Broken Ice
By Kniteshadow
Chapter 1 - Prologe
(Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any of the characters and stories associated with it.)
Author's note: This story was originally a one-shot for an idea I was bouncing around, but I have decided to continue the story line and finish it out. It all begins shortly after the failed wedding attempt.
It had been a good day for Nabiki. As she walked towards the ice cream parlor, she smiled as she recalled the events of the day. First there was the fight during lunch. Kuno had challenged Ranma and the bets were favoring Ranma as usual. But during the fight, Rouyga showed up and started to challenge Ranma at the same time. With the two of them fighting Ranma, the student body started to bet against him. But when the fight was over, Ranma was victorious and Nabiki was several thousand yen richer.
Later during lunch, Ranma had gotten hit once again by water. While in his cursed form, Kuno appeared and grabbed Ranma-chan in a very obscene glomp. As luck would have it, Nabiki had chosen that particular moment to snap a photo of Ranma-chan while she was being molested. As the shutter clicked, the camera caught Kuno with his arms wrapped around a very wide eyed and highly upset Ranma-chan.
After Ranma-chan kicked Kuno through a window, she demanded that Nabiki turn over the negatives. Nabiki calmly responded by informing Ranma-chan that she didn't respond to threats very well. She then told Ranma-chan that if she wanted to get the negatives, she would have to meet her at the ice cream parlor to negociate the price.
Nabiki would never admit it to anyone, but over the months her heart had softened towards the martial artist now living in her home. She had already decided that she was going to let Ranma off the hook with just buying her a nice big bowl of ice cream. She smiled though, as she thought of how sweet chocolate chip ice cream was going to taste and of how much fun it was going to watch Ranma squirm while she 'negotiated' the price.
As Nabiki walked by a small shop she heard loud voices. Thinking this would be a good opportunity to gather information, she peeked inside to observe what was going on. She immediately saw the back of a man pointing a gun at the sales clerk and demanding money. The clerk was scared to death and was fumbling with the cash register. She then noticed the man was waving the gun between the sales clerk and someone else she couldn't see at the far end of the store.
Snooping for information was one thing, but getting killed was another thing all together. She began to quietly slip away from the shop, but suddenly froze when she heard a familiar voice from inside the shop.
"No! It can't be!"
Nabiki hesitated and looked towards the shop. She was torn between fleeing and having to make sure she was right. Without really thinking, she slowly crept back into the shop and crawled on her hands and knees behind a counter to get a better look. For a few moments she couldn't see anyone in the shop, but was suddenly startled when she heard the robber yell out, "If you so much as twitch, I'll fill you and both the brats full of holes!"
From across the room she heard, "You bastard! Only a coward threatens little kids with a weapon"
Nabiki's heart stopped for a second, "Oh my god! Ranma!"
Nabiki at that moment was able to peer around the edge of the counter. She couldn't see the robber, but Ranma was clearly visible. He was not in his usual casual offensive posture, but was instead standing straight up with both of his hands at his side, palms open and facing back. Behind him were two very small children, one about three and the other possibly four years old. Their eyes were large and tears had been clearly streaming down their cheeks. Both children were completely terrified and clutching tightly onto Ranma's Chinese pants while trying to hide behind him. She could see why Ranma hadn't beaten the crap out of this guy. If he moved, the children would get shot. As fast as Ranma was, a bullet would be, at a thousand feet per second, much faster and much deadlier.
Ranma suddenly noticed Nabiki and he let his eyes show the tiniest bit of emotion as he mentally pleaded for Nabiki to run for help. Nabiki was always able to read a person's emotions and understood what he wanted her to do. She gave Ranma a quiet nod of her head while she thought to herself, "Ranma, please don't do anything foolish. I'll run for help if you can just hold off for a minute or so."
But before she had a chance to move, she heard the robber shout at the cashier, "I'm getting sick and tired of your stalling! If you don't open that register right now, I'm gonna blow your head off!"
Nabiki's eyes went wide as she heard this and froze as Ranma started to move. She watched as Ranma's legs began to coil up and his whole body tightened up like a steel spring.
The robber yelled, "That's it sucker! I'm sick of your crap!"
What Nabiki couldn't see was the robber had just started to move the muzzle away from Ranma and was now bringing it around towards the clerk to finish him off. As he did this, Ranma started his counter attack. Keeping his muscles tight, he allowed himself to drop and his legs to compress. He began to lean forward and when he was at the perfect angle, his legs shot out and he propelled himself across the shop towards his enemy, his hands now locked into rock solid fists as he streaked toward his target.
The moment Ranma was out of Nabiki's sight she heard three very loud bangs as the robber fired the Russian pistol. Her ears rang painfully and she felt a thud as something heavy fell to the floor. Seconds passed as Nabiki waited, but she heard nothing more. For the first time she looked towards the children and saw them safe and unharmed, but staring across the shop with the look of absolute horror in their eyes. "Oh my god…" she thought, "Ranma…please, no…"
From somewhere deep inside her, she found the courage to look around the corner. There she saw Ranma laying on the ground, barely moving with blood starting to pool around him. The crushed form of the would be robber could be seen imbedded in a case by the wall. He fortunately, was no longer a threat. With desperate urgency, she jumped up and ran over to Ranma. Turning, she gave the terrified clerk an icy stare and said in a voice that spoke of intense pain and misery if he failed, "Call an ambulance and the police…NOW!"
Nabiki then knelt down next to Ranma. She could see that he was still breathing and she reached down, picked up his hand and held it in hers. As her eyes filled with tears and her voice started to crack, she scolded Ranma, "You idiot! Why didn't you wait? I could have gotten the police and you would have been okay. Oh god Ranma, please hang in there! Don't die! Please,…I …"
Overcome with emotion, the young woman who was better known as the Ice Queen buried her face against Ranma's chest and cried uncontrollably. As she clutched him close to her, she no longer cared that she was being covered in his blood; her only thought was that Ranma was dying. In her grief, Nabiki didn't hear the approaching sirens. But as her emotions racked her soul, painful guilt tormented her about her past treatment of Ranma. Visions of photos, aggressive fiancés, rigged fights, and piles of yen came back at her with the force of a fist. Nabiki began to realize, perhaps too late, that she cared for Ranma a lot more than she ever thought possible.