Yup, it's completely revised. I think it's a lot better and less
otaku-ish. I like to believe Nabiki's characterization is better, too.
Still, I think it could use some improvement. Tell me if the humor seems
forced at points.... Thanks a bunch.

alhuang@hcs.harvard.edu
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~alhuang/

  Welcome back. Here are the continuing adventures of Nakamura Takeshi
in the wonderful Tokyo district called Nerima. It's Nabiki's turn, this
time. FFMLers, note that this is substantially different from the
original version. In fact, I've kept only a few relatively
inconsequential scenes. Gott sei dank. (That's German, by the way.
Sebastian,  you may translate if you wish. Or any other German speakers
out there. ^_^)
  Legalese: Except for Nakamura Takeshi, all the characters and the idea
behind Ranma 1/2 belong to Takahashi Rumiko and whoever.

And now, Oddzilla Productions presents....

"Visiting Nerima" by Andrew Huang

<...>: thoughts
*...*: sound effects

---------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2: For the Love of...What?

[This is a bit of a continuation of the prologue.]

*WHACK* *SPLASH* "BAKA!!!"

  "Otousan, what does Takeshi's father do for a living?"

  Soun looked at his middle daughter. "Well, Akira-kun is an executive
for a Japanese bank. He was sent to California five years ago to head
the board of one of their United States branches."

  *CHA-CHING*

  Soun missed the audible chime emanating from Nabiki's head and 
continued. "Akira was very reluctant to move, but with all the benefits 
and the raise that he was getting, he couldn't refuse." He had no idea 
what he was plunging poor Takeshi into.

  "Wow, that's...nice." Nabiki was almost drooling now. <Profitable 
indeed! I'm going to enjoy this.> Yen signs danced in her eyes.

[Now, a few weeks after that....]

------------------------------------------------

  "Ohayo, Nabiki!" Takeshi smiled radiantly.

  "Mmmrph...." Nabiki would have smiled, if it wasn't for the fact that
her morning breath made such an act psychologically impossible. Well,
she also wasn't too much of a morning person. There was, however, an odd
look on her face.

  "Well, what is it? _Him_ again?" Takeshi's smile turned devious.

  The "him" in question...isn't any of your business quite yet. We'll
get to that soon. Nabiki only half-glared at him and proceeded to the
bathroom to brush the raging chemical war out of her mouth. Takeshi
simply shrugged and walked to the dining room for breakfast.

------------------------------------------------

  Well, the "him" referred to earlier was indeed a romantic interest.
Ah, potential romantic interest. Er, potential interest. Agh! Just an
acquaintance that Nabiki held particular interest of one sort or another
in. (The writer bigsweats.) Now, the fact that Takeshi was able to tease
Nabiki about something like that and get away with only a half-glare is
something to be considered amazing.

  You see, Nabiki had been intent on making Takeshi's visit to Nerima a
profitable one. Highly profitable.... And, on the side, she was going to
make sure she wasn't hungry. Nabiki was known for finagling free meals
from Kunou. Why not try it Takeshi? Much to her delight, she discovered
that Takeshi was an excellent conversationalist, brighter than Tatewaki
(which really isn't all that hard to do anyways), and presented a rather
unique outlook on things, with the influences of American society. They
found themselves sharing many meals together and just talking about
things.

  That, coupled with another interesting repeating occurrence, gave them
the opportunity to build a rather solid friendship relatively quickly.
(The fact that he was also rich didn't hurt, certainly.) They even
started confiding in each other a little. After Ryouga, Nabiki was the
second person to hear about Jen. And, of course, she told Takeshi about
that "him"--though for a relatively small price. (It wasn't anything she
could really hide anyways; Takeshi had noted her glancing over at that
fellow quite often during that last week of school, while he was
visiting her class.) Isn't Takeshi just amazing when it comes to
interpersonal relations?

  Oh, the other "occurrence". Keep reading. And _don't worry_, I'll get
to who that "him" was....

------------------------------------------------

  "When are you ever going to learn?" Nabiki held a damp cloth to 
Takeshi's forehead. He was again out cold, following an argument between
Ranma and Akane which had started to turn violent. "You've got to stay
away from those two when they start fighting!"

  This scene had quickly become very common. Of course, it had been 
common before, except that usually the patient was Kunou, and the 
location was the nurse's office in Furinkan. But ever since his entrance
on the scene of Nerima, Nabiki found herself doing the same with
Takeshi, in the Tendou's guest room.

  Suddenly, Takeshi's eyes blinked open. "It...it happened again, ne?"
Nabiki gave a small laugh.

  "Hai. You caught the edge of the dining room table with your face on
Akane's backswing. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for you to visit.
Not while those two are within five kilometers of each other--and
yourself. Oh, and Akane apologizes profusely."

  "Like she always does. Ite.... My face must be completely red."

  "Somewhat. In fact...." She leaned in a little closer to examine him.
"The carving on the table kinda...anou...imprinted itself on your face."

  "Eh?"

  "You've got a rose on your cheek. Ha! You've got rosy--"

  "NO PUNS! PLEASE!! I've recently had a bad experience with puns...."
Takeshi's right eye began to twitch slightly.

  "Okay, okay." Nabiki grinned.

  "So, how much do I owe you this time?"

  Nabiki grinned. "It's on the house. A gift from me."

  Takeshi's raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. "Well! It's a miracle!
Thank you ever so much, kind lady." He smiled back. Nabiki merely
narrowed her eyes at him. "So, tell me, did you dream...again?"

  "Five hundred yen." He handed it over without a word. "_Yes_, I did."
Takeshi waited.

  And waited a little longer.

  And some more.

  And--

  "Well?!"

  "Well what?"

  "Aren't you going to tell me?"

  She smiled. "Oh, all right. You know the French restaurant we went to
yesterday for lunch?" Takeshi nodded. How could he not? It was a result
of a lost bet, on how many fights would result within the stone walls of
the Tendou property the day before. (He had bet 5 with a spread of 3 on 
both sides. The actual number was 16; overall, a very bad day for the
Dojo--and Ranma, for that matter. The contractors, though...it was one
of their best....) "Well, I was having dinner there with Kazuma
instead."

  "And?"

  "And nothing!"

  This time, Takeshi narrowed his eyes at her. "Suuure." Nabiki looked
at him indignantly, and he decided not to push the point. "Oh, all
right."

------------------------------------------------

  Shinohara Kazuma. A bright fellow, near the top of Nabiki's class.
Rather handsome, too. Rich? Maybe not as much as the Kunous, but
comfortably so. A nice guy, overall. Now, he might not have been voted
"most eligible bachelor" of Nabiki's grade (partly because they didn't
vote on things like that at Furinkan anyway), but he would have been up
there.

  And lo, he had drawn the attention of Tendou Nabiki....

  Are you all happy now?

------------------------------------------------

  "Nabiki, admit it."

  "Admit what?"

  Takeshi sighed. "Don't you start that with me...."

  "You want me to say that I like Kazuma." There was a sudden noise, and
Takeshi looked off, then looked back.

  "Huh? I want you to say that...what?"

  "That I like Kazuma."

  "Ah, I knew you'd come around and admit it!"

  "Hey--I--that's not fair!"

  <Can't believe that worked!> "Heheh...sorry. I couldn't resist."
Takeshi grinned over his McDonald's hamburger. Nabiki simmered as she
munched on a fry. "But seriously. After having observed things happening
around me for so long, I can tell."

  "Oh, really? How much have you seen?"

  "Well, you already know about what I've told you. Let me see, there
was also my friend Ido and his present girlfriend Kate, all the stuff
between Peishan Kho and Joey Chiu, erm..." Takeshi's face momentarily
darkened. "Of course, there's Anne, too."

  Nabiki realized that they had just hit a sticky subject. "Well, okay.
All right, I believe that you have _some_ knowledge about things like
this. But what makes you say that there's really something here? Sure, I
dreamed about him once or twice--"

  "Make that three or four times."

  "--but that's nothing. I'm know that you," she pointed at Takeshi,
"had the occasional dream about Ukyou, even though you're totally
devoted to Jen. Of course. Unless I suddenly have some _additional_ 
blackmail material, for use overseas?" She looked gleefully at Takeshi.

  He reddened a good bit. "Should never have told you about that...."

  "Ah, there's very little that is kept secret from me, my friend."

  "Anyways. Suffice it to say that _I_ _know_. I've seen too much to
miss all of this. And I won't rest until you do something about it." He
stared straight at Nabiki.

  She sighed suddenly. "All right. I'll admit that maybe...well, you
know." Nabiki was still reluctant to vocalize her feelings. "What
_should_ I do about it?"

  Takeshi didn't hesitate. "Go for it, that's what! From what I know of
the guy, he's really decent. He's got an intellect that...certainly
beats Kunou's. Heh, what am I saying? Nearly anyone's does--but never
mind. And I could have sworn that he was glancing over at _you_ a few
times, too, in class. What--ah, never mind." Takeshi had been about to
add, "What have you got to lose," only to remember that there was plenty
to lose, especially for Nabiki.

  "Plenty to lose, you know that. I've got a reputation to keep."

  <I hate it when she does that.> "Nabiki, are you happy?"

  That took her slightly by surprise. "Anou...should I not be?" There
was silence from Takeshi. "Hey, I've got my money, my family is doing
well, I'm healthy...and you're buying, anyways."

  Still more stony silence.

  "What do you want me to do?!"

  "Why not just talk to him, at least."

  "About what?"

  "Whatever comes naturally."

  <Naturally...what would that be?> Nabiki, unfortunately, didn't really
know.

------------------------------------------------

  It was one of those sunny days in Nerima that automatically meant
trouble. Sure enough, if you were near the Dojo, you'd be in
considerable danger at the moment. But Takeshi and Nabiki were _not_
near the Dojo (a fortunate situation for especially for Takeshi).
Rather, they were strolling through a park, something perfectly natural
on such a nice day.

  "Ahh...this is relaxing."

  *thwap*

  "Ite! Hey, what's...." Takeshi held up a piece of wood which had just 
smacked him. Nabiki looked at it.

  "It's...it's a piece of...our dining table. See, there's the rose."

  Then again, maybe being far away from the Dojo didn't help Takeshi
much.

  Takeshi groaned. "Somewhere, up there, Someone is having a colossal
joke at my expense."

  "Mmmhmm." Nabiki was visibly concentrating on something, and it
wasn't the probabilities of a diving joke centered on her friend.
Takeshi made it sound so easy. <Natural. Act natural, say what's
natural...this isn't natural for me.> It had just been such a long time
since she really gave too much thought to a guy about something other
than the amount of yen in his wallet. Well, Takeshi was an exception.
Somehow, he seemed more like a brother than just another guy around. But
that also was nothing like....

  "Hey, look, there he is!" Takeshi pointed towards a small grove of
trees. Standing beneath one was, indeed, Kazuma. He seemed to be
enjoying the day just as everyone else around was (save a certain
pigtailed boy who had just crash-landed near the park, delivered via
Tendou Table Express). Nabiki froze up for a moment, but was quickly
brought back by a poke in the shoulder from Takeshi. "Come on!"

  "I...I...."

  Takeshi sighed in exasperation. "You're starting to act like Ryouga."

  Nabiki glared at him. "What did you just say?"

  "Ahh! Nothing! Nothing!" Takeshi waved his hands at her, bigsweating.

  Nabiki turned away from him and looked back at Kazuma, who glanced at
his watch. "You think...I should...."

  "That's what I've been telling you. Hey, I'll even stick around here 
for moral support. How's that?"

  Nabiki bit her lip, unsure. Slowly, she steeled herself. "Okay." She
took a step towards the grove of trees--

  --and stopped as a pretty, long-haired girl ran up to Kazuma, embraced
him, and planted a kiss firmly on his lips. The gesture was returned.
Takeshi could only stare.

  <Oh, kuSO....>

  He could have sworn that he heard the faint sound of something going
*krak*. Nabiki turned away and grabbed Takeshi by the arm.

  "Okay, folks, show's over, nothing to see here, show's over..." she
muttered as she dragged Takeshi back towards the Dojo.

------------------------------------------------

  "Are you...are you okay?" The two had just entered the gates.

  "Of course I am. It's not like I really had any real sort of interest
in him."

  "Nabiki...."

  "Nanda?"

  Her face was expressionless. That in itself was a bad sign. <Why did I
even bother to ask?> "Nabiki, I know you're not okay."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "Because--"

  "Because you know about these things. Right." She took an abrupt turn
off of the walkway to one of the benches in the yard, sitting down on
it. Takeshi joined her.

  "You took the words out of my mouth. Nabiki, it's not good to do
this."

  "Hm?"

  "To hold in your emotions like this. Believe me."

  "Why? Did you go do something like that too?" Nabiki was surprised a
little at how sharp her words suddenly were.

  "As a matter of fact, yes. One time, it got so bad, I just decided to
build a wall up around my feelings. It went okay for a while, but they
didn't go away. And they built up. And built up. And one day, that wall
crashed down. Ever had a nervous breakdown?" Nabiki looked at him
quizzically and shook her head no. "It feels like your soul has
collapsed in on itself. You're left drained, completely. For the two
days after it happened to me, I don't think I could feel anything at
all. It's an evil thing, Nabiki. I was a wreck. Don't do that to
yourself."

  Nabiki nodded. Slowly, one tear crept out of her right eye and spilled
down her cheek. She sighed and leaned slightly against Takeshi, who put
an arm around her shoulders and squeezed gently.

  "Much better. Let it out." Nabiki was silent.

------------------------------------------------

  For the next twenty minutes, Takeshi offered soothing words of comfort
to Nabiki. She didn't speak the whole time; rather, she silently sat,
her breathing slightly ragged, an occasional tear coming out now and
then.

  That wasn't much, but for Nabiki, it was groundbreaking. She had cried
before, but not for a while, and certainly not in front of anyone else.

  Finally, Nabiki was able to speak. "Takeshi...it's been such a long
time since I've liked any guy seriously." Takeshi nodded. "I.... Thanks
for staying here with me."

  "Of course...."

  "Takeshi-kun!" Soun stood in the doorway and was waving an envelope in
his hand. "Letter for you! From California." He fortunately was too
oblivious to see Takeshi quickly disengaging his arm from around Nabiki
and she wiping away the last of her tears. 

  "Great! I haven't heard from home in a little while." The rest of the
family wandered by to see what the fuss was about. Takeshi peered at the
return address. "Hey, it's from Jen!"

  Akane sidled up to look. "Jen? Who's Jen?"

  "Oh yeah, I never told you guys. She's my girlfriend."

  "You have a girlfriend and you never told us?"

  "Well...it never really came up. I did tell Ryouga...he's actually met
her...." No one asked; they all knew about his "directional problems".
"And Nabiki, too." He glanced over at her. She gave a tired smile back.

  "Got a letter from your girl, huh? That's nice...." <Girlfriends. I am
not in the mood to hear about girlfriends....> Nabiki turned to walk up
the stairs. She missed the fact that behind her, Takeshi was slowly
turning very, very pale.  

------------------------------------------------

  Nabiki entered the dining room an hour later. "Er...where's Takeshi?"

  "Oh my...you didn't hear, did you?"

  "Hear...what, Oneechan?" Everyone was silent and still. Even Ranma and
Genma had ceased eating just now.

  "I'm afraid it's not our place to say so...if you want to talk to him,
he's out in the back." Kasumi gave a worried look out at the yard.

  Something was rather wrong. Nabiki stood and walked outside. She
didn't have to walk far; she found him standing at the pond. Suddenly,
he gave a heart-rending sigh and flopped to his knees.

  <Now what is going on here....> "Ahem."

  "Who?"

  "Me, Nabiki." She walked over and sat down on the grass next to him.

  "Say, am I glowing yet?"

  "Eh?"

    "I'd imagine I'd have Ryouga's aura by now. Feh, maybe not. He
_must_ be one of the most depressed people on Earth, huh?" A chuckle.

  <Err?> Despite not having taken that psychology class she had thought
about a while back, she knew that he was't supposed to be chuckling at
the moment. A bad sign. "Uh, what happened?"

  "Did they tell you?" He turned to see her shake her head. ""Oh.
Well.... I found out why Jen hadn't written me at all until now." A
pause. "Shortly before I left...she...'met' a guy...." Nabiki looked up, 
blinking. "Now that I think about it, she was acting a little strangely
those last few days before I came here. Anyways--apparently, she didn't
know what to do until now. And what she did...was to dump me." Takeshi
sighed, and closed his eyes. "Took her damned long enough."

  A warm evening breeze wafted through, brushing Nabiki's bangs out of
her eyes. <Uh-oh. I feel an after-school special coming up.> Nabiki
shook her head. What was _that_? "I...I...I don't know what to say--"

  Fortunately for her, she didn't have to say too much more, as a brick
came flying out of the house, smashing Takeshi in the back of the head.
Akane, of course. Trust her (and Ranma) to screw up a moment like this.

  "Oops! Gomen ne, Takeshi...oh. He can't hear me, huh, Oneechan?"

------------------------------------------------

  "Second time today, Takeshi. And I thought that today might be one of
the few days that you would suffer Akane's misplaced wrath only once,
instead of two or three times. Of course, it's one of the few times that
you've been knocked unconscious more than once in a day. Now there's
another idea. A betting pool on how many times you go unconscious."
Nabiki sighed; she wasn't really thinking about something like that.
Rather....

  <How does he make it seem so easy? All the stuff he said to me. He
could be a relationship counselor for crying out loud!> She sighed.
<Well, sometimes the doctor needs to be cured...and "physician, heal
thyself" isn't going to work here. But I've been sitting here trying to 
think of something and--nothing.>

  "Uhh...." Takeshi stirred. "What happened this time?"

  "Akane, Ranma, brick, you." She gave a small smile.

  "Ah. Ow...." He slowly pulled himself up off of his stomach. There was
a bit of silence.

  <Natural. Act natural, say what's natural...be natural.> "Well,
Takeshi...I'm not really the best one to talk to about this....

  "I can't say I know how you feel. I mean, I've never been...dumped.
But I can understand it, I think. Especially after what happened to me
today.

  "From what you've told me, you've had it pretty hard when it comes to
romance. Much more so than me. But...if anything, I think it's made you
a stronger person. Best of all...because of that, you've gotten the
insight to help other people. Like me."

  She fell silent. It was so...so...inadequate.

  Takeshi smiled. "Thanks. That meant a lot...I feel a little better, I
think...."

  "Really?" He nodded. "Will you be okay?"

  "Yeah. It's the first time I've been dumped, true...but this is kind
of...well, a familiar feeling. I've been through rejection so often, thi
is almost...comfortable." His eyes unfocused a few moments, and he
murmured, "Hello, old friend...."

  "Nani?"

  "Eh?" Takeshi shook himself. "Oh, nothing." He looked down at their
clasped hands. "You know something? Ranma told me a while ago that all
you cared about was money...."

  Nabiki snorted. "I'm not surprised."

  "I didn't believe it. And I think I'm right. I mean, it took a lot for
you to do say what you just said...and that's on top of what happened
with you and...." He decided to leave that sentence unfinished. "I'm
glad you proved him wrong. You're not just all about yen."

  "Well...I've fooled myself into believing that myself. I'll try not
to do that anymore." She paused a moment. "Still, though, I can't quite
shake the notion that you should start counseling people about this
stuff for an hourly fee." She chuckled.

  They smiled at each other. For the briefest moment, Nabiki wondered
about herself...and him. He was a nice guy, intelligent and all...but
she quickly shook it off. <No...this isn't the time or the place.
Rebound things are usually rather ugly...and I value him as a friend too
much to try anything. But....>

  Nabiki quickly zoomed in, and gave him a peck on the cheek. He looked
slightly startled. "Arigato. You know, I have a hard time believing that
only one girl has ever liked you. You're a really nice guy, you know."

  Takeshi stared at her, his hand touching where she had kissed him.
There was silence for a few moments.

  It was finally interrupted by a loud growl from Takeshi's stomach. The
two of them simultaneously grimaced, suddenly realizing how hungry they
were.

  "Don't worry, I told everyone to save some food for the two of us
while you were out. Come on, let's go eat." Nabiki stood up and led the
way. She had just entered the hallway, when she heard Akane yelling at
Ranma, and then a meaty *SMACK* behind her. <Not again-->

  "Ha!" She spun around, to see that the sound had been Takeshi catching
a baseball with his bare hand. "Well, Akane, _this_ time you didn't--"

  *WHUMP* A basketball found itself embedded in Takeshi's stomach. Ranma
raced by, followed by Akane with several other weapons of the sporting
persuasion. They were far too intent on The Hunt to notice what had just
happened.

  "Gaaaah...spoke-too-soon--" Takeshi collapsed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
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  Yes, another "Nabiki falls in love" story, but nothing like what's
been done before...right? I do think there's more to Nabiki than just a
love for yen....I hope I didn't mess with her character too much, though.
Hmm. Anyways, I hope you liked it. C&C is welcome. Who's next? I'm not
sure yet. You'll find out soon enough. Or maybe later...whatever.


>From Andrew Huang, Taiwanese-American-German-Scot Harvard Student :P
Brought to you by his computer, Oddzilla
Oddzilla says, "Ryouga and Ukyou! Ukyou and Ryouga!"
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~alhuang/
Kurimoto Shiro's manager, DBTFH