Nabiki went cold inside. She was alone. Kodachi was behind her. Ranma was just disappearing into the school building in the distance, and the few people she could see were very far away and rapidly entering the school buildings as well.
Stall? Stall. She asked and answered herself.
She took a full slow step forward towards the school buildings and away from Kodachi as she turned away while she clasped her hands behind her back and put on her innocent and friendly schoolgirl persona.
As soon as she could see Kodachi she sighed inwardly as she realized that the unhinged gymnast-girl must have matched her stride when she stepped, as the crazy girl was practically nose-to-nose with her. Kodachi was wearing her trademark leotard and was clutching that ribbon of hers in her left hand.
Her mind had partitioned itself to work on several problems at once. The main thing she was working on was trying to figure out how to stall Kodachi. She was also trying to spare as much of her thoughts as she could to try to remember the fighting skills Daddy had taught her. She was also gathering her strength to run as she continued to back slowly away from Kodachi.
"Where are you trying to go, my dear?" Kodachi said in a falsetto-sweet voice as she smiled widely at her with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
She must have read my body language. She thought as fear entered her core and she started to go numb. Adrenaline was flooding into her and it was helping, but the fear was still taking control. She wasn't trained for, or used to, physical confrontations. She had heard that some people reacted to panic by freezing up. She had never thought she'd be one of them.
I'm just full of surprises today. She thought sarcastically as she backed away from Kodachi and brought her hands from behind her back and held them up in an open handed peaceful I-don't-want-any-trouble gesture.
Kodachi matched her step for step as she kept the fake smile on her face. She was sure Kodachi could tell she had brought her hands up into a guard position, even though it technically didn't look like one, but there wasn't much else she could do. Kodachi clearly seemed to want to fight.
"What do you want?" She asked Kodachi as she continued to slowly back up towards the school buildings.
I am only going to get one good shot in, I need to make it count. She thought as she let her eyes casually travel Kodachi's body as she searched for the best place to hit her.
Her mind flashed back to lessons Daddy had given her back when she had only been six years old.
"This is important, Nabiki. Pay attention. If someone attacks you on the street, odds are they won't be trained. Even if they are trained, they won't be expecting you to put up a real fight. This is what I want you to do."
He'd shown her a quick and brutal series of motions that involved a blocking strike, a quick shuffle in and an elbow to the nose. The motions were short, easy to remember, and designed to cause maximum damage and to knock an attacker back on their heels. It was all Martial, no Art, Daddy had told her. They were motions intended to save her life, not to win against another Martial Artist. 
"Stop or duck their attack, close the distance fast and hurt them as much as you can, then run away, baby. Don't try to win the fight, just get away." Were the words he used as he made her practice, over and over again, when she was little.
She continued to take small steps away from the crazy girl and towards the school buildings. She figured every step closer to the buildings she was when Kodachi got tired of toying with her and attacked, would be that many steps less she'd have to run.
"What I want, dearie, is for you to leave my darling Ranma alone." The crazy girl said with a manic gleam in her eye.
"All right, I'm sure we can work something out." She led the girl, hoping she could distract her with negotiations.
"Oh ho ho, I'm sure we can too, dearie. I've always found that the fastest way to solve little problems like this is through a spirited exchange—"
Here it comes. She flexed as she prepared for the attack.
"—of ideas!" Kodachi finished as she lunged at her with some kind of club clenched in her right fist as she drove it towards her face.
She didn't have time to think, she just reacted. She stepped forward with her right foot inside Kodachi's stance while she hammered both her fists into Kodachi's arm. Her left fist struck the side of the gymnast's forearm where one of the nerve clusters was. Her right fist hit hard into Kodachi's bicep muscle. The combined affect was that she deadened her attacker's arm in two places while also effectively blocking the attack. Daddy had always told her one of the hallmarks of Kenpo was that every block was also a strike.
She immediately shuffle-stepped forward and drove her left elbow hard into Kodachi's nose as she traced a path along the gymnast's extended arm. The impact jarred her elbow and hurt as she snapped the crazy girl's head back. She continued straight forward and Kodachi dropped as she drove her elbow through the space she had targeted. She did it just like Daddy had shown her, and made her practice on him over and over again when she was little.
Thank you, Daddy. She thought as she began to sprint towards the school. She knew she should yell for help, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. It was so undignified, weak and pitiful.
I'll just run and find Ranma, he'll— "oop!" her thoughts were interrupted as her feet were yanked out from under her and she crashed hard into the ground. She was dazed for half a second then she threw herself backwards and rolled her head back as she kicked her feet over her shoulder and away from the attack she knew was coming. Her feet were tangled in that stupid ribbon Kodachi was always waving around. She felt the ground shudder as she regained her feet and shook the ribbon off and looked where she had been laying a moment before.
Kodachi was in the process of discarding the mallet she had embedded in the ground where she had been. The crazy gymnast was now standing between her and the school.
The fear was still present, but she was able to force herself to start circling Kodachi as she held her hands up in a full guard position, just like Daddy had taught her.
Okay, now I'm in trouble. She thought as she eyed Kodachi warily.
The unhinged gymnast was circling with her now. There was a small trickle of blood streaming from her nose, and there were leaves and grass in her hair.
"Well well, it seems I underestimated you." Kodachi said with a sneer.
She didn't answer, she wanted all of her attention on her defense.
When she didn't take the bait, Kodachi tried again. "I see that you have stolen some of Ranma-darling's moves. You foolish girl, you can't hope to think that makes you worthy of being with him, can you? At least your younger sister is somewhat competent. You, on the other hand, have nothing of substance to offer him. He'll realize that soon, you know." Kodachi said in a low voice dripping with contempt, while she walked into a tighter circle with her and readied another attack.
She couldn't help it, Kodachi's words were getting to her. She was getting angry. She could feel the heat of her anger replacing the cold fear that had taken hold of her earlier. As she circled with Kodachi, she felt her muscles loosening and warming up. She felt good. Her muscles remembered all of this. Sparring with Daddy had been just like this. Of course, she had known Daddy wasn't going to really hurt her. She had no such delusions about Kodachi.
"Time to teach you a lesson, dearie. You need to learn to stay out of the way of your betters, and to keep your hands off of those who don't belong to you." Kodachi taunted her as she tensed her muscles to attack.
She felt herself blazing with anger. She knew that Kodachi was trying to goad her, but she didn't care. She was angry.
How dare she! Who does she think she is?! She thought as she curled her open hands up from parrying hands into fists. Her mind had shifted from defense to offense. She wanted to hurt this arrogant brat!
Kodachi smiled a smug smile as she moved in to attack. She had a moment to read Kodachi's hips and shoulders as the crazy gymnast darted in. She couldn't tell what the attack was going to be so she threw her left hand low and her right hand high as she stepped back with her left foot.
She felt an immediate sharp pain in her left forearm as it impacted with the kick Kodachi had been aiming at her legs. A split second later she felt a terribly painful impact in her right forearm as she managed to block whatever stupid toy Kodachi was swinging at her. Her eyes immediately blurred with tears as the pain made her suck in her breath.
She tapped into her anger and let it fuel her while she yelled and moved to counterattack as she forced herself to ignore the pain in both her arms. She knew where Kodachi's arm was, because she had just blocked an attack from that arm. So even though her eyes and mind weren't able to follow or plot the motion, she could feel it. She slid her right arm down and squeezed her hand into a fist as tight as she could as she brought her left hand up to the side of her head in a cross-guard. She felt her right fist impact something on Kodachi's head. It was hard and hurt to hit it, so it was probably her chin or jaw. As soon as she knew where her target was, she lashed out with her other hand and punched again. She felt it impact on something soft. She hoped it was Kodachi's neck.
She didn't let up. She stepped hard into her opponent's stance and punched as hard as she could, just as Daddy had shown her all those years ago. Her muscles remembered how to do it, like those sparring sessions had been yesterday.
Her vision was clearing, and she could see Kodachi's face now as she pressed the attack. At least half of her punches were getting through Kodachi's own guard. She was landing solid straight and hooking punches to Kodachi's face and temples. Kodachi had a look of utter surprise mixed with outrage on her face as she backpedaled from her attack.
I can do this, I can win! She thought as she blazed with the heat of her anger which was quickly shifting to confidence. I can b—
Her thought were interrupted as Kodachi took a solid step back and planted her weight and popped a side kick out which caught her unprepared in the gut. She stumbled backwards with the wind knocked out of her and sank to her knees as she gasped for breath.
She tried to think of something sarcastic to say, but she was drawing a blank. Her confidence had evaporated. Her anger was still there, but it was losing to the fear which was growing as Kodachi stalked towards her with dead eyes and dropped a club into her palm.
Kodachi was obviously both surprised, and furious. The crazy gymnast walked leisurely towards her as she triggered a switch on the club and spikes popped out of the head of it.
"That's enough of that, time to finish this." The crazy girl said in an emotionless voice as she raised the club to strike.
She summoned all of her strength and lurched to her feet as she hopped back out of the way.
I'll be damned if I am going out on my knees, especially from this crazy girl. She thought determinedly.
She tried to run, but her legs wouldn't obey her. The best she could do was to stumble backwards as she still tried to breathe properly.
Kodachi raised the club to strike almost lazily. "Time for your lesson, girl!" She snarled as she swung.
She squeezed her eyes shut as she pulled her hands up to block and tried to summon the strength to endure the pain she knew was coming.
A heartbeat later she felt herself get pulled backwards abruptly, as she heard a heavy thunk of something solid impacting something not as solid. Weirdly, she didn't feel any pain.
She opened her eyes, and there was Ranma. He had caught the club in his bare left hand. He had his right hand on her shoulder pushed underhanded behind himself. He must have reached me from behind and yanked me back as he stepped into my place. She marveled as she watched him squeeze the club with an iron-solid grip while a tiny trickle of blood dripped from his hand. She almost fainted with relief.
Ranma had come for her. She was going to be all right. The ice of her fear fled and was replaced with the warmth of her confidence in him.
"ENOUGH!" He yelled at Kodachi in a voice ringing with emotion. He sounded ... very angry.
Kodachi's face had gone white from the shock of injuring him while also being caught in the act of trying to injure her.
Before anything else could happen she heard an enraged female voice scream from behind her. "NO!"
Ranma moved instantly. He pivoted on his heel and yanked the club away from Kodachi and threw it away at the same moment that he wrapped her up in his arms as he pulled her to the ground and spun away from Kodachi.
She saw someone in a girl's school uniform sail over her head as she landed on top of Ranma. He had spun her in the air so he would take the impact of the fall, and had her cradled in his arms. The girl Ranma had pulled her out of the way of landed, and she caught a flash of short hair and realized it was Akane. She watched from between Ranma's arms as Akane laid into Kodachi, hard.
Her little sister was obviously furious. She had known for a long time that Akane had surpassed her own training in the Art long ago, but the point had never been more clear than it was right now. She watched Akane fight the same opponent she had just been losing against and absolutely dominate her.
Akane slapped Kodachi's defenses down in three quick motions, then stepped into Kodachi's stance, grabbed her hair, and pulled down and forward and yanked Kodachi off her feet. Kodachi hit the ground hard but popped up again. Akane was on her immediately and started hitting her with solid strikes that doubled the crazy gymnast over and quickly dropped her to her knees. Ranma unwound himself from her and left her breathing deeply on the ground looking straight up at the sky. She heard heavy thudding coming from the direction of the fight as Akane pummeled Kodachi.
"All right, she's had it." She heard Ranma call out.
"Akane, she's had enough." Ranma said a little more urgently.
"Akane! Stop!" Ranma said more sternly. A moment later the impact sounds ceased.
She sat up painfully and saw a bizarre sight. Akane was straining powerfully in Ranma's arms and digging her feet into the ground. Akane was actually leaving little trails of plowed dirt under her as she strained against him while she made a keening sound.
Akane's eyes were blank but her face was drawn into a snarl. Ranma had grabbed both of Akane's wrists and was holding her firmly as he stood between her little sister and Kodachi. Akane was using every gram of her strength to try to break his hold and get to Kodachi. She could actually see Ranma's chest, arm and neck muscles straining as he worked to restrain Akane's tremendous strength.
Kodachi was crumpled on the ground, unconscious. The crazy gymnast was curled into a ball and had clearly been clutching her gut before she passed out. Other than that, there were no major injuries obvious on her. Akane was still straining against Ranma to get to Kodachi.
"Akane! Akane, no! Come on, Akane, that's enough! Akane, that's not our way!" Ranma yelled at her as he tried to calm her down.
Finally, after a few more seconds, Akane slumped into Ranma's arms and stopped fighting him. Akane sank slowly into his arms and let out several shuddering breaths as she calmed down.
While Ranma calmed Akane down, she sat all the way up gingerly and took stock of herself. Her stomach hurt, as did both of her arms and hands. Her nose was full of dust, and her clothes were filthy. Despite all of that, she felt strangely exhilarated.
A moment later Akane was kneeling down in front of her and grabbed her head gently as she tilted it side to side and front to back. "Are you all right, Nabiki? I'm so sorry I didn't get here sooner." Akane said softly in a shaking voice full of guilt. Her eyes looked normal again, but there was still a trace of rage ghosting around the edges.
"I'm ... okay." She found herself saying. Sure, she was hurt, but she still felt sort of excited too. The fear had left her, as had the adrenaline, and she was shaking a bit from the after affects of both. But, overall, she actually felt kind of giddy. She was sure it was just euphoria from having survived the fight and a little bit of pride at how well she had done.
Thank you, Daddy. She thought again gratefully as she closed her eyes briefly and thought of all of the training Daddy had made her endure in case she was ever attacked. You were right, and I was wrong. She thought an apology to him. She made a mental note to tell him about this, and to thank him properly. She knew he would insist she start training again and ... she was all right with that. Can't let Akane have all the fun, now can I? She thought glibly.
Akane was running her hands over her body now, looking for wounds. She brushed her sister's hands away as she tried to stagger to her feet. "I told you, I'm—"
Whoa! She thought in surprise as her legs gave out from under her, halfway into her attempt to get to her feet.
Akane's arms whipped out and caught her before she had fallen more than a centimeter.
"Ranma, come help me!" Akane called out in a panic. Ranma ran over and encircled her in his strong arms and pulled her up to her feet easily, and then he kept lifting her and a moment later she was sitting in his arms. She looked wryly into his eyes and summoned a smirk to cover her embarrassment.
"Getting kind of handsy, aren't you, Saotome?" She asked dryly.
"But ... you're hurt." He replied.
"Not that hurt. I can walk, just make sure I don't fall, okay?" She said as she wiggled in his grasp to be let down.
"All right..." he said hesitantly as he set her back down to her feet. Akane appeared on the other side of her and grabbed her hand. She looked down and smiled at that. She also noticed that Akane had grabbed Kodachi's ribbon, and it was sticking out of her sister's pocket at the hip.
"Nurse's office?" Ranma asked on the other side of her. Akane nodded her head seriously.
As they led her away, she noticed that all of the toys Kodachi had brought were now broken. The spiked club was now a pile of splinters piled in front of Kodachi, where she couldn't miss them when she woke up.
When had Akane done that? She figured she'd ask about it later as she walked gingerly with them to the nurse's office.
They arrived in what felt like no time at all. She was pretty sure Ranma had been lifting her a bit as they walked.
They entered the nurse's office and Ranma laid her down on one of the examination tables on that crinkly wax paper they put on them. She could still feel the cold fake leather under the paper though. The nurse's office had that sickly-sweet antiseptic smell that all doctor's offices and hospitals seemed to have. She knew some people found it comforting, she found it slightly nauseating.
Ranma leaned down and smoothed the hair around her forehead gently with his right hand. His left he kept down by his side. She looked over at Akane who was shifting her weight from foot to foot and looking anxious. A moment later Akane stopped fidgeting and calmed down. A heartbeat after that, she saw why.
The nurse was one she didn't recognize. She was a young woman, probably not much older than Kasumi. She moved with a quiet grace that was eerily similar to something, but she couldn't put her finger on it. The nurse was suspiciously fit for the profession.
"What do we have here? Are you all right, Miss?" The nurse asked gently as she stepped over to her side.
"She was attacked!" Akane said for her, before she could open her mouth.
"I see, well, I can take care of that." The nurse said as she wheeled over a privacy screen. "Young man, I'll have to ask you to wait in the next room." The nurse said firmly.
She thought about making an issue out of it and insisting he stay, by right of being her fiancé. But, frankly she didn't want the first time he saw her undressed to be in this setting, so she kept her mouth shut.
Akane came and stood by her side and held her hand.
The nurse looked at Akane and back to her. She nodded. "It's all right, she's my sister."
"I know she is, you still have the right to have her leave if you'd prefer." The nurse said kindly.
She could feel Akane's hand stiffen around her own in displeasure at hearing that. Akane seemed to really need to be with her right now.
"No, it's fine, she can stay."
"All right, well, tell me what happened." The nurse said as she checked her arms and legs, and then lifted up her clothes and ran her hands around looking for cuts and other wounds.
"I was attacked by some crazy girl who thinks she owns my fiancé." She felt Akane stiffen again when she called Ranma her fiancé, but there was no helping that.
The nurse listened to her heart and lungs and checked her blood pressure then returned to checking her arms. After a few more moments she turned and looked at her and smiled. "You have a bone bruise on your left Ulna and another on your right Radius. The surrounding tissue above and around the blunt force trauma impact points are also quite bruised. You also have a minor bruise on your abdomen. Overall, you'll be fine. I have some pain pills I can give you, I'll be back with them and then I'll go treat your fiancé's hand." The nurse said with a calm smile.
She again had a feeling like she should be recognizing something. She tried to concentrate, but Akane interrupted her.
"I'm so sorry, Nabiki!" Akane blurted out as she leaned over her on the examination table and draped herself over her chest and hugged her tightly.
"Akane..." She said gently as she reached up and hugged her sister in return.
"Oh, Nabiki! I was so scared!" Akane said in a shaking voice. She could tell her little sister was barely holding back tears. She didn't understand why Akane was so upset, it hadn't been that bad. Had it?
"It's all right. I'm all right. Everyone's all right." She said as she made soft shushing noises and stroked her sister's hair.
The nurse chose that moment to reappear and announced her presence by sliding a chair up behind Akane and pressing it against the back of Akane's knees, which collapsed her legs and kind of forced her to sit down and loosen her hold.
"If you cry all over your sister, then I'm going to have to get her a change of clothes." The nurse said kindly.
"Of-of course. S-sorry." Akane said, embarrassed.
"Never be embarrassed for caring for others, dear. Especially your family. You hold on to them tightly." The nurse admonished Akane as she moved to her other side and handed her a steaming cup of tea on a saucer. There were two small white pills on the saucer.
The heat of the tea through the silky ceramic of the cup felt good on her hands. She let the heat warm her hands for a moment as she breathed in the creamy subtle aroma of the tea. The nurse began cleaning and bandaging the minor scrapes and cuts she'd gotten on her knees, palms and elbows. As the nurse worked, she sipped the tea with one hand and took the pain pills. She then put the saucer down on the table.
Akane had her left hand clenched tightly between both of her own hands. She smiled at Akane as she enjoyed the calming taste of the tea. She let the tea stay on her tongue for a moment with each sip, and then gently glide down her throat. It was very therapeutic.
Akane watched the nurse with eyes shining with unshed tears. She tried to distract her little sister from watching her getting bandaged up. The silliness of her trying to make Akane feel better about injuries she had gotten, did not escape her.
"Don't worry, Akane. I'm fine. It looks worse than it is. I've hurt myself worse falling off my skates."
Akane jerked her head in a short nod, but didn't say anything. Her sister obviously didn't trust her voice right now.
"You and Ranma got there just in time, everything is fine." She reassured Akane.
"If we'd been just a little bit later, you—"
"How you doin' back there?" Ranma's voice called out from outside the room, and interrupted Akane.
She sighed. "I'm fine, Ranma." She called out to him.
"Can I come see you now?" He asked. Akane was visibly twitching as her little sister looked in the direction of his voice through the screen.
"Sure, Ranma." She said with a shrug. The nurse was done examining her, and was just bandaging her already exposed skin anyway.
The nurse raised at eyebrow at her but didn't say anything. Ranma appeared around the edge of the screen a moment later. He just stood at the foot of the table and watched for a few moments. He had several emotions running across his face, but the one that kept showing the most was frustration. She decided to let him be for a while and continued to sip her tea.
A minute or so later the nurse finished bandaging her and turned to Ranma. "Would you like me to take care of your injury?"
"What injury?" He asked in a confused tone.
The nurse pointed to his hand which was still dripping a little bit of blood. "That injury."
He looked down at his hand and shrugged. "Feh, that's nothing, barely even a scratch." He said as he wiped his hand on his pants. The bleeding mostly stopped at that. Then he clenched the hand into a fist and it stopped entirely. "See, no problem." He said confidently.
"It might get infected." The nurse pressed him.
"I'll put some ice on it later, don't worry about it." He said.
The nurse stared into his eyes for another moment, then shrugged. "All right, well, don't come crying to me if you get an infection and end up losing the hand. I tried." She could tell the nurse wasn't being all that serious, but that there was a bit of a real warning in the nurse's voice.
She made a mental note to make Ranma sit still and have Kasumi look at his hand later.
"If you'll excuse me, I have some other things to attend to." The nurse said as she made her way past Ranma and around the privacy screen.
She started to get up from the table then stopped when the nurse turned around abruptly and skewered her with a hard stare. "Sit tight, dear. I want you to finish that tea and rest for at least a quarter hour, all right? I want to make sure you come out of the shock and adrenaline rush properly, before you go, okay? I'll bring you something to eat in a little bit. You'd be surprised at the energy your body uses when you go through something like you just did."
She sat back down and nodded. It was probably a good thing anyway, she had felt faint as soon as she had tried to get up. She didn't think Akane had noticed it, but she was sure Ranma had seen the shake in her arms and legs.
"Yeah, Nabiki, listen to the nurse." He said as he walked to her side and tried to help her sit back.
She couldn't explain it, but his tone and the way he was trying to coddle her just rubbed her the wrong way. Before she even knew what she was doing she'd shaken his hands off her. She spilled a little bit of the tea on the table as she did it. He stepped back like he'd been slapped.
She tried to soften her rejection of his mothering a little. "I'm fine, Ranma. You too, Akane." She said as she lifted her hand out of Akane's hands. "I think I did all right today. I was happy to have you stop the fight, but I don't need either of you babysitting me, all right?"
Akane nodded and smiled a little.
Ranma, however, got a hurt look in his eyes. "I was only tryin' ta help, Nabiki."
"I know, Ranma. But I don't like either of you treating me like I can't take care of myself." She said stubbornly.
Ranma's eyes narrowed. "It seemed like you needed my help earlier."
She sighed. "I was doing all right against her until she started to fight dirty. But you're right, Ranma, I did need your help then, I don't now."
Akane stayed silent and looked at the floor.
Ranma opened his mouth to say something else, then closed it again. Then he opened it with a determined look in his eyes.
Here comes the real reason he's upset. She thought as she watched him warily.
"You told me ... you'd yell for help ... if you were in trouble. I never heard you yell, Nabiki." He said in a voice that was a mixture of accusation and hurt.
She immediately felt guilty about that, and also resentful that he was bringing it up while she was still in the nurse's office recovering. She felt the resentment push to the front and take control of her response.
"I was a little busy trying to figure out how to deal with a crazy girl attacking me. I didn't have time to be screaming for help. Besides, if I had yelled for help, she would have attacked me right away. I was able to delay her for a while and get closer to the school buildings by playing along with her." She said defensively.
Akane stayed quiet, but her little sister did look up into her eyes briefly to give her a supportive look. She knew that Akane was used to arguing with Ranma, but she wasn't. It felt surprisingly bad to have him being negative towards her.
"I shoulda stayed with you and taken you back to your classroom." He pressed. He obviously felt guilty. She could understand that, so she tried to reassure him.
"That was my fault. You're right, I shouldn't have split up from you." She smiled at him with a tiny smile. It was about as far as she was willing to go right. She knew she needed protection right now, but she didn't like being treated like an invalid or a prisoner.
Instead of Ranma softening his own response to her, he just piled on. "You're right, you shouldn't have. It was a stupid thing ta do. Kodachi could have really hurt you. What were you thinking trying to take her on, I—"
"Ranma." She interrupted him in a falsetto-sweet voice that she usually reserved for people she was about to eviscerate financially. He paused and looked at her with wide eyes with his mouth still open to argue with her.
"Ranma ... you're hurting my feelings. I know I didn't handle things all that well, but I don't need you making me feel worse about it right now. I would like you to ... please leave." She said in as controlled a voice as she could.
She wanted to scream at him, and argue right back with him. But, she had seen Akane do that with him over and over again to no productive end. Clearly when his fighting instincts were engaged, nothing positive could be accomplished. So, she overrode her desire to yell at him.
He just stared at her dumbfounded for a moment, then closed his mouth and his eyes as he tried to gather control of himself. "I ... I'm sorry." He said hesitantly.
Akane looked up at her sharply. She could tell by the expression on Akane's face that her little sister had never considered just telling Ranma that he was out of line.
She kept her little smile on her face and the falsetto tone in her voice. "I'm sorry too. Can you please leave me alone with Akane now?" She asked in a voice that was shaking a bit. She didn't want to send him away, but she wanted to fight with him even less.
He took a step back away from her. He looked like a puppy that was being put into a crate. Then he opened his mouth to argue again. "But, Nabiki, I need to—"
"Akane is right here, Ranma. Why don't you head back to class?" She interrupted him again. When he didn't move after a moment, she sighed. "I will meet you outside your classroom at the end of the day, as we discussed."
"I ... all right, Nabiki." He said as he hung his head and scooted around the privacy screen and was gone. She listened to his footsteps recede. He walked a few steps, then paused, then walked a few more, then paused longer, then a few more, and then he paused for a very long time. She simply waited as Akane stared at her wide-eyed. After half a minute had passed, she finally heard his footsteps continue out of the nurse's office and leave her hearing range.
"I am going to go run some errands." The nurse said, as she appeared out of nowhere to stand next to her. She jerked on the examination table in fright away from the nurse as her hands darted up involuntarily into a guard position. That had startled her.
She glared up at the nurse as she put her hands back down. The nurse smiled back at her and continued speaking kindly to her as she laid a plate of cookies in her lap, and another plate that had rice balls on it. "Finish your tea like a good girl, then I want you to eat before you leave. I brought you the rice balls because I am supposed to, but nobody will judge you if you only eat the cookies." The nurse said with a wink.
Before she could even think of anything to say, the nurse was sashaying away from her and disappeared around the privacy curtain. She looked at Akane with wide eyes. Akane opened her mouth to speak, and then it was her younger sister's turn to jump as the nurse popped her head around the screen again. "I'm going to lock the door to the office. Nobody will be able to get in, but you will be able to leave if you are ready to do so before I return. If you do, please make sure the door is fully closed when you leave." The nurse smiled at them, then was gone again.
She and Akane looked at each other wide-eyed again, and both of them held the look as grins started to creep up their faces. They managed to hang on until they heard the door close and lock. Then they both lost it. She laughed so hard she dumped the contents of both her plates of food into her lap. Akane slid down in the chair she was in, and ended up on the floor.
She ended up laying down on the table and gasping for breath as she tried to get her breathing under control. She was glad she had set the tea down when the food had arrived. As it was, she had to pick up the food from her lap and put it back on the plates. Luckily, that wasn't a very messy job.
When she was done, she set the plates aside and looked at Akane, who was gathering herself back up into the chair and smiling sheepishly at her.
"She isn't a ... normal ... nurse, is she?" She asked Akane.
Akane shook her head. "She can't be. Nobody could do things like that unless they were an expert in the Art." A light dawned in Akane's eyes. "Oh! She must know Doctor Tofu! Maybe she's a student of his, or they study under the same master or something." Akane said with confidence.
"What makes you think she knows Doctor Tofu?" She asked curiously. "Just because she knows the Art doesn't mean she knows Doctor Tofu. He can't be the only doctor in Japan who practices Martial Arts." She said doubtfully.
"That may be so, but she was the one who came and got me out of class and said I needed to go to you, that you were in trouble."
"Really?" She asked. "Well, maybe she does know Doctor Tofu. He did tell me I had friends here watching over me." She said pensively. "I wonder if the nurse told Ranma as well?"
Hooray for plan thirty eight. She thought with relief to herself.
"Probably." Akane said in a smaller voice.
She looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "You know sis, I have to be honest. When you were engaged to him, I used to judge you for how much you two fought ... I get it now. It took all of my willpower not to yell at him earlier."
Akane didn't answer her, she just made a small mmm hmm noise.
"I know I need to be patient with him, but it can be really hard when he is acting that way you know? I don't know how you put up with it for so long." She joked.
Akane made a half-choking, half-gasping noise that snapped her out of her reverie. 
She sat up and looked at Akane. Her little sister was sitting on the edge of her chair with her hands pressed together tightly between her knees. Akane was clearly barely holding it together.
"Akane, what's wrong?" She asked, worried.
"Nothing, I'm fine." Akane said, as tears started to leak from the corners of her eyes.
"You're not fine." She said carefully.
"I'm fine. Everything's fine." Akane said as tears began to stream down her cheeks.
"Oh, Akane. I'm so sorry. Was it because I was talking about Ranma?" She asked hesitantly.
Akane didn't answer her, she just smiled back at her as the tears streamed down her face and little shudders shook her body.
"Akane, I'm sorry. I won't talk about Ranma anymore. All right?" She said rapidly, trying to calm her down.
"W-Why...." Akane tried to say, then had to stop and take a deep breath as she fought the tears back.
Before she could respond, Akane tried again. "W-Why ... are you doing this to me?" Akane whispered as she squeezed her eyes shut, opened her mouth, and let out the soft wail of a cry of a broken heart.