Heir Today, a short digest version of a fic.
i don't expect this to satisfy anyone, just give
an idea of what it is/could be like.
anyone feeling up to expanding this can do so, or
if it wins "The Bet"- then it will be done as
a continuing series.
i don't own any of these char. those char i do create
are available for general use, just e-mail me and i'll
send you the "Nabfile" on 'em.
-----------------------
"A minor change." Tyr scratched idly at the
stump where his left hand ended. Some reports indicated
it was his right hand, but then he wasn't the only one
that had trouble with biographers, minstrels, and
historians.
"You know, where something was just a hair
off. A breath of wind, an idea occurring a little
earlier. Something like that." The black cat looked up
at the norse deity.
"Got it." Tyr cocked his head. "There."
"An irregularity in one woman's cycle." Toltiir
nodded. "A tiny thing that often has far reaching
consequence."
"Hmmmph. That's how Thor got himself mortal
grandchildren."
"That's why you thought of it?"
Tyr smiled. "Of course."
------------------------
"Now THAT he had coming!" Genma adjusted his
glasses.
Kasumi made a sympathetic sound as she regarded
the girl flattened under the table.
The phone rang. Seeing that everyone else was
occupied, Nabiki offered to get it. Besides it might be
one of her business associates.
"Hai, moshi moshi?"
"Nabiki, I have your information." The voice was
male, rough from years of smoking, and quite familiar to
Nabiki.
"Ah, Fujitsu-san. You've done the background
search on the Saotomes?"
"Yes. I can see why you'd be interested."
Nabiki smirked. Fujitsu always insisted on a
flat fee. He was honorable, especially considering his
profession as a "corporate rat"- someone who knew where
to lurk, where to sneak, and where to find the dirt on
almost anyone if you could afford his fees and avoid
scaring the man. "DO tell. The money will be in the
usual drop off point."
"Nothing came up on the Saotomes that was
unusual. Samurai ancestry, drifters during the
disarmament, still own some property and old money but
nothing special. Genma Saotome, a martial artist of
a 'brother' school to your own Anything Goes style.
Petty thief, vagrant, more of an annoyance than much
of anything else. Nodoka Saotome, samurai ancestry,
apparently met Genma while he was training. Minor
nobility, slightly deranged by all accounts. A real
odd couple there. One son, Ranma Saotome, dragged all
over the place by his dad and subjected to the sort of
living conditions you really shouldn't drag kids into.
"This was pretty typical stuff until I started
getting into Nodoka's family. Her brother, Isao
Mitsurugi, was apparently a workaholic high management
individual. He died three years ago after his wife left
him and took their son. Those two dropped off and I
haven't found where they went yet."
"Hai, get to the point please."
"Uhm. Isao loved his sister, hated her husband.
Seems he had a real thing for honor, especially after
his wife left. So he put in his will that the Saotome
boy would inherit after reaching his 18th birthday, as
long as he did NOT turn it over to his father for any
reason."
Nabiki's eyes narrowed. "What did he inherit?
Land? A house?" Either could be worth serious money.
She began to regret palming the aquatransexual off on
her sister.
"Yeah. That too. IF he marries before his
eighteenth, otherwise it's held in case his son shows
up to claim the inheritance. No, what he inherits is
thirty percent."
"Thirty percent?" Nabiki frowned a little
further. "Thirty percent of what?"
"Shogokukan."
The receiver fell from Nabiki's lifeless hand
with a loud clunk against the floor. She stared at the
wall not seeing anything. She couldn't have heard right.
Picking the phone back up, she spoke in the flat tone
that people who knew Nabiki knew meant she was in a most
dangerous mode. "You are kidding me, right?"
"Nope."
"You're saying that the clueless little martial
artist jock is going to be a major shareholder in one of
the BIGGEST publication companies in Japan?"
"Yep. I'll expect my payment promptly,
Tendo-san."
"You'll get it." Nabiki delicately put the
phone back on the cradle, smiling a little.
<WHAM!WHAM!WHAM!> Nabiki's head repeatedly
hit the wall. "Nononononono. This sucks. I just gave
up MY chance to sit on the board meetings of a
publishing giant, my chance for financial happiness,
AND a martial artist with a great tush..." Nabiki paused
as she tried to figure out where THAT had come from. Oh
well, it wasn't as if the boys were lining up at the
door. "To my thoroughly clueless financially inept but
dear sister Akane."
Kasumi called Nabiki from the dining room. She
was planning on moving Ranma upstairs while she was
still unconcious.
Nabiki's resolve tightened. It would NOT be too
late. She would seize the day! Somehow...
-----------------------
Ranma-chan gradually stirred herself and began
to sit up.
"Oh, she's awake." Kasumi smiled. "Are you
okay? Don't think too badly of Akane, she's really a
very sweet girl. She's just a little...high spirited."
Nabiki smiled. This was her chance. "Oh good,
Kasumi. That explains everything. On the other hand,
I owe YOU an apology."
"Huh?" Ranma and Kasumi made an odd chorus.
"Look, I just had trouble with your curse to
begin with. It's a bit odd, you've got to admit, but
if you can handle it, so can I."
"I don't want to handle it." Ranma was a little
puzzled. This other girl had just completely reversed
her previous attitude.
Kasumi was obviously confused too. "Nabiki, can
I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure thing, sis." Nabiki nodded. "See you
later, Ranma."
The two proceeded to Nabiki's room, leaving
Ranma to recover in peace.
"Nabiki, what's going on?"
"Whatever are you talking about? He's a guest,
and his male form IS kinda cute."
"Nabiki!" Kasumi blushed. "He's so..."
"Young, brash, lacking in polish and
sophistication?" Nabiki sat back on her bed and started
doing leg lifts. She tried to sound as sincere as she
could, knowing that if anyone could see through her
mask, it would be Kasumi. "Exactly. He's so...alive!"
"What?"
Nabiki smiled inwardly. "I don't know, he's so
unlike the typical kind of boy I'd THOUGHT I'd be
attracted to. Maybe that's it, a certain honest appeal
to him, he's so un-slick he could never lie convincingly
to me. Isn't that right, Ranma?"
Kasumi glanced towards the door. A moment later
the sound of someone walking downstairs could be heard.
"Oh my."
"Not a mental giant," Nabiki shrugged. "On the
other hand, he's clearly got the intellectual edge on,
say, Tatewaki Kuno. That he hasn't turned into a
sobbing wreck with his curse indicates he's got some
mental endurance as well. You see, sis, he DOES have
some appeal."
"Uh-huh. Well, if you don't want to tell me,
Nabiki, I can't force you. Keep in mind that if you do
this, you're stuck with the consequences, good AND bad."
Nabiki watched Kasumi leave. "That's what I'm
counting on, sis."
---------------------
"You were both girls at the time, so that makes
it okay, doesn't it?"
"Okay?! Okay is not the word for it!"
"Now, now. I bet you forgot to flip the sign
again."
"Nabiki?" Akane turned disbelieving eyes to
her sister.
"Oh, Mister Saotome!"
"Yes, Nabiki?"
"Just a moment of your time." Nabiki winked at
her sister. "Now you feel that the Saotome and Tendo
families must be linked, right?"
"Yes, that pretty much..."
"Akane, will you marry Ranma?"
"ME!? MARRY THAT PERVERT? NEVER!"
"And what of you, Ranma, do you want to marry
Akane?"
"That uncute tomboy! You must be joking."
"Very well, I see a solution." Nabiki smiled and
slapped the table. "For five hundred yen I shall solve
all three problems."
Kasumi sighed and put a coin on the table after
it was apparent that nobody else was going to do it. The
things she did to maintain the "wa" of the house.
"Thank you, Kasumi. Now we all know that Akane
has a crush on Doctor Tofu..."
"NABIKI!" Akane turned scarlet.
"Oh my, Akane, isn't Doctor Tofu a little old
for you?" Kasumi decided to stop flirting with the
Doctor, leaving the way open for Akane to try to win
the Doctor's heart. Besides, Doctor Tofu acted so silly.
"KASUMI!?"
"...and we all know that Kasumi really doesn't
like younger men. While I had some initial difficulties
with Ranma's curse and apparent lack of resources, I
have since learned that he has other qualities which
DO have some appeal to me. Therefore, I will be the one
to be engaged to Ranma." Nabiki got up in the middle of
this speech in order to sit back down, next to Ranma
this time.
"WHAT?!" Kasumi and Akane looked shocked.
Ranma looked like he would faint.
Genma merely nodded. He didn't care which one
of the Tendo girls married Ranma. If one of them
actually liked Ranma, so much the better. "DONE! I'm
sure your father won't object."
-------------
Months had passed, the relationship between
Nabiki and Ranma had solidified, somewhat. Nabiki often
taking the role of "voice of reason." Akane wondering
what the heck was going on still. Kasumi alternately
fretting about this, wondering why Nabiki was playing
this game, and being glad that she was just on the
periphery of this madness.
"Ranma take love pill, be ever happy with
Shampoo!"
Ranma dodged, and let the pill bounce off his
head. "Cut it out Shampoo."
"Ranma, stop encouraging..." <gulp!>
Ranma looked around to see Nabiki, looking
thoroughly surprised by this turn of events.
"Nabiki-chan!" Happosai bounced closer, only
to be backhanded by Nabiki.
"Uhm, er, eeep, uh-oh." Ranma sweated as he
watched Nabiki's expression change from annoyed to
the sort of expression you'd expect in a shojo manga.
"Aiyaaa." Shampoo slapped herself. "Shampoo
really screw this one up big time."
"Oh, Ranma!" Nabiki said in a breathless sort
of voice, she noticed Ranma freaking even further out
upon hearing this. "Let's get married right away!"
"AT LAST! Our families will be joined!" Soun
began wailing, this time from happiness.
The panda next to him was doing a dance that
seemed to have elements of a jig combined with an
epileptic fit. [Oh happy day] read a sign produced from
apparently nowhere.
Ranma backed away as Nabiki moved forward, and
the chase was on.
Nabiki rolled the love pill around in her
cheek. She'd spit it out into her hand the moment no
one was looking at her, maybe use the Chem Club
resources to analyze it.
She was still congratulating herself on her
cleverness when she tripped. She was grateful that
this was all at the beach as this would really have
hurt if she'd been doing this through the streets of
Nerima.
"Nabiki, are you okay?"
Nabiki felt a little miffed. Ranma wouldn't
be treating Akane or Shampoo like they were fragile.
Nabiki looked up at the concerned Ranma when a little
nagging detail occurred to her. She didn't have the
pill in her mouth anymore.
For the first time in years, Nabiki was not
thinking on any level about money. Usually, out of the
dozens of things going through her mind at any one time,
money was in there on some level.
"Ranma?!"
Ranma looked a little surprised as Nabiki
suddenly demonstrated a degree of strength that he
would not have expected from a non martial artist.
Her attack was swift and overwhelming as her arms
shot around him.
Shampoo, catching up with the two, was amazed
to see Nabiki perform a textbook example of the Third
Level Amazon Glomp. Making a disgusted sound in her
throat, Shampoo went to look for something she could
use to lever the mercenary off her airen. Oh yeah.
Placing a dozen coins where the mercenary
would see them, Shampoo stood a little ways off.
"Aiyaa. Look at that, must be 1000 yen there..."
Nabiki noticed that Ranma wasn't moving. She
snuggled a little closer. "Mmmmhhmmmm."
Shampoo blinked and frowned. A few bills were
added to the pile. "Oh, didn't see that. Must be over
5000 yen there. Nobody watching. Oh terrible."
"Mmmm hmmmm." Nabiki squeezed a little tighter.
Heaven, she was in heaven.
"Oh my." Kasumi and the others had just arrived.
"Nabiki, that's entirely the wrong behavior to be out in
public like that..."
"Way to go, sis..." Akane couldn't help but
admire her sister's way of taking control even when
she didn't seem to be in control of herself. Certainly
Ranma looked like he was quite thoroughly captured.
Soun coughed into his hand. "Uhm, really, I
think, eh, you should probably wait until after the
ceremony, don't you?"
"Oh dear."
"Ceremony?" Ranma managed to say as he began
to fall backwards, not able to keep himself balanced
with Nabiki holding him like this.
"I do!" Nabiki smiled dreamily. Yes, he would
make her SO happy. And he'd be fairly well off
financially so that wouldn't be a problem either.
Water splashed down on Ranma and Nabiki,
causing his transformation. Nabiki's grip shifted
slightly, but she didn't let go, her head now resting
on Ranma-chan's breast.
[I'll get a priest.] The panda's sign read.
[We'll get this done within an hour.]
"Saotome, don't you think a more formal
arrangement should be held?"
[Do you want to take the chance of someone
curing your daughter in the meantime?]
"Hmmm. Let's at least make the ceremony at
the dojo. As soon as we get there."
"Oh my."
"Hey! Aren't you taking advantage of Nabiki
being drugged? Shouldn't it be something you do when
you're in full control of your facilities?"
Nabiki looked up from her snuggle. "Dearest
sister, shut the <censored> up. Daddy, let's go home.
I think I've had enough sun for today."
Shampoo watched as the Tendos and Saotomes
went home. She barely noticed as Cologne picked up the
money still lying there where the mercenary girl had
seen it. She dropped the bucket she'd used to splash
Ranma with.
"Shampoo?"
"Yes, great-grandmama?"
"You've got less than an hour to derail that
wedding or you'll have to settle for used goods."
----------------
Nabiki smiled at Kuno. "Really, honestly. If
you keep anyone from interrupting, Akane Tendo will be
free from any chance of being engaged to Ranma."
"Why then, so I shall," Tatewaki Kuno drew his
bokken. "For the sake of Akane Tendo and the pig-tailed
girl, I shall smite anyone who seeks to disrupt your
wedding, even if it is to that foul wretch Saotome."
"The same goes for you, Ryouga-kun. You can
both pursue Akane and let HER choose one of you, but
that's AFTER the ceremony."
"Nobody will get past me," Ryouga promised,
cracking his knuckles.
"Good. We're keeping this short and simple."
Nabiki thought for a moment. "I expect Shampoo and her
great-grandmother any moment. Happosai, you remember
our deal?"
"I get a set of dear Akane's panties and a few
choice shots from the girl's showers at Furinkan if the
ceremony goes off without a hitch. Gotcha." The aged
martial arts master looked completely serious. "They
will NOT pass."
"Good," Nabiki smiled and went in to change.
------------------
"If there are any who object to this couple
becoming man and wife, let them speak now or forever
hold their peace."
The sounds of combat in the front yard were
sufficient indication of the need for speed. Ranma
had come out of shock twice, only to be reminded that
it was HIS fault that Nabiki had swallowed the pill.
In the courtyard, Kuno swung wildly at the
purple haired amazon.
She leapt past Kuno, only to be clotheslined
by Ryouga. As unconciousness claimed her, she realized
she had been beaten in combat AGAIN. Grand-mama would
NOT be happy.
------------------
Nabiki smiled down at Isao-chan. "...and that's
how your mommy and daddy married, sweetie."
"And that's how Unca Ryouga and Auntie Shampoo
got engaged, right, mommy?" The little boy looked up
at his mother, knowing the answer already.
"Yes, child. And Tatewaki pursued Akane all
through high school, but constancy was never his long
suit, and he continued to pursue the pig-tailed girl
as well. And then Ukyou Kuonji, and then Kotono
Mitsubishi, and then...well he's still pursuing
SOMEONE, I'm sure."
"And Auntie Akane and Unca Sanjuro?"
"It's already past your bedtime, Isao-chan.
That is DEFINITELY a story for another night."
==========================
yes, this was part of "the Bet" and if you think that
Nabiki was OOC, may one point out that the Nabiki at
the beginning of the series was completely different
in personality from the Nabiki of the later parts?
If this wins "the Bet"- details will be developed about
the earlier parts, Nabiki finding herself caught up
in rather more of the madness that is Ranma's life.
Akane occasionally flirting, occasionally arguing with
Ranma. After the "love pill" episode, Nabiki exploring
a different side to her personality- less manipulative
of Ranma and more open and caring. Still the "Ice
Queen" to everyone else...then there's the inheritance
and what everybody's reaction is eventually to finding
out that Nabiki started out in pursuit of Ranma's
future wealth.
http://members.aol.com/metroanime/main.html
mata ne, minaasan,
gregg