% Once more unto the breach.

    With a sigh, Nabiki rolled up to a seated position upon her bed.  "I
can't believe how bored I am," she said to herself.  Continuing her
dialogue silently, she thought, *If this was that other life, then I'm
sure
something would be happening now.*  Smirking at some of her new
memories, she thought, *Some sort of a challenge, a new enemy to test
myself against.  Something exciting would be happening.*  She fell
backwards to lay on the bed again.  *It never stayed quiet for long
there.*  Looking at her clock, she sighed, *I can't believe it's been only
one minute since I last looked at it.*

% Heh. More mental contamination influencing her life. It's hard to say
how much is the original QD Nabby and how much is her download anymore.


    "Why, thank you, Saotome-san," said Nabiki with a smile on her face,
and a pleasant tone in her voice.  "I am looking forward to it as well."
Her index finger slowly wound the phone cord around itself.  "Ranma is
an interesting young man."

% Has a knack for understatement, she does.


    "It was nice of you to call, Nabiki-chan,"

% That seems a bit too familiar, even is she is a prospective
daughter-in-law.


    "Goodbye," answered Nabiki, setting the phone back into its cradle.
She rested her palms flat on her bed after hanging up the phone, staring
out the window at the afternoon sky.  Her thoughts whirled a bit.  *So,
Ranma is looking forward to the meeting with me and my father, huh?*
she mused, crossing her legs and leaning forward to rest her chin in her
palm.  That honestly did surprise her a little, but it also brought a
smirk
to her face.  *Maybe I'll let him win once or twice to keep his hopes up.
It wouldn't do for my future husband to be seen as totally outclassed by
me.  After all, he and I will know that he'll never defeat me on his own,*
she confidently smiled as she finished her thought.

 % Yeah Nabby, just put that 'Kick Me' sign right on your back.


    On an impulse, Nabiki knelt down and gently pressed her lips to his,
vainly hoping to provoke some sort of reaction, but he did not respond,
and his body remained still and all but lifeless.

% Sorry, this ain't Cinderella.


    Resolving to figure out what was wrong, Nabiki turned to study the
workbench, moving her light around, and quickly noticed the scattered
tools and the discarded component.  She sat down in the chair in front
of the small computer unit and hesitantly tapped a finger on the space
bar of the keyboard, hoping that she would not disturb the experiment

%That's right. Start tapping keys randomly and HOPE nothing bad happens.


    When he did not stir, but simply continued breathing very slowly and
shallowly, her smile returned to a frown, and Nabiki felt a sudden urge
of protectiveness rise up in her, directed at the pigtailed boy.  She had
not been able to protect her mother, but she would not lose Ranma.
*After all,* she thought with a slight smirk, *my own martial artist
counterpart protects a weaker Ranma from enemies in that other world.
So why should it be any different here?*  She silently vowed that she
would do the same for her own version of the pigtailed boy, once she
finally proved to him that she was the stronger fighter.  Since Ranma
was probably as stubborn as she knew herself to be, it would obviously
take several more fights between them to convince him of that.  After
her victory during the last one, she was now certain that she was better
than he was.  She was also actually looking forward to the struggles to
come between them before she managed to prove the superiority of her
skills to him.


% Heh. That kind of behavior is going to irritate him in the worst way
possible. Nothing like him having to deal with someone that is 'superior'
to him to make him angry.



    Genma thought about it.  The way his counterpart played, it would be
amusing to bring his own honest skills to the game.  He was currently
rated as a Master at Chess, Go, and Shougi in his own world,

% Impressive resume.


    Soun began to sweat as he started steadily losing piece after piece to
Genma's relentless assaults.  He took a long sip of his tea and grimly
contemplated his options, but they did not look promising.

% Heh. Losing fair and square is no fun for him.


    *Me?  A bully?* thought Nabiki, honestly surprised at being included
with her sister in such a blanket description.  She immediately discarded
the notion as ridiculous.  *Opportunist, maybe.  But, how can he call me
a bully?*  She glared at Genma with a cool, disdainful look.

% I like that reaction. That's how she views herself. It's not her fault
people allow themselves to be fleeced so easily.



    "Sure, Ranchan," said Ukyou with a weary smile.  It had been a long
day, and she was eager to close up and get some rest.  Luckily, Sundays
she was able to close earlier than normal if she chose, and it didn't take
long to have the place empty of everyone but her and the two Saotome
men.  She ignored Genma for the most part, her desire for vengeance
satiated, for now.

% Yeah. Wait a week or two before she gets angry and wants to paste him
with the spatula again. ^_^

    "Something like that," answered Ranma, frowning slightly at the joy
she apparently found in looking at the injuries she had given his father.
"Pop and I are getting out of the neighborhood and going home.  I just
wanted to stop in, get some food, ask you a question, and then we'd
leave.  No big deal."

    "A question?" said Ukyou,

%Ranma: Yes. It's an interrogative expression often used to test
knowledge. But that's not important right now.


    "I see," said Ranma, his mouth feeling a little dry.  "And just what
would I have to be like?"  He thought about his Jusenkyou curse, and he
wondered how they were going to overcome that particular argument
against his manliness.

    "It is difficult to say," said Genma.  "Nodoka is a very traditional
sort
of woman, but she has some odd ideas of how men and women should
act."  He paused and looked at Shampoo, an idea suddenly occurring to
him.  "However, Shampoo has just given me an idea."

    The Amazon looked even more puzzled.

% You are about to become a tool, girl.


    "Nodoka would consider it to be very manly for you to peep at a
pretty girl in the bath," said Genma, considering how he might work this
angle.  For a moment, he paused, wondering why he was even thinking
about this as some sort of 'angle' in the first place.  It disturbed him
more than a little.

% Heh. That's some of S 1/2 Genma's mental contamination affecting him
there.


    "Oh, yeah," said Ranma, shooting his father a dark look.  "Thank you
ever so much for reminding me of that part, Father."  He turned to face
Shampoo once again, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking her
in the eyes.  "Shampoo, to prove myself manly to my mother, my father
thinks that I should peep on you while you're bathing.  Now, I know
that-"

    "Okay," said Shampoo with a nod,

% heh.

load.  With a sigh,
Ranma nodded at the Amazon.  He turned back to his father and asked,
"So what do we tell her about the curse?"

    "The truth.  What else?" answered Genma.

% Ranma: But the truth never works. Let's lie and wait for the truth to
come out at the worst possible time instead.


    "Then let's go and meet my mother," said Ranma

% Again for the first time. ^_^


    Nodoka's eyes were shining with unshed tears as she looked upon her
son.  She thought he looked so handsome

% In other words, nothing like his father. ^_^

    "Ranma good friend to Shampoo," said the Amazon.  Forging ahead
with true inspiration, she added, "He even watch Shampoo take bath."

% Hehehehe.

    Ranma blinked, grateful that he had not been taking another sip of his
tea at that same moment.  *Did she have to say it quite like that?*

% In this case, the direct approach was definitely for the best.


    Nodoka seemed to be even more pleased with Ranma, and asked, "Is
that true, my son?  Have you been looking at this girl while she bathed?"

    "Uh, yeah," answered Ranma, suddenly having flashes of memories of
seeing Shampoo bathing assail him.  He grinned weakly, feeling that he
could at least answer semi-honestly based on that sort of secondhand
experience and said, "I mean, yes.  Yes, I have."



% Nodoka: So that hair color of hers is--

% Ranma: --naturally purple.


    Nabiki decided to wait, but she was a little taken aback at the tone
he
used with her.  She was concerned about him.  Why couldn't he see
that?

% Because you are coming across as an interrogator, not a friend.

She tapped her foot on the ground while she waited, occupying
her mind with reviewing how her counterpart treated her own version of
Ranma.

% You got that right.

    "I thought so, too, after my first time" said Ranma, relaxing his
stance
a little.  He took a moment to study Nabiki, wondering just how much
he could trust her with his secrets.  He didn't really know her, but he
suspected that there had been changes taking place inside her mind that
left an altered Nabiki for him to deal with.  Changes that were probably
as profound as the ones he himself had undergone.  For some reason, he
felt inclined to trust her, at least somewhat, since she was the only
other
person in the world who could appreciate what they had both
undergone.

% Until he discovers his Kodi is a jumper too. he's going to be in for
quite a shock.


    "You're pretty cocky for a guy who had his butt handed to him in our
last sparring match, Ranma-kun" said Nabiki teasingly, watching Ranma
frown some more as he stood up.  She stood up as well, firmly poking
her finger into his chest as she continued on, saying, "When you can
beat me in a real fight, then we might renegotiate our roles, but for now
just accept that I should be in charge.  There's nothing wrong with being

my sidekick.  That other Ranma certainly has no problems with letting
that other Nabiki deal with problems."

%Heh. That is so Nabby 1/2ish.


    "I most certainly am not going to become your sidekick," grumbled
Ranma

% Ranma: I might kick your side, but that's as far as it will go.


    "I'll trust your judgment on the matter, Nabiki-chan," said Nodoka
with a smile.  She turned to him and said, "You heard her, Ranma, so
off to bed.  You and I will talk in the morning."  She turned back to a
grinning Nabiki, missing the dark look that Ranma was giving the
Tendou girl.

% Yeah. She's calling the shots way too much for his taste.

  "Will you be all right going home by yourself, Dear?"

    "Sure," said Nabiki brightly, "it's not far.  I only live a few blocks
away."  She bowed in farewell to Nodoka.  "Goodnight, Saotome-san.
Goodnight, Ranma-kun."  With that, she left.

    Ranma went upstairs, even more determined to prove himself to the
smug Nabiki tomorrow.  She was even more insufferably irritating to
him now that she fancied herself his peer in fighting, and he did not
much care for her take-charge attitude.  He was the guy, so he should
be in charge of their partnership, right?  *Not that we are partners,* he
quickly amended.

% Of course. ^_^

% Not as much to say this time around. Looked good and hurry with the next
part already.

D.B. Sommer