[soundtrack for this: Rebirth-day, by 高垣彩陽さん　(Ayahi Takagaki)]

[2016-09-17
This chapter is the last chapter that will be released for 2-3 weeks or so. When I release new content again, it will be the final chapters to this story, one per day, until the final chapter has been posted. I will mark the story complete when I load the final chapter. I think I have learned all I can from this experiment, and it will be time to move on with working on publishing my novel soon.
CONTEST: While you are waiting for the final chapters of this story, if you would like to send me a couple of sentences detailing why you have stuck with this story until this end, I would like to hear about it. Knowing what I am doing right is just as important as knowing what I am doing wrong. Feel free to leave negative comments as well though, those are still helpful! I will pick the 3 most helpful/interesting/insightful/significant or otherwise stand-out entries I receive, and send each of those people an Amazon gift card code for $25.
I will post all real entries I receive to a forum for this contest which I will link to from my profile. You may PM me the entries, or leave them as reviews (reviews left for this chapter will be automatically entered into the contest so long as (1) you don't mark them as not for the contest, and (2) your review is at least a couple of sentences long, and (3) mentions what you think I am doing right with the story, in addition to any thoughts you may have about the chapter). If you DO NOT want your comments considered for the contest, simply tell me that, and I will keep them private. You can still win the contest if your comments are kept private, but your name will be published as a winner. Any anonymous/guest comments left will be assumed to be not for the contest.
Thank you all for reading and reviewing, you have helped my writing a lot! :)]

Nabiki knew something was wrong a split second before it happened. She was yanked out of sleep by a hard and cold feeling that jabbed her awake. Ranma was already in motion. He grabbed her by the hip and slid her behind him on the bed as he rose up to his knees to shield her, just as the window exploded inward.
She winced and screamed as she closed her eyes briefly as Ranma's battle aura blazed to life and filled the room with waves of heat as he shouted. When she squeezed her eyes open a heartbeat later, she saw the last of Ranma's blurred movements as he used his super-human speed to keep the debris from hitting her. He was glowing, she could see it, his battle aura was filling the room with a bright yellow light. He jumped to his feet off the bed and dropped the last piece of wood and growled as he rushed towards the window.
Shampoo's older sister Shona came crashing through the hole next. Shona had a determined frown on her face, but no confidence in her eyes. Shona immediately threw several knives at her as soon as she entered the room. Ranma caught every one of them and threw them aside angrily to stick quivering into the wall. She saw blood droplets fly off his hand when he threw the last one.
She scooted backwards on the bed as fast as she could as she tried to get to her feet. Her legs didn't seem to want to cooperate. She heard a commotion coming from outside, like a huge fight was happening, and something else was happening downstairs as well. She didn't think anyone would be coming to help Ranma. Not that she thought he needed it, as she finally managed to get her legs to obey her, and stood up off the bed.
Ranma was now brutally punching and kicking at Shona and pushing the Amazon back away from the bed to prevent Shona from getting past him and attacking. She got to her feet on shaky legs as she slid off the bed and held herself in a fighting stance just in case. She didn't know how long she would last against the Amazon, but she would go down fighting if it came to that.
The fight out in the yard had gone quiet. Whatever was going on downstairs was getting louder. She was pretty sure she could hear Kasumi screaming and Akane yelling Kasumi's name. Shona staggered back from Ranma after he landed a particularly solid punch to her midsection.
A moment later Tofu popped up into the hole in the wall, yanked Shona's head back roughly by grabbing her hair, and pulled her into a choke hold, and then simply fell backwards out of the hole, and dragged her with him.
His eyes had been shimmering with a dark fury, and he had been blazing with a towering black battle aura. It had been much larger than the battle aura Ranma put out. Tofu had looked way worse than the day he had helped Ranma stare down Shampoo's Elder. He had looked scary, like Ranma had looked when he had protected her and Akane from the ambush — but much worse.
Ranma took a step towards the hole to go after Shona, then changed his mind and turned to check on her.
"You all right?" He asked worriedly.
"I'm ... all right, Ranma, better than you for sure." She said as she looked pointedly at his hand which was dripping blood on the floor.
He looked at it and shrugged. "Feh, they are going to have to do a lot better than that if they want to get by me." He said dismissively.
His strength was impressive. She was barely able to stand up. She was still exhausted from last night. She was emotionally and physically drained. The pain was still with her and she still ached, but the irrational anger that had been haunting her for the last few days was mostly gone now.
Now that she had finally been forced to deal with it and to start to deal with her grief from her mother's death, it was no longer darkness coiled inside her, waiting to strike. She still felt angry about Mom's death, but it wasn't the mind-warping intense and irrational anger that had taken control of her yesterday. She didn't feel like she was falling into the darkness anymore. As long as Ranma was with her ... she could endure. She needed him right now.
She heard Kasumi yell something again downstairs, then Akane's voice shouted over Kasumi's, and Kasumi's voice grew quiet. It sounded like Akane was taking care of whatever Kasumi was yelling about. She looked at her door, then back to him. She could tell he wanted to go check on things, but felt bound to protect her first. So she made it easy on him. "Let's go check on Kasumi." She said as she started towards the door to the room.
He nodded but didn't walk to the door. He walked to her. She swallowed nervously as he walked right up to her, and slid his hands around her quickly, firmly, and with strong purpose. He slid his right hand around her back. It was resting on the bare skin of her back as her shirt rode up from his hug. His hand was warm, he was always warm. She still had her school dress on and the blouse that went with it, but she had unbuttoned the straps on the dress last night, so it was just acting as a skirt at the moment. His left arm was around her hips, with his hand resting on the flair of her left hip. She licked her lips in a combination of nervousness and longing.
She could tell a lot of the barriers between them had been destroyed last night. This was a different Ranma. This was a Ranma who wasn't so shy around her anymore. She could feel her pulse quickening and her breathing growing more shallow as her own desire for him rose up strongly in her. She wouldn't let things get physical at the moment, she wanted to go check on her sisters ... but if it wasn't for that ... she could have easily ignored whatever battle was going on outside, to be with him right here and now.
She looked into his eyes and saw her Ranma staring back at her, her friend, and her confidant. She also saw something deeper in his eyes now. She could see some kind of a connection between the two of them in his eyes now. But, that may have just been wishful thinking on her part. Regardless, she could see much more clearly now in his eyes what he still hadn't said aloud to her. She didn't know for certain what he was feeling, but she hoped what she was feeling from him was what she wanted it to be.
He slowly flexed the muscles in his arms and lifted her up off the ground to pull her into a firmer hug. She let out a little gasp of pleasure at the sensation and let herself relax into the embrace for a moment. He hadn't picked her up in a little while, and she craved that. His hand on her back had slid up even further and was resting on her bra strap. Her desire for him was off the charts now. She was starting to reconsider going to check on her sisters.
Akane can handle it, right? She thought as she tried to justify ignoring what was going on downstairs to stay with him and to finally be together with him as she wanted. She rested her head on his shoulder and tried to calm herself down as she breathed him in hungrily. His familiar scent triggered a memory from last night, and she smiled softly. She'd tell him about it later.
A moment later when he hadn't let her go, she lifted her head up off his shoulder and looked back into his eyes. He was still staring at her intently. There was hurt in his eyes.
"Are you all right, Ranma?" She whispered to him softly.
"Not really." He said in a strangely reserved voice.
Her heart quickened with dread. Please oh please oh please don't end it now, not now. She thought in a panic as she tried desperately to stay calm.
"What's ... what's wrong?" She whispered to him in a timid voice.
"You remember what you said to me the day after I had ta go and think about Ukyo leavin'?" He asked her softly.
She nodded at him slowly, confused.
"Well, it's my turn now. You can't ever do that to me again. Last night was ... scary." He said as he squeezed her tightly.
Relief flooded her as well as stronger emotions she was still sorting out, but they were all happy ones. She smiled shakily at him. "I ... I can't promise you it won't ever happen again, but I promise I'll do my best to prevent it from happening, if I can." She whispered to him happily.
He nodded quickly at that as he swallowed hard. If she didn't know better, she would swear he was covering up an urge to cry. She thought about teasing him about it, but before she could, he yanked her even closer to himself and buried his face into her neck and nuzzled her strongly. She smiled and nuzzled him right back. She could have sworn she felt him shudder for a moment, like he was fighting off crying, or experiencing very strong emotions.
Can it be ... Mister Man-Among-Men? ... For me? She thought absently as she reached behind him and stroked his hair gently.
"It's going to be all right, Ranma ... I promise." She whispered to him softly, with a mischievous smile on her lips.
She felt him turn his head so his lips would be clear of her as he whispered back to her in his own mischievous tone. "I thought we weren't supposed ta promise that." He said.
She smiled even more widely. "No, I said you weren't supposed to make that promise to me. I never said I couldn't." She said happily.
"You don't play fair." He said quietly as he shifted his face back to nuzzling her.
"Mmmm, that's right, and don't you forget it, Saotome." She said happily as she wiggled in his arms to signal him that is was time to stop cuddling. The moment had passed, it was time to go check on her sisters.
He slowly responded to her signal. It wasn't an immediate response though. She could tell he was reluctant to let her go. She hoped that was because he felt for her like she felt for him, and it wasn't just a physical attraction on his part.
She slid slowly back down to the ground against him, and deliberately rubbed herself against him as sensuously as she could. It was a promise of future moments alone with him, and a reward for his own actions last night.
As soon as her feet were back on the ground, he slid around her quickly to get in front of her. He put a hand on her shoulder as he walked past her, and kept it there, while he kept his eyes forward. He opened the door and pulled on her gently to walk with him. She assumed he was keeping his hand on her so he would be able to yank her out of danger, while freeing him to his eyes up front where they were heading.
They made their way downstairs carefully. She could see signs of battle everywhere. Their front door was caved in. There were holes in the walls in several places in the entryway, and she even saw a few discarded Amazon weapons lying on the ground.
So much for the soldiers keeping the Amazons out. She thought bitterly. Kasumi was saying something in the kitchen in a voice that wasn't quite hysterical, but certainly wasn't calm. She could hear her older sister from the bottom of the stairs. She could hear Akane's voice as well now. It sounded like Akane was speaking in a normal tone to Kasumi.
She and Ranma exchanged puzzled glances as they made their way towards the kitchen. Ranma poked his head around the door the kitchen, and froze. When he didn't move for several seconds, she poked him.
"C'mon, Ranma, move it." She hissed at him.
"C-c-c-cats." He stammered. She sighed and wiggled out of his grasp and stepped around him. She poked her own head into the kitchen, and laughed. The kitchen floor was swarming with cats. There had to be at least two dozen of them. Kasumi was standing near the center counter and holding something in her hands and alternating between crying and muttering darkly to herself. Akane was speaking urgently to Kasumi and trying to calm her down. She rolled her eyes and pushed on Ranma to move him back out into the hallway.
Once Ranma was out of the equation, she worked on the most pressing issue first and stepped quickly over to the back door and opened it. More than half of the cats bolted out the door as soon as it was open. The rest she was able to shoo out the door without too much trouble. When she was done she called to Ranma in the hall as she walked towards Kasumi.
"All clear, Ranma. The cats are gone!" She yelled as she stepped to the other side of Kasumi.
Her older sister was clutching a broken plate in her hands, and crying softly now. She tried to meet Kasumi's eyes, but Kasumi wouldn't lift her head to look at her.
She looked over at Akane who shrugged. "I don't know either. I was outside talking to Doctor Tofu when the attack hit. I heard Kasumi scream and ran to the kitchen. None of the Amazons made it into the kitchen though. When I got here Kasumi was just standing where she is now, holding that plate, and yelling. I think the cats broke it."
It made sense. The Amazons knew of Ranma's phobia. They might have dumped a bag of cats into the house to try to disable him while they attacked.
She re-focused on Kasumi and smiled nervously at her older sister as she grasped Kasumi's shoulder gently and shook her even more gently. Ranma made his way cautiously into the kitchen in the background as she tried to get Kasumi to snap out of it. Kasumi didn't respond, she just clutched the broken plate even more tightly and sniffled.
Ranma joined her then and stepped gently in front of Kasumi as she and Akane shifted to either side of him to let him take the center. Then he spoke kindly to Kasumi in a voice he didn't use very often, his caretaker voice. "It was special, wasn't it?" He asked.
Kasumi nodded.
"It was ... your mom's, right?" He asked.
Kasumi nodded again.
"I'm sorry, I know what it feels like to lose special things like that." He said carefully. She and Akane watched him but said nothing. He was making more progress with her than they had.
Kasumi nodded again, then slowly turned and set the plate down on the counter behind herself. A moment later Kasumi surprised everyone by bolting for Ranma and burying her head in his chest and crying loudly. Both she and Akane took quick steps back from the unexpected motion, then they exchanged nervous glances over Kasumi and Ranma.
I swear to God, if Kasumi is making a play for him, I am moving out and taking him with me. She thought grumpily.
Ranma gently hugged Kasumi in return and held her older sister for several more moments. Kasumi's crying tapered off quickly. A few moments more and Kasumi was just standing there, hugging him. She heard Kasumi murmur something to him. It sounded like, if you were just a little bit older. But she couldn't be sure that was what Kasumi had said. Even so, she arched an eyebrow at the thought of it.
OK, that's enough. She thought as she readied herself to step in and pull Kasumi off him. I will be damned if I am going to fight to keep him from both Akane AND Kasumi. She groused.
Kasumi moved before she did though, and stepped back from him with a sniffle. "S-sorry about that you guys. I'm still a little shaken up from yesterday. Wasn't prepared to lose one of Mother's heirlooms today too." Kasumi said in a shaky voice. Her older sister was still using her real voice. She wondered if Kasumi would ever go back to playing housewife for the family again, or if she was done with that now. She kind of hoped Kasumi had put it behind her. None of them needed a stand-in mother anymore.
"Akane, can you help Kasumi clean up in here?" She asked.
Her younger sister nodded. She smiled at Akane and grabbed for Ranma's hand and started to lead him out of the kitchen.
"It's good ..." Akane said to her back. She paused but didn't turn around. "It's good to see you up and feeling better, Nabiki." Akane said quietly.
She smiled at turned to face Akane. "Thank you. I feel different now. You and I still need to talk, and I need to buy you lunch to make up for being out of control yesterday. But we need to get these freaking Amazons dealt with first." She said with a wink. She was starting to feel like her old self again. She felt mostly the same as she had in the past, just not with the aching pit inside her where she had hid her grief in for so long. The pit was still there, but she was pretty sure it would heal if she gave it enough time.
And if I fill it back up with good things ... like being with Ranma. She thought with determination as they made their way into the hallway. She intended to go back up to her room and change then head out with Ranma and settle the Amazon issue once and for all.
Ranma followed dutifully behind her. He would have to be in the room with her while she changed. The Amazons had demonstrated that Daddy's paranoia about having Ranma sleep with her and protect her hadn't been unfounded after all. As much as she had enjoyed the excuse to have him sleep together with her, there was a practical reason for him to be present as well. As they approached the stairs she debated with herself if she would let him watch as she changed. Her thoughts were interrupted when Tofu stepped through their ruined front door and into the entryway.
She froze. Seeing him brought everything back into focus from yesterday. Kasumi's words from yesterday flashed into her mind. I hope you never actually understand, Nabiki. In a way, I envy you. You have been able to accomplish something that I think would make my life a lot easier. I wish I could do what you do. If you ever do understand though, the rest of it will be obvious to you. Kasumi had said to her. She understood now. But not in the way Kasumi probably had meant.
Tofu smiled at her and walked towards her. "The attack is over. We pushed them back. They won't attack again for a little bit, we disabled quite a few of them." He said with his usual good-natured cheer.
She felt elements of her old icy core surface again inside herself, along with the feeling of the out-of-control anger from yesterday. She tried to ignore it and smiled back at him blankly. She tried to put her professional mask on, but she could feel that it was full of cracks now. She had been pretending for so long now that she didn't blame him. But she did, she did blame him.
"Thanks." She said at the bare minimum of politeness as she turned to go up the stairs.
"Hey, Nabiki, do you know where Kasumi is? I want to check on her." He called after her. She froze with her foot on the first stair as the anger grew stronger in her.
"Why don't you just leave Kasumi alone?" She said quietly without turning around. She hadn't used a friendly tone. Ranma looked at her askance but didn't say anything.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Tofu asked from behind her.
She spun around and took her foot off the stairs. "You know DAMN WELL what I mean!" She yelled at him. She saw Akane poke her head out of the kitchen then slowly start to approach them. She didn't care.
"Nabiki, I..." Tofu stammered.
"I intend to get the Amazon issue dealt with for good today, and as soon as we do, I am going to make some calls and set up some dates for Kasumi. Just ... leave her alone." She said angrily as she squeezed the banister so hard her knuckles turned white.
"I ... okay, I understand..." Tofu said quietly with his eyes downcast.
"Nabiki, what's going on, why're you—" Kasumi said as she emerged from the kitchen as well. Kasumi eyed her stand-off with Tofu and quickened her pace.
Akane didn't say anything, she just stepped to the side of the stairs and watched. She was sure her little sister just wanted to know what was going on. Kasumi arrived and stopped to stand next to Tofu. For some reason, that made her angry. Kasumi could see that she was upset, anyone could, but nobody knew just how strongly she felt about Tofu. He'd made a promise, about the most serious of things, and he'd broken it.
"I ... I can't forgive you for what you did." She said, addressing Tofu. "You told me you could make her better, then you didn't. YOU PROMISED! But ... you didn't save her. That made it so much worse. I wasn't prepared, at all. If I had known she wasn't going to make it, I would have stayed by her until the end. I would have talked to her more. Instead, I played outside and didn't think much about it. I just thought she was sick. I didn't understand! I was seven years old for God's sake! You robbed me of my last chances to be with her!" She yelled with raw hatred in her voice, she was right on the verge of screaming at him.
Ranma put a hand on her arm. She didn't know if it was for support or to try to calm her down. She didn't care right now, so she just ignored it. "You had a duty, you had a duty both as a doctor and as an adult, to me and my sisters. You should have MADE US understand. Instead you lied to us. Daddy did too, but he can be excused, it was his wife dying after all. But you, you had no excuse." She shouted at Tofu as she fought back tears of anger.
"Come on, Nabiki, that's not fair he—" Kasumi jumped in.
"No, don't! She has every right. SHE HAS EVERY RIGHT! Let her speak." Tofu said sternly with tears in his eyes as he shuddered to suppress obviously very strong emotions. Then he turned back to her as he sank to his knees. "I did, I robbed you of that. I thought I was protecting you. I was ... wrong. I'm so sorry, Nabiki. I've been trying to atone for it ever since, but I know I'll never be able to." Tofu said as he slid his eyes away from her and looked down in shame.
She looked at him coldly for a moment, and could not find in herself any pity for him. "The only reason ... the only reason ... I can endure speaking to you ... is because of what you've done for our family since then. But ... I hate you, Tofu. I really do, I hate you. You took something precious from me that can't ever be given back. Just ... stay away from me." She said in an emotionless voice. Kasumi gasped in shock and probably disapproval. She ignored her.
Tofu nodded sadly. "I will."
She turned to leave as Ranma gathered her up in his arms and pulled her away from Tofu. Tofu called after her softly as she started up the stairs.
"I really did think I could save her. I wasn't trying to lie to you. I thought ... I thought I was better than I was." He said sadly.
"I don't care." She said after a long pause, without turning back to look at him. Ranma then tugged on her hand and led her away softly.
Once they reached the top of the stairs, Ranma paused and looked at her uncertainly. He had known she wanted to go up the stairs, but he clearly didn't know where she wanted to go now that they'd arrived.
She smiled gently at him and nodded her head towards her room. He smiled back and half pulled and half carried her to her door. He paused at her door and looked at her with an unspoken question.
She nodded at him absently. She was still thinking of the encounter with Tofu. She hadn't run into him prepared to say any of the words she'd said. Everything she had said had been spontaneous and in the moment. She couldn't bring herself to feel guilty about saying any of it, though. She was starting to realize that part of the reason the anger had hit her so hard yesterday was because she had not only forced herself to detach herself from her core self and her real emotions in order to survive the grief, but she had also had to convince herself that she didn't blame Tofu for Mom's death ... and she did.
As far as she was concerned, there was just no other way to look at it. Tofu had taken responsibility for Mom; he had been the doctor in charge of her, and he had failed to save her. Maybe ... maybe if Tofu hadn't been involved, maybe ... if they'd taken Mom to the hospital ... maybe she could have been saved? She didn't know. Mom hadn't wasted away, the illness had struck rather suddenly, and Mom had been gone not that long afterward. She had never looked into it. She didn't even know what kind of illness it had been. She resolved herself to look into it in more detail once the situation with the Amazons was done with.
My life has been on hold for long enough. It's time to get on with things. She thought resolutely.
She only realized that she had just been standing there thinking when Ranma cleared his throat nervously behind her. She looked back at him and smiled. "I'm all right, Ranma. Just thinking." She said calmly. She felt much more at peace today than she had in a long time. The anger was still there, obviously, but the bond she had forged with Ranma last night had gone a long way towards bridging the gulf inside her to connect herself back to her true self.
Something that hadn't changed, at all, were her feelings for him. If anything, her feelings were much stronger now. She looked back at him and smiled as beautifully as she knew how as she turned in place and lunged for him.
He caught her easily and hugged her in return. "You sure you're okay?" He whispered to her.
She nuzzled his silky shirt with her face and breathed him in again as she murmured happily to herself for a moment before she answered him. She tilted her head so her cheek was pressed up against his chest and she could look into his eyes, and smiled at him as she squeezed him tightly. "I'm all right. I'm not totally better yet, but I'm all right ... thanks to you." She whispered to him.
He nodded at her hesitantly. She could see him swallow nervously. She grinned inwardly and outwardly as she reached behind him and locked her bedroom door. She saw his eyes widen when the lock clicked. Clearly the confidence he had shown with her earlier wasn't an absolute state. He was obviously still working on how he handled being alone with her.
She kept her smile on her face as she stepped softly back from him. She looked around her room and was somewhat amazed that it was in the condition it was in. Aside from a little bit of debris from the shattered window on the wall by her bed, there was no other obvious damage to the room. Ranma had not only caught all of the pieces of airborne debris that had exploded into the room, but he'd also dumped them in a neat pile by the side of the bed as he'd rushed to defend her from Shona.
She looked back at him and smiled radiantly at him. She felt more strongly than ever now that he was for her. The doubts she had been struggling with yesterday were gone. She stepped gently, teasingly, towards her closet and turned her back to him.
"I have to change clothes for the day, Ranma." She said softly to him.
She could actually hear him gulp as she slid the door to her closet open. "Oh ... okay ... did you want me ta go out into the hall?" He asked her nervously.
She sighed theatrically. "Did an Amazon blow my window in this morning and attack me in my room, Ranma?" She asked him in a tone that was a mix of teasing and rebuke.
"Y-yeah..." He stammered.
"Then it isn't safe for you to leave me alone, now is it?" She asked him somewhat smugly.
"I...I guess not." He said even more nervously.
She looked back at him and winked. "Aren't you the one who told Akane and Riko that it was, 'no big deal for you to see a naked girl, because you'd seen yourself plenty of times?'" She teased him as she started to undo the zipper on her dress so she could slide it off.
"Y-yeah ... I guess..." He stammered even more nervously as she started to tug at the waist of her dress to slide it down.
She smiled to herself and decided to stop teasing him. "Well, then be a good boy and go guard the window while I change. I trust you, Ranma, I know you'd never hurt me." She said in a soft voice. She was teasing him, but she also kind of wanted him to want to watch her. Even if he didn't act on it, she wanted him to desire her.
He didn't say anything in response to her, so she just sighed and changed clothes. She thought about doing it slowly, and teasingly, like a strip-tease, in case he was watching. But the fact was she had stuff to take care of today, and she also didn't want to push him too hard, too fast.
First he needs to pick me, and THEN we can work on getting him fully over his issues with women. She thought wryly about his shy little bunny butt.
When she was done changing, she turned around slowly, and sighed. She saw exactly what she had been expecting to see, but it still disappointed her. Ranma was standing across the room looking out the window, with his hands clasped behind his back, like a soldier. As far as she could tell, he hadn't watched.
"You ready?" He asked from the window. Apparently he could hear her well enough to know when she was done though.
She smirked at him. "You tell me, Ranma." He turned his head slowly and looked over his shoulder. She could see visible relief show on his face briefly to see her fully clothed. She thought she saw something else flash across his eyes as well, but she didn't know what it was, maybe desire? She didn't know, so she let it go. She had chosen to wear jeans and a red t-shirt with a black zip-up sweater that had a hood. The clothing was practical and comfortable. She felt she would need that today. He turned fully from the window and walked back over towards her. He didn't say a word about looking or not looking.
Of course, that doesn't mean he didn't watch the whole time and then look away quickly as he saw me finishing. She thought happily. She knew it was childish to have teased him like she had, but she was feeling surging emotions of love and happiness when she was with him. Those emotions were canceling out the anger and grief that were still simmering inside her. And, given a choice, she would much rather feel happy and in love, than angry and sorrowful.
She reached for his hand and pulled him out of her room as soon as he grasped it. She didn't head downstairs though, she headed for his room. He looked at her even more nervously than he had in her room.
"What are we—" He started to ask, but she cut him off as she stepped into his room with him and slid the door shut.
"Which dresser do you keep your clothes in again?" She asked him with a small smile on her face. She was sure it was the one on the left ... Mom's old dresser.
He pointed to the left, and she grinned. She slid open several of the cedar-lined drawers and rummaged around in the back and bottom of the drawers. Eventually she found what she was looking for, in the drawer he kept his shirts in. She gathered them up in her hands and turned around and showed them to him triumphantly.
He looked at the small little bags in her hands, then back to her in confusion. She smiled at him and explained as she put them back in his drawer and closed it softly, reverently.
"I thought I remembered that smell." She said as she turned back to him and walked slowly over to him and slid into a soft hug with him. She buried her face into his shirt, and breathed him in softly. There it was, the scent of cedar wood mixed with a subtle, flowery scent.
"What smell?" He whispered to her.
"You, Ranma. You smell like her ... like my Mom." She whispered to him with a content smile on her face. It was a sign, she just knew it. It was a sign from Mom. It was like Mom's seal of approval on him.
"Oh yeah ... ya said that last night ... whadda ya mean?" He asked, with confusion evident in his voice.
She smiled into his chest as she tilted her face so her lips cleared the fabric of his shirt so he'd hear her clearly. "Those little bags in your drawer, Ranma. They're called sachets. Women often put them into their dresser drawers to add a scent to their clothing, and often to keep moths and other pests away too. Normally they don't put out a smell for very long ... but I have a feeling you crushed them or something when you moved in, didn't you?" She asked him happily.
He nodded. "Yeah, I found those bags in the dresser when Pop and I moved in. I tried scrunching them up to make 'em smaller so they'd take up less room when I first put my clothes in there. And ... every now and then I take one out and toss it around 'n stuff. Was ... I not supposed ta?" He asked nervously.
She smiled even more widely. "It's because you crushed them and shook them up that they are putting out a scent again, Ranma. That's why, to me, you smell the way you do." She said softly.
"Oh." Was all he said, confusion still evident in his voice.
She closed her eyes and whispered to him contentedly. "Mom moved that dresser in here just a few weeks before she got sick. She either left the sachets in there on purpose, or just never got around to taking them out. It was her old dresser." She left unsaid how special she found this connection to be, but she could tell he was picking up on it on his own.
He looked down into her eyes, and nodded as he smiled softly at her. "I see." Was all he said.
"I'm glad." She said as she released him, grabbed his hand, and led him out of the room, and down the stairs. She'd just wanted to explain that to him, even if it meant he would remove the sachets. Now that the connection was present in her own mind, it was special enough, even if it stopped.
She headed for the kitchen where she grabbed food off the counter where Kasumi had laid it out. Ranma did the same, and they ate quickly. Both of them ate a lot, as both of them knew that the day ahead of them wasn't going to have a lunch break in it.
When they were done, she tugged him by the hand and headed out into the hall back towards the front door. She was stopped a few paces down the hall by Riko's voice.
"And just where do you think you're going, young lady?" Riko demanded.
She grinned and turned back to regard her oldest and best friend as she shifted her grip on Ranma from holding his hand to leaning against his shoulder nonchalantly.
"Ranma and I are going dancing, want to join us?" She asked impishly.
Ranma shot a quick look of surprise at her.
"Oh ho, I see m'lady has regained her sense of humor." Riko said with a twinkle in her eye.
"Who says I ever lost it? Ranma thinks I'm hilarious, don't you Ranma?" She asked him with a nudge to his ribs with her elbow.
He looked from Riko to her and back again before shrugging. "Um ... sure?" He said.
Riko laughed. "You're going to have to work on your act, Saotome." Riko said as she waggled her finger towards them and backed into the living room.
She nodded and followed Riko. She stepped into the room and smiled softly. Her friends were hard at work in their make-shift command center. They had two phones setup in the room, and they had laid out a map of their property on the wall, and it was heavily annotated with figures and fighting strength numbers. Chihiro was on the phone with someone, probably one of the mercenaries. Nanami was pouring through several layers of papers on the table, and Yui wasn't present.
Riko swept her hand wide like she was on stage and smiled warmly to them. "Welcome to headquarters. I'll have to insist on no photography while you are in here, please." Riko said with a smile as she walked over to one of the phones and plugged in a headset cord that was dangling from the headset resting on her neck.
"I see one of you got some proper equipment somehow?" She said with a smile.
"Yeah, the soldiers lent us some of their gear when Nami-chan asked them nicely. It's it cool? Not only am I finally commanding the control room, but I finally have a headset, like a badass!" Riko said with a grin as she sat down dramatically and kicked her feet up on the table the phones were set up on.
"Um ... shouldn't you be taking this more seriously?" Ranma asked hesitantly. She knew he had to be worried about Akane and Kasumi's safety. She smiled softly at that.
Riko looked at him sternly for a moment, then smiled a small dangerous smile not unlike her own. "What do you want me to say, Ranma? You want me to say that we're surrounded and probably outnumbered? You want me to tell you that odds aren't great the soldiers and our backup people will be able to hold them off? You want me to call out that Kiki-chan's Dad, and your dad, and that Doctor fellow have been fighting and standing watch for days on end now, and they have to be tired now? You want me to say things look grim?" Riko asked him softly, in a serious tone of voice.
All of the rest of the girls in the room had paused working, and were looking at Riko nervously. Riko rarely broke character. When she did, it was because she had a point to make.
Ranma swallowed hard and shook his head softly. "Well ... no, not when ya put it like that..." He said nervously.
Riko grinned at him and winked. "Good, because that's not how we roll in our little group, Saotome. You should know that by now. You should also know that Kiki-chan picked us for a reason. We know what we're doing. Just because we don't always behave like a sooper seeerious soldier, doesn't mean we can't get the job done." Riko said with a wink and a laugh as she elongated the words super and serious comically.
Ranma nodded respectfully and went back to watching everything with keen eyes, and not saying anything. As for herself, she smiled at Riko and nodded with approval at the setup she saw. It was no less than she'd expected. She had worked on operations large and small with all of her chief lieutenants, and they had used various forms of the setup being used now, to coordinate efforts. Her friends were doing a good job.
She opened her mouth to tell Riko that when Yui came bustling through the sliding doors to the porch and plopped a pad of paper on the table which Nanami quickly grabbed and started calling out numbers from. Riko smiled and walked over to the map on the wall and started updating numbers.
Yui came to stand in front of her and reached for her hands. Her friend looked deeply into her eyes and smiled at what she saw there. "Welcome back." Yui said in a soft, sweet voice. "I've missed you." Yui added almost in a whisper as her friend pulled her into a lingering hug. She knew exactly what Yui was talking about, she'd missed them too as she'd been coming apart the last few days.
"You feeling better now?" Riko asked from across the room.
"Y-yes, I think so, better than yesterday, for sure." She said cautiously.
"'Bout damn time!" Nanami said from the table.
"Agreed. I was starting to worry about you." Chihiro said as she hung up the phone and walked a different pad of numbers over to Nanami.
She felt her eyes tearing up a bit listening to her friends voicing their concern for her while still doing their jobs. She nodded shakily as Yui released her.
"Thanks..." She said hesitantly, she didn't know what to say to them. She had gathered her entire family together, to keep them safe. But now that they were there, she found that she was drawing more strength from them, than they were from her.
She found herself sniffling as she choked back tears of gratitude that surged up in her emotions. Ranma put a comforting hand on her shoulder from behind her. He was always like that lately, ready to step forward and support her. It made her feel the emotions even more strongly.
Riko looked at her across the room and frowned. "Now now, none of that. It simply won't do to have the leader of this vast enterprise showing any weakness." Riko said with a wink. She nodded at Riko and tried to look more professional.
"That is, of course, unless the leader of this vast enterprise needs the support of her friends, who love her." Riko added as she walked across the floor and grasped her hands warmly.
She nodded her head jerkily. She didn't trust her voice at the moment not to cry. She felt Ranma rub her shoulder with the thumb of his hand that was still on her.
"I'm glad Ranma was able to help you sort stuff out, Nabi-chan. I was getting ready to step in and try myself." Yui said warmly.
"Me too." Chihiro said as she walked towards them.
"Me too." Nanami added warmly as she stepped over to join them.
"Not me. I knew my little Kiki-chan was made of strong stuff. Not that I wouldn't have been willing to, you understand." Riko said with a smile.
She nodded jerkily again as she drew in shuddering breaths and tried to fight back the tears. She failed and started to let them out as her friends encircled her and pulled her into a group hug.
She closed her eyes and allowed herself to accept the love her friends were giving her. She knew she was going to need that love today. Several long moments later she opened her eyes and looked for Ranma. She found him looking at them with curiosity on his face from a seated position on the floor.
She smiled at him, and he returned it warmly as he spoke. "I'm glad you're feelin' better too." He said.
"How could I not, with friends like these?" She asked as her friends hugged her even more tightly.
"No kidding. I don't think I have ever seen friends better than yours." He said somewhat enviously.
Chihiro perked her head up and looked at Ranma thoughtfully for a moment, then turned and spoke to the rest of the girls. "You don't know the half of it, Saotome. What do you think, girls, is he worthy of the truth now?" Yui nodded, and Nanami smiled. Only Riko looked away from Chihiro and didn't show a positive response.
Chihiro's gaze lingered on Riko for a moment as Nanami reached over and wrapped Riko up in a half-hug with one arm. Chihiro smiled and turned back to Ranma. "You're one of us now, and you've fought for us, so I'll tell you my story. But this doesn't leave this room, understand?" She said firmly to Ranma who nodded earnestly.
Chihiro smiled and resumed speaking after a moment. "Nabiki took care of the debt my mother owed to some nasty loan sharks. We needed help bad. Mom took out the loan because Dad was out of work, and we were having trouble making ends meet. She didn't know they were loan sharks. By the time we found out, we owed them way more than we could repay. I went to Nabiki and asked for help. I was willing to do anything to get help for my family." Chihiro said softly as she turned to look back over at Nabiki and smiled softly.
Nabiki responded by reaching her hand out for Chihiro who took it and held it firmly as she continued telling her story. "Nabiki told me not to worry about it. Said she'd take care of it. She told me she knew the group we were in trouble with, and she had been meaning to deal with them for a while anyway. She ... she ran them out of business and got their leaders arrested because they'd threated my family and other families. It was over in less than a day. When I went back and asked what I owed her for her help, she told me not to worry about it. Told me to just consider it a favor between friends, and to remember it if she ever needed help. I had been prepared to owe more than I could ever repay, I had been prepared to be humiliated or worked like a dog. And I would have been happy to have done it. Nabiki had kept her promise and saved my family. But she didn't ask me for anything, just the favor. I'd ... I'd do anything for her!"
Nanami smiled and spoke up next. "Nabiki helped me too. My parents run a small shop in town over by the west train station. It's in a pretty good foot traffic location, and the property is pretty valuable. My family has owned it for a long time now though, so we get to keep our little shop there, and we don't pay anyone any rent, we just pay the city taxes on the land. Needless to say, we have had several offers from people to buy out the shop and the land. One time, one of the guys went too far. He took it personally when Mom told him no. Dad was out of town like he is about half of the time, taking care of the business, so it was just my Mom running the shop, and handling the business here in town. Anyway, the guy started yelling at Mom whenever he came by, and kept trying to intimidate her into selling. When Mom wouldn't budge, he started to do things like hire people to stand in front of our shop to intimidate customers away. And things started getting mysteriously broken around the shop, including windows and our signs.
"I could tell Mom was trying to be strong, but that she was scared. I even heard her on the phone with my Dad once, asking him when he would be home, and asking him to hurry. I was scared. I had heard around town that Nabiki could solve problems that nobody else could solve. I could have gone to the police, but I knew they wouldn't do anything — at least not fast enough for it to matter. So, I went to Nabiki. She told me not to worry, said she handled stuff like that all the time. She gave me some tea, and made some calls, asked me for the name of the shop, and address, and the name of the guy causing problems. Once she was done making the calls, we chatted for a while, and then she told me I could go home and it should be taken care of. We had only spent about an hour talking.
"When I got to our shop, Mom was in tears. She told me some scary looking guys dressed all in black suits had shown up at the shop, and she'd feared the worst. But they hadn't done anything. Instead, they just stood next to their car and chatted with themselves and hung around. But, as soon as the guy causing problems showed up, they surrounded him, and pulled him into their car. Mom told me the man had called her a little while later, sounding out of breath, and had apologized, and had told her he was leaving town and he no longer wanted our property. When I went back to Nabiki to thank her, she told me she had taken care of the guy and had all of his business permits and licenses revoked in all of Tokyo's Wards. She absolutely destroyed him. Last I heard he left Japan looking for work in Thailand. Nabiki never charged me anything for the help, she just told me to consider it a favor between friends. I'd do anything for her too." Nanami said in a shaky voice.
Nabiki looked around at her friends in wonder as they told Ranma some of their most intimate and personal secrets.
Not to be outdone, Yui spoke up next. "Nabiki ... helped my family also. There was a man who had the hots for my Mom when I was younger. My parents divorced when I was little. Mom dated sometimes, but she didn't like that guy. But ... he wouldn't take no for an answer. He kept getting more and more insistent, it was scary. He started showing up at the house at random times, sometimes when I was home alone. I never answered the door for him, but he was starting to get creepy. So, Mom eventually told him to go away and stop bothering her. That's when the guy lost it. He put a bunch of lies into the city records where he worked, then I guess he sent some tips to the District Attorney's office, or the Chief of Police, or something. They were talking about arresting her for corruption or something like that. I don't remember all of the details that well, it was many years ago. But, what I will never forget, was how I felt when I went to my friend Nabiki in tears and told her about it. I was desperate to find someone who could help keep my mom out of jail. I had heard she could fix stuff, but I had never paid much attention to it. Nabiki listened to me and she didn't laugh at me, or enjoy my misfortune like lots of people do when someone's family falls on hard times.
"Instead, Nabiki got angry. She told me to come with her, and we went downtown to some crazy-huge office building. She walked in like she owned the place, and took me straight to the office of a nice older man who worked there. She told me to tell him what was going on. I did, and he smiled, and said he would take care of it. Then he gave us cookies and cakes, and chatted with Nabiki a bit while I fought to keep myself from crying and tried to act mature like Nabiki did. When we left, the man again told us not to worry, and that he'd take care of it, and that's just what he did. Later that day when I went home, Mom was sitting at the table having tea with that same older man. She told me when I got home that the creepy guy wouldn't be bothering us ever again." Yui said in a small voice.
Her friend locked her eyes on Ranma and continued her story in a slightly shakier voice. "I found out later that the older man Nabiki took me to go see, was the Senior Partner in the largest law firm in Japan. He took the case pro bono for Nabiki's sake, and brought in private investigators to clear my Mom. The creep's lies fell apart as soon as someone who knew what they were doing starting poking around and looking at them. I wish I could have seen his face. Because, holy crap, it must have been awesome. They eviscerated that guy. Not only did the law firm get the charges dropped against my mom, but they found the evidence that the creep had planted the lies in the records. They threw the book at him. He'll be in prison until he dies. Nabiki saved my Mom, I'd do absolutely anything for her." Yui said in a shaking voice as she reached over and grabbed Nabiki's hand warmly. Nabiki smiled at her softly.
Ranma turned to look at Riko, who smiled at him as she sniffled. Hearing the rest of them tell their tales was obviously tugging at Riko's heart strings. Riko didn't say anything for a while. She closed her eyes and pulled in slow, deep breaths as she shook her head back and forth slowly. When Riko spoke, it was in a trembling voice. "Nobody else besides Nabiki and her dad know this story. I haven't ever told it, to anyone. Not because I'm ashamed ... but because it's hard for me to even really wrap my mind around what Nabiki did for me. I've never even told Nanami or Yui or Chihiro. There are debts that can be repaid, and there are debts that can barely be repaid, and then there is what Nabiki did for me ... I still, to this day, can't believe she did it." Riko said in a voice that was increasingly emotional.
Riko opened her eyes then and looked at Nabiki, and only Nabiki as she spoke. "N-Nabiki put up the money to save my Mom. We couldn't afford the special treatment she needed in the hospital, it was experimental, but it worked. I-It just wasn't a covered treatment. Nabiki was just a kid at the time, I didn't even know her that well, but she was my friend. She'd stayed my friend, even after all of the bad things that had happened to her family." Riko said softly as she closed her eyes again and took anther deep breath.
"Nabiki was my friend in school. S-she found out something was wrong with me, so she came to see me in the hospital. She asked what was wrong, and I told her. Nabiki said, without hesitation, that she had money, and she could make it r-right ... and that's what she did. She went to her dad that afternoon and made him let her spend t-the m-money on m-my m-m-mom's tt-reat-mm-ent." Riko said as tears leaked down her cheeks and her voice fell apart. 
The girls encircled Riko and hugged her until she calmed down. A moment later Riko nodded and pulled in a shuddering breath before she spoke again. "My Dad abandoned me before I was even born. I don't have any other family. Just my Mom. I would have been an orphan if Nabiki hadn't saved her. And if that wasn't enough, once Mom got better, Nabiki made sure we weren't homeless. She had us stay here until she got her Dad to find Mom a job... NABIKI SAVED MY LIFE! I'D DIE FOR HER!" Riko shouted in a quaking voice as fresh tears poured down her cheeks.
"Me too." Nanami said fiercely.
"Me too." Yui chimed in with her own tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Me too." Chihiro said as she looked down at the ground to hide her own crying.
Ranma looked over at her clearly overwhelmed and with a silent question on his lips. She could see he was swallowing hard to try to stop himself from losing control. She smiled and answered his unspoken question as she continued to hug her best friends. "I have a soft spot for people who's mothers are in trouble." She said with a shaky but proud smile.
"No kidding." He said with a small smile as he leaned back and rested his hands on the ground behind him, almost like he was bracing himself from the enormity of what he had just heard.
She stayed in her friends' arms for a few more wonderful moments as they all fought to bring themselves back under control. Riko's story had affected everyone. That was no surprise, as aside from herself, it was the first time any of them had heard it. They all knew each other's stories of course, so they all suspected Riko's was similar, but hearing the details had an impact that suspicions just couldn't match. As her friends slowly let her go, she sighed and then pulled in a deep breath and tried to shift back to business. "So what happened this morning? How did the Amazons get past the soldiers?" She asked with some annoyance in her voice. She would have hoped that several hundred soldiers would have been enough, but apparently they hadn't been.
"Um ... we're not sure of that ourselves. We still need to talk to some of our people, and we've been trying to talk to that captain Maki guy, but he's being squirrely, and says he'll only talk to you about that stuff. Best we can tell, they just hit all four sides with a not small amount of people, and they managed to overload the soldiers enough to get some of their people through." Yui said in a business-like tone matching Nabiki's.
"Anyone get killed?" Nabiki asked in a cold voice. She was hoping some of the Amazons had bought it, but she doubted it. She hadn't heard any gunfire.
"We're not sure about that either, but we don't think so. No fatalities among the soldiers, although about ten percent of them were wounded enough that they are out of action now. And no bodies left behind from the Amazons, unfortunately." Yui said in a cold voice of her own which raised Ranma's eyebrows.
She smiled inwardly at that. Ranma wasn't used to this side of Yui. At school Yui preferred to play the voice of reason, while Riko like to play an agent of chaos. All of her chief lieutenants could be utterly ruthless when the situation called for it though. And Amazons trying to kill them certainly counted.
"I'll talk to captain Maki and order him to release information to you four." She said as she picked up a brown leather backpack Nanami handed her with a wink, and got ready to leave.
"Our people did well though. There would have been more damage if it hadn't been for them backing up the soldiers." Chihiro said with approval.
She nodded. There had been a reason she had called in the people she had, and she had clearly been right. "Tell them to keep doing what they do best." She said with approval in her voice.
"Nabiki ... wait." Riko said as she turned to leave and beckoned Ranma to follow her.
She turned back and looked at Riko quizzically. "Yeah?" She asked her oldest friend. She needed to get on with it with Ranma, but she was willing to give her friend a minute or two more.
"I'm coming with you, it isn't safe out there." Riko said resolutely.
She smiled but shook her head. "I need you here, where it's safe. Ranma will protect me. I need you here watching our people, and keeping an eye on these soldiers. They are the first line of defense keeping my family safe. If I win this war but lose any of you, then the war won't have been worth fighting." She said just as fiercely.
Riko sprinted over to her, and hugged her desperately. She could feel tears leaking out of her friend's eyes on to her shoulder. "You come back to me, you hear? I need you." Riko whispered to her in a shaking voice.
"Same." She whispered back to her friend as she hugged her back just as strongly. She lingered in her friend's arms for a few more self-indulgent moments, then she sighed and slowly stepped back away from Riko.
Her friend's lower lip was quivering.
"If I lose you ..." Riko said in a catching voice.
"Same." She said to Riko with a wink. "Now get back to work and start cracking the whip on everyone!" She said with a smile as she beckoned to Ranma who nodded and jogged to her side.
Riko saluted her, and held it, still with her lower lips quivering. She held Riko's gaze as well, and they both did their best to reassure each other as well as silently say goodbye to each other, should the worst happen.
She started to slowly back out of the room as she held Riko's gaze.
Yui waved cheerfully at her. "Go get 'em, boss!" Yui called out as she backed away with Ranma.
"Keep your head down!" Nanami said in a more serious tone.
"Smack 'em once for me!" Chihiro added with a smile and a wave.
Riko didn't say anything more. Her oldest and best friend just continued to salute her and visibly fight back tears while she backed away into the hall with Ranma. As soon as they turned the corner and lost sight of them, she sighed and turned around and started to walk normally next to him.
He looked over at her and opened his mouth to say something, but closed it. Instead he reached his hand out to her. She took it with a small smile and walked hand in hand with him through their shattered front door.
Several soldiers were walking around in the courtyard, and they were still up on the walls as well. There was wood smoke in the air. She smelled it strongly as soon as she stepped outside. It wasn't a cheery wood smoke smell from a camp fire or a festival hearth though. Parts of their house had caught fire, and a large part of the walls around their lands were caved in and charred in various locations. The remaining, unwounded, soldiers she had summoned were alternating dealing with their wounded, and manning the walls. Every single one of them saluted her sharply as she walked past them with Ranma. They ignored Ranma. He looked over at her with wide eyes filled with what she guessed was either admiration, respect, or a bit of fear. It's probably a mixture. She thought to herself.
Captain Maki had kept his word. Their property had been damaged. But his soldiers had stood their ground, and her family was safe. Only a handful of Amazons had made it past the walls, and her backup plan for the soldiers had worked well. It didn't sound like any of the Amazons had been killed. And from what she could see, none of the soldiers had been killed either. 
It seemed that the Amazons were smart enough to try to avoid fatalities in the Self Defense Force ranks. She was sure it was more out of a desire to avoid an international incident than any sense of altruism. She had a feeling their heaviest hitters hadn't tried yet, though. She would ask for descriptions of the Amazons from captain Maki, but she was willing to bet none of the descriptions matched Shampoo, Mousse or the old woman. If any of them had been part of the attack, the outcome would have been much worse. Especially if Shampoo's Great Grandmother had joined the attack.
A pair of soldiers stopped in front of her as she and Ranma walked towards the gate. They smiled at her and the taller of the two spoke up hesitantly. "How is ... how is your sister, ma'am?" He asked.
"My sister? Oh, she's fine. She was just upset because something special got broken. That's why she was yelling." She said as she started to walk again. But the soldier shook his head and frowned.
"No, um ... not her. The ... the other one. The younger one. With short hair?" He said carefully.
"Akane? What about her?" She asked, confused.
"She saved Watanabe, Nakamura and Satō, ma'am. She pulled those crazy Chinese soldiers off them, and fought them off long enough for reinforcements to get to 'em and push 'em back, ma'am. She's ... she's a god damned hero, ma'am." The soldier said in a firm voice.
She knew her jaw was figuratively on the floor, and her reaction had to be showing on her face. Akane hadn't said anything about fighting the Amazons. Akane had only mentioned coming to help Kasumi. She sighed and looked back at the house. It figures, she probably didn't want us to worry. She thought as she searched in vain for Akane.
She turned back to the soldiers and smiled. "Don't worry, she's fine. I saw her just a few minutes ago, and she's in perfect health." She said with as much positive cheer as she could muster. These men were fighting to protect her family after all, they deserved all the morale boosts they could get. If they wanted to idolize Akane for helping them fight, she was more than willing to let them do that.
"That's good. Thank you, ma'am. Tell her the guys in Raven Squad want to buy her and your family dinner when this is all over." The soldier said with a nervous smile as he re-set the strap of his rifle on his shoulder and started to walk again next to his companion, who was nodding earnestly.
She smiled back at them and nodded. "I'll tell her. Thanks, you guys. You're doing a great job, keep it up!" She said with an encouraging wave.
As soon as they were out of earshot Ranma leaned in and whispered to her. "Laying it on a little thick, aren't you?" He asked.
"Which would you rather have protecting the family, Ranma? Happy, inspired soldiers, or beaten-down, and afraid soldiers?" She whispered back to him out of the side of her mouth while she continued to smile and wave at the soldiers as they walked away.
"Okay, fair point." Ranma replied with a smile. "Should we get goin'?" He said as he indicated the main gate.
She nodded. "Yes, let's. You lead and—"
"Hold on there, young lady!" Daddy's voice sounded from behind her.
She closed her eyes briefly in annoyance. It never ended well when he called her that. It's always something, isn't it? She thought as she turned and raised an eyebrow at Daddy as he walked swiftly over to them. His face was set in stern lines, and his hands were clenched into fists so hard that his knuckles were turning white.
She opened her mouth to say more, but had to turn to follow him as he stepped past her and took up a position in front of the gate, barring access to it. She sighed as Ranma shot a confused look at her.
"And just where do you think you're going?" Daddy demanded with his hands now firmly crossed over his chest.
She closed her eyes again briefly and worked to steady herself. She no longer had the burning ball of rage inside her, but the anger she was still feeling about Mom's death was still there, simmering in the background. It didn't take much for her to tap into those feelings at the moment. She did her best to do some calming exercises in her mind before she responded. Just a day earlier, those same exercises hadn't worked. But now she could feel them working, at least a bit. The flashpoint of anger inside her dropped back from where it had been yesterday. She was able to seize her rationale and logic and bring it to the front of her mind as she spoke.
"I ... am going with Ranma, Daddy." She said as calmly as she could. She knew he would be able to pick up a hint of annoyance in her voice, but she couldn't help that.
"Absolutely not, unacceptable. It's too dangerous, Nabiki."
"Daddy, I—"
"NO, Nabiki! No! I wouldn't even let Akane go outside these walls right now, and she has been training the longest in the Art." Daddy said firmly.
"Mister, Tendo, it's—" Ranma started to say.
"Stay out of this, Ranma. This is a family matter." Daddy cut across Ranma roughly. She had to close her eyes again to calm herself down. Daddy was getting dangerously close to triggering her anger.
When she spoke again, it was in the same dark, low and dangerous voice she had used in Akane's room yesterday. "Ranma is family, Daddy!"
"Now, Nabiki, you know I—" Daddy started to reply.
It was her turn to cut him off though. "NO! You can't have it both ways! The engagement was your idea and Mom's! You wanted our families joined. You wanted one of us to marry Ranma, right?!" She shouted. She could see some of the soldiers were starting to peek over at the commotion now. She didn't care.
"Yes, but—"
"No, Daddy! I've accepted the engagement to Ranma. If we go through with it, he'll be my husband. You know damn well what that means. I know because I saw you do it with ... with M-Mom." She said in a voice shaking with emotion. The bonds of filial loyalty by necessity had to be broken and reforged into different bonds when one's heart was pledged to another. There could be no competition between one's loyalty to one's spouse, and anyone else. One's spouse had to come first. That included Daddy.
"Nabiki ... I can't, it's—" Daddy said in a much quieter voice as he let his hands droop to his sides.
She shook her head and interrupted him again. "The only way you are going to stop me from leaving with him, is if you fight me. And it will be a fight, Daddy. I know you'll win, but I will make you hurt me to win. You will actually have to fight me to stop me from going. I will not allow him to go and fight alone for our sake! I won't! That is the least I can do for him. I can go with him, I can help him as much as I can, and I can support him. I can't fight like he can, but so help me God, I will do everything else in my power to help him succeed. If he is going to fight for this family, I am going with him. You can stop me, but I'll make you pay dearly to do it. Are you ready to hurt me to get your way?" She asked as she clenched her hands into fists tightly. Ranma was looking at her with his mouth hanging open.
She knew that consternation in the Tendo family made him nervous. She also knew that he wanted very much to join their family for real, and that he considered their family to be a real family, unlike the mess of a relationship he had with his Dad. It probably disturbed him to see the cracks starting to show in the Tendo line. But she couldn't help that right now. She wasn't going to back down, nod demurely and obey Daddy's wishes like a good little girl and bride-to-be, just because the head of the household had given her an order.
Daddy stared at her for a moment with glassy eyes. Then he took a rough step towards her. She flinched and started to bring her hands up into a fighting stance. He froze as he looked at her in shock, then he looked down at the ground slowly. She could see the fight go out of him then. His body language slumped in defeat, and he nodded sadly. A moment later he stepped to the side of the gate, and unblocked it. She smiled shakily at that.
"Very well ... very well, Nabiki. Go with him, support him. Do ... what your mother would have done." Daddy said to her in a bitter voice. "You're so much like her in so many ways, sometimes it's unreal." He said defeatedly while he stepped further from the gate.
She nodded and fought back the tears that wanted to come. She was done crying for the moment. Today was a day to be strong. She looked over at Ranma and nodded firmly to him as she reached out her hand for his.
He nodded back nervously as he took her hand. They took a step towards the gate then froze as Daddy spoke up again.
"Saotome?" Daddy said in a clear, heavy voice.
"Yeah?" Ranma said as he paused and looked back while he held her hand.
"Bring my daughter home safely, or don't return." Daddy said in a deathly serious tone of voice.
Ranma turned and met Daddy's eyes silently for a few moments, then nodded seriously. "I promise. If she's hurt ... I won't be going anywhere, ever again, anyways." He said in the same serious tone of voice he had used with her last night.
Daddy locked eyes with him for another few moments, then nodded curtly and walked briskly away from them. He headed for the far wall and joined the soldiers there. She noted that with some curiosity. Previously the soldiers hadn't wanted the Martial Artists standing in their ranks with them. I wonder what changed? She thought idly.
She looked over at Ranma and smiled to herself.
I'll just know. She thought as she repeated what was quickly becoming her mantra to herself.
"Ready?" She asked him softly.
"Yeah, let's—"
"Ranma, wait!" Akane's voice sounded behind them.
She closed her eyes again and counted backwards from ten to one as she worked to control her irritation. It was starting to seem like there was a line formed up somewhere with people waiting to stop them from walking out of the gate as soon as they moved towards it. She slowly turned around and saw her little sister watching them from the shattered doorway to the house.
Akane glanced at her, then slid her gaze over to Ranma. As her little sister walked slowly over to them, she did her best to control her emotions. She was happy that she actually could control them again. It hadn't been pleasant losing control like she had the last few days.
Akane arrived and stood in front of Ranma with her hands clasped tightly in front of herself. Her little sister was visibly nervous. She could see Akane's legs were shaking badly. She had a bad feeling about this.
"R-Ranma ... can I talk to you before you go?" Akane asked in an urgent tone.
"Can it wait? We need ta go find the old ghoul and end this." Ranma said in a strained voice. She could tell he was itching to get out there and stop the attacks on his family.
"P-Please ... Ranma? Please? Just a few minutes? If we don't talk now then..." Akane trailed off nervously with her eyes firmly on the ground.
Ranma looked over at her, and she sighed and nodded. She had a feeling she knew what Akane was up to. She didn't really want to give Akane the chance to try, but what choice did she have? If I shut her out, it will look like I am trying to make his decision for him. She thought sadly as Ranma nodded hesitantly and started walking away with Akane after her younger sister beckoned him to follow her.
She watched them go with a heavy heart. She had an unshakable bond with him now. He was a part of her, but that didn't mean he was going to choose her to be his wife. It was still possible for Akane to sway him. She could feel him slipping away from her with every step he took next to Akane.
She no longer felt like she had yesterday. Yes, his world was violent. Yes, there would always be another challenger out there for him. And he would never be happy just staying in their peaceful town, teaching basic Martial Arts to normal people for the rest of his life. But she wanted him to choose her more than anything, anyway.
But if he doesn't choose me, I'll just have to find a way to survive that. He'll need to fight with people like Ryoga and Shampoo's Grandmother. He'll need to constantly challenge himself to get better. He may not feel like he can do that if he chooses me. I'm not going to tie him down and clip his wings. I want him to be free to be who he needs to be. After what he did for me last night, that's one of the smallest favors I can think of to do for him. She thought sadly as he rounded the corner of their house while he talked with Akane.
She felt like crying but she held it back. It wouldn't be a sad thing if Ranma chose Akane. Her younger sister loved him. She knew that. If Akane was in the process of finally being able to confess her love to him, she was happy for her. She didn't want to lose Ranma, but if she lost him to Akane, she could accept that. She would find a way to survive and move on from that. It couldn't be worse than losing Mom, right?
As Ranma disappeared from her view, she hugged herself tightly, and did her best to hold herself together as she waited for them to return. The soldiers that could see her respectfully turned their gazes away from her. She had no further cards to play. Like she'd told him yesterday, she had nothing left to offer him other than what he'd already seen — except maybe her body. But, she wasn't vain enough to think her modest physique was going to be the deciding factor in his decision, nor did she want it to be. Still, she couldn't stop herself from being at least a little selfish.
If you're going to pick Akane, please do it quickly. Please don't let me think I still have a chance if you've made up your mind. She thought sadly as she stared at the clouds in the sky and waited for her Ranma to come back to her, as the smoke from her still charring house swirled around her and filled her nose with reminders of the chaos and destruction that was still waiting to be dealt with right outside their walls.