Breaking news: Nabiki Tendo is not a morning person and thinks that all morning people should dry up and die already. She inherited this trait, if not the attitude, from her father. Unlike her sisters, who greeted the dawn with a smile, a disney musical number, and several birds landing in their outstretched fucking fingers.
Still, her head felt more full of mud than it usually did this morning. Also, if her sense of her body's position wasn't lying to her, she was sitting in seiza position. It wasn't like her to do that. If she fell asleep somewhere unorthodox, she didn't normally give a damn about who let her know about it, and sleeping like this was murder on your legs. Nabiki took good care of her legs. Even if she wasn't a martial artist the ability to move quickly was still a vital one, you never know when you might need it.
<i>"Oh dear, me, Akane. You should have told me you were going to bring your sister along."</i>
Ah, that was Mrs Saotome's voice, wasn't it? A soft and comforting tone that made Nabiki actually feel something: reminiscence. She missed her own mother. She was jealous of Ranma, having such a nice mother.
<i>"I'm terribly sorry Mother,"</i> that was her little sister talking now. <i>"Nabiki was about to ruin everything."</i> Yeah that sounded about right. Last she remembered little sis was all but throwing herself at that idiot she'd found herself engaged to, and while it had been about time it was pretty damned good blackmail fodder. There had been something else, but her memory was still a bit sluggish from waking up. Ah well...
...
Huh, that's weird, she couldn't stand up.
"Hrrrrungh..." Nabiki gurgled, not nearly as intelligible as she might like. Huh, that was also weird. Everything felt pleasantly numb, even the fact that everything was pleasantly numb. She couldn't worry about not being worried, although she could sort of tell that she probably should be worried about that, but she didn't worry about that either. A pleasant aroma hit her nostrils and she went "Bluggggh."
<i>”Well thankfully I managed to polish off that lovely girl so she’ll be ready to help us when we’re having lessons.”</i> Nodoka’s voice said from the blurry distance. <I>"Now, what shall we do with your big sister, to keep her out of trouble..."
"There's this annoying boy at school that's always bothering Akane and Ranma,"</i> Ukyo Kuonji said. Oh, she was here too? How nice.
<i>”Ukyo! Kuno is not husband material!”</i>
<i>"Let's see here,"</i> Mrs Saotome said, with that same sort of tone Kasumi gets when she's thinking about something. <I>"It's quite clear that Nabiki is suffering from Middle Child Syndrome. The eldest daughter is the ideal housewife. I have no doubt Kasumi will find a very manly husband. The youngest is the martial artist, and most likely to inherit the property. Especially following my training."
"Yes, mother! I shall support my darling, precious, wonderful Ranma as a dutiful wife, without shirking my martial arts duties. Just like you have been teaching me."</i> Huh, hearing that tone from Akane was kind of strange. Lovesick, is how it sounded. Or maybe entranced would be a better word?
<i>"Of course, my daughter. My point is simply this: Nabiki must feel that there is nothing special about her, and acts out to get attention. Such a shame, she is very pretty and so smart."</i> A hand lovingly stroked Nabiki's hair. It felt nice. <i>"Isn't that right, Nabiki?"</i>
"Yessssh, mothhhherrrrr," Nabiki slurred. "I act out jussssht to get attenshun, 'cuz nobody would pay attenshun to meee otherwish." Funny, she had never thought about her behavior with that sort of lens but now that Mother Nodoka had pointed it out she could see it very clearly. Much sharper than anything else in her mind.
<i>"She tried to steal Ranma from her once,"</i> Ukyo said. <i>"Stole the engagement away just to mess with the two of them."</i>
Oh yeah, Nabiki remembered that. It had been fun. Of course, after she'd had that fun, she'd tried to push Akane into making up with the dumb idiot - then learned he was after 'revenge' for her funtime. Well, she couldn't let him do something terrible to Akane by accident, what sort of big sister would she be then? Which had led to Ranma trying to hug her and say that he loved her, which really wasn't any kind of revenge at all... though if Akane had seen that it would have really hurt her feelings.
Huh. Now that her brain was a bit numb she was noticing ways in which she was a pretty good and pretty bad big sister.
Nodoka's voice spoke up again. <i>"Well, then. Perhaps Ukyo's suggestion about marrying Nabiki off isn't such a bad one. Not to this Kuno boy, though. If Akane says he is not good husband material, then I would not saddle my worst enemy with him. I have someone else in mind, but for the time being..."</i>
A bright light appeared right before Nabiki's eyes, and she focused on it instinctively. It was pretty. It was also moving slowly back and forth, while more of that sweet aroma filled her nostrils.
<i>"A very slight change to her personality will make you a most suitable wife,"</i> Nodoka said. <i>"Yes, the boy I have in mind will find you quite suitable, with only a minor tweak or two to your personality."
"I don't know, Mother,"</i> Akane said, sounding a bit more like herself. <i>"Given her attitude, it might take quite a bit of change to make her into a suitable wife for anyone."</i>
A gentle hand began to rub either side of Nabiki's temples, and if she thought her brain was numb before then it was positively sensitive up until now. The word 'focus' lost all meaning. So did 'thinking' or 'planning' or 'scheming', though she had a feeling (another word which was soon to lose its meaning too) that the meaning behind those words would return before long.
<i>"A subtle and minor change can be as profound as a large one - if you use it properly,"</i> Nodoka calmly said. <i>"She will keep her cleverness and her ruthless edge. She can even keep her greed, and that should not matter. I am simply giving her a little more focus on her future."</i>
Her future...? Yeah. Mother Saotome was right. She couldn't very well keep on 'having fun' or 'trying for attention' forever. Sooner or later her current antics would run afoul of the law. It was one thing to act up like this at her current age, but what would she do when she left education? She could hardly sell pictures of Ranma forever. Couldn't blackmail would be paramours.
Suddenly, Nabiki felt a heat in her loins. It was a cruel fact. In modern Japan, a smart woman still needed a man, purely because of societal expectations. Besides which; Hadn't she been excited when Ranma had first arrived? She'd thought he might be a worthwhile boyfriend, someone that wasn't drooling over her two other sisters. Someone she could have fun with...
<i>"But a man is also useful for companionship. Emotional and physical needs."</i>
Hot. She felt hot again. Yes. Having a worthwhile boyfriend would be nice. It would be emotionally and intellectually fulfilling for her to have a partner to share her life with. Start a family with.
"I want a man...." Nabiki heard herself say, quite clearly. Her eyes flickered all the way open, beholding her little sister and Ukyo, grinning ear to ear, while sitting in front of her putting away incense and some other weird equipment Nabiki didn't recognise, was "Mother! Please help me find a husband!"
“Of course you do, every young lady dreams of getting a husband.” Nodoka said cheerfully, “Now, I know a fine young man who I think needs to have some feminine influence in his life.”
<hr>
The life of Ryu Kumon was one filled with self-inflicted misfortune. His old man had mismanaged their family dojo, then got the help of a fellow martial artist - who taught him a technique that literally brought their house down. Honestly in hindsight his father was a bit of an idiot.
Then he learned that his goal to acquire the Umisenken was pointless anyway. The techniques were all based on thievery. You can't restart a dojo with those kind of skills. You can only use them to steal, and that wasn't what he was after.
But... there had been one bright spot in his life. When he had pretended to be Ranma Saotome, and wound up running into Ranma's mother. He had stayed with her for a while. Lived with her. Fed by her. It had been nice. Real nice.
Now here he was heading back to that home and - oh look, it's Ranma's fiance, standing by the door.
"Well well," he said. "Paying your mother in law a visit, huh? Let me guess, that threat from before still stands, right?" Akane quietly watched him, suspiciously. Yeah, running into him again at random like this probably wouldn't sit well with her. "I mean, it was funny. I got the feeling that even though it was a message from Ranma, you felt the same way. Right?"
“You’re the ‘fine young man’ Mother was talking about!?” She said in some mild disbelief.
"We've stayed in touch, pen pals sort of thing," Ryu said. Then, he looked around. No sign of the woman anywhere. "Don't worry, I've not told her anything about... You know? Though it is kinda funny reading about 'Ranko's' antics."
"Yeah, she's quite the tomboy," Akane said. Her eyes flickered to the door. "Alright, fine. Whatever. Mother knows best. Pull anything funny though and you will be flattened, by me and Ranma, and probably our fathers too."
If Ryu was honest he kind of wanted a rematch with Saotome. He'd learned a few new tricks, and that guy was the exact sort of enemy to test them out on. Whatever. He went inside, and some chick he didn't recognise let him in and led him through to the dining room, where Nodoka was sitting calmly in her kimono, drinking tea like always. That bundle with its sword laying on her lap.
"Hello Ryu," Nodoka said. "I'm glad you came."
"Yeah, well, that call sounded kinda urgent," Ryu said. Then he remembered himself and shifted his attitude a bit. It was tricky. He was a naturally rough guy due to his upbringing. "Might I ask what the issue is?" he said after thinking through his words. She gestured for him to sit down, and so he did.
"My family has done yours wrong, Ryu Kumon. It is my desire to help you set your life back on track." After Nodoka said that, Ryu shook his head, but she continued on. "By arranging a relationship with the daughter of a friend of Genma's. Akane's big sister, Nabiki."
"Thanks but I've got my hands full rebuilding the family dojo," Ryu said. "I don't have the time for -"
"So you're Ryu Kumon?" a voice said by the doorway. "I'm Nabiki Tendo."
He turned to see the source of the voice, expecting some chick in a kimono all done up for an omiai. He did not expect to see a total babe leaning cooly against the doorframe, wearing cutoff jeans and a shirt tied into a knot. It was about as far from the image he'd had as you can get without going into gyaru territory.
“If you do my sister wrong I’ll make you wish that Ranma had beaten you to death.” Akane threw in, poking her head in from outside. Ah. So they were related, he thought the attitudes looked similar.
Nabiki rolled her eyes and pushed Akane's head back outside, then walked over confidently until she was right in front of him.
"So, I hear you're rebuilding your family's dojo," Nabiki said. "That means you have land, right?" Ryu nodded, feeling oddly flustered for some reason. "Hmph. If it's enough land to run even a basic dojo, it'll be more than enough. If you could make Ranma sweat, I can have you place up and running inside a month.
Then Nabiki trailed her finger up his chest, tipped his chin up and moved her face well within his comfort zone. He felt oddly spellbound;. Girls didn't usually have this effect on him, but somehow this chick...
"This is the part where you propose, pull me into your lap and make out with me."
"H-Hey now! I don't appreciate being told what to..." Whooo, boy. Weird, he felt all giddy for some reason. "Huh? What's... Huh?"
"I'm sorry Ryu, I should have mentioned," Nodoka said. "When you were staying here, I took the liberty of hypnotising you to discover if you were truly Ranma, and what your intentions were." What? Huh? She did that? "Once I realised your intentions, and how lonely you were, I allowed you to stay. Now, please propose to Nabiki. The two of you are exactly what the other needs."
"M-Marry... me...?" Ryu sluggishly said, almost against his own will. Nodoka pushed a weird candle on the table closer to him, and this really strong smell hit his nostrils.
"Now pull her into your lap and... discuss your future plans," Nodoka said. "Akane and I shall leave you be. You too, Ukyo. It would not do to be voyeurs for the 'happy couple'."
- Nabiki gets to know Ryu better.
- Meanwhile Azusa is engaged in her first distraction mission
- It’s Ukyo’s turn to <s>try and seduce</s> get to know Ranma.
- Something else
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