Disclaimer:  All characters portrayed in this story are the property of
Rumiko Takahashi and co.  Please don't sue me.

This story takes place after volume 38 of the manga.  It draws ideas
from both the anime and the manga.  This is a sequel to For Love or
Money.  I hope you like it.

C & C welcomed.  Flames not.

What Price Love?

By

Donny Cheng

**glomp**

**bam**

**whack**

**slash**

**bong**

	Nabiki waited quietly on the sidelines as the battle slowly drew to a
close.  It was another one of those all out brawls that came out
whenever all of Nerima's premier martial artists met up in one place. 
This was not a rare occasion.  Amazingly enough, that seemed to happen
at least once every few weeks.  The battle finally ended after a short
while.  When the dust cleared, the only person left standing was Ranma. 
Nabiki walked over to Ranma with disgust on her face.  "Do you always
have to act so macho?"

	Ranma tried his best to feign innocence.  "What do you mean?"  She
couldn't know everything that went on in his mind.  Could she?

	Nabiki read Ranma like a book.  She lightly tapped Ranma on the chest. 
He fell over.  "I mean that.  You're clearly as beat up as the rest of
the people, yet you insist on acting macho.  Come on.  I've got to get
you to a bath.  You stink."

			* * * * *

	Akane, Kodatchi, Shampoo, and Ukyo all watched this exchange from their
positions on ground of the battle zone.  Ukyo groaned as she picked
herself up.  "What does she think she's doing?  Ordering Ranchan around
like that.  Like he would ever follow a woman's orders."

	To all the girls' surprise, Ranma stood up and followed after Nabiki. 
Of course he was cursing at her from behind the whole time.

	Shampoo gave the girls a knowing look.  "Nabiki blackmail husband
again."

	Kodatchi, with hatred clearly written on her face, looked at Akane with
distaste.  "Can you not control that mercenary sister of yours?  It is
bad enough that evil pigtailed wench has control over my Ranma-sama.  He
now has to contend with that cutthroat you call a sister."

	"Hey!  What ever Nabiki's got on him, the pervert deserves it." 
Despite her words, Akane was ashamed of her money hungry sister.  Always
taking advantage of her Ranma.  Did she just think her Ranma?

	Ukyo smiled secretly to herself.  She didn't mind what just happened at
all.  If Nabiki had found something to blackmail Ranma with, it meant
that he was probably available on the market again.  Though she hated
resorting to buying a date with Ranma, she couldn't help doing it.  With
so many girls competing for Ranma, she needed as much help she could
get.

			* * * * *

	"I took a bath, now what?"  Ranma grumbled as he flipped through
Nabiki's window from the room.

	"Here's your share of the money from the fight."  Nabiki handed five
hundred yen to Ranma.

	"How come so little?"  Ranma asked as he looked at the meager sum in
his hand.

	"There's my ten percent as manager.  I took out money for first aid
equipment.  Band-Aids aren't free you know.  There's also the cost of
handling the betting pool.  My time is valuable.  And I took money out
for..."  Nabiki rambled on as she looked over her expense list.

	"Okay!  Okay!  Forget that I asked."  Ranma muttered to Nabiki.  Jeez,
you ask a simple question.

	"Oh!  I almost forgot.  There's also your share of the bills for the
dojo.  You did agree to help out whenever you could."  Nabiki deftly
took back Ranma's payment.

	Ranma looked wistfully at the money being taken out of his hands. 
There went that triple decker fudge slice of cake.  "Well, is there
anything else you wanted, your majesty?"

	Nabiki ignored Ranma's comment and thought for a moment.  "Did you
brush you teeth like I told you to?"

	"Yes.  I can't really see why, though.  Mother and Kasumi are going to
cook dinner in a while anyway."

	"Your breath stinks."  Nabiki suddenly grabbed Ranma's head and brought
it down to her own.  She french kissed him for a whole minute before
letting him go.  "Now get out.  I've got to study."  Ranma was
immediately pushed out the window.

	Ranma landed on the ground with a thud.  To say that he was in shock
would be an understatement.  No matter how hard he tried, he just
couldn't understand Nabiki.  Ranma was still undecided about their
romance.  Ever since she became his fianc�e, their relationship came at
differing degrees of hot and cold.  At moments she would ignore him for
days at a times.  At other times she would lavishly pay attention to him
like today.  It may not look like that to others, but Ranma knew
better.  Any time Nabiki spent more than a few hours away from her
'prime money making hours' to be with him was an extraordinary amount of
time.  Also, she kissed him.  Nabiki hardly showed much affection most
of the time.  But when she did, it sure was sweet.

			* * * * *

	"Three thousand yen."  Ukyo coutered.

	"I said five thousand yen and I meant it."  Nabiki said through her
teeth.

	"Okay already."  Boy, Nabiki was in a bad mood.  All of Nabiki's prices
were usually negotiable.  Lucky for her, Ucchan's had been turning a
very huge profit lately due to word of mouth.  Ukyo paid Nabiki her
money and went back to her restaurant.  All she had to do now was wait
for Ranma to show up.

	Nabiki stared hard at the five thousand yen in her hands.  Was it worth
it?

			* * * * *

	Ranma had the feeling of dread as he looked at the triple decker fudge
slice of cake Nabiki was holding in front of him.  "What do you want now
Nabiki?"

Nabiki looked at Ranma in shock.  "Can't I do something nice for my
fianc�e every now and then?  Does everything I do have a motive?"  She
now looked like she was about to cry.

	Oh man!  If there was anything in this world Ranma hated to see it was
to see a woman cry.  He knew that Nabiki was probably faking it, as she
used these tears often enough.  Even though he knew this, it hurt him
just the same.  "Sorry, I said that."

	Nabiki sniffed back her tears.  "I forgive you.  I want you to make it
up to me.  Take me out to dinner, okay?"

	"Alright, I'll do it.  I'll take you to Ucchan's, okay?"  Ranma
breathed a sigh of relief.  It seemed that all she wanted was to go out
to eat.  Seeing as how he was broke again, Ranma had no choice but to go
to a place where he could get free food.

	Nabiki nodded in agreement.  All had gone as she predicted, but she did
not feel happy at all.

			* * * * *

	"Ranchan, that was just Nabiki on the phone.  She said that she
couldn't make it and that you should eat without her.  Since you have
nothing to do for tonight, do you want to go with me to the movies?  I
heard that a new martial arts movie just opened up."  Ukyo told Ranma as
she put down the phone.

	Everything clicked into place for Ranma as he heard this.  So, Nabiki
had decided to use him again to make a little money.  Though this was a
very common occurrence, Ranma felt a heavy weight on his heart.  What
was he to Nabiki?  Just some tool to be used whenever she saw fit?  "So
how much did you pay for me, Ucchan?"

	Ukyo stopped in mid pace and blushed.  "Oh, not much.  Don't be angry
with me.  If I didn't buy you someone else would have.  I'm sure I'm a
better choice than that psychotic Kodatchi or even that bimbo Shampoo."

	Every word made Ranma wince.  It was probably true that Nabiki hadn't
charged very much for him at all.  It was also true that even if Ukyo
didn't buy him, Nabiki would have found someone else.  "Come on then. 
Let's go see that movie."  Ranma could not let Ukyo's money go to waste.

			* * * * *

	"Okay, that's it.  What's wrong Ranchan?  You're usually not this moody
without some reason of another.  Is it Akane again?  Did you guys get in
another fight?  Did she cook dinner again?  Come on, out with it."  Ukyo
and Ranma had come back to her restaurant after the movie for a late
night snack.  She noticed that Ranma had hardly paid any attention to
the movie at all and was now declining seconds.  Anytime Ranma failed to
get upset about the fake fighting in a movie or refuse a second helping
of food meant there was something on his mind.

	Ranma looked up at Ukyo and blinked in surprise.  "Akane?  No, this
doesn't have anything to do with her."  Actually Ranma hadn't really
talked with Akane much of late.  As a result, they got into fewer
squabbles and tended to get along rather well when they did get
together.

	Ukyo knew something was wrong.  The mentioning of Akane's name usually
brought some type of reaction from Ranma.  Whether it was guilt,
sadness, happiness, or anger, Ranma always had some kind of emotion of
his face.

	"Look, Ucchan.  There's nothing wrong with me.  I'm probably just
coming down with something.  I'd better get home.  It's getting late." 
Ranma stood up and turned to leave.

	"Looks like this was a waste of a night.  I wonder if I could get a
refund from Nabiki."  Ukyo said to herself under her breath.  Out of the
corner of her eye, she saw Ranma stop short at the mentioning of
Nabiki's name.  Had he heard what she said?  Nabiki?  Could it be that
those two are...  It couldn't be.  Could it?

			* * * * *

	Kasumi looked worriedly at Ranma and Nabiki.  It seemed that in all of
Nerima, only she and auntie Saotome knew of Ranma's and Nabiki's
feelings for each other.  The engaged couple were at the moment ignoring
each other.  Something had happened between the two of them.  She would
have to ask Nabiki.

			* * * * *

Nabiki sat down with Kasumi.  Her thoughts poured out in the presence of
her caring older sister.  "I can't get this feeling of guilt to go
away.  What do I have to feel guilty about anyway?  I've always acted
this way when a moneymaking opportunity presents itself to me.  Why
should this time be any different?"

"Because this time the man you love was involved."  Kasumi in her
seemingly infinite wisdom told Nabiki.

	"So what!"  Nabiki said back angrily.  "He can't expect me to change
myself just for him."

	"Do you expect him to change for you?  Do you expect him to forget his
pride and sell himself just for you?"  Kasumi asked Nabiki insistently.

	"No!  It's not like that at all."  Nabiki practically shouted this out.

	"Isn't it?"  Kasumi pressured Nabiki.

	"Ranma will understand.  Tomorrow, I will take him out to dinner and
treat him nice.  He will be fine."  Nabiki tried to sound confident as
she assured her sister.

	"If you say so."  Kasumi's voice was full of doubt.

			* * * * *

	After school, Nabiki found Ranma and asked him to walk home with her. 
"Ranma, there's a new restaurant opening.  Do you want to try it out? 
It'll be my treat."

	Ranma sighed deeply.  "What is this time?  Did Shampoo offer you five
thousand-yen?  Or was it Kodatchi?  Maybe your price has gone down. 
Four thousand?"  Ranma could see that Nabiki looked as if she was hurt. 
He immediately shut his eyes.  If he didn't see the tears, they wouldn't
be there.

	Nabiki felt a stab of pain in her heart as she saw Ranma close his eyes
to her budding tears.  Perhaps she had cried wolf once too often.  She
forced herself to remain calm and continue.  "No, I didn't sell you to
another girl.  I just want a night alone with my fianc�e.  Is that too
much to ask?"

	Ranma refused to look into Nabiki's eyes.  "What?  No girl willing to
pay the price.  Maybe you sold me to Kuno?  You're just as bad as my
father is.  I'm beginning to think that your loving me was just another
scheme."

	<Slap>

	Ranma opened his eyes to see Nabiki fleeing into the distance and held
his cheek.  He sank to the ground in absolute shock.  What had he done?

			* * * * *

	Nabiki finally stopped running as she felt her legs nearly give way. 
It was all over.  Her life was over.  After what he had said and what
she had done, there could be no turning back.  For one of the few times
in her life, Nabiki felt genuine tears threatening to burst from her
eyes.

	"Here, take this."  A voice called out to Nabiki.

	Nabiki opened her eyes to see the blurry shape of Ukyo holding out a
handkerchief.  Nabiki grabbed and quickly dabbed her eyes.  She couldn't
let anyone see her like this.

	Ukyo watched as Nabiki quickly regained her composure and her usual
demeanor.  "So much like my Ranchan.  Always have to save face in front
of everybody.  I could see why he might like you with so many
similarities."

	Nabiki glared at Ukyo for her use of 'Ranchan'.  "He's not yours or
anybody else's."

	Ukyo just smiled sadly.  "Too bad you realized that a little too late. 
Ranma doesn't belong to anybody.  He's just like his name.  Wild and
free.  It's all for the best.  It would never have worked out between
you two."

	Nabiki needed to vent her frustrations and found Ukyo to be the perfect
target.  "Why wouldn't it have worked out?  I care about him, isn't that
all that matters?"

	"For the same reason it would not work out with Akane.  Aside from
dimensional hammers, toxic food, and telling everybody she's a martial
artist also, Akane is too normal for Ranma.  Ranma's dream in life is to
be the best martial artist in the world.  You and I both know that
staying in a dojo teaching is no way to become the best.  You have to
travel and fight the best to become the best.  I don't know what Akane
wants in life, but whatever it is, it's in Nerima.  She has friends and
family here that she cares deeply about.  She had a whole life before
Ranma came along.  Even if they did get married, I know that it will not
last because of Ranma's need for adventure.  Long and often periods of
separation is not good for any relationship.  Would Akane leave with
Ranma?  She might, but she will become embittered with the idea of
leaving those closest to her behind.  No, the marriage would not last. 
Would you be willing to leave your life behind to follow Ranma around? 
You know what?  I would."

	Nabiki stood there stunned at what Ukyo said.  Was there no hope for
her and Ranma at all?

			* * * * *

	Nabiki walked home alone with her thoughts.  What did she want in
life?  There was the obvious answer.  Money.  Was that all she truly
wanted?  She herself had little use for money.  She was not a person
that needed to live a life of luxury.  She looked down at her clothes. 
Half of what she was wearing belonged to Akane.  She spent very little
of the hordes of money she made everyday.  She averaged about fifty yen
a student every school day for the last two years at about a thousands
students.  Most of the money was kept in the bank under her and her
father's name.  It was used mainly to pay bills and such.  For herself
she kept a constant amount of a million yen.  No, money was not what she
truly wanted.

	Then what did she want?  She already knew the answer.  She wanted love
and companionship.  Sure she had a life before Ranma came along, but she
had long become bored of it.  It was lonely for her without as many
friends as Akane.  Ranma was a like breath of fresh air.  With him, he
brought excitement.  Though she could not fight like the others, she was
never far from the action.  Heck, most of the fights in Nerima were
caused by her manipulations.  Even before her feelings had developed for
Ranma, Nabiki dreaded him leaving and returning everything to normal. 
Now, just the thought of Ranma leaving left Nabiki with the feeling that
a piece of her had fallen away.

In the end there really wasn't much of a choice for Nabiki.  She looked
down the street at the Tendo Dojo and saw Ranma standing there alone. 
Now was the time to confront him and her feelings.

			* * * * *

	Ranma shuffled his feet.  He was not very good at apologizing.  "I'm
sorry about what I said, Nabiki.  I wasn't thinking straight.  I was
just angry about being used again."

	"Hush."  Nabiki put a finger to Ranma's lips.  He tended to stammer a
lot when he was uncomfortable.  In spite of herself, Nabiki found it to
be a very cute trait of his.  "I should be the one to say that I'm
sorry, Ranma.  I've been very selfish, haven't I?"

	Ranma was afraid to speak as if the moment would break.  He could only
stare into Nabiki's shimmering eyes.

	"I've been using you without thinking about how you would feel it.  I
promise that I won't do that ever again."  Nabiki put her hand to her
heart.

	Ranma smiled affectionately at her.  "Don't make promises that you
can't keep.  I know that the money that you make goes towards keeping us
all fed.  If I could help out just a little, I would."

	Nabiki gasped as she looked at Ranma's face.  She could still see the
hand print that she left on his face.  "Did I hit you too hard?"  She
touched his face gently.  It was warm to her touch.

	Ranma laughed out loud at that.  He held her hand to his face.  "I've
been hit worse.  Actually after I thought about it, your slap felt kind
of nice.  It wasn't the high powered attack of a martial artist.  It was
just a slap of a girl.  It was very warm, very feminine and full of
feeling.  A slap that only you could throw."

	Nabiki blushed beet-red at hearing that description of her slap.  She
laughed out with Ranma the more she thought about it.  "I didn't know
you were into that kind of thing, Ranma."

	Ranma smiled as he heard Nabiki's quip.  Things were getting back to
normal if she could joke once more.  "Seriously though.  I will probably
put my foot in my mouth once in awhile.  Make sure you slap me around
when I do."

	Nabiki gave Ranma that charming crooked smile of hers.  "I hope you
don't enjoy it too much when I do."

	Ranma bent his head towards Nabiki and kissed her.

	Nabiki cried in happiness.  It was the first time Ranma had ever
initiated a kiss with her.

			* * * * *

Epilogue

	Ranma gathered Nabiki in his arms as they looked at the dojo one last
time.  "No regrets?"

	Nabiki cuddled closer to Ranma for warmth.  Beside them were two
backpacks filled with everything they would ever need.  "No, Ranma.  No
regrets at all."

			* * * * *

The End. (maybe)