Martial Artists and Mayhem: Third Edition
Hair Cut
"Ranma! Get away from him fast!" Akane shouted. "He must be stronger than an ogre!!" On the tournament ground both fighters shifted there stance slightly. Ranma's feet seeming to float off the ground as he leaned back.
"Looks like you found out..." Ryouga said with a laugh. "...a little too..." Ryouga slashed his hand seemingly through Ranma's head, it was only a moment before Ryouga realized that he had just struck an afterimage.
Ranma fell back to the ground and lifted upward with his legs. The half-demon's leg connected between the celestial's legs and pushed him up and over the now prone Ranma.
"EEEP!!!" Ryouga yelped in a suddenly higher voice, shortly before being planted into the ground, letting go of the bandana holding Ranma to him.
"What did I find out too late?" Ranma demanded, rolling to his feet, an afterimage blurring behind him as he moved. "That you're a rude, insensitive..."
"YOU are calling ME rude!!" Ryouga snapped, his voice hitting normal range. The celestial kippuped and moved immediately to a round kick, only a little sloppy from the pain, Ranma dodged it adroitly and tossed the celestial towards the edge of the tournament ground.
"He's coming this way!!" someone shouted, pointing up at the now descending fighter. Ryouga twisted around in the air and hit the ground rolling easily. He swept upward into an uppercut, forcing the already attacking Ranma into a dodge. Then the wanderer dodged towards his discard umbrella.
"You think THROWING me is going to accomplish anything?" Ryouga asked as jabbed upward.
The umbrella swept past Ranma's chest, almost connecting, as Ranma's leaping kick connected squarely with Ryouga's jaw. As Ranma landed his tunic, purchased recently to replace the one his father had burned, ripped open across the upper chest.
"AAHH!!!" Ranma looked down at his ruined shirt in dismay. "This wasn't even a month old!!"
"This is war!" Ryouga snapped back, rubbing his jaw. "Stop acting like a wo..." Ryouga hesitated at the sound of rolling thunder. "...a wimp!!"
"At least I show up on time!!" Ranma shouted, leaping forward and attacking the celestial. Ryouga leaped back as the attack came, though he wasn't really surprised. Ranma had been incredibly vicious since Ryouga first managed to cut him.
The celestial's leap took him clear over the tournament ground's wall, and he was quickly followed by Ranma. The half-fiend was still being followed by an afterimage of his motion, making it hard to keep an effective track of him.
"They're over the wall!" someone shouted. "After them!!" The crowd followed quickly, and then saw both fighters take a leap over the outer wall.
"Not the cliff again!" Akane sighed, changing course along with most of the audience. Nabiki, watched her sister and shrugged moving for the wall. Somehow she thought the wall would afford a better view of the fight. And she could always take a slow fall if she had to.
Nabiki hit the wall in time to see the aura around Ranma shift as he took natural form. Nabiki cursed the idiot as she cast out hectic array of painfully contrasting colors towards the pair of fighters, incidentally catching the curious guards and knocking them unconscious. The spell did not quite get out to Ranma and Ryouga though.
"Oops, I missed," Nabiki said striding to the wall. She chanted quietly a moment, and thick fog with a soft violet tint seemed to drift from her to cover all views from the fortress to the fighters. "You owe me Saotome."
Nabiki faded into a purple shadow before vanishing completely. As all trace of her was lost the first guards started coming too.
"What hit me?" the man moaned irritably.
*******
"Who are you to call me a wimp!" Ranma demanded as he shed his human form and took wing on his great leathern wings.
Ranma's nails blackened and extended to claws, his canines grew and he grew to not quite a six foot height. Normally even Ranma's male form could be called cute, but he was enraged. Insulted first as a woman, then as a man and in general just as a living thing he was more than a little beyond his usual frame of control. At the moment he was frightening, imposing, and handsome, but not cute.
"I actually showed up to the fight!" Ranma snapped. "I'm more of a man than you'll ever be!"
Ryouga let his breath out as Ranma hit him. Then he smirked as he let the half-demon tire himself out carrying the both of them into the cloud line and away from human eyes. As they came under cover Ryouga dropped his own human disguise.
If Ranma was frightening, Ryouga's natural form, with great feathered wings patterened black and white, was awe-inspiring. He would have stood head and shoulders over Ranma had they been on ground. Had Ranma been in a condition to notice, he would have been somewhat envious over the way Ryouga's clothes molded around him rather than tearing apart. Ryouga easily broke Ranma's hold on him and moved to initiate his own grapple.
Ranma finally recovered his cool and his wits and pulled away well before Ryouga could catch him. Both winged martial artists growled at each other wordlessly. Then both unleashed other powers that they possessed. A coruscating burst of random color surrounded both of them along with a terribly bright, white radiance.
The power merely washed over both of them, eliciting confusion and more growls from the warriors. Ranma and Ryouga circled each other, gaining a sense of the other's style. It quickly became obvious that Ranma was the more manuverable and speedy of the two. The smaller warrior smirked slightly at the advantage.
Ranma dived inward preparing to strike as he passed, his fists closed. Ranma always preferred not to use open hand techniques, especially when the claws were out. There really was no one that he wished to kill. Ryouga watched him come in with a smirk.
Ranma blinked as Ryouga's wings flipped in distinctive pattern. He reluctantly pulled off from his charge, but sighed in relief as Ryouga growled in irritation. He had been right about the trap, it was odd that Ryouga knew that technique though.
~Magic is out,~ Ranma said. ~He just ignored my best stuff.~
Ranma didn't have time to think further as Ryouga began tossing a hail of twirling bandannas towards him. The magically charged bandannas sought Ranma out with almost unerring accuracy. The half-fiend shouted a harsh collection of Abyssal words and cringed as a shield of darkness quickly formed in front of him.
The shield moved quickly to stop the majority of the magical projectiles. Ranma felt more than a few scrape along his sides, arms, wings, and his face once more. The other wounds didn't bother him too greatly, but the scrape across his face nearly sent him into another idiotic rage.
Ranma snarled and dived in shouting a loud battle cry, a slight twinge of darkness enveloping him as he attacked. Ryouga moved to block, but it was almost like Ranma had some foreknowledge of how he was going to move. The half-demon struck him solidly in the chest, and Ryouga dropped his umbrella in shock at the impact.
Ranma snapped back, ready for Ryouga's counter attack and then caught sight of Ryouga's umbrella passing through the cloud cover. Ranma hesitated, the chance that the umbrella would actually hit someone was slim, but it couldn't be risked. Ranma dived down into the clouds after the heavy weapon.
Ryouga recovered control of his flight in time to see Ranma propel himself on leathern wings down through the clouds.
"Still running Ranma?" Ryouga sniped as he followed his enemy.
*******
"Where the hell did they go?" Akane wondered as she poked around the woods at the base of the cliff with the rest of the former audience. She would have expected the area to show signs of extremely violent battle by now.
"They have to be around here somewhere," someone shouted. Akane glanced around irritably and looked up as the clouds above seemed to flash with lightning and thunder. "Great, he'll be a girl next time I see him."
Akane was investigating the clouds a little further, watching to see further signs of an oncoming storm, when she picked out a flash of descending red. She stopped and stared closer, trying to make out some sort of form.
"It couldn't be him," Akane said before moving towards where the falling slash of red seemed to be heading.
Ryoko granted many of her priestesses the secrets to speedy travel in addition to raw strength. The better to enable them to strike fast, hard, and virtually anywhere that could be reached. Akane had not yet been initiated into many of the secrets, but she could run inhumanly fast when she needed to.
Another form broke the clouds above, falling down after the flash of red. Akane could also make out a much smaller form slightly ahead of what was definitely a humanoid creature falling.
"Ranma you idiot!" she shouted. "How'd you get up there!"
*******
Ranma snapped his wings back one more time before he returned to human form, and losing the extra drag of the wings. He was almost to the umbrella, he could almost reach it. Ranma snapped out a hand and tried to grasp the umbrella with a small spell. The celestial weapon repelled his attempt before he could even slow it down.
Ryouga hesitated a moment as Ranma returned to his human form. The celestial wondered briefly what the half-fiend thought he was doing, and then noticed his umbrella. Enraged, Ryouga dived.
"You think to steal my weapon, eh, Ranma?" Ryouga shouted. Ranma glanced up, but didn't bother to answer. Looking down, the half-demon was irritated as he watched the umbrella snap open and caught the air. It slowed down tremendously, and Ranma had to move to avoid striking it.
Ranma caught a brief glimpse of someone running beneath them, and cursed under his breath. He glanced down and noted that at least he was heading for the river, forgetting certain spells he had on himself.
*******
Akane caught glimpses through the trees of Ranma descending after Ryouga's umbrella. She was almost through the tangle of trees when a small geyser of water erupted from Ranma's impact.
"Uh oh.." Akane said, suddenly glad that she had not called anybody else's attention to the falling Ranma.
*******
Ryouga landed lightly on the ground, shielding himself from the spray of water with his recovered umbrella. He whirled about to look over his shoulder and saw a small form leaping at him, surrounded by water, out of a small black gate. He ducked under the
furiously attacking form, and watched in confusion as the new attacker landed.
"Well, Ryouga?" the redhead before him demanded as she entered stance. Ryouga fortunately missed the fact that the girl's tunic was ripped open, revealing her flesh for all the world to see. He was beginning to recognize things about her, but was still in a
state of mostly confused shock.
"W..w..wait a sec..." Ryouga stuttered. "Who are...YOU??!" The girl almost floated to his head's level, though he didn't feel any magic.
"What's the matter, feather-head?" the girl demanded, shifting forward in a kick.
As the redhead attacked did so her shirt ripped further open, giving Ryouga a full view of her chest. Ryouga's eyes bulged as the girl sent an almost straight up kick through the space his head occupied.
"R...R...Ranma?" Ryouga asked after stumbling backwards from the force of the blow. He readied his umbrella before seeing the motion in the woods beyond. Ryouga followed Ranma's example and returned to his human disguise as Akane burst into the scene.
"Who do I LOOK like?" Ranma demanded. "You blind, stupid, sadistic, JERK!"
"Ranma!" Akane shouted. "Your...your...your torso!"
"My," Ranma glanced down and saw that his shirt was open. She glanced up at Ryouga, then Akane, and then at Ryouga again. Akane blinked at the stricken look the supposedly cursed boy had. Then Ranma crossed his arms over his chest and screamed before jumping back into the river and mostly submerging herself.
"Didn't you even know you had become a woman again?" Akane asked in disbelief. Ranma's head peaked out from the water and glared up at Ryouga silently.
"Ranma...you..." Ryouga's eyes started to narrow as he worked out why the red head in front of him was familiar, other than the fact that she was apparently Ranma. "...YOU!
"Did ya get a good look?" Ranma demanded angrily, ignoring Akane and not waiting for Ryouga. "Are you going to laugh at me again?" Ryouga stared at her as she continued. Ranma glanced back at Akane and tried to think about how to continue what she was saying without letting anything slip to Akane. "I don't know anything about any mission or anything, I just going on with my life as best I can!"
Ryouga stared at her neutrally a little while longer before smirking and giving a brief laugh that quickly erupted into a full-fledged gale of laughter.
"It is to laugh!" Ryouga shouted, ripping a collection of bandannas from his head. "That...you think THIS would convince me to stop. Feigning ignorance while proving yourself even further a fiend than I thought you to be!" He lifted his hand and started whirling the bandannas at an incredible speed, gripping his umbrella under his arm. "HA! Such a jest!" Ryouga leaped and launched the spinning bandannas at Ranma.
"Idiot!" Ranma shouted, leaping out of the water as the bandannas sliced into her former position. She landed next to Akane, placing herself between Ryouga and the priestess. The celestial ignored him and launched another volley. "They're mo...err...bystanders around!"
"There they are," somebody in the woods beyond shouted. "This way, this way!" The approaching crowd was soon delayed as they dived for cover away from the oncoming projectiles.
"I'll be right back Ranma!" Akane shouted, turning to leave and find a metal container she could use to heat some water.
"No!" Ranma snapped. "It's not safe! Don't move!"
"I'll make it!" Akane shouted confidently, the dark-haired girl easily avoided the bandannas, but unfortunately did not do so well with the tree roots. Akane cried out as she tripped and a pair of bandannas passed over her.
"No!" Ranma snapped as he rushed to aid her fallen fiancee, unwanted or no.
"An opening!" Ryouga snapped, launching his umbrella at his opponent's back. "It's over! Even if you dodge my umbrella my bandannas will strike you from every...direction?"
Ryouga blinked in confusion as Ranma and Akane were suddenly just not there. His weapons came to a natural rest almost harmlessly as he cast about for his opponent.
"Hey," one of the audience asked. "Where'd they go?"
"AAAAAA!!" The sound of Akane's surprised screech came to everybody's ears and they saw Ranma carrying Akane and landing in a tree some distance away.
"Running AWAY, coward!?" Ryouga demanded angrily.
"Hold your horses!" Ranma answered back, completely missing the pun she had just made on her own name. Ranma relaxed a little leaning on Akane who was still holding him tightly. As that fact came to Ranma's mind her relaxation ended, and her face started trying to match her hair color.
"Mm?" Akane, recovering from the surprise of the teleport, blinked and took stock of her position. She zipped away from Ranma further out on the tree branch as the red-head was relaxing enough for a shy, quiet smile. By the time Akane actually looked at Ranma's face the beginnings of the smile were gone and only embarrasment remained mixed with a little hurt.
"You!" They both shouted after a moment of silence. They glared for another moment and then turned away from each other. "What?!"
"If you had stayed still, like I..." Ranma started.
"You can't win if you're too worried about covering yourself!" Akane answered back, pointing at Ranma's chest in demonstration. Ranma blushed bright red and angrily placed her arms over her chest again.
As they argued Ryouga silently walked up to the tree they were in and glanced around at the surrounding crowd before unloosening his belt.
"Stay out of my fight!" Ranma snapped back. "I don't need help from a hu...err..." Ranma growled as he swallowed the word he was planning to use.
"What?" Akane snapped before Ranma could continue. "You don't need help from a woman?"
"That's not wh..." Ranma started.
"Take a look at yourself Ranma," Akane interuppted. "You're a girl!"
"What!?" Ranma snapped angrily. He'd been expecting woman, not "girl." That was as bad as the old man always calling him "boy."
"A short, whiny, little girl," Akane snapped ignoring Ranma flinching. "With a freakish figure!" Ranma was shaking angrily and clenching her fists.
At the base of the tree Ryouga snapped his hand and his belt straightened and stayed into a hard, sharp sword.
"The belt!" someone shouted "It's like a sword!"
"What would you know!?" Ranma demanded, not noticing as the tree started to shift. "You...you..." She was cut off as the tree gave way, falling to the ground.
Ranma grabbed Akane again and leaped into the air away from the falling debris. Before they even reached the peak of her small jump, Ryouga was above them and whipping forward with his sword belt. Ranma wished for some object to block with, but had to make do with what she had available.
Ranma reached out quickly and formed another shield of darkness between him and the Celestial. Ryouga's whip-sword curled around the construct and, when the hunter pulled back, tore it to pieces. The small spell did buy her the time to land, however, and that was all she was hoping for.
"Let me go!" Akane demanded.
"What?" Ranma asked in disbelief. "Do you think I'm holding you because I WANT to?" Akane glared at the redhead, and, as they landed among the tree limbs, whipped out and slapped Ranma hard. The red-head looked in shock at Akane.
"Well, if I'm such a nuisance then..." Akane growled. She had wanted to try to help with the battle, rather hard when she was restrained, not implying anything else. "...then..." She silenced herself and tramped off.
"Uh..." Ranma held still for a moment trying to decide what to do. ~She called me a girl, and a freak! What do I care, if...if...she's one of the few people that treats me like a person.~ Ranma turned away from Ryouga, forgetting the fight. "...Akane...?"
"Ignore me will you!" Ryouga yelled, attacking with his whip-sword again.
"Stay out of it!" Ranma snapped angrily. Ryouga's target dropped into a one-handed handstand, kicking into Ryouga's wrist, knocking away the weapon, and ruining the temporary repairs Ranma had made to her tunic while arguing. The deadly blade whirled into the sky as Ranma ran foreward.
"Akane!" Ranma shouted. "A...Akane, I..."
"Don't bother with it," Akane said quietly, her back still turned. "Because starting now, you and I are STRANGERS!!" Akane growled as she whirled to face Ranma.
As she turned Ryouga's blade descended, cutting through Akane's long hair on its way to the ground. Ranma and Akane both stared in shock as the bulk of Akane's hair came free and drifted to the ground.
~Oh my goodness!~ Ryouga thought staring foreward. ~I almost killed a bystander!! DAMN!! DAMN!!~ Thunder started gathering. ~Can't I even have my thoughts to myself, mom?~
Ranma was aware of another layer of meaning to the situation. After all, it had taken her years to find a hairstyle that he was happy with as both a guy and a girl. A hairstyle she had been forced to change do to one unfortunate meal, though the pigtail was nice too. Not to mention that most of Ryoko's priestesses were exceptionally proud of their hair.
The crowd that had been gathering as soon as it had been discovered where Ranma and Ryouga had moved to released their breaths in a collective "ohhh" as Akane's pony tail hit the ground and the silent priestess examined the roughly cut ends.
"A...Akane?" one of the women asked.
"I...I..." Ranma stuttered.
"I don't see what's to worry about," Ryouga said. "She's not hurt."
"Look at her hair!" Ranma snapped angrily.
"Caught in public with a haircut like that!" one of the women supported the red-head. "She's lucky she didn't just die!"
"Don't you know anything?!" Ranma finally added.
"Say," of the ladies turned to Ranma. "Who are you anyway?"
"And where'd Ranma go?" somebody else asked.
"I don't care who she is," a guardsman muttered, staring at Ranma's chest. "As long as she keeps wearing that." Ranma immediately covered her breasts with her arms again, and angrily glared at Ryouga.
"That's not important!" Ranma yelled at the crowd. "What matters is...Akane." Ranma placed herself in front of Akane and leaned forward. "Okay Akane. If it'll cheer you up...hit me!" Ryouga stepped up beside Ranma adding his attempt to make amends, and compete with Ranma all at once.
"You may hit me too," Ryouga said neutrally. Akane looked up at the two of them, almost on the verge of tears.
"Go ahead," Ranma said, cringing.
"Smite me down," Ryouga added. Akane looked between the two of them for a moment. In the skies a new cloud was added as a flock of ravens took flight.
"Agreeable girl," Ryouga spoke around a swollen cheek. He hadn't been expecting a magically enhanced strike. "Isn't she?" Ranma just stared forward silently as Akane shuffled away.
*******
Akane strolled along, the sun moving closer to the horizon behind her, and then paused to glare at a thin tree. Suddenly she lunged forward and slammed her fist into the tree, denting it and sending the whole tree shaking.
Akane started walking again and gasped as a twinge of pain came from her ankle. She paused to look down, her eyes covered by the bangs that were no longer tied back into a pony-tail.
~I must have twisted it when I tripped,~ Akane thought clinically. ~Kasumi can fix it, or maybe Master Tofu.~
"I get the feeling she's still mad," Ranma thought, hanging from the shaking tree.
*******
Akane sat at her table thinking over the past, and her hair.
~It was finally longer than Kasumi's,~ Akane sighed. The sound of a light tapping on the wood of her window brought her attention up, where Ranma was hanging upside down like a bat at her window.
"Say...um..." Ranma started.
"What?" Akane asked. "Did you think I was crying my eyes out?"
"I can uh...fix..." Ranma's arms were crossed in front of his chest, but she was fiddling with her fingers none the less.
"I don't care about my hair!" Akane informed him, grabbing a statue from her table. "So leave me alone!!"
*******
"If I'm such a nuissance then...then...starting now...you and I are STRANGERS!!"
Ranma sighed as he recalled Akane's angry words. He, changed in body and clothes, looked down at the lock of hair in his hands. A small voice was reminding him that she had insulted him too, but she didn't know that, and if he wanted an apology he'd have to explain things he'd rather not explain.
~I've gotta apologize,~ Ranma thought.
*******
"She went to see Master Tofu about her ankle," Kasumi told Ranma. "I offered to heal it, but she was insistent. Did something happen at court?"
*******
"Aha!" Ranma said as he caught sight of a slowly walking figure. "Akane!" He quickly caught up with her and landed in front of the girl. "Whoops! Sorry! Wrong girl!" He turned to continue seeking Akane.
"Who were you looking for?" the girl asked.
"Huh?" Ranma turned around, recognizing the voice.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Akane asked curiously, playing with her hair.
"Akane?" Ranma blinked in surprise at the change, the battle priestess looked a lot different.
"Looks better now, doesn't it?" Akane asked.
"Um...Akane..." Ranma paused and then bowed. "I'm sorry."
"Well," Akane said. "I've never seen you so meek."
"It's just...I..." Ranma paused uncertain how to continue.
"It's all right," Akane said wearily. "I mean, after all...I was thinking of getting it cut." Ranma winced at the obviously hollow reassurance.
"How's...how's your ankle?" Ranma asked, following behind her. "Can I...carry you?"
"Stop being so polite," Akane said irritably. "It makes me nervous."
*******
Tofu and Genma turned as the door to his shop admitted Ranma and Akane.
"A..Akane?" Tofu said in surpise at the short hair cut, and noted the way Ranma was nervously hovering about her. The more he saw of the young...person, the more he was certain that Ranma meant no harm. He'd have to speak to the young man..err..whatever...about his feeding practices though.
"Hello, Master Tofu!" Akane said cheerfully. Tofu decided that Ranma could wait until later, right now, something was obviously wrong with Akane, despite her cheerful exterior.
*******
"What's wrong," Akane asked over her shoulder. "Ranma?"
"He said you looked cute," Ranma said, perched on a wall over looking the river. "I thought you'd be happy."
"It doesn't matter anymore," Akane said.
"Yeah, doesn't matter, right," Ranma said.
"Master Tofu already loves someone else," Akane said shrugging. "I think I've finally gotten over him, though." She sighed. Ranma leaped off the wall and landed in front of her.
"He's right, you know," Ranma said. "Your hair does look good like that." Akane's eyes bugged as she stared at Ranma in shock.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ranma asked, sweating.
"Do you feel well?" Akane asked, glaring at Ranma and leaning forward.
"Hey!" Ranma snapped. "Listen, jerk--"
"Don't worry about it," Akane shrugged, continuing to walk down the road. "You don't have to cheer me up."
"You think that's what I'm doing!" Ranma snapped. "I was just trying to compliment you an'...who says you're cute?! I just meant I like your hair better--" Akane stopped walking and stared forward in honset surprise. She turned around and saw Ranma back on the wall, crouched with his back to her. "I mean...that is...not that my taste makes any difference...I'm just a freak, right...what do I kn--?"
"Ranma?" Akane said softly, causing Ranma to look back cautiously. "Thank you. That's nice to hear."
"Mmm?" Ranma turned to face her, he felt his heart lurch as she smiled at him.
"Even if you don't mean it," Akane confirmed. "It's nice."
~C..c..can it be?~ Ranma thought. ~Akane might actually like...me?~ He stared into her cheerfully smiling face, perched on the wall. Ranma was lost enough that he missed her raising her hand up.
"On guard," Akane said simply, and poked him. Ranma found himself leaning back, and falling into river. "Ha Ha. Gotcha!"
"Why you!!" Ranma snapped. ~It was a trick, just like Ryouga getting "lost". Damn it!!~
"Now you don't have to feel guilty anymore," Akane laughed down at him.
"Who says you're cute!?" Ranma demanded. Akane merely stuck her tongue out at the red-head in the water.
*******
Meanwhile the relentless Ryouga was walking across a sandy beach with no civilization in view.
"Just wait, Ranma Saotome," Ryouga growled to himself. "I'll find you're training hall--and fight you to the death!!"
*******
Ranma stared down at her reflection in the water under the bridge and considered it. Akane had already gone on home after Ranma leaving Ranma to pout.
Ryouga had cut her twice on the face. Not that she hadn't received facial injuries before, but Ryouga was a celestial. Ranma didn't know how they'd heal. That wasn't what concerned her, however.
Ranma in female form would have been considered short had she been an elf. The fact that most succubi were six feet tall in either form made the distinction even greater. Even as a guy she wasn't really tall, not overly short either, but not really tall. Even in his true forms he was small, though he hit about average height as a male demon.
The curves which many had told Ranma were incredibly desirable, were odd for such a short person. If she were a few inches taller, or maybe as slender as an elf. Ranma sighed in resignation, she didn't look real at all.
"I am a freak," Ranma muttered dipping her hands into the water and distorting the reflection. "A tiny little freak."
"Akane doesn't mean that you know," a voice said. Ranma looked up to see Nabiki fading into view next to her.
"How do you-?" Ranma started to ask.
"You're not hiding your thoughts very well," Nabiki wiggled a finger in admonition. Ranma growled and looked back down at her feet.
"Why do you care?" Ranma asked bitterly.
"I can't get any favors from you if you leave," Nabiki explained simply, winking in attempt to show she was kidding.
"If I paid you enough could you answer me a question?" Ranma asked.
"Depends on the question," Nabiki said shrugging.
"How come nobody wants me outside of what they can get from me?" Ranma asked.
"I don't think I can answer that one," Nabiki said. Ranma slumped trying to keep from crying, though Nabiki had already seen that once if she wanted to use it against her.
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