Chapter Text
A sixteen year old girl fixed the glasses on her nose and quietly turned the page. She smiled slightly as she relaxed in the lecture. Her nimble fingers moved the bookmark along the page, serving as an aid for her to not lose focus or line of text, for a bookworm she was, dyslexia was rather hard on her… she loved to forget about the outside world and just swim between pages, but sometimes she struggled with it, which frustrated her greatly…
At least the library was somewhat quiet, she couldn't read much at home, things with her family were a bit too hectic.
A slightly older girl was sitting a few rows away, she wore a dark blue turtleneck, dark denim jeans and a leather crossbody bag, giving her a minimalist Parisian vibe.
The object of her interest was a short redheaded girl reading a novel “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”... in Nabiki’s personal opinion the book was cute, but ultimately a waste of time, as ironic it wasn’t, given the title. What bugged her was that the redhead felt oddly familiar, she couldn’t quite place it just yet.
Her calculating gaze picked apart the clues she was offered:
The girl wore a green, chunky-knit, cable sweater, chocolate brown maxi-skirt, and a pair of thick framed prescription glasses. Her hair was woven into a loose side braid, cascading over her left shoulder, secured by a single scrunchie in forest green colour.
Redhead’s pose was rather unassuming, but relaxed, not forced or played up… it was the part that threw her off the most, it felt too natural, almost as if the similarities in body proportions were just that, accidental similarities.
The brown haired girl had to admit, she looked rather endearing like that… regardless if her suspicions were correct or not.
Without further hesitation she got up from her table and with confidence of someone who owns the place, approached.
"Is it a good read?" she asked looking over the book’s edge to meet redhead’s blue eyes. They looked slightly muted, not as vibrant behind the thick glasses…another thing that doesn’t fit, Ranma didn’t need glasses, he wouldn’t be able to read in those. She was…almost ready to dismiss her previous suspicions on that fact alone, if not for what she saw next.
The girl’s face went from undivided focus of reading, to slight surprise at being spoken to, to a brief excitement for someone to talk about the book with… to sudden realisation and abject terror. The redhead looked at Nabiki frozen in place, not sure how to act… it was the last person she expected to see after all.
“I… y-yes” she stammered doing her best to compose herself, turning her gaze down back to the book, using it as an impromptu shield between the two. Of course the reaction itself confirmed it all to the brunette, no one else would react that way to seeing her ask for an honest opinion on a book they were clearly enjoying.
“I am sure it is, I was considering reading it myself… but wanted to hear from someone who has it fresh before I commit my time to it. You know how it is, time is money. I heard it’s about time… I could use an ability like this, I could do so much with it.” to her credit Nabiki casually continued not letting on how much she already figured out, it was too early to show her cards, and she still had to figure out the ins and outs of this bizarre situation. Ranma, the self proclaimed man among men, wearing unassuming normal girl getup, reading a book while most would consider him mostly illiterate as ‘man has no need for distractions like books’ his father so eloquently stated on numerous occasions.
“It’s… It’s not really about time travel," the redhead murmured quietly, still trying to compose herself, hoping, begging, Nabiki will take her reaction as more shyness than what she really feared. “It’s more about how things change when you are not looking… Kazuko has a completely different perspective from everyone else… It makes her free but also lonely.
I think it’s a good read because it doesn't promise that things will go back to the way they were, just that you will remember how it felt.” Nabiki looked surprised at the redhead twirling her braid with her fingers, shy… but she didn’t sense falsehood, just who the heck was this kid and what did she do with normal macho man of a teen Ran.
“Hmm, I might consider it then.” Nabs hummed pondering on the newfound perspective. Not only on the book, but also finally seeing the redhead for who she was, a vulnerable teenage girl caught completely out of her element, with none of her usual coping mechanisms to lean on. “Any other titles you would like to suggest?” She asked, then after a small half dramatic pause she added. “I am Nabiki Tendo by the way, what can I call you?”
The redhead was still looking down and a bit away from her, but slowly relaxing, no mallets flying at her head yet, so far so good. “My name is Yume Tokiwa, pleasure to meet you Tendo-san” She said politely in the same shy voice she described the theme of the book in. “Let me see… if you enjoy this one, you could try to read Night on the Galactic Railroad and Kitchen By Banana Yoshimoto, they were both rather good books in my opinion.“ This seem to make her perk up a bit, and again surprised Nabiki slightly, but not as much as the initial respone… it seems the situation was indeed deeper than one day disguise with a few passages from a single book ‘Yume’ didn’t actually read.
“I see.” She paused for a moment, considering cutting to chase as she usually did, pressing Ran for answers, but it didn’t quite feel right with how Yume presented. “I’ll take it into consideration, thank you Yume-chan.” Brunette responded using a more familiar tone and feminine pronoun, with the girl she supposedly didn’t recognise. Yume looked a bit up, studying Nabiki’s expression herself for a second, before smiling wider, very unlike when she did the same to Ranma back at home. “In fact, it was rather helpful, I think I would like to ask you out for something sweet as a thank you. How would you like tea and a piece of cake at the local cafe?”
The redhead seem to consider it, mixed emotions painting on her face, on one hand… she was a bit peckish, and Nabiki was rather nice about this whole thing, surely it wouldn’t hurt to pick her up on the offer, it was not like she would get any more blackmail material out of it than she already did by now. On another hand…she would be leaving the safe library, and showing in the city with someone who Ranma was familiar with… making her disguise much less effective if they ran into someone who they both knew. “Um… I wouldn’t exactly be opposed to it, Tendo-san, but we shouldn’t go too far from here. I promised to wait for my friends at the library in an hour, I just wanted to get a headstart on reading while I was already there.” She said picking up the book she was reading and placing a bookmark between its pages to secure where she was at when Nabiki interrupted her.
“Oh that is not a problem Yume-chan, I will be sure to lead you back before your time runs out.” Nabiki said with a satisfied smile, wondering if Ran just gave her an excuse, or he… she… actually had someone to meet with at a place like this. None of Ranma’s usual friends strike her as literary types, and Akane’s friends tended to hate Ranma’s guts due to what her little sister told them. ”Come with me, I know just the place” She reached out and without waiting for consent she pulled the redhead behind her, leading her outside of the library.
The walk was short, the cafe adored by students and locals was just around the corner from the library, nested between an apartment building and a small park where people walked their dogs and rode their bikes. Two girls arrived at the destination and Nabiki gestured for her companion to sit, controlling the situation completely, with no actual resistance from the redhead. Once they both sat down Nabiki finally decided to touch the elephant in the room. “I must say, that was the last place I expected to find you… I knew you had secrets, Saotome, everyone does, but… this is quite unexpected, even for me.” She started eyeing the girl who once again got very quiet and very tense looking for a way out. “Would you be so kind and explain to me what exactly is going on with all… this?” She vaguely gestured to how the redhead was looking.
“Well…” Yume started, meekly and very unlike her usual self. “I could tell you everything… if you promise to not spread it around.” A trade was her last ditch effort to keep it under wraps, she really didn’t want this to be public knowledge… yet.
Nabiki eyes the younger girl carefully, scrutinising her and running calculations in her head… of course, she could sell this information as is, Kuno would probably be delighted to know what other hobbies his pigtailed… or maybe just braided girl had when she was not fighting his advances. But she was curious… and if she was right, it was not something she would be willing to sell anyway. “You have a deal squirt, what’s up with this getup?” She asked again, urging Ran to explain herself.
“Well… you see…” She started again, looking for just the right words to use. “With how my dad is, I have very limited options on how I can act in day to day life…” She said quietly, no pops, no stupid panda, just dad, spoken in a slightly detached voice. “You know, the whole man among men he insists I call myself, lest he hit me in the gut?” Ranma elaborated, causing Nabiki’s brow to raise. It seems at least some of her suspicions were correct, but she didn’t interject yet. “Then there are all those fiancees of mine, all having expectations on who I have to be for them, Airen, Ranchan, Pervert… it pains me to say the nicest of them all is somehow Kuno-sempai, and that probably says more about how your sister and the rest of them treat me than about Kuno’s choice of words.”
The brunette listened patiently up to this moment but she couldn’t stay quiet with revelation like that. “Wait… I get that you don’t exactly deserve or enjoy being called a pervert whenever you say something, innocent or not, but are you seriously going to tell me an actual pervert chasing after you and refusing to use your name is preferable to lets say your childhood friend using a nickname you had for close to a decade?” Nabiki explained in disbelief.
“I mean… yes? It’s not like the nickname doesn’t have a ton of baggage stacked on top of it, it stopped meaning ‘my friend’ and started meaning ‘I claim you’ the moment Ukyo found out I didn’t actually scam her, not on purpose anyway. And… I actually prefer Kuno-sempai not using my name in this case. The name felt alien to me for a long while too…” The gears in Nabiki’s head were turning, the flimsy facade Ranma was keeping up around people he… she knew was crumbling as she continued speaking. “It’s nice to be just a girl in someone’s eyes, you know?” Yume finished with a dramatic flair, confirming the suspicions nabs had for a few months by now.
“So, it finally happened, squirt? If not Ranma, then what should I call you?” She asked, surprisingly calm and respectful about it all. Her gaze was still calculating, and slightly predatory, but there was glint in it that showed she was also proud and… maybe a little happy for the redhead to figure herself out.
“Nabiki-chan, I already introduced myself, I am Yume. It’s not a disguise… not to me at least. I am not quite sure what to do about my surname, Saotome carries even more baggage than Ranma does… but if I ever get out of the hell I live in alive, I might actually adapt Tokiwa as a surname, it was spur of the moment decision but seems to fit well.” The apparent bookworm said, fixing the glasses on her nose to look at Nabiki properly.
“Then Yume-chan, you will be pleased to know you have me in your corner. Free of charge this time” Nabiki stated looking back into those blue eyes, finally seeing hope in them. “We should probably discuss what do you plan to do going forward… to make sure you get out of this mess alive, as you said yourself.”
The redhead nodded solemnly, having thought of this herself. “I am not quite sure yet, the biggest obstacles would be my parents and amazons… I think Ukyo will not be happy but will probably settle for trying to kill my dad instead of me, and Akane…” Here Nabiki interjected, stopping Yume from continuing.
“She will be fine with it.” There was certainty in her voice, but seeing Yume’s confused expression she clarified. “She has a trans friend already, the whole pervert thing… is solely aimed at boys. Which I can see you are not. Just don’t suggest she is into girls… she might not be ready to admit that yet.” Nabiki continued casually describing the situation between the sisters. “Not that I understand why she is so bent out of shape about it, there is nothing bad about liking cute girl like yourself.” Nabs finished with a predatory smile as her eyes focused on Yume, that was a flirt… it had to be.
“I… um…” Yume squeaked shyly suddenly, going from surprised about Akane’s openness to LGBT people, confusion at a new word being thrown into the mix, and finally ending in embarrassment as she was flirted with by her fiancee's sister. “Nabiki-chan?” She said unsure how to react, silently begging the older girl to either move on or give her a hint here.
“So, you are still into girls?” Nabiki asked, seeing the reaction. “Because if you are…” She trailed off for a moment, changing several plans, in her mind the Ranma obstacle got eliminated… and Yume appeared on the market, not a bad trade, even if her sister was not likely to appreciate it in this century. “If you are, I wouldn't mind being part of some of those getaways Yume-chan.” The redhead looked at her in shock for a few seconds, before quickly nodding her head, her cheeks almost as red as her hair. “Great, next Saturday, the same time… it’s a date.” Nabiki in typical Nabiki fashion took reins in the situation and set the rules working for her. And Yume-chan in a very non-Ranma fashion accepted them with no resistance… That girl was definitely easier to work with without all that fake bravado she pretended to have whenever around family and fiancees.
“Nabiki-chan?” The brunette looked at the redhead questioningly. “Thank you… I was worried, but instead you made my day.” A big honest smile was sent her way. “I think… I will be going now, like I said, I have a group of friends to meet at the library… I will introduce you one day if you like but right now… thank you.” Yume quickly got up and gathered her book and a bag, and still embarrassed about the whole situation, but no less happy left the table, leaving Nabiki alone to wait for a tea. Nabiki’s gaze followed the redhead, and she smiled, rather pleased by this development herself… if she can't share this info for money, she might as well get a nice date out of it.