Chapter Text
The cloak went back on.
Ranma whipped around so fast that a gust blew over Akane. Or perhaps it had been the storm. Maybe it had simply kicked up at a convenient moment instead. It was hard to tell when all of her attention was on Ranma.
The tarp hung over her frame again. It draped over her body to hide any semblance of a figure. All that was left was a silhouette of a person with a large tail. Yet in the matter of seconds, Ranma fastened some string around her neck. Her tail curled around her legs, slipping under the cover of her cloak. All that remained was the shape of a person, a rectangle with no features save the texture of an old tarp.
“Ranma?” Akane twisted around to face Ranma. With only the light from the doors to illuminate them, not a single hint of the other girl’s face could be seen. “Is everything okay?” Rising to her feet, Ranma held onto the inside of her makeshift cloak to keep it shut around the front. “Did I say something wrong?”
Ranma spun around on her heel. The heavy, waterlogged tarp snapped at Akane like some guard dog. She had thankfully avoided getting slapped by it but it was a close thing. Ranma hurried over to the door and reached for it. Her claws scratched against the wood before she could find any her grip.
“I didn’t mean to insult you,” Akane said. Ranma paused to let her speak. “You look beautiful, really.” Wood snapped. The door flew open in the blink of an eye. Light feet made themselves heavy, stomping into the house.
Akane was on her feet in seconds, following after Ranma. But the cloaked girl already sat down beside her father. She slouched forward so that the tarp either covered or shadowed her body. With the hood of the cloak drawn so tight, it was hard to tell if she could look anyone in the eyes. Although that may have been her point in dressing like that.
Mister Saotome glanced over to his child. His hands rested on his knees, helping to keep his back straight and posture firm. “Finally over yourself, boy?” he asked lowly, his voice tinged with worry rather than the strong hold of a parent.
“Shut it, Pops,” was all Ranma had to say.
“That’s more like it.” Mister Saotome smiled to himself and turned back to face Dad. He gave him all of his attention. “Now, what were you saying? Something about a giant snake monster?”
“Well, it turns it out it wasn’t really a monster in the canal. Believe it or not, it was someone’s pet.” Dad continued on with a story that Akane only vaguely remembered from a year ago. Kasumi wasn’t much interested in it either, but she smiled along and sipped her tea anyway to be polite. Mister Saotome was enraptured by every little detail though.
On the other hand, Ranma didn’t seem to be paying much attention. It was hard to tell with all but the tip of her nose being hidden. She kept facing away, sitting opposite to Kasumi. If she was listening at all, then she was probably making sure to keep herself still.
Although maybe those pointed ears did more than make her look enticingly exotic. There might be some way that they increased her hearing. It didn’t seem like much of a dragon thing to have enhanced hearing but Akane only learned that dragons were real today. There could be a lot of things that Ranma could do that she didn’t know of.
She hoped that she had the chance to learn what those things were. For now, it didn’t seem that any progress would be made. Not while Ranma shut herself away behind some dingy old tarp. “I think I’m gonna take a bath,” she said for her sake rather than anyone else’s. “I’ll be down in time for dinner.”
“Enjoy the bath,” Kasumi said to Akane’s retreating form. Her feet took her down the hall on their own, putting distance between her and the tense air that Ranma exuded.
If someone paid Nabiki to describe herself in a few words, she would have three simple ones. Observant. Calculating. Decisive. Not just anyone could swindle Furinkan and certain parts of Nerima out of their pocket change on a regular basis.
Naturally, when Nabiki woke up from her nap and came down for dinner, she was a bit disoriented. Her body operated more on habit than active choices. She took a route she had gone down for years, sat down in the same spot she had claimed since before she was making conscious decisions, and slowly woke up while the table was being set.
So it took her a minute to realize there were two new people at the table. Once she did, her brain snapped to overdrive to catalogue them. Two people, one of which was much larger than the other though both could be equally dangerous. Nabiki doubted she could take on either of them directly. However, vices existed amongst every person.
The larger one wore a stained and visibly repaired gi. He listened to Dad talk animatedly about some old story or other, so he likely wanted something from their family. Money or property was probable. His glasses had tape around the corners holding it together and his clothes were due for replacing. Unfortunately, the travel packs nestled in the corner of the room banished that idea before it could get far.
They were here to stay, to sleep. In the night, they may slip away with precious belongings to pawn off for hard cash. Nabiki would have to make a point of not checking her hiding spots, less she give them away.
The smaller one hid behind some dirty old cloak, giving Nabiki less than she would have liked to know. They confirmed the two were likely poor or playing up the image, didn’t want to be identified right away, and had something up their sleeve. Physically, they were small thanks to their upbringing and/or their age. Either petite or young, it was a coin flip there.
As her brain operated on all cylinders, Nabiki had only her wariness to work on. Their goal was fairly obvious but their means were a mystery. Thus, Nabiki needed to put on a mask and ensure none of them knew how to get to the most valuable items in the house.
“What’s with the middle schooler?” She asked after Dad took a breath between parts of a story. Nabiki leaned back and gestured toward the cloaked person, who jerked at the name calling. Despite their sudden movement, they kept a firm hold on their disguise.
“I’m not a middle schooler,” growled out an unmistakably feminine voice. Rough around the edges, for sure. There was a scratchy quality that most didn’t have, one that either made for a school’s bifauxnen prince or a future bar employee. Possibly both if she got her hands on too many beers and cigarettes.
“Could’ve fooled me.” Nabiki smiled. Her bait was out, time to fight to reel it in. “Looks like you couldn’t afford that eyepatch you wanted and settled for the next best thing. I have to say, that material is so last decade.”
The stranger clicked her tongue. “Says the person wearing a washed out Akira shirt. Have you been living in that thing since you stole it from your boyfriend?”
“Wow, I didn’t know they let kids watch stuff like this now.” Nabiki ran a hand down her shirt, flattening out the image. The title itself had been faded out to the point where entire strokes of the kanji were missing.
“I’m not a kid,” huffed the cloaked girl. “If anything, a—Mmph!”
A meaty hand slapped over the girl’s mouth, muffling any word she tried to say into virtually nothing. Her father grunted and said, “That’s enough, boy. Settle down before I make you train until you drop to your knees.”
The “boy” grumbled something but Nabiki couldn’t figure out a lick of what was being said. What she could figure out was that the chances of a robbery succeeding went down vastly if the child was truly out of sync with each other. Then again, there was a chance that it was an act to make their family fall into a false sense of comfort so they could be duped.
“Now, now. I’m sure there’s no need for that.” Dad motioned to calm down the pair. The girl’s father winced but kept his hand over his child’s mouth. “Nabiki, these are our guests. My friend, Genma Saotome.” He gestured to the large man. “And his son, Ranma Saotome.” Naturally, he pointed toward the kid trying to be a spitfire and failing at it. “They’ll be staying with us for the foreseeable future, so do try and get along.”
“The foreseeable future?” Nabiki raised a messy eyebrow, mussed from tossing and turning in her sleep. That meant nothing about the intensity of her questioning look. Dad looked away from her and tugged on his collar. “Just how long are these people staying?”
He was lucky that his friend came to his rescue. “Just until we’re ready to travel again.” Saotome smiled toward her, very plastered and fake. The kind perfect for customer service and lying straight to someone’s face. “Then we’ll be on our way to finish our training journey.”
The kid said something but it was muffled by a hand. It sounded a little indignant. The noise of a brat that didn’t like what was happening, which was fairly obvious. Nabiki wondered how long that act would last.
“What? But I thought it was finally time, old friend.” Dad looked worried, caught off-guard by the mere thought of these two strangers leaving. “Were you not speaking in some code? Surely it’s finally time for the schools to be united once and for all. Ten long years have gone and past us by.” Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. “Are you going to leave me again? After so long apart? What about our promise?”
“Ah well…” Saotome scratched the back of his head. “You have to understand, there are some things that we need to take care of first. The boy is in no shape to fulfill his duties. Both you and I know—Argh!” The large man grabbed his hand, covering the fresh puncture wounds and applying pressure to them.
The brat was undoubtedly smug about their little stunt. Unfortunately, they still covered their face up with that stupid cloak. “Ya never mentioned any promise, Pops. Trying to get rid of what little honor you have left?”
“Now boy, it’s more complicated than—”
“You never told him about the engagement?” Dad asked. Nabiki snapped her gaze over to him. “But what about the pact we made? We pledged our very own titles as masters of the Anything Goes schools. No matter what happens, the schools would be joined.”
“My friend, surely you can see how that’s not quite possible.” Sweating, Saotome glanced at his child. The one who sounded like a rebellious middle school girl who hated her—possibly single—dad. “Without a cure, Ranma is stuck in this… this… unnatural form. There’s simply no way that we can push forward with our promise. Isn’t that right, boy?”
“Engagement?” Ranma muttered under her breath. “Me? Engagement? Engaged?” Her voice was hollow, devoid of any anger thanks to the blow dealt by shock.
“See? He’s not ready.” Saotome crossed his arms, only twitching a little when his wound was tucked under his bicep.
“But the schools,” whined Dad, as if that was more important than his daughters’ futures and livelihood. Maybe even their happiness, but Nabiki wasn’t going to stretch it. There were bigger debts to collect than that.
“And when were you going to tell us about this little agreement of yours, Daddy?” Nabiki drawled just to pour salt into the wound. “This is the first time I’m hearing about any engagement. And frankly, I’m not quite sure this is my idea of a fiancé. No offense.”
“Engagement,” Ranma continued to mumble helplessly.
“Ah.” Dad cleared his throat. He looked around at the ceiling, but it provided him no free excuses. “Are you sure? Maybe I mentioned it and you forgot about it.”
“Really?” She deadpanned. Sighing, she turned her head toward the kitchen and shouted, “Hey, Kasumi?”
Her older sister popped her out of the kitchen. Her apron was on and a wooden spoon was in her hand, slightly wet from whatever food she was making for their large dinner. “Yes?”
“Ever heard about any engagement? Specifically to a Saotome?”
Kasumi hummed. “I can’t say that I have. Although I’m sure if there was any engagement between our families, we would have discussed this thoroughly before we ever met face-to-face. An arranged marriage is quite outdated in this day and age, after all.” She smiled kindly at her father. Some would say that it was more intimidating than seeing Nabiki’s all-knowing confidence.
Nabiki would simply say it was another tool in her arsenal. “And we all know that Akane wouldn’t have agreed to an arranged marriage. We both know how she feels about boys.”
Dad tugged on his collar. His mysterious friend of his didn’t have any answers to supply. He kept his mouth shut. A wise move on his part.
Leaning back, Nabiki stared her dad down. “Now, let’s talk about this engagement.”
