewling school girl over whether to get the regular or chocolate milk? I swore in the park that I was going to fight for him, so, damn it, that's what I am going to do! She chided herself as she reached down inside herself for her courage and grabbed it as hard as she could as she opened her mouth and answered.
"I ... Yes." She said in as calm a voice as she could, which still shook with the nervousness she couldn't quite hide. She couldn't believe she had said that in front of everyone; she felt like she had just been kicked in the gut. She looked down at the table in shame for a moment, then ripped her eyes back up to see Ranma's reaction.
Ranma smiled a very small smile for her before he hid it again. She could see Akane out of the corner of her eye look up suddenly at her in disbelief, with no small amount of betrayal written on her face. I'm sorry Akane, I gave you all the chances I could. I have to do this. She thought sympathetically for her sister. She couldn't bring herself to look at her, though. She looked over at Kasumi, who was now grinning at her happily. She understood what her wink had been about now. That had been ... a risky little gambit. She had to admit though, it had paid off. Her respect for Kasumi rose a notch.
"Akane?" Daddy prompted her sister one more time. Akane looked back down at the table and stayed silent. Her heart went out to Akane, but she didn't say anything. If Akane wanted him, she was going to have to say ... something. Although, in the end, even if her sister didn't fight, Ranma might choose Akane anyway — despite her own hopes — she concluded glumly.
"Well then, I think that is settled, for now. Akane, my bed is waiting for you whenever you are ready." He stood up and walked past Akane on his way out of the room. He paused next to Akane and reached down and squeezed her shoulder kindly in the way that only fathers did, then continued out of the room. Mister Saotome followed close behind him. Akane never looked up.
Ranma looked up from the table as soon as Daddy left the room, and slid his eyes from her to Akane and back again. He opened his mouth to say something, but Kasumi reached over quickly and put a rice ball in his mouth. "Ranma what do you think of my new recipe for this?" She asked sweetly. He looked at her with wide eyes as he chewed quickly and swallowed to prevent choking.
She raised an eyebrow over that. Ranma had the right to speak his mind about all this. But ... she had to admit that now was probably not the best time. She was sure that as embarrassed as Akane had to be feeling right now, and as hurt as she must be, anything he could say would only upset her. Besides, Ranma was probably a little hurt that Akane had denied, yet again, that she had feelings for him. That would probably color what he would say anyway. She thought about trying to talk to Akane privately as she stood up. She even took a step towards her. But Kasumi cleared her throat and got her attention. She looked over at Kasumi who shook her head very subtly. She sighed. Kasumi was probably right.
So, she stopped and turned around and walked out of the room without looking back. As she climbed the stairs she thought, well I guess there is one thing I can offer Ranma right now, that Akane can't. She had to admit to herself, as embarrassing as that had been, she was glad she hadn't backed down. She hummed happily to herself as she made her way to her room to get her things for the night.