All right. You've really got Ranma in character. After being all Casanova last chapter, he's starting to worry and be afraid he's in over his head and second guess himself. And you're probably right about him not wanting to be as open, well, out in the open. It would be entirely in character for Nabiki to need to take over and lead him in the right direction, now that she's decided to make a commitment to him.

I also like the discussion about Akane, although I am a little worried about the prospect of stringing her along for a while until Ranma can made a decision. The fact is, Akane may have ALREADY made a decision. And if she thinks Nabiki is the best one for Ranma, that's the end of it.

Ranma's ranking of the fiancées was good too. Shampoo's not really a threat for Ranma's heart, but she IS a physical threat and Ranma knows it.

Amusing that Ranma said that he would never toy with a girl's feelings and use them against her when that's exactly what he ends up doing in the Reversal Jewel arc. Although I'd agree that he didn't KNOW that's what he was doing, and probably will be able to avoid getting into that situation now. Perhaps it would have been more truthful for him to add, "Not as long as I knew that I was doing it, anyway."

I really liked Ranma relating his attraction to her to fighting. There really is only one thing Ranma likes. :D

Looking forward to the next chapter. I wonder if Nabiki is going to experience some backlash from opening herself up this much. I like her growing sense of insecurity, it may balance the drastic change in her personality to have her lose some of her confidence.

Alright, not for the real action! Hah! Can't wait...

Thats quite a predicament for poor Ranma...!

Well, at least Nabiki gave him a choice. He really should think about what he is going to do with all the rest of those fiancee mess. Some will get hurt, but that's unavoidable. Nabiki will have make him take rest of his life seriously instead of martial arts only.

He cant keep delaying things and hope things fix itself, and he really should have let Xian Pu during the "reversal jewel arc" well alone, that could have been one less problem gone...Why he interfered seems to be a mystery or maybe liked a very attractive and exotic girl chasing him around and being clingy.

-Meech

I'm happy to see you're doing so well. Keep up the good work.

Very nice chapter, I like this Nabiki and look forward to your next chapter.

This is just the beginning to the future troubles they'd encounter. Unless, they find a clever way.

Can Nabiki and Ranma handle it? the chaos!

Nice story. Fairly decent characterizations. I liked it. Are you intending to continue? If so, I'm definitely watching this thread.

If not...heh, I have a few stories I'd like you to look at. If you can do this with a chapter or Ranma I'd like to see what you could do with any or a combinations of some of these:

fanfiction net/s/4719487/1/Am-I-Smart
fanfiction net/s/639048/1/Growing-Up-The-Half-Way
fanfiction net/s/2344075/7/Bishonen-Senshi-Sailor-Moon Just this chapter and the thing with Nabiki keeping her powers after becoming a youma, but you can read the rest of the story if you want.
fanfiction net/s/2609602/5/The-Best-of-Times Halfway down this chapter, the thing with Makoto Kashiwagi.
If you don't know who Makoto is, here; mangapark me/manga/boku-no-futatsu-no-tsubasa/s1/v1/c1/1

Well, I think Nabiki was in closer to in character in the first part of this chapter than she has been up to this point. And even once her plans fell apart, she was still trying to deny that she's changed. The one thought I has is that Nabiki inexplicably shouting about how gullible Ranma is when she again pretended to be in love with him would actually work here, if she was trying to lead Ranma to Akane after escaping from him.

I also found it a bit odd that Ranma reacted to the "There's Akane!" line when he did in the canon, but didn't fall for it when he was being seductive (a little too well) in the Tendo entryway. I also would not have expected him to kiss her so easily - although Nabiki DID make it a challenge. Maybe I can accept Casanova Ranma, though, as long as nothing else changes. :)

The irony here is that Ranma and Akane seemed to have guessed the truth, and are pushing for an end to their relationship, while Nabiki is still pushing for them to get back to normal. Almost like she doesn't want to deal with the consequences of her meddling. That's in character.

Now that the canon storyline is over, I look forward to where it goes from here. First matter of business I think is whether Akane understood Ranma saying he had to think about it, or he inadvertently made her think that they're engaged again. If it's as Ranma said and they just made up, then I think maybe Akane may approach Nabiki about clearing the air. That will give you a chance to echo the things she's already said "off camera". (I notice Kasumi clarified that Ranma and Akane tried to make up, but she wasn't really clear about what they said)

Well, this was interesting! I never saw Nabiki as more than the cunning and ambitious person that she is (with a soft spot for her family). That is to say, I never really favoured Akane either, she was just "better" than all the other potential brides. The only couple I actually shipped was Ryoga and Ukyo because, although unlikely, they would make an interesting combination.

Now for your story, I really liked how you played with the canon moments around Nabiki's point of view. I wasn't convinced about Ranma in this last chapter, because he really isn't that comfortable with physical displays of affection, even when no one is watching. So, to see him kissing Nabiki like that is a bit OOC, in my opinion. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it ;D

I'm really looking forward to the next chapter. This is when you deviate from the original plot and I'm excited to read what happens next. If you care for suggestions... I'm curious about Kasumi's inner side. You mentioned it in the previous chapter (I think?) when Nabiki noticed how her older sister is always kind, and wonders where does she draw that strength from. I would really like you to explore that character a bit more, if you haven't already planned that.

So, to sum it up: I'm really enjoying this story so far, you made me look at Nabiki in a whole different way, I think you have great writing skills and I hope you update very soon! Great job! :)

My god ... I mean ... MY GOD!
This had me crying likeI've never cried before reading fanfix
Who the hell are you? Are you a pro-writer moonlighting with this stuf?
If you arent, you should be! ... please ... PLEASE update more on this!
I didn't even LIKE nabiki before I read this ...and now I feel like she's ME!
Thank you for writing this! 3

Well, that veered off track with the Kodachi attack, but Nabiki picked it up and dragged it forcibly back on target. The question is, how successful was she? What is Ranma up to? Will he try to get revenge on Nabiki or has Kasumi's comment had an influence him? Did Nabiki sell the idea of Ranma being willing to apologize to Akane, when she couldn't back up the act with enthusiasm and confidence? The next chapter should be interesting.

One of the ways how that certain episode could have gone, never understood why Ranma proclaimed his so called undying love and then realized it was Akane he proclaimed to and not Nabiki. If it were Nabiki...

So, Ranma's martial arts training actually paid off, as he was such an expert at Ki technique levels, he should've known how to read emotions easy and body language too...

Now that they finally got their misunderstandings sorted out. They can go with their relationship. For safety and peace of mind could just call off the engagement and simply date in secret and find more about themselves and how to go on with life and next stage.

But if they don't call off and decide to stick with it. Nabiki could manipulate by telling Ranma to step up his education and get out to college some place. Ranma should at least know, the 'others' wont give them peace. Ukyo may back off, If Ranma stops denying his feelings like he did with Akane.

In the end they still got a lot of trouble and Ranma also needs to find his mom at some point and try to find a damn cure for his ridiculous curse. Ryoga will surely give Ranma pain when learns from Akane in his piggy form.

Finally out of the canon stage.

-Meech

At last, but now Nabiki will have to figure out a way to not hurt Akane since she pushed her back towards Ranma.

yay! cannon is finally being left behind for new stuff!

It's amazing in stories like this, how you can objectively look at something from the outside and see so clearly that all a character needs to do to FIX things is to be honest. And it's kinda frustrating that the character in question can't hear you shouting advice... man this is just like guys shouting at a ref over the TV. :P

Nice double update, really liked how reading the two chapters back to back really sunk me into Nabiki's mindset. Really can't wait to see what happens.