[Ranma][Crossover][Spam] Valentine's Day

E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters involved in this story,
detailed disclaimer to follow.
.rm 76"
     Nabiki feels the contraction peak.  She thinks about how ridiculous
she looks, panting like a dog.  The other lesson they'd drilled into her
head, was to keep her mind off the process.  She smiles, that wouldn't be
hard.

     She knew she shouldn't have accepted the invitation to the Culture
Day SPECIAL PARTY!!! at the Kuno mansion.  Still, she had thought one day
off, from the stress of the brokerage house and studying for her MBA,
wouldn't hurt.

     The peak of another contraction gives lie to that thought, it hurts,
it hurts a lot, and not just physical pain.

     Kodachi had announced she had a bottle of Nanniichuan water,
salvaged from the Japanese Nanniichuan, and she was offering it as her
dowry to `Ranma-sama`.  Before Nabiki could get to his side, to counsel
him to be careful, the honor-bound idiot had announced he'd _never_ marry
her, no matter the bribe or  threat.  Kodachi vowed to destroy the bottle
and its contents, immediately.
     The other cursed men charged her, to recover the bottle.  Nabiki had
watched the battle become general.  Somewhere along the line, the bottle
was utterly destroyed in the mayhem.  Blame was squarely, and instantly,
placed on Ranma, and neither Ranma, nor the building had escaped the
general carnage intact.
     When Nabiki awoke in the hospital, covered with bruises and minor
injuries, she put them all down to the building falling on her.  She
admitted she was out of practice dodging the growing carnage and the
general insanity, but she didn't expect Shampoo, Ukyo, and Kodachi to
suffer similarly.  Akane had, once again, escaped completely unscathed,
beyond a ruined party dress.
     Nabiki missed her period that month, but she put it down to healing
from her injuries, and the stress at the brokerage house and from her
scholastic endeavors.  She also learned that Ranma had left the hospital
two weeks after she had, and he'd been unconscious the entire time.  So
when she missed her second period in a row, after she had her degree, and
was well settled into her analyst job at the brokerage, she got
concerned.
     Even with her suspicions, the doctor's diagnosis shocked her to the
core.
     She'd returned home with the news.  Once again, Ranma received the
blame, despite the _fact_ he had been unconscious the entire time it
would have been possible to do the deed.  Ukyo and Shampoo had also left
the area, for much the same reasons.  Kodachi had disappeared, it wasn't
hard to imagine that she was likewise in a family way.  Akane hadn't had
any such problems, which led to another beating of Ranma that he'd, 'Done
that to everyone _except_ his fiance.'
     His denials had only intensified the violence.  Nabiki knew of all
the locals, he was the only one who _couldn't_ have done it, but no one
was listening, not to him, not to her.  When her father had immediately
insisted Ranma marry Nabiki, she'd known it was time to run.

     "You're doing fine," the doctor tells her as she pushes and pants.

     Yes she was: a good job, with a good salary and people who talked
and thought, instead of beating each other senseless.  There was even a
really cute foreigner, he was, in effect, employed to manage his rich
family's financial affairs in Japan.  The two of them competed for the
greatest profits at the brokerage, for once Nabiki didn't mind losing
occasionally, since it meant an evening of dinner and dancing.  And even
without his family's money, he was cute, and rich.  When they'd each gone
home to discuss their marriage plans, the suggestion horrified both
families, and ironically, both forbad their child to marry outside their
race.  Additionally, both would be kicked out of their families, if they
went ahead with their plans.  So they kept dating, which was acceptably
scandalous, and amassing a fortune of their own.
     He'd been as shaken by the revelation as she was, they both knew it
couldn't be his.  She was glad that he'd agreed to accompany her when she
went to confront and question the other `honorable` martial artists of
Nerima.
     Happosai had actually come looking for them, to offer any help she
might need, since the tests had revealed the child was a girl.  Nabiki
was beginning to show slightly, and the Master hadn't even tried to grope
her.  Nabiki wasn't eager to accept the Master's word, but she'd never
seen him assail a pregnant woman, or a prepubescent girl.  Ironically,
this attitude, and his shock and fury at the circumstances of her
condition, crossed this most likely candidate off her list.
     Ryoga denied his involvement categorically, but that didn't mean
anything.  Konatsu disappeared with Ukyo.  Shampoo had returned to China
with Cologne and Mousse, carrying `Ranma's` child meant she must return
home, regaining some of her honor.  It saddened Nabiki that despite the
trappings of women in control, all Shampoo was to the other Amazons, was
a baby factory for the good of the tribe, not an independent person. 
Tatewaki had gone into a series of poetic denials, the fact that his
sister was also a victim, tended to rule him out, but not completely. 
Especially if there was more than one perpetrator.  Kuno's father could
not be located.  Neither Ukyo nor Konatsu had returned to Nerima, Nabiki
wondered where they could have run off to.
     However, that hadn't been the darkest part of the first meeting,
with any of her family, in two months.  Genma again blamed Ranma for not
defending helpless women, and further commented on the general weakness
and inferiority of women.  Although, he would probably claim, he was only
reminding them all of the sacred duties of a martial artist.  Genma
sidetracked Akane's protest, by grudgingly admitting, that she was a
martial artist too.  Kasumi and Soun piling on had been worse.  The two
of them agreed that Nabiki would have to return `home` during the last
months of her pregnancy, and remain after the baby was born.  For her to
continue working was unthinkable, she'd have to be a full-time,
stay-at-home mother.  The lamentations from her father and Genma, that
the child wasn't a boy whom they could train in the martial arts, really
hurt.  It was bad enough that the mother, his daughter, was too weak to
be of any real value, so was her child.  Her daughter.
     The message of the trip was clear, none of the `honorable` martial
artists would admit one of their own had done this.  And as a weak and
defenseless woman, she was expected to crawl back into the arms of her
family, and give up all her `silly` dreams about being a businesswoman.
     First, she wasn't going to bring a newborn, or any young child, into
a house that still came under attack on a biweekly, or more, basis.
     Second, the brokerage house already was rearranging things, to let
her do most of her reduced workload at home.  They didn't want to lose a
valuable employee, and she loved making money, for herself and for other
people.
     Third, whoever did this, lived in Nerima, and was being protected by
the rest of them.  Although they'd deny it with their dying breath.
     The trip also had one good effect.  Her friend quit trying to
convince her to discover who the father's identity.  'Nabiki, the
sugarplum fairies didn't come by, and sprinkle you with pixie dust to get
you in this condition.  Someone did it _to_ you.'  Once they were on
their way back to Tokyo, he'd admitted that if those were the candidates,
it wasn't a good idea, better they weren't involved.  She'd told him she
wasn't sure if she wanted her family involved, if the cost for their help
meant dragging her back to that madhouse, and never letting her - or her
child - escape again.

     "I see the head," the doctor tells her, "You're almost done. 
Everything is going well."  She doesn't tell her, That's what you told me
30 minutes ago.

     During the emotional roller coaster that followed returning to Tokyo
after going home, she almost lost the few friends she had.  The night she
learned Kodachi had been forced by her family to abort the child, she
fell into a pit of screaming despair, her mind filled with wild
imaginings.  She actually convinced herself Akane had done this to all
her rivals.  How?  Nanniichuan water, all the other fiances out of
commission, the boys fighting elsewhere, the conclusion was irrational,
but the doctor assured her, pregnancy sometimes does that.  She was glad
the speculations hadn't left the walls of her apartment.
     Ukyo's offer to remain with her father's family for the last few
weeks of the pregnancy and for a time after the child was born, was a
welcome one.  Nabiki thought the other girl felt as lost and lonely as
she did.  Having some company helped, helped both of them.
     Nabiki thought it was even better that Ukyo delivered two weeks
before she did.  A blood test confirmed Ukyo's little girl couldn't have
been Ranma's, Genma's, Konatsu's, or Akane's for that matter.  It didn't
rule out Ryoga, Kuno, or Tsubasa however.  The last frightened the
okonomiyaki chef, who was utterly distraught by the method of the
pregnancy, far more than Nabiki was.  Another strong woman reduced, that
hurt Nabiki in ways she could never adequately describe.  She never felt
she'd been assaulted, maybe she was in denial.  Maybe the events were so
separated in my life, she rationalized one night, That I never made the
connection between them: one I was completely unaware of, and the other
came as the concerns of work and school dropped off so dramatically.  She
knew it was a thin defense, but it was what she believed.
     Nabiki vowed at that time, that she would raise her daughter to be
strong, relying on herself, but not cutting herself off from other
_reliable_ people.  The _real_ value of `honor`, the difference between
those who talked about it, versus the honor of living up to your
responsibilities.  The knowledge that intellect in a fight is often more
important than brute strength, but there are times when nothing beats raw
firepower.  And most important, taking risks to get the best rewards, and
no matter what, never give up.  'You can live anywhere, live through
anything, if you're strong enough,' she'd tell her daughter.

     "Miss Tendo, would you like to hold your daughter?" the doctor holds
in her arms, the most beautiful thing Nabiki had ever seen.  Nabiki isn't
just tired, she's EXHAUSTED.  She has never worked so hard, at anything,
in her life.  But at the same time, if the doctor walked away with her
child, she'd probably run after her.
     Nabiki nods.  The doctor settles the baby girl in her arms.  The
black hair is plastered on the little one's head and her face makes an
expression like a dyspeptic Winston Churchill.  It didn't make her any
less beautiful, Nabiki thought, It didn't make her any less _mine_._
     "Have you picked out a name?" a nurse or an official with a
clipboard asks her.  She hadn't, Nabiki Tendo, always organized and in
control, didn't have a name for her own daughter.
     "From pixie dust, huh?" she mused ironically, "A fey child. 
Somebody's special valentine."
     The man writes, "Faye Valentine it is."


Disclaimer:
Cowboy Bebop belongs to Sunrise, Bones, and Bandai Visual, Yatate Hajime,
Watanabe Shinichirou, Minami Masahiko
Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Fuji TV and Kitty Film, and Viz
Comics/Video




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