The Test.
********

"'Ey Nabs, watcha doin?"

Nabiki acknowledges Ranma with a mere nod of her head as she peers quite intently at the computer screen. From what Ranma can tell, Nabiki is very amused with something she had just been reading.

"Just checking my mail."

Curiousity aroused, Ranma pulls up a chair and joins her.

"Fifty nine new messages! Ya' got quite a following!"

Nabiki turns her head slowly and regards Ranma in way one regards a blissfully ignorant child.

"Nooo... see the FFML labels on almost all the messages? They're from a mailing list."

"Mailing list for wha'?"

"A mailing list for anime amateur fiction on the web."

"Jeez! Ya' already spend half the day laying around readin' those romance mangas!"

Nabiki smiles sheepishly at the martial artist.

"Yeah, well it is addictive. Especially the FFML. It's basically taken over my life... by the way Saotome, what do you think your doing in my room??"

"Oh, Akane told me to tell yo..."

The door suddenly bursts open and a fuming Akane enters.

"Nabiki!!! When're you getting off the line! All I can hear are beeps when I pick up the phone!!!"

Nabiki faces the kitchen destroyer with a cool expression on her face.

"Akane.. who pays the bills in this house?"

Akane looks at her blankly.

"I thought so... now go back downstairs and I'll disconnect when I'm good and ready."

Ranma swears inwardly that he can see steam rising out of Akane's ears and nostrils as she slams the door on her way out. He breathes a heavy sigh of relief.

"I think your the only person that can talk to her like that and walk away in one piece."

Nabiki smirks. "Of course... she might be a hot shot martial artist, but I'm her big sister and I still kick her ass when the need arises."

"Amen."

She turns back to the screen and begins typing away furiously.

"Whad'ya doin now?"

"Sending a test message."

"But wasn't that last message from a guy that got banned for sending a test message."

"Yup that's right. Sending test messages mailing list ain't allowed at all."

"Heh? Won't you get banned?"

"Hope not. But it doesn't matter, it's only a temporary ban anyway. I'm just doing this for fun. I'm trying to find a way around the mailing list rules."

Ranma looks puzzled. "How ya' gonna do that."

"Well, if I put the test message in a form of a fanfic, the moderators mgith not be able to anything about it."

"Cool."

"So while it's essentially a fanfic, it's a test message as well...anyway, I haven't sent anything to the FFML yet and this is pretty exciting for me. It's like the equivalent of having my name up in neon lights!"

Ranma, one eyebrow raised and looking at Nabiki with a strange expression, exits the room without another word.

Nabiki simply shrugs.

"Now to send this sonovabtich... (took me long enough to write it)"

<click>


end The Test.












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