============
|| Babble ||
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Please send your C&C to FFML or to suh1@uiuc.edu

Expect couple more chapters in about a month..

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Based on Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma 1/2

Certain characters, locations and references in this fanfiction are
copyrighted by their respective creators and/or owners.  These characters
and other associated concepts thereof are presented in ways that may
conflict with their creators' original intentions. 

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|| PROLOGUE ||

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"Good night, oneechan.."

"Sweet dreams Nabiki."

Nabiki settled into her cozy bed and allowed herself a secret smile. 
Kasumi almost always checked on her when she stayed up late.  Not that she
minded her.  It was comforting to talk with Kasumi for a few minutes after
hours of homework, calculating her net profits and projecting the monthly
household expenses. 

Nabiki's face darkened as she pondered for the nth time on necessary
repairs caused by the latest Akane-Ranma disaster. 

{ Those love birds will never learn..  Always at each other's throats.. }

Nabiki pushed aside her annoyance and concentrated on sleep.  She could
always increase the interest rates on the gambling debts or manipulate
Kuno to cover the expenses. 

Nabiki sighed and turned over to her right side, savoring the gentle
warmth of her bed.  She felt the tugs of sleep pulling her down to the
depths of the unconscious. 

Half formed ideas of new money schemes and conflicting images of the past
filtered through Nabiki's awareness as sleep enveloped her. 

A comforting sleep..  Tenderly floating feather of her awareness.. The
empty dark where she could escape the hidden pain.. 

{ love me.. }

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It was black. 

Nabiki felt the omnipresent power regarding her as one would a pesky mite. 
Confusion flew around and screeched at her, disorienting her.  Then power
vanished.. as suddenly as it had arrived. 

Nabiki found herself floating in a sea of emptiness.  No light, no form,
no consciousness.  Just the void, a thing and her hidden observer. 

Now it was pleasant.  Her confusion finally seeped away.  Nabiki knew
nothing, floating in this sea.  Nothingness was her savior.  Nothingness
erased her secrets, her torments -- the pain.  The pain was finally gone.. 

Nabiki savored the vast emptiness..  This calm, pleasant sea.  Now she
would know peace.  Peace and quiet, eternal.. 

Then everything changed.  Slowly but surely, the empty dark shifted
through a rainbow of colors.. 

It was now a blazing sea of powdery yellow.  Sand.  Dust. 

A desert.  The sand, the sun and the wind.  The elements attacked Nabiki
without remorse.  She felt nothinng. 

Nabiki walked.  She did not know where she was walking.  The destination
was chosen for her. 

Nabiki stared at the well.  It was a strange well.. that well.  The
yellowish rocks of the well crumbling into the blinding yellow sands.. 

Nabiki looked down the well and only saw the inky darkness.  She looked
for untold lengths of time.  She saw a ripple of light at the bottom. 
Nabiki felt a presence..  *something* beside her.  She turned toward the
presence. 

Two young men.  They were twins..  Strange twins.  Nabiki felt a division
between them-- not of mind and body but something more profound. 

The twins had thin frames canvassed by pale white skin that contrasted
with their raven black hair.  One wore an inhuman mask of emptiness.  A
cruel grin was etched in the other's lean face.  The men's eyes were small
black pits, staring through her. 

The desert and the strange twins became blurry.  They were swallowed by
the darkness.  It was nothing now.  Nabiki was back in the comforting sea
of emptiness. 

The emptiness comforted Nabiki.  The worries.. the veiled thoughts did not
bother her in the sea.  It made her forget..  forget..  Nabiki knew
nothing. 

The sea of darkness changed.. for the second.. for the first time.  This
change was the first.  A ripple spread through the sea of emptiness, as if
a disturbing stone of awareness was dropped into it. 

It was misty.  No, it was steam.  Steam was rising around her. 

Nabiki was in a shower room with steam all around her.  She stood in front
of a mirror.  She saw her skin shedding from her face.  It disturbed
Nabiki. 

This was not her sea of emptiness.  She desired to escape.. and merge with
the emptiness once more.  Why were these-- things blocking her simple
wish? 

Nabiki peeled away the skin of her face.  Nabiki started in horror. 
Strange men..  Twins were staring back at her in the mirror.  The men's
eyes were black opals, staring through her.  Their unflinching glare was..
unpleasant.  Their eyes disturbed her. 

Something was wrong.  Nabiki knew those eyes.  She saw them.. before? 

The steam and the strange twins became blurry.  Nabiki was back in her sea
of emptiness.  Yes, now she was happy.. happy to get away from..  from.. 
from.. 

It did not concern Nabiki.  She was in her sea of emptiness, and it made
her happy.  It made her comfortable.  It made her forget.. and protected
her from her hidden thoughts. 

The sea of darkness changed.. for the third.. for the first time.  This
change was the first time since she arrived.. here?  The tranquility of
the emptiness was shattered like..  What.. What? 

The inky black pools frothed, becoming brighter.. brighter.. 

Nabiki was in the desert.. again?  No.  It was her first visit to this
desert.  She tried to convince herself, but she could not shake off the
thick coat of doubt. 

Nabiki was walking on the dusty yellow sand.  She did not feel the sand,
the sun or the wind.  She stopped. 

A beautiful woman clothed in a stunning white kimono.  A lithe teenage
girl wearing a T-shirt and short pants.  Somehow, Nabiki knew they were
*not* her mother and her sister.. but they were. 

Dead.  They were dead.  They were very pale.  Their death robbed them of
their speech.  The woman and the girl stared at Nabiki.  They disturbed
her. 

Two young men appeared next to Nabiki.  She had a vague sense of
recognizing these twins.  Yes. These twins were.. 

Their black opal eyes..  Something about those eyes.  Nabiki saw them
somewhere before.. this. 

The young men startled her by talking to EACH OTHER.  Nabiki tried to join
their dialogue, but she was restrained.  She could only hear them. 

One with the cruel grin hissed to the other.  "You're dead.  You committed
the ultimate crime.." 

Nabiki felt a growing sensation of panic from the other.  His mask of
emptiness was cracked by rage. 

He screamed to the grinning twin.  "What crime?!  What crime?!  I didn't
commit a crime.. of any sort!  Did I?!  No!!  You lie!  You lie!" 

Black tears running down his face, the grinning twin simply replied.  "You
wasted your life.." 

"nononono!! notagainnotagainnotagainnotagain!!! thisisnothing!!
thisisnothing!! thisisnothing!! yourlying!! yourlying!! yourlying!!" 

Her mother and her sister.. were they her mother and sister?  Yes and no. 
They.. They spoke in unison. 

"Guilty." 

This accusing word shattered the twins like an ice pick breaking through
the thin spring ice.  The twins vanished. 

Nabiki could think nothing, say nothing, just stand there. stand there. 
She was just a shattered container.  she was breaking apart all the stored
comfort draining draining like the precious water from the cracked pitcher
drained no more it existed nothing hide hide hide

The desert and the women blurred.  They disappeared into the darkness. 

Nabiki was back in her sea of darkness.  She enjoyed the comfort again. 
Yes.  forget.. forget.. forget the.. 

It did not matter anymore.  Yes.. She was free.  Free!! 

Wait..  The sea was different now..  A tendril of.. worry now reached to
her..  tickling her..  probing her.  The blackness warped and something
entered the sea of darkness.  No..  It was fear! 

The inky blackness pulsated, and it became someplace..  She was in a
meadow.. with flowers.. no!  no!  run!  there!  there!  the rock!  the
rock!  the huge rock tumbling torward her!  run, all she could do was run
stay ahead of the rock dont look back run she looked back she saw the
flowers the flowers crushed by the rock no no no the pain the FEAR!! 
NNOOO!! 

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Nabiki's eyes snapped open, expecting the boulder to be on top of her. 
She controlled the raw impulse to scream.  A brief sensation of fright
washed over her and withdrew, leaving behind only weariness and anxiety. 

She stared at the ceiling for several long minutes, gasping for her breath
and eventually calmed herself.  She traced her face with her hand and
slowly rubbed her fingers, slick with sweat.

Nabiki groaned and slid out of the bed, her clammy skin exposed to the
cool air of the early morning.  She looked around the room.  It was bathed
in a pale blue gray light, since the sun was still below the horizon.  For
an instant, she did not recognize the room.  Nabiki shook her head. 

{ Silly me.  Frightened by a dream.. }

Nabiki glanced at her clock. It read 5:39 AM. 

Shivering from the cool air, Nabiki stumbled out of her room and made her
way toward the bathroom.