Ranma 1/2 and all characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and
Shogakukan publishing and 
are used with out permission
Caught in the Act
by Michael Gilson
     It was a beautiful winter Sunday in Nerima.  Although the temperature
was brisk, there was little 
breeze and the sky was bright and cloudless.  To make it complete Nabiki
Tendo was doing one of her 
favorite things:  shopping with someone else's money.
     Nabiki was actually supposed to be shopping with Akane, but as was her
habit she was only making
 enough purchases to keep up appearances.  Most of her effort was directed
to subtly influencing 
Akane's selections to Nabiki's tastes.  This was not as difficult as it
sounds for Akane's fashion sense 
was very good.  From Nabiki's point of view the only problem was Akane's
tendency to project a less 
grown up image than Nabiki preferred.  So Akane was happily loading up on
items that unbeknownst to
 her would soon be rotating through Nabiki's closet.
     So because Nabiki was carrying less as they left the Marumichi
department store she was the first to
 notice.
     "Akane, isn't that Ranma?"
     Peering over the boxes she was carrying, Akane said, "Where?"
     "Over there, across the street."
     Looking in the direction Nabiki was pointing, Akane saw a rather
cutely dressed young girl with wavy 
hair flowing half way down her back.  However the height and figure were
right as was the body 
language and posture.  Most importantly the girl was wearing large tinted
glasses and a cold mask that 
practically screamed, "HELLO!  I AM WEARING A DISGUISE!"
     "Oooh that pervert!  He's probably picking on poor Ryouga again!" 
Akane said as she started across 
the street in order to inflict great pain on her wayward fiancee.
     "Wait!" said Nabiki, holding Akane back.  "If you confront him now
he'll just deny everything.  Let me 
help you follow him and you'll find out for sure what he's really up to."
     "You'll really help me big sister?"
     "Hey, that's what older sisters are for.  Now go in and have the store
deliver our packages home, 
then come back out.  I'll keep him in sight till then."
     "Besides," thought Nabiki as Akane ran back into the store, "If you
pound him all I get is a little 
entertainment.  If I we find out what he's up to I can sell that
information to at least two of his other three 
fiancees, and I'll still get the entertainment of seeing you pound him."
------------------------
     It was surprisingly easy for the Tendo sisters to trail Ranma.  While
he did occasionally check to see 
if he was being followed, he always telegraphed when he was going to turn
around.  For anyone a little 
more competent than Gosunkugi or Sasuke it was child's play to avoid being
discovered.  And so 
Ranma's round about path had led them here, to a rather dingy and out of
the way video rental shop.
     Peering through the filmy dust encrusted window Nabiki and Akane
watched as Ranma laid a 
handful of yen down on the counter and pointed to a cassette behind the
clerk's shoulder.  The clerk put 
it in a plain brown paper bag and slid it across the counter to Ranma who
quickly and furtively slipped it 
into his purse.
     "He's renting a porno video.  Who would of thought he had it in him?"
     "Why that ... that .... that(mmph!)"
     "Shhh!  He's coming out, and it'll be better if we catch him actually
watching it."  hissed Nabiki as she 
pulled Akane into a nearby alley.
     "Really?"  whispered Akane
     "Oh yes, it'll give us a lot more leverage."  "wa--yy more leverage.",
thought Nabiki.  "I'll be able to sell 
or threaten to sell it to all three fiancees, both fathers, his mother,
Ryouga, Mousse, etc.  I'll make a 
fortune!"  Out loud she continued, "He'll probably go straight home to
watch it, but we should keep 
tailing him just to be sure."
--------------------------
     With everyone else gone for the day, Akane and Nabiki secretly watched
from the doorway of the 
Tendo living room as Ranma turned on the TV and inserted the cassette into
the VCR.  He was 
quivering in anticipation and a little drool was running from the corner of
his mouth.  "Oboy!", he said, 
"I've really been looking forward to this!  And maybe I'll learn some tips
I can use on Akane!"
     On hearing this Akane produced a blue aura that looked like the space
shuttles main engines on 
launch.  Nabiki restrained her only with great difficulty, urgently
whispering in her ear, "Remember!  
Leverage!"
     Then two spinning triangles appeared on the screen and a girl's voice
began singing, "I've worried 
since yesterday, but it seems like forever..."  The battle aura went out
like a gas jet had been turned off.  
Nabiki and Akane stared at each other, then smiled.  Then Nabiki nodded and
simply said, "Now."
---------------------------
     Ranma leaned forward, engrossed in his show.  Then someone right
behind him shouted, 
"AH-HAH!"
     Spinning around on his butt in a move that would have made the best
break dancer green with envy, 
Ranma froze as he saw Akane standing there with her hands on her hips and a
broad grin on her face. 
 Leaning against the door frame Nabiki just smirked and said, "How are you
going to explain this, 
Saotome?"
     Ranma just stared with that 'deer in the headlights' look.  His mouth
opened and closed like a just 
landed fish.  What COULD he do?
     He'd been caught in the act....
     Of watching "Marmalade Boy"!

Authors notes:  Over Christmas I got hooked on "Marmalade Boy".  I'd been
avoiding it for years 
because it sounded too much like "90210".  But there was nothing else
available in the club library.  I 
quickly discovered the difference:  You actually like and care about the MB
characters.  However the 
addictiveness of MB suggested the question, "How would super macho Ranma
act if he became 
addicted to it?"  And the manga stories where he went out to eat ice-cream
sundaes suggested this 
answer.

All C&C welcome, public or private.  Private send to mgilson@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu