For What You Dream Of
By Kyle Emmerson
Ranma 1/2 and all of its characters and situations are the
creation and property of Rumiko Takahashi. I use these
characters and situations without permission.
Part Three: The Move
****
Nabiki tapped her chin with her finger. It was a habit she
had whenever something useful came to her that required some
thought.
"Now, class. Who can tell me the velocity of light?" the
teacher asked, looking towards the class.
"Approximately 300,000 kilometers per second," Nabiki
answered, without even thinking."
"Very good, Nabiki. Now, if c is the velocity of light,
and G is the gravitational constant, we come up with 2GM over
c squared. However, this can only be referred to the radius of
a black hole," he continued. "And if you remember our previous
lesson, M is the mass of the star, so we'd come out with a
diameter of 4GM over c squared."
Nabiki smirked. Half of the class was quite confusedly
trying to make heads or tails of what the teacher was saying,
but Nabiki wasn't. It was one of the big perks of being her.
Besides, it was their own damn fault for asking about the
possibilities of time travel. Now the teacher was explaining
pretty much every way that had been discussed, from travelling
into the future using light speed, to travelling into the past
using black holes, which was a rather hypothetical idea.
With the normal student, the information would go in
through one ear, and out the other in as little as a second.
Which is why most students kept notes.
Nabiki, on the other hand, let the information go in, but
she refused to let it out.
By all rights, Nabiki should have graduated and been in
university by now.
On a full scholarship.
It had taken a lot of work for Nabiki to avoid the
temptation to use her full potential in school.
But to do so would mean to leave. Leave the school, go to
university, and lose nearly all of her contacts.
As it was, Nabiki's contacts were far more important to
her than she would care to admit.
Either way, signing up for advanced science classes was a
wise decision. She'd take the information in, and work on her
own projects during that time.
Nabiki flipped her papers around, examining the next page
of her report. Allowing the teacher to continue his
thoughtful, yet repetitive speech on scientific theories of
using a black hole for time travel purposes and using a marble
in a bowl as a rather silly example of the gravitational
constant, she hummed thoughtfully.
The papers she held before her was the information she had
asked for the night she had come home to find her sister
injured.
Taini Kisamoto. Seventeen years old, attends Saint
Hebereke. No instances of delinquency within the school. Five
foot six, 175 pounds. Father works for an American Nutrition
company, spends a lot of time overseas. Mother is a housewife.
Grandfather served in the war against the states.
Nabiki smirked. The gun she had was probably an antique.
Nabiki snorted. She knew her type. Deep down, she wants to
be mean, but on the surface, she acts like a goody two shoes.
Akiko Tosaka. Seventeen, attends Saint Hebereke. Two minor
incidents of hooky, and found smoking within the school
grounds. Has a permit for working part-time.
She skimmed through the others. Nothing of big interest
with the other five.
However, there was one that she had no solid information
on. Only rumours.
Mere rumours.
Nabiki narrowed her eyes. Oryuu. That was the only name
she got. No family name, no past.
Other than rumours of past instances, and connections. She
was said to have been kidnapped two years back in a
neighboring ward by a gang called the Red Wolves.
Nabiki snorted. Red Hyenas, Red Wolves. Isn't that ironic?
However there was one bit of information she had yet to
look up. It was her only lead.
Madoka Ayukawa.
Putting her papers down on the desk in front of her, she
planned her next course of action. Find Ayukawa, and get as
much out of her as she'd spill.
Nabiki furrowed her brow in thought. This may require some
background information on Ayukawa. She began to jot down a few
notes on the paper in front of her.
****
Ranma yawned.
Of course, that was nothing new to him. It was the middle
of class, and Ms. Hinako was trying her damned best to explain
how to properly conjugate verbs.
Of course, she was too busy trying to figure out how to do
it HERSELF.
Being a child teacher had its limitations. As a child, she
had childlike drives. She had childlike attitudes. But most of
al, she had a childlike attention span.
So, often while she was in the middle of conjugating
verbs, she'd be distracted by the most trivial things.
"Ooh, what's THAT?" she asked, eyes wide.
This time, it was the object that Ranma had taken into
class.
Akane yawned as well. While the rest of the class was
having a grand old time chatting, Akane was one of the only
ones actually wanting to learn. She had several weeks of
school to catch up on.
Why Ranma didn't do the same, she had no idea. But it
annoyed her nonetheless.
Ranma casually regarded the half of the small wooden sword
that Hinako was obsessing over, and then leaned further back
in his seat. Normally, he would have been sleeping, but now he
was too deep in thought.
Several thoughts ran through Ranma's head. One thought of
disbelief that the whole thing with Kuno was over. One thought
that Kuno might be up to something. Another thought that maybe
he had finally figured it out. And another thought that Ranma
would have to find a new daily exercise.
Either way, it was a bit of a relief.
He briefly glanced back towards his two friends, both of
whom were deeply involved in a conversation about God knew
what. Further back, Gosunkugi was writing notes into some
notebook.
Over a couple of rows, Sayuri and Yuka were chatting up a
storm. Probably about the incident with Kuno that morning.
Then he looked over at Akane. Her bruises were healing
quite nicely. Very nicely, in fact. If all went well, he'd be
able to start training her by the end of the weekend.
He briefly looked up at the date. It was Friday, which
meant that things were going to change when he got home.
Change a lot.
He and Akane had spent most of the night packing up their
things. In fact, right now his Pop and Mr. Tendo were probably
moving Akane's furniture as he sat in the chair.
Ranma sighed. His own room.
His very own bedroom.
He had slept in the room before, but it had been
different. He had been far too distraught at the time to even
consider the ramifications.
Of course, it had only been for a few nights.
But now, he considered it.
He considered it again. If the place wasn't damaged again,
he'd be able to customize it. Something he'd never been able
to do when he lived with the Tendos.
Or anywhere else, for that matter.
Ranma smiled as he leaned his head further back. He had
some money. Maybe he and Akane could make a day out tomorrow
and do some shopping.
Ranma paused.
Had he just suggested to himself that he take Akane along
with him?
He looked over at her for a moment. Smiling, he realized
where the thought had come from.
He had been acting differently towards her. At first, he
hadn't noticed it. But once he noticed Akane acting nicely
towards him, he realized he had been contributing as well.
"Hey, Akane," he whispered as Hinako brought her
attentions elsewhere.
Akane looked over at him. "What?" she whispered back.
"Listen, I wanna do some stuff tomorrow," he replied.
"Wanna come along?"
Akane blinked in surprise. Ranma was actually inviting her
along?
"What is it?"
Ranma sighed. "Just some shopping. I thought we could use
some time out, and I wanna get a few things."
Akane smiled. "Sure," she answered.
"Happo Five-yen Satsu!" they both heard from behind them.
Ranma spun around in time to see Hinako's adult form fill
out, and let his jaw drop as he saw Daisuke hit his desk
face-first.
"Next time," Hinako said demurely as she picked something
up from his desk. "share the wealth."
Akane let her jaw drop as Hinako popped a mint candy into
her mouth.
****
"Uhh, Tendo?" Genma asked as he set down his end of
Akane's study desk in the front yard of the Dojo.
"Yes, Saotome?" Soun replied as he wiped the sweat from
his brow.
"Just a little forethought," he said. "But how exactly are
we going to get this to my house?"
Soun paused for a moment. "I thought you had that sorted
out, Saotome."
Genma's jaw dropped. "I thought YOU did!"
"Father," Kasumi called from inside the house. "Auntie
Nodoka just called! She said the truck is on it's way!"
Soun blinked. "Well," he said. "I guess that takes care of
that."
"She also said you can thank her later for thinking
ahead," she called out again.
Genma shook his head sadly.
"Well, Saotome," Soun began. "Shall we get the rest of the
furniture?"
Genma nodded, and began to walk back towards the house.
One of the strangest things about Genma was his way of
life. He loved martial arts. It was nearly everything to him.
But physical labour just sucked. He would rather sit in a
puddle of water and play with a rubber tire than do anything
like that.
Yet the constant fear of being at the pointy end of an
extremely sharp object kept him working.
There were only a few more things to grab from Akane's
room. The several boxes she had packed. The dresser with the
vanity mirror. The bookshelf, her mattresses and bed frame.
Other than that, he was perfectly fine.
"So, Tendo," Genma said as he dragged the box spring
mattress down the stairs. "What do you plan to do with the
spare rooms now?"
"Well," Soun said. "I've been talking with my sister."
"Tanako? It's been years since I've seen her. How is she,
anyway?"
"She married a few years before I did," Soun replied.
"Just after we split our ways, in fact. To a fellow named
Morisato."
"Really? It's a shame. She was such a--"
"She's got two kids. One is in college, and the other is
graduating this year."
"Two kids, eh?"
Soun nodded. "I was thinking about letting one of the
rooms out to my niece, Megumi."
"Ahh, so that will maintain the state of things, eh?"
Soun smiled. "Somewhat."
Their conversation continued as the two of them continued
to move Akane's things from her room. It only lulled when the
truck had arrived. Mostly because the driver was a fat, lazy,
smelly man who swore every second word.
But that didn't stop them from talking about how things
were going to change.
****
"All right, people. Here's the deal," Nabiki said, laying
the map on the table in front of her. "We know absolutely
nothing of this Oryuu person yet. However, we do have a lead.
I want you guys to be on the lookout for someone called Madoka
Ayukawa. I want to know EVERYTHING about her. Her likes. Her
dislikes. Her sexual orientation. I want to know what she has
for breakfast. I want to know if she even HAS breakfast. And I
want this information by tomorrow. As usual, you'll receive
the regular payment upon arrival of the information."
There was a series of nods and affirmations from around
her as she began to mark down places on the map. She often
used the teacher's desk at the end of class to plan her
strategies. The teacher didn't mind, mostly because if he HAD
minded, Nabiki could easily pull some strings and make his
life a living hell.
She pointed to several points on the map, all around the
neighboring wards.
"I want you to concentrate your searches here," she said.
"This would be the mostly likely of places that information on
Ayukawa would be, but remember your main mission. Oryuu. Find
out anything you can about her, but don't go straight to
Ayukawa. I want to handle her."
Another series of nods came from around her.
"All right," she said, folding up the map. "I've got
things to do today, so I want this information by tomorrow
morning."
Yet another series of affirmation.
"All right. I'll see you all next time."
****
"Don't you ever worry about falling?" Akane asked.
Ranma smirked as he walked casually along the top of the
fence. "Not really," he replied. "It's almost like a second
nature. It really doesn't make a difference to me."
"But you can't tell me you haven't fallen before."
"When I started out I did. Hell, all the time. But I never
practiced on chain link fences. Usually traffic barricades and
stone walls. The most I ever got when I fell off was a
sprained ankle."
"What about when you started on chain link?"
Ranma smiled. "A couple times. But never because I lost my
balance. Only when I never noticed that the bar was weakened,
or in some cases, when the horizontal bars were disconnected
from the vertical bars."
Akane nodded. She had noticed Ranma jump over entire
sections of fence from time to time.
"But it's excellent advanced balance practice," he said.
"But I don't think you're ready for this quite yet."
Akane furrowed her brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Hey, nothing. It's just that you need to focus more on
balance first," he replied.
"What's wrong with my balance?"
Ranma smiled. "Look, your form is good. You have a good
mastery of jumping, but I've noticed several times where all
it would have taken was a light punch and I could have knocked
you on to your ass."
Akane looked up at him.
"Look," he continued. "You've trained under your dad, and
you've learned some good stuff from him. But I'm going to take
you up by several levels. When you get up to my level, balance
is EVERYTHING."
Akane just blinked. "When do you think...?"
"Probably by Sunday. Maybe even tomorrow, if we're lucky.
How are your ribs doing?"
Akane blushed. "They're fine. It's just a little bruised."
Ranma nodded. "Look," he said, nearing the entrance to the
Dojo. "They've already got the truck."
****
Genma yawned a bit as he waited by the lawn. It was nearly
time for the kids to get home, then they could load up the
truck and be on their way.
Soun, however, furrowed his brow in annoyance as the
driver lit a cigarette, smoked it down to the filter, then
flicked it on to his lawn.
"Pardon me," Soun asked. "Must you do that?"
The driver simply shrugged.
Soun shook his head. "Whatever. Look, why don't you make
yourself useful and help us load the truck?"
The driver stifled a laugh. "Yeah, right. Look here,
numbnuts. I only drive the truck. I don't do the physical
labour. I'm 5000 yen an hour, so I really don't CARE how long
it takes."
Soun furrowed his brow again. "Fine, we'll do it. Just set
up the ramp, would you?"
The driver laughed again. "Ramp? This ain't no limousine
service."
"Don't need a ramp," Ranma said, walking into the yard.
The driver looked over towards the kid and smirked. "Hell,
even with the three of you, it'll take you at least another
fifteen minutes. I'll have another 5000 yen by then."
Ranma smiled. "Well then. Let's start loading, shall we?"
"You guys load it up," Akane said, walking towards the
entrance. "I'll be down in a minute. I just need to get
something."
Ranma nodded, then winked towards his father and Mr.
Tendo.
"Go start the truck," Ranma said. "We'll load it up."
The driver laughed. "Sure," he said. "Gas costs extra."
It only took a moment for the three of them to leap into
action. Ranma hefted Akane's study desk up with one hand, and
hooked the bookshelf with his other as he hopped into the truck
and placed it down. His father followed quickly with Akane's
dresser, while Soun came in with the vanity mirror and the bed
frame. Ranma hopped back out and grabbed the two remaining
pieces of furniture, while the last of the items were hefted
in by Genma and Soun.
It was then that Akane had returned with a single item in
her hands.
The wooden duck, etched with the five letters in her name.
"Okay," Ranma said, smiling as he pulled the door to the
truck shut. "Let's get moving!"
He ran up to the drivers side and looked up at him.
"You know kid," he said, sucking back on a cigarette. "I'd
hurry, or else you'll be owing me for the rest of your life."
"We're done," Ranma replied.
The driver looked at him for a moment. "Bull."
Ranma shrugged and walked over to the passenger side.
"Whether you believe me or not doesn't matter."
The driver opened his door and looked back towards the
yard. Indeed, it was empty. How they had done it, he didn't
know. But they had.
Great, there goes plan A. Now there was only one option.
Plan B. Getting lost.
"All right, kid," he said. "I'll meet you there."
"No, me and Akane will ride with you," he replied, helping
Akane into the cab. "We wouldn't want you to get lost or
anything, would we?"
The driver sighed. Suddenly, he figured he wouldn't be
making as much as he had hoped with this job.
He put the truck into drive, and started on his way.
****
"Kasumi," Soun called. "We're going to head over to the
Saotome house. Make sure you bring Nabiki along when she gets
back!"
"Okay, father!" Kasumi called from inside the house.
"So Tendo," Genma began, beginning the walk to his new
home. "Can I trust you'll be coming over to have our daily
games of Shogi?"
Soun nodded. "Of course, old friend. I've still got to win
the championship title from you."
Genma laughed. "You'll never win that from me!"
"Well, I stand a chance if we can stop cheating."
Genma paused and blinked. "That's easier said than done,
Tendo."
"How true, Saotome."
The two men laughed their way all the way to the new
house.
****
"Kasumi," Nabiki called. "I'm home!"
"Oh, Nabiki," Kasumi replied from the kitchen. "Are you
ready to leave for Auntie Nodoka's?"
"Yeah," she answered. "Just let me change and get a few
things from my room." Nabiki walked up the stairs and into her
room. Taking the contents from her schoolbag and placing it
into her desk, she reached into her closet and picked out her
usual ensemble.
Finally changing into it, she reached down into her desk
and picked a few select pieces of paper.
"I hope you appreciate what I'm doing, Saotome," she
muttered to herself as she folded the papers out and put them
into her pocket.
With a slight smirk, she left her room, gathered Kasumi
and left for her Aunt's house.
****
"All right," the driver said, tallying up his expenses.
"That's 5000 yen, plus gas. That comes to 6500 yen."
Nodoka nodded. "One hour of work, and 1500 for gasoline.
Sounds reasonable."
"Oh, and the speediness charge."
"Pardon?"
"Well, I did get here pretty fast, right? And I was
carrying passengers."
Nodoka furrowed her brow. "I believe the only reason you
got here that fast was because my son loaded and unloaded the
truck."
"Look, lady," the driver said, pulling a cigarette from
his pocket and lighting it. "I turned down a perfectly good
job that would have paid twice as much as this. The way I see
it, you owe me a pretty big tip." He placed his hand on her
shoulder. "Understood?"
Nodoka put a calm look on her face. "Very well," she said.
"Here are your expenses." She handed 6500 yen in bills to the
driver. "And your tip..."
She began to unwrap the bundle she held in her arms. The
driver was barely paying attention as he sucked back on his
cigarette.
Once it was unwrapped, the driver got a good look at what
she was holding. He got an EXTREMELY close look after she
swiped it by his face, cutting the cigarette in half.
"What do you think?" she asked. "Sharp enough?"
The driver blinked.
He blinked again.
"Come to think of it," he said. "I've got more money left
over than I thought. This should be fine."
He then excused himself, hopped in his truck and sped off,
leaving Ranma and Akane in the yard laughing.
"That was pretty good, mom."
Nodoka smiled. "You pick up a few things living on your
own for such a long time."
Akane merely smiled. "But you've got to admit, Auntie.
That was pretty funny."
Nodoka smiled back. "Yes, it was, wasn't it? Anyway,
Akane. Let's go upstairs and pick out your room, shall we?"
Akane nodded and followed Nodoka into the house, leaving
Ranma out in the yard with Akane's things.
****
"Here?" Ranma asked, beginning to set Akane's study desk
down.
"No," Akane replied. "Over there, by the window."
Ranma scoffed. "You mean you want the furniture to remain
the same way as it did in your old room?"
Akane nodded. "I liked it that way."
Ranma just shrugged. "Who am I to judge?" he said, and set
the desk down where Akane wanted it.
"You want me to set up the bed frame for you?" Ranma
asked. "I think mom has a screwdriver around here somewhere."
Akane smiled. "That'd be good."
Ranma nodded, then quickly ran down the stairs and grabbed
the dismantled pieces of the bed frame, then ran back
upstairs, grabbing a screwdriver along the way.
It took him a total of thirty seconds to set it up.
Akane stared in shock as Ranma went back down the stairs
and grabbed the box spring and mattress, placing them both
down on the frame.
"Ranma?" Akane asked as Ranma disappeared down the hallway
again.
"Yeah?" he replied as he came back in with Akane's
bookshelf.
"It's not a foot race, you know. You can take your time."
Ranma paused. "Oh... uhh.. yeah, I just thought you'd like
it done quickly... you know, so you can settle in quicker."
Akane smiled. "It's all right, Ranma."
Ranma set down Akane's bookshelf. "Well," he said.
"There's still the dresser and vanity downstairs. And a whole
bunch of boxes. I could go grab them right now and you can
unpack them."
Akane smiled. "Your dad will be here soon with my dad. Let
them do the rest. You should relax, Ranma."
Ranma sighed. "Well, it's just... well. today's such a big
day and all."
Akane nodded. "I know."
"Hey," he began. "You uh... wanna go see my room?"
Akane looked up at him and nodded.
The two of them walked out into the hallway. Ranma's room
was just opposite Akane's. Across the hall. It was roughly the
same size, only holding a small dresser and rather plain
looking bed.
Ranma sat down on it.
"Boy," he said. "I'll never get used to how soft these
things are."
Akane blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Well," he replied. "Think about it. All my life, I've
slept on the ground, or on bedrolls. Having an actual mattress
is a big difference for me."
"You'll get used to it," she laughed, then looked towards
his window.
"That's gonna be a problem," he said. "The roof is right
out there. It's gonna make it even easier for unwanted
intruders."
Akane nodded. The roof was just outside her window as
well.
"But on the bright side, it makes it easier for me to get
out."
Akane nodded. She knew quite well of Ranma's nightly visit
to the roof.
"So," she said, changing the subject. "We're doing some
shopping tomorrow?"
Ranma nodded. "Yeah. I know it seems kinda girly, but I
never really had a room of my own. There's some stuff I wanna
get for it, and I've got some money saved up that I can spend
on buying stuff."
Akane nodded. "I think I want to buy a few things too."
Ranma smiled. "Listen, Akane," he began, his voice
involuntarily cracking. "I... uhh..."
Akane looked over at him. "Yes?"
"Look, don't get the wrong idea or nothing," he said.
"But... uhh.. tomorrow, when we're all done shopping... Do you
want to... uhh... go see a movie or something?"
Akane blinked in surprise. Did Ranma just ask her out on a
date?
"I... ummm..." Akane said. "Well..."
Ranma looked towards the ground. "I'd understand if you
don't wanna go," he said. "Not a problem."
"No, Ranma. I'd love to go."
Ranma looked up at her, a somewhat excited look on his
face. "No foolin'?"
Akane nodded, a smiled stretched across her lips.
****
"Well, Saotome," Soun said, setting the vanity down in one
corner of the room. "That just about does it, wouldn't you
say?"
Genma nodded, placing a few boxes beside Akane's bed. "I
would say so, Tendo."
Soun smiled. "Now, let's say I take that title from you?"
"In your dreams, Tendo," Genma laughed, exiting the room
and heading down the stairs.
Ranma and Akane stood at the door, looking in.
"I told you they'd finish it," Akane said.
Ranma shrugged. "I coulda done it."
"Anyway," Akane said. "I'm going to change, and do some
unpacking."
Ranma nodded. "Sure thing. I'll be downstairs," he said,
and then left the room.
****
"Hello?" Nabiki called. "We're heeeeere!"
"Oh, Nabiki," Nodoka called from the kitchen. "Is Kasumi
with you?"
"Yes, Auntie!" Kasumi called. "I'm right here."
"Good. I'm preparing the food right now. You two can sit
down anywhere you'd like."
Kasumi blinked. "Auntie? Wouldn't you like some help?"
"That's all right, Kasumi, dear. You've done enough for my
family, so now I'll do something for yours. Sit down and
relax!"
Kasumi blinked for a second, and then went over to sit
down next to Nabiki.
"What's the matter, sis?" Nabiki asked, picking up the
remote control and flipping through the channels.
"Well," Kasumi began. "I'm just not used to... well..."
"Relaxing?"
Kasumi nodded.
"I wouldn't worry about it, sis. Just sit down and watch
some TV."
Kasumi shifted her position uncomfortably and tried her
best to watch TV. Unfortunately, it was easier said than done.
For years, cooking and cleaning had been what kept her
fairly happy. It was her stress relief. It was her way of
life.
She rarely sat down and 'relaxed', because cleaning was
her relaxation.
Sitting down watching TV is what stressed Kasumi out. It
was what made her go stir crazy. She was ALWAYS cleaning.
She absently wiped the wooden arm of the couch she sat on
to check for dust.
None there.
She looked towards the TV. Nothing there.
She looked out into the back yard. Ranma was out there
practicing a kata. The garden was remarkably well tended. How
Auntie had the time for that, she had no idea.
She looked towards the floor. Spotless.
Kasumi stood up and began to look around. There had to be
a mess SOMEWHERE.
"Where ya going?" Nabiki asked, half paying attention to
the show on TV.
"I'm going to take a look around," Kasumi smiled. "I'll
see if Akane is busy."
****
Ranma looked around the yard. It was fairly large. Large
enough for him to practice a kata, with room to spare for
sparring.
Ranma spun around and took the area in. Thankfully, it was
lacking a koi pond, which was a relief to Ranma. No more
inadvertent changes. At least from the koi pond.
He began to do some minor flips and tumbles as he decided
on the best place in the yard to start training Akane. There
was a small rock garden near the middle of the yard, a fair
sized tree off to the side, near the house. Each location
would be suitable for different parts of Akane's training.
Ranma smiled. This would be fun.
****
"Akane?" Kasumi asked, knocking on the door.
Akane finished changing into her blouse as she walked over
and opened the door. She smiled at her sister.
"Hi Kasumi," she said.
"Well, this looks just like your old room," Kasumi said,
smiling.
Akane nodded. "That's kinda why I chose it."
Kasumi smiled. "How are things so far?"
"Great," Akane smiled. "Since we got here, everything has
been perfect."
Kasumi smiled. "I take it you don't mean just the room."
Akane blushed. "Well, not JUST the room."
"Ahhh," Kasumi smiled. "Anything you'd like to share?"
"Well," she continued. "Maybe... Ranma asked me out to a
movie tomorrow night."
"Akane!" Kasumi exclaimed. "That's great!"
Akane just smiled.
"Now, let's figure out what you're going to wear!"
****
"Hey, Saotome," Nabiki called from the back entrance of
the Saotome home.
"What is it, Nabiki?" Ranma asked, his tone a little sour.
Nabiki understood. He was still a little pissed off about
the wedding. A problem she herself had contributed to.
"Chill, Saotome. I've come to make amends."
Ranma looked over at her. "What do you mean?"
Nabiki pulled a few papers out of her pocket. "I know you
promised my sis you wouldn't do anything to that gang, but..."
Ranma eyed the papers. "But?"
"Well, *I* didn't promise anything," she said, smiling.
"Here's a freebie. I should have more information by
tomorrow." She handed the papers to Ranma.
Ranma flipped through the papers. School records.
Profiles. Photographs. Addresses.
"Nabiki?" he asked. "Is this...?"
Seven of the so-called 'Red Hyenas'. I'm still looking for
more information on Oryuu, and I thought you might like those.
Ranma flipped through the papers some more.
"I can't do anything about this, Nabiki," he said,
dropping the papers to his side. "I promised Akane."
"Ah, but Saotome. You promised Akane you wouldn't beat them
up. Who said anything about staking them out for yourself?
With this information, it'd be quite easy for a certain girl
martial artist to infiltrate the gang, wouldn't you say?"
Ranma blinked. "So what's in it for you?"
"Nothing but satisfaction," she replied. "Oh, and the odd
report on them here and there."
Ranma nodded. It was tempting. Extremely tempting. He did
promise Akane he wouldn't beat them up for her.
What could it hurt for him to infiltrate the gang?
Ranma smirked and bent over to pick up the papers. "Fine,"
he said. "What do you suggest?"
Nabiki smiled. "Simple, Saotome. Just listen to what I
have to say..."
****
The night went by without much of a hitch. Kasumi had
eaten her first dinner that she herself hadn't made in several
years. Nabiki was busily jotting down several notes and
passing them to Ranma secretly. Akane and the others were
blissfully unaware of the goings on, however.
All in all, they had enjoyed a well made dinner. Genma and
Soun went back to playing Shogi and Kasumi helped Nodoka with
the dishes. Nabiki and Akane sat in the TV room while Ranma
disappeared to the roof.
And then, it was time for the families to part.
Akane gave her sisters and father a hug, telling them
she'd give them a call the next day, and promising Kasumi a
full report on the date. Nabiki eyed her suspiciously for a
moment, then decided she'd get the information from Kasumi
later on.
Her father left with tears of bliss staining his eyes as
the night grew older. Finally, Akane was by herself.
She soon found her way out to the roof, and sat down next
to Ranma.
"They're gone," Akane said.
Ranma looked up at her. "Sorry," he apologized. "I shoulda
went down to say bye."
"It's okay," she replied. "You can see them again soon."
Ranma smiled.
"What's the matter?"
Ranma shook his head. "Nothin'," he replied. "I was just
thinking about things."
"Like what?"
"Well, things are different now. Not just the geography,
but the way I live now. I sleep in a bed. I've got my own
room. It's just.. different."
Akane smiled. "You'll get used to it."
Ranma sighed looked towards the edge of the roof as Akane
sat next to him, smiling.
****
"When do you think they'll notice?" Genma asked.
Nodoka smiled. "I hope they never do, dear."
"Bring back memories, doesn't it?"
"Memories of what, dear? As I recall, you were the one
chasing after me. We never sat together like that during our
courting."
Genma blinked. "We... didn't?"
Nodoka looked towards her husband and furrowed her brow.
"Genma," she began. "Is there something you'd like to tell
me?"
Genma yawned and turned towards the bed. "Boy, I'm tired,"
he said, hopping on to it.
Nodoka glared at her husband for a few more seconds before
looking back out the window. Smiling, she shut the blinds and
climbed into bed.
****
-------------------------
| The TydRipper | "Tyd, you need a smaller
| | .sig. :-)"
| Master of the Tides, | - Gary Kleppe, FFiRC
| Devourer of noodles, |
| Writer of the Fanfic, |
| Baka to the end... |
-------------------------
Questions? Comments? Flames? Email Me.
~ The TydRipper
http://www.ryo-oh-ki.net/tydi-oh-ki
kyle_emmerson@geocities.com