Nabiki arrived first at the little tree she and her friends ate lunch under. She hadn't run there. But she had power walked. She couldn't help it, she was excited.
She sat down on the bench and waited there as calmly as she could as she kicked her feet under the bench playfully. The breeze was blowing a bit, and it carried the scent of grass and flowers on it. Her heart was pounding, but she didn't know why. She'd eaten lunch with her friends under this tree since starting at Furinkan. And she'd eaten with Ranma plenty of times.
But I've never done both at the same time, have I? She thought nervously.
She didn't have much more time to worry about it, because she could see Riko and Yui heading her way now. Riko was her oldest friend. She had known her since she had first started school at age five. Riko was her only friend who had ever met her mother.
Yui was her second oldest friend. She had met Yui when she started Middle School and the friendship had carried over to high school. Yui had never met Mom, but Yui probably knew about as much about her mother as Riko did, owing to her infrequent talks about Mom when the subject came up.
They arrived and stood looking at her impishly. Of all of her friends, she loved these two the most. Riko and Yui both had more or less the same sense of humor that she did. They both thought almost everyone took almost everything too seriously. They both had fast mouths, quick wits, and sharp tongues.
Riko was about her height, and about her build as well. Riko's hips were maybe a little bit wider, and her bust was maybe a little bit smaller than hers, but overall, Riko looked very similar to her. Riko's hair was the natural deep Japanese black. Riko kept her hair long and silky and usually tied back into a ponytail. She liked to say that since most Japanese girls dyed their hair, she was being different by not dying it.
Yui was the shortest of all of her friends. She was trim and athletic and petite. She had her hair dyed brunette and she usually kept it clipped back in place with lots of little clips she picked up everywhere. Yui also tended to wear the most makeup and jewelry of all her friends. She tended to jingle a bit when she walked. Unlike a lot of high school girls, the pieces Yui wore were real. Her parents were pretty well off, and she was their only child, and they doted on her.
Both of them were grinning like fools as they stood under their tree and looked at her. She grinned right back.
"So, how long do you think it'll take your man to run screaming for the hills?" Riko asked in a deadpan.
"I don't give him more than a few minutes at most." Yui added.
Riko looked her up and down and winked as she responded to Yui. "Well, he does live with Nabiki after all, he has to have built up at least some immunity from that.
Yui considered that for a moment then nodded. "All right, I'll stretch it to five minutes, but that's as far as I'm willing to go." She also held her deadpan voice.
"Both of you are hilarious. Let's not go too hard on Ranma when he gets here, all right?" She said playfully.
"Oh, but Nabiki-chan, it is our right, and sacred duty, to screen all of your suitors. As your best friends we can't approve him before he passes the tests." Riko said as she walked over and sat down next to her on the bench to her left. Riko always smelled like gardenia flower perfume, she loved gardenias.
"Test?" She asked curiously.
"Tests." Yui corrected her as she sat down to her right. Yui always smelled like either lychee accented rose perfume or a crisp peony with osmanthus perfume depending on her mood for the day.
"Oh no." She said with a smile on her face as she leaned into Riko and smiled as she closed her eyes contentedly. "And what are these tests?"
"He shall have to face the challenges." Yui said sternly. She cracked an eye open and looked at Yui.
"They are five-fold." Riko said. She craned her neck back so she could look up at Riko as she opened her other eye.
"Uh oh." She said, as her smile grew wider.
"First he shall have to pass the test of humility." Riko said in a serious voice as she pulled her head down into her lap and began stroking her hair softly.
"Then he will have to pass the test of perseverance." Yui said as she leaned over and hung her head over hers so she was looking into her eyes.
"Then the test of righteousness." Riko said with an evil grin. "I'll be handling that one ... personally."
"Oh dear." She said. She knew exactly what Riko meant by that. Poor Ranma.
"Next will come the test of honesty." Yui added.
"And finally, he shall pass through the fire of the test of jocoseness." Riko said with solemn dignity.
"Jocoseness?" She asked.
"Whimsy." Riko clarified.
"Ooh, good word!" Yui chirped happily. "I need to write that one down." She said as she whipped out her notebook from her pocket.
"Hurry up, he'll be here soon." Riko said.
"Too late." She said as she turned her head in Riko's lap and spied Ranma making his way over to them. He was walking with purpose but she could tell from his gait that he was a little trepidatious.
You'll do fine, Ranma, don't worry. She silently encouraged him. Once he reached the edge of their little gathering he slowed to a half-walk, and then stopped.
Both Riko and Yui straightened up and looked at him like cats eying a toy to pounce on. She groaned inwardly and squirmed quickly out of Riko's lap. She popped up to her feet and hurried over to him and hugged him.
"Ranma! You made it!" She said loudly as a cover. Under her breath she whispered as she hugged him. "Just relax, and have fun. Okay?" She felt him relax in her arms a little bit and he nodded almost imperceptibly.
She stepped back from him and took him by the hand and led him to their bench to make the introductions.
"Ranma, this is Riko." She said as she nodded to Riko, who waved at him and smiled. "And this is Yui." She nodded at her as well." Yui winked at him and smiled. "They are my oldest and best friends and my chief lieutenants."
"N-nice to meet you." Ranma said as he nodded his head to each of them as she introduced them. She was glad he hadn't tried to formally bow to them. Giving either one of them an opening like that would just make them more naughty.
She swung him around with a smile on her face and plopped him down on the bench in between both of them. If we're going to do trial by fire, then we might as well get on with it. She thought happily to herself. She knew Ranma would do just fine with them, although he might need a little encouragement.
"Shall we eat?" Yui asked.
"But of course!" Riko chirped happily as both of them snuggled up to Ranma. She rolled her eyes at them as she watched Ranma's hands tighten on the boxed lunch he was carrying from home.
She sat down on the grass in front of the bench and opened her own lunch while her friends mirrored her. Ranma took a few more moments, but eventually followed their example. They all ate quietly for a few moments, but she could see her girls sizing him up and forming plans. They were very efficient.
Surprisingly, Ranma asked the first question. He turned to Riko as he finished bolting down his own lunch. "Why did Nabiki call you her lieutenants?"
"Ooh, good question!" Yui piped in from behind him while Riko nodded.
"Should we tell him?" Riko asked as she leaned forward to look around Ranma to see Yui.
"I'm thinking no. That is privileged information, after all."
"Agreed. Sorry Ranma, you'll have to be in the club longer before we can tell you that." Riko said with a smile.
"Fair enough." He said as he sat back.
"So, Ranma, how are you liking Furinkan High?" Yui asked.
"Oh, it's nice here, I like it." He replied as he turned to look at her.
"Thinking of going out for any of the sports teams or clubs next year?" Riko asked.
"P-probably not ... that kinda stuff isn't really my thing." He pivoted to look at her. It was pretty amusing to watch them pulling him left and right. He probably didn't even realize they were doing it on purpose.
"What about the debate team or student government?" Yui asked, piling right on.
"Oh, yeah, student government would be amazing! You're so popular already, you could totally win President if you tried for it!" Riko said excitedly.
"Um ... well ..." He said with a bit of a panicked look on his face.
"Ranma is too busy working on becoming a master of the School of Anything Goes Martial Arts." She chimed in. "He doesn't have time for clubs or sports or student government. Besides, I'd be careful what you wish for. If Ranma was student body president, Martial Arts practice might replace gym class." She said gleefully.
Both Yui and Riko grimaced at that while Ranma's eyes opened wide.
"Oh, hey, yeah, that would be much better than gym class! Could I actually do that?" He asked her with real interest in his voice as he leaned forward towards her eagerly. Yui and Riko both waved their arms frantically behind him to ward her off. She grinned. This is what you get for poking the bear, ladies. She thought as she nodded at him.
"Of course, Ranma. The student body President actually has a lot of power here at Furinkan. You would just have to pass the motion in a general session, and draft the plan and submit it to the school council for approval. They pretty much always rubber stamp things like that. You could probably have it changed no later than two weeks after you were voted in. Maybe only one week if I helped you draft the plan." She said sweetly. She could see his interest growing by the second.
"Could I teach the Anything Goes style here at the school?" He asked eagerly.
"I don't see why not." She said happily. It was fun seeing him get so excited. The fact that Yui and Riko's eyes were bugging out of their heads was just a bonus as far as she was concerned.
Mess with the bull, ladies, and you get the horns. She thought happily.
"So, anywaaaaaaay, Ranma..." Riko said as she pulled on his shoulder and brought him back level with herself and Yui. Riko promptly wrapped herself around his arm and laid her head on his shoulder as she blinked up at him and smiled prettily. "I hear you have a date planned for my little Nabiki."
"Yes Ranma, we need details. Can't have you taking our girl just anywhere." Yui added as she put her hands on Ranma's shoulder and shook him gently, which caused both he and Riko to sway back and forth.
"Ranma and I have a very nice date planned, don't we Ranma?" She prompted him.
"Y-yeah, we do." He said with growing confidence. "We're gonna go to the Chuo ward for our date."
"Oh, nice! Take me there next, okay?" Riko said enviously.
"Yeah, me too, me too!" Yui chimed in as she shook him by the shoulder again.
He looked over at her and she smiled at him. He was doing great. She could tell he wasn't quite sure what on Earth was going on, but it didn't matter. He was interacting with them nicely. Now all he needed to do was—
"Uh oh, here comes trouble." Riko said as she pointed across the field with one hand while she continued to clutch Ranma's arm with her other.
She craned her neck to look at what Riko was pointing at, and saw the unmistakable figure of someone wearing traditional Hakama and a Kendogi while carrying something long in their hand that was probably a wooden sword. They were about as far away as they could be and still be visible, so she had some time. But, they were clearly headed her way, so she didn't have a lot of time.
"Yup, you're right, we do have trouble coming." She confirmed as she sighed inwardly. Of course Kuno has decided to come talk to me right now. She groused to herself.
"He's your trouble, Nabiki." Riko said as she stuck her tongue out while she swayed with Ranma as Yui continued to shake them for no other reason than she seemed to find it fun.
"Hey, just because he insists on paying me to mess with him, doesn't mean I'm responsible." She protested.
"Yeah, but Nabiki, what if he ever figures it out?" Yui asked as she finally stopped shaking Ranma and turned to look at her.
She blinked in surprise. "I will be giving my acceptance speech at the Sublime Saints of Charitable Giving Awards, before that happens, Yui."
"Tickets to that, please!" Yui laughed.
"Ooh, I'll take that bet!" Riko said gleefully.
"Sure, sure, odds are one will get you twenty." She said absently as she watched Kuno approach.
Yui stood up partially and stared hard into Ranma's eyes with a semi-serious look on her face. "What about him? Do you still mess with him?" She asked as she stared intently into his eyes.
She smirked at Yui. "No, Ranma has a get-out-of-sass-free card right now, he's out of bounds."
Riko's face went into an immediate pout as she jerked her eyes off watching Kuno approach to stare at her in shock. "Aww, come on, Nabiki! Ranma is the most entertaining thing that has ever happened to this school!"
"EVER!" Yui piled on as she sat back down next to him and stared at her in disappointment. "You can't take him away from us, we need this!" Yui added in a plaintive tone.
"Um ..." Ranma said, clearly bewildered.
Riko nodded eagerly. "Oh, totally! I plan my day around watching what he'll do next." Riko stared at Ranma with an over-the-top dreamy smile while she patted his chest fondly.
"H-hey..." Ranma managed to get out. She could tell he didn't know what the rules were and didn't know what he could or should do. Unfortunately for him, his discomfort was the kind of fuel that Riko and Yui fed on mercilessly.
Riko perked up immediately as she heard his tone and plopped herself into his lap as she wrapped her arms around him, and cooed to him like he was a baby bird. "You said it! Nabiki has herself a steal with this one. I would never get tired of playing with him!" She said happily as she wrapped her hands around his neck and leaned back away from him and sighed as she let her hair hang down towards the ground as she hung from him.
She scowled at them but didn't come to his rescue just yet. She was really hoping he would rise to the occasion and start showing her that he could handle himself in her world. She had a half smile on her face as she watched her friends tease him. She had to admit, it was both cute and very amusing to watch him squirm under their attentions. Five challenges, indeed.
Yui followed Riko's lead and leaned herself up against him as well and sighed theatrically. "Oh, for sure!" Yui turned to face her and grinned mischievously. "Hey, Nabi, I'll give you five thousand for him for the weekend!"
Ranma was starting to twitch as they teased him. She decided to help him out, a little bit. She rose to her feet and sauntered over to him confidently. She really liked that she could claim him right now, and everyone else would have to back off. Even though her public claim on him was that stupid arranged marriage, as far as everyone else was concerned, it was valid and had weight behind it.
She shooed the girls away from him, and they hopped up and stood to the side with silly grins on their faces. She sat down next to him and turned to face them. "Sorry ladies, he's off the market." Then she leaned into him herself and whispered into his ear. "C'mon, they're only playing with you, you can play too, it's okay, I'm not going to get mad." She prompted him.
He turned into her arms, which he hadn't done with Riko or Yui, so he was basically hugging her. She could see both of them notice this and raise their eyebrows with respect. He leaned his head in towards her ear and whispered back to her. "I ... I don't know ... I never..."
She smiled into his shoulder where he couldn't see it and whispered back. "Well, figure it out. A master of the Anything Goes style has to be quick not just with his fists." He leaned back away from her and nodded. She winked at him.
Riko and Yui were watching them intently now, trying to hear what they were saying to each other.
Riko jumped in first. "Ooh, what's she whispering to you, Ranma? Sexy stuff?"
"Oh, I doubt it, Riko, he wouldn't know what to do with a girl if one dropped naked into his bed." Yui said with a wink.
"I ... I would so!" Ranma protested.
"That's actually happened before ... multiple times." She said with a frown and a sigh.
Riko smirked and ignored her. "Oh yeah, Ranma, ... what would you do?"
"Well ... if that girl was anything like you ... I'd have to wait another hour or so before I did anything until she ... stopped talking." He said as he blushed hard and forced himself to look at Riko. She could tell it was hard for him, but he did it.
She grinned. Atta boy, Ranma! She silently cheered for him. He was doing it!
Yui laughed, pleased with the shot Ranma had gotten in. "Ooh, Nabi must be serious about him, she's teaching him to be her junior smartass!"
Riko grinned. "Oh, I don't know, without Akane around to shut him up, maybe he's just finally getting a chance to get a word in edge-wise."
She frowned. "Hey, leave Akane alone." She said a bit sharply. She didn't like people picking on Akane.
Riko changed the topic without acknowledging her rebuke directly. "So ... Kiki-chan..." Riko began as she turned to address her and paused for a moment. Ranma looked up sharply at her when he heard Riko's pet name for her, and grinned like he'd just discovered free money. She moaned silently to herself and briefly closed her eyes in annoyance. Riko continued after a pregnant pause to allow the pet name for her to sink in with Ranma. "So ... does he have like ... crazy-good stamina for ... stuff?" Riko asked breathlessly.
Wow, she wasn't kidding when she said she was going to put him through a trial-by-fire. She thought, chagrined. She blushed, but didn't look away.
Yui took the opportunity to pile on. "Ooh, yeah, he's so strong, I bet he can get ... creative ... with stuff..." Yui gazed longingly at Ranma and blushed brightly. It was amazing what that girl could make herself do when she was acting.
She smirked at them. "I have got to get you ladies some dates."
Riko pouted. "Aww, come on Kiki! I told you about what Kenta and I did on our dates!"
"That's true, she did." Yui confirmed with a helpful and enthusiastic nod.
"Um ..." Ranma tried to interject.
She grinned and leisurely draped herself across him before she answered them. She wanted to send a clear signal to him, and them. "Well, there's two differences between that and this, ladies." She held their gazes for a moment then held up one finger. "One, you two never really did much ... of anything."
"Also true." Yui said with another helpful nod. Riko scowled at her.
"And two," she paused as she held up a second finger and they looked at her, "Ranma is right here! Kenta wasn't there when you talked about him, be nice." She scolded.
Riko stuck her tongue out at her then looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Doesn't matter anyway, your boy-toy is almost here."
"Boy toy?" Ranma asked with raised eyebrows.
She looked back at him and smiled as she stood up. "Not like that, she just means I mess with him."
"Oh." He said with a nod.
She turned to face Kuno and took a half step away from Ranma on the bench.
She heard Ranma say Kuno's name darkly to himself and saw him rise to his feet out of the corner of her eye. She turned around and held a hand palm down and pushed it towards the ground as she locked eyes with him sternly. "I can handle Kuno, Ranma. Trust me."
"But—"
Riko read her body language and immediately plopped herself into his lap as he started to hesitantly sit back down, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Don't worry, Ranma, she was handling Kuno well before you arrived in town."
Yui responded to her as well and settled herself into his lap also. She pushed Riko over so they were each sitting on one of his legs with Riko's arms around his neck, and Yui's around his chest. "True story, just sit back and watch the master at work." Yui encouraged him.
"Um—" Was all he could get out.
"I can definitely see why Kiki likes you, and why Akane kept you around." Riko purred happily as she snuggled into him.
"Oh, I know, right? Why can't any of the losers chasing me be built like this?" Yui sighed as she ran her hands over his chest happily.
Ranma was looking back and forth between them with alarm on his face. "Um—" he tried again.
"Shh, the show's about to start." Riko interrupted him.
She smiled at them all and turned to face Kuno, who had almost arrived. She turned just enough so she could face Kuno, while still keeping Ranma and her friends in her peripheral vision. She could still hear them easily as well, since they were only a half step behind her.
Damn, I wish I had popcorn." Riko said.
"I could go get you some." Ranma supplied helpfully.
"Nope," Yui said as she tightened her hold on him, "we have to keep an eye on you while Nabi is busy."
"Yeah, and I am also pretty sure I am drafting you to be my new official hand warmer, I'll pay Kiki to rent your warmth." Riko said happily.
"Here we go!" Yui said gleefully as she shook Ranma back and forth with excitement.
She rolled her eyes internally at her silly friends' antics as Kuno did indeed arrive.
"How now, Nabiki Tendo?" Kuno said in his usual overly-confident baritone.
She smiled at him. "Hey, Kuno-baby, what's up?"
"I have need of your services. Prithee, I beseech thee to grant me an audience with the pig-tailed girl! I need—"
"All right! This one ends poorly!" She could hear Riko say as Kuno droned on.
"I love it when he wants her!" Yui chimed in.
Ranma just sighed.
"He still has no idea she's you; I think he's the only student in the school who still hasn't figured it out yet." Riko said in a stage whisper.
"Too many shots to the head, loosens up the gray matter." Yui added as she knocked the side of her head comically.
She had to fight to keep herself from laughing as she listened to them while Kuno talked.
"Y-yeah," Ranma said as he started to catch on to their rhythm, "Kuno really doesn't know how to duck, he—"
"For sure, oop, he's done pontificating, hang on." Yui said as she put her finger across his lips as Kuno finished up.
She turned her full attention back to Kuno. "Oh, Kuno-baby, are you still after her?"
"Prithee, peace, I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares do more is none."
"Whatever you say, Kuno-baby, but I don't think the pig-tailed girl is ever going to go for you—" she said on auto-pilot as she launched into the same speech she always gave him while she listened to her friends.
"Here it comes!" Riko said excitedly as she talked.
"I'm so excited!" Yui faintly squealed.
It's amazing Kuno doesn't hear them. He probably does and just ignores them. She thought as she finished her speech and transitioned to explaining her terms.
"— so, if you want to reach her, I can make it happen, but it will cost you. I have to cover expenses, after all. You ready to do this?" She asked him. She didn't really care if he accepted or not. She wondered if he ever noticed that she raised the price by a thousand Yen for his pig-tailed goddess chasing favors every time he came to her with them?
"I dare to do only what is proper for a man to do." Kuno said confidently.
"Right, well, for only one hundred thousand Yen, I can give you a phone number to call her at tomorrow. Then you can ask her out yourself."
"Oof, no hook!" Riko hissed in disappointment.
"No way, she's got him, here comes the reel." Yui said confidently.
"One ... hundred ... thousand..." Kuno repeated slowly as his eyes widened.
She gave him a hard stare. "That's my price, Kuno-baby. I am not going to give out that number cheaply. A girl's got to protect her resources."
"Frailty, thy name is woman! That price is outrageous!"
"If you are wasting my time, then I do desire that we might be better strangers." She said, using his own terminology. That sometimes helped when dealing with Kuno.
He perked up immediately when she did that, like he always did. Then he waved her away with imperious dismissal written all over his face. "Feh, you are a tedious fool, to think I would pay such a price for a mere phone number." He turned his shoulder like he was going to leave.
"He's not bluffing." Riko said.
"I'll take that bet, odds?" Yui challenged her.
She had to fight herself not to turn around and lay odds with them.
"One'll getcha three." Riko said absently.
"Done." Yui said as she handed over a thousand Yen note.
Ranma was looking back and forth between them rapidly with wide eyes.
"Look, Kuno-baby, if you want a phone number where you can reach the pig-tailed girl, that's my price. Certainly ... a great and noble house, like the Kunos, can afford such a small sum? Are your funds running low these days?" She taunted him. She knew that would either goad him into paying, or annoy him enough to make him go away and leave them alone. She was fine either way.
Kuno scowled at her. "I should cut out your tongue than endure such falsehoods!"
"'Tis no matter, I shall speak as much wit as thou afterwards, little Troilus." She taunted him.
"Ooh! Nice one!" Yui said in appreciation.
"Where does she find the time?" Riko asked in awe.
"Nabiki is the hero we deserve, and my personal role model." Yui added in a hushed voice.
"Wow ... she is really good, isn't she?" Ranma said in a louder voice than her friends. He obviously didn't understand stage whispering. She blushed lightly at his praise anyway.
"Come, come, you wasp, you Katherina; call me Troilus doth thee? I' faith, you are too angry." Kuno said as he took a step towards her and narrowed his eyes.
She didn't back down. "If I be waspish, best beware my sting." She said as she stared him down.
"Fine then! I shall pay thy ransom!" He said with exasperation as he dug into his Kendogi for money.
Yui held out her hand to Riko with a smug smile on her face. "Pay up."
"Damn, I thought for sure a hundred would have been his breaking point." Riko said as she leaned back from Ranma a little bit to dig in her own blouse for money; she rubbed her chest on Ranma while doing so. Nabiki knew it wasn't an accident, but she didn't care. Riko wasn't hitting on him, she was just like that with people she liked and people she was teasing. And it was good for Ranma to have to deal with women and their bodies without it being yet another romantic catastrophe.
Ranma was looking at her with very wide eyes while he held his hands out to his sides as best he could with both of the girls sitting on him, trying to show he wasn't doing anything. She nodded imperceptibly for anyone except Ranma. She knew he'd pick up on it and understand that she knew.
Kuno held a roll of ten-thousand Yen bills out to her which she snapped up and deposited into her hip pocket as she smiled at him. "All right, Kuno-baby, here you go, now don't lose this." She said as she leaned over and grabbed his hand as she pulled a marker out of her other pocket and wrote a phone number down on his wrist. The marker was purple and scented with a candy-grape smell. That made it extra fun for her.
Kuno nodded to her sharply then pulled his hand back gently, almost reverently, and did an abrupt about-face as he walked away proudly while he blew on the marker to dry it.
She rolled her eyes at him. "That man from children, nothing differs." She said quietly as he walked away. She turned around and smiled as she sauntered back over to Ranma, shooed the girls away again, and sat happily in his lap. The girls vacated his lap, but kept their arms wrapped around him.
Ranma let out a little oof as she plopped down on him. "That was ... impressive ... Kiki." He said with a slow smile.
"Ooh, I don't know if I can let you use that one yet, Ranma." Riko said as she grabbed his chin and pulled his head around to stare into her eyes. "Not sure you've earned it, copyright and all that." Riko said as she stared hard at him with a thin frown on her lips.
Ranma didn't back down. "Hey, if you want to use me as a hand-warmer, then I get to use that name." He declared with defiance in his eyes.
She blinked at him in surprise and happiness. She couldn't believe he was going toe-to-toe with Riko!
Riko stared him down for a few more moments then squealed, "Deal!" She immediately stuck her hands into his shirt which caused him to yelp as her cold hands found his warm skin. "So waaaaaarm!" Riko purred happily with her best imitation of a happy cat's face plastered on her face.
"Shoulda seen that one coming, Ranma." She said to him with a grin.
"Give him time, he's a smart boy." Yui chimed in.
"No I'm not, Nabiki's the smart one." He protested as he tried to wiggle Riko's hands out of his shirt unsuccessfully.
She ignored his self-deprecation. "You bet he is, I've seen him learn extremely complicated things in a day or less, and master them. If Ranma wants to, he can learn just about anything." She boasted proudly.
"Oh, great! How do we get him to learn history? I need a tutor." Riko said in a sing-song voice.
She smiled happily. It's happening, it's happening! She thought excitedly to herself as Ranma played with them. He probably didn't realize that was what was happening, but it didn't matter. He could do it!
"Aint gonna happen." Ranma shot back to Riko.
"Nabi could pay you with naked pictures, have any good ones, Nabi-chan?" Yui asked.
"Nah, I got out of that business." She deadpanned.
"Besides, if I want to see a naked girl, all I have to do is take a cold shower." Ranma said in a tone that was both embarrassed and proud.
"Ooh, listen to him, so ... experienced." Riko said as she cooed and leaned into him.
"I know, right? But, um, Ranma, cold showers aren't really a girl's friend, ya know? That's a pro-tip from me to you for date nights." Yui said with a wink.
"I know ... its like it makes me ... a different person." He replied cautiously but with a tinge of laughter behind his voice.
Both Yui and Riko rocked him back and forth with glee as they laughed real laughs and dispensed with their theatrics.
She smiled proudly at him.
I'll just know.
The warning bell to return to class chose that moment to ring. She scowled in the general direction of the school buildings. Things were just getting interesting! She looked around and saw the vast majority of the students within eyesight starting to slowly drift towards the buildings.
"Well ... I guess that's it for today. Same time tomorrow, ladies?" She asked sadly.
"You know it! Who knew Ranma could have a sense of humor?!" Riko said as she stood up, pulled her hands out of Ranma's shirt, and leaned in and planted a wet kiss on his cheek with a loud smacking sound.
"Seriously! We should bring Chihiro & Nanami tomorrow!" Yui said as she disentangled herself from Ranma and stood up next to Riko and casually bumped her hips into Riko's to push her off Ranma. Riko scowled at her then grinned and bumped her own hips into Yui's which made Yui stumble sideways a bit with a startled whoop. It was one of their favorite games.
She stayed in Ranma's lap while Riko and Yui started to walk away as they waved cheerfully to them both.
"See you in class, Kiki! And Ranma, I'm trusting you with that name! You're gonna have a crisis on your hands if you spread it around!" Riko said with a laugh as she linked arms with Yui.
"Bye you two lovebirds, be good!" Yui called after them as she sauntered away with Riko.
A moment after they were out of earshot, Ranma looked at her with a dazed expression on his face. "Wow."
She smiled at him. "Wow indeed."
"Kiki?" He asked her, clearly curious about the name.
She frowned at him. "You don't actually get to call me that unless Riko's around."
"Why not?"
"She named me that mostly to annoy me."
"But it's so cute."
She looked at him coyly and fluttered her eyelashes at him as she considered it. She nodded her head when she came to a decision and leaned in to whisper it in his ear. "Fine, but only when we're alone. And if you ever tell Akane, I will spike your food with something nasty that I will pick based on how annoyed I am with you, and I reserve the right to come up with my own name for you."
"Deal," he said as he stood up with her and shifted her from sitting in his lap to sitting in his arms. "Should we get to class?" He asked hesitantly. She knew he had no strong desire to return to class, but he also knew that she wasn't exactly blasé about her own studies.
"I guess so." She said wistfully. She cared about her studies, but she was having so much fun with him. She didn't want the moment to end.
He looked at her quizzically. "So ... what number did you give Kuno to reach me?" He asked.
"Our home number, of course."
"So ... you tricked him?"
She blinked at him. "Not at all." She said as she wiggled in his arms to indicate she wanted to be put down. He did so immediately. "I gave him exactly what I told him I would give him, nothing more and nothing less."
She could tell he wasn't quite following her with the look he was giving her. So she waved him back over to the bench. "Have a seat. Now is as good a time as any to start training you for this sort of thing. Can you tell me what I promised him?"
"Sure, you told him you would arrange a date with him and the pig-tailed girl, and setup a phone call for that." He said as he sat back down.
She frowned and shook her head at him. "That is not what I told him. Details are very important in contracts, Ranma, including verbal contracts. You have to pay attention to words, and the order they are used and how they are used."
She began to tick points off on her fingers as she explained. "What I told him was, verbatim, one, if he wanted to reach her, I could make it happen. Two, for one hundred thousand Yen, I could give him a phone number to call her at tomorrow. Three, with that number he could then ask her out himself. And that is exactly what I gave him."
"Yeah, but Nabiki—" He started to argue with her.
"Are you the pig-tailed girl?" She interrupted him.
"Well, yeah."
"Do you live in our house?"
"Sure."
"So, if the phone rang and you answered it tomorrow, or someone went and got you, will what I gave him have satisfied the agreement I made with him to provide a phone number where he can reach the pig-tailed girl and ask her for a date?"
"I guess." He said reluctantly.
"Then the agreement was made in good faith, and I upheld my end of it. I never promised that you would be home, be in female form, would agree to the date, or would even answer the phone. That was what he wanted, but it wasn't what I said I would do. And that, Ranma, is the essence of contracts. The letter of the agreement trumps the spirit. Anything goes." She whispered as she finished.
He smiled at that. "I can see I have a lot to learn about this sort of thing."
"Well, you should get to class to study, then." She said with a soft smile.
"Meet you after school outside my classroom?" He asked.
"Of course, we have to go over our plan for meeting with Shampoo and her grandmother don't we?"
"Oh ... I wasn't actually gonna go to that, do you think we should?" He asked.
"I think forty eight hours of guaranteed freedom from their attacks is worth meeting with them for a few minutes, yes." She said patiently.
"A-all right, then yeah, we should come up with a plan before we go see them." He said as he stood up and started to walk towards the school buildings.
"I am already working on one." She promised him.
He nodded and trotted off towards the building with his classroom in it. "See you in a few hours." He called back to her, then paused and looked back. "Coming?"
"In a moment."
"I'll wait with you then." He said as he started back towards her.
"Go. I'll be right behind you, just want to enjoy the view for a few more moments before I go back in."
He looked at her doubtfully. "But, Nabiki—"
"Go." She said, more firmly. He nodded and jogged off towards the building his classroom was in. He looked back at her a couple of times as he did, and she waved each time he did.
She stood there for a few moments and allowed herself to be immensely happy with how well Ranma's first encounter with her friends had gone while she simultaneously planned for how to deal with the Amazons.
A cold voice behind her startled her out of her happy thoughts just as she felt a presence behind her.
"Proud of ourself, are we, Nabiki Tendo?"
It was Kodachi's voice.