Story: Akane's Gift

Well. This wasn't what she had in mind for this 'date' at all. Honestly though, Nabiki wished she could say that she was surprised. She'd been able to duck being kidnapped so far, but knowing the people that she knew it was inevitable that one day she would have to deal with exactly this kind of nonsense.

Even so, couldn't she have been taken to somewhere more comfortable and lavish? Give her a nice big bed to recline on, at least a chair. Or a cushion. Or a clean floor. Somewhere other than the overturned dumpster that she'd been tossed into. One which, she had noticed right before being tossed inside, had a piece of cardboard with the words "Mount Terror" scrawled on it in mud. Alongside a crude scary face.

"I've been kidnapped by a discount ninja girl wannabe chunni," Nabiki said to herself. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is bad. This throws a wrench into my sister's plans." Yep. That's the state of mind that she's in right now. She wasn't even worried about her own physical safety here. The only reason she did think of it at all was because Akane would be worried about her.

Not an entirely healthy attitude to take, one must admit, but there you go. The only thing keeping her happy right now was the notion that her smart, wonderful and talented little sister would come and save this foolish slave before too long.

Unfortunately 'before too long' wouldn't quite be soon enough before Nabiki's patience (even under strong mind control) would be forced to run dry. Because, you see, a ventriloquist puppet made up to look like a butler poked around into the dumpster's entrance.

"Well, well! What do we have here?" a voice very much like a faux British accent asked. "Come quickly, my young master! It is that girl you have been pining for ever since she bested you!"

"I do not pine for girls!" came the voice of Kinnosuke Kashao. Oh no. This guy again? Nabiki felt a pang of... something in her heart here. Annoyance? Attraction? A bit of both? The boy himself leaned across the entryway to the dumpster. "Oh, you mean Nabiki Tendo? Hrmph! Really now, the idea of it. That I, Kinnosuke Kashao -"

"I know who you are, you don't need to introduce yourself," Nabiki interrupted.

"-Would once again encounter Nabiki Tendo under such conditions, held prisoner by my little sister... What an astoundingly small world we live in."

Gosh, how wonderful. This was already getting on her nerves. He crawled into the dumpster, sitting a bit too close inside her personal space, giving her a look that other girls might consider 'charming' or 'appealing'. Didn't work on Nabiki. To her it came across as a way to manipulate him. Not that her standard tricks would work on this guy. The two of them were cut from annoyingly similar cloth. Which is why she had such complicated feelings about him. Feelings which, in turn, annoyed her because she didn't like having complicated feelings about anything.

"I can, of course, liberate you from this dreadful fate," Kinnosuke said. "However, it is against both of our natures to offer something for free. A rematch! The first to make the other pay even a penny must pay for the whole date! In exchange for which, win or lose, you gain your freedom from my sister."

"Better plan," Nabiki said. "I sit here, we don't do the rematch, my little sister comes along and punches you both."

"Then we would see you in a court of law," Kinnosuke retorted.

"Oh? Countersuit! For kidnapping."

"Will you two stop flirting in there?!" Kanako yelled from outside. "I'm trying to set up for the arrival of the once in a lifetime Kunoichi, who also happens to have a penis!"

"It sounds like your little sister has dating plans as well," Nabiki teased. Kinnosuke actually reacted to that. Oh my. Not so perfect armour, huh? Kanako made a frustrated grunt from outside, then reached into the dumpster to pull her brother out. No doubt to give him quite the earful.

Oh well. This might be the perfect time for her to - 

A plastic straw was hurled inside the dumpster with tremendous force, pinning Nabiki's sleeve to the back. Huh!

"I feel so welcome and safe, I wonder why I didn't want to take that rematch!" Nabiki quipped, but she might as well be shouting in the dark. Alas, there is only so much that snark can do. Oh well. At least she was quite sure her amazing, adorable, strong, mighty and talented little sister would be on her way here in no time flat to see her safe!

<hr>

This has not been a great day of it. This was supposed to be a simple plan. Nabiki distracts Konatsu with a date? Check. Ukyo gets egged? Check! Becomes her eternal slave? Big check! Then, Ukyo shacks up with Konatsu so they leave her and Ranma alone? Grinds to a screeching halt because some lunatic kidnapped Nabiki. Typical!

The worst part was that this was basically set up as the same sort of mess she and Ranma would get into all the damn time where one of them gets kidnapped and the other has to go save them. Except that Akane wasn't trying to set Nabiki up with anyone, so rescuing her was pretty far from helping out her romantic aspirations for Ukyo. Actually! She had half a mind to stomp on over there and kick some butt herself.

On the other hand, she had a realistic assessment of her ability level. Konatsu was able to fight Ranma fairly equally, if this Kanako Kashao girl could tango with Konatsu then clearly this was above her pay grade.

"I shall head out to locate Mount Terror immediately," Konatsu began, but Akane held them back for a bit.

"Hold it!" she said. "Heading off by yourself isn't a great plan, here. Kanako almost certainly has minions intended to slow us down by making us fight them all one at a time."

"You think she can afford minions?" Ukyo asked.

"No, but knowing her brother she can surely con a bunch of people into helping her out." Akane shuddered. The memory of that martial arts date disaster was still, somehow, more traumatic than almost anything else she had experienced to date. "First thing I want you to look out for is minions. People watching us and reporting back. Then find Mount Terror. It'll be more efficient this way."

"Hrmph!" Ukyo huffed. "I never get to go on adventures with you like Ranma and Shampoo."

"You're the cutesy down to earth best friend type," Akane said. "Ranma and Shampoo are martial arts weirdos who attract trouble like moths to a flame. You wanted to go on an adventure so badly? Fine, here we go. You guys ready?"

"Yeah!" both Ukyo and Konatsu fist pumped the air. That's what she likes to see.

"We're going to deal with any minions!"

"Yeah!"

"We'll find Mount Terror!"

"Yeah!"

"We'll rescue my sister!"

"Yeah!"

"Then Ukyo and Konatsu will go home and take a shower together!"

"Yeah!" Ukyo said, while Konatsu was a bit more muted and confused in their response. Alright! Time to go, let's kick some butt and remind the Kashao family why the Tendos aren't to be messed around with!