Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers) Fan Fiction ❯ Nabiki 1/2 (A Very Scary Thought) ❯ Suicide's Not Painless... ( Chapter 17 )

Nabiki 1/2

(A Very Scary Thought)

Written by Jim Robert Bader

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

Based Upon the Altered Destinies Storyline

Inspired by the works of such fans as

Wade Tritshler

Richard Lawson

James Jones

And Many Others

Standard Disclaimer: This is inspired by the work of Takahashi Rumiko and is not my original creation. All characters belong to her. This is only a fanfictional work, and is not intended to compromise the rights of the original owners, distributors and publishers of the Ranma series. I have no money to spare and would very much appreciate if no one tries to sue me.

"He's what?" Nabiki found herself shouting.

"It's was terrible!" Kasumi blurted, for once ignoring her usual eye-feast at Nabiki's masculine condition, "A Mister Kuonji Akira stopped by and told us all about how Ranma-kun was betrothed to marry his daughter, and father was so angry…"

"But…" Ranma was having difficulty speaking, "S-Seppuku? What…?"

"It appears that your father made an agreement with Aunt Nodoka that gave her the right to order him to commit suicide if he failed in any way his duty as a parent," Kasumi explained, "She made him sign a contract to that end before she allowed him to leave with you on his first training mission. The second time he left with Nabiki she made him promise that he would teach her to be a proper lady and not make it hard for her to find marriageable prospects."

"Why that…abysmal idiot!" Nabiki swore, "Oneechan, the thermos!"

"Hai," Kasumi replied, reaching down by the door and picking up a thermos bottle, which she handed to Nabiki the minute her younger sister stepped onto the veranda.

Nabiki opened the thermos and poured the contents onto her head, wincing slightly as the hot water changed her back to her real sex, then she handed the bottle back and said, "Where's Genma? He didn't…?"

"He's…in the dojo," Kasumi looked down, "He asked us to leave him alone…that was some time ago…"

"Otosan…" Ranma's knees turned to water and he sagged against the doorframe.

"Wait for me," Nabiki looked at Ranma with a fierce expression in her face, "Ranma-kun, I swear to you that I will not allow anything to happen to your father. Trust me on this, I know him better than anyone. He'll listen to me, and so will your mother."

The latter part she was less certain of, but at the moment she did not care. She was angrier than she could ever remember being, and determined to make a point of it as she headed for the dojo, ignoring the entreating cries of Akane and her father.

Saotome Genma was a lot of things in her eyes: a wretched coward, a thief, a disreputable cheat and a lot of other words she hoped Ranma never learned about, but beneath it all was a good man who cared about his honor. He might protest that staying alive was more important than honor, but at heart he did have pride and was committed to the Budo he always preached, if not imperfectly practiced.

Still she had half expected that he would not be there when she arrived. It would have been just like Genma to run for the high hills rather than face the consequences of his actions, but no doubt Genma had been warned against this. As much as he feared death, it was plain that his fear of Nodoka was far greater.

He sat with legs crossed, looking unusually composed on a white silk cloth with a naked tanto set before him in the gleam of a single lit candle. He barely acknowledged her entrance with a very faint nod, looking neither afraid nor bothered, which meant he was mentally prepared. That was very much unlike the man she knew and sometimes loathed, but she had expected nothing else from him. After all, he had Samurai ancestors.

"Uncle," she said formally, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Don't interfere, girl," Genma replied without emotion in his tone, "This is something I have to do. Granted I prayed to the gods that I could avoid it, but a man can only run so far from his own fate."

"And this is what it all comes down to, huh?" Nabiki said, "You take your life to atone for your many sins."

"Consider it a final lesson for you," Genma replied, "It's not too late to repent your own. I know you're a very good girl at heart and will make an excellent wife for Ranma, but not if you behave the same way as in Singapore and Malaysia, to say nothing of Hong Kong…"

"Or Joketsuzoku?" she asked, seeing his faint surprise, "I ran into Shampoo. She says the two of us are already married."

"Ah…" he started to react like the Genma she knew, then sighed, "I've wronged you girl. I should have told you the rest of what I learned from the tour guide. I should have prevented you from signing that contract, but I was too much of a coward…"

"Contract?" Nabiki blinked, "What contract…?" then a vague memory tempted her subconscious mind, and she recalled something involving a thumb-print while she stood beside a smiling Shampoo and listened to an elder ramble on about something she was too drunk to properly interpret.

"Oh no…" she said faintly. She really had married Shampoo, even though she was ignorant of her own actions! Shampoo had said that ignorance of the law was no excuse, and Nabiki could only silently agree. This was terrible! She was married to another woman!

"You see," Genma looked down, "You would have been better off if you'd never known me. I've failed you as a mentor. Let me atone for that, and for a lot of other things I'm not too proud of…"

"And what about Ranma?" Nabiki forced herself to blurt out, ignoring the pain in her heart at the sudden twist her life had taken, "Your son still loves you…"

"And I love him," Genma replied, "More than if I had been with him every day of his life. I failed to be the father he needed, and yet he still has grown into a man among men, a man I am very proud of."

"And this is the kind of example you want to set for your son?" she hissed.

"I have to show my boy that a man takes responsibility for his mistakes," Genma replied, "It's a lesson I didn't learn soon enough, and I regret that. What kind of an example would I be setting for my boy if I…became a coward in the end? I couldn't live with that shame, so I'm doing what I have to."

"You want him to be like you?" Nabiki asked, "He's ashamed of what you've done to him, to me, but he still wants you, needs you! He worships the ground you walk on, Old Man. How dare you leave him without his father?"

"He's better off with his mother," Genma replied, "She's a better influence than I could ever be. I was too stubborn and proud to see that before, but now…I can die happy knowing the boy will grow up to be a better man than his father."

"I've no doubt of that either," Nabiki sniffed, then more casually asked, "You don't have a second, I've noticed…"

"Nodoka offered to be my second," Genma replied, "But I've burdened her enough without letting her have that on her conscience. I've been making my peace with the Kami that protect our school, now it is time I lived up to the Anything Goes tradition against which I've committed so many offenses. I would have done it by now, except…I was having a little trouble composing my death poem…"

In spite of herself Nabiki half-smiled. Genma was a terrible poet, and the badly scrawled kanji on the rice paper set to one side of him was testament to many attempts and failures. How ironic that a little thing like that could have delayed him long enough for her arrival.

He reached down for the Tanto, picked it up in both hands and pressed the tip against his abdomen, which was much firmer than one might have expected, given how heavyset he looked to a casual observer. He raised his eyes and a look almost of peace came over his face, and very softly he said, "I do this to atone for the shame I have brought to my family…"

Nabiki waited to just the right moment then struck, kicking the blade out of his hand before he could even sense her movement. Genma's hands pressed into his stomach, and then a look of surprise came over his features, one instant before Nabiki's second kick knocked him sprawling.

"BAKA!" she hissed, "You don't get off that easy!"

Genma was too stunned to move and just lay there staring at the ceiling as if unable to comprehend that he was still alive. He remained that way until Nabiki walked over to the tanto and placed her bare foot over the blade, making a sharp motion that snapped it cleanly underfoot. Then Genma sat up, stared at her, and his voice shook, "What have you DONE?"

"That is what I think of your idea of honor," she spat, "You think dying will make up for all the pain you've caused me, let alone what Ranma is feeling? IDIOT! If you die like this, Ranma will also die inside, and you damned well know it!"

"But…" Genma's anger drained away at the force of her accusation. He fell back on one elbow, just staring, mouth moving without words, giving the impression of a carp on its side attempting to breathe outside of the water.

"Listen to me, Saotome Genma," Nabiki said with all the force and conviction that she could muster, "No one knows what you are capable of like I do, and nobody has greater cause to want you dead either! I've sometimes entertained the thought of pounding your stupid head in with a rock while you were sleeping, but I've always stopped myself because I know that you're not really all bad. Besides that, you're still my partner!"

"I…thought you had dissolved that," Genma tonelessly responded, still looking as if he were in another state of being, as though the meditative mindset he had used to cancel out his fears were still upon him, leaving him in a condition of near-Satori.

"I've changed my mind," Nabiki informed him, "I thought I could walk away from the last ten years, but I'm coming to see that it's not as easy as I thought. We've got too much history invested in each other, and whatever else you've done to me, you have tried looking out for my welfare as best you could in your feeble grasp of the issues. It's looking more and more like I'm going to need your continued help if I'm going to get myself out of the mess you've gotten us both into. I've got an Amazon for a wife, I turn into a guy, my older sister thinks I'm sexy and my other sister alternates between hating and admiring me whenever I do something that makes her look bad. You've been helping me out by taking Akane-chan under your wing to make her a better fighter, and that's one start I want you to continue. I've also got Keiko and Kodachi to worry about, not to mention her brother, oh…and now my iinazuke's got another woman whose claim is every bit as valid as mine!"

"Uh…better," Genma said faintly.

"What?" Nabiki hissed.

"At the time," Genma slowly explained, "My boy was betrothed to Akane. If that betrothal had held it would have predated the contract with Kuonji-san, but since you only met Ranma a couple of weeks ago…"

Nabiki paled. She knew enough about contract law to know where precedence lay. Like it or not, Kuonji Ukyo was now her foremost rival!

She took a deep breath and said, "You owe me. Never forget that! For the rest of your days you are going to slave to pay me back for all the pain and indignity you've caused! I forbid you to even think about taking the easy way out until I've gotten as much satisfaction as I can out of you, and if you ever try anything like this again I'll…I really will sell you to the zoo, old man! I'll tell them you're a Panda with a rare medical condition that makes it impossible for you to bear the touch of hot water. I'll even see to it I get you on their breeding program! Who knows? You might even give Ranma a few brothers before they put you out to pasture."

Genma quailed. He had absolutely no doubt that she was serious. Nabiki never spoke like that unless she absolutely meant it. It was a better threat than if she'd said that she would kill him!

"But…" he gasped, "Nodoka…"

"Leave Aunt Nodoka to me," Nabiki said with precision in her voice, "She's not your problem any more. I'll settle this with her, then I'll tell you how you're going to start making amends for all the lives you've ruined, starting with Kuonji Ukyo, who will be staying with us for a few days until she gets set up in a place she says she was scouting out when all of this happened."

"Ukyo is here?" Genma replied, "Then…Ranma…?"

"He's all right," Nabiki replied, seeing relief flood over the man, which softened her somewhat. She knelt down in front of him and softly murmured, "He's quite a guy, your son. He seems to always know just the right thing to say to make women change their minds about him. If there is any reason at all why you are still alive it's because he's more of a man than even he imagines."

"You love my boy," Genma replied, "You don't need to tell me, but I think he deserves to know."

"Hai," she murmured faintly, then straightened up again, "We'll talk later. Just forget about this stupid business with your honor. Killing yourself won't bring back something you lost a long time ago. If you want to honor your house, then devote each minute of what remains of your life to making amends for all the mistakes of your life. I forbid you to do anything else, and until you satisfy me that you've changed I'm going to hold you in debt to that end. Give me your promise and I'll leave you here. Cross me and you're going to wish I had killed you."

"I promise," Genma replied, "I haven't always kept my word, but…on my love for my son, I'll do what you ask."

"Good," Nabiki replied as she turned away, "I would have hated to beat you senseless. I'm going to need my strength to deal with Aunt Nodoka."

"You…you won't hurt her?" Genma asked, suddenly very afraid again, but for Nabiki or Nodoka would have been difficult for even him to determine.

"I won't have to," Nabiki said, "Except where it really matters…"

Even though she had spent the majority of her life avoiding conventional behavior, Nabiki did know enough manners to use the traditional approach for entering the small teahouse where she found Nodoka performing the ceremony with great deliberation and detail.

Nabiki knew of the importance of this ceremony: how it was used to hone the mind, spirit and body and restore essential balance, and that the performance of it was sacrosanct. It was totally forbidden to disturb the harmony of the moment, so Nabiki simply shuffled in on her knees and remained sitting while Nodoka went through all the elaborate motions, not even acknowledging her presence.

Personally Nabiki thought this was one of the dumber traditions of Japanese culture, a legacy of the Samurai days when feudal lords prized civility over compassion and would use this type of ceremony to calm the mind before they would go out and slaughter thousands. The contradiction had always disturbed her, like a cultural psychosis that could justify extremes of behavior while maintaining the illusion that everything was hunky-dory. Enemies could perform the ritual before signing a treaty they fully intended to violate the next day, yet it was somehow worse to cough or sneeze or make any bodily sound during the ritual than it was to chop up old men, women and babies in the field of battle.

In Nodoka's case she was using the ritual to shield her mind from having to deal with the fact that she had just ordered her husband to kill himself. So much for civilized behavior!

Still, out of respect to her Elder, she allowed Nodoka to go through the complex set of motions until everything was complete and the gods had been satisfied. She rang the bell signifying the completion of the ritual, then clapped her hands in prayer, and only then opened her eyes and looked directly at Nabiki.

"Something I can do for you, child?" she asked, her expression as sweet as if she were asking about the weather.

This was it, Nabiki sighed as she squared her shoulders. The one good thing about the ritual was that--after it had been completed--it was permissible for one to speak their mind freely, more than at any other time before one's elders.

"Auntie," she returned the nod, "It has come to my attention that our family has encountered some unexpected problems that need resolution."

"I know," Nodoka replied, "I have already taken steps to that end."

"You are mistaken."

Nodoka raised her eyebrows at the carefully worded statement. Nabiki had never made any secret about what she thought of the traditional Japanese regard towards elders, but this was brazen insolence on her part, and the way it had been worded as much as said that Nabiki did not care what anyone thought about it.

"You think that ordering Uncle to commit hara-kiri justifies the grief he caused by his unthinking conduct?" Nabiki continued, "You forget that I know him even better than you. I think what you did was very wrong, even forcing him to make that contract on my behalf, and Ranma's."

"You think it's better to let him go unpunished for his crimes?" Nodoka asked her.

"Not at all," Nabiki replied, "I intend to see that Uncle is punished for what he has done, but I need for him to continue to live in order to achieve this. He's no good to me dead, and the dead can't bring back what's passed. If you send him to his ancestors, they'll hold it against you."

"If you are bargaining for his life, then you are wasting your time," Nodoka said with a hint of her own temper.

"What makes you think that's your decision?" Nabiki shot back, waiting for the inevitable surprise to appear on Nodoka's face before she continued, "I have my own investments in Uncle, and he's bartered his soul to me. I intend to see he makes good payment to redeem what I have suffered."

Nodoka's breath was harsh before she said, "He must have indeed performed much villainy if this is the sort of behavior he has taught you…"

"You don't know anything," Nabiki scoffed, "Do you think I'm some empty-headed innocent who was lead unwillingly by the nose into everything we've been through together? Come now, you must know by now that I'm smarter than him, and I can take responsibility for my own conduct. If mistakes have been made, we've made them together. If you hold it against him, then hold it against me as well, because Genma is my partner, and I won't let anyone hurt him."

Nodoka rocked back at the force of that statement, "After all he has done to you…you can still say that?"

"Uncle is my friend," Nabiki said, "And friends forgive their friends for their mistakes. Besides, it's not like being around me has always been a bed of roses for him. He's done a lot of good things that almost balance out the bad stuff."

"Still," Nodoka said, "The honor of my House demands atonement…"

"And you will have it," Nabiki said, "But not that way. No one profits from death, Auntie. I've seen death in my time, and I know that I hate it. As long as there's any alternative I'll fight for what's mine, and that means family before any other kind of business."

"Are you sure you will be able to handle the responsibility?" Nodoka asked her.

"Like I have a choice?" Nabiki replied, "No one else around here seems capable, and after what you did with Uncle, I'm certainly not putting my trust in you."

Nabiki knew her tactic was risky here. Nodoka might seem the pleasant matron to some, but there was more than steel behind the façade. Nodoka carried that katana of hers for more than just its ceremonial uses. As the descendant of a long and noble line of Samurai, she was just as formidable in her way as Kuno, and could use that sword with far less provocation than Nabiki had just given.

It was plain that she was tempted. Nodoka sat with her hands folded on her lap, but they twitched dangerously, and the sword was near enough to hand that she could draw and use it with less than a second. Nabiki had just challenged her right to speak for her family, and that was an awful lot for a seventeen-year-old girl to tell the mother of her iinazuke. There were legends that told of situations such as this that ended in bloodshed. Nodoka knew those legends, and so did Nabiki.

The moment passed, and Nabiki sighed, "Your husband lives, and will continue to do so at my sufferance, not yours. I would take it as a personal favor it you leave him alone for now. You may resume your duties as his wife if you desire, but do not cross me on this again. He will live until he has finished atoning for his sins, and that much is final."

"You…" Nodoka said quietly, "Presume much."

"Do I?" Nabiki was suddenly all steel again as she looked hard at Nodoka and said, "Know this, old woman…I will marry your son. Ranma will be my husband, and I will be his wife, and we will unite the Houses of Saotome and Tendo. On this I give my solemn pledge, my oath and my life. No one will stop me from claiming what is mine. I will marry Ranma if I have to fight off half the population of Nerima. Keep that in mind if you wish to stay on my good side. I've lost a lot of the respect I had for you tonight, and it will be a while before I can bring myself to forget this whole incident ever happened."

They continued to lock stares, Nabiki giving no quarter as she sized her opponent up with the determination she had used against some of the most hardened warlords of China. The battle here was as much of wills as it was of issues, and what was at stake was nothing less than the future of their mutual families. Both knew this, which was why the silence dragged on like it did until Nodoka finally relented.

"If you are that determined," she said softly, "Then I will not stop you."

Nabiki felt some of her anger and determination drain away. How much had it cost Nodoka to give ground like this? She hoped she would never find out, but for now all she did was say, "Thank you, Okasen"

Another silence hung over them for a time before Nodoka spoke again, "Ranma doesn't know what he's getting into."

Something almost like humor entered Nabiki's voice as she replied, "I think he does, but your son is a very unusual man, a man among men. You should be proud of the way he's behaved tonight. I don't think I've ever met a finer gentleman."

"I'm pleased to hear you say this," Nodoka replied, smiling now like an affable mother, "It would distress me if he learned any bad habits from his father."

"Then we will have to make certain he only masters the good points," Nabiki smiled, this time in genuine humor.

Nodoka sighed, "Then I trust you to take care of it. You know about his other iinazuke?"

"We've met," Nabiki replied, "Turns out we're old friends, after a fashion."

"That will make it very hard," Nodoka said without humor.

"I know," Nabiki whispered, "But I will do anything…anything that is necessary…to make certain Ranma is mine, and that we both wind up happy."

Nodoka said nothing for a time as she studied the face of the younger woman, then smiled inwardly. She might still feel a touch of anger at the way Nabiki had handled the matter, but there was no doubt now that her husband and best friend had chosen wisely. In Nabiki the family had a strong and capable heir who would steer Ranma's fate in ways no one else could comprehend. In a way she was glad for the troubles that had brought out the real strength inside this slender girl and showed what she was made of. If only her old friend, Kimiko, were here to see the woman that had been her daughter she would have been very proud.

Somehow she felt certain that Kimiko knew, wherever her spirit resided, and was very pleased at the pride and steel that was Tendo Nabiki…

Continued

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