Nabiki sat through class and did her best to pay attention. It was hard, but she tried. She was starting to feel like her old self again. Things weren't back to normal, at all. But, a lot of the chaos and turmoil that had kicked off when Ranma saved her from the collapsing balcony, were starting to settle down. She was starting to pick up a rhythm with him. She didn't have everything figured out yet, but she was starting to get enough control over the situation again that she didn't feel quite so off-center and out of control any more.
She knew that things weren't fully resolved with any of the girls in the circus following Ranma. And with Akane now actively fighting for him, it was only going to get worse. But, he was holding her hand, and picking her up in front of his classmates, and doing what he could to show her that he cared. Or, if he wasn't showing that he cared, he was at least showing that he wasn't indifferent.
She was learning how to be with him in his world, and it wasn't as bad as it sometimes looked. And he was making great strides to understand her world. They could do this, they could make their connection blossom into a full relationship. All it would require would be patience and effort — well, that, and getting rid of the circus following him.
She sighed at that thought and was then startled out of her reverie a moment later by the ringing of the lunch bell. She looked down at her notes and found that she had trailed off about an hour ago during Math. Oh well, she was paying better attention now that she had been since everything started. Once everything was settled, she would be able to fully resume the proper attention to her studies. Riko and Yui stopped at her desk and grinned at her as she stood up.
"Nanami and Chihiro will be joining us today." Riko said with an impish smile.
"That's great, I love it when they can do that." She said happily.
"Do you think Ranma will actually come back for another round?" Yui asked softly. She knew Yui was both kidding, and asking a real question. It wasn't uncommon for the guys in their lives to not be able to keep up with them and to fade away once that was realized.
She smiled at both of them. "Ranma hasn't broken a promise to me yet, I don't see why he would start today with something as small as spending time with me at lunch. I am going to go get him now." She said confidently. Inside, her doubts and fears swam up to the surface and made her dread finding him missing from his classroom, and having to go back to her friends and tell them that she had been wrong. But she ignored it.
She had faith in Ranma. He was a lot of things, and some of those things weren't the best things. But he didn't betray people or break promises. That was the rock she had built her faith in him on. If that rock ever broke, she didn't think she would be able to continue a relationship with him.
She could tell her friends were reading her thoughts on her face, and both of them we sending her encouraging signals from their own facial expressions. Riko even grabbed her hand and held it supportively. They really were the best friends she could ever ask for. She smiled at them and stepped towards the door.
"I will see you two at the usual spot, just as soon as I get Ranma. Okay?" She said as she walked towards the door.
They nodded, and Yui made an OK sign with her hand and winked. "We'll save you a seat!"
She nodded and then stepped through the door and was out of their eyesight. As soon as she was, she sagged a bit and let her nervousness show a little. She clasped her hands together and tucked them under her chin as she walked towards his classroom. She was doing her best to ignore the fear and doubt inside of her that was roiling to the surface. She would be terribly embarrassed if she had to go back to her friends and report that Ranma had ditched—
"Nabiki, hi!" Ranma said from the hallway outside his classroom. He was standing next to the door waiting for her. Akane was nowhere to be seen.
She let out the breath she hadn't known she had been holding, and smiled at him. "Hello Ranma. Ready to go have lunch with me and my friends again?"
"Sure." He said with an easy smile as he settled in to walk beside her. She did her best to keep her professional mask in place as they walked the halls together. It wouldn't do for the general school population to get the idea that she had gone soft. But inside ... inside she was melting.
He kept his promise. He waited for me. He cares, he cares, he cares! She thought happily to herself. It was a small thing, but it mattered to her. She found that she was now the one who was sneaking glances at him as they walked. 
They exited the building and began to make their way towards the special spot she and her friends ate lunch at. The air smelled like whatever blossoms were blooming in the trees at the moment, and she could hear the happy voices of the students floating on the wind as they called to each other while they played games, talked, and did all of the other normal things high school students did.
She walked next to Ranma and tried very hard not to grin foolishly. She was so happy that Ranma was willing to hang out with her and her friends and to be seen in public with her. She knew he had his own friends he liked to spend time with. She knew he didn't understand, but she liked being able to show him off to her friends, and to allow her friends to get used to him and to tease him and test him.
As they approached the tree that she and her friends had claimed as their exclusive area, she could see that Riko and Yui were already there. Both of the girls' heads perked up when they saw her coming with Ranma in tow. Riko smiled predatorily. Nabiki knew that Riko really enjoyed teasing guys in general, especially shy ones. It would be good for Ranma to be around someone who was aggressive like Riko, but in a safe environment where everyone knew it was all just friendly play.
"Ranma! You came back!" Riko exclaimed while beaming happily at him while she kicked her feet under the bench like a little kid.
"Wow, I'm impressed, not a lot of people can do a repeat with Riko." Yui added cheerfully.
"Hey! Feelings! I have them!" Riko said in mock indignation.
"That's very true, Riko can be ... a little too enthusiastic." She piled on with a smile.
"Ranma! That's not true, is it?" Riko asked in a silly voice that was supposed to sound desperate. 
"Um ..." Ranma stammered with his hand behind his head in embarrassment.
Riko leaped to her feet and clenched her hands under her chin in a classic pleading pose. "Say it isn't so, Ranma!" Before he could respond, Riko ran and jumped into his arms and clutched at him. Ranma caught her, but was just off balance enough that he ended up sitting down heavily with her ending up in his lap as a small oof escaped his lips.
"Case in point." She said with a smile.
"Exactly what I'm talking about." Yui added.
"Oh shush, you two are just too timid, that's your problem." Riko said as she stuck her tongue out at them while she snuggled up to Ranma.
"Um..." Ranma said, clearly uncomfortable.
Riko faced him and nuzzled him as she wiggled in his arms. "You ... are much more comfortable ... than Kenta ever was." Riko cooed.
"He's also not yours." She said with a frown and a raised eyebrow.
"I'll fight you for him." Riko growled while fixing her with a challenging stare.
She opened her mouth to respond, but Ranma beat her to it. "You'd lose." Ranma said quietly, but confidently. Everyone looked at him in surprise.
He continued quietly. "Nabiki's tougher than she looks. She's had trainin', and she was good at it, I can tell. Any student of the Anything Goes Martial Arts style can beat any untrained opponent, even if they've only had one lesson." He declared.
She could feel herself blushing. Why was he calling out her martial arts skills?
"Ooh, is that true Nabi?" Yui asked in an excited voice.
"Are you a super-secret ninja badass? How could you keep that from me?! I have so many people I need you to punch!" Riko asked in an excited yell.
She patted her hands down towards the ground in a calming gesture. "Now now ladies, let's not get excited." She tried to deflect while she shot Ranma a warning glace. But he either didn't notice it, or chose to ignore it.
"Don't be so modest, Nabiki. I bet you could even handle Kuno." He proclaimed while he simultaneously tried to lift Riko off of himself, to no avail. Riko wasn't moving.
I wonder why he isn't bringing up Kodachi? She thought in confusion before she answered him in a way she hoped to use to put an end to the topic. "I do handle Kuno, easily." She said with a frown.
"No, I mean handle Kuno like I handle him." Ranma said with conviction.
"Oh, eww, Ranma, no, not you and Kuno? You can do better." Riko chirped happily as she picked up on the double entendre.
She sighed with relief. She was glad the conversation was moving away from a discussion of her martial prowess. The last thing she needed was a reputation spreading that she was a fighter. Not until she had actually gotten her training back on track anyway.
"Oh god, I hope not?" Yui asked as she covered her mouth in disgust.
"Pray with me, Yui." Riko said happily as she started doing mock Shinto prayers. Yui joined her gleefully.
"Say it isn't so, Ranma!" She piled on, happy to play with Ranma again.
Ranma frowned at all of them. "That's not what I meant!" Ranma protested in an embarrassed tone.
"It's okay Ranma!" Riko said as she hugged him enthusiastically. "This is a safe space, we still love you! Say what's in your heart!"
"Yeah, if you want Kuno, I'm sure Nabi can hook you up with him." Yui said with a huge grin as she tried to contain her laughter.
Ranma glared at all of them. "None of you are as funny as you think you are." He groused as Yui and Riko started laughing uncontrollably.
"Oh, well, Ranma, I mean, come on, that just simply isn't true." She added as she let herself laugh as well. It was a lot of fun to play with him. Now they just needed to work on him having fun as well.
Riko and Yui were still laughing. Riko was laughing so hard she was leaning back in Ranma's lap with her hands around his neck and shaking him as she giggled.
"Observe the evidence." She said as she pointed to her giggling friends.
"It's Riko's fault, she corrupted us." Yui managed to say as she regained control.
Riko shook her head vigorously as she sat up and brought her giggling under control as well. "That's true, I absolutely did."
"And I had nothing to do with it." She added with a smile.
Riko nodded her head happily. "No, nothing at all."
"Oh, you're not doing that again, are you?" Yui asked in disgust.
"Me? Never." Riko answered with an emphatic nod of her head.
Ranma blinked at Riko in confusion.
"She likes to sometimes try to get people to copy her to shake their head for yes, and nod for no. She considers it counter-culture warfare." She explained for Ranma's benefit.
"And the problem is, sometimes it works, and I look like an idiot!" Yui growled.
"Well now, that could never be true." Riko said with a large, exaggerated nod.
"I hate you." Yui said with scowl as she reached up and physically held on to her own head, presumably to prevent herself from unconsciously copying Riko. Riko grinned widely at that.
"No you don't." Riko said with a wink and a nod.
"Just you wait, I'll get you doing something some day." Yui said with a shaken fist to the sky.
Riko shook her head sadly. "Fool girl, you don't have the willpower to best me."
Yui craned her head around then smiled. "Nevermind that, here comes Nanami and Chihiro!"
"Oh, excellent!" Riko said as she hopped up from Ranma's lap and looked down at him chastisingly. "Now, no more pawing at me in front of Nanami, she is my girlfriend after all." Riko said in a scolding tone as she wagged a finger at him.
Ranma looked back at her with wide eyes. "R-really?" He whispered.
She shook her head then winked at him. Riko and Nanami weren't actually going out, but they were very good friends, and frequently liked to get ... cuddly with each other. Not all that usual in Tokyo, but not unusual, either. She figured she would just let him observe and understand on his own.
Two more girls arrived then. One was a little bit taller than herself, with her hair dyed blond. She had a thin and wispy build and an easy-going smile on her face, and she almost always had a camera on a strap around her wrist. The other was a bit shorter than herself, with hair dyed red, a medium build and a slightly larger than normal bust. The red-head usually wore her hair in wild styles. Today the style was actually fairly tame, it was some sort of a layered flair to one side.
The red-head was affecting a very shy pose and was keeping her eyes on the ground. Nabiki knew both of them were wearing masks. Both of them were as outgoing and aggressive as Yui and Riko. They both just tended to play their cards close when meeting new people. She wasn't quite as good friends with them as she was with Riko and Yui, but along with Riko and Yui, the four of them were her very best friends.
She did the introductions. "Ranma, meet Chihiro." She said as she nodded towards the blond. "And Nanami." She said as she nodded to the red-head.
Riko squealed with delight. "My Crimson Goddess!"
"My love!" Nanami answered in an equally enthusiastic voice as Riko dove into Nanami's arms and they sat down to cuddle together very ... enthusiastically. She actually blinked in surprise as she watched them, they were more in to it today than they usually were. It probably helped that they had a new audience to confuse.
Ranma looked over at her again with a confused expression on his face. She winked at him again in reply. He dragged his gaze back to Riko and Nanami in obvious confusion. Riko would be delighted.
"So what are we up to today?" Chihiro asked the group as she sat down next to Yui and ignored the antics of the other two.
"Oh, Ranma was just telling us how much he burns with the passion that dare not speak its name for his Kuno-Sempai." Riko announced happily in a muffled tone from under Nanami.
"What?! No!" Ranma yelped.
Chihiro eyed him up and down and frowned. "It'll never work. You aren't short, you don't have cropped hair, and you aren't a feisty athletic sort. You're more of a mellow athletic sort. Of course ... he does like red-heads, as you well know. Maybe if you dye your hair?" She suggested.
Ranma scowled. "Did Nabiki put you up to this?" He asked suspiciously.
"I swear, Ranma, this is just how they are." She said as she laughed and held her hand over her heart to swear her innocence.
Ranma frowned at her then stuck his tongue out at her before he returned his attention to Chihiro. "Well, nice to meet you. How do you know Nabiki?" He asked.
Chihiro got up from the bench and walked over to sit down in front of him and looked at him seriously. "What do you think, girls, is he worthy of the truth?" She called out over her shoulder.
Riko got up and walked over and grasped his chin in her hands and pulled his eyes up to stare into them seriously, and held his gaze for a few moments before she stepped back.
Nanami went and sat next to Chihiro and stared at him quietly without comment.
Yui walked over to him and cupped the back of his neck with her hand as she brought his nose to hers and stared deeply into his eyes without blinking for a long moment before she too backed up and sat next to Chihiro and Nanami.
Yui and Riko leaned together and whispered intensely to each other for a moment, then nodded their heads and leaned in to whisper to Nanami, who listened to them and shrugged.
Ranma sought out her eyes and looked at her with worry etched on his face. She was sure he was panicking that he had gotten in way too deep for something that had seemed to be a safe question to him. Unfortunately for him, with her best friends, no question was safe, if they didn't feel like treating it as safe. She smiled at him reassuringly, but didn't say anything.
Nanami put her hand on Chihiro's shoulder and pulled her back to whisper to her while Nanami nodded.
Yui met Chihiro's eyes and nodded as well.
Finally, Riko smiled, shook her head, and raised a fist to the sky. "He is worthy!" She proclaimed.
Chihiro nodded once and glared at him for a moment, then leaned forward and whispered to him. "I know her ... from our class. She sits next to me." She said in a very serious tone.
Nanami chimed in. "Me too!"
Ranma twitched and fell over on the grass.
She sat down on the bench and did her best to suppress her laughter. Ranma was the perfect straight-man.
Ranma pulled himself up and looked at Nabiki with a long suffering expression. She couldn't help it, she had to let it out. She lay down on the bench and dissolved into giggles.
"Ooh, she's open, get her!" She heard Riko say.
"Tickle attaaaaaaaack!" Chihiro yelled with a war-whoop before they converged on her and tickled her. She writhed on the bench in giggly glee. She lost sight of Ranma as all four of her friends tickled her.
Riko stopped first and held her hands out to stop the rest of them. "Wait wait wait, what are we doing? We should be tickling the interloper!" Riko declared sternly.
The girls nodded and turned around in eager stances, ready to pounce on him. But he wasn't there. They looked all around in confusion.
She laughed and pointed up into the tree. Ranma was standing over them looking down with a panicked expression on his face, safe in the tree.
"Oh, come on, no fair!" Riko protested in indignation.
"Come on, Ranma, play nice." She called up to him.
He nodded and darted into motion and was standing next to her a moment later. She had barely been able to follow his movement with her eyes, and that had only been because she had been expecting it.
"Well ... I mean ... sure, I could do that too, if I wanted to." Yui said in a tone that she could tell was envious.
"Get 'im!" Riko whooped gleefully as she charged at him.
Ranma responded by doing what he usually did when he wanted to play with someone who was attacking him that he considered to be no real threat. He dodged around Riko and the rest of the girls with his hands behind his back, flipped over them, and generally just floated away from them. He was smiling while he did it, though. She hoped he was actually having fun and not just smiling to be polite.
"Come back here!" Yui shouted as she chased him.
"You're only making it worse, Saotome!" Riko promised as she chased him back the other way.
Chihiro and Nanami were too busy trying to circle around him and trap him in a pincher movement to call out battle cries. It didn't work, though. He simply ducked and slid off to the side when they tried to trap him.
"Get 'im! For the glory of my Crimson Goddess, he must be caught!" Riko bellowed happily.
"You're wasting your time, if he doesn't want to be caught, he won't be. He's like a jackrabbit on steroids when he gets like that." She called out to them with a smile.
"Ooooh, is he like that at night too? Speaking from experience, Kiki-chan?" Riko asked happily as she gave up and came to sit at her feet. The rest of the girls gave up then as well, and came to sit back down. Ranma followed them as a distance and circled around behind the bench to stand behind her.
She smiled at him, and he smiled back nervously at her. She patted the bench next to her and held her arms open to invite him in. He nodded warily as he eyed the girls with suspicion before he sat down. As soon as he was sitting next to her she put her arm around him and held him for a moment before she slipped her hand up and tickled him.
He jumped up immediately and went back to standing behind the bench and out of reach of everyone. She grinned at him. He scowled at her. "That was a dirty trick." He grumped.
She shrugged. "I can't catch you. But there are more ways to tickle a jackrabbit than chasing after him." She said happily. "Take notes, ladies." She added with a smile to her friends. Yui actually nodded and whipped out a tiny notebook and scribbled something. She rolled her eyes at that.
"Speaking of jackrabbits, Ranma, fess up, you had something to do with our Kiki-chan's happy glow this morning, didn't you?" Riko called out to him.
She sighed and smiled softly. She knew Riko wouldn't have let it go, but it was still embarrassing. She could feel the heat of a blush creeping up her neck to her cheeks already.
"I, wait, what? Nabiki was glowing?" He asked, confused.
"Men, am I right? No attention to detail." Yui groused.
"I wouldn't know." Nanami said with a happy sigh as she twirled Riko's hair around her fingers. Riko looked back at her and blew a kiss.
"Ranma pays attention to a lot of details. Give him a break." She said as she came to his defense.
Ranma was darting his eyes around to all of them, clearly trying to figure out what they were talking about. She really didn't want him to clue all the way in, because she knew it would embarrass him ... possibly to the point of him running away.
"Come on, Ranma, spill it. You and our little Kiki-chan have become ... special friends ... haven't you?" Riko pressed him.
"I ... um ... well..." He stuttered.
She opened her mouth to shut the conversation down, but he interrupted her.
"Of course Nabiki's special. I'm engaged to her after all." He said quietly. That got Riko's eyebrows to climb up almost off her forehead.
"Leave it alone, Riko. Ranma is special too, let's just leave it at that, all right?" She said with a hard stare in Riko's direction.
Riko sighed and nodded. "Fiiiiiiine. But I'm watching you, Saotome." Riko said with a stern frown in his direction. Ranma just looked at Riko blankly. She honestly couldn't tell if he was doing so to stare Riko down, or  if he really was just completely clueless to what Riko was suggesting.
Yui, however, wasn't done with it yet. "Yeah, but what about at night? Is your little jackrabbit special at night?" Yui asked as she stared at him with a goofy grin.
When Ranma didn't answer for a moment, Nanami chimed in. "Well, Saotome?"
"I barely know you!" He protested as he blushed.
Nanami blinked at that. What would you like to know?"
Ranma opened his mouth but clearly had no ready comeback for that sort of question.
"Come on Saotome, you're suppose to ask her something juicy!" Chihiro chided him.
"Suppose to!" She repeated gleefully to mock her. The rest of the girls laughed happily.
Chihiro's shoulder's slumped as she sighed. "EVERY time. Suppos-ed to ... suppos-ed to! You happy? Gramming is hard okay?" She said with a pout.
She grinned at Chihiro and winked. She saw Ranma deflate a bit as the attention moved off of him. She waved him over and he looked at her suspiciously. She brought her hands up into a prayer pose then crossed her heart with her finger in a silent promise not to tickle him again. He nodded and came over to sit down next to her on the bench.
As he got in range, Riko and Yui both tensed to leap on him, but she waved them off. She'd promised. They made sad faces but backed up. She wrapped an arm around him and casually held him. She was very happy right now.
"Well Ranma, so now you have met all of my Chief Lieutenants. What do you think?" She asked.
"Nice to meet ya. What do you do for Nabiki?" He asked Nanami.
"You can think of us as the angels of light and dark. I'm light, she's dark." Nanami said as she pointed to herself and then Chihiro.
Ranma raised his eyebrows at that. "But ... that's not ..."
"We don't feel bound to follow your silly rules or logic, mortal. I can be an angel of darkness with light hair, and Nanami can be an angel of the light with dark hair." Chihiro said sternly.
"As for what we do for Nabiki, you haven't been in the club long enough yet. But stick around long enough, you'll find out." Nanami said with a wink.
Ranma nodded and sat back on the bench. She could tell he was out of questions for the moment. He seemed to want to fade out of sight next to her, and just observe.
"They can be pretty intense when they're all together. You're doing great, Ranma, hang in there." She whispered in his ear. He nodded in response.
"Hey, Riko, are you going to Megumi's party this weekend?" Chihiro asked.
"Oof, no. No more parties, they all suck." Riko said with disgust in her voice.
"But you're so funny when you're at them! Pleeeeease?" Yui pleaded.
"True story, last one you were at, you kept telling all the guys your name was, 'you wish'." Chihiro added with a smirk.
"That's because Nanami is my true love!" Riko announced as she turned around and leaned into Nanami's arms.
Nanami nodded vigorously to this and enthusiastically cuddled with her.
"Wait, what about Kenta?" Yui asked with a mischievous smile.
"MUST you keep reminding me about him?" Riko said with a frown.
"You did date him! We all saw it." Chihiro said sternly.
Riko sat up straighter in Nanami's lap and held her hand over her eyes theatrically as she responded in a swoon. "A moment of silence please for my reputation." After a moment had passed she pulled her hand down and stared at them earnestly. "Do any of you know what kind of soap washes out shame and bad decisions?" Riko asked in a remorseful tone.
"Nanami soap?" Chihiro suggested.
"Mmm, you know it." Nanami said as she licked her lips and pulled Riko in closer to her. "If I don't have carpet burns in the morning, Riko wasn't tryin' hard enough." Nanami said as she traced loving lines along Riko's jaw with her fingers.
Riko craned her head around to stare at Nanami with wide eyes. "Damn it, woman, secrets! Secrets!" Riko chastised.
"You were wonderful last night." Nanami said with a wink and a blown kiss.
Riko eyed Nanami suspiciously for a moment, then addressed everyone else. "WAIT, time out ... did I begin and finish last night with pants on?" Yui, Chihiro and herself all shrugged. "Come on girls, buddy system! Yui, watch her for me!" Riko ordered as she locked eyes with Yui. Yui nodded seriously and saluted.
"You can't contain me Yui, don't fight it, I am unstoppable." Nanami growled at Yui with a feral grin on her face.
"Well ... once you've had your morning coffee anyway." Riko chimed in.
Nanami glared at Riko for a moment before responding. "What kind of mutant gets up before the sun anyway? There's something wrong with you."
"Hey, I had important boy stalking to take care of, back when I still thought Kenta was redeemable. And one must get up early to avoid the crowds. I was on a mission from God." Riko said as she smacked a fist into her palm righteously.
Yui grinned. "You might be unstoppable, Nanami, but Riko is a force of nature." Yui said with a wink.
"Damn straight, I'm amazed they haven't named an element after me yet." Riko said indignantly.
"Oh! The mind reels! What would they call it?" She chimed in.
Riko thought for a moment then framed the sky with her hands while she squinted to look through them like a director on a movie set. "I was thinking Riko-Is-Awesomeium."
"Not Nanami's-Cuddle-Bunny?" Nanami asked with a pout.
"Well, that will be the common name for it, of course." Riko said placatingly.
"Oh, you're so sweet! C'mere!" Nanami said as she pushed Riko off her lap and dove on her to kiss her playfully on the grass.
Ranma looked over at her with wide eyes again. She winked at him then went back to watching the silly antics of her friends.
"Come on Nanami, keep it in your pants, you're going to frighten the boy." Yui said in a disapproving tone.
Ranma scowled at Yui. He obviously didn't like being called a boy. She filed that information away for later. It was always good to know what to avoid when teasing someone.
Nanami popped up off Riko and sucked in an exaggerated deep breath like she was coming up for air from a deep sea dive, and made a show of making herself presentable. "Can't have that now." Nanami said with a wink.
"Hey! Some of us were BUSY!" Riko protested from the grass.
"You TOLD me to watch her for you! Remember, buddy system?" Yui protested right back.
Chihiro burst into laughter. "Hoist on your own petard, eh Riko?"
Riko scowled at Chihiro. "I have not yet begun to hoist." Then she turned her attention back to Yui and pointed her fingers to her eyes, then to Yui, then back to herself. "Focus, woman! Buddy system is for parties only, not lunchtime snuggles. Capisce?" Riko growled.
Yui nodded and saluted again. "Well then, carry on, by all means."
Riko nodded in satisfaction and turned back to Nanami and grinned impishly.
"But ... but I just made myself all pretty again." Nanami said in a prim, feminine voice.
"Fiiiiine, but later..." Riko trailed off suggestively as she pointed to herself then back to Nanami and winked.
Nanami nodded eagerly and blew kisses to Riko.
"Well ... now that we've all had our minds broken by ... whatever that was, and Yui, remind me to NEVER travel with those two, I have to say, Nabiki, your Ranma is quite a trooper. Kenta had already invented homework that was on fire to leave by this point when Riko brought him around." Chihiro said in approval.
"We only wanted to put makeup on him ... it would have washed off ... eventually." Riko said grumpily.
"There there, come to Nanami." Riko nodded in an exaggerated sad way and came over and sat gently in Nanami's lap and laid her head on her shoulder as she made fake sniffling noises. Nanami rubbed her back soothingly.
"Well, Ranma does live with me, you know. He's kind of used to me." She said with a grin and a wink to Ranma.
"That true? You used to her? She getting boring already?" Chihiro asked him.
Ranma shook his head shyly without looking at her. She smiled at that.
"TALK!" Chihiro ordered as she reached over and poked him repeatedly in the chest with a twig.
"I ... it's just ... you all talk really fast ... I don't want to inter—" He started to say.
"Oh, we interrupt each other all the time, especially—" Riko chimed in and cut across him.
"True story, all the time!" Yui said with a gleeful smile as she cut Riko off. Riko scowled at her, which prompted Yui to stick her tongue out at her.
Ranma took it all in with his mouth still open and his eyes very wide.
Chihiro ignored the other girls and stayed focused on him. "C'mon, get it out." She encouraged him in a sweet, sing-song voice, like she was talking to a puppy.
Ranma scowled at that, but responded anyway. "No, I'm not sick of Nabiki." He said softly, again without looking at her. She could see a blush creeping up his neck. That made her incredibly happy.
"Aww, see, that's love for you." Yui said as she hugged her knees to her chest as stared at him dreamily. "He puts up with her friends, lives with her, and endures her family. That was the problem with Kenta, Riko. No endurance in that boy." Yui said.
"True ... but he was kind of cute." Riko said wistfully.
"Ranma's cuter." Yui said with a sigh.
She nodded happily. "He's also very strong, and he's smart too!"
"See, Riko, you just need to find someone good like that." Yui said soothingly.
Nanami cleared her throat loudly at that. "Um, excuse you? She has someone good." Nanami said with a frown as she did air-quotes to emphasize the word good.
Yui grimaced and put her hand over her heart and blinked at Nanami. "Let me begin my three part apology by saying you are a wonderful human being."
"Mmm hmm, see if I share candy with you at the movies next time we go." Nanami said as she stuck her tongue out at Yui.
"So, Nabiki, when are you two going out on your date?" Chihiro asked, again pulling the focus away from Riko's antics. Chihiro was good at that.
"Tomorrow after school." She said happily.
"And you're gonna treat her right, eh, Ranma?" Riko said as she squinted at him and shook her fist in his direction.
Ranma nodded coolly. "Of course."
"And you'll bring her home safely?" Nanami pressed him.
Ranma sat up straighter and set his jaw firmly. "I would never let anything happen to her." He said earnestly.
She smiled at him. It was very sweet how loyal he was.
"And you'll treat her right, and say sweet things to her, and give her a proper groping, right, boy?!" Riko piled on.
She scowled at that and jumped in before Ranma could get riled up. "Reign it in, Riko." She chided.
"What?" Riko blinked at her and flashed a beatific smile. "I'm just making innocent date suggestions." Riko protested.
She narrowed her eyes at Riko. "Kind of playing it fast and loose with the word innocent, aren'tcha?" She asked.
Riko grinned with an evil gleam in her eye. "Wouldn't you like to know." Riko said sweetly.
"Yeah yeah yeah, Riko's a degenerate, but, answer the questions, boy!" Chihiro said with her own shaken fist. Riko swung her gaze over to Chihiro and narrowed her eyes at her in disapproval.
"Yeah, I need to know if I need to up my game with Riko or not." Nanami piled on. Riko blinked and pulled her focus off Chihiro to eye Nanami suspiciously.
"Of course I'll be nice to her, don't worry, we'll have fun." Ranma responded sincerely. She smiled at that.
"Details, boy, we need details! I have weekend plans for Riko that involve helmets and screaming, I need to know if I need to include fire." Nanami pressed him.
Riko opened her eyes wide and blinked at Nanami with worry. "Come on Nanami, if you’re going to start planning my demise again, at least give me some sort of warning."
Nanami smiled and blew a kiss at Riko. "Consider yourself warned." Nanami said with a loving growl.
Riko frowned and stared suspiciously at Nanami.
"What about you, Nabiki? Have any naughty plans for him once you have him alone?" Chihiro asked in a sweet tone.
She smiled at that. "I can neither confirm nor deny allegations related to any plans, naughty or otherwise, at this time." She said in her best politician voice.
"That means yes." Riko announced confidently. Yui nodded her head vigorously in agreement.
Chihiro rolled her eyes. "Fine, but I expect an after-action report." Then she fixed her stare on Ranma. "And I expect her to have something interesting to tell me in her report." Chihiro growled at him as she held the stare. Ranma blinked at her nervously and nodded.
"Now, aside from that, what are we going to do about getting Yui a date?" Chihiro asked as she swung her gaze over to Yui.
Yui grimaced. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, or burn it. Either way, we save that for later. I'm more interested to hear about Ranma's thoughts on being a girl from a guy's point of view." Yui deflected.
"Oh yeah, he was telling us all about his alter ego yesterday and his sexy shower-time antics." Riko chirped happily.
Ranma stared at Riko wide-eyed.
"See what happens when you tell them stuff?" She said to him with a wink.
Ranma nodded. "I'm startin' to." He said with a frown.
"I have just one question for you, Ranma." Riko said seriously while holding up a finger.
He sighed and nodded for her to go ahead.
"What brand of pad do you use?" Riko asked gleefully.
"Riko!" She said with a surprised noise that was a mix between a gasp and a laugh. Ranma was turning bright red.
"Hey, come on, fair question! He's a girl too, at least part of the time." Riko protested.
"True." Yui confirmed helpfully.
"Yeah Ranma, tell." Chihiro pressed him.
He looked down and shook his head rapidly. She knew this was an area he just wasn't going to joke about, especially not with people he barely knew. She made a mental note to ask him about it later and got ready to force them to change the subject.
Riko was grinning from ear to ear. "You know you want to, look into my eyes, you are in my poweeeeeer." She said in an exaggerated slow voice.
"Look out, Ranma, she's an Esper ... or so she says anyway." Nanami warned in an amused voice.
"Oh, god help us all if Riko was an Esper." Chihiro piped in.
"You don't want to doubt me, that isn't the path for winners. Be a winner Chihiro." Riko said with a silly nod of her head while continuing to try to get Ranma to meet her eyes.
"Oh, good grief. You see what you started now, Ranma? She's on her Esper thing now." Yui complained to him with a sigh.
"I ..." Ranma trailed off in confusion.
Nanami sighed and poked him in the leg. "Louder! Some of us are further away than Nabiki is."
"Careful, you might scare him away like Kenta." Chihiro cautioned.
Ranma looked back and forth between them as a stubborn expression rose up on his face.
Riko wasn't done, though. She affected a German accent, sat up, grabbed his cheeks and stared into his eyes, and tried again. "You are being foolish, boy. We haf vays of making you tok!"
Every single one of them, herself included, lost it at that and dissolved into giggles. Ranma looked around at them in confusion.
"Old joke, I'll explain it later. Let's eat, shall we ladies?" She announced.
Riko smiled and shook her head back and forth happily. "Yes, yes, I decree it to be eating time, and also public safety lady time!"
"What does she..?" Ranma whispered to her in confusion.
"Just watch." She replied in her own whisper as she smiled.
They all settled down to eat, and Riko started calling out bad come-ons and pickup lines to the girls. All of whom took turns responding to them.
"Where have you been all my life?" Riko asked Yui.
"Anywhere you weren't." Yui shot back.
"Haven't I seen you someplace before?" Riko asked Chihiro.
"Yeah, I was the one running away from you." Chihiro said casually.
Riko turned and purred to Nanami. "Your body's like a temple."
"Sorry, I just converted to paganism. Temple's closed." Nanami replied with a wink.
"So... they're practin' ..." Ranma whispered to her.
"Yup, they're practicing shooting down bad come-ons. She said with a smile.
Riko turned and fixed her with stare and winked. "I'd go to the end of the world for you."
She laughed. "Great, please stay there!" She said as she stuck her tongue out. Riko winked in reply and continued playing the game.
"Why are they..." Ranma asked.
She looked at him and grinned as she shrugged.
"I want to give myself to you." Riko said to Yui in a breathy voice.
"Sorry, I don't accept charity cases." Yui said breezily.
"How long do they practice this?" Ranma asked as Riko continued peppering out bad pickup lines in the background.
"I think if we let her go on, Riko could probably do it all day. She has this freaky knowledge of like, every terrible pickup line ever uttered in the history of the world. She even knows them in different languages."
"Wow." Ranma said in an impressed tone.
"I SAID, I'd go through anything for you." Riko broke in, loudly.
She looked over at Riko and found her staring impatiently. She grinned and shot back. "Awesome, let's start with your wallet!"
Riko laughed at that one and the game was over.
Ranma took the opportunity to jump in. "Why are you practicing shooting people down?"
Riko smiled at him. "We're not practicing shooting people down. We're practicing shooting scumbags down. If you want a date, talk to us like fellow humans, not like morons who swoon at goofy pickup lines. Besides, fast comebacks are great to keep the mind agile. It's mental training." Riko insisted.
Ranma sat back and nodded at that. He could appreciate training in any form.
Chihiro smiled at him. "It's the same as you practicing your martial arts, right? Gotta keep those skills sharp." Chihiro chimed in. "A sharp mind can come in handy for school, dating, and helping your friends." Chihiro added firmly.
"Speaking of friends, why are you friends with Nabiki?" He asked.
Chihiro looked down as she replied. "Nabiki ... helped me out a lot when I needed it, she made me a promise and she kept it, I've never forgotten that. How could I not be her friend after that?" Chihiro said softly.
She knew it was hard for Chihiro to admit even that much. It was a great sign of Chihiro's respect for Ranma that she'd told him even that much. She made a note to tell him to tread lightly on that topic in the future.
"What did she help you with?" Ranma asked in a curious voice.
She winced inwardly as Chihiro looked away. She berated herself for not telling him which topics weren't good conversation topics with him before she brought him over. She reached over and put her hand on his and shook her head gently. He nodded and looked away from Chihiro.
Unfortunately, he hadn't picked up that that line of questioning wasn't a great idea. He'd only picked up that he shouldn't press Chihiro on it. He swiveled to the other newest person he had met and repeated his question to Nanami. "Okay, well, what about you, Nanami? How do you know Nabiki?"
"I met her here at Furinkan, I told you that. Pay attention." Nanami said as she stuck her tongue out.
"Okay, but, why are you her friend?" Ranma pressed her.
"Because she's funny as hell, and crazy-interesting, and one of the only people in this sorry town able to keep up with me ... and she helped me when nobody else could or would." Nanami added quietly. Riko reached over and took Nanami's hand gently in hers. She saw Nanami squeeze it gently.
Her eyes darted back to Ranma. He was busy looking at all of her friends suspiciously, as he tried to work out what the favors thing was. He finally turned to her asked her directly.
"How many favors do people owe you?"
She smiled at him but didn't answer. The truth was she didn't know the exact amount off the top of her head, she'd have to check her books for that.
"A lot, Ranma. Like, she could raise her own army if she wanted to, kinds of numbers." Riko said happily.
"Why not just charge money?" He asked.
"Sometimes I do. It depends on what the favor is, whether it is for a good cause or not, whether I like the person or not, whether they can pay or not, whether I think they would be worth more as a favor owed, versus cash in the pocket. A favor owed can be far more valuable than money."
"Do you ever not charge?" He asked.
"Only for family and very close friends." She said with a smile as she got up and walked over to sit next to Riko on the grass. Ranma followed her with his eyes and she patted the grass next to her and invited him to join her. He nodded and got up and followed her.
They mostly finished eating in a comfortable silence for a few minutes after that. Riko and Nanami kept whispering to each other, and Yui was muttering to herself as she ran though her notes for class.
She wasn't feeling particularly hungry and she was idly running her hand through the cool grass, and ruffling some of the wild flowers growing in it. She picked a few of the flowers and held them up and looked at them. They were small and inconsequential, kind of a metaphor for her life. She sighed and stuck one of the flowers into her hair, tucked behind her ear. Then she smiled softly as she reached over to Ranma and stuck a flower into one of the ties on his shirt. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but let her do it. She smiled a bit more and stuck one of the flowers into his hair. He narrowed his eyes at her. She knew his manly image of himself didn't want to be adorned with flowers. That just made her smile more. She scooted to the back of him and started weaving one of the flowers with a longer stem into his pig-tail.
Chihiro noticed her putting the flowers on him, and smiled softly as she slipped her camera off her wrist and started taking pictures of them together. Once she was done putting the flowers on him, she climbed into his lap and just cuddled with him. He held her loosely and familiarly. It really was true what they said, the best relationships could be made with people you were already friends with. Ranma hadn't been her friend before this had started, but he had known her, and lived with her. That still allowed them to skip the awkward getting-to-know-each-other stage.
She leaned back into him and sighed happily. She wasn't the happiest she had ever been in her life, but she was very close to it. She knew they would have to break the happy spell of their lunchtime gathering in just a few more minutes. But she was all right. Most of her fears had fled from earlier. Ranma obviously cared about her. She didn't know if he loved her. But she knew he cared. That was enough for now.
They all stood up minutes later as they got ready for the bell to ring. Yui walked up to her and started asking her about solving differential equations with the new technique the teacher had showed in class today. At the same time, she saw Ranma wander over to Riko next to her and strike up a conversation. He was bold, she'd give him that. She heard most of what they said to each other in between her math conversation with Yui.
"...hat's with all the favors?" He asked.
Yui then asked her something about their upcoming test and her mind slipped back to talking about math.
"...e all owed her something in the past, and she took care of us, and paid it forward. She calls us her chief lieutenants, and she thinks that the favors matter to us. They don't. We all love her. We'd do anything for her, favors or no." She heard Riko say as she tuned back in to what they were saying.
Yui could tell her attention wasn't on the math discussion, so she smiled and drifted away to go talk to Chihiro with a promise to revisit the math discussion at a later time. She nodded and tuned back in to what Riko was telling Ranma.
"...ut what did she—"
"It isn't important, Ranma. All you need to know is that if you're loyal to Nabiki, she will take care of you. Of course, if you betray her ... run." Riko said in a jovial tone.
"I don't betray people." Ranma said in a dead-serious tone.
"So I've heard." Riko said, then added more loudly. "Hey, Kiki-chan, who's that? Looks like trouble coming."
She started to turn to gaze where Riko was pointing, and frowned. "Is it Kuno again?"
"No, new chick." Yui said as she walked over and looked where Riko had pointed as well.
"She's heading right for us."
The girl Riko had pointed out was indeed heading right towards them, and she had a trail of followers behind her. She frowned at that. The situation had all the signs of a major problem about to start.
"What's with all the girls following her?" Chihiro asked in a suspicious voice.
"Probably paid them." She mumbled as she assessed the girls incoming, and noted the features of all of them for later.
"What's—"
"Not now Ranma, not much time until she gets here." She said gently to Ranma as she turned to Riko. "Code green, okay?"
Riko nodded and saluted. "Got it, be right back." Riko said sincerely as she ran off in a sprint.
Ranma watched her run off with confusion etched on his face. "Code green?"
"Don't worry about it." She said to him with a wink. "Shall we, ladies?" She said as she turned to the rest of them.
The girls all voiced their agreement and walked over to stand around her in a tight group.
Ranma just watched them with wide eyes. For someone who was so tuned into fighting, he still hadn't picked up on the signs that a fight was brewing.
She smiled at him. "Can you go see what she wants? Stall for time?" She asked.
He nodded and walked out towards the approaching girl with tentative steps that he tried to make look confident. He looked back at her a couple of times. She smiled at him to encourage him.
"So, what do you think her problem is?" Yui whispered.
"I don't know, but she's clearly after Ranma. So, this chick is about to pick the wrong fight." She said with steel in her voice.