[The contest for negative feedback about my writing is now closed. Winners will be announced on my profile, and the forum for the contest once voting has concluded by the panel. I will launch a new contest for positive feedback as we near the end of the story.]

Nabiki walked side by side with Ranma quietly in the cool morning air, until they were no longer within sight of the house. Then she tugged on his hand to stop him. He slowed to a stop immediately and snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him as he looked around for threats. That hadn't been her intention, but she sank into his warm arms willfully and relaxed against him anyway. 
I don't think I will ever get tired of this. She thought without a shred of guilt as she breathed in his intoxicating cedar and flower scent and rubbed her cheek on the silk of his shirt. It was a clean shirt. He must have changed quickly before leaving. She thought idly.
"I don't see nothin'." Ranma whispered quietly to her without letting her go.
"I wasn't signaling you that I saw anything." She whispered back with a trace of amusement in her voice.
"Oh ... I thought Shampoo might be..." Ranma said as he relaxed his arm from around her and leaned back a bit from her. Now that the threat of danger was past, she knew he didn't feel comfortable just holding her in public for no reason.
She sighed and smiled at him. Don't scare the bunny. She chastised herself. "I just wanted to ask if you were all right. Did they hurt you last night?"
"Oh ... nah, I'm fine." He said as he nudged her to start walking again. 
She nodded and fell into step with him. She looked over at him, and knew that he was lying though. He had dark circles under his eyes, so at the very least he hadn't gotten enough sleep. Additionally, he seemed to be favoring his left side over his right side ever so slightly. Obviously nothing was broken or bleeding, but he had clearly at least gotten sore from something last night. She sighed again and squeezed his hand.
It's not like there's anything I can do for him. I can't even send him home to go sleep. I need him with me to keep me safe. She thought with no small amount of bitterness. She was finding it harder and harder to view the Amazons as a nuisance. She was starting to strongly dislike them.
Ranma walked with her in silence for a few more moments. She knew he could and would walk with her comfortably in silence all the way to school. She was sure the lack of conversation made it easier for him to watch for threats. But she wanted to talk to him.
I don't have a lot of time left until the end of our week. I need to make more of a connection with him. She thought with determination that was almost mild desperation. No time like the present I guess. She thought as she turned to him.
"How are you feeling, Ranma?" She asked carefully. She wanted to wade slowly into the relationship talk waters.
"I'm all right." He said without looking at her. But he did briefly squeeze her hand.
She smiled and pushed a little more. "I meant about us. How are you feeling about us?" She asked softly.
She felt his hand twitch in hers, but other than that he gave no outward sign of nervousness or any other negative emotions.
"You ... you know ... you know how I ..." He trailed off quietly.
She sighed. She was going to have to keep spoon feeding him. Like a baby bunny. She thought with a smile as she tried again. "I know, Ranma. But, how would you describe us to someone else?"
"What do ya mean?" He asked softly.
"If Riko asked you about us, what would you tell her?" She whispered.
"Oh, well if Riko asked, I'd tell her we're special friends." He said with a heavy emphasis on special friends. 
She stopped walking and looked at him with her mouth open. Did he just... she thought in shock.
Ranma stopped too and looked back at her with some amusement on his tired face.
A slow smile started to grow on her own face. "Did you  ... did you know what Riko meant when she said that the other day?" She asked with amusement.
He smiled and nodded at her. "Yeah, I knew. I know I didn't grow up normal like the rest of you, but I read and watch movies 'n stuff. And we do sleep together, even though I know that isn't what Riko meant." He said defensively, but with a trace of laughter in his voice.
Apparently the secret to getting him to drop some of his shields is just to get him really tired. She thought happily as she tugged his hand to start him walking again. She listened to the soft swishing and gurgling sound of the water in the canal for a moment as she processed what she had just learned.
She looked over at him after a moment, and grinned as she pressed him for more information. "All right, so if you weren't teasing Riko, what would you tell people?" She asked him. She couldn't help herself, she was desperate to find out her standing with him. Is Akane winning? Am I winning? I have no idea. She thought with unresolved tension.
"Well ... dependin' on who asked, I guess I would say you're my fiancé, or that we're datin'." He said softly.
She nodded her head and walked quietly with him for a while. Then she looked over at him sharply as an impish idea came to her. I can't not ask, he might not be tired enough to have his shields down again for a long time. She thought resolutely as she turned to him and smiled.
"Ranma ... what about the other question Riko asked you the other day?" She asked softly. She could feel herself blushing, but she was curious.
"Which one?" He asked.
"You know, the other one...?" She whispered.
He didn't say anything for a while, and she knew better than to press him. I guess he's just going to pretend I didn't ask hi—
"I bought some cheap ones a long time ago after I fell into the spring. I don't know what they're called, it's all in Chinese. All of that stuff is one of the main reasons I try so hard to not change into a girl." He whispered.
She felt herself flush with pride that he was willing to share that with her. She was also flushing with embarrassment both for himself and her.
Okay, you know what, bad idea, why the hell did I ask him that? What am I going to do with that information? She chided herself.
"Thank you for telling me. I won't tell anyone else, I promise." She said in a louder voice.
He nodded, then smiled. "My turn. Since you want to ask questions like that, I get to ask one of my own."
"Oh ... o-kay, sure. Go ahead." She said as she blushed furiously. And now I pay the price. I hope he doesn't get TOO personal... she thought as the raciest questions she could think of about herself, and women in general, danced around in her mind and mortified her.
"Did ... did you ... did you ... last night... um... were you...?"
She stared at him for a moment as her mind went to absolute war with itself. She wanted, strongly, to make a joke in response. But, she also wanted to be annoyed with him that as blatant as she had been, he still hadn't understood what she wanted. She knew it would embarrass him, and even shame him, if she called that out though.
So she settled on the truth, with a bit of a tease. She smiled at him as seductively as she knew how. "Well, maybe I can be more clear what I wanted last night, tonight." She whispered to him softly.
He nodded hesitantly at her and looked away, and she sighed. Patience girl, patience. Part of the reason he's so wonderful, is because he's so gentle. Let him come to you. She coached herself. Because she had already decided she wanted to be with him, she was frustrated that he wouldn't take at least a co-leading role. But she had known going into a relationship with him, that he would have to be taught. She smiled softly at him.
Having to be patient and having to teach him some stuff is a small price to pay for someone so wonderful. She thought happily to herself.
"Does Riko know?" He asked unexpectedly.
"Know what?" She asked, curiously at the topic change.
"About, you know ... everything."
She smiled at him and squeezed his hand reassuringly, and then tugged on his hand until he looked over at her. She could see he was blushing. That made her very happy. She shook her head once he was looking at her. "No, just like everyone else's secrets, our secrets are our secrets. Riko knows I am involved with you, but that's it. I won't give her details unless you tell me to, or I feel I need to share something with her for a necessary reason. In that case though, I would only share things about my part of our secrets. All right?" She asked.
He nodded. "I trust ya, Nabiki. I just wanted ta know, ya know..."
She smiled. She did know. He wanted to know how much Riko could tease him about, and also how much he should say when dealing with Riko. She made a mental note to ask Riko to dial down a bit. He had passed the trials, he didn't need to be on edge all the time around her friends. Just because they enjoyed constantly teasing each other, didn't mean that was the kind of relationship he had to have with them.
"I can control the girls, Ranma. Leave it to me." Was what she said out loud with a smile to reassure him.
"They love you, you know?" Ranma said softly in reply, again without looking at her.
"I ... I know." She whispered back after her own moments of silence. She breathed in the cool morning air which was scented with the water smell from the canal they were walking next to, and tried to sort out her feelings for her best friends from everything else that was going on. She didn't know why things in life seemed to always come in waves, but they did.
"What did you do for them?" He asked.
She smiled as she replied. It was funny to her that he was trying to get information out of her after she had just reminded him that she kept private information private. "I can't tell you, Ranma. It's their private business. I told you that last night. Favors I do for people are absolutely secret. Only they can tell you about it." She said firmly.
He didn't say anything to that, he just nodded.
She added, after a moment's silence, a little more of an explanation. "What I can tell you though, is that in between making money and having fun, I have tried to do, for some people, what couldn't be done for me. I have the power to help people if I choose to. I won't just help anyone, especially not for free, but with people like Riko, Nanami, Chihiro, and Yui, I was happy to help. I was happy to set things right for them."
Ranma looked at her quietly for a while before he responded. When he did, it was a single word. "Why?"
She smiled at him. "What's the point of money and power, if you don't use it for something worthwhile every now and then?" She said cryptically. They were dancing on the edge of things she didn't even talk to herself about.
But I owe him this much at least. Ranma should know me better. Daddy and Doctor Tofu still know me better than he does. If we're going to be together, that has to change. She vowed to herself as she felt something straining inside herself that she didn't understand.
Ranma nodded to that. He seemed to understand. She was happy about that. What she was showing him about herself was more or less who she was. She looked at him and her mind flashed forward to a possible life she could have with him.
Aside from myself, I can offer him money and culture and my connections. I can give him a real adult relationship. I'm smart, and quick on my feet. I think I'm fun too, I mean, not lately, but in general I am. I can help him be less gullible. I can help him grow to be the man I know he will be. I can warn him if someone is trying to trick him out of the dojo or some other nonsense. I can help him adjust to the real world outside of the martial arts. He ... just ... has to pick me... she thought as a crushing wave of sadness and doubt welled up inside her. She pulled in a deep, shuddering breath as the pretty picture in her mind of her possible life with him broke apart under the pressure of the very real fears she had that he wouldn't pick her. She felt a pit of coldness building up inside her again.
She smiled shakily at him and tamped down on her emotions. Now is not the time to drop all of this on him. She reminded herself as she clenched her free hand momentarily into a fist and tried to steady herself.
She looked at him again and found him looking back at her with concern on his face. She smiled at him and couldn't help herself from examining him again as her possible future husband while they walked hand-in-hand to school as he kept her safe.
He's a great companion. He's sincere, and fun, and he does think well on his feet when he has to. He's incredibly loyal, I can trust him. He'll keep me honest, he won't let me get too big of a head. He CARES about me. It could be perfect. I can go to university and then go into Finance afterward. He can go to university with me, and run the dojo on the side. Akane can stay and help run the dojo too, although I hope she goes to university too, she has a gift for math. The dojo... can just be something they do to stay in shape ... it isn't like we need the money. But if he wants to stay home and run the dojo, that's fine, I've never cared about traditional gender roles anyway. She thought happily as she imagined her life together with him and looked at him with hopeful eyes.
She couldn't resist asking him about it. She wanted to know where he saw himself in the future. If he saw himself out on more training missions all the time, that would be a strong signal of his intentions.
"Ranma where do you see yourself after high school?" She asked tentatively, almost fearfully.
"What do ya mean?"
"What are you going to do?"
"Oh, well... I'll keep trainin', of course—"
"You could go to university, and..." She cut him off but trailed off herself. She was already worried about where the conversation was going.
He looked at her with unreadable eyes for a moment as they walked. Eventually, he sighed and responded to her. "But I don't want to go to university, Nabiki." He said confidently.
"But, Ranma—"
He held up his hand and interrupted her. "Lis'sen, I could go ta university, an' I could get a degree in somethin' ... but why would I?"
She looked at him quizzically. "So you can..." she trailed off. She actually didn't have a good answer for that.
"Education's important. I can't argue that. And you should go to university, Nabiki. You have a lot to offer the world." He said calmly.
She shook her head emphatically. "I don't want to leave—"
"Who says ya have to leave? Go to the University in Tokyo, take the train there every day. You can stay at home. Nothin' will change." He said confidently.
"What about you? You have a lot to offer the world too." She challenged him with a frown on her face. Yet again her talks with him weren't going the way she has imagined them. Her comfortable little image of them going to university together, and cuddling on the lawn outside class, and studying together in the library were shattering in her mind as they spoke. It was taking all of her self control not to get angry with him for taking that away from her. The pit of cold inside her was melting under the sudden heat of the anger she was now holding back.
"I'm doing what I do best, what I have to offer the world." He said simply and softly, with a smile as he repeated her words back to her.
"What do you mean?" She asked, genuinely confused.
"How many times have I fought for you an' Akane an' Kasumi, an' other people?" He asked quietly.
"A lot." She replied. She looked down at her hands, embarrassed. It frustrated her that she owed him her life. It also shamed her that she had been growing angry with him for taking away an idle fantasy of hers that he hadn't even known about, when she did really owe him so much. She sighed, and nodded as she forced herself to let it go.
"Hey, no, it's not like that." He said kindly. She looked back up at him. "What I mean is, I'm able ta do that, because I've been trained ta do that. When I become a Master of the Art, and take over the dojo, I'll have students."
She nodded, not sure where he was going.
"I'll be able to train people ta protect themselves. They won't hafta live in fear. Can you imagine ... can you imagine ... a world where so many people were trained in the Art, that people weren't afraid anymore? If enough people trained... we could end wars, Nabiki. We could change the world." He said fiercely.
She looked into his eyes and saw utter conviction there. He knew damn well what he was doing. And he was right.
Oh, I doubt he's going to bring about world peace. But, he's right about people living in fear. Even if he only trained enough people in our neighborhood to take the fear away, that would still be changing the world, just a smaller part of it. She thought to herself as new fantasies sprang into her mind of her going to university while he changed the world for her. She knew damn well he wasn't doing it for her, but she enjoyed the idea of that anyway.
Her breath caught in her throat as she nodded and emotions crashed into her. It was a beautiful sentiment, it made her want to cry.
"I'm sorry, Ranma ... I ... I hadn't thought of it like that before. You're absolutely right, that is a lot to offer the world. I would love to see you do that."
He nodded and smiled at her. "You'll see it, I promise."
She perked up as something occurred to her she could ask him about that tied into what he wanted to do. Mom knew the Art, but I never saw her fight. Was that reality, or my perception? She thought as she turned to him and smiled. "Ranma...?"
"Yeah?" He asked.
"Do you think my Mom could have been like you or Doctor Tofu?"
"What do ya mean?"
"Doctor Tofu can keep people away from him when he wants to. You can do it too, I saw you doing it on our date."
He looked away from her for a moment, and she could see him gathering his thoughts as his eyes continued to roam around them looking for threats. Eventually he looked back at her and sighed. "I don't know. I have no memory of ever meetin' your mom. But yeah, I guess, if she knew what she was doin' ... there are techniques that do what you're describin'..." He said softly.
She smiled at him in triumph. "So, you admit that you really were doing something to keep people away on our date?" She pressed him.
He looked away again, and nodded. She didn't understand why he was being so cagey. What was the big deal?
"What about you?" He asked, interrupting her musings.
She nodded as she understood what he was asking. "I'll train again. I've already decided that. But I don't want to train to become a master like you want to. I just want to be able to handle myself long enough to get away from someone attacking me."
He looked at her with surprise and a bit of disapproval on his face. She sighed and answered his unspoken question. "I don't like fighting."
"Why not?" He asked, clearly confused.
"I don't know how to really describe it to you. Um ... well, how comfortable did you feel in the restaurant last night?
"...not much." He admitted.
"Well, that's how I feel around you when you're fighting for real, and not just training or playing with Akane or Ryoga or something. It's scary."
He nodded his head. "I guess I can understand that." He said quietly.
"I studied the Art in the past, and I think I should pick it up again. But it still scares me, Ranma. I would rather be like Doctor Tofu is, and my Mother was, to have enough of a, I guess presence is the word I would use ... I want to have enough of a presence that people just leave me alone."
"I ... I can understand that." He said hesitantly.
They walked in silence for a while after that. She chewed on her lip nervously as she tried to decide if she should ask her next question. She knew it was a valid question, but she also knew he wouldn't like it. She sighed and decided to do it anyway.
"Ranma...?" She began timidly.
He looked over at her and smiled, but didn't say anything. Then he went back to swiveling his head around as he continued to scan for danger.
"Ranma ... what about Happosai?" She asked quietly.
"What about him?" He replied in a neutral voice.
"He's the Master of the Anything Goes Style, isn't he?"
"Not to me he isn't." Ranma said with strong disgust in his voice.
"What do you mean?"
"Whaddaya mean what do I mean? You've seen 'im. He's a disgrace. I'd never admit that he has anythin' to do with our style, ta anyone!" He said vehemently.
Well ... this is going about as well as I thought it would. She thought bemused. Still, she felt the need to press on.
"Yeah, but Ranma, aside from the fact that he's a raging pervert, he's also better than you, and Daddy, and Shampoo's grandmother, isn't he?" She asked quietly.
"Sure, if nobody's wavin' a bra around, and there's no girls around for him ta fondle." Ranma said disgustedly.
"Okay, so if he's the head of the Order, and he's better than Shampoo's grandmother ... why don't we just ask him to deal with the Amazons?" She asked hopefully.
"No." Ranma said in a heated voice.
She raised an eyebrow at him. "No? Just no? Why not?" She asked with some heat creeping into her own voice.
"I told ya, he's a disgrace. I'd never ask him for anythin'!" Ranma said as he squeezed his hand into a fist and set his jaw firmly.
She sighed and continued to push him. They were talking about the safety of her family. Ranma's pride be damned, if Happosai could do something useful for once, she wasn't too proud to use him as a resource.
"Okay, so you won't ask him. What if I ask him?" She asked firmly.
He turned and looked at her with wide eyes and said nothing for a while. Eventually he went back to looking around for danger and took his eyes off her. "I don't know why you'd want to be anywhere near him, but sure, if you can find him, if you want to ask him, I can't stop ya." He said in a cold voice without looking at her. "Please ... tell me if you're gonna do it, though, so I can go with ya, okay?" He added
She sighed. "Why would you want to go with me?"
"So I can kill him if he touches you." Ranma growled.
"You hate him that much?" She asked, incredulous.
"Yes." He said simply.
"He's mostly harmless. The underwear thing is obnoxious but no big deal. And yeah he's a little too grabby ... but lots of guys are like that." She said in a neutral voice. She didn't approve of it, but it wasn't uncommon for guys to touch inappropriately. Nobody was dumb enough to do it to her, but she knew it happened. Happosai was a symptom of a much larger problem.
Ranma looked at her again, and she saw in his eyes the fire of hatred burning. She sighed and dropped it. He's right, involving the old man would probably be more trouble than it was worth. She thought dejectedly.
Well, since I already have him annoyed, I might as well go for broke. She thought with determination.
"Ranma?" She asked him softly.
He looked at her with annoyance on his face. But his eyes were still the eyes of her Ranma, her friend, the person she trusted. She was adult enough to know that love could exist between two people, even if they disagreed or fought from time to time.
"Yeah?" He replied as he went back to scanning for danger.
"Shampoo and Ukyo have been ... talked to ... did you ... want me to help you talk to Kodachi too?" She asked. It was kind of a weird position to be in. Kodachi, unlike the rest of the girls, had no real claim on him. But she knew his sense of honor might hold him to some sort of formal action anyway.
"No." He said in a cold voice.
She raised an eyebrow. "You sure? I can think of all sorts of fun ways to tell her to go away." She said with a smile as she tried to lighten the mood.
"I ain't talkin' to her again unless I have to." He said coldly.
"What do you—"
"I mean, she's never been anythin' other than a crazy problem. I've never dated her, and I don't wanna go talk to her." He said softly.
She nodded. She understood his frustration. She also had a sneaking suspicion that he was also still angry about Kodachi's recent actions against himself, and her. 
She sighed as she gathered her courage. When she was ready she took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she spoke the words she had been dreading.
"So that just leaves Akane then. Are you ready to talk to her?" She asked with a catch in her voice as the image of the two of them standing together quietly talking in the early morning flashed through her mind.
He didn't answer for a while. As the silence built, her nervousness grew as well. She felt it inside herself like a lead ball weighing her down in her stomach. He finally answered with two words that didn't raise her confidence level.
"I guess." He said quietly. Then he asked a question she had not been expecting. "What's your plan?"
She looked at him blankly for a moment, then looked away and set her face in a nonchalant mask as she answered. "That's top secret information, Ranma. You'll find out when you need to know." She lied. She sneaked a glance over at him and found him looking at her dubiously before he gave up and went back to scanning for danger.
Plan for Akane ... Plan for Akane ... I don't have one. I wish I had one, but I don't. She said to herself. She knew she was running out of time. Her part of the promise had been to help him find a way to break things off with the rest of the girls. Akane was the last one. Technically things were already broken off with them, but she knew damn well it wasn't that simple for Akane and him. She decided to turn it back around on him for now and put a small, confident smile on her face that turned up at one corner as she winked at him.
"I'll tell you the plan when you tell me when you want to talk to her." She said as confidently as she could. She was playing with fire, and she knew it, if he called her bluff then—
"How ... how about tomorrow after dinner?" He said unexpectedly.
She looked over at him in shock. She knew her mouth was hanging open for a moment before she regained control and shut it.
Well ... crap. I wasn't expecting him to be ready to set a time. She decided to push him a little and see how committed to it he was.
"Are you sure? Once we talk to her, there'll be no going back. Things might change at home." She said softly.
He looked over at her and locked eyes with her for a moment, and she saw absolute terror in his eyes. She sighed and stepped closer to him as they walked and let go of his hand so she could shift to hugging him from the side.
They walked that way for a while before she had her thoughts gathered enough to speak again. "Why is this so difficult for you? What's wrong?" She whispered to him.
He looked over at her, and opened his mouth, but no sound came out. They looked at each other for several moments awkwardly before he gave up and looked away. She sighed and tried again.
"If you're ready to talk to Akane, then you're ready to make your choice, right?" She asked.
He shrugged then nodded. She scowled at that. She knew he wasn't playing with her emotions, but his body language was setting off the alarms she usually used when people were being insincere with her. She knew with him, though, that it wasn't insincerity, it was indecision.
"Why are you so afraid of this?" She whispered to him. "You were able to get through talking to Ukyo..." She trailed off as he looked over at her with anguished eyes.
Wow ... still? If he still feels that bad about Ukyo ... wow ... what can I possibly do to help him break things off with Akane to make it easier? There isn't anything Akane wants like Ukyo did. I can't divert her. The only thing I could possibly do to make it easy for him to walk away, is make her hate him... She thought as a cold chill ran down her spine. She knew making Akane hate him would work, but it was also the one aspect of her assistance in breaking things off with the rest of the girls she has specifically told him she would help him prevent.
She tried to lighten the suddenly heavy mood with a joke as her mind worked furiously for a way out of the situation she found herself in. "Well ... you could always just lose a duel to Ryoga or something with Akane as the stakes..." She trailed off as he skewered her with a disapproving glare for a moment.
"I don't lose. Ever. I refuse to lose. I never lose." He said in a low, almost angry tone. She knew he wasn't angry with her. It was more like he was reciting something that had been drilled into him, and resented that it was a part of himself.
That's ... a problem, though ... he doesn't lose. Letting go of the girls is a form of losing, I suppose. I wonder if he's strong enough to lose Akane? Losing Ukyo was hard enough for him, and he thought of her as a good friend. With Akane, he won her heart. I know he knows that. If he lets her go, for good, he will be losing her heart. Can he do that? Can he lose on purpose for something that important? She looked at him with worry in her heart.
She didn't have any answers for that, and she was afraid to ask him. She also knew he was afraid. She didn't know what, exactly, he was afraid of, but she had a feeling it had a lot to do with being alone on the road, without his mother, and only his horrible father, for ten years.
And now he's living in our home, surrounded by women who are nice to him, well mostly, and ... we feed him, and pay attention to him too. He must just absolutely love that. And he knows that Akane and I both care about him, and want to be with him. That has to be an ego booster for him as well as very comforting after growing up without his mother... without his ... mother... She thought to herself as various ideas swirled around in her mind about him and his fear of women and his obvious fear of loneliness.
"See you today at lunch?" He interrupted her thoughts.
She looked over at him in surprise, and then around at her surroundings with wide eyes. They had arrived at the door to her classroom. She hadn't even been aware that they had reached the school or entered the building. Riko was staring at her intently from inside the classroom. She waved to her friend absently as she turned back to Ranma.
This is dangerous. I am completely losing focus. She thought uneasily as she stared into his eyes and smiled nervously. It's dangerous ... but I don't see any way I can possibly stop now. She thought.
"Of course, Ranma. Pick me up here okay?" She asked him softly.
He nodded and leaned in to hug her without her even having to nudge him. She sank into the heat of his body happily, and greedily luxuriated in his warmth.
This is dangerous ... and I don't care. She thought happily.