A Lesson in Love Chapter XV: Obsessions
By Marisa Price
This story is copyright to Marisa Price, 1997, all rights reserved.
Based on characters created by and copyright to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter XV: Obsessions

*Note: This takes place the night of and the day after Chapter XIV:
Lost Causes*

Dear Diary,

 What a year it's been so far! I still can't believe we've
come such a long way. Sorry it's been awhile since I have 
written, but sometimes it's easier to write when you are depressed
then when you are happy; and I have been so happy these past few
weeks! I decided that I should finally fill this book with my joys
instead of my complaints. After all, so many things have been
happening and I have been really busy.
 Well, Ranma proposed to me, and we made it official that
we are going to get married... eventually. But I told you that awhile
ago. I still love him, more and more each day it seems.
 Ryouga and Ukyou look as if they might have finally got it
together too, to the surprise of just about everyone, but it seems
that he wasn't quite as hopeless as everyone thought. I'm not sure if
they have admitted their feelings to each other yet, but after that
whole mess a while back the two of them settled down into a life of
school and work and training. They spend just about every minute of
the day with each other! Ranma and I both agree that it's bound to
turn into love (sort of like Ranma and I did, I guess). I don't know
what that means for Akari, and I am a bit worried about her. She is
such a nice person. I guess we'll find out more eventually. But,
despite that worry, it's nice to see Ukyou and Ryouga happy for once.
Ryouga doesn't get lost nearly as much now, and Ukyou actually has a
smile on her face whenever Ranma and I come to visit, and she is
genuinely trying to become a true friend to me. To be quite honest, I
am glad that Ukyou and Ryouga look like they are going to end up
together. Of all of the people that Ranma  attracted to Nerima since
he first came, I like them the best; I am glad that they were the ones
who stayed even after Ranma and I got together and life seemed to
completely change.
 The "change" included the loss of Shampoo and Mousse, who
went back to China. I thought I would be glad when she was finally
gone, but somehow it feels empty here without her bright smile and
crazy antics. I just hope that she is happy back in China, and that
she will finally give up on Ranma as a lost cause.
 Speaking of lost causes, Kuno finally gave up on Ranma! Why? 
Because he fell in love with my sister Nabiki! That shocked me at
first, when Ranma told me tonight, but now I think that she must have
been really jealous when he had made that speech at the beginning of
sophomore year about defeating me in order to date me. I didn't
realize it back then, but she might have had a crush on Kuno. I still
don't really understand why she likes him, but he HAS been a lot
better since the two started dating.
 I wonder if he is going to ask her to the Senior Dance coming up?
It's been combined with the Junior Dance, and Ranma already asked me
to go. I guess I will have to ask her in the morning! I really want to
look good for Ranma... and to make all those other girls jealous! Hah!
 Well, that's all I can really tell you right now, Diary, except to
say again that I am happy with Ranma, and I love him so much. He said
that as soon as school gets out in May, he is going to leave for China
with Ryouga. I don't want them to go, but I know that it means a lot
to him. I guess we'll just cross that bridge when we come to it.
 Well, he's back from brushing his teeth and nagging at me to 
come to bed. It turns out that the baka is actually a romantic at
heart, he likes to just hold me at night "to make sure that I am
safe." Of course our fathers thought that there HAD to be something
else going on, but, after nights of spying, it looks as if they
finally gave up. After being 'checked on' by them and by Nabiki, even
Nodoka decided to 'assess' how her son was acting by cracking open the
door hours after we had gone to bed. I hope she didn't think it was
'unmanly' of Ranma not even to TRY anything... but she didn't say a
word about it, so I suppose she must already be convinced of his
manliness.
 It looks as if Ranma decided to go to bed without me, as he's
curled up on the side of the bed closest to the wall, snoring loudly.
Either that or he is just trying to irritate me enough to get me to
come to bed. Well, it's working.
 Sorry to cut this short, diary, but it is getting late and we have
school tomorrow!
  More later,
   Akane


****************

Part I: Memories

 Nabiki fingered a heavy green jade pendant that hung between her
breasts. It was trivial, really, and merely one of the long list of
gifts she had received recently from dear Kuno-chan.
 She held a pale sunflower up to her nose and breathed in its
fragrance as she stared calmly out at the stars. It was late, and
everyone else had gone to sleep long before; Akane was no doubt
wrapped in the arms of her fiancé, content with life.
 Nabiki pulled petals off the sunflower one by one and let them
fall out the window, sending them floating on the mild breeze to land
gently on the pond below, barely disturbing its surface. She looked
after the yellow blades impassively, and relaxed back against the
window sill, staring idly at another slightly-wilted sunflower in a
vase on her desk.
 A voice called in the back of her mind, a breath of memory, "A
bright girl like you deserves equally magnificent flowers..."
 She shrugged the whisper aside, tossing it into the pile of her
past.
 Nabiki liked to stay up late. It was one small freedom she had,
and Nabiki felt like those minute freedoms were important enough to
hold onto with both fists. She needed a little something to help her
get through each day in this house of lunacy where she had to live.
Only a few more months. If she could just hold tight a little bit
longer...
 She finally hopped off the windowsill and slid open a drawer,
grabbing out a faded blue cotton shirt.
 Nabiki started to dress for bed, and slipped into the long T-shirt
and a clean pair of underwear before she stretched out her arms and
yawned, suddenly dropping to the floor in the splits. She turned
herself sideways and brought her legs together in front, and then
started to do her nightly leg lift exercises. She counted 21, 22, 23,
24, 25, 26... and mused as she kicked out at the air as if it was a
punching bag.
 Somehow the numbers began to change into the chant, "Fight, fight,
fight..."
 Nabiki had always had to fight for what she liked... fight to be
herself. She had fiercely resisted both Kasumi and her father's
efforts to make her dress in frilly dresses and such. Father was
obsessive about having ideal daughters, wanting them to be "just like
their mother."
 Nabiki snorted at that and then switched legs. Whatever her mother
had been, she seriously doubted she would have approved of Soun's
fathering techniques, nor of his tendency to compare them to a dead
model, a model perfect in that she was long past making mistakes.
 Only Kasumi had met his expectations. She was perfect, accomplished,
modest, and excessively feminine. She did the cooking and cleaning and
took care of her father and sisters. Kasumi catered to her father's
every whim, always with a benign smile and a cheerful tone.
 24,25,26,27...
 It was ridiculous.
 Kasumi had, in the process, effectively lost her entire
personality, her spark, her vitality. Instead she lived for the
family, and not for whatever it was that Kasumi might have once
wanted.
 Nabiki would NEVER let such a thing happen to herself.
 Nabiki had tried to talk to Kasumi about it for years, conscious that
the enigmatic older sister she knew before their mother's death had
become almost a zombie, a facade. Kasmui had been a wonderful student,
quick to learn anything, including martial arts skills from her father
and cooking from her mother. Kasumi had been almost as much of a
tomboy as Akane was later on, always climbing things and getting into
trouble. Nabiki remembered being the younger sister, trying to catch
up with Kasumi, but never quite able.
 Nabiki dropped her leg to the floor and took a few deep breaths, and
then lowered her back to rest on the floor, turning her eyes up to
stare at the ceiling.
 Mom had died and everything went crazy.
 Nabiki was halfway to seven when it happened, and she remembered just
that the house suddenly lost its warmth and its life; as if a huge
dark storm cloud had decided to come sleep on the Tendo rooftops.
Akane was so little then that the initial pain of their mother's death
had confused her more than anything. Akane spent days afterward asking
"When is Mommy going to come home?"
 Soun was, of course, disconsolate at every query; he could not
seem to look at any of his daughters, they reminded him so much of his
wife. Especially Kasumi and Akane, who were her mirror images. Soun
had finally locked himself up in the family shrine, and no one, friend
nor family, and been able to persuade him to come out. Eventually
everyone gave up and just decided to wait it out.
 At the time, Nabiki hadn't been able to answer Akane's questions
either. Nabiki was still young enough that she had only a small
comprehension of death- all she knew was what they had been told.
Mommy had to go away, and she couldn't come back.
 It was Kasumi who finally answered Akane.
 Nabiki remembered Kasumi's transformation as if it was yesterday, and
her older sister's words still echoed in her ears. It all began with
that answer.
 Kasumi had been hit the hardest by their mother's death, as she
had found her on that horrible morning, asleep but not asleep. Kasumi
had come in to find out why her mother was taking so long to get up,
as they had so much laundry to do that day, and she had told Kasumi to
be up early. Soun had been up since dawn, practicing in the Dojo with
the students he had at the time.
 Apparently Kasumi had tried to wake their mother up, but Mother
would never wake again.

 "A hole in the heart...."
 "She must have had it since childhood...."
 "There was nothing anyone could do, it just stopped beating while she
was sleeping...."
 "If only we had known that she had this problem before this
happened...."

 The voices had echoed uncomprehendingly around them at the funeral,
as they watched their mother's ashes carefully deposited in the family
shrine. The girls had all lit a stick of incense and prayed, little
Akane saying, "I don't know why we're here, but they say we're
supp'sed to talk to Mommy. Mommy, this incense smells really pretty, I
think you would like it a lot. Do you think we can buy some the next
time we go to the market? I feel funny talking to you even though you
aren't here, Mama...."
 Nabiki and Kasumi just held hands, staring at their sister, having
already finished their offering. Kasumi had tears freely running down
her cheeks, and her hair hung in bunches around her face. The lacy
dark crinoline dress she wore was crumpled up in one hand, and the
other held Nabiki's fiercely. Nabiki remembered looking up at her
sister and wondering why she was crying, not understanding at that
point, as Akane didn't, what being dead meant.
 Three days after the funeral, Akane had come up and thrown herself at
Nabiki and Kasumi. Kasumi reached her arms down and held the small
mirror of herself close.
 Akane began to sob and then flooded Kasumi with questions,
"Oneesama, where is Mama? Why won't she come back? Doesn't she love us
anymore? Why is Daddy being so mean? Why are there so many people in
our house, people we don't know? They smell funny and they aren't very
nice. I want my mommy! Where IS she?"
 Kasumi began to cry too, and then swept her two little sisters to
her. She said, softly, "Akane, Nabiki. Mommy didn't REALLY go away
forever. See, Mommy couldn't stay here anymore because her body wasn't
very strong, and she had to leave that body behind and she became a
beautiful spirit."
 "A spirit?" Akane asked, her eyes wide.
 Kasumi nodded and then added, "Yes, a beautiful glowing spirit,
dressed in the most wondrous gold and white kimono, but invisible.
Mommy was sad that she could see us, but we couldn't see her, and sad
that she couldn't give us hugs anymore or kiss daddy. So you know
what?"
 "What?" Nabiki remembered herself asking, chagrined though she was
now that she had fallen into the same trap as Akane.
 "Well," Kasumi smiled a distant smile, "Mama said that she would
combine her spirit with mine if I would help to take her place. So
from now on, -I- am going to be Mommy. Her spirit is still in me, and
I will take care of you and cook and clean and make everyone happy
just like she used to do."
 Akane's eyes were still round, and she peered differently at
Kasumi, as if expecting to see her glowing with her Mother's spirit.
Finally she poked Kasumi softly, and then said, "You don't feel like a
spirit of Mama, Oneesama!"
 Their older sister had smiled a secret smile and said, "Oh, you
can't see it or feel it, but she's there inside me. I promise. And
I'll make sure that Mommy is always there for you while you still need
her."
 Nabiki finally stood and went to go turn off the light. She
flopped down on her bed, and looked outside the window at the quiet
evening glow. She sighed, wondering why she was having all these
memories rush at her. All they did was make her angry.
 Kasmui DID become their mother, by emulating their mother in every
way, until, effectively, she had BECOME their mother.
 But their mother had been vital, alive with hope and dreams and
happiness with her life, her husband, and her children. Mother had
what Kasumi didn't: a knowledge of herself and her passions. Kasumi
had buried her emotions, buried her dreams.
 Father wasn't any better. Kasumi had finally cajoled him out of
his retreat into the shrine with the smell of his wife's famous pork
buns. He had come outside and stared at the tray that Kasumi held, and
then at her.
 Nabiki stood tentatively behind her sister, staring with fascinated
horror at her bedraggled father. 
 Soun said, "Kasumi? Nabiki?"
 Kasumi smiled her mother's angelic smile, the smile that was to be
her trademark, and said, "Father, come eat, please. . ."
 And, entranced, Soun followed her as she turned to walk to the
dining room, Nabiki lagging behind the two of them.
 Soun was never the same, despite the fact that Kasumi broke
through the wall of his pain with her transformation. He had always
been a weak man, but he was far worse these past twelve years. He had
from that point on ignored the pain his children were suffering,
preferring to never mention his wife's death unless necessary. He had
never taught again.
 Nabiki often hated him for his weaknesses, just as she had long
ago lost her admiration for the sister who had sold her soul.
 Akane had handled it all in a different way. Nabiki had to
grudgingly admire her younger sister, despite her naiveté. Akane had
thrown herself into her martial arts, even though their father had
been too useless to train her. Akane had focused on the basic things
she had been taught before their mother had died, and perfected those
to the best of her ability. Everything else was secondary, and Akane
never did learn to cook or to do any of the arts that Nabiki and
Kasumi had been taught by their mother.
 Nabiki had felt sorry for Akane, and watched as she grew into a
beautiful young woman, far more lovely than her sisters, an exact
picture of their mother but without the grace and the ethereal calm.
Akane had come to be violent and to despise all men. It was a joke
really, that someone as lovely and special as Akane would hate men;
but, as the major male figure in her life had always been so
incredibly weak, it was no surprise.
 Nabiki actually had to agree with Akane that men were relatively
despicable, but Nabiki never thought they were USELESS. Nabiki again
fingered the warm pendant. In fact some men were useful, even. . .
profitable.
 Akane had changed.
 Akane had failed in her oath that she hated men, she had lost her
whole heart to one, one as useless and despicable as they could come.
Or at least that was how Nabiki saw it.
 Ranma had sailed into the Tendo household like a full-winded boat on
the edge of a storm, his thunder and lightning disturbing the routine
that they had established in the decade since the passing of their
mother. The return of Genma Saotome and later Happosai had brought her
father out of the last of his dark world, and he began to laugh again
with his old friend and to remember the days when he was young and
still full of life. Ranma brought Akane alive, and instead of being
the obsessive boy-hater/amateur-martial-artist, she actually began to
learn new lessons and spend more time with a boy her age than she ever
had before.
 Nabiki had observed the changes around her impassively, excited at
first about Ranma's arrival in that he might be a profitable resource.
But Ranma was a bit... DIFFERENT... than they had all expected, and
Nabiki quickly decided that Ranma might be useful, but definitely NOT
as a potential mate for herself. 
 Besides, the last thing she wanted in life was to inherit the
Tendo Dojo, which was Ranma's future as husband to a Tendo daughter.
Nabiki wanted to get the hell out of the place as soon as she came
into her inheritance.
 But Ranma. Ranma was perfect as AKANE'S fiancee. Nabiki figured
that Akane would beat him and pound him into submission, just as she
had done with all the other men in her life. Nabiki wasn't
particularly worried about Akane falling for Ranma. After all, Ranma
was the epitome of all that Akane disliked about men: unable to make
decisions about his life, his desires, his feelings, and he was about
as intelligent as a sack of bricks.
 At the time Nabiki had noticed that Akane liked another sort of
man: older, intelligent, kind, calm, dedicated. Someone like Dr. Tofu.
 Nabiki saw a brief shooting star fire across her window's square
patch of sky, and blinked to rid of herself of the light streak it
left behind.
 The worst had happened. Ranma had turned out to be a bit more than
Nabiki had bargained for, and that irritated her to no end. He wasn't
bright at book-learning, but he was a strong martial artist and clever
at techniques and strategy; and, although his love was occasionally a
bit obscured and convoluted, that strong emotion fairly glowed from
him whenever he looked at Akane. Ranma managed to poke and prod at
Akane's steel emotional barriers, trying to get behind and get close
to the gentle woman contained by them. Gradually the walls melted
away, and Akane began to return his fire and in the process helped to
pull down Ranma's own barriers. Ranma defended and protected Akane
time and time again, and her younger sister had finally fallen -and
fallen hard- for a man.
 Nabiki damned him, gritting her teeth. She had attempted
everything to break them up. First in little ways, later by
encouraging the "other" fiancees that had shown up. She didn't like
Ranma, didn't like the way that he was changing and interfering with
her family's (and therefore her own) life. But nothing seemed to break
Ranma and Akane's bond. Finally, Nabiki had just decided to make a
profit off of the relationship. She managed to get money out of the
other "fiancees" for "advice" on how to win Ranma, Kuno bought
countless of pictures of female-Ranma, and then there were all the
gifts that came with the "unexpected guests" at the "wedding."
 Nabiki knew that money was everything.
 It was her key to getting out of this madhouse.
 She would have even sold those pictures of her sister and Ranma, when
they first started to be able to love each other. She WOULD have.
 But Ranma, damn him, had once again stopped her, and made her
think about things which were best suppressed. That time Ranma
actually turned his powerful will on Nabiki, and, she clenched her
fists, she had actually let him win.
 He had forced her to glimpse that which she had long ago tapped
down in herself: her loneliness, her fear, her need. Today when she
was telling him about Kuno was supposed to be nonchalant, letting
Ranma know that she was dating Kuno for her own purposes, and that she
had not done him any favors. But Ranma, in that enigmatic way of his
that crept him under your skin, had hugged her, HUGGED her! And once
again made the voice nag that perhaps she should let it go.
 But Nabiki knew that she would never let herself care about people
like that again. People were pawns, and she moved them about on the
chess-board of life, waiting for a checkmate.
 It took awhile, but Nabiki's thoughts finally stopped dueling with
memories and frustrations, and she made herself relax. Pulling the
covers up over her shoulders, she finally closed her eyes and tried to
go to sleep.


Part II: An Invitation to the Dance

 It seemed like only seconds later when Nabiki's ears jangled with the
sound of her alarm, and she reached her hand out to slap down the OFF
button. She opened her eyes slowly and noticed pale sunlight glowing
on her soft lightweight comforter. Nabiki blinked a few times in the
sudden white brightness, then yawned and stretched her arms over her
head.
 Turning slightly to peer at her alarm clock she saw the hands read
6:58 am; just enough time to get cleaned up, eat breakfast, and head
off to meet Nakoto at her house before walking the rest of the way to
school. Nabiki swung her legs over the side of the bed and then stood
up, slipping her feet into her fuzzy blue house-slippers. As she stood
she caught the faint shouts of Ranma and his father already dueling it
out on the pond.
 "Don't they EVER take a break?" Nabiki muttered, her own voice 
sounding strange and sleepy in her ears. Grabbing a brush off the
white vanity table, she ran it quickly through her hair, not bothering
to look at the result as she tossed it back down, clanging it against
the mirror.
 Nabiki pulled her robe off the hanger on the back of the door and
shrugged into it, wrapping the tie around her waist before opening the
way to the hallway. The wood door slid open to reveal a disheveled,
sleepy Akane, dressed like Nabiki, except in shades of yellow instead
of blue.
 Akane visibly brightened upon seeing her sister, and Nabiki
inwardly sighed at her sister's cheerful smile.
 "Good MORNING, Oneechan!!" Akane enthused.
 Her eyes glazed over, but Nabiki hid it well as she turned to close
her door. She replied over her shoulder, "Yeah, mornin' Akane."
 Nabiki turned back to look at her sister and noticed that Akane's
smile was unusually bright, and, now that she was fully awake, she
seemed to be on Cloud Nine. Akane had been a lot happier since her
"understanding" with Ranma, but this state of enthusiasm was unusual.
 "So, why are you so...HAPPY... this morning, Akane-chan?" Nabiki
probed, following her sister as they headed to the stairs to go down
to the bathroom.
 Akane giggled and Nabiki tried not to grimace. Akane, giggling,
was still too strange for Nabiki to deal with, especially so early in
the morning. Then, to Nabiki's even greater shock, Akane looped her
arm through her sister's and turned shining eyes up at her.
 She said jubilantly, "Oh, Oneechan! I KNEW you would notice! Only
someone as in love as I am could possibly notice!"
 Nabiki rolled her eyes. Only someone absolutely dead or stupid 
wouldn't... Then she paused, mid-thought, as she realized what Akane
had just said.
 "In love? What are you talking about?" Nabiki asked, puzzled
and a bit wary.
 Akane laughed again, starting down the stairs, her arm still 
linked through Nabiki's. "Oh come on Nabiki, you don't have to keep it
a secret! Ranma told me last night about you and Kuno! I'm so happy
for you!"
 She didn't even notice that Nabiki stood still for a moment on
the stairs and murmured, "Um...!"
 "Anyway," Akane continued, "Ranma is so wonderful, he asked me
to go to the Junior Dance last night! You know how much he hates that
stuff, so it was really nice of him to even come up with the idea on
his own. It shows he's FINALLY learning to..."
 She paused as she realized that Nabiki wasn't following her
down the stairs anymore.
 "Oneechan?" Akane asked, curiously.
 Nabiki shook herself out of her stupor at Akane's supposition
that she was "in love" and managed to get out, "Um, Junior Dance?"
 Akane rolled her eyes at her older sibling and said, "Yeah,
you know! Everyone does! It's combined with the Senior Dance this year
because that useless principal..."
 "I know about it, Akane," Nabiki interrupted.
 "Then why...?" Akane started to ask.
 Nabiki started to move forward on the stairs again, this time
dragging Akane behind her, before she said, "I just don't understand
why you would be so excited over a silly dance."
 Nabiki knew all too well about the combined dance, she had made
quite a bit of money through bets on who would ask who; one of those
had been heavily weighted on Akane's and Ranma's potential match.
Thankfully she had bet in the right direction on that one! Everyone
else thought that Akane wouldn't be able to drag Ranma there in a
million years... The prospect of a new influx of funds was enough to
cheer Nabiki up considerably, and she prudently decided to just avoid
the whole topic of her "love" for Kuno.
 They both entered the bathroom, and Nabiki started to brush her
teeth, basically ignoring Akane's chatter except for an occasional
tooth- pasty grunt.
 Then Akane dropped the bombshell.
 "Well, I guess I just figured you would be going, since it's being
held at Kuno's mansion and all. . ."
 "What?!" Nabiki practically choked on her toothbrush and 
splattered the toothpaste into the sink. She desperately tried to
recover her decorum as Akane stared at her in surprise.
 "You mean, you didn't know?"
 Nabiki rinsed out her mouth and the sink while she tried to calm her
nerves.
 "Last I heard it was at the Chateau Blanc restaurant in that French
'Hotel Marceau'," she said slowly.
 Akane's faced brightened.
 "OH! Well, it was! See, the Chateau double booked us with the 
wedding reception of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and they
couldn't very well tell HIM that his party was canceled."
 "So why didn't  the school just move it to another hotel or
something?"
 "Well, the committee thought of that. But it turns out that it was
 too
late to make a reservation. We made that one at the Chateau Blanc
MONTHS ago. Lots of other schools are having their dances on the same
day, so most of the nice places are already booked. They were getting
so desperate that it was going to be called off, and then on Friday
morning. . ."
 Nabiki interrupted, "Let me guess. Kuno-chan offered to host it at
his mansion."
 "Yeah," Akane nodded. "I'm surprised you didn't hear about it."
 "I missed school on Friday, remember? I had to go to the dentist to
get that cap put on my molar," Nabiki ground out, frustrated at the
position she was in. She figured that Kuno was going to ask her to go,
and if she didn't show up there was going to be a lot of gossip
concerning HER. Nabiki liked to be behind the rumors, not the subject
of them.
 Akane paused while washing her face and said, "But wasn't Kuno
over here Saturday morning? I thought he would have asked you then, or
at least told you about it."
 "It never came up in the conversation."
 "Hmm. But. . ."
 Akane never got a chance to finish her sentence. The door burst open
and a sweaty girl and a panda fell into the bathroom.
 "Ranma!" (Slap) "Don't you know how to KNOCK? We could have
been undressed or something!" Akane shouted.
 Panda-Genma held up a sign, "Maybe that's what he hoped to see!"
 "POP!!" Ranma yelled, trying desperately to get away from Akane
before she could hit him again.
 "Ranma you HENTAI!!!"
 Nabiki decided this would be a good time to get out of the bathroom,
and pushed her way through the door as she made her way back to her
room to finish getting ready for school.

* * * * *

 Nakoto met Nabiki at their usual meeting point.
 "Good morning, boss!"
 "Yeah, morning," Nabiki said sullenly.
 "Gee, you don't sound very chipper today," Nakoto noted.
 "Have I EVER sounded chipper?"
 "That's a good point," Nakoto laughed. "How's your tooth feeling?"
 "Fine. It hurts a bit with hot and cold water though. So what
 happened 
at school on Friday?" Nabiki was being very casual, interested in what
Nakoto had to say.
 Nakoto shrugged. "Not much. You know I would have called you if
anything interesting happened, Boss. I just collected a few more bets
on the Dance couples."
 "Ah. What about the Dance being held at Kuno's house now? You 
didn't think that was important enough to tell me?"
 Nakoto looked surprised. "Why, no, Boss. I mean, I knew he was going
to visit you over the weekend, so I figured he would tell you. Hey, I
never asked him OR you. Are the two of you going together or what?"
 "Would I not go to the Dance if it's going to be held at Kuno's
 house?"
Nabiki asked, careful to say something that didn't answer the
question, but that Nakoto would hear as "Yes I am going".
 Nakoto sighed. "You are SO lucky Boss. To have a guy like Kuno, I
mean. He is so handsome. I haven't been asked yet."
 "Really?" Nabiki asked, surprised. Nakoto wasn't the most popular of
girls at their school, but she had several guys who found her
attractive.
 "What about Kanzaki-kun?"
 "He got a girlfriend last month in Hokkaido."