The Bargain

A/N Thank you again for your continued reviews Animedevildog, you rock!

Shard-that you reviewed at all is cool, I don't care how long it took.

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Tatewaki was getting ready for a Kendo tournament, he was slightly sad because Nabiki had said she wanted to go with him and cheer him on from the audience. He’d welcomed the idea of having a girl there for him, most other guys did and he’d envied them. He’d entertained fantasies of taking Nabiki out to dinner afterwards and her gushing about how wonderful he’d been. He frowned at this, ‘what a sap I am’ he thought; most men his age had sexual fantasies, but apparently he had lame relationship fantasies! He was frustrated a lot these days; he knew how to deal with sexual frustration, but he didn’t know how to deal with the emotional frustration of not seeing his beloved.

He examined his face in the mirror ‘was he really so unlovable?’ He’d always been told that he was handsome and had never questioned that. Were his lips too wide? His nose too long? He looked the same as he always had, he didn’t have Ranma’s baby face; his features were sharper and leaner. Elegant and aristocratic was how Nabiki had described him as looking. His hair was now to his shoulders and framed his face; softening his features slightly and making his dark eyes stand out sharply against his ivory complexion. His hair lay flat across his skull in a center part, and then it waved to his shoulders, giving him an oddly romantic appearance. This caused females in the street to stare after him, not that he noticed their attention in his present mood. He’d almost hack it off in a rage at the memory of how she liked to run her fingers through it when they broke up. But then he realized that the longer hair suited him better then the teased bangs ever had and that he no more resembled Ranma then Ranma resembled every long hair guy in the world. His chest was now larger then before, he’d been working out like crazy at almost a punishing pace, first to keep himself busy and perhaps in punishment itself. He pulled on his Kendo uniform and laughed at his reflection, he only wore it these days during practice. ‘Had he really wore this thing every day?’ he questioned. He picked up his bokken and laughed harder in a bitter manner ‘this completes the look’ he realized. He thought he looked like he was going to a costume party. Or that he was an actor from a particularly low budget Edo period piece with cheaply made costumes. With a final ironic laugh at the folly of his attire, he picked up his gym bag and made his way to the tournament grounds.

He’d had three long, torturous weeks without Nabiki to think about all aspects of their relationship. He’d grieved much and reflected much. Then the resort had sent the pictures that they had left there to be developed and he made himself examine every one of them, while he sobbed at the sight of the happy couple in them. So many memories, Nabiki had announced the rule of no touching in public was off as no one knew them there, so they had held hands almost every place they went. Sometimes she would make him stop and pull him into a kiss. He looked at the photos again. A picture of Nabiki wearing just a sarong with an orchid tucked behind her ear at the pig roast their resort had hosted. A photo of him asleep, that she had taken after she put pink zinc on his nose. A picture of him piggybacking her while he ran them both into the waves. A photo of them building the prize winning sand castle together. Photos of them with their arms around each other, of them eating, kissing and dancing. Both people looked so happy together.

The more he thought about what Nabiki had said to him in the limo, the less he understood it. If it was just sex to her then why had she spent every day of three weeks coming to see him? They hadn’t made love in that time; she had tended to him, tried to encourage him to eat, helped him with his homework or just slipped into bed with him and held him. Then there were the photos; yes his expression was sappy, but so was hers. Then there was the one lone date that she had insisted on. Was she lying when she said she cared so little for him? If so; then why? If she’d just wanted to use his body as her amusement park, then why go through all that effort?

He’d won all the matches and was barely breathing hard; this was the first time in a long time he’d felt proud of himself. Yet he found himself scanning the stand to see if there was even a remote chance that she’d come anyway. Other then a cute blonde girl with tinted glasses, there was really no one paying any particular attention to him. He felt sad about that fact, picturing too many years full of loneliness ahead of him. Then he forced himself back to the present and took up his stance against his opponent. He smiled in victory as he trounced his final opponent; he was the tournament champion!

He quickly changed back into the jeans and shirt combination that comprised his causal everyday wear these days and put away his kendo uniform. He sighed to be back in his regular clothes, wearing his uniform just felt odd. He pulled the hair tie out from his ponytail and ran his fingers through his hair to free it. Then he quickly brushed it out and picked up his gym bag to begin his journey home. He didn’t like taking limos everywhere like his father had enjoyed, it made Tatewaki feel too conspicuous, so he preferred to walk most places. He paused in the doorway of the exit, saddened to see so many girls waiting patiently for their boyfriends to emerge. He watched as one by one they paired off, the female’s face lighting up to see her loved one. He sighed, there wasn’t one there for him; there never was. He turned to go, needing to get away from the happy couples, when someone called his name.

“Yoo hoo, Kuno aren’t you going to wait for me?” a female voice said. He turned in surprise to see the Pigtailed Girl walking seductively towards him. She wore a white tank top and a blue mini skirt that left little to the imagination. She got really close to him, and then began tracing invisible circles on his chest with her finger. She pouted up at him “have you forgotten me so easily?”

Tatewaki’s mind was in a whirl at this curious development “Of course not my Pigtailed Goddess, who could forget you?” he said back, having come to a decision.

“That’s better,” she said.

“Would you care to come to my place for some tea?” he suggested.

“I never though you’d ask” she said taking his arm and allowing him to lead her towards his mansion.

Nabiki stood in the shadows. She’d so badly wanted to come to see this, but was worried about what reception she would receive, so she’d resorted to using one of her vacation disguises. She now wore a long blonde wig and tinted wire frame fake glasses. She’d watched from the stand, her eyes only seeing Tatewaki, as he gracefully beat one opponent after another. His bodies flowing from one position to another like a dancer, a confident smile on his face as he met his challengers. ‘He’s so beautiful’ she thought drinking in his form, remembering every inch of it. She watched sadly when Kuno was met by a tramp in a white shirt and blue skirt, with her red hair braided in back. Nabiki couldn’t see who it was from the back. She could feel the tears run down her face when she saw them leave together. ‘So he’s already found someone else?’ she thought and sadly walked towards home, alone with her thought. Wondering idly why her period was so late when she was normally like clockwork, she halted in front of a drugstore and went in to make the purchase that every teenaged girl dreads.

Kuno ordered a pot of tea to be brought from the kitchen, along with a kettle of hot water, in case they had to reheat the leaves. This caused Ranma to blush at what Tatewaki was implying would happen between them. Ranma gulped when Tatewaki closed and locked the door of his room when the maid had departed. “So my Pigtailed Goddess, we are alone at last.” He said triumphantly, advancing towards the cringing girl.

“Now Kuno, we should take this slow,” Ranma said nervously, retreating from him.

“But my Goddess, we have already wasted too much time for us to go slow. How long you made me wait to make love to you is naughty,” he purred, still moving slowly towards her. She gasped when her legs hit his bed. “Besides, you must want this too, or you wouldn’t have invited yourself here” he said, giving her a feral smile that made Ranma’s heart race with fear.

“Damn it Kuno, I’m a guy,” she said shoving against his chest. She blushed as his eyes raked over her mostly exposed form, wishing she’d put a bra under the flimsy shirt.

“Not from where I’m standing” Tatewaki observed. Then he moved away from her to pour the tea “perhaps having some refreshments will help you loosen up?” he suggested, holding a full cup towards her.

Grateful for the distraction, she reached for it, then yelped with surprised when Tatewaki dumped it over her head. A wet, irritated male Ranma yelled, “What the hell did you do that for?”

“It wasn’t tea, it was just hot water from the kettle” explained Kuno. “Now would you care to explain why you came here incognito? If you wanted to talk to me, you only need ask,” he said coldly.

Ranma stood there stunned, still wearing the shirt and skirt from earlier “you knew it was me?” he inquired.

“Yes, I’ve known for a while now, I was just willfully blind about it. Lately I’ve come accept a lot of things that I refused to believe before” he explained and pulled out a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. “I can’t talk you properly while you are dressed like that, you may changed in the washroom,” he said holding the clothes out to the shorter boy. Which he gratefully donned, he emerged to find Kuno sitting in a chair by the fireplace sipping his tea. He poured a cup for Ranma and placed in on the small table in front of him to show that he didn’t intend pour it over him again. “What do you want Ranma?” he asked.

“I like your hair like that, it suits you” Ranma said.

Tatewaki raised his eyes from his tea to look into the blue eyes of the boy sitting opposite him. “I rather doubt you came here to discuss my choice of hairstyle,” he observed.

“No I came to see you as Ranko because I wanted to know if you really had changed or if you were just pretending to impress a girl. You really have changed,” said Ranma.

Tatewaki tensed about Ranma suggesting that he was trying to impress a girl. “I don’t have a woman in my life” he said, managing to keep the sadness from his voice.

“I know about you and Nabiki” Ranma stated, he was rewarded by a fleeting look of surprise on Tatewaki’s face before he schooled his features.

“There is nothing going on between Nabiki Tendo and I” he replied cautiously.

“But there was, I saw you two together. The way you looked at each other” Ranma said. “What happened? All I know is that Nabiki seems to be miserable, but won’t admit it and so do you”

“Have you ever had sex Ranma?” Tatewaki asked him.

Ranma blushed and answered “No”

“Sex is the most amazing thing that you will ever experience in your life, but it is one hundred times better when you are in love with the person you are making love to” Tatewaki said, refusing to meet his eye.

“Nabiki?” Ranma questioned, sensing the sadness inside the boy opposite him.

“Yes, she suggested an arrangement between the two of us; I was to sacrifice my virginity and abandon my lecherous ways and in exchange, I would have use of her body. It worked out very well between us for a while, then I was foolish enough to fall in love and she didn’t” he replied.

“Your first? Kuno that’s so…….” Ranma began.

“Pathetic?” supplied Tatewaki, his jaw as taunt. “Why shouldn’t I have agreed to have sex with a woman who desired me, its not like anyone else wanted me? Clearly my current pursuit of love was netting me only blows to the head that would knock me out. I don’t want your pity,” he said, unaware that tears had started to flow down his face. Ranma just pulled the taller man to him and held him while Tatewaki struggled against Ranma’s embrace, then submitted to it. In that moment enemies became friends. As Tatewaki cried in his arms at having revealed his pain someone who knew the cause of it, Ranma felt like he had failed him. Why hadn’t he realized that underneath all of his theatrics, Tatewaki was just a lonely boy wanting to be loved?

Ranma knocked on Nabiki’s door that night, after he left Tatewaki in the loving capable hands of Sasuke and ducked out of the mansion by way of the kitchen, before Kodachi realized that he was there. “Nabiki, you’ve seemed kind of sad lately. Would you like to talk about it?” he called.

Nabiki sat at her desk, looking at her copies of the photos that the resort had sent to her. She ran her finger down Tatewaki’s face in the photo. They stood side by side with his arm around her, she smiled at the camera and his face was aglow with happiness. She wiped away a tear and her eyes fell on the pregnancy test that she was waiting to develop. ‘Please let it be a single pink line’ she begged it silently. “I’m fine; thanks Ranma” she called to him, forcing false cheer into her voice.

Ranma continued down the hall to Akane’s room, he knocked on the door. “Ranma?” asked Akane when she answered it. He pushed gently past her and closed the door after him. “What would you like?” she asked confused, while he strode purposely towards her. He pulled her into a soft embrace, that she could have easily backed out of, but didn’t. Leaning down, he shared his first kissing with her, he smiled when she kissed him back just as gently. After the sight of so much human loneliness and suffering, Ranma needed to be reassured that he was cared about and that he’d given his heart to someone who wanted it.

Kodachi was irritated when she learn that Ranma had been at her house and no one had told her. However, she cheered up when she got a phone call from the private detective she had following Nabiki. “The female went in disguise to see a kendo tournament that your brother was in and then stopped at a drugstore and bought a pregnancy test” he informed her.

Kodachi almost danced with happiness at what both of these things meant; that Nabiki still had feeling for her brother and she might be pregnant by him. “Perfect, make arrangements to send her gynecologist on vacation and install our own doctor in her office. “She’s going to be needing a blood test and I want those results the minute they arrive” she ordered smugly. Kodachi didn’t care that they’d broken up; it would make Nabiki look all the more desperate and scheming when she would have to tell her brother