[soundtrack for this one: Can't Help Falling In Love, by Ingrid Michaelson]

Nabiki clung to Ranma's neck and kissed him until she was exhausted. It didn't take long, she had already been at the limit of her endurance by the time he had come to talk to her. She finally stopped kissing him and let herself slump against him as she buried her face in his neck. She probably could have gone to sleep right there in his arms as he held her in the middle of a hedge maze in the park.
She wanted to stay in Ranma's arms for the rest of the day. Well, longer than that actually, but she didn't live in a dream world. Even in her blissful state, she knew that. Ranma hadn't said anything since she had kissed him. She wanted to ask him a lot of things, but right now she was fine with the comfortable silence between them. She didn't think she could summon her voice reliably at the moment anyway. Her breathing was coming in ragged gulps as she tried to calm herself down. Her eyes and throat ached from the crying, and her heart was still beating very fast. She could feel Ranma's heart beating in his chest as he held her. Ranma's heart ... she would need to address that soon. She was well aware of the fact that he hadn't made her any promises, and that he had told her sister that he'd, "think about it," regarding getting back together with her. But all of that could wait. Right now, she was just enjoying the moment.
She felt better now than she had in a long time. The last time she could remember feeling so happy was the last birthday she had spent with mom, before she passed away. Of course, it wasn't that she was never happy ... but not like this ... never like this. She tilted her head up to look at Ranma and found him looking down at her as well. He smiled when he caught her eye. She smiled back. A real smile, not a theatric smile, not a smile that was part of a mask, just a smile. It was nice to be able to do that.
She knew that he could stand there all day and hold her. She had seen him lift things weighing far more than she would ever weigh, and swing them around as weapons. If he could do that, he could certainly stand still and hold her off the ground. But she knew that asking him to do that would be treating him like a toy, and she was determined not to treat him like anything but a person. She would have to have a very different relationship with him, now.
She made eye contact with him, then looked briefly down, then back up to him. That was all it took. He gently set her down on the ground right away. Say what one would about Ranma's social skills, his ability to read other people's intentions was in some ways better than even her ability to do so. He was still holding her tightly pressed up against him. But, to be fair, she had her arms wrapped around him as well.
She didn't want the moment to end, because she knew that everything was about to get painful, and complicated, and in many ways ... ugly, after the moment passed. There was no way that it couldn't. Her mind was already puzzling out ways to resolve some of the issues. She couldn't just snap her fingers and solve his problems, because many of them were because of things he had said or done, or refused to say or do. But, she could help him where she could.
Of course, she needed to find out what it was he wanted before she got too ahead of herself. And then there was Akane ... she did not want Akane to be hurt. There had to be some way out of this that didn't end in heartbreak for her sister.
She took a deep breath and summoned the willpower to loosen her hold on him, then did so. He immediately moved with her motions and loosened his hold on her as well. He was very good at reading her. She was sure it was because of all of his training on reading his opponent in battle. She smiled at that thought. She had done everything she could to fight him finding out about how she really felt. So, in a way, it had been a battle.
She finally looked up at him as he continued to hold her and asked him the obvious question. "So, Ranma ... what do we do now?" She asked in a very shaky voice.
He looked down at her and said in a small, one might even say scared voice, "I ... was kinda hopin' you would know that."
She considered that. She couldn't really blame him, but she wasn't going to make his decisions for him. She stepped back and looked into his eyes as she slid her hands from around him to slide down his arms and end with her holding his hands. "Let's talk." She said with a small smile.
He nodded hesitantly and followed her as she began walking out of the hedge maze. She had let go with her left hand so she was only holding on to him with her right hand. She led him to where she had ditched her bike, and she reluctantly picked it up off the ground as she let go of his hand. Once she had it righted, she used her left hand to push it along next to her while she held onto his hand again with her right.
Oddly, he seemed to be retreating into himself the closer they got to the exit for the hedge maze. By the time they had left it, he was walking somewhat hunched over, and his hand was loose in hers. That puzzled her. He had been like a different person in the hedge maze. She led him a short distance over to a small pond she liked to come to sometimes. It had lots of trees around it, and lots of bushes and large rocks scattered around. There were all kinds of secluded little areas to sit and relax, read a book, watch the water or study. It was also a fairly common date location, but not in the middle of the afternoon.
As soon as they entered the more secluded area, his body language changed. He stood up taller, his grip firmed up on her hand, and his movements became more fluid and less jerky. She wondered if he was aware he was doing it. She led him to one of her favorite spots by the pond. It had a large tree in front of a huge moss-covered boulder which was surrounded by tall bushes. The only clear view into the area was from the pond itself. She liked to think of it as her little pond-grotto. Ranma gave the water a suspicious glance, but otherwise followed her without complaint. With his little problem, she couldn't say she blamed him for his hydrophobia.
She left her bike leaning against the tree and sat down on the mossy grass. Ranma just stood and looked down at her with a confused look on his face. She sighed and pointed to the ground across from her. He nodded and quickly moved over to it and sat down with an expectant look on his face. She wasn't sure what he was expecting, but she wanted some answers from him at the moment.
She scooted closer to him and held her hand out for him to hold. He did so quickly. She blushed a bit at how eager he seemed to be. He seemed to be expecting her to take the lead. She was more or less fine with that for now, but later they would have to talk about that. She started off with a simple question she already knew the answer to, so she could test how he would respond to her.
"When I was talking to Kasumi last night, did you overhear me?"
He nodded his head slowly while maintaining eye contact with her.
"And when you asked me on a date for today, was it for revenge for what you heard me say?"
He nodded again and his eyes narrowed a bit, but he didn't break eye contact, or take his hand back.
"Are you still mad at me?" She asked, a little bit scared of the answer.
His gaze softened and he shook his head gently.
"Okay, Saotome, I am going to need you to actually speak, please." She said with a small smile. She knew it was easier for him to deal with these kinds of things as passively as possible, but she could only take so much head waggling.
She decided to press him for an answer to a question that she didn't already know the answer to. She licked her lips then asked him the next question in a voice she was proud didn't shake. "Why didn't you take Akane back when she asked you to?"
Ranma's eyes widened and she could feel him tense up as she held on to his hand, he looked into her eyes and stayed silent for a few moments before he finally said, "I ... I don't know."
She just looked at him and said nothing, encouraging him to elaborate. He finally did so after close to a minute of silence. "I ... I honestly don't know why I did what I did. I was so mad at you that all I really wanted to do today was try to pay you back. But ... when that didn't work, and I grabbed Akane instead of you ... I kept thinkin' that I just wanted to win the fight, you know?"
She went cold inside. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? Her eyes started to water as she let him talk, hoping he wasn't about to say something terrible.
"I wasn't even really focusing on Akane when I talked to her. I was thinkin' about ... you."
She kept her eyes on him, but her smile was slipping. He was scaring her.
He smiled at her then and said, "I realized then after Akane had talked to me, that I cared more about my little fight with you, than I cared about all of the fights I have ever had with Akane. There's something about you, Nabiki."
She relaxed a little at that, but not much. "So ... you think it is more fun to ... fight with me?" She asked.
He nodded his head enthusiastically as an answer. When he saw her unamused expression and raised eyebrows, he hurried to explain. "N-not because I like fightin' you, just to fight you. I-It's ... I don't know, it's just that you're challengin', you know?"
She softened her glare at that, but continued to gaze at him with a displeased face. When he didn't add anything more, she prompted him. "So ... is that what this is, then? Are you still just trying to win?"
He didn't respond for a moment, and he let his hand go limp in hers. Fear began to creep in around the edges of her happiness. He was going to say that he won, and then jump up and go home and laugh with Akane about it.
Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. OhGodOhGodOh—
Ranma's face morphed from shock, to panic and then to outrage in under a second. He pulled his hand away, and looked down at the ground for a few heartbeats, then he looked back up at her and said in an unusually strong voice, "I would never do that. It's one thing when both of us are playing a game and trying to trick each other. It's another thing to mess around with someone like that and use their real feelin's against them. I'd never do that!"
Oh ... thank God! She thought to herself in relief as she did her best to keep her nervousness off her face. She would have to analyze his behavior on the subject later, but now wasn't the time. She held her hand back out to him, and he nervously reached out and took it again.
She took a deep breath and stared at the ground again as she finally summoned the courage to ask the question she was most worried about. "Well then, how do you really feel about me?" She could feel him tense up through his hand when she asked. Not a good sign.
When she looked back up after a moment, she found him looking down at the ground as she had been, and red from embarrassment. It was so odd to her that he had almost immediately reverted back to his usual behavior around girls. She decided to be patient and not push him. Inside her, though, a growing sense of dread was deadening the joy she had been feeling. What have I gotten myself into? She thought with a bit of frustration.
He finally looked up at her, smiled shakily and said, "I like you, Nabiki."
Well, it was a start. She smiled softly at him and pushed for more information. "All right, and what do you want? Does you liking me mean anything? Or is that it?" She asked softly. She would rather find it out now, and deal with two broken hearts in one day, than let him string her along and end up as yet another one of his suitors. She wouldn't do that. She couldn't do that.
"I ... I don't know ... what you mean ..." He seemed to try to answer as best he could.
She figured she could rephrase it and make it simpler for him. "Are you ready to make a choice? Can you tell the rest of them that you have chosen someone else?"
"I .... I ...." he stammered.
"I thought so." She said sadly, as she took her hand back and let it fall limp into her lap.
He looked up at her in alarm. "What'd I do wrong?" He asked in a very small voice.
She sighed did her best to hold back the tears that were threatening to break loose. "Nothing. You didn't do anything wrong. It's my fault for letting myself get so emotional. I knew the situation you were involved with, and I chose to let myself get pulled into it anyway."
He replied in a whisper so small, that she couldn't even hear him. So, she simply widened her eyes and turned her head a little bit so her ear was facing him more directly. Again he displayed his remarkable ability to read people and leaned towards her ear to whisper to her. "What should I do?" He sat back and looked at her with hope in his eyes.
She stared at him with wide eyes for a moment before she replied. "I ... I don't ... Ranma ... I can't make this decision for you." She said in her own whisper. "Besides, I am not a disinterested third party, I couldn't possibly give you impartial advice." She added with a small smile.
"I ... it's just ... Pop taught me a lot of things, you know?"
She nodded with a confused looked on her face, she didn't see where he was going with this.
"Pop ... taught me the Art. I'm only as good as I am, because of his trainin'. He can be scum, and he can be a coward, and some of the stuff he taught me was junk or just stupid, but his trainin' was good, and he taught me other stuff too..." He trailed off as he looked up at her and met her eyes. She nodded for him to continue. She had an idea where he was going with it now, but wanted to hear him say it. He continued after a short pause. "One of the things he taught me is something I believe in too ... I ... it just isn't right ... to ... make girls cry." He finished lamely.
Well, that hadn't been exactly what she had been expecting him to say, but it was more or less what she had suspected he was going to say.
"I cried today, because of you." She said softly. He jerked upright into a nervous sitting position and nodded that he knew. She could tell he felt guilty. "But it wasn't because you did or didn't do anything. It was all because of me. Does that change anything for you." She added after a moment.
He shook his head softly.
"Ranma ... people cry. Girls probably more than boys, but even boys cry too. I saw how upset you were when Akane got super strong that one time eating the old pervert's noodles, and how easily she could beat you after that." She said gently.
He stiffened at that. She knew that because of his dad's nonsense, that implying that he had been crying or that he had any weakness or was not masculine in any way, was a pretty big insult to him. She wondered how he reconciled that with the fact that he changed into an attractive female at least ten to thirty percent of any given day, sometimes as much as all day, depending on what he was up to.
After he hadn't said anything for a while, she tried to bring them back on topic. "If you choose someone, and the rest of the girls cry and then move on with their lives, would that really be so bad?"
He hesitated for a long while as he stared at the ground, then shook his head softly in a motion that was barely perceptible.
She swallowed hard and asked the question she had been dreading. "If you could pick who you wanted, ignoring promises your dad made, and anyone else's ideas of what you should and shouldn't be doing, could you think of maybe one person you could pick over everyone else?"
He nodded very slowly once, as he looked up at her with fear on his face. Raw, naked, fear. He was terrified of this. She wondered why. Was it just because he didn't want to hurt people? Was it because admitting that he preferred one over the other would in a way be losing the romantic, battle — for lack of a better term — with the rest of them?
She decided to push a little harder and see if she could get him to face some of his fears. "Do you have feelings for Shampoo?"
He shook his head emphatically no. Good, of all of them, Shampoo was the one she liked the least, and Shampoo was the only one she was afraid of. She was glad he didn't have any feelings for the Amazon girl, because she didn't know any way to handle her other than shutting her out, and possibly taking much stronger measures.
"Do you have feelings for Kodachi?"
He shook his head vehemently no. No surprise there.
"Do you have feelings for Ukyo?"
He paused at that one and looked into her eyes and nodded a very small yes. She had been expecting that, so she had a follow-up question.
"If your dad hadn't engaged you to her and then run off and caused her the trouble he had caused, would you ever have thought of her as anything more than a friend? Would you even have known she was female, or gone looking for her?"
He looked at her sadly, then looked all around them, and she could tell he was also straining his hearing to try to figure out if anyone was watching them. Finally he looked back at her and shook his head in a motion that almost wasn't there. She smiled at that. One down.
She had to ask about the last girl now, the one she already knew he had feelings for. She felt that she needed to ask him anyway though. "Do you have feelings for Akane?"
His eyes widened in shock and embarrassment, and he looked at the ground for a long time before he looked back up and nodded. It hadn't hurt as much as she thought it was going to hurt, but she still wasn't happy to see him confirm that he had feelings for her sister.
Finally, with a deep breath, she summoned her courage and locked eyes with him. "And do you have feelings for me?" She whispered.
He was much faster in answering her and nodded his head immediately, then looked down again.
"Okay, so, just like I have told Kuno-baby on numerous occasions, I am going to tell you ... you can't keep everyone you have feelings for. You only get to keep one. You're going to have to choose."
He nodded miserably that he knew. She could see by the expression on his face that he was fighting back tears, probably from frustration. Wow, he really struggles with this, doesn't he? I wonder how much of it is just an ego thing? She thought as she considered what to say next.
However, something occurred to her just then, and she couldn't not ask the question that sprang to mind, mostly because of the reaction she knew it would produce. "Ranma ... " she asked gently, "... you ... you don't have feelings for Kasumi, do you?"
He actually choked at that one and started coughing. He gulped down air and had to steady his breathing for a moment before he replied. "What?! No! Why would you even ask that?" He whispered in shock.
She smiled and replied in her teasing voice. "Well, I mean, listen, lots of boys like the motherly type, and Kasumi is gorgeous." She said with a grin.
He frowned at her. He clearly didn't like her joking about such things. Well ... tough, if he was going to be with her, he was going to have to get used to her sense of humor. She stuck her tongue out at him and continued. "All right, so, it sounds to me like you just have a decision to make between two people. A decision I can't make for you."
He sighed and nodded. She felt the need to spell out for him that she was different than the rest of the girls. "And, Ranma, I am not like the rest of them, I will not wait around forever for you to make up your mind."
He looked up at her with a slight panic at that.
She stared hard back at him, and he nodded his head after a moment. "But I'll tell you what, why don't we make a deal?" She added.
He looked up immediately at that with an earnest expression of hope on his face. The poor boy really had no poker face at all. She sat back and hugged her knees to her chest and looked at him for a moment before she continued.
"Here is the deal I am willing to make with you... I will give you one week to make up your mind. In that time, I will be happy to tell people we are still engaged, or you can tell them you switched back to Akane, or you can say you aren't engaged to anyone, up to you. During that time, I think you should date Akane, and me. I would not tell Akane that is what you are doing, if you know what is good for you. Forget the engagement stuff. Figure out who it is you have the best time with, the most fun, and most importantly, who feels the best when they are with you. I don't mean physical stuff, either. I mean, I want you to use that fancy Martial Arts training of yours to listen to yourself when you are on these dates, and I want you to be honest with yourself. Forget about duty and honor and promises your dad made on your behalf. And forget about what you think everyone else wants from you. That stuff is important too, but you cannot give everyone what they want from you. So, you need to first figure out who you are going to choose before you can take care of the needs of the one you do pick. Figure out who you are happiest with, and who makes the best partner for you, and then tell her. After that, you need to tell the other girls too. If you want to tell them beforehand, I don't care. But you can't wait any longer than the end of the week to tell everyone your decision."
Ranma just stared at her, mouth agape and breathing very shallowly. She was afraid he might start to hyperventilate. She waited him out with a hard look on her face. She needed him to know she was serious. Even though she now knew he could see through her theatrics.
Finally, he calmed down enough from the panic she had caused in him, and managed to ask a question. "That is ... a lot of stuff ... " he trailed off as he seemed to struggle for words to express himself.
So she helped him. "Don't you want to know what you get out of the deal?" She asked gently. He nodded his head eagerly.
She rolled her eyes and sighed as she replied. "In exchange for what I am asking of you, I will promise you three things. First, I promise that I will help you end things with the rest of the girls as best I can to try to help you avoid hurting them, and also to help avoid violence. Second, I will promise that I will be truthful with you during that time period — I will not trick you, lie to you, or deceive you in any way. Finally, I will promise that I will not interfere with anything you do with Akane, or the rest of the girls for that matter."
He stared at her with somewhat suspicious eyes. "That's ... very nice of you... very ... unusual." He said in a slow voice. She could tell he was trying to figure out what her angle was.
She supposed she deserved that. It still hurt, though. She sighed and tried to explain. "Yes, I know. In the past, I have lied to you. I have tricked you, and I have manipulated you. I am sorry about a lot of it ... but not all of it. Some of it was just done for fun, and you have to admit, some of those times were damn funny." She said with a grin that he did not return. She was going to have to work on that sense of humor.
"Is this for real?" He asked in a small voice. "Why are you doing this? Why do you trust me to keep my end of the deal?" He asked curiously.
She looked at him sadly and hugged her knees even tighter to her. "I trust you because above all else, the one thing I have never seen you do, is betray anyone, especially Akane. I have seen you take the fall for her time and time again. I have seen you risk your life for her, and then do it again after your reward was a smack to the head. I have seen you keep every single one of the promises you made to her, and go to extreme lengths to do it. Sure, you will do anything to win a fight, including lying to and tricking your opponents. That's kind of expected, really. I mean, the name of the style is Anything Goes Martial Arts, right? But, with Akane, and even Ukyo and Shampoo, when you make them promises, or even when a promise is made to them for you, I see you keep them. Over and over and over again. You like to pretend that you don't care. But when Akane needs you, you're there. When Ukyo needs you, again you show up. And even when Shampoo has taken a break from trying to trick or bully you into going back to China with her, when she has asked for your help, you've done your best to help. You're a very honest and caring person, Ranma. In a lot of ways, those are traits that are going to get you eaten alive in this world. But ... they are also traits that a girl can depend on in a relationship." She said as sincerely as she knew how to as she looked him in the eyes to show that she meant it.
When she was done, she looked down in embarrassment. She hadn't meant for that to all come spilling out like that, but she hadn't been able to stop saying it once she had started. She felt very vulnerable right now. I really hate that. She thought in frustration.
After a few moments of thought, Ranma said a few words that could very well change her life. "Deal. I promise."
She was both very happy to hear him say that, and scared to death. She put on a brave face and stared at him for a moment before she replied. "And I promise too."
He nodded happily to her, and they just looked at each other for a while. They both knew that they didn't have anything much left to talk about, and they should get going. But neither one of them was quite ready to leave yet. After a few more minutes of comfortable silence passed, they finally stood up to leave.
She turned around and brushed the grass off her bottom and straightened her dress after she stood up. A moment later, she felt his hand on her shoulder. She looked over her shoulder and found him standing there awkwardly, but looking at her with intense purpose. She cocked her head to the side quizzically, asking the question without speaking.
He stammered and looked at the ground briefly before he looked up and whispered to her. "Can ... can we, you know ... like we did before? Before we have to ... go home?"
She smiled at him. She had been absolutely correct when she had considered what getting involved with him would mean a few days ago after he had saved her from the fall from the balcony. She was going to have to teach him some things and be patient with him.  Not ... that she had really all that much more experience than he did to draw from. Sure, she had a lot more social experience than he did. But, the only dates she'd been on had been when she had let Kuno and a few other guys from her year, take her out, and that had been purely business — as far as she was concerned anyway. She also knew plenty of the guys in her class lusted after her, of course. But for the most part, she had never really bothered with any of that, except as a way to get gullible guys to occasionally buy her things or just flat-out give her money.  She had never been ... in a serious relationship before.
Still, she obviously had more self confidence than he did in this area of life. And, even if she didn't, she could always fake it. That was one of the things she was good at, never letting anyone know what she truly did or didn't know. Of course ... Ranma could apparently read through her masks, so she would just have to be honest with him. She smiled at that thought. It was nice having someone she could be honest with.
In answer to his question, she spun around and walked forward, and slipped between his arms to hug him. He immediately relaxed into her, and pulled her in tightly. The dragon inside her was stirring. She didn't know if it was from desire or just pride that he wanted to kiss her. It was nice just letting him hold her for a while. Nobody really ever held her, except Kasumi, and that was only when she was miserable. This ... was different. This was ... real, and scary, and wonderful and dangerous all at the same time.
She could tell he was getting impatient, but if anything that just made it more fun for her. He kept flexing his arms to pick her up, and she kept dropping her body weight just enough to signal that she didn't want him to pick her up. He held her tighter after a while, and she squeezed him back. He ran his fingers through her hair. It felt wonderful. He was really very gentle when he wanted to be. He put his hand on the small of her back as he kept the other at the nape of her neck buried in her hair and tried to lean her back. After teasing him for a moment and pushing back, she let him. She could see his face now as she allowed him to lean her backwards into his arms. He was smiling shyly at her — not nearly as self assured as he had been earlier. That made her happy. She smiled back at him. He leaned his head down and she tipped her chin up, and he quickly moved to kiss her ... and instead his lips found her finger pressed against them.
He pulled his head back to stare at her in confusion. She smiled at him and whispered a challenge to him. "If you want to kiss me again, you know what you have to do."
She could tell that he really, really wanted to kiss her anyway. But he had very good self control. "Fair enough," he said in a tone that was a cross between amusement and irritation. He smiled at her as he picked her up all the way off the ground and held her in a hug for several minutes. He ran his fingers through her hair, and held her tightly but gently. She relaxed in his arms and allowed herself to feel safe. Even if it was only going to be temporary, it still felt nice.
She had wanted to kiss him too, but she wasn't willing to be a toy for him. But ... the next week was going to be tough. Now that she had experienced her first real kiss, she really wanted another. She looked up into his eyes as he looked down at her and smiled, and she sighed a determined sigh.
I am in very deep trouble.