Nabiki frowned at her computer. It wasn't giving her the answers she wanted
to see.
The Kuno family's loan was considerable, but it had to be spread out over
four years. Add to that the cost of finding a half-way decent place to live
by NIT, and you didn't have much left over for books, food, and other costs.
She didn't have to move out; NIT was reachable from the Tendo home. It was
an hour-long commute through the crowded transit system, but it was doable.
She'd save a lot of money that way.
Nabiki grimaced. She really wanted to move out of the house. Not that she
didn't like her family, but things around had been much too...zany...since
Ranma and his father had moved in. She didn't need those kind of
distractions during college.
The greater motivation, though, was that she was going to be on her own.
She had really felt that she had grown beyond the restrictions imposed on her
by her family life. She wanted to set her own limits, establish her own
hours, run her own household. No Father to cry when you stepped on his toes,
no Akane to yell at you for no reason whatsoever (well, hardly any reason),
and no Kasumi to tell you to pick your clothes up off the floor.
Also, she had just begun exploring some exciting things with Tatewaki. It
would be nice to have a nice private place to explore further.
Nabiki wrenched her mind away from the direction it was headed and focused
once again on the spreadsheet in front of her. She needed more money. She
had a fair-sized personal net worth, but she was delving heavily into that
for furnishings and clothes. She had tweaked the numbers as much as possible,
but she couldn't see a way around it. More money.
She called up her another one of her spreadsheets, this one titled "Debts to
be Collected - Personal." She had, alas, forgiven Tatewaki all of his debts.
She could hardly do less after his family's generosity. Some of her classmates
owed her various sums of money, but they didn't add up to much.
She considered starting up some of her businesses again. Ranma had been so
profitable. She had actually achieved international distribution with some
of his pictures transferred onto cloth and other things. Ranma was as
beautiful as a woman as he was handsome as a man, and some less-than-virtuous
people would pay a lot to see him in less-than-full attire.
Nabiki drew in a deep breath, held it a moment, than let it out. She had
recently come to understand that there were certain things you didn't do,
no matter how profitable they were. Taking advantage of Ranma's attractiveness
by packaging it and selling it to the hentai crowd was not an acceptable way
of making money. Not anymore.
She looked at the spreadsheet again. Ranma himself had taken out a lot of
loans. In fact, he owed her a considerable sum of money. Of course, since
he had no income of his own, these debts were likely to reamin on her ledger
for some time. She continued to use the knowledge of his indebtedness to make
him do things for her. She had no qualms about doing this; it was the very
least he could do, given how much he owed.
Still, she thought to herself, the gravy train ends here, Ranma. She had no
money left to indulge him with. In fact, she had less than no money.
Damn, it would be nice to be as rich as Tatewaki. Nabiki looked forward to the
day when she would be making so much money for herself, she could laugh off
inconsequential debts like Ranma's. She had a lot of hard work in front of
her before that day came.
She'd probably have to invest some of the money loaned to her. She didn't have
to pay all four years' tuition up front. She could use some of the money to
pay for current costs and invest the rest. There was risk involved in that,
of course. She'd have to clear it with the Kuno accountants, probably. They
wouldn't appeciate her educational loans being used to invest in stocks or
other commodities. Then again, what they didn't know wouldn't bother them.
She mulled over the ethics of the situation. Left to her own devices, she'd
probably just go ahead and invest the money, and not bother checking with
the accountants. However, she probably wouldn't be able to hide it from
Tatewaki. If he found out, he would be very disappointed.
Nabiki picked up a pencil from her desk and tapped it against her lips. This
relationship with Tatewaki was affecting her more than she thought. He had
already told her that she was keeping him from descending into the madness of
temptation. She had just discovered that his highly developed sense of honor
was keeping her from performing slightly unethical acts. They were either
good for each other or keeping each other from exploring the extremes of their
respective characters.
Nabiki grimaced again. She didn't want Tatewaki to end up like his sister.
And she had no desire to turn into another Howard Hughes. Even if it felt
limiting to be bound by Tatewaki's sense of honor, it had to be good for her
in the long run.
She continued tapping the pencil on her lips as she stared into space, lost in
thoughts about Tatewaki, and the future.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a tentative knocking on her door. She
frowned at the door, then barked, "Come in."
The door opened and Ranma came in. He had a sheepish look on his face, tinged
with fear. It could only mean one thing: he wanted money.
She scowled at him. He was not going to get it.
He looked at her and his eyes widened. Already he could see that she knew what
he wanted and that the answer was no. His face hardened; he was going to ask
anyway.
Nabiki took her pencil and, without her eyes leaving Ranma's face, tapped it
against the computer. Ranma looked, and saw the spreadsheet she had up, and
the column she was tapping on. Ranma's loans, doled out over the past year,
with little collected in return. Ranma winced, but looked back at her
steadily; he still intended to ask.
Nabiki decided to bring the non-verbal communication to a close. "No, Ranma!
I'm having enough problems as it is! College is expensive, you know. I'm
barely going to get by as it is, and maybe not even that. I just don't have
any money."
Ranma looked skeptical. "You? With no money?"
Nabiki felt real anger coming on. "Yes! Me, Tendo Nabiki, who has money
flowing in from all around, who can touch anything and turn it into gold, who
goes around dating rich guys so she can get access to their wealth. Me!"
She tapped her pencil against her chest to emphasize her words. "I have no
money!"
Ranma looked chagrined, and a little irritated. "Nabiki, I already apologized
to you for what I said about you and Kuno."
Nabiki softened her face a little. "I know, Ranma, that wasn't meant for you.
You don't think I know what they say about me at school?" She waved her hands
in the air. "It doesn't matter, that's irrelevant. I don't make as much
money as I used to, and I'm having a little trouble coming up with a budget
for the next four years. In fact, I may have to stay here at home to make it
all work. And that I don't want."
To her surprise, Ranma nodded. "Yeah, things get a little hectic around here."
He looked down at his feet, took a deep breath, and looked back up at her.
"Do...do you want to take some more pictures of me? Would that help?"
Nabiki blinked at him, her anger draining away. This was a remarkable offer
from Ranma. He hated having those pictures taken of him, absolutely hated it.
Only the most dire blackmail or the most compelling circumstances could get
him to do it at all. That he was offering to do it, without her even asking
for it, indicated how desperately he needed money from her.
She considered it. She still had some contacts. He was offering of his own
free will. They could make a lot of money, quickly, depending on how far
Ranma was willing to go. Sexy lingerie and topless poses was about his limit
- and hers, Nabiki was forced to admit. Still, they could make quite a killing.
Reluctantly, she asked herself what Tatewaki would think. Surprisingly, she
didn't know. He had, until recently, been the biggest market for pictures of
Ranma. Still, when he had purchased them, she had seen him struggling, the
obvious guilt over owning such pictures warring with his overwhelming desire
for his "pig-tailed goddess". Nabiki guessed that, now that he was getting
over his obsessions with Akane and Ranma, he wouldn't approve of the selling
of risque pictures of them.
Nabiki was forced to admit that she wasn't so keen on the idea herself. Like
Tatewaki, Nabiki was fighting an addiction: using everyone and everything
around her to make money. Even if Ranma was willing, she couldn't use him as
an object like that, to be paraded in front of the world, just so that she
could afford an apartment in college. It was demeaning to them both.
Nabiki put a smile on her lips. "Thanks, Ranma, I really appreciate the
offer. But I couldn't, not really. You deserve better than that."
Ranma gave a small sigh of relief, and that made Nabiki feel good. She had
made the right decision.
Ranma idly cracked his knuckles, evidently lost in thought. He really wanted
this money, and was hard at work trying to figure out how to help her get some.
Nabiki snorted softly. "Ranma, I'm sorry, I truly am. I just can't give you
any large sums of money right now." She considered his resources. The
Saotomes were quite poor themselves, what meager resources they had expended
to repair the Saotome home. Ranma didn't have much in the way of personal
possesions. There was only one other thing she could think of. "Akane has
a little money she's been saving for college. Maybe she'd be willing to lend
some to you, if you promise to pay it back. I'd even be willing to let her
be the first person you pay back, and let my loans slide until hers is paid
off."
Ranma's eyes widened. "No! I can't ask Akane."
Nabiki glared at him. "Why not? Some pride thing? What's the difference
between asking me and asking Akane?"
The color seemed to drain out of Ranma's face. He stepped all the way into
her room and closed the door behind him. He made a fist with one hand and
idly pounded it into his other palm. "I..." He tiled his head back and
looked up at the ceiling. "I, um..." He put his hands behind his head and
walked in a couple of small circles in front of her door. "I want to buy..."
He went over to her bed, sat down in it, then stood up again immediately to
walk back over to the door and talk into it. "I want to buy an mmmmm mmm."
Nabiki had been watching all this in fascination. Ranma was terrified, of
what she couldn't imagine. She had never seen him so nervous, and she had
seen and heard of him battling monsters of all sorts. This had to be good.
"Speak up Ranma. You want to buy what?"
"Ummahymmnt mmmng."
Nabiki threw her pencil at him. "C'mon, Ranma-kun, you can tell me. A
what?"
Ranma turned his head to the side so that it was no longer facing the door.
The words came out in a painful monotone. "An engagement ring."
Nabiki's jaw dropped open. She stared at Ranma, her mind a whirl. "I'm
sorry, I thought you said an engagement ring."
Ranma turned around to look at her, an irritated look on his face. "Yeah,
an engagement ring." Uncertainty replaced the irritation. "You know, for
Akane."
That broke Nabiki out of her stupor. "Well, I didn't think it was for Kasumi."
She examined Ranma closely. "You sure about this, Ranma-kun?"
He reached one hand behind his head. "Uh...no. Yes." He gulped and tried
his best to put a determined look on his face. "Yes."
Nabiki felt a smile coming on, and didn't try to stop it. "Well, it's about
damn time, Saotome." Happiness filled her. After so long, Ranma and Akane
were finally beginning to work things out. Nabiki knew that an engagement
ring would make Akane very, very happy.
Nabiki thought for a little bit. Suddenly it didn't matter so much that she
had to live at home. "Okay, Ranma-kun, I'll lend you the money. On the
condition that you let me help you pick the ring."
Ranma looked at her uncertainly. "Really, Nabiki? How can you afford it?"
Nabiki smiled and waggled a finger at him. "Never you mind, Ranma. Your
concern is Akane." She looked over at her daily planner, flipped a page.
"Let's do it tomorrow after school. Okay?"
Ranma nodded. "Okay."
They stared at each other. Ranma still looked frightened, and seemed to be
reassured not at all by Nabiki's wide grin. Finally, he turned, opened the
door, and left.
Nabiki turned back to her computer. Her forehead creased ever so slightly
at the sight of the spreadsheets. She closed them all down. They were a
concern for another day. For now, she had to concentrate on keeping a
neutral expression whenever she saw Akane.
***
"Older sister!" Nabiki did her best to ignore Akane, but she was caught at
the shoe lockers.
"Nabiki." Akane paused to catch her breath while Nabiki changed her shoes.
"Ranma ran off without me." Akane scowled briefly, muttered to herself,
"Baka." She focused again on Nabiki. "Do you know what he did to me in the
dojo yesterday?"
"Yeah, whatever." Nabiki waved her off. "I gotta go, Akane. Have to meet
with Tatewaki. I'll see you back home."
Akane blinked at her. Nabiki turned her back and hurried away. There were
good lies and bad lies. This had to be a good lie. It just felt like a
bad one.
Nabiki shook it off and made her way to the rendesvous point. Ranma was
waiting, looking as frightened as ever. His eyes didn't leave her face
as she approached.
She let the smile come over her face again. It had been hard to suppress
back at the shoe lockers. "Ready, Ranma?"
He nodded. Together they made their way down the road.
"Do you have a place in mind?" Ranma sounded as nervous as he looked.
"Yeah, it's a place we've used before. We used it to resize Mother's
wedding ring."
Ranma's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Ah so? Why did you do that?"
"Mother gave it to Kasumi. We had it fitted for her, but she hasn't ever
worn it. I think she's saving it for her own wedding." Nabiki thought
back to the day in the hospital, when Mother had slowly taken off her ring
and put it into a trembling Kasumi's hands. It brought a lump to Nabiki's
throat; she hadn't thought of that moment in years. She looked down;
every so often, the memories of her mother's death would crash over her.
It happened less and less often, but it was still painful when it occurred.
A hand clasped her shoulder. She looked up to see Ranma smiling at her.
"Thanks for helping me with Akane, Nabiki."
She studied him for a moment. This was either a remarkable coincidence, or
great thought on Ranma's part. He had said and done just the right things
to get her out of her funk before it overwhelmed her. Her initial
inclination was to suspect the former. Looking into his eyes, seeing the
compassion there that he rarely showed, she wasn't ready to dismiss the
latter out of hand.
She let out a breath and pointed. "Here we are."
They went inside the shop. A middle-aged woman looked up from a desk as
they walked in and smiled. "Good afternoon! Thank you for coming to my
humble shop. How can I help you young people today?"
Nabiki began looking around the displays. "He needs an engagement ring.
We were thinking of something in the 60,000 to 80,000 yen range."
"Nabiki!" Ranma gaped at her. "It doesn't have to be that much!" He was
clearly shocked.
She glared at him. "Don't be cheap now, Ranma." She looked into a display
case, at a silver ring with diamonds and ruby chips. "This is nice."
The salesperson moved behind the counter. "It is a lovely piece. It is
a little above your range, but maybe we could work out a payment plan for
you."
Nabiki kept herself from snorting. As if she was going to pay the interest
rates the shop would charge.
Ranma, meanwhile, was tugging on her sleeve. "Nabiki, really." There was
a quiet earnestness on his face. "It doesn't have to be that fancy."
Nabiki looked at him. She wasn't mad, exactly, just curious. "Why? You
don't think my sister's good enough for it?"
Ranma responded in the same calm, quiet manner. "That's not it, of course.
Listen, this has got to tell Akane something, something important. But it
doesn't have to blare its message, or be showy. That's not like me or
Akane."
Nabiki considered this, and nodded. "This one time only, Ranma, you are
right and I am wrong." She looked him in the eye. "Don't worry, it'll
never happen again."
Ranma smiled.
Nabiki moved to another display case, which showed simple gold rings. "How
about these, Ranma?"
Ranma moved over and looked at them. "Those seem nice."
The salesperson brought them out of the display case. The looked at them,
quietly commenting on the different styles, putting them on Nabiki's finger
to gauge them. Eventually they settled on a thin, 14 karat piece with a
beveled edge. Tiny flowers were engraved half-way around it. Simple from
a distance, increasing in complexity the more you examined it. Nabiki
suggested the analogy, and Ranma nodded his appreciation.
Nabiki began some good-natured bartering with the saleperson. There wasn't
much to bargain over, since it was a ring in the low end of the price range.
In the end, the salesperson put the ring in a small box and Nabiki handed
her 14,000 yen. Nabiki opened up her ledger book and entered the amount
under Ranma's name. Ranma agreed the amount was correct, his lips thinning
as he saw the many other entries listed there as well.
Ranma held the box in his hands as they made their way back to the house.
His face had reacquired some of the fear. Nabiki felt the smile coming
again. It actually came on so strong that it turned into a quiet laugh.
Ranma glared at her. "What's so funny?"
She shook her head. "I've never had a brother before. I think you'll be
a good one."
Ranma blinked at her. He clearly hadn't considered that. "Sister-in-law."
He looked at her, a strange, thoughtful look on his face.
Nabiki nodded. "You don't just get Akane. You get the whole family. Good
and bad, that. I'll be charging you interest from here to eternity, Dad
will be clutching you and sobbing, and Kasumi will be telling you to wash
before dinner."
Ranma laughed. "I don't think it'll be all bad. Look how much you've
helped me today." He looked steadily at her.
Nabiki found herself strangely flushed. "Shut up. Listen, go ahead on
home. I think I'll stop in on Tatewaki for a second."
"Okay." He put the box in his pocket. "I gotta get ready for our planning
session anyway. Shampoo and Cologne are gonna be tough."
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "When do you plan to ask her?"
The fear settled in again. "I don't know. Soon, I hope. Maybe not until
after we've settled Shampoo and Ryoga."
Nabiki smiled. She'd have to be alert. This was one conversation she
wasn't going to miss.
Ranma lifted a hand. "Well, see ya, Sis."
Nabiki laughed. "Good luck, Brother."
Ranma winked at her, then ran off.
Nabiki was pleased. She hadn't spent nearly as much money as she had
planned; maybe there was a way to salvage her plans to move out.
There were reason, Nabiki supposed, to be less than estatic. Akane, Ranma,
and their various fiancees had made life ever-so-much fun. And profitable.
The excitement might just go out of life.
Still, with Ranma in the family, Nabiki had a feeling life would never be
dull.
The smile still plastered on her face, Nabiki began skipping like she hadn't
since Mother had died. She came up to the Kuno front gate, and prepared to
inflict as much happiness on Tatewaki as he could stand. Even if Akane was
the first Tendo sister to find love, Nabiki planned on being a close second.
