I thank the anonymous person who helped me to find my missing disclaimer; it was in the middle of the Caribbean. Don’t bother asking how it got there, I don’t know, I think that the kite that it was flying got caught by a jetstream.

Anyway, it is currently recovering from its ordeal so instead I will merely say that these characters don’t belong to me, and even if they did, I wouldn’t know what to do with them. Thank you, now enjoy this next part.

A Ranma½ / Robotech crossover.

By Queberjeque

Chapter 2

‘Requiem’

The ++++++++ denote flashbacks.

By the way, this occurs about 6 or 7 months after the failed wedding attempt, as for the Robotech crossover part that I have yet to get to, the ship crashed about nine years ago, and it won’t be ready to launch for at least another year.

++++++++ Three weeks ago ++++++++

"Where is Kasumi?" Nabiki asked, looking around. "She’s ok right?"

"K-k-kasumi? Heh, um…well, she was in sh-shock, your fathers are watching over her in the n-next room. Then, uh and I…felt that I should be in here with you two instead of with h-h-her," Tofu replied with a silly grin.

"Doctor, for Kasumi’s sake, please try to control yourself, I think that the last thing we need right now is irrationality."

"B-but…I-I can’t help it, I…you are right, K-kasumi needs strength right now. Hee hee, I can do that, right? I will do my best to b-be there for K-K-K-kasumi," Tofu finished stuttering and wiped his glasses off, visibly struggling to gain control over himself.

Getting up, Nabiki made her way over to Ranma’s side. "How long before he gets up? I need about an hour before he goes on a rampage, we can’t afford to have him arrested for destroying large sections of Nerima. I have some plans already prepared that should help contain this situation."

Nabiki scowled, *I just hope that this works. If I hadn’t passed out I could have started improvising right away, instead I have to rely on plans that were created almost two years ago because there is no time to set up something new.*

"I think I can keep him under for an hour, don’t worry, I will stay and watch him." With that, Tofu pressed a point near Ranma’s shoulder and the restless boy calmed down, returning to a dreamless sleep.

Nodding, Nabiki turned to go, however the doctor grabbed her hand before she could take a step.

"You know, revenge is a dangerous path to take. It usually just leads to more disappointment and despair than you start with."

Without turning to face him Nabiki replied in a whisper. "I know, but I don’t care. They killed my little sister, I must not let them get away without suffering as well."

Pulling free from his hand, she made her way out of the room to the nearest phone. Dialing a number, she hears it pick up on the first ring.

~Hello?~

"Initiate plans alpha and delta, if you need to reach me, I am at Dr. Tofu’s office. Now hurry, I want this done within ten minutes."

~Boss? Yes boss, I’ll get right on it.~

Click. Looking around, she quickly punched in another number. After the tenth ring she frowned and hung up the receiver. A minute later, knowing she would probably regret it if she didn’t, she picked up the phone once more and dialed a third number. It picked up on the third ring.

~Yes, who is it?~

"This is Nabiki, I have a job for you."

~What do you need boss?~

"Go over to the Neko-hauten and see who is there, and be careful. Do it fast, then come to Dr. Tofu’s to report."

~Ok boss, right away.~

Click. Sitting down in the nearest chair, she stared at her feet.

"Now what? I don’t know what else I can do."

A hand rested on her shoulder. With a shriek she spun around, stumbling backwards.

"Maybe I can help."

"Auntie Saotome!" With a look of relief Nabiki threw herself into the arms of the Saotome matriarch.

"I’m sorry for your loss, Akane was like a daughter to me, she would have been my daughter if only…" Nodoka wiped her eyes and looked at Nabiki with a gentle smile. "If you will let me, I can handle all of the necessary arrangements for her funeral, it is not something that you should have to do."

"Thank you Auntie, I would greatly appreciate your help."

They comforted each other for a while until they heard a crash from Ranma’s room. Racing in there they found Tofu trying to keep an enraged Ranma from leaving.

*Damn, I was hoping the doctor could keep him down longer. I need to distract him, Tofu is the only one of us who can do anything to stop him.*

"Ranma!"

Looking towards the newcomers Ranma paled at the sight of his mother. "I…I…Oh Kami, I failed to protect her mom. I wasn’t there to save her this time, I wasn’t there to stop them..."

"Ranma." Nabiki repeated. "I’m already handling it, you don’t have to go fight them right now."

"What! You know who it was? Tell Me Who!" Ranma was suddenly right in front of Nabiki.

"It was…uh, calm down and I will tell you," Nabiki stalled.

Tofu quietly moved behind Ranma and tapped him in the lower back. Ranma’s legs gave out beneath him and he sat abruptly.

"Hey, what are you doing! Let me go!" Ranma yelled at the doctor.

"Ranma!" He looked back up at Nabiki.

"It was the Amazons, Kasumi and I saw them leaving the house." Seeing his darkening visage she hurried on with her explanation. "I already took some steps to stop them, but…" She trailed off looking away. "I had their work visa’s revoked and alerted Immigration and the Police, but I think they may have already left the country. I tried calling the restaurant and there was no answer. My associates will let us know what happened, soon. Until then, you are going to stay here and wait with the rest of us. If they are captured, then they will face judgment for killing Akane, if not, then they have fled and you are in no shape to go after them right this minute. It will require careful planning to attack them in their home territory. Do you understand me?"

Ranma glared at her. "Yah, I understand just fine! Doesn’t anything get through that icy exterior of yours? They just kille-"

"I said to calm down Ranma. If they got away you will get your chance, but it won’t be today! I want you to promise me that you will wait until after Akane’s funeral to go after them. I think you should stay for that, you owe it to her. Don’t you think? Otherwise I will have Dr. Tofu keep you here by force. There is nothing you can do right now but get in the way. You can’t save her, she’s gone…" Nabiki’s voice trailed off.

All of the rage drained from Ranma’s face as the implications sank in. "F-funeral? I…I…" he closed his eyes, but tears started leaking from the corners, "I promise."

Nabiki’s heart tore to see the look of anguish on his young face. *Oh Ranma, I know you loved her, if I could take back some of the things I did to keep you two apart, I would. I didn’t think either of you were ready for love, I’m sorry.* But those were thoughts that she couldn’t bring herself to voice. Instead she just let the tears roll down from her already red and puffy eyes.

++++++++ Present Time ++++++++

"Nabiki, are you ok?"

Startled, Nabiki spun around to see Ranma-chan standing a few feet behind her.

"I…I’m fine, there is a teapot over there if you want to heat up some water. We have two days aboard ship before we get to our destination."

"Oh. Well, now that we’re already here, can you tell me where we are going? I mean, um than is, well, are you sure that they can’t find us there? ‘Cause it sure didn’t take Xian Pu more than a few weeks to find me the first time. How do ya know they won’t track us there?" Ranma looked up from studying the carpet, and met Nabiki’s eyes with a questioning look.

"Don’t worry about that, this place will be perfectly safe," Nabiki primed her revelation by moving closer to the window. "We are going to Macross Island!" Nabiki finished with a flourish and a self-satisfied grin.

"…"

Nabiki’s grin slid off her face. "MACROSS Island, you know, the island with the big ship!"

"…"

Her eye started to twitch. "You know, the island where that spaceship crashed years ago! It’s only the most secure installation anywhere near here! Don’t you watch the news?"

"Oh! THAT Macross Island, uh heh heh, I forgot." Ranma replied quickly and turned towards the teapot, but not before Nabiki saw the questioning look still on her face.

Nabiki sighed, "I managed to swing passes for both of us to live there, I almost wasn’t able to do it. I seriously doubt that the amazons will be able to get there, even if they discover where we are. The military is very careful about protecting it. I heard that they even have a pair of super-carriers there to guard the base. There is no way that those backwoods amazons will be able to obtain passes without Kho Lon’s expertise." Nabiki’s smirk resumed its control of her face.

"What are we going to do there?" Ranma asked while pouring the hot water over his head.

Watching his transformation, her smirk deepened. "Oh, I’ll think of something, don’t you worry." Giving herself a quick shake she looked away. "One way or another, we’ll survive."

Ranma spent the day down in their cabin recovering from the trip. Nabiki knew that he had not slept for more than an hour or two each day during the past week of running. Even Ranma couldn’t recover from that with only one night’s sleep. Nabiki had gotten more rest while he was guarding, so she felt like spending the remainder of the day on deck, watching the sea.

She knew that she still had several problems to take care of, but she didn’t want to deal with them right now. They needed to find a place to stay and somewhere to work, which was something she better get started on before they arrived. The other problem was calling home and letting their families know what was going on. But for now, she just wanted to relax and soak in the peaceful sunlight.

Her thoughts drifted again towards when this whole mess started.

++++++++ ++++++++ ++++++++ ++++++++

"Boss! Boss, are you here?" Nabiki looked up at the door. Ryonami, the girl she had sent to the restaurant was coming into the room. "There you are, I got something for you."

"Good, what did you find, were they there, did they get arrested?"

Ryonami panted, trying to catch her breath. "Sorry boss, the old woman and Xian Pu got away, however, immigration managed to capture the boy, Mu Tsu. They followed your advice and threw water on him when he tried to fight, boy were they surprised!" Ryonami grinned.

*Damn, they got away," Nabiki fumed. *Still, I suppose it is better to have Mu Tsu out of the way already. This way he can’t interfere later.* "Wait a minute, you said you have something for me? What is it?"

"I found this on one of the tables, it’s addressed to Ranma." Ryonami held out a large envelope.

Nabiki took the envelope from her. "Thank you, if I need anything else I will call you."

She waited until Ryonami left, then tore open the envelope. Inside was a single piece of paper.

(Ranma,

Yes, I was the one who killed your fiancé. I feel that it is a just punishment for what must now happen to my granddaughter Xian Pu. If you had simply married Xian Pu in the beginning, none of this would have happened. Instead I have seen you and the Tendo girl grow much closer over the last several months, ignoring our sacred tribal laws and customs. I know that it is now impossible for Xian Pu to complete her mission to take you back as her husband, so instead she will be permanently cursed to become a cat. I blame you.

Don’t bother coming after us, by the time you get this we will be well on the way to China. If you do decide to pursue vengeance, remember this, if you come to China: you will die. If necessary the entire Amazon village will hunt you down. As I must now live with the knowledge that my favorite granddaughter is a cat, you must live knowing that the girl you love is dead at my hands and there is nothing you can do about it.

May you die young,

Kho Lon

Matriarch)

Nabiki reread the letter several times, looking for clues. *There has to be a way to get to them.* She walked to the room where Ranma was sitting.

"We leave after the funeral."

Ranma looked up, "What do you mean, We? I’m going alone, there is no reason to drag you along for this." He glanced over to the door. "Besides, you would just get in the way."

Nabiki threw the letter onto his lap. "Read this, then we’ll talk. I’m the only one who can get you to them without getting caught. If you just storm into their village you will be killed. I have a plan to prevent that, and make sure that Akane’s death is avenged." She turned to walk out the door, saying "When you are ready to listen, I will be with Kasumi and the others."

++++++++ Present Time ++++++++

It was after five in the evening before she saw Ranma come on deck and move towards the ship’s stern¹. Nabiki watched as he stood at the railing and looked back in the direction they had traveled. She slowly made her way across the deck to his side.

"Are you alright?"

He turned his head to look at her, "Yah, I’m just fine, I would just like to be alone right now, if you don’t mind, Nabiki," he paused, "but thanks for asking."

She nodded and walked back to the cabin. *I might as well get this over with.* She picked up the phone and dialed the dojo’s number. It rang twice then she heard Nodoka’s voice on the other end.

~Tendo Residence, can I help you?~

"Hello Auntie Nodoka, it’s me, Nabiki."

~Nabiki! Are you alright? Where are you? Is Ranma with you?~ Nodoka’s excited voice cried out.

"We’re fine, but I can’t tell you where we are right now. Are the others there? I need to tell everyone what is happening."

~Sorry dear, but Happosia has those two out tonight, probably at a bar or bath house. He has been keeping them either too drunk, or too busy to be sitting around the house, grieving. Kasumi is over having dinner with Dr. Tofu again.~

"Kasumi’s over at Tofu’s having dinner?! Wait, did you say Again? How many?… never mind, tell her when she gets back that I’m happy for her."

~I will dear.~ Nodoka chuckled over the line.

"I guess that I can tell you what happened, would you mind relaying it to the rest when they get home?" Nabiki asked.

~I would be glad to. You have been gone for so long, we were beginning to think that something awful had happened.~

"It WAS pretty awful, at least the last several days have been. Why don’t I start at the beginning."

~That would probably be best my dear.~

"When we left I was able to get us into China with no problems at all. Wearing disguises to look like Chinese peasants, we traveled by train until we got to the mountains. From there we hiked to Jusenkyo. The springs have not come back yet since the fight with Saffron, by the way. We then worked our way, carefully, to a wooded hillside near the village. Not only did we spot roving patrols on the way in, but there were guards positioned all over the village itself. We used my binoculars to watch the village, apparently we arrived on the final day of Xian Pu’s trial." Nabiki said, getting into the story.

"We saw Kho Lon and Xian Pu standing on one side of a raised platform, and several other old women on the other side. I had a hard time keeping Ranma from rushing down there to attack Kho Lon, but I was able to prevent him from doing anything rash. We were much too far to hear what they were saying, but we were plenty close enough to see what happened next. Everyone turned to watch a woman wearing clothes that were entirely red, come out of a long building, in the back of the village. She was carefully carrying something in her hands. Ranma told me that it was the ladle that can make curses permanent."

~There is such a terrible thing?~ Nodoka interrupted, ~thank heavens that didn’t happen to Ranma.~

Nabiki sweat-dropped. "Uh, actually… ah, nevermind. Anyway, this woman carried the ladle up to the platform. She stopped near the elders, while they said something, then walked over to Xian Pu and threw the contents of the ladle on her. They turned her into a cat, permanently."

~Oh my!~

"Auntie Nodoka?"

~Uh, please continue my dear.~

"Well, um everyone dispersed then, we watched Kho Lon carry Xian Pu into a house near the center of the Village. The woman in red carried the ladle back to the building it came from, and she did not emerge again until that evening, then another women in red, took her place in the building. After nightfall I had Ranma get me to the back of that building. We peeked inside and you won’t believe what we saw."

~The woman in red with the ladle?~

"…" Nabiki sweat-dropped again. "Besides that, I mean. There were dozens of barrels in that building. We were able to read some of the labels on them. They had barrels for just about every spring that Jusenkyo used to have. Ranma got real excited about this, but I convinced him to let me come up with a plan of attack."

"We returned to our hilltop and waited for morning. By watching during the day we were able to get a good count of the number of people in the village, as well as where all of the guards were stationed. When the patrols came in, we were able to discover how many they had out watching the approaches to the village. I explained my plan to Ranma and he agreed that it was worthwhile."

~What was it, Nabiki?~

"I’m getting to that, Auntie. When night fell, I had Ranma get us back down to the building with the water. I waited outside while he quietly overpowered the guard. We searched through the barrels, but we couldn’t find the spring of drowned-man. I think that the cask that was at the failed wedding came from here, because all of the other barrels looked similar to that one. Ranma gave me the kettle thing that reverses the ladle’s effects. We searched for the most fitting punishment to use on Kho Lon. We were about to settle on turning her into a turtle when Ranma found a small cask nearly hidden between two larger ones. According to it’s lable it was from the spring of drowned-musk-warrior. Then, while I waited there he took the water, and the ladle, and went to dowse Kho Lon. While he was gone, I found and emptied the spring of drown-girl barrel. That way they couldn’t find a way to use it to turn her back."

*I don’t think I’ll tell her about that small room in the back of the building with the treasure. After all, finders-keepers, losers-weepers.* Nabiki thought to herself with a small grin, *It is a pity I couldn’t carry more of it, though.*

"I hated the wait, but Ranma finally returned. He was looking a little worn, so that may explain what happened when we left. He told me it was done, so we prepared to leave the village and return to our hiding place, undetected. When we were safe under the cover of the trees, Ranma told me what happened. Apparently he managed to get to her house unnoticed by any of the guards. Once there he made his way through it until he found her room. The old hag was waiting for him, apparently she had sensed his presence near the village. For once Ranma didn’t hesitate to say something, or throw an insult."

Nabiki grinned. "Instead he threw the open barrel at her. When she dodged it, he was ready and hit her with the water from the ladle that he had kept hidden from her in the dark. I guess being locked into a new form is rather disorientating, because she didn’t put up too much of a fight before Ranma managed to beat her unconscious with her own staff. On his way back Ranma almost had to knock out another guard, but she moved on without noticing him."

"The next morning we watched a most satisfying scene. The village was in an uproar when they found the unconscious guard. Several of the younger members of the tribe went to awaken the elders. Just moments after one entered Kho Lon’s house we heard a scream, the girl came running out yelling something about Musk invaders. The guards got to the house just as a large man-creature came stumbling out of it. I couldn’t get a very good view of Kho Lon’s new body, but what I did see reminded me of a bull. The guards immediately started attacking it. For a few seconds I thought that she would just let them kill her, but then she started defending herself. First one, then two more guards flew backwards into neighboring houses, the rest were forced to go on the defensive against her."

Nabiki stopped for a moment.

~What is it Nabiki-chan, are you alright?~

"Sorry about that, I was just thinking. What really surprised me was that she wasn’t trying to convince them to stop, the only sound that she made was a bellowing roar. I don’t know for sure, but I think that being turned into one of the Amazon’s worst enemies did something to her mind. Either that, or else the spring of drowned-musk-warrior was one of the few that affected the mind as well, such as spring of drowned-virtuous-man."

~Spring of drowned-virtuous-man? That sounds like something I should try and get, heaven knows that Genma could use some,~ Nodoka replied.

Nabiki face-faulted. Getting up, she thought about the idea, *It probably wouldn’t be strong enough.*

"Um, right Auntie Nodoka. Anyway, back to the story. I suppose what came next was inevitable, the other elders managed to get to the fight, along with additional fighters. None of them were throwing chi-blasts like Ranma and Ryoga do, but they were still quite amazing. I could barely even see them, they were moving so fast. Then one of the creature’s arms suddenly exploded. When I gasped, Ranma didn’t take his eyes off the match, but he said that one of the elders poked the arm. Kind of like Ryoga’s Baksai-Tenketsu, only here it was used against flesh, not stone."

~Oh my…~

"The fight quickly deteriorated into chaos from that. The creature that had been Kho Lon seemed to go into a berserker frenzy, she managed to take down several dozen Amazon warrors, including two of the elders. I don’t know if any of them died, because we didn’t stay around long enough afterwards to watch, but they didn’t look too good. It ended up being another elder leading a group of archers that put the creature down for good. They came up behind her and fired at her back. She managed to block a couple of the arrows, but at least four of them hit her. They kept firing at her until she fell down. Even then, with only one arm and looking like a pincushion, I could see through my binoculars that she was still moving. Finally, one of the elders that had been fighting hand to hand came up to her and chopped off her head," Nabiki paused, "I am not certain, but in those last moments, I would swear that I saw her look straight at where we were hiding."

~Really, did anyone else notice?~

"No, fortunately. You see, after they cut off her head, her body turned back into her original. When they saw that, the entire village went nuts. There were people running everywhere. They searched the village twice, and then they sent out bands of fighters in every direction. They would have found us too, except that when they started coming towards us, Ranma picked me up and ran the other direction."

"We managed to make it about two miles before Ranma stopped. He pulled out the ladle and set it on the ground. He then blasted it with a Moko Takabishi, when I looked at him, he just said that he didn’t want them to have it. I agreed with him about that. Before we could go much farther though, we stumbled into one of their patrols. They had come to investigate the light created by Ranma’s blast. He was able to easily knock them all out, but that allowed them to know that we were in the area. They had someone to blame for what had happened to their matriarch."

Nabiki sighed, "Since then we have been on the run. We can’t return to the dojo, so instead I arranged for us to go someplace else. When things calm down a bit, maybe we can send for you to come and visit, but until then, we can’t risk letting them find us. They are out for blood, and neither Ranma or I want to have to kill to stop them," Nabiki finished.

~Oh…my…~

"Please let the rest of the family know that we are alright. But tell the school that we were killed, that may throw some of our pursuers off track."

~Of course my dear, I have some experience covering for someone on the run. After all, Genma upset many people during his lifetime, and quite a few of them came to me. I will take care of everything. Don’t you worry. I hope you have a pleasant time with my son. Oh, by the way, tell Ranma that some of his friends have been looking for him. That nice Hibiki boy was exceedingly upset about not having the opportunity to accompany the two of you, and Miss Kuonji decided to go with him. She didn’t seem to be very pleased with you two. Is this something that I will need to deal with?~

"Uh, maybe…"

~Very well, if she is still upset when I see her again, I will inform her that the two of you are dead. After all, I still prefer to honor the Tendo engagement. I am sure that I can convince my husband to start paying her back her dowry. He often agrees with me when I sharpen my katana. You’ll keep Ranma out of any trouble, won’t you dear? That’s what he needs most it seems, and I am sure that he will keep you safe. Good bye.~

"…" Nabiki stared at the phone until the dial-tone changed. Hanging it up, she sat on the bed and stared at the window. A smile came to her face, then she started to laugh, for the first time in weeks she was laughing. She couldn’t stop, she was laughing so hard that tears streamed down her face, and she was afraid that she would wet her pants. Finally her laughter wound down to a few chuckles, and she lay back on the bed.

"Ranma and me…Yah right." Still giggling she got under the covers and went to sleep.

"nabiki…nabiki…Nabiki?…Hey Nabiki…NABIKI WAKE UP!"

"Huh, wha…?" Nabiki’s eyes shot open, taking in the room’s other occupant. "Ranma," she growled, "did you have to yell in my ear?!" She sat up and glanced out the window. Noticing the sun was shining on the water, she asked, "What time is it?"

Ranma grinned at her. "Well, it was either that or a bucket of water, and since I couldn’t find a bucket…" He hefted a glass filled with water, ice cubes floating at the top. "This was my next idea."

She pulled the covers up to her chin. "Don’t you dare, if you even think about throwing that on me…" Nabiki kept her threat purposely vague. "How long was I asleep? I feel much better."

"You were sleeping when I got back last night, and it is already after noon. I figured I better wake you up, since you missed breakfast. Lunch is still available, if you hurry." With that, Ranma turned and left the room.

"Ok, so I slept for another fifteen hours, I was tired. Wait, did he say lunch?" Nabiki jumped out of bed. Hurriedly throwing on her clothes, she ran out of the room and almost collided with Ranma, who was standing in front of the door. "Hey!"

Ranma looked at her. "Actually lunch was an hour ago, you missed it."

"What!? Then why did you tell me…" Her voice trailed off as she saw the cart sitting next to Ranma.

"You looked pretty exhausted, so I decided to bring lunch to you." Ranma put his hand behind his head, just like every other time she had seen him embarrassed. "Heh, besides, I wasn’t able to wake you up earlier."

"Well, um…at least you didn’t try that water." Nabiki tried to keep her voice firm, but she couldn’t stop a small smile from appearing.

Turning away from him to grab the cart, she quickly pulled it into the room.

"Thank you, I’ll be up in a little while." She closed the door, and leaned against the frame. She looked at the cart. The food was in covered dishes, and the silverware was wrapped in a linen napkin. What really caught her eye though was the white flower sitting in a vase in the middle of the tray.

She picked up the flower. *Wow, what a cruise ship, I love room service, they probably put flowers on all of their trays.* Bringing the flower up to her nose, she breathed in its fragrance. *I suppose it is a nice touch. With that thought in mind, she carefully placed the flower back in its vase. Pulling the cart over to the table, she settled down to enjoy her meal, and while it wasn’t quite up to Kasumi’s standards, it was delicious compared to eating what they could find while on the run.

After breakfast, Nabiki picked up the phone.

~Hello, Macross City Chamber of Commerce, how may I help you?~

"Hi, I would like to get a listing of all martial art dojos in the city."

~Just a moment, let me check.~

Nabiki waited patiently. *I hope I can find one that will agree to letting him teach. It shouldn’t be too hard, once they see what he can do, but still… I’ll bet that Ranma doesn’t have any paperwork to prove he’s allowed to teach Anything Goes. I wonder if Auntie Nodoka would be willing to have Daddy draw up some papers and fax them to me? * Nabiki stopped that line of thought as the woman’s voice came back on the line.

~I’m sorry, but there are no martial art dojos currently operating in Macross City. If you would like, I can send you a list of exercise gyms instead.~

"Uh no, that’s unnecessary. Goodbye."

~Goodbye~

Click.

Nabiki sat down and pondered this. *Well, that was unexpected. So much for the idea of getting Ranma a job. I suppose I’ll have to fall back on plan B. How will I convince him to pose for me though?*

Nabiki started to grin as an idea came to her. "Wait a minute, they said that there are no dojos on the island right now, that means that there is an entire market lying untapped! It will take a bit of work, but I think this could be perfect."

Nabiki reached over to pick up her pack. Opening it, she started pulling out various golden objects. Most were items like coins, or jewelry, but there were also some small statues and a few cups. Then, reaching the bottom of the back, she opened up a hidden compartment. From there she withdrew a folded black cloth. Carefully laying it on the bed, she slowly unfolded it to reveal the contents. In the center fold a myriad of jewels now lay sparkling in the sunlight.

"Yes, I think this just might work." Nabiki grinned. *This should satisfy the job requirement for living in Macross City. Opening up a dojo will give Ranma something to do that he enjoys, and taking care of its management will be sufficient for me.* Nabiki thought about that for a moment. *Of course, just running a dojo will be too easy, after all I’ve been taking care of ours since before Daddy stopped teaching. Besides, I really enjoy taking pictures. Hmm, maybe I can do both. With that thought still running through her head, Nabiki carefully put everything away, then left the room to go find Ranma.

She walked around the entire deck looking for Ranma. After she checked the lounge and dining room, she was starting to get a little worried until she saw a flash of familiar red hair over by the pool. Making her way over to the deck chair Ranma-chan was draped over, she settled herself next to her.

"Enjoying yourself, Ranma?"

"Yep." Ranma-chan replied without moving.

"Ranma, I wanted to talk to you about something."

Opening her eyes, Ranma-chan replied. "What did ya need?"

"Well, in order for us to stay on the island, we have to have legitimate jobs. I was thinking ," Nabiki answered, "that if you were agreeable, I would open up a dojo and you could teach classes."

Ranma-chan looked thoughtful for a second. "Sure, but isn’t that kind of expensive?"

"Ah, never mind about that part, I have it covered." Nabiki responded, ignoring the look of skepticism on Ranma-chan’s face. "Oh, one other thing…"

"What’s that?" Ranma-chan asked, closing her eyes again.

"Since this will be my dojo, I will be the one in charge. You have to do what I say."

"What! No way!" Ranma-chan was suddenly sitting up, wide eyes staring at her. "You don’t know anything about teaching martial arts., why should I have to listen to you?"

"It’s either that, or you can get a job as a waitress." Nabiki smirked, "I’m sure there is a Chinese restaurant somewhere in the city.

Ranma-chan blanched.

Nabiki decided to give Ranma-chan a little more incentive. "Look, I’m not going to try to tell you how to teach the students, all I am saying is that when it comes to managing the dojo, I am the one in charge."

Looking her in the eye, Ranma-chan slowly nodded. "Ok, I’ll give it a shot." She lay back down. "But only if I have the final say in what I teach."

Nodding Nabiki agreed with him. "Of course Ranma, do I look stupid to you? What you teach will be entirely up to you."

Standing up, Nabiki looked at the pool. "I’ll be back in a few minutes."

"Where are you going?"

"To get my bathing suit," Nabiki glanced back down to Ranma-chan. "We get to the island early tomorrow morning, that means I only have a short time to enjoy this cruise. I want to go swimming."

Looking around at the pool’s other occupants, Nabiki noticed several men eyeing the young redhead. "Oh, and Ranma?"

"What"

"Try not to get into any trouble. If you get into any fights, you’ll answer to me."

"Huh?" Ranma-chan looked up at her, then glanced around the pool and started glaring at her admirers.

Nabiki chuckled, "Remember, no fights."

With that Nabiki turned away from Ranma and made her way back towards their cabin. Her steps felt lighter than they had before.

*Yes, maybe this will work out after all.*

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Till next time,

Queberjeque