Credit to Chris Willmore for his idea((Ten commandments))
Seven Sins
Avarice(part 1 ).
by David Houghton
Nabiki wondered when Ranma would admit he sometimes thought of himself
as female. It did seem the insults Akane and Ranma used fitted themselves
better than the person they were insulting. Almost as if the insults were a
security blanket. Hmm, an intersting idea must reserve it for blackmail
purposes.
Nabiki considered blackmailing Ryouga for money then decided against
the tack she was trying. Akane just had to know that Ryouga was P-chan.
So revealing it wasn't going to be much of a threat. Her father knew
and if she revealed it Genma - well there went her sisters honour. Could she
pretend to hold it over his head? No, she never bluffed and wasn't
going to start now. No one could be as dumb as Ryouga seemed
and with Ranma and Akane both covering for him - scratch that.
Besides she'd never go directly against Akane.
Her father - A good source of money but he was approaching his manic
phase again She did not want to see his demon head. That frightened even
her. Not that she'd ever let anyone know that of course.
Anyway she'd *prefer* far bigger gains. Besides its no good
blackmailing someone who ultimately needs the money.
Genma - definitely out. He was far more cunning than anyone gave him
credit for. It was only when she discovered Nodoka's beliefs of what
manliness was, that she realised there might be a method to Genma's madness.
The second thing is that it was no fun extorting Genma. He surrendered
too quickly and then if you pressured him he would eat your meals.
Anyway he was an expert at keeping his past hidden. And no-one would want
to buy pictures of a middle aged man- except Nodoka. She considered selling
him to a circus but remembered what had happened last time. Never again.
And trying to get money off him was more than a challenge. She liked
people who fought against her sure; but she'd prefer them to lose.
Now there was Ranma. Nabiki always liked manipulating Ranma though
avarice wasn't the only reason. Nabiki had been deceived by Ranma
when he first came, twice in fact. First Nabiki had thought she was
a boy and then he turned out to be a male. A little voice, both
familiar and strange as if from long ago, piped up 'Are you certain
that he tricked you? Perhaps you didn't want to admit...'
Nabiki shut it up quickly. It was not that either of the Ranma's was
unattractive. More that he made a great fantasy. But his reality she found
to be grotesque. Considering this she was surprised he had as many 'fiancees'
as he had. Suddenly she got an idea. No strings attached. A film of him
transforming when naked would be a start. She smiled. This would be the best
profit yet, no matter what happened.
She knew the reason why Ranma was so easy to get money off: his pride.
She picked on Ranma because if he ever used his brain that would be a
challenge. The problem was he didn't and she was getting bored.
Now she needed to wait for Cologne to try something on. Not that she'd
have to wait long, especially if she got Akane into the kitchen. That
would guarantee it.
***
Shampoo was in the Neko-hanten. Then she spots a spice on which the
label says 'Truth Spice. Danger. NEVER EVER USE. Truth CAN KILL.'(3)
Next door to it is Merlin's Inhibition remover on which the label has
'use 1 tsp. every 20 years. Warning: Only works on females.' Shampoo
shook her head, but then remembered that Ranma was a female some of
the time. She picked up a serving spoon and put it in the inhibition
remover.
Cologne appeared and smiled. "This should catch son-in-law. But are you
prepared to be kissed by a female."
Shampoo pointed to smaller print.<Once active stays so even if sex
changes. Cologne nodded at Shampoo. That was what let them down
before. Not reading small print. This time son-in-law would not escape
them, after all he was only a mere male.
***
Nabiki went out and headed to the Nekohanten. she was stopped on the way
by a exotic woman. Foreign by the looks of it.
"I'm going to the Nekohanten for .."
'Passion Spice.' the woman stated in such a tone that Nabiki knew there was
no good denying it.
'Yes, how did you know?' asked Nabiki nervously. She gritted her teeth and
decide to go ahead.
'You'll know. Passion Spice never works as expected, Nabiki, I'm surprised
you have forgotten that.'
'But this is my first...' Nabiki tried to point out.
The woman has gone before she finished speaking, leaving a jar of passion
spice and having emptied Nabiki's pockets. Nabiki looks sad. All that was
needed was to get it into food. Problem was how to get Ryouga to eat it
as well. The only thing they both ate at the same time was Akane's food.
Now that was another problem. Looking at the instructions on the passion
spice jar Nabiki breathes a sigh of relief. It should hide the flavour to some
extent. She decided to dilute the spice. After all she didn't want it
instant There was no way of setting up the cameras in that case. She
headed off wondering what the woman had warned her for. After all
she was going to take precautions. Anyway passion spice needed to be
swallowed. Checking the book for precautions she saw that she would have
to swallow some of Akane's cooking. Was it really worth it? She then
realises Akane is making curry. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard after all.
Once Nabiki walks home she considers what to do. Every alarm bell in
her head is ringing. She forced them down. This would net her a lot of
money. No, she'd have well lets say beyond imagination and Nabiki can
imagine a fair bit. Okay not quite that much but pretty near her limits.
Akane is at the moment trying to cook dinner (and was failing as usual).
She was muttering a mantra. 'He'll like my cooking even if it kills him.'
Once she has finished, Shampoo sneaked in and put in one of her magic spices.
Nabiki smiled because this played right into her hands. Once Shampoo had
vanished Nabiki ate some of Akane's cooking and poured in the passion spice.
This should work well. Now time to set up her camera-in her own room.
After all no-one would use Kasumi's. Definitely not Akane's. Genma would
be in the guest room and where would you not expect Nabiki to set up
the cameras. She was ahead of them all.
Time to head to the kitchen. This would be fun. Nabiki then realised a
flaw in her plan. Akane never ate her own cooking. Deep down she knew
it was bad but refused to admit it.
Nabiki was wondering what had possessed her to come up with such a mean
plan all for the sake of money. She beat the voice down again. But it
returned stronger. "You've never been this bad before- someones manipulating
you."
'The inhibition spice couldn't work on me. I don't have inhibitions.'
'Oh yes you do' replied the voice, 'just a different sort. How many
times have you refused love, and taken money.'
*I'm not a prostitute.* thought Nabiki hotly.
'Never said you were, you just concentrate on money to the exclusion of
all else.'
The voice went on for a little while and then stopped as if it knew her
patience was wearing thin. Nabiki realised she was hearing her conscience.
She didn't have one, this was blatantly impossible. It was time to take
pictures.
'You'll feel guilty you know.'
She wished the bloody thing would shut up. There was no way she'd feel
guilty about this hit. After all it would get Ranma to fight harder with
her. Oh she'd still win but this way it would be fun again. Yes, here
came Ranma-chan and Ryouga, both in intense pain. This would be fun.
*Come on you two do something* Nabiki was getting impatient.
*Don't do anything* thought another part of Nabiki
Eventually the passion spice overwheelmed the psychological blocks and
Nabiki was able to take a picture.
Oh perfect blackmail material on both of them.. Brilliant. She didn't believe it.
The plan had worked better than she thought it would. Three photos.
Damn, no Akane but still she could wish. Suddenly something seemed to
be happening Ryouga and Ranma were separating. Nabiki cursed, if Ryouga
got lost as usual. Ranma looked to the left, the right and promptly
went catatonic. Ryouga had started to nosebleed and fainted. Nabiki swore.
This was not as good as she wanted. Just one kiss!
Ryouga would recover first, Nabiki thought, and if she didn't vanish
he could guess what had happened. Definitely time to cut her losses. She forgot
how ingrained their attitudes were and how Ryouga reacted to beautiful
girls. Better move out. Oh well at least she'd got some good blackmail
material. Everybody would want to get their hands on it but how to
get everybody buying it without anyone being tipped off?
---------------
End Part 1.