Rearranging an Arrangement Part 03: Family Ties? --- This fic interrupted to bring you the following Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 belongs to R. Takahashi, and her licence holders. I do this for my own entertainment, no profit to be gained. I have pre-readers now, may God have mercy on their souls. This episode is dedicated wholly to the kind folks who've asked for more of this story. I've enjoyed writing this little bit, and hope that this episode meets with everyone's expectations. At this juncture, the timeline's divergence from the original se- ries will broaden, as it would have to! --- +++ At School +++ Kuno was outright flabbergasted. Nabiki could easily tell; she's seen him this way often enough. Of course, she could only catch him out of the corner of her eye, as she was whisked away by a tornado of students. The questions ranged from "how" to "when" and everything in between. As far as Nabiki was concerned, she had enough trouble, and the flurry of activity centered on her was enough to make her crack a smile. Still keeping her eye on Kuno, she enjoyed the moment. It wasn't everyday that she was the center of attention for anything other than a business deal. "Silly people, asking if I'm in love. I just met the guy," she thought to herself; while, she still enjoyed all the attention. The said moment came to an immediate halt. "Teacher? Yes ma'am, right away," stated Nabiki in an almost bubbly voice. The teacher of the class had instructed her that she needed to visit the office about her name change. The name change didn't bother her as much as having to leave that Kuno boy unattended; there was no telling what demented thing he might come up with. She let the thought pass as she maneu- vered around the desks towards the classroom door. She was slightly perturbed at the teacher putting on some cutesy face, but she never noticed the change in Kuno's facial expression. Nabiki stopped just in front of the commotion around her husband and sister. "Wow," she thought to herself, "I never knew a person could turn that shade of red." With a lopsided grin, she greeted her husband, "Dear, dear, dear. I just can't leave you alone for a moment, can I?" Not giving Ranma the chance to mutter whatever his re- sponse was, she informed him that he needed to escort her to the school office. Giving Akane a wink, she began to lead Ranma away. Before they could get even a foot away, the venerable verse wielding kendoist appeared. She didn't know what to expect; Kuno could normally be predicted, and she was the master at second guessing. Yet, this kind of situation could create any number of responses from Kuno. In fact, she was more concerned about her own reaction; she was a little too giddy for her own tastes at the moment, and really just wanted to get out of the public eye. Kuno, for once, caught them all by surprise. He congratulated Ranma on becom- ing a future relative of the Kuno clan! "Doesn't that just beat all," she thought while let- ting out a sigh of relief. Then, she noticed that her sister turned absolutely green. As Kuno droned on and on, Akane proceeded to look worse and worse. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to get herself and her new husband away before Akane spewed. Akane didn't spew poetry; she spewed breakfast, which was only slightly less revolting than the declarations of love she had to endure. "Urk," stated Akane flatly. Nabiki couldn't hold back; she doubled over in laughter. Then, Nabiki teased her sister, "Akane do you have to go marking family territory?" Akane's head rose up with an evil fire burning within them. Rearing back, she screamed "KUNO YOU MORON!" Kuno suddenly found himself on the express mallet through the school. "Really, Ranma you haven't lost that shirt yet," Nabiki asked while walking on ahead. "Please stop carrying it, Ranma. Just toss it; we can get another one," com- mented Nabiki further. Before the words were all out, she figured that she'd just make Kuno pay for it. Ranma threw the soiled shirt into a nearby trashcan, and turned to meet Nabiki's hand. "Uh-uh. Go to the bathroom and put on a T-shirt or something. I am not going to have you going through the halls of the school like that," Nabiki commanded. Well, he was turning enough heads, right? Ranma was about to protest; until, he was reminded about his curse. Well, there was the fact that Nabiki appeared particularly determined to have him put the silly shirt on. When he got out of the restroom, he found an extremely impatient Nabiki, who just grabbed his wrist and started dragging him to the school's office behind her. Nabiki couldn't stand it. She worked long and hard on keeping her cool, yet in less than twenty-four hours she felt like every feather she had was ruffled. "Really," she thought to herself while pushing her face into one of her hands, "I figured that Daddy would have needed to sign for a multi-generational loan to get the dojo. But, I don't need him to get the dojo in the black. I wonder, though, if that was their plan all along? Could Daddy and Mr. Saotome have planned together to get a loan to buy a dojo? Nah, there's no way. Daddy couldn't have had that much business sense. Ranma needs me, though. I have someone else to take care of, I guess. Well, I always as- sumed I would get married for financial purposes." She took a quick glance up at Ranma, and mused, "he's nice looking, and knows what being lonely is all about. I could have done worse. I could have done a lot worse." --- If the fist day of school was hectic, the office was hell. Nabiki had never, ever, seen the office secretary's eyes open that wide. That woman was acting if she had never seen a man before. Granted, her Ranma had a washboard for abs, and that T-shirt was a little too tight. Still, this was not some sort of players' club. The other woman wasn't much better; she kept giving them dirty looks--even after they explained that Ranma's other shirt was ruined. Then, there were the girls wandering in for what- ever reason. Damn-it, her husband was not a floor-show! Her next thought was simple, "My Ranma? Well, I guess so; we are married after all." Ranma couldn't really make out all of the contortions on his wife's face. What- ever it was, she needed to cool down. Simply standing there shouldn't be enough to warrant that kind of stress. "Hey Nabiki. Nabiki. Earth to spouse, is there anyone there," he asked, amused at his own wit. After being informed that his comedic efforts were best left unsaid, his wife told him that she just wasn't thinking right, and not to worry about it. Ranma didn't have a chance to worry about it; the vice-principal entered the office. "Well, isn't this interesting. First, a new student, and now a name change. Nabiki, dear, I know you procure things in a hurry, but this is a new record--even for you," teased the vice-principal. "Uhm, well. You see, it's not like that. Eh, heh, heh, it was all arranged by our parents," was the explanation that Ranma gave on Nabiki's behalf. The vice-principal smiled; he liked this. Since, Nabiki had seemed to control all of the not-so-nice activities at the school; he was happy to see that she got some sort of payback. Somehow, it just didn't seem like the payback that anyone expected. DAMN! He still enjoyed the way she had a look of utter confusion on her face when the new stu- dent, Ranma, answered for her. He bet she wasn't used to that! Anyway, there was business to attend to, "I need these filled out, and these filled out by the county clerk. Please bring copies of the marriage certificate--they must be notarized copies, by the way. Finally, take tomorrow off--it'll be an excused absence for the newlyweds." "Thank you, sir," was Nabiki's reply, as she wondered if there was going to be some sort of silly marriage party. She gathered up the paperwork, and left with Ranma. With any luck, they should be able to make it home before school was out. +++ Going Home +++ As they made their way away from the school, Ranma was splashed by a moped. Nabiki just groaned at the incident, and Ranma complained about there always being water. At this point, they decided to head home first; then, they could go take care of the missing paperwork for the school. Well, it wasn't that they decided; Nabiki decided for them both. "Ranma, we're going to take a thermos with us too. If it were me, I would have started carrying one around right after it first happened." "Oh yeah, like I haven't tried that. I'd need to carry around a water-truck to have what I need in one day." "My, aren't we a bit touchy about the curse. Besides, you don't get splashed *that* of- ten." At this point, they heard someone scream, "Lookout!" The next thing they knew, they were soaked from head to foot. "What was *that*?!!?" "Nabiki, if I didn't know better, I'd say a helicopter just water-bombed us." "I'll be. There's a fire on the other side of town. I don't believe this." "Believe it." "Gack! You don't have a bra on under that." "I'm a guy, remember. Guys don't wear bras." "Dear, you look like you're trying to win a Playboy Wet T-shirt Competition. Let's get you home." --- As they entered the house, Kasumi called out to them, "Oh, my what happened?" Kasumi just nodded at their story, amused at Nabiki's face. She sent them to change, and prepared a thermos for Ranma. After only a few moments, the couple was back down. "Here you go," she said in a voice that rivaled the sweetness of maple-syrup. Then, she watched as the two made their way out of the house. "Oh my, what a lovely couple," Kasumi said when the two were out of the house. --- The trip to the court house was fairly uneventful. Ranma only managed to get hit by one sprinkler system, two freak rain-showers, and one broken water pipe. Through- out all of this, Nabiki managed to stay bone dry. She could only wonder what Kami he had ticked off. By the time they got there, Ranma still had to go visit a restroom, as the thermos had been used up by the second rain-showers. While Ranma was changing, Nabiki came to a conclusion, "The next time I take that Saotome anywhere, I'll save the ther- mos until we arrive. Then again, who in their right mind puts a sprinkler in a rock gar- den?" +++ Time For Shopping +++ Ranma didn't know what to think. On the way back, Nabiki wanted to go to some department store. He, the powerful martial artist, was being drug around like a dress up doll. His internal complaints came to an end when he heard Nabiki say something to the sales girl, while he was trying on a pair of pajamas.. "Stop trying to peek! Arrgh, how did you get this job? No, I don't care how free our country is; now, STOP TRYING TO PEEK ON MY HUSBAND!" Ranma took this as his cue to speed up. The stupid pair of pajamas, that he was likely not to ever wear, seemed to fit. He changed back, and was almost quick enough to keep from being told to do so. "Hurry up, DEAR--before they start selling tickets." Ranma wasn't quite sure of what Nabiki meant, but was fairly certain that he wasn't fast enough. "Is this why guys don't like shopping with women," he asked of him- self as he left the changing room. Once out, that's when the conversation picked up. "Did it fit?" "Yup. I still don't know why I need this thing." "Well, I would like to get some sleep tonight." "Oh. Hey, is there sum'tin on my face?" "No, why do you ask?" "Well, those people over there are staring at me. I thought.." "Grrrr. Saotome, you mean that you DON'T know?" "Eh. Erm. Uh. No?" "Oh, nevermind." "But, what does a pair of pajamas for me have to do with you getting some sleep?" "I'll tell you later; can we just go home now?" "I thought you'd never ask." At which point, Nabiki pushed Ranma to, and then through, the checkout. This had been just about enough for one day. Either her husband liked teasing her, or he was completely oblivious to the various girls ogling him. Well, at least she didn't have to deal with a husband who spent his time chasing other women. A good thing too, she was going to be busy enough chasing off the ones trying to get his attention. +++ AS: After Store +++ The walk home was relatively peaceful, as each of the two Saotome's had their on thoughts to deal with. Ranma was still trying to figure out what the pajamas were for; since, he didn't know of any pajama-party martial arts. On the other hand, Nabiki was wondering about Ranma could just ignore all of the female attention that he was getting. All in all, it was peaceful. Upon arriving home, Ranma's peaceful trip was ended rather harshly. A large panda hand reached out from the gate, and proceeded to toss Ranma in the air. While still in the air, he heard a "growf." Battle ensued. During the fray, Ranma had missed the sign that Nabiki was currently reading, "Prepare yourself, boy. Practice time!" Dancing, ducking, punching, kicking, landing, and vaulting into the air again, Ranma could barely grunt at Nabiki when she mentioned something to the effect of, "You boys play, I have things to do, ya' know." Naturally, Ranma's grunt went unheard, as he was fighting a panda. The panda cried, "Whrah Whraaaah," and redoubled its efforts to drive Ranma into the ground below. As suddenly as the fight started, it ended. The two combatants had moved back and forth, as if dancing to a silent song; well, their silent song had a long chorus of rather loud insults. However, the battle came to its closing moments not by the means of a victory, but by the means in which one deals with a rather loud tomcat. Akane had enough of the tussle in their front yard, and screamed, "Knock it of, you BAKAS!" At which point, a table hit Ranma squarely in the head, knocking him out. Standing trium- phantly over his fallen son, the panda, Genma, raised his paw yelling, "Growf! Graaawf grrrrawf whaa grawf whaa!" Of coarse, he never saw the rather large vase heading straight towards his head. +++ Later That Afternoon +++ Akane was going to get to the bottom of her sister's strange behavior. The grill- ing was going to continue until she found out, or her room imploded. "Sister," Akane began, "I thought I knew you better than this. This boy shows up and you've been all over him. Like this morning, I thought that pervert was doing something. You of all people shouldn't be welcoming this. What's going on?" Nabiki smirked while listening to her sister. As far as Nabiki was concerned, her sister was as predictable as Kuno--if not more so. When her Akane finally gave her a chance to get a word in edgewise, she simply stated, "Whatever do you mean, dear sis- ter?" Akane dropped her jaw. Her elder sister was enjoying this, and Akane couldn't figure it out. Akane tried again, "I heard about how you reacted to the girls in the office this morning. Don't tell me you've fallen in love with that jerk this quick." "My dear little sister, what will I do with you? I don't think I've fallen in love that quickly, so calm down. Yes, I do like him, but you have to take into consideration," Nabiki tried to answer, but was cutoff. "You like him? You like him?!!? He's a walking disaster, a sex-changing pervert, a walking nightmare. I don't trust him, and you shouldn't either. Why can't you just get an annulment, so we can get those freeloaders out of this house," Akane questioned. "Watch your mouth, Akane," Nabiki answered. Giving Akane a concerned look, she continued, "Ranma is my husband, and that makes him family--MY immediate fam- ily. Please keep in mind that I take any insult to him personally; also, those vows are binding promises. You know how I am about promises, little sister." Tilting her head to the side and smiling while she put her index finger in the air, she droned on, "on top of that, he is your brother-in-law, and you should at least try to get along. Besides, I might be glad that you don't like him. The Akane-Fan-Club has enough members." Then Nabiki's face became just a little more serious, "You aren't jealous are you, or is it you have a hard time just being happy for me?" "No. No, that isn't it. I was just afraid that... That... He might do something to you," Akane said in a confused voice. "Well, if that's all--don't worry about it. From what I saw today, I'll be more likely to do something perverted than him," Nabiki giggled as she spoke. Akane just sat there. She was in utter confusion, what did her sister mean? All boys were perverted, and this boy was particularly so. He turned into a girl, and had to use that to his advantage. Nabiki decided to finish this conversation. She decided just to tell the truth, "I don't think Ranma uses his curse like that. If anything, the curse probably gives him some insight to how we, as girls, sometimes feels. I'll bet he doesn't like it when guys look at him when he's cursed, so he's probably even more reserved about any of the fun stuff." After giving her sister something to chew on for a while, she decided to leave this little sisterly meeting. As Nabiki started walking down the hall, she noticed the door to her room was open. Naturally, she wasn't going to go downstairs until she checked her room. She spied into her room to find one Ranma-chan blushing bright red. When the boy turned girl noticed her, he tried to greet her with a lot of muttering. Nabiki's first reaction was to raise her eyebrow. Ranma was in hell. He had the most difficult time explaining anything to any- body, and nine out of ten times nobody would let him finish. Yet, there she was just standing there listening. So, Ranma-chan tried his best to recall the last few minutes without putting his foot in his mouth. ::: FLASHBACK ::: "Geez Pop, why should I go apologize," Ranma asked of his father. Noting the sign, he just groaned. "Pops, she aint mad," he explained. Good grief, there was no stopping the stupid panda; he couldn't just take a hint. With that, Ranma went to the restroom to bathe, and told his father off. There was no hot water. The water was all cold. Naturally, this didn't lead to any attitude change at all. Ranma silently grumbled to himself throughout the bath about stupid pandas. As he finished up, he said "Well, I could just check on her. She did seem concerned about the ladies at the store." Leaving the bath, Ranma headed towards the room he and Nabiki shared. On his way there, Kasumi called out to him. He thanked her for letting him know that she was in Akane's room. Doing an about face, he headed towards the youngest sister's room. As he was about to knock on the door, he heard voices. Particularly, he heard Nabiki telling Akane that she liked him. He was about to get angry when Akane started speaking so ill of him. What had he ever done to her? It wasn't his fault he turned into a girl. What if she managed to convince Nabiki that he was worthless? Then, he heard Nabiki defending him against her own sister. Not knowing exactly how to react, Ranma-chan just wandered back to his room. For a while, he just sat there. He tried to think. "What to do, Saotome," he asked him- self. Putting both hands behind his head, he thought about it, "We're family now. She said she may like me. Heh, I finally have a friend that Pops won't chase off. I really need to go back to China to find a cure for this curse, but I wouldn't mind some more company when I go. I wonder; would she would like to learn the art?" Ranma was still musing about a trip to China with Nabiki and training her, when the girl in question appeared in the room. Ranma-chan could only blush. ::: END FLASHBACK ::: Doing the best he could to explain what had happened--he mindlessly toyed with his pigtail. Ranma-chan really didn't want Nabiki to be mad at him, yet he felt obliged to tell her the truth. After a few moments of explanations, Ranma finished up, "An' ya' see, I didn't mean to eves-drop. It just kinda happened." To his surprise, Nabiki just turned her head, like she was hiding a smudge on her face. Before she could turn her head all the way around, Ranma noticed some redness in her cheeks. "I wonder if she has a fever, or sumtin'," he thought. The line of thought was cut off, as she told him not to worry about it that her sister was weird. Then he heard Nabiki bring up his favorite topic, dinner. Needless to say, they were at the table in a hurry. Moving into their respective positions around the dinner table, Ranma noticed an odd sign being held up by his father, [A martial artist must learn to protect those around him]. "The hell are you talking about, old man," the boy-turned-girl asked. In response, the sign was flipped over, [You must defend your wife's plate as well]! If it was a fight the old man wanted, it was a fight he'd get. Ranma asked his father if he was ready for a fight like that, and was answered by a grunt. As fat would have it, Kasumi intervened. Dropping a large plate of bamboo on the table, Kasumi said, "Here you go, Mr. Panda!" Everyone stared at Kasumi, who just said, "What?" The room full of people were absolutely surprised at Kasumi's action. Soun then leaned over to the panda and said in a whisper, "Better eat it old friend, we wouldn't want to insult Kasumi would we?" +++ That Evening +++ "Here Ranma, put these on," Nabiki requested, while staring at the now male again Ranma. "But, why?" "Because, I can't sleep well in the floor." "Uhm, yeah. But..." "I'm not letting you sleep in the floor either, mister." Ranma was stumped. He was absolutely frazzled. His wife was standing there wearing that "I'm not taking no for an answer" look again. Yet, he didn't want her to think he was taking advantage of her. Nabiki grinned an evil grin, as she said her next piece, "Well, you could sleep na- ked, but I think I need some sleep tonight. We talked too much last night, and I'm tired." Ranma froze like an opossum in the road. MENTAL FACILITY: OVERLOAD. SHUTTING DOWN: ALL SYSTEMS. "Ranma. Yoo-hoo, Ranma!" "Uhhh." "Calm down, husband. I promise that I'll be a good Nabiki tonight." "What are you doing?!!?" "You took too long, dear. I'm going to change you myself." Ranma did not like that predatory grin that his wife was wearing. It was... It was scary. Ranma finally complied, by going to the restroom to change. He put on the bot- toms, but was not going to sleep in that top. He decided to just wear his undershirt to bed instead. Then he headed back into the room, just in time to overhear Nabiki's com- plaint, "He doesn't have to be that shy. Jeez, what a fraidy-cat." Ranma froze again. "Ca.. Ca.. Ca.. Ca.. Where is that thing," he frantically asked. Nabiki just rolled her eyes, "Dear, do we have a phobia?" Ranma's facial expres- sion answered the question for her, but she decided to wait until later to press the issue. Right now, she wanted to go to bed. "Really, there aren't any of those here. Now, can we please go to bed," questioned Nabiki. Ranma enviously slid into the bed, as Nabiki cut out the lights. When Nabiki fi- nally got back, he nearly freaked again. He didn't have any experience with women at all; let alone, knowledge of what to do with them when they snuggled up like that. Ranma stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours. Curled up to Ranma, Nabiki felt an evil twinge. "I wonder if he's ticklish," she asked of herself. Then she forced her eyes shut, "No be a good girl. What am I think- ing? I have more control than this. He may be my husband, but we still just met. I still have control, and my emotions are mine to control. I am going to go to sleep." After she finally started drifting off, she heard some childish inner-voice declare, "Yaha! Warm!" --- When sleep finally found Ranma, he zonked completely out. He never told any- one, but he actually liked sleeping next to his father (in panda form). It was just a se- cure feeling, even though he could handle any trouble that ever came up. The fact of having someone there was just reassuring. While this new situation was a little differ- ent, it still didn't feel bad in the least. Sleep came when he just accepted the extra body as warmth. Nabiki's sleep wasn't quite so peaceful. She had memories deeply buried come back for a visit. A dream, where she was teasing a five-year-old Akane about some- thing, was filling her thoughts, but one that turned in the wrong direction. A lady was walking out of the house with a little boy, and she didn't like it. The dream had her mother saying something about a long training trip, and the teasing of her little sister was forgotten. The little Nabiki was very upset; she wasn't going to see her friend for a very long time. It wasn't right, it was her friend, and friends were supposed to stay to- gether. The next scene of her dream shown how little Nabiki chased after a cab screaming, "NO! Ranma don't GO!" Waking with a start, Nabiki raised up a bit. She looked up to find her husband had literately turned purple. "What? Oh. Oops. I didn't realize that I had that kind of grip," she thought, as she let go of Ranma. Dropping her head down onto his chest; she asked, "You aren't going to leave me again, are you?" Ranma replied (while gasping for air), "I'm not going anywhere without you Nabiki. Wait, whatt'ya mean, again?" Very softly, Nabiki answered, "It was nothing; go to sleep husband." Somehow she knew that Ranma kept his promises, and drifted off into a less troublesome slumber where a little boy said, "I promise that I'll come back." -------------------- End Episode 3 -------------------- Notes: Somebody, somewhere, will want me burned at the stake for having not one--but two--sleep together scenes (the first one was in episode one) without even a hint of lemon! Although I have nothing against lemons, I don't think either character would be willing to push the envelope at this point.