Nabiki was off her center. But, that was nothing new. She had been off her center since Akane had broken the balcony and she had ended up in Ranma's arms. After her talk with Kasumi she was more certain than ever that she was on the right path, she just had to keep fighting.
Akane is going to fight too. Her doubts reminded her.
That's all right, I'll fight harder. She promised herself.
He loves Akane more than you. Her fears taunted her.
I don't know that. He might, but I can't just give up. She thought sternly.
He's going to pick Akane. Her insecurity predicted.
Enough! She yelled to herself silently as she sent in her dragon and had it sweep her thoughts clean.
She was gripping the edge of the sink in the bathroom staring at herself in the mirror. She looked well rested. She looked young and beautiful. Just as young and beautiful as Akane. She thought defensively.
What is the matter with you?! Akane isn't even a whole year younger than you. She's ten months younger. Get a grip, you freak. She berated herself as she sucked in a deep breath through her mouth and slowly let it out through her nose.
She looked at herself in the mirror again and thought she looked good, damn good. Even though she was incredibly nervous to have to fight against Akane for Ranma, she couldn't stop smiling. She kept replaying Mom's words in her mind as her certainty grew about the path she was on.
The fact that Mom had told Kasumi the same thing at roughly the same time told her that Mom hadn't just been telling her something to make a silly little girl calm down. Mom had been training them. It had been important. She was sure of it. Unfortunately, Mom had been taken from them before she could complete the training. She knew what to look for to find the right person. But ... she didn't know what to do once she found him.
I guess I'll just have to wing it ... like I always do. She thought, determined.
She tucked her hair back behind her ears, and smiled. She felt like she was glowing. If she concentrated she could almost see a very faint little shimmer of a golden light surrounding her. She was sure it was her imagination, but she liked the idea of it. She had read the romance books just like the rest of the girls had. She had always said they were ridiculous. But secretly ... secretly she had always wanted to love someone so much that she glowed with happiness. If she felt like this now as her feelings for him grew, she couldn't even imagine what it would be like if he loved her back. She shivered with fear and longing for that to happen.
She scrunched her nose up as she stared at herself in the mirror, and stuck her tongue out at herself.
First, date. Then the circus. Then, if he picks me, the rest. She ordered herself.
She nodded smartly to herself and headed to the shower. She washed up quickly as she planned for the day. She felt a bit sad that she was washing away Ranma's scent, but there was nothing for it.
He'll just have to hold me again so I can get it back. She thought happily.
She dried herself and dressed quickly, and styled her hair. She even put on lip gloss and a little eye liner. She was feeling like being a bit done-up today. Then she tossed herself a smile in the mirror and headed downstairs.
Daddy and Mister Saotome were asleep in the room off the entryway, laying across each other. Doctor Tofu was meditating in the dining room. Ranma was outside training in the yard like he usually did in the mornings. Kasumi was fussing around in the kitchen like she usually did.
Akane was not doing what she usually did. She was standing out in the yard by the koi pond, watching Ranma. She was wearing her school uniform already and had her hair styled as well. She looked very cute. Her younger sister was standing with her hands clasped behind her back and watching Ranma peacefully with a small smile on her face.
Ranma was ignoring everything and just working on his training. He was doing his usual routine of alternating punches and kicks on a post wrapped with rope. She knew that doing that built up stamina and endurance, not to mention toughness of his hands and feet. But, she really couldn't imagine doing that to herself.
I suppose if I started off with something softer and built up to it. She thought as she considered it. It was funny, she was now looking at what Ranma did as something she was going to do instead of something she used to do.
She walked to the edge of the porch of the dining room and watched him as well for a little bit. He was very graceful, and powerful. Akane never took her eyes off him. She thought about going over and talking to her, but she didn't think that now was the best time.
She sighed and went and sat at the head of the table so she could keep an eye on the yard. With Daddy passed out from staying up all night, she didn't feel bad taking his spot.
Kasumi served breakfast a few minutes later. That brought Ranma into the house almost immediately. Akane followed him and sat opposite him at the table. As she passed her, Akane smiled and greeted her warmly. "Good morning, Nabiki." Akane seemed like she meant it, she couldn't detect any sarcasm or anger in her tone.
"Morning, sis." She replied with a cautious smile.
I wonder why Akane is in such a good mood. She thought as she watched her settle in and begin to eat.
She decided not to dwell on it, and bolted down her own breakfast. When she was done she just sat there and watched Ranma eat and tried not to fidget nervously. He was eating rather leisurely today. He was also keeping his eyes down on his food for the most part. He did glance up occasionally at her and Akane, though.
I wonder if he is enjoying this, or if this is super awkward for him? She thought as she watched him eat and tried to avoid staring.
She didn't have much time to think about it, though, as Ranma set his bowl down at that point and looked up at her.
"Ready to head to school, Ranma?" She asked him. He nodded at her without looking at Akane.
She could see Akane looking at him out of the corner of her eye, and she had to admit she was happy that Akane was being shut out. She was also ashamed that she was reveling in her sister's pain.
She brushed those thoughts aside as Ranma stood up. He smiled and walked towards the front door where his satchel was. She followed him on light feet. Akane stayed behind at the table. The dragon inside her wanted her to stick her tongue out at Akane. She ignored it.
A moment later she was jogging behind Ranma to school. He was setting an easy pace, which she appreciated. He was also running along beside her instead of up on the fence, which she also appreciated. It was a symbolic thing, but she had to admit that it did matter to her.
She was starting to pant a little as they continued to jog. She didn't have the kind of endurance that he or Akane had. She was thinking about asking him to slow to a walk as they rounded the next street corner, and she gasped.
Standing in the walkway was Shampoo and the old ghoul. Shampoo was smiling longingly at Ranma, but the old ghoul had eyes like carved glass, and no hint of any kindness showed on her face.
Ranma immediately stepped fully in front of her and threw his hands out wide in a defensive posture as he started backing up and herding her away from them.
She knew he didn't want to fight both of them, especially if he had to protect her at the same time. For the millionth time since she had accepted the engagement to him, she wished she hadn't stopped training in the Art. Feh ... while I'm wishing for things, I would also like the Swiss bank number of Minister Murayama. She thought sarcastically.
She couldn't help herself, she had to say something. "Shampoo, could we please talk about this later? Preferably over a nice cup of tea?" She honestly didn't understand why all of these things seemed to need to be solved with fighting.
Shampoo looked back at the old ghoul, who nodded very slightly. Then without warning Shampoo launched herself at her. Before she even realized what was happening, Shampoo had dodged around Ranma and had thrown a hooking punch at her head. Ranma leaned and slapped back hard and grabbed Shampoo's hand out of the air and held it in a clenched fist before it hit her. She could tell he was squeezing Shampoo's fist tightly, because his knuckles were white.
Shampoo didn't show anything outwardly that she felt what he was doing as she continued to strain against him to get to her. She stuck her tongue out at the Amazon. She knew it wasn't the most mature thing to do, but she couldn't help herself. The whole situation was ridiculous and very frustrating.
Whoops, that was a mistake. She thought immediately as Shampoo's face changed from a blank mask to an enraged rictus. Shampoo switched from trying to overpower Ranma's hold on her to trying to throw a punch with her other hand.
Ranma responded by throwing the hand he had caught down as he brought his other hand up and parried the new attack while he snapped a kick out to the back of Shampoo's knee out and drove her to the ground in a spin. At the same time, he pulled her back with his other arm out of harm's way.
He wrapped her close to him and she ended up basically hugging him as he leaped backwards and landed on top of the fence next to the canal they had been walking next to. She just clung to him, there wasn't much else she could do. She could tell by the feel of him that he was gathering his strength to run. With her with him, he had no hope of taking them both on.
Shampoo slowly regained her feet. When she looked up again, her blank mask was in place again. When she looked at Ranma, though, it cracked as her longing for him showed quite easily to anyone practiced at looking for the signs. She was one of those people. Shampoo took a few steps towards them, then stopped abruptly when the old ghoul snapped her fingers.
A moment later the old lady was perched on top of the fence just outside of striking range of Ranma. The sudden position change shocked her, and she grabbed on to Ranma tighter in a fright reflex. How the hell do they move so fast? She thought incredulously. She felt Ranma twitch his muscles briefly as he registered the old ghoul's position change as well, but he didn't change his position. He had obviously determined that the old crone wasn't trying to attack them at the moment.
The old woman held her hand up with a closed fist, and she watched with raised eyebrows as Shampoo bowed, then bent her knees and leaped to the nearest roof and continued onward and away from them. Shampoo locked her eyes on Ranma sadly as she jumped away. She recognized the pain in those eyes. She had felt that pain.
"Well ... grandson-in-law ... it seems like things have changed." The old woman said softly, which brought her attention back to the tribal elder. If they had been standing on the sidewalk, she would have insisted that Ranma put her down by now. But since they were still standing on top of the fence there weren't better options. Well, okay, he's standing, I'm being held, she groused to herself.
"Things haven't changed that much." Ranma replied carefully.
"Oh, but they have." The old woman said in a voice completely without warmth. "Since you have switched your engagement to a different member of the Tendo family, the leeway I was willing to give you with regard to your defiance of the laws of the tribe has all but run out. Shampoo had talked me into letting her try to woo you, since she had been convinced that you had been in love with the youngest Tendo, and she with you."
She paused for a moment and shook her head in disapproval. "For the Joketsuzoku it is ... frowned upon ... for an Amazon to take a man from another Amazon, if they are in love. Shampoo had convinced me to extend to the littlest Tendo an honorary classification of Amazon in this case. While Akane would not do well at her current skill level in our tribe, I agreed that she does have the heart of a warrior and she fought like one. I also agreed that it was obvious that she and you had feelings of love for each other. The fact that you both protested your love made it easier to grant Shampoo's request. Surely if you ever had broken up, you would then have done the right thing and married Shampoo according to our laws."
She stared hard at herself for a moment before she continued addressing Ranma. "The fact that you not only have broken your engagement to Akane, but that you have simply traded her in for one of her weakling sisters, and ignored Shampoo's honorable claim on you, has broken my patience with this whole situation."
"Your patience?!" Ranma jumped in, clearly aggravated.
"Yes, my patience." The old woman said in a mocking tone mirroring Ranma's. Nabiki was getting furious. The old woman continued before she or Ranma could interrupt again. "I am not willing to extend honorary Amazon status to any of the rest of your suitors, son-in-law, including the rest of the Tendo girls. I will give you to the end of today to come to terms with that. I would like to see you at our restaurant this evening. You may bring your current fiancée or any other ... friends ... you wish. I am granting you forty eight total hours of time to think carefully about everything, starting now. During this time, I will guarantee that no Joketsuzoku will attempt to do any harm to you or the Tendos, on pain of death to that person, should they disobey me. However, after your forty eight hours are up, my patience will be completely gone, as will the guarantee of safety.
She felt the fence they were standing on shudder as something impacted it. The elder Amazon looked past Ranma for a moment and frowned, then returned to addressing Ranma as if nothing had happened.
Someone else must be here. She concluded. Maybe Daddy? She thought. She wanted to turn and look, but she didn't want to unbalance Ranma right now.
"Think carefully on your choices in the coming days, son-in-law." The Joketsuzoku Matriarch stated in a flat tone as she stared at him hard for another few heartbeats, then she was gone, just like that. Her peripheral vision picked up a trace of blurred motion along the same path Shampoo had used as she left, and then even that was gone.
Ranma's head followed the elder Amazon's motion for a bit longer before he unclenched and hopped down from the fence with her. As soon as they landed, he let her down so her feet touched the ground. She was still pressed up against him as he held her, though. He had his shoulder turned in the direction the Amazons had left and he was cradling her in a protective hold with his chin tucked down over her head.
She encircled his waist with her arms and leaned her head against the silky shirt on his chest and closed her eyes and allowed herself to be scared for a moment as the heat of him enveloped her. Then she summoned her willpower and put steel in her backbone.
"I'm not worried about them, Ranma." She said confidently as she looked up at him while still resting her head on his chest.
"Really? I am." He said in a nervous tone into her ear. His mouth was very close to her ear in the position he was in with her.
"You scare too easily." She said as she nuzzled his chest and closed her eyes again.
"Yeah, I notice that you're still holding on to me." He said softly.
"Shush, you." She said with a false scolding tone. She leaned her head back and looked at him crossly. "Don't you know it's impolite to point out when a lady is lying?"
He stuck his tongue out in answer to her. She loved that he was starting to feel comfortable enough with her to tease her and be flippant with her. She wanted to encourage that behavior, so she leaned into him and sighed happily as she smiled up at him. She wanted to send him very positive signals when he did things she liked.
I'll just know.
He smiled back at her nervously. She knew he didn't like to do these kinds of things in public. So she leaned her body back from him so she was just standing loosely in his arms again in a casual hug.
Now that she had done so, she could lean over and see who had arrived. It was Doctor Tofu. He was standing on top of the fence a few paces behind where Ranma had been. He was looking in the direction the Amazons had headed off towards. He looked like he normally did, kind and smiling face, relaxed body position and neutral stance. The only things different were his eyes. 
His eyes had a dark glint in them. His eyes spoke of someone who was ready, willing and able to run to the edge, leap into the abyss, and keep fighting, no matter the cost. His eyes showed someone who had seen the abyss looking back at him, and didn't care. She had never seen his eyes look like that.
A moment later his eyes cleared as he registered she was looking at him, and he softened his gaze and returned hers with a smile.
"Don't worry, Nabiki. Everything is going to be okay." He said kindly in a low tone.
She nodded. She knew that with Ranma and Doctor Tofu guarding her, even the Amazons would have a very hard time getting to her. It made her crazy that she had to be guarded though. She both wanted to start immediately training again herself, and at the same time to call the police and just let them handle the Amazons.
But what are the police going to do? These people can move faster than my eyes can follow. And I've had at least some training in the Art. If I can't follow them when they move fast, the police would have no hope of aiming at them with a gun or a net. Better to just let Ranma and the rest of them handle them. She concluded glumly.
Although, I could call immigration and have their little restaurant shut down. She thought darkly and felt better, even though she knew it wouldn't solve anything. If anything, it was helpful that there was a known location that they had a high degree of confidence of finding the Amazons at or near.
"Aren't you two going to be late for school?" Doctor Tofu asked, interrupting her thoughts.
She looked at her watch and grimaced. "He's right," she said with mild alarm. Compared to staring down a pair of angry Amazons, being late for school just didn't pack the same punch.
"I guess we should get going." Ranma said carefully.
"Don't worry, you two, you have more friends than you may realize. Things will be fine. Now get moving, I asked Akane to wait to leave for school until I could take her, I need to get back to her so she can get there on time as well."
They both nodded. Tofu immediately bounded away back towards the house, while she and Ranma turned towards the school and started jogging again. Instead of just jogging next to her, though, he was now holding her hand as well.
I'm sure he can justify that with some Martial Arts reason, if I asked him. She thought happily.
They reached the school in what felt like no time. They weren't even tardy. They slowed to a normal walk once they passed the gates. She looked over at him cautiously, wondering if he'd let go of her now that they were in school. He didn't. She blushed a little bit at the public display of affection, but she certainly wasn't going to make him let go. She could see plenty of people noticing them together and whispering excitedly about it, but she didn't care
She even smiled radiantly when two of her friends, Riko and Yui passed them and raised their eyebrows at them. She knew it was a little thing, and she knew in Ranma's mind he was holding on to her to help protect her. But it was still very nice to have him essentially proclaiming his interest in her at the school.
They walked up the stairs together and stopped at the landing near Ranma's classroom.
"You going to be okay?" He asked her with concern in his voice.
"Sure I will, Ranma. You're not that far away from me, so I'm positive you would hear it if someone was after me. Plus, you heard what Doctor Tofu said, we have more friends than we might think. Doctor Tofu doesn't say things like that for no reason. I'm sure things will be fine." She smiled at him as she reached for his other hand and held both of them together as she swung them back and forth happily.
"Okay ... just yell if you're in trouble." He said in a worried tone.
"Trust me, Ranma. If someone is trying to kill me, I am going to make some noise." She said with a wink. "Would you like to eat lunch with me and my friends today?" She asked in a voice she hoped didn't sound too hopeful.
"S-sure, Nabiki. I can guard you wherever you want to go." He said agreeably.
"Not guard, just eat. If you want to go eat with your friends or with Akane, or even by yourself, that's fine too. You don't need to spend every moment with me, and you don't need to guard me at school. I have resources here I can use if I need to." She said confidently.
Now ... how fast those resources could get to me ... that's another thing entirely. She admitted to herself. She didn't want to tell him that though. She didn't like him thinking the only reason to be with her was to protect her. It was sweet that he was so loyal and protective, but they had to have more than that to build a relationship on.
"Oh ... okay ... sure, yeah ... sure I can eat with you and your friends. It's not like I had any plans for today or nothin'." He said with a growing tone of confidence.
"All right then, I'll see you at lunch out by the smaller tree back by the sports fields. You know the one that overhangs the bench?"
"Oh, yeah, I know that one." He said with a smile and nod.
"Great, see you then, Ranma." She said as she started backing away from him. Their hands stretched out and went horizontal as they kept their grip on each other as long as they could before they both finally let go. She walked backwards for a few steps and kept her eyes on him as she tried to control her expression. She didn't want him to think she was anguished to be parting from him. Mostly because she wasn't, but also because she didn't want him thinking of her as some fawning silly school girl who was obsessed with him.
A moment later she turned around as he reached the door to his classroom and went inside. She turned the corner and found Riko and Yui waiting for her. Both of them were giggling and hiding their mouths behind their hands as they looked at her with moony eyes and fluttered eyelashes.
She grinned at them. "Jealous?" She taunted as she hooked arms with both of them and almost skipped to her own classroom.
"Oh, totally. You need to start sharing, Nabiki, like, immediately." Riko said as they walked.
"I won't tell you everything, but okay ladies, here's the story." She began happily as she walked to class with her friends.