Howdy!

The recent discussions of Nabiki and my portrayal of her made me dredge up
an old fic that I started and never finished.  I offer it now in case
someone else wants to finish it.  It's *almost* a stand-alone fic; you can
see a beginning, a middle, and an ending.  But it's less than I had imagined
at first.

My apologies to Greg Sandborn for stealing the style of his title.  Read his
stories if you want to see a *good* portrayal of Nabiki.

-Richard



"Nabiki?"

Nabiki looked up and glared at the man in the doorway.  He, in turn, shrunk
back a little.  She tsked in disgust; he knew better than to disturb her in
here.  "What?" she said impatiently.

"C-could you come out here for a second?"

Nabiki sighed expressively.  She wiped her hands on her apron and strode
towards him.  He turned and practically fled.

Kasumi and Akane were already sitting at the dining table.  Nabiki plopped
down beside them.  "Hurry up, Dad.  I'm busy."

Father sat down slowly, his shoulders slightly hunched.  "W-well�"  He
licked his lips.

Nabiki shook her head.  "Spit it *out*, for God's sake!"

"Leave him alone, older sister."

Nabiki turned her head to glare at Akane.  Akane glared right back, although
Nabiki could detect a hint of nervousness in her.  Good; Akane was still
under her control.  But perhaps not for long.  She was becoming more and
more rebellious.  It was that martial arts training she was always doing,
Nabiki decided.  She'd have to force her to cut back on it.

Nabiki slowly raised an eyebrow, and was satisfied when Akane's nervousness
grew a little.  It was enough for now; Nabiki really was busy.  She had to
finish washing the dinner dishes, and then go sweep out the dojo in
preparation for the evening classes Father had to teach.  She looked up at
Father, goading him with her eyes.

He laughed nervously.  "It's� uh, my old friend� um, Genma� he's coming.
Soon."

"Oh, *great*."  Nabiki shook her head.  "Why didn't you tell me before?  Now
I have to go and make tea for him in addition to the thousand other things I
have to do.  You could have given me a little advanced notice."

"There's� something else."  Father was wringing his hands.  "He's bringing�
his son."

Nabiki rolled her eyes.  "Oh, *that's* important.  Well, now I'll have to
bring in another cup for the tea.  Thanks, Dad, for clearing that up."

"Um�"  The fear on Father's face increased.  "There's a little more to it
than that.  You see� me and Genma� we decided� before you were born, we
swore that� that� he's only got one son, you see, and I've got three
daughters, and� well�"

"You're saying," Kasumi said softly.  "That you've engaged one of us to your
friend's son?"

"Don't be stupid, older sister,"  Nabiki growled.  Kasumi cringed and looked
hastily away.

Nabiki looked back at Father, waiting for him to finish.  Seeing the
expression on his face caused her jaw to drop.  "You didn't."

"It� we needed to� protect� th-the School� to make sure-"

Nabiki slapped the table.  "Of all the stupid, anachronistic, selfish things
to do!  How *dare* you engage one of us without our consent!"

Father flushed.

Nabiki stood and towered over him.  "Did Mother know?"  She overrode him
before he could answer.  "Of course she didn't, she would never have allowed
it.  So you waited until the absolute last minute to tell *us*, hoping we'd
be unable to stop it?"  She sniffed.  "No way, Dad.  This is *not* going to
happen.  Tell your friend to find some other gullible family to marry his
son off to.  I won't have it happen here."

"Nabiki!"  Akane stood up, her fist clenched at her side.  "That's not your
decision to make!  It's Dad's.  You can't make it for him."

"The hell I can't.  Who's going to stop me?"  Nabiki gestured contemptuously
at Father.  "Him?"

"Nabiki."  Kasumi's voice was full of fear.  Fear, and the tiniest hint of
reprimand.  "He's our father.  You have to respect him."

"*Respect* him?"  Nabiki laughed.

"Stop that!"  Akane clenched her jaw.  "I don't like it much either, but
it's his prerogative as head of the family-"

Nabiki choked off her laughter.  "Head of the family?  Who do you think
*runs* this family?  Him?  I have to practically beat him over the head with
a mallet just to get him to teach every day.  If it weren't for me, this
whole family would have gone to hell in a handbasket long ago!"

Akane shook her head.  "I don't know about that.  Believe it or not, we can
take care of ourselves."

Nabiki snorted.  "Don't make me laugh.  Again.  Anyway, this engagement
thing is just *not* going to happen."

"Why are you acting like this?"  Father was crying - he was *always* crying,
Nabiki thought in disgust - but his voice was surprisingly firm.  "Why are
you against doing this?"

"Why?!"  Nabiki felt veins bulging on her neck.  "Why?!  I'LL TELL YOU WHY!"

She pointed at the shrine sitting against one wall.  "When Mother was dying,
she called me in and asked if I would look over the family for her.  I know
she asked me because you, Dad, were an emotional wreck who would never stop
being a crybaby for as long as you lived, and Akane was too young, and
Kasumi was air-headed and spineless.  So I did it, I took over for Mother
even though I didn't want to.  I've cooked and cleaned and worked and slaved
for this family for years and it was NOT WHAT I WANTED!"

Nabiki trembled on the verge of a total loss of control.  "Now you're
telling me that there's a chance that I'm going to be engaged to some boy I
don't even know.  Now I've got to be his whore on top of everything else.
Well, I got news for you, oh Father mine.  It ain't gonna happen.  Not now,
not ever."

Someone grabbed her shoulder.  She was spun, and slapped across the face
quite hard.  She gaped, more shocked than hurt.  Akane scowled at her, then
turned towards Father.  "I'll do it.  I'll marry him, Father.  *I* know what
it means to you and the family."

Nabiki finally found a voice.  "Akane, you are going to very much regret
that you did that to me."

Akane whirled back to face her.  "Somebody had to!  I'm tired of you
tyrannizing us!  I don't care if you like it or not, Dad's the head of the
family, not you!"

Again, a soft voice floated from near by.  "Akane's right, Nabiki.  But that
doesn't mean we don't like you.  You've done a lot for us, and we all
appreciate it."

Nabiki couldn't believe all of this betrayal.  She turned and towered over
Kasumi, convinced she could intimidate her.  "Appreciate it!  And *this* is
how you show it?"

Kasumi flinched, but then looked up from where she was sitting.  "You're so
angry all the time, and it makes us all sad to see.  We want you to be
happy, Nabiki, and we want to show you the respect you deserve.  But we
can't do that if you're yelling at us all the time."

"Why do you think I'm always yelling!"  Nabiki growled.  "You all fight me
and make things so hard on me, and *that's* how you show your appreciation,
and *that's* why I'm so angry all the time!"

"Older sister."  Nabiki felt Akane's hand on her shoulder again, but this
time it was gentle, an attempt to be reassuring.  "I know how hard it was on
you to do what Mother asked of you.  I heard you crying, sometimes, late at
night when you think I'm asleep.  But I also know that you honor Mother
every day when you cook dinner for us, or any of the other things we do.  If
you didn't love Mother so much, you wouldn't still be doing this.  And...
well, I know that I love you for that, too."

Nabiki held her head high.  "I haven't cried in years."

"I know."  Father's voice was full of pain.  "You want to be strong for us.
But being strong sometimes means letting go, too."

"Nabiki."  Kasumi stood up and took her hands.  "We love you, and we know
you love us because of how hard you work for us.  But you also have your own
things you need to be doing.  Let me help.  I can do some of the housework,
too."

"Don't be stupid."  Nabiki meant her voice to be mean and sarcastic, but it
came out more tremulous than she intended.  "You've got your job."

"And you have school, plus you're going to have to start studying for the
college exams eventually."  Kasumi squeezed her hands.  "Why don't you teach
me how to cook.  It looks like fun.  And I can clean the dishes afterwards,
and it won't be too much of a bother."

"And we can get Genma and his son to help out, too," Father said, cautious
hope in his voice.

Nabiki glared at him again.  "You mean they're coming to *live* here?  And I
suppose elves will come and leave gold under the rug to help pay for the
food they'll eat!"

To her surprise, Akane laughed.  She looked over at Akane, and then crooked
a smile.  She squeezed Kasumi's hands briefly, then disengaged herself.
"All right, enough you two.  And Dad, you can get Akane engaged, but no one
gets married until everyone is at *least* out of high school.  How old is
this guy, anyway?"

"His name is Ranma."  Father frowned briefly.  "I think he's Akane's age."

"You don't know?"

Father shrugged.  "We never met."

Nabiki bit off another tirade.  "If Ranma is hideously ugly, the engagement
is off."

"Why don't you let me decide that?"  Akane smiled as she spoke.

Nabiki threw up her hands.  "It's your life, just don't expect me to kiss
your babies."

The doorbell rang.  "That's them!"  Father sprang up and ran out the
doorway.

Nabiki sighed, took a step forward, then turned to face her sisters.  They
looked back at her, and they shared a moment of silence together that made
Nabiki feel good in a way she hadn't in years.

Then there was an incoherent shout from the front door.  Nabiki turned to
see Father come crashing down the hallway.  Nabiki looked beyond him, and
her eyes grew wide.

A moment later, a young woman was set down on the ground by a panda.  She
poked her fingers together.  "I'm Saotome Ranma.  Sorry about this."

"Good, Daddy.  Very good."  Nabiki sniffed, then turned to Akane.  "You deal
with your new fiancee.  Make her clean up after the panda if it's not
housebroken."  She grabbed Kasumi lightly by the wrist.  "C'mon, you can
start your kitchen training by learning how to scrub a wok."

She couldn't help smiling, though, as she led Kasumi down the hallway.
Things were definitely going to be different, starting today.  And that, she
decided, was going to be very much for the better.

~*~

Author's Notes:  Okay, *this* you can call "bizarre".  ^_^

<shrug>  This didn't come out nearly as well as I'd hoped - too much
yelling, not enough humor.  I *meant* this to be more of a jokefic, but it
turned angsty very quickly, which is why I decided to cut it off.  I had
other scenes in mind:  Nabiki lets her moods be known by her cooking, that
is, initially the Tendo's food is quite good - Nabiki is an excellent cook -
but Ranma and Genma's food, while looking identical, tastes horrible.
Nabiki was also going to force Tatewaki into an early realization of who the
pig-tailed girl was, and was also going to have a long talk with Ryoga which
involved discussions of a cleaver and a wok.  Basically, Nabiki was going to
help Ranma and Akane solve their problems almost as soon as they came up,
and Ranma and Akane were going to have a more normal relationship, in part
because Akane *asked* for the engagement instead of being forced into it.  I
was going to end this story at the end of the second volume of the manga.
Remember that?  Where Ranma and Akane almost kissed of their own free will?
My story was going to end *with* a kiss, and Nabiki watching from the side,
feeling quite good about keeping her mother's promise.

If anyone wants to finish this, by all means.  I just couldn't find the
humor I wanted - my muse always leads me down more serious paths.  :)

-Richard