"If you say so, Chuck. The only thing that's important? You
really believe that?"

	"Yup. You better learn it too, if you want to be any good at
this game."

Madigan: A broken clock is right twice a day.

	The waiter approached the table. "Was everything all right
tonight?" The two patrons nodded. "Thank you, please visit us again
soon." He laid the check on the table.

	Charles tore open the envelope that Nabiki had given him, and
his eyes scanned over the paper inside. It read: *The winners of today's
games will be the team owners. They get to pocket the ticket money.
After all, the bottom line is all that matters, right, Charlie?*

	He reached into his wallet and pulled out his credit card.

Chorus: <Sighs>                                 ______

Quincy <Smiling>: Exactly. 

	"Excellent work, Ms. Tendo," Jackson said. "I don't know how you
managed to convince him, but Probright is now more than willing to
listen to our offers."

	Nabiki smiled. "Just a little friendly persuasion." Actually,
one cassette tape through the mail is all it had taken. Good ol' Chuck
never suspected that he was being recorded. He also evidently couldn't
conceive of the fact that some people weren't as shallow as he was --
that there were some things that some people wouldn't do for money.

Quincy: She'll learn better later. 

	"Well, in any case, they're very happy about this upstairs.
They've already got a spot in Reynosa lined up to move the operation to,
and they're working on how to best liquidate the pension fund."

	Oops. Nabiki mentally kicked herself. Hadn't even considered
that. How could she be so smart and yet so stupid? Or had it just been a
case of willful blindness? Had she deliberately overlooked the possible
consequences of her actions?

Nitpick: If you mean for this to be done by the narrator it goes from
very simple, basic language to a longer, more delibrate wording too 
quickly. If it's done from Nabiki's PoV it's even less consistent.

	"Something wrong?" Jackson asked.

	"Ah... I was just wondering why Probright isn't insisting on a
legal promise not to shut down his company."

	"Oh, he is. But our lawyers assure us that there are enough
loopholes in the agreement he's proposing that it won't inconvenience us
much. It's too bad about the people who work at that factory; still, I'm
sure someone else will hire them."

Cynical man: For less pay, no benefits, etc. But why should UCF 
care about that?

	Nabiki hmmmd. The sale wasn't final yet. Nabiki knew that she
could still go to Probright and tell him what was going on. She could
write up an iron-clad contract for him, preventing UCF from liquidating
the factory. But it would end her career if they found out who did it --
which they almost surely would. All of her dreams and plans of future
greatness would be over. And for what? The old man would probably make
another mistake, and it would have all been for nothing.

Quincy: She's starting to learn. 

	All of which she knew to be rationalization. But she had to do
whatever she could to pursue the dream.

Carlin: Not good. 

Foreshadowing man: The stuff of sequels, right here. 

	Jackson leaned forward to shake Nabiki's hand. "Congratulations
on a job well done, Ms. Tendo. And once again, welcome to the UCF
family. I'm sure there's a wonderful future ahead here for a clever
young lady like yourself."

	"Yup, that's me." Nabiki forced a smile as she stood to exit
Jackson's office. "Too clever for my own good."

Foreshadoing man: Exactly

Foreshadowing woman: Well done, that's effective use of
foreshadowing. 

                                ______


	Nabiki returned to the picnic area to find Kasumi sitting
cross-legged under a tree, quietly staring blankly ahead. She knelt
down, wondering whether it would be a bad idea to disturb her sister.

	Abruptly, Kasumi's gaze focused, as she smiled. "Hello, Nabiki.
It's so good to see you again after all this time."

Carlin: You know I wonder if that flashback came from Kasumi
using her magic to look back into the past. 

Mulder: If so, it gives Kasumi's statement an interesting meaning. 

	Nabiki stared at her sister through her sunglasses. "I was only
in the bathroom five minutes, Kasumi."

	"I can't stay for very long. I want to tell you how proud I am
of all of the things you've managed to accomplish, all the success
you've had in your career."

Carlin: Guess not.

Ironic woman: I'd say it was ironic but taking into account the 
source...

	"Um... thanks." This was getting weird, even for her.

	Kasumi held Nabiki's hand, moving uncomfortably close to her.
"Nabiki, what about your personal life? Are you happy? It's so easy to
get wrapped up in your work, to forget about everything else until it's
too late."

Cynic: This is the conversation Nabiki is going to look
back on and kick herself for if it all goes wrong. 

Foreshadowing man: The path not chosen and all that. 

	"Don't worry about it, Kasumi," Nabiki said irritatedly. "I can
take care of myself. You aren't my mother, you know." There was a touch
of sadness in Kasumi's eyes after that last remark. Okay, maybe it had
been a little extreme, but her questioning had made Nabiki feel very
uncomfortable.

	"Your mother loves you, Nabiki. Please, always remember that.
Your mother would've stayed with you while you were growing up if there
had been any way to."

	"Yeah, I know." Nabiki's tone softened. "But 'would've' doesn't
do me a fat lot of good, does it? Anyway, it's all right. I've managed
okay alone so far, and I always will."

	"You don't have to be alone." Kasumi stood. "I've got to go now.
But remember that you have family and friends who love you. And anytime
you need someone to talk to, I'll be there to listen."

	"Okay, Kasumi." Part of her wanted to smother Kasumi with a big
hug, to have one of those big happy family moments. But that wasn't
Tendo Nabiki's style now, was it? Besides, the way Kasumi was acting was
making her more and more uneasy. "I'll see you over in China in a few
days."

	Nabiki packed up her dishes, wondering if her sister had
completely lost it. *Your mother loves you,* she had said. Why not *our*
mother? And why bring her up anyway?

Semantic woman: Nice distinction.

Foreshadowing man: Remember this, it'll count somewhere along the 
line. 

	Suddenly, Nabiki remembered what Kasumi had said earlier. *We
can communicate with spirits, and channel their energies.*

	She remembered a promise made to her long ago. Could it be...
was it possible?

	"Wait!" she cried out. She turned to face an empty picnic table.

The Chorus: O_O

Carlin: Complete surprise. Well done. 

                                ______


	Nabiki stood in the elevator, watching the numbers on the floor
indicator rise. Up she went once again, to the top of the building. She
was a princess in the magnificent castle tower that kept her safe from
everyone outside -- including her family and friends.

	She thought about a town about a half hour west of her, where a
lot of people had lost jobs that they had spent their lives working on.
Nabiki had done a lot of other things since Sweet Rewards that she
wasn't proud of either. She had also done some good when she could. But

Cynical man: a day late...
Bitter man: ... and a dollar short

the dream still wasn't anywhere in sight. And slowly but surely, she was
becoming for real the cold, hard terror of the business world that she
had been pretending to be.

Ironic man: She told a lie so well, even she started to believe it.

	Tendo Nabiki, master of psychological warfare. Instantly able to
figure out what's going through someone's head. Unless that someone is
herself.

	For some reason, words that Kasumi had said to her stuck in her
mind. *Maybe someday you'll understand.*

	Not yet.

	AUTHOR'S SPAM: Somehow this ended up being the longest chapter
of the series -- both in terms of size, and in terms of how long it took
to get the thing written. How did it happen? Dunno. I just work here. :)

Carlin: Ain't that the truth. 

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this story. Whether you did or not, I'd
like to hear from any of you who've made it this far.

Carlin: An excellent story, convincing takes on Nabiki, 
Kasumi and Dr. Tofu. A few minor nitpicks but nothing major, 
builds on some established story elements and leaves me wanting 
to read more. 

	An answer to the oft-asked "What does UCF stand for?" can be
found on George Carlin's "An Evening With Wally Londo". You don't need
to know this for the story, of course -- for our purposes, UCF is just a
generic multinational corporation.

	NEXT: Saotome Ranma finishes up the Preludes!

Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics