[soundtrack for this one: Gloria, by YUI]

Nabiki walked with Ranma in companionable silence on the way back home. The sun was setting on a day that had actually turned out to be pretty wonderful. She was in a good mood and humming quietly to herself. She was still pushing her bike instead of riding it. She preferred to walk next to him. They weren't holding hands any more. They hadn't talked about it, but both of them knew that while there were several girls running around town thinking they owned Ranma, and willing to back up their claims with violence, it was best to just not tempt fate on the open streets. Not that she was worried while she was with him. She could see his eyes constantly moving, looking high and low, watching for threats. She wasn't sure what he was watching for, but she was sure he wouldn't let it hurt her.
They passed a few people in the streets from their school, but aside from some of them giving the two of them knowing glances assuming they were a couple now, nobody said anything to them. She was glad she didn't run into any of her friends — she didn't feel like putting on her school-friend persona at the moment.
They reached the gates of the Tendo household and paused and looked at each other hesitantly. She made a sudden decision then and held up a single finger asking him to wait. He nodded and casually leaned against the wooden frame of the gate. She quickly walked her bike back to where it was supposed to go, then headed towards the side of the house they had spoken at earlier in the day. She looked back at him and waved him over to join her. He looked at her with a nervous expression, but jogged over to where she was anyway.
They slipped around the corner and headed for the same secluded area of the house. As soon as they had reached it, she crouched down to hide behind the trees and bushes. Ranma mirrored her motions with liquid smooth grace. She idly let herself linger on thoughts of that grace for a moment before she got down to business.
"Would you do me a favor, please?" She asked in a very quiet whisper.
He nodded and stared into her eyes very seriously and set his jaw in a determined grimace.
"I'm not asking you to kill anyone, calm down," she felt she had to say in response to the look on his face. He dropped it immediately and looked embarrassed. He really did lead a different life than she did, didn't he? She continued with a bit of a smile on her face, and some humor in her voice, "I just wanted to ask you to go and ask Doctor Tofu to come visit us tonight. Try not to ... you know ... attack him or anything while asking him." She teased with bright eyes as she regained her mirth.
To his credit, he rolled with it. "Hey, you know me, any chance for extra trainin' ... I hear he's really good, wouldn't mind sparring with him." He put a bit of a smile on his face, but it was awkward. She really did need to work with him on his sense of humor.
"Anyway, can you ask him to come, and to come to the back door? I don't want him to see Kasumi and become useless." She whispered.
He nodded. "Do you want me to ask him to come right away?"
She looked around and thought about that for a moment then replied once she had decided. "Yes, please ask him to come as soon as he is able."
"Okay." Was all he said, and he started to stand up to leave, but she grabbed his hand and stopped him.
"Thank you. I appreciate it." She whispered to him with a smile. She knew that not a lot of people ever thanked him for the favors he did for them. But she knew about paying off debts; she didn't want him to feel like she was using him. "If you have a favor like this you want me to do for you in the future, just ask, okay?" She offered.
He nodded with wide eyes, obviously unsure of how to respond to her. She smiled and shooed him away. He nodded as relief crossed his features and he quickly stood up, leaped over the wall, and was gone, just like that. She stood up and stared after where he had disappeared, and marveled at how casually he did such things. Their family land was ringed by a three meter tall wall. He just jumped over it like it wasn't even there. It was incredible what Ranma, and Daddy, and the rest of them could do with the Art. Not for the first time, she wished she had continued studying it after the lessons Daddy had given her when she was a little girl.
Of course ... it wasn't like she couldn't start up again, right? Nothing was stopping her from studying the Art again. Maybe she should talk to Daddy. She couldn't have Ranma train her, that would just be weird. And Mr. Saotome and the old lecher were out as well. Akane ... she supposed Akane could train her, but she knew that things were about to get weird between them. Well, even more weird than they already were.
She hugged herself and shivered. It wasn't really cold out yet, but she felt cold inside. With a last look back at where Ranma had disappeared, she turned and hurried inside.
Nobody greeted her when she entered, and she was quietly glad about that. It was too early for dinner, so she headed upstairs to change and put her stuff away. She walked past Akane's room on the way, and paused. She stared at her sister's door for a while and started to reach for the doorknob hesitantly.
Maybe I should talk to her and sound her out, find out how she's feeling? She thought. She wouldn't try to influence Akane, as she had promised Ranma. But she could talk to her sister, and try to find out how serious Akane was about keeping him. If Akane didn't grow up in the next few days and make a real effort to try to keep him, she felt at least somewhat confident that her own efforts to win this fight would be successful.
She was afraid what would happen if Akane really went for it, though. Akane had a much longer and deeper history with him than she did. If Akane really went for it, especially if her sister laid a guilt trip on him, she wasn't sure she would win.
She pulled her hand back reluctantly from Akane's door and continued on to her room. She dropped her bag on the floor and slid out of her dress gratefully. It wasn't the most uncomfortable school uniform she had ever worn, but it wasn't that great either. She looked at herself in the mirror and was happy to see that the stress lines were gone from her face. She was still stressed, of course, but it was the kind of stress she could handle. She considered taking a bath, but a look at the clock on her nightstand told her she only had maybe three to five more minutes before Doctor Tofu should arrive. So instead of flopping on her bed in her undies and falling asleep like she wanted to do, she grudgingly pulled on her turquoise pants and her favorite off-the-shoulder white shirt.
She headed back downstairs in no great hurry. She knew Kasumi would be in the kitchen preparing dinner, so she went out the front door and circled around to the back door, which was also the door to the kitchen. She hoped Kasumi didn't come outside for some reason. She probably should have chosen a different meeting place. Oh well, it was too late now.
She didn't have to wait long. Ranma came bounding over the wall after just a few minutes of waiting. His face lit up with a smile when he saw her. That was ... sweet. It was nice that it made him happy just to see her. She smiled back at him. As Ranma walked towards her, Doctor Tofu also leaped over the wall and landed without a sound. He moved with an eerie grace. Where Ranma moved like liquid animated, Doctor Tofu moved like a shadow. When he used his Art, it was like he just slid or shifted and suddenly he was somewhere. She wasn't sure how good he was, but she did know he was good. She was the only person she knew of who had ever seen him use is Art for real.
As Doctor Tofu approached the house he started to hide it again. It was amazing. Ranma was pretty much always on — he obviously wanted people to know that he was a practitioner of the Art. The only time Ranma wasn't obviously a Martial Artist, was when he was stunned from a crying female, or an attractive one made kissy faces at him. Doctor Tofu, though, took great pains to hide his Art. He deliberately capered around clumsily and dragged his feet when he walked. He made wide sweeping gestures, and spoke loudly and with a silly inflection in his voice. And it was all an act. She had seen him use his Art twice.
The first time she had seen it, she had been a little girl and just had happened to be on her way down the street past his clinic when she had hidden from some much older boys picking on a little boy in front of his clinic. Doctor Tofu had come outside the clinic doing his act, and asked the boys to stop. They had tried to attack him, and he had been ... just a blur. One moment he had been standing there smiling at them with his hand behind his head asking them kindly to stop, and then one of them had raised his arm with a stick in it to hit the younger boy, while the other had tried to punch Doctor Tofu. A moment later Doctor Tofu had blurred, and before she had even been able to blink, both of the older boys had been on their backs nursing suddenly sore wrists, and the stick had been nowhere to be seen. The younger boy had thanked Doctor Tofu and run off, and Doctor Tofu had just smiled at him. Then he had helped the older boys into his clinic to treat their wounds. She could have sworn that he had looked directly at her in the bushes and winked before he went back inside, too.
The second, and last, time she had seen him use his Art ... was the day Mom had died. Daddy had sent for him to come to see Mom and try to save her. He had sent Kasumi, the oldest. Doctor Tofu had arrived literally minutes later from the fastest time Kasumi could have possibly run to his clinic. He must have sprinted to their house from his clinic with an unbelievable effort.
He had been moving at a speed she couldn't follow with her naked eyes. She had watched from an upstairs window for him to arrive, hoping he could do something for mom. When he had arrived on their street, she had watched him blur around everything on the street, cars, bikes, people, dogs, nothing had slowed him down. He had just simply went over, under or around every obstacle. She hadn't known what the gray streak had been until he had paused for a fraction of a second to open their front door. He had been inside the house and at Mom's side in under a second from the time he had stepped foot on their land.
He hadn't been able to save mom, but he had tried, he'd tried so hard, as far as she had been able to tell. He had worked tirelessly and desperately to save her. He and Daddy had stayed by her side for days. When it had been over, as he had sadly left, she had caught a look at his unguarded face — that had also been the first and only day she had seen Doctor Tofu cry. He had looked haunted as he had left. Daddy had cried plenty of times since then, but that had been the only time she had ever seen any cracks in Doctor Tofu's very carefully worn masks.
She was glad that he was a good man, because she would be even more terrified of him than the old pervert if he weren't. She really wished he would get himself together and do something more serious about his obvious crush on Kasumi. She would be thrilled if Kasumi ended up with a man like Doctor Tofu.
But, that was wasn't the issue at the forefront of her mind at the moment. Ranma arrived next to her first and smiled at her again. She smiled back tightly. She thought about sending him away so she could speak to Doctor Tofu in private, but changed her mind. Doctor Tofu had a long history with their family, and she knew him very well. She had gone out of her way to do favors for him ever since she had been able to do anything useful for him. She figured their family owed him. She knew Daddy paid him for his services, but he had always been so kind to their family, and she just felt like she had a debt to repay with him. It had started at bringing his little notes and gifts to Kasumi, and progressed to her getting him pictures of Kasumi, fully clothed, of course. She also helped him to arrange his finances for his clinic, and anything else she could do for him.
She also talked to him about serious things, stuff she was worried about and knew she couldn't handle. Doctor Tofu had always helped her with those fears, and one of the ways he had helped her, was why she had asked for him to come see her. As Doctor Tofu arrived to stand right in front of her, he smiled kindly like he always did, and she smiled back.
She could hear Kasumi in the kitchen behind her, and she could tell Doctor Tofu did as well. So she started walking away from the door and further out from the house. Doctor Tofu fell into step beside her like it was the most natural thing in the world for him to do. Ranma walked curiously behind them. She was sure he was confused.
"Do you remember those talks we had about ... three months ago?" She asked Doctor Tofu as she walked with him.
He nodded. "Of course."
"I think we may need to put that one plan into action."
"The one with the...?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No, no, the one where you..." She prompted him.
He smiled widely at her. "Oh, sure, that plan. All right, we can do that. When did you want to do it?"
"I'm not sure. Can you just be ready for the next seven days, starting now?" She asked hopefully.
He stopped walking and held her gaze for a moment with his glasses shining as she also stopped. Ranma looked on in complete confusion. Finally, Doctor Tofu spoke again. "Is it that serious?" He asked.
"Yes, I think so. We're going to need you." She replied.
"Should I prepare for the first option, or the second?"
"I don't think we'll need to take it as far as the second option ... but can you prepare for both just in case?" She whispered.
Doctor Tofu nodded solemnly. "All right, Nabiki. I will take care of it. Don't you worry about it, it will be all right, okay?"
She nodded hesitantly, and she flinched a little bit as he kindly patted her on the shoulder. She hated asking him for a favor, but she felt she had no choice this time. She wished he would ask for a favor in return, or payment, or something. She felt so bad taking him up on his kindness.
"Is that all, Nabiki? I need to get back to the clinic, I have a late appointment coming in..." He trailed off in his usual jovial voice as he put his hand behind his head in mock embarrassment.
She smiled at him. "Yes, Doctor. Thank you so much." Ranma came to stand next to her and waved goodbye to Doctor Tofu now that he was leaving.
Doctor Tofu smiled at her and winked as he started to walk towards their front door. Unlike Ranma, he wouldn't leap over the wall again without a reason. If any of the Tendo girls summoned him, he would rush to them in case it was urgent. Once he knew they were all right though, he had no reason to rush. After he had taken a few steps, he turned back to her and raised an eyebrow at her and looked briefly at Ranma. "Together?" He asked.
She smiled tightly and briefly raised her flat hand palm down on the side of her body Ranma couldn't see in a, stop, gesture. Doctor Tofu switched gears smoothly. "What, is Nabiki teaching you how to read the stars now, Ranma?" He asked in a joking voice.
Ranma just stared at him blankly and made a confused noise. He looked at her for help, but she refused to meet his eyes right now. Since he had proved he could read her through her masks, it just wasn't a good idea to let him read her right now.
Doctor Tofu got the message immediately and smiled again at them, waved enthusiastically, and then turned and jogged towards the front gates.
She sighed and started walking back towards the kitchen door. Ranma stopped her with a light hand on her arm. She turned and looked at him warily. She knew he would want an explanation, but it wasn't a good idea for her to explain right now. At least, it wouldn't be good to explain everything, but she could explain most of it.
Ranma asked his question by simply looking at her, and then at the front gates, and back at her with a confused and somewhat suspicious gaze. She sighed, looked away and started explaining as much as she could. "Ever since Mom died ... Doctor Tofu has watched over all of us when Daddy couldn't. He has always been there for us. Always. Like Akane, I've gone to him with my problems, and he's helped me. He and I have worked out some plans for what to do if ... things happen ... that I'm afraid of." She looked back at him and said in a fiercely protective whisper, "Doctor Tofu has been like a guardian angel for this family. I trust him. He won't hurt me, or Akane or Kasumi, or you. All right, Ranma? I promise, nothing bad is going to happen to anyone you love, and nothing is going to happen that breaks any of the promises I made to you."
He was still looking at her doubtfully, but his gaze was softening.
"As a matter of fact, I contacted him so that I could start keeping one of the promises I made to you. Can we just leave it at that for now? I promise, I will explain everything to you when it isn't dangerous any more." She added.
Ranma looked at her with still a hint of suspicion, but he reached for her hand anyway and smiled. She looked quickly back to the house and checked for anyone looking out of a window. She didn't see anyone, so she allowed him to hold her hand, and gave his hand a quick reassuring squeeze. She leaned in and whispered to him. "Trusting each other is one of the things people in a relationship need to do. I trust you, Ranma." She tried to sound like her usual, confident self, but she could tell her voice was shaking a bit.
Ranma looked into her eyes and nodded before he smiled a small smile and whispered back. "I ... I think I trust you too, Nabiki." She could tell he didn't fully mean that, and she knew she hadn't earned his full trust yet. It still hurt to hear him say it like that, though. But, all that did was encourage her resolve to not let him down.
After a moment had passed, she gently pulled her hand out of his. "I need to get inside and take care of some stuff. You going to come in too?" She asked.
He nodded. "I think I'll go around to the front door, so nobody sees us enter together." He suggested.
"That's not necessary, Ranma. You don't have to hide that you are spending time with me. As far as anyone knows right now, you're still officially engaged to me after all."
He nodded again. "I know. But I would rather just avoid ... stuff, you know?" He looked away as he said it. She could tell he thought it was the less ... manly ... way to handle things, and that he wasn't proud of it. But she could also tell that he thought it was the best want to handle things. So she nodded back to him. "All right, I'll see you inside, all right?"
"Of course." He said with a smile. Then he turned and jogged off towards the front of the house. She watched him go, then sighed and headed for the kitchen door. She wondered how much of all this drama was really necessary.
She entered the kitchen door and stepped into the warm and somewhat humid kitchen filled with the smells of Kasumi's wonderful cooking. She smiled at Kasumi. Her older sister looked up from the stove and greeted her warmly. "Welcome home, Nabiki. How are you?"
"I'm ... I'm actually all right, Kasumi. Thank you." She said carefully. She didn't want to say anything careless while in the house. She was well aware that this house had ears.
Kasumi looked at her worriedly, and set the pan down she had been tending as she also turned the heat all the way down to the lowest setting before she walked over to her and put both her hands on her shoulders. Her older sister looked worriedly into her eyes. "Are you really all right?" She whispered.
She darted her eyes around her sister looking for eavesdroppers, then nodded her head just a little bit and whispered back. "Yes."
"Oh, Nabiki, I'm so happy for you!" Kasumi whispered fiercely as she pulled her into a massive hug. She tensed up for a moment, then relaxed into it. She hadn't always welcomed Kasumi's motherly tendencies, but at the moment, she decided she was all right with it. She hugged her older sister back just as hard.
A moment later Kasumi let her go but still kept her at arm's length and held on to her as Kasumi intertwined her finger's through her own. Kasumi stared into her eyes. She could tell her big sister was looking for signs of deception. She sighed and dropped her usual defenses and let Kasumi see her as she was really feeling. Kasumi brought both her hands up to her mouth and gasped. "So it's true then. Oh, Nabiki!" Kasumi glowed as she regarded her little sister proudly.
She raised a finger up to her lips and looked pointedly out of the kitchen. Kasumi caught on immediately and mouthed silently, "A-K-A-N-E?"
She shook her head once sadly.
Kasumi's eyes shined brightly as she replied. "It will be all right, you'll see." Kasumi whispered.
She whispered back, "I hope s—"
A large crash from upstairs shook the house and interrupted her. Daddy yelled immediately from the porch, "Akane? ... AKANE?!"
Her eyes widened and she bolted from around Kasumi and sprinted upstairs as she also yelled Akane's name.
Inside she screamed, please don't let this be what I think it is!