Disclaimer :

The characters in this story aren’t mine, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi and other publications… I’m only here so I can practice my writing…lol… I do not own any of the characters and gains no profit from writing this story… so again please don’t sue!… I already have enough problems managing bill payments…

Remember: Mz Kitty plus Ranma 1/2 equals no profit. Which means no money, So please get your lawyers out of my house or I'll be force to sic my dogs at them. Thank you and enjoy the story.

Warning:

There is OOC’s and potential shoujo-ai in the future instalments (because of Michiru and Haruka’s relationship and another couple). There will also be a divergence to AU. You have been dutifully warned.

Italics means Thoughts.

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Genma and Nodoka has announced to the Tendo family about letting Ranma go with Nabiki to Juuban which made the Tendo girls have a collective gasp because of the sudden change, including Ranma who had suddenly stopped eating. He dropped his chopsticks on the dinning room floor because of shock, his mouth gaping like a goldfish. Everyone else was even more surprised, when the Tendo patriarch didn’t offer any dispute about the said arrangement and merely agreed without any further protest.

In fact, Soun told Kasumi to ask the Mizuno’s if they have room for him and if they do not mind offering him accommodation. Kasumi obediantly agreed and left the remainder of the household. Both Ranma and Nabiki where frozen and unable to move, too shocked about the turn of events.

Akane however didn’t know how to feel. She was confused. She was torn between rage, jealousy and sadness. Perhaps this will be a good time to do a little soul searching if she indeed cared for Ranma. She then stole a look at his direction, trying to read and gauge his feelings and emotions. Akane's father voice filtered through her ears, insisting that the engagement still remains which in a way was a relief for Akane.

At least they didn’t shift the engagement to Nabiki, Akane thought to herself.

Even if they did switch the engagement to her sister, Nabiki wouldn’t know how to defend herself from the other rampaging fiancés that would surely follow them. At least that’s how Akane justified it to herself. She couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit of jealousy towards her sister but it couldn’t be jealousy right? She did however wonder why her father has agreed too happily with the new arrangement.

Nodoka and Genma also informed Soun that Ranma’s other fiancés has already been informed about Ranma moving to Juuban for school and has reluctantly agreed to stay behind. This news made Ranma relax somehow, sighing in relief that he doesn't have to handle his so called "friends" ire. Kasumi couldn’t hide her relief as well at what she had managed to hear as she returned and joined them in the dinning room.

Kasumi’s doubts were somehow put aside. With Ranma going with Nabiki, he will be able to defend her and protect her from the upcoming bad feeling she had. She wanted her sister to stay at Nerima but knew she will insist to go, no matter what they said. The only people who seemed to be at shock at the news were Ranma and Nabiki.

Nabiki was speechless. She couldn’t figure out what the Saotomes’ where up to and how easily her father caved in to the arrangement but figured as long as the engagement wasn’t shifted to her it was ok. But she didn’t trust the gleam in Nodoka’s eyes. There was just something in her eyes that made her put her guard up. The Saotome matriarch was definitely up to something.

Ranma in the other hand was down right confused. He was half excited and half petrified all at the same time. He was excited to get away from all the chaos with his honour intact… at least for a little while, but terrified by the fact that he will be with Nabiki! But he guessed its better than being stuck in Nerima. He then felt Nabiki nudge him in the ribs which got his attention.

Nabiki leaned next to him, invading his personal space. He felt himself freeze. He could smell her faint perfume and her body heat radiate to his own body. He felt something stirred within him, which he deduced as probably fear.

“Meet me in my room when this is over. We need to talk,” she whispered to him with much authority to her voice that brook no arguments. She then moved away back to her seat as if she nothing happened.

He felt cold all of sudden. He didn’t know whether it was because of the upcoming talk with Nabiki or because she had moved away from him. He also realised that what Nabiki just did, would look very intimate to anyone who noticed or bothered to care. He searched the room to see if anyone did notice especially Akane. He didn’t want to visit LEO anytime soon. It seems his luck held out because everyone was too engrossed in discussing the new arrangement that he was ignored. He also noticed that Nabiki had already managed to slipped out without anyone else noticing.

It was already late at night when Nabiki was awakened by a slight tapping on her window. She was slightly peeved since she had only shut her eyes only a few minutes ago trying to find sleep. When she thought she had finally managed to finally find sleep, there’s someone tapping on her window.

FOR THEIR SAKE IT BETTER BE DAMN IMPORTANT! Nabiki swore to her self as she reluctantly got up and left her comfortable bed.

As she gazed outside her window, she was faced by Ranma’s comical expression. He was hanging upside down and their eyes are the only thing parallel to each other. Normally, Nabiki would be taken by surprise by Ranma’s antics but she was just too tired to care. So instead she opened her window not bothering if Ranma followed her and went back to sit back down on her bed. Still a little bit groggy.

Ranma on the other hand followed her as soon as she opened the window. He chose to sit on the floor crossed legged, directly facing her with his hands on his lap.

“What do you want Saotome?” trying to stifle her yawn but didn’t try to hide her annoyance in her voice.

“You told me to meet you up here?” Ranma answered a little bewildered.

“That was three bloody hours ago!” Nabiki exclaimed trying to calm herself down and not raise her voice to wake up the rest of the household.

True. She did asked him to come to her room, to talk about what had happened earlier on about Ranma tagging along with her to Juuban and how to break it to her cousin about the boy’s “special” condition. She still hasn’t decided whether to tell her cousin the truth about him, but then again her cousin Ami is one of the most trustworthy people you can find. She sighed inwardly.

She thought that by being away from Nerima the weirdness in her life would stop but if Ranma was coming with her it was just like a sheep leading a wolf to a slaughter or something like that. Ranma was the very epitome of an enigma. Chaos ensues everywhere he goes. She just hopes that they can buy enough time for peace. Believe it or not she was looking forward in the change of environment. She can start all over again and leave her “past” behind. Not that being the ice queen of Furikan and Nerima was all that bad, but she sometimes finds herself lonely and she hated it.

She hated being alone. Ever since her mother died she has retreated into her shell and refused to let herself be bared in the fear of getting hurt. She wasn’t scared of physical pain. She had been in minor scrapes before, but she couldn’t handle emotional and psychological pain that almost drove her to the edge. It was too close for her liking. She shivered as she remembered what she had almost done. She supposed she should thank Kuno for that. Their somewhat obscured friendship had given her insight.

Being able to be close with Kuno made her realise so much. She was one of the very few people that could get close to Kuno and somewhat be comfortable around him. This is probably because they both lost their mothers in such a young age and understood the depth of pain and trauma they both went through. Only they chose to deal with it differently.

Kuno chose to live in a dreamland where he was the noble hero and saves the day, to make up for his inability to save his mother and family from mental breakdown. While she in the other hand chose to hide herself. Putting a wall around herself to save her the pain but left her all alone. This new change should be able to help her open up some more or so she hopes.

Ranma on the other hand felt guilty for waking up the middle Tendo. True it was already late but its better late than never right? And it’s very bad to upset Nabiki… Really bad…

He doesn’t know how she does it though.

Here he was, suppose to be the most powerful and best martial artist in Nerima and probably the world but Nabiki scares the livinghell out of him. Come to think about it, most of the martial artists are intimidated by her. Even Cologne and Happosai respects her. He always thought its because of her calculating mind, what was it again that Nabiki prides her self in?

Knowledge?

Knowledge was power or something like that? In any case he is determined to figure out the Tendo girl.

Her somewhat aloof attitude and money making ways has the ability to cause more trouble for him and the rest of the martial artists in Nerima, yet she hardly gets stuck in a sticky or uncompromising situation. She always managed to stay on top at all times hardly loosing her cool. This is what he wants to find out from her. True he attracted chaos as Nabiki has frequently pointed out to him, but most of it was also caused by her!

Some of it anyways but she seems to command respect rather than hate.

He knew Nabiki’s reputation in Furikan was less than desirable, but when he had asked how people viewed her, most of the answers where positive rather than negative. Most of the students respect her rather than despise her. Nabiki may not know about it but she maybe the most popular girl in Furikan!

True most don’t like her mercenary ways, but she was better than the yakuza! How she manages not to get attention from the yakuza was another mystery. She certainly the only person that can keep the Kuno’s in line. He was broken away from his thoughts when Nabiki called his attention.

“Well since your here and I’ve already lost my sleep we might as well talk about the new arrangement” Nabiki spoke out as she leaned back to her bed.

Ranma just nodded afraid to further upset the newly awakened girl, but showed that she has got his full attention.

“We have a couple of problems we need to discuss, one of them is your special condition,” Nabiki explained. “I take it your going to be staying with me at my cousin Ami’s place?”

Ranma just frowned and after some thought he finally nodded.

He was quite distracted at the earlier discussion, due to shock and awareness of Nabiki’s presence invading his personal space but he did however overheard that Soun would like him to stay with Nabiki to look after his “little girl”.

“I see… This provides a little dilemma in your case Saotome, You see my cousin Ami is a very intelligent person and it won’t be long till she figures out about your little problem. I don’t think we can hide your little condition too long since your curse is somewhat a water magnet,” Nabiki explained. She didn’t want to lie to her cousin as well.

Ranma simply nodded indicating he understood and was listening carefully to her, allowing Nabiki to continue.

“Therefore, I propose that we should inform her right away before we come to Juuban but since it’s your problem, I took this opportunity to give you the decision,” Nabiki continued to explain, offering him her solution.

Offering him to decide since it wasn’t her place to tell her cousin. Besides if she wanted to start all over again, this is the most appropriate step. To befriend Ranma.

Ranma was at lost for words. He was used to people making the decisions for him, that and manipulating him. Perhaps Nabiki was still a little sleepy to realise her folly but in any case he was happy that Nabiki was giving him some credit in making the decision for himself. It somehow gave him a sense of power in controlling his own life.

“I’ll take your word for it Nabiki, we might as well tell your cousin about my curse. She’s bound to find out anyways,” he answered as he smiled at her which was missed by the middle Tendo because of her sleepiness.

“Very well Saotome, I’ll ring her up tomorrow to tell her about you, but I won’t be surprised if father had already called her today to tell her that you’re coming. Which brings us to our next problem: Your fiancées.” She informed him. A thorn in her side that she definitely did not need.

“But my parents had already fixed that,” Ranma pointed out. Confused on why they should worry about them now when his mother had reassured them at the discussion that they will not intervene.

“Do you really think they will give up just because your mother had asked them?” Nabiki asked him dubiously.

“Well, maybe” Ranma answered rather sheepishly. His mother can be really scary at times. The Sepukku pact was one of them. She was a very intimidating woman after all.

“Saotome, Saotome,” Nabiki sighed at Ranma’s naivety. “They may honour your mother’s wish but only for a moment. They are more likely to find an excuse to go to Juuban and are bound to follow us. Not to mention Ryoga’s directional problem” She pointed out.

“Besides they are also more likely to follow since Akane is temporarily out of the picture which means it’s open season on Wild Horse!” Nabiki continued, trying to make Ranma understand.

“What are we suppose to do about it?” now Ranma was worried, he didn't expect the NWC to follow them all the way to Juuban, though he should have realised how persistant they were.

He was looking forward to having peace and quiet. Even if he had to spend it with Nabiki but Nabiki did have a valid point. They’re bound to follow them and with Akane being temporarily out of the picture. This will provide a much more unneeded encouragement to Ukyo and Shampoo, not to mention Kodachi.

“There’s nothing much we can do at the moment, but perhaps wait. I mean they won’t make a move just yet especially with Aunt Nodoka still here in Nerima. All we have to do is wait and see. We have time to figure out what to do once we leave,” answered Nabiki as she yawned, looking rather relaxed rather than troubled about the issue.

Ranma for his part couldn’t believe that Nabiki was willing to help him out. Perhaps this arrangement isn’t so bad after all. It seems clear that this move is important to the girl, enough to help him out with his fiancée dilemma. Though he was still a little bit on guard, he found himself looking forward in having Nabiki as an ally and potential friend. With Nabiki’s help it would sure make his life a lot easier. He found himself agreeing with Nabiki.

All through the night Ranma and Nabiki ended up talking. They talked for hours about various inconsequential things and found out more about each other. By the time Ranma left Nabiki’s room it was nearly dawn.

Unbeknownst to the both of them a new friendship began to form between them. A new understanding of each other. Perhaps moving to Juuban isn’t as bad as they both thought but somewhere in Juuban, a new evil began to rise.

“It’s time!…. And this time I will have my revenge!” a dark figure began to laugh, as its minions gathered around their master. All awaiting their master’s bidding.

“This time she will be mine!”

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Author’s Notes:

Who is this dark figure?

What does it want?

Hope you all like it. Thank you to the anonymous reviewer who had pointed out some spelling and grammatical errors. It was very much appreciated.

Also my other stories will be updated soon so stay tuned. ( Hey that Rhymes!)

I also would like to take this time to inform you readers, that my stories will take longer to update since Uni has once again started. Oh well. That's all for now.

Please stay tuned!

Ja Ne,