Reed Sekiya wrote:
Your Average Girl
by Caine
Some people referred to Nabiki Tendo as an Ice Queen. They saw her as
manipulative, greedy, and downright cold. These people would be
surprised to learn what she was doing at a kissaten. She was not having
a business meeting. She was not counting her profits for the week.
She was on a date.
This would only surprise them if she going "dutch" or wasn't ordering the
most expensive thing on the menu.
"So, in order for Dad to get a promotion, we had to move here."
"That must be rough, having to pick up and leave like that."
"Yeah. I had to leave behind of couple of really good friends. It's
not all bad though; some of the people I've met here have been truly
*fascinating*."
Nabiki laughed, appreciating Kensuke's effort, even if the line was
rather lame. The expression on his face was also extremely cute when he
realized his attempt at being suave had failed miserably.
"Anyway, enough about me. Tell me about yourself. I've heard that
your some kind of big business person on campus."
"you are"
"Oh, I dabble a little in it. I mostly sell information and give out
loans."
"Is that all? You're not into any other things like gambling or
extortion?"
Nabiki momentarily took on a look of anger before returning to her
normal, calm demeanor.
"I've only handled bets for a few of the fights that have broken out
around here, nothing more. Extortion most definitely is not my thing.
Loan-sharking is so much more my style...
Who told you these things?"
Kensuke struggled to provide an answer, suddenly nervous under Nabiki's
stern gaze. His nervously only increased as Nabiki seemed to be losing
His discomfort only increased...
more of her patience by the second.
"Well?"
"It was just this group of guys in the corner of the cafeteria."
"I thought so. Why can't they just leave me alone?" The look of anger
returned and this time it stayed. "Why did you ask me out if you
thought I did things like that?"
"I didn't know about any of that when I asked you for a date. They
called me over when they found out about it. They said they were trying
to warn me."
"And you were afraid of skipping out on me because of the things I
might do to you?"
"No. I mean, I didn't really believe them. How could a cute girl like
you, do things like that?"
Kensuke: Please don't hurt me!
The anger was quickly replaced by shock. She didn't expect to be
complimented while she was throwing accusations at him.
Really? It's a pretty transparent manipulative strategy.
Kensuke was too
nervous for his words to be anything but sincere.
It's my experience that nervous people generally lie like nobody's business.
Maybe she should give
him a break.
"It's okay, Kensuke. Sorry for attacking you like that. It's just
that those guys have been spreading rumors about me for years."
"That's okay, Nabiki. It was stupid of me to bring it up. I just
thought it was kind of weird and couldn't help being a little curious.
Why do those guys spread rumors about you, anyway?"
"Well, at one time or another, I took money from every one of them.
They didn't take it very well."
"So they spread lies about you to get even?"
"No, they honestly believe everything they tell people. I won't lie to
you, Kensuke. I may not be as bad as they say, but I'm dead serious
when it comes to my business arrangements. Maybe I was a little harder
on them than they could handle."
"Oh."
After a couple minutes of awkward silence, the discussion was steered
towards more pleasant topics.
********************
After bidding farewell to Kensuke, Nabiki returned home, where she was
greeted by an anxious Akane.
"Welcome back, Nabiki. How'd your date go?"
"It was alright. Just an average date, I guess. Nothing special."
"I still want to hear all the details. Nothing special happened at
all?"
"Okay, there was one incident that kind of got me upset, but I'd rather
not talk about it. I'm tired of detailing every date I go on. Why
don't you just go on one yourself? That way you wouldn't have to ask so
many questions."
"Yeah right, like Dad would really let me go on a date with anyone but
Ranma."
"So go on a date with Ranma then."
"With that baka! No way!"
Nabiki let out an exasperated sigh as Akane continued to rant. She
wasn't really listening. She heard it all before.
Hackneyed characterisation. Besides Akane and Ranma have gone to fairs,
haunted houses, ice rinks and fast food joints together. The only thing that says
they are not dating is that they haven't kissed, and the only reason they haven't
kissed is because of her loving family.
"Whatever, Akane. I'm just tired of you trying to date vicariously
through me."
"It's not like I have a choice, you know. Kasumi hasn't even gone on a
date in a while. She never minds telling me everything about what she
did."
"She also never goes out with the same guy twice."
"That's because she likes Dr. Tofu. It's not like your one to talk.
you're
You may see the same guy more than once, but you've never gotten serious
with anybody."
Nabiki: I got very serious with that guy who took me to the best restaurant in
town, and let me convince him to buy me a dress afterward! When he decided I was
too expensive, I blackmailed him with his own love letter to maintain the
relationship. Hehe!
"First of all, it won't do Kasumi or Dr. Tofu any good if neither one
of them will admit their feelings."
"I guess their just hopeless."
"they're"
"Guess so. Second of all, I'm not really looking for a serious
relationship right now. I'm just want to have a good time."
"If you say so." It was Akane's turn to give out an exasperated sigh.
"I just feel like I'm missing out on something because of this whole
engagement mess."
Nabiki rolled her eyes. It continually amazed her how Akane managed to
blame anything and everything on Ranma and the engagement. In this
case, however, she had to agree with Akane. Still, if she ever agreed
with Akane's complaints, she'd be forced to listen to them for hours.
It'd be better to just take her mind off of it.
"Tell you what, Akane. I'll tell you every detail about my date, as
long as you don't mention Ranma or the engagement for the rest of the
night. Deal?"
"Deal."
********************
The next day at school, Nabiki was in the school cafeteria enjoying
lunch with her friends. Kensuke entered and came up to her, looking
rather nervous.
"Hey, Nabiki."
"Hello, Kensuke"
Missing period.
"I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed myself last night."
"So did I."
"That's good because I was wondering if you would like to go out again
sometime."
Nabiki thought about that. Kensuke was kind of cute and was fun to
talk to. He also had the guts to ask her out again after her minor
outburst last night.
"Sounds like fun. Call me later."
********************
What you hold in your hand (read on your screen, whatever) right now
came from an almost fanatical, and certainly unhealthy, obsession with
Nabiki. That and I hated how most fanfics portrayed her as a shallow,
manipulative bitch with no love interests. Or those that portray her as
overly emotional under that icy cool sufrace. Hopefully, by the time
I'm done, I would have shown you a deep, manipulative _person_ with a
love interest _and_ who's emotions (which she does possess) don't run
away with her.
taken from Addendum to EIGHT DAYS A WEEK by Nigel M. of -M-
Productions
********************
My feelings aren't word for word of the above, but it's pretty much the
same thing. I'll go into more detail in a later draft.
He'd probably also hate Takahashi's depiction of her dating life. Although one
good reason to write fanfic is to provide a little depth to shallow characterisation,
Nabiki's common characterisation is not solely a fanfic myth.