Adamantine Mist
By M. Zephyr
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is a trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. This story was written for non-commercial purposes only.
Akane and Ranma call off the engagement, and Kasumi decides it's time to take matters into her own hands.
Chapter 2. Inexorable
Ranma stared at Kasumi in disbelief as she walked further into the dojo, dressed in a gi. He was having trouble processing her words. "Training?" he repeated numbly. "What d'ya mean, training?"
"My training in the martial arts, of course," Kasumi replied, as if she were speaking of the most natural thing in the world. "Father trained me in the basics when I was younger, but I'm nowhere near as skilled as Akane. That will have to change, I'm afraid. After all, I'm supposed to help you run the dojo after we get married. That was the whole purpose of the engagement, remember?"
"Uh ... um ... but ..."
"Besides," Kasumi ground on relentlessly, "if we're going to be partners then I might find myself facing some of the people you deal with from time to time. What if Shampoo, or Ukyo, or Kodachi attack me? What if Pantyhose Taro or someone like him tries to kidnap me to get at you? I'll need to be able to defend myself."
Ranma shook himself. "Uh, I can take care of that. You know I wouldn't let anyone hurt you."
The older girl smiled, but with a hint of sadness for the need to contradict this rose colored outlook. "Don't be silly. You won't always be around. Someone might show up here while you're at school, for example. In any case, we're going to take over the dojo, and that means I need to master the art. I'm afraid that I have a long way to go, but that just means that we'd better get started."
She had slowly been walking closer as she spoke. She was now within arms reach. Ranma took a step back, looking worried.
"Look, there's no way I'm gonna beat you up!" the boy protested forcefully, almost angrily.
Kasumi stopped, standing still with her head tilted, her expression puzzled. "I know that. But we were talking about training, not beating me up."
Ranma's forearms lifted in front of him from the waist, palms turned up. His face was scrunched, his worry showed in the tone of his voice. "It's the same thing," he told her unhappily.
Kasumi stood there for a minute, saying nothing, fighting to keep her expression placid. Finally, she spoke, her words soft. "When you start to train new students in our dojo, students who are just starting out, do you expect to train them by beating on them?"
The boy's face twisted, his expression puzzled. "Well, no, o'course not." He paused, thinking some more. "They gotta learn the basics first. Positions, then kata. Breathing right. Exercises to build up their muscles. They gotta ..."
The woman confronting him held up her hand, causing him to stumble to a stop. Her mouth was set in an uncharacteristically serious line. "I'm afraid I'm going to be rather rusty on the basics myself, so why don't we start there?"
Ranma crossed his arms, scowling. "I told ya, I ain't gonna train you."
Kasumi vented a sigh and hung her head. "Very well," she said quietly. Then she lifted her face again, her expression resolute. She turned to the side and strolled over to the wall, where she lifted a katana down, sliding it from its sheath.
Ranma's eyes widened in astonishment as she began an intermediate kata with it. A feeling of profound uneasiness swept through him. His hands unconsciously clenched into fists at his sides. Voice strained, the young man demanded, "What d'you think you're doing?"
"Training," answered Kasumi pleasantly.
Ranma watched helplessly as she stumbled through the exercise, it being obvious that her memory of it was poor at best. He winced as the razor sharp blade came uncomfortably close to her shoulder. He began to gnaw on his lip in worry as further mistakes were made, seriously contemplating marching over there and seizing the sword from her hands. When the edge sliced neatly through the leg of her gi, Ranma gave a strangled shout and landed beside her in one jump, grabbing the katana before she could do any further damage.
"Are you nuts?!" he shouted, bending down to probe the neat slice, breathing in relief to see that the skin underneath was unmarked. It didn't even occur to him that it was the first time he had ever raised his voice to Kasumi.
"Is something wrong, Ranma-kun?" the young woman asked sweetly.
Ranma stood from his inspection, straining to keep his voice under control. "You nearly sliced your leg open, is what's wrong!"
Kasumi tilted her head again. "I was under the impression that injuries were expected during training."
Ranma ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "That don't mean you ... Look, you're not ready for ... Dammit, you gotta start simpler ..."
She continued to look at him in polite confusion. "I'm sorry if I did something wrong. But if no one is to guide my training, then I have only my own best guesses to go upon."
Kasumi turned to face the wall again, frowning slightly. Then her eyes lit. She walked over to the wall once more, and this time lifted down a battle axe which Soun had picked up from God knew where. She hefted it experimentally while Ranma watched in horror.
"What're you planning to do with that?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.
Kasumi flicked her glance to him, then back to the axe. She stepped away from the wall and took up a stance. "Train," she answered him in a voice filled with determination.
As she started to slide into her first movement, Kasumi frowned in puzzlement. The axe had not moved with her. In consequence her hands also had not moved, causing her to stumble slightly. Turning her head around, she saw another hand gripping the handle. Turning further, she was looking straight into Ranma's pale face. He licked his lips and opened his mouth, but no sound emerged. He cleared his throat and licked his lips again.
"You win," he whispered, lifting the axe gently away and placing it in the holders on the wall. When he turned back he continued, in a steadier voice, "I'll work on the basic kata with you, if you promise you won't try to do any training by yourself."
She looked at him carefully, measuring. "I'm quite serious about this, Ranma-kun. If you're thinking of spending only a few minutes each day on it, then I will take that as going back on your word, and I will take charge of my own training."
Ranma closed his eyes in order to look within himself. When he opened them again, he replied, "Right. A couple of hours every afternoon, after school. More on the weekends. Good enough?"
Kasumi looked into his eyes, searching, then smiled widely. It wasn't an Akane-smile, although it managed to light up the dojo almost as well. "That will be fine. Let's begin, shall we?"
She moved into the middle of the dojo and stood, waiting. Ranma sighed heavily, then walked over and began talking, his demeanor serious for once. A few minutes later Kasumi took up a stance and began a kata under his watchful eye.
The next morning at breakfast, Soun was reading the newspaper in his usual manner, holding it in front of him as if hiding behind it. Oblivious to his family, the only noise from the man's direction was the rustling of pages as they were turned. But then this accustomed routine was interrupted by his unexpected gasp. Soun lowered the paper slowly, eyes seeking out his oldest daughter, only to find everyone looking curiously at him. Clearing his throat nervously, he explained, "Ahh, the announcement ... that is, I just came across an announcement in the newspaper of Kasumi's and Ranma's engagement. And the planned date of their wedding." There was a happy tear on his cheek.
Akane and Ranma looked down into their respective bowls even though their appetite for the food still within those bowls had vanished. Everyone else turned their regard on Kasumi.
"Yes," she told them. "I stopped by the newspaper office yesterday to submit the announcement for publication. I also saw to a number of other chores. There's a great deal to be done, with the wedding only one month away. The printer will be delivering the invitations in two days. I hope everyone will help with getting the invitations out."
Ranma looked up, biting his lip, waiting until he caught Kasumi's eye. Up until now he had felt sure that things would go back to the way they had been, but if Kasumi sent out invitations could there really be any turning back? When she finally looked his way, Ranma cleared his throat, and said, "Oneesan ..."
She interrupted immediately with a smile. "Ranma-kun, that's really not a proper way to address me, considering that we're going to be married in a month."
"Ah ... ah ..." He stumbled over his tongue, looking into her innocent eyes gazing so sweetly upon him. "Kasumi ... ah ... there's something Akane wanted to say."
Akane's head shot up to stare at Ranma. Kasumi turned her regard on her little sister. Akane had been sitting there wrapped in her own misery, forced to face the fact that Kasumi truly was going to go through with this. She looked into Ranma's face, noting his lifted eyebrows, the suggestion in his expression that he had set the stage and now it was time for her to do her part. She turned her face back down toward her bowl, seeing Kasumi's patient gaze out of the corner of her eye as she did so.
"I have nothing to say," Akane responded quietly. She failed to see the quick scowl of frustration which crossed Ranma's features before he turned his face down toward his own breakfast.
"Very well," Kasumi said. "Ranma-kun, please remember your appointment with the tailor this afternoon. Also, please don't disappoint me by being late."
"Yeah, sure," he mumbled, stuffing his face with the last of his rice.
A short time later Akane and Ranma were walking down the road together toward school. Both of them were thinking hard, tension showing in every line.
"So why didn't you say something?" Ranma huffed quietly.
"During breakfast?" Akane responded. "Why should I have said something? If there's something you want to tell Kasumi, you should tell her yourself. I'm sure I couldn't know what it is."
Ranma scowled, but made no direct answer to this. Instead he observed, "Kasumi seems pretty serious about her and me getting married."
"Yes. Yes, she does," Akane replied softly, hollowly.
"Well then ... oh, crap."
Akane looked up from the study of her feet upon hearing Ranma's exclamation. Standing on the sidewalk ahead of them were Shampoo, Kodachi and Ukyo. All were armed, and all looked grim.
Kodachi spoke first, cooing. "Ranma darling, I understand you've had a ... change of engagements."
Shampoo pointed with her chui. "Why you still walk with pervert girl?"
Ranma sighed, then noticed Akane's scowl. Before she could open her mouth to speak he cut in with, "Come on, Shampoo, there's no big deal. We live in the same house and go to the same school." He turned his head to the side. "Why don't you go on ahead, Akane? I'll see you in class."
She huffed but marched away, making a wide arc out into the street to pass around the other girls. Other people walking along the road had already shifted to the opposite sidewalk, but were otherwise continuing on their way unconcerned. Sights like this were entirely too common to be remarked upon.
Ranma ran a hand nervously along the back of his head. "I thought we talked about this yesterday, Ucchan. And, ah, I guess you two heard somewhere that Kasumi and I are supposed to get married."
Across the street a couple of pedestrians paused.
"You supposed to marry Shampoo," the Chinese girl stated firmly.
"On the contrary, Ranma-sama," Kodachi purred, "you and I are destined to be together."
"Yeah, we talked about it," Ukyo confirmed. She absently fingered a spatula in her bandolier. "But I haven't had a chance to express my opinion yet. Your father engaged you to me twelve years ago, took our cart, left me behind in the road. And now you think you can just up and get engaged to Kasumi Tendo?"
Across the street a few more people had stopped to watch. Some of them were showing something in the morning paper to others.
Ranma spread his arms out wide. "What d'ya expect me to do about it?"
Each girl answered him in turn.
"Break off the engagement with Kasumi-san and marry me," Ukyo's eyes were narrowed to slits.
Kodachi seemed almost amused by the question. "It is quite simple. Marry me, Ranma-sama."
"Ranma is Shampoo's airen." Shampoo managed to clearly convey her opinion that any outcome which did not involve marriage to herself was inconceivable.
The three girls were now glaring at one another. Ranma, perhaps unwisely, stepped between them. "Hey now. There ain't no reason to attack each other over this!"
"You're right," Ukyo said flatly. "This is your fault. If you had just chosen me long ago, we wouldn't be in this mess." She lifted her battle spatula off of her back.
"Spatula girl almost right," Shampoo snarled, lifting her chui into strike position. "Airen should have return to China with Shampoo long ago. Teach airen lesson now. Then come to China, before Kasumi get hurt."
Kodachi began twirling her ribbon. "I must agree that punishment seems quite in order. If she is wise, Kasumi Tendo will yield any claim to you rather than face her own punishment."
"Whoa, hold on," Ranma protested. "Leave Kasumi out of this. If you wanna punish me, that's one thing, ..."
As if the words had been a request, the spatula, chui and ribbon struck simultaneously. Ranma twisted and turned, but as was so often the case when he was unsure of whether he might in fact be guilty of something, he failed to evade all of the blows. His injuries began to mount as he refused to strike back.
None of the fighters took notice of the spectators on the other side of the street, whose faces had darkened on overhearing a few of the statements which had been uttered. These people were talking vehemently among themselves. Someone listening closely might have heard the name "Kasumi Tendo" being mentioned several times.
A few blocks away, in an office at the back of a clinic, Doctor Tofu Ono was enjoying a cup of coffee from a freshly brewed pot while perusing the morning paper. There was little of note that day, the latest scandal involving some politician, debate over new fuel efficiency requirements for automobiles, a teenage party which had gotten out of control accompanied by moaning over the woeful state of the current generation. All too familiar.
As he shuffled the sections of the newspaper back into a single stack, a notice on the front page of the Lifestyle section caught his eye. He did not normally read that section, but the name "Kasumi" fairly leapt out at him. On reading more carefully, his heart nearly stopped. The disregarded coffee cup fell to the floor where it shattered, splattering drops of coffee on the man's slippers and ankles.
"No," he whispered. It was the only sound he made.
After Ranma made his escape from the enraged girls, he stumbled into the clinic and leaned wearily against one wall. His face and arms were heavily bruised and scraped, and more injuries were hidden underneath his disheveled and mildly tattered clothing. None of the wounds were particularly serious, and he tended to heal rapidly in any case, but the boy was hoping that Doctor Tofu would have something to put on the worst of the damage. Not to mention a maximum strength painkiller.
"Hey, doc?" he wheezed. There was no answer.
Ranma pushed himself off of the wall, managed to exchange his shoes for slippers, and shuffled toward the back. He peeked into the examination rooms, but saw no sign of the doctor. He called Tofu's name again, frowning in puzzlement over the lack of reply. Limping down the hallway, he knocked on the door of the office, then turned the knob and eased it open.
Tofu was sitting in his chair, unmoving, a newspaper arranged untidily on the desk in front of him.
"Doc?" Ranma called again. He entered the room and fell heavily into a chair facing the desk across from the young doctor. Wearily he raised an arm, waving it back and forth to see if it would attract any attention. Then he froze, the arm upraised, as he caught sight of what lay directly in front of Tofu's eyes, centered on the uppermost section of newspaper.
"Oh, crap," Ranma said, rising quickly to his feet. This time Tofu's eyes tracked the motion.
"Ranma-kun?" Tofu's voice was hesitant, as if he thought the person in front of him might be some sort of phantasm.
"Ah ... forget I stopped by. I'll be fine. Don't worry, I'll see myself out."
"You're injured?" Tofu climbed to his feet.
Ranma yanked the door open, lurching into the hall. He managed two paces before an arm circled his shoulders. Against his will he found himself tugged into the examination room and pushed up onto one of the tables.
"Now what seems to be the problem?" Tofu asked. Perhaps it was only Ranma's imagination, but there seemed to be a flash of some sort deep within the doctor's eyes.
"It's nothing really," the boy said nervously. "No need to waste your time. I'll just be on my way, okay?" He started to rise only to be pushed back down.
"Nonsense," the doctor told him firmly. "You've obviously been injured. Now tell me what happened."
Ranma sighed. "Like I said, it's nothing. The girls went a little psycho on me. About, um, the latest news."
Tofu's fingers started gently probing, as Ranma shivered apprehensively under the touch. "The 'latest news' being your most recent change of engagement, I take it?"
The doctor's tone was carefully casual, but even so the teenage martial artist winced on hearing it, scrunching up on himself. "Yeah. It wasn't my idea! I figured Akane and I would make up. Like always."
"Whose idea was it?" Tofu asked quietly, while giving a jerk to Ranma's elbow at the same time. The boy gasped but then sighed, wiggling the arm and finding that he could now move the elbow more easily.
"Uh ... Kasumi's, actually."
Tofu froze, his fingers digging painfully into Ranma's shoulder, though the young man thought it best to keep still and not cry out.
Inside Tofu's head, his thoughts were whirling in confusion. At first he had been wrestling gamely with his Hippocratic oath, carefully controlling the hands which could so easily wreak havoc on the body of the womanizing boy before him. But Ranma was well known to be a terrible liar, and the young doctor was succumbing to a terrifying conviction that he had just spoken the truth. That Kasumi Tendo herself had made the decision to marry Ranma Saotome. That in one month's time she would be married, and all of his own dreams turned to ash.
Tofu's hands started moving again, robotically easing the boy's hurts. "And what do you think of marrying Kasumi?" he whispered hoarsely.
Ranma hung his head. "Does it matter?" he asked, equally quietly, his voice a monotone offering no hope. "Do you think anybody's gonna listen to me? Pop and Tendo-san are already convinced that this'll give 'em what they want. Kasumi's hip deep in plans for the wedding. I just do what I'm told."
From behind Ranma the doctor whispered, "You could tell them you want to marry Akane."
Ranma shrugged painfully. "The tomboy's made it clear she's all right with this. She coulda spoke up, but she won't. She told me to go ahead and marry Kasumi."
"And what if she's just being as stubborn as you?" Tofu asked.
"And what if she just don't care?" Ranma asked bitterly, raising his voice. He sighed again. "Besides, Kasumi seems t'want this. Am I supposed to tell her to forget it? That I wanna marry someone who don't wanna marry me? Uh, not that I wanna marry Akane. And what good would it do when our fathers are insisting that we gotta marry? Am I supposed to tell my mom that I'm gonna shame our family and refuse to go through with the marriage?" His voice had become more bitter with each word. He finished with a whisper. "What if I say 'no' and mom and our dads force me to marry Nabiki instead?"
Tofu said nothing more, silent in his contemplations. He was Japanese himself, and understood his patient's frustration and concern. The doctor was certain that Ranma was being foolish regarding whether Akane cared, but that made his conflict no less real. The question was what, if anything, he himself could do in the brief time before matters were set irrevocably in motion. Particularly when one took into account his own affliction where Kasumi was concerned. Perhaps if he spoke to Akane?
The doctor wrote Ranma an excuse for being tardy, then sent him on his way with a pat on the back. A pat for which, with extreme difficulty, he wrestled down temptation and avoided touching any shiatsu points. Ranma left quietly. No further words had been exchanged.
When Akane approached the school gates, a voice yelled from within, "Akane Tendo's here!" Then a mob of boys came barreling toward her.
At first she thought that she must still be asleep, and was caught in one of her old nightmares. Then she realized that this was real, the result of her engagement to Ranma being ended, and could guess that a certain bokken-carrying fool would be found inside the grounds. Her mouth set in a grim line.
Unfortunately for the boys facing her that day, this was not the same Akane Tendo from two years before. This was an Akane Tendo who had continued training over those two years, whose speed and strength had increased drastically, thanks to her attempts to strike her ex-fiancé. This was an Akane Tendo who had faced dragons, cursed assailants, flying warriors and other foes. This was an Akane Tendo whose vision turned red, and around whom exploded a flaming aura.
There was no need for conscious planning. Her trained mind reacted automatically to each threat, with an intensity intended to leave a lasting impression. Akane's fist slammed forward into the boy unlucky enough to be leading the pack, sending him soaring back over the school wall. The boys immediately behind barely noticed, rushing into the gap he left. Akane grabbed the foremost by the arm and swung him around like a mace, knocking the next three attackers back to crash into the wall. When she released her hold on the dislocated arm of her improvised weapon, he went flying off to the side to crash into the trunk of a nearby tree.
Swinging to the side with the momentum gained from releasing her opponent, Akane kicked the next boy, her foot rising from below to end between his legs. He flew into the air from the force of the impact, his shriek of agony lasting only a moment before he mercifully blacked out.
At that point the front ranks of the crowd tried to reverse direction, resisting the pressure from the others behind, some even climbing over one another in their eagerness to escape. Unfortunately for them, Akane was determined to teach them a lesson they would never forget. She grabbed one classmate by his shirt collar and the belt of his pants and hurled him like a bowling ball, knocking others down like pins. One sumo wrestler, slowed by his bulk, was drop-kicked high into the air. Three unlucky boys were flattened when he landed atop them.
One boy, pressing backward frantically against the others behind him, found himself eye to eye with Akane. He had time for only the very earliest portion of his life to pass in front of his eyes. Then he fainted dead away, landing flat on his back before he could suffer any injury.
It was finished quickly. Within a matter of seconds Akane was standing inside the school gate, with no person upright anywhere near her. Her fists were clenched at her sides, her breath hissing between gritted teeth, her hair fluttering in the swirling glow which surrounded her.
"Kuno, show yourself!" Akane shouted. "Where are you? You, you buraku."
Tatewaki stepped out from behind a tree, his bokken in one hand and a rose in the other. His nose was in the air and he looked slightly offended.
"I assure you that my ancestry is impeccable," he assured the angry girl facing him. "You need not fear that anyone will look down on our union."
"Everyone's going to be looking down on you in a minute!" Akane assured him. "Because I'm going to flatten you!"
"Ah, you bring back such sweet memories," Kuno drawled aristocratically. "I assure you, my love, that if you defeat me I will allow you to date me." He tossed the rose in Akane's direction and raised his bokken to the ready.
Akane batted the rose to the side, the heat of her aura making it wilt. She then took a moment to study her opponent. For Kuno it was necessary to control her fury, rather than allowing it to control her. Keeping her attention focused on his bokken Akane ran toward him.
As he swung she leaned back as she had seen Ranma do, allowing the blade to pass harmlessly a couple of centimeters above her. Instantly she was back up as Kuno twisted to reverse the swing of his weapon. Before he could begin to bring it back around again, Akane lifted her knee to her chin and then brought her heel down like a pile driver. Right on the arch of Kuno's foot.
Everyone in the schoolyard heard the crack. The falling bokken forgotten, Kuno opened his mouth and screamed in pain. "Yeaag...!"
The scream was cut off with the clap of a thunderbolt, as Akane's open palm swung around from the side to slam into Kuno's face. There was another crack as his jawbone fractured. His body spun and fell to the ground, where he lay unconscious.
Silence lay over the schoolyard, except for the swish of grass as numerous boys shuffled backward to increase their distance from the Valkyrie who had descended upon them.
"This is over," Akane announced flatly, in a voice which carried easily through the silent air. "I may not be engaged, but I will never date any of you. I promise that I will do even worse if anyone dares try this again."
Having made her statement, she brushed a hand through her hair, took a deep breath, and walked sedately over to the front door. No one else spoke or moved. When the door closed behind her a collective gasp was heard as two score boys began breathing again, all at the same time.
From the window where they were watching, Yuka said to Sayuri beside her, "Ice cream after school. I think someone needs it."
Sayuri nodded. "Definitely. Chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate."
When Ranma slid into his desk he was looking a bit worse for wear, but his classmates were generally unconcerned, having seen him shrug off far more grievous injuries on other occasions. Akane came up and looked him over critically before commenting, "Looks like they didn't go too hard on you."
The boy shrugged in answer to the girl standing before him, then winced at the movement. "I'll do. I stopped by Tofu's clinic on the way. Truth to tell, I'm kinda amazed I got here in one piece after that. I was half expecting my legs to give out halfway."
Akane raised an eyebrow, frowning. "Why?"
"Just remembering how the doc did that to me once before." Ranma fidgeted nervously, unable to meet her eye. "He was, uh, looking at the newspaper. When I got there. The, uh, where the announcement was. 'Bout me and Kasumi."
"Oh," Akane said blankly. She turned her eyes away from him, clenching her hands tightly before her. She was utterly amazed that her fiancé ... no. No. He wasn't that anymore. She was amazed that Ranma was still in one piece, let alone that he had made it to school.
Thinking further about Tofu's feelings toward her oldest sister, Akane wondered what he might do after recovering from his initial shock over the news. Whether he might do anything, say anything. Something which might affect the current situation. "Did Doctor Tofu have anything to say? About ... it?" The question was whispered, almost meek.
Ranma lay his head back to gaze at the ceiling, venting a sigh. "Not much. He seemed ... I dunno. Not angry. Not at me, so much, anyway. More ... frustrated, maybe. Like he wanted to lash out, but didn't know where to aim."
Akane felt that she could sympathize with such an emotion all too well. How had she got herself into this fix? Should she have spoken up at breakfast when Ranma plainly wanted her to? But if the baka didn't want to be engaged to Kasumi, then why couldn't he just say so? He'd made it plain enough in the past he wasn't thrilled with the idea of being engaged to her. Besides Kasumi seemed pretty serious about the idea of marrying Ranma. What if she really wanted to? Akane would do almost anything for her oldest sister.
The teacher walked into the classroom, greeting the students cheerfully. Akane and Ranma pulled out their textbooks and gave their attention to the lesson, trying to take their minds off of family matters.
Kasumi answered the front door to find an ancient and withered Chinese woman standing there. She smiled with every appearance of pleasure, and bowed. "Why, how nice to see you, elder Cologne! Won't you please come in?"
"Thank you, child," Cologne replied, accepting the invitation. She quickly exchanged shoes for slippers while saying, "I was hoping that you and I could have a chat."
Kasumi smiled and said, "Certainly. Let me show you to the family room and then I'll get us some tea." This she did, and the two women were shortly seated on opposite sides of the low table, sipping from their cups.
After some minutes spent conversing about inconsequential matters, Cologne got down to business with the remark, "I understand that a certain alleged engagement has recently been transferred from your sister Akane to yourself."
"That is correct," Kasumi replied sweetly, "except for the use of the word 'alleged.' Ranma-kun and I are now engaged, and will be married in one month."
The old woman allowed an eyebrow to lift. "May I ask how that came about?"
Kasumi lowered her gaze demurely into her cup. "I'm afraid that is a private family matter. However, the agreement between the Tendo and Saotome clans must be fulfilled, and it is now my duty to fulfill it. It is a matter of honor, you understand?"
Cologne did, but unfortunately there was the conflict with Shampoo's needs. "I assume you are aware that my great-granddaughter also has a claim upon Ranma Saotome. A claim which cannot be set aside."
The young woman took another sip, then said, "I am aware, and I sympathize greatly with the situation in which Shampoo finds herself. Unfortunately, Ranma-kun is only one person, so only one marriage is possible. Our family's arrangement for a marriage with the heir of the Saotome family was made more than twenty years ago. No later ... event ... can alter the fact that Ranma-kun must honor it."
Cologne set her cup down. "The Joketsuzoku see the matter differently. I have always hoped that the situation would not reach the point of ... conflict. Surely you would prefer for us to take this ... ill-mannered boy off of your hands? No one could say you had dishonored your family by not marrying him, if the reason is that my son-in-law has been taken beyond your reach."
The Amazon elder felt a change in the air and knew she had made a mistake even before the corners of Kasumi's mouth turned down and her eyes narrowed. The Tendo daughter told her, coolly, "My family's honor is not to be treated so lightly. Better that I honestly refuse the marriage than 'look the other way' while you scheme to prevent it. No. I assure you that Ranma Saotome will marry a Tendo, and nothing will change that." She placed her own cup down and stood, making it clear that the conversation was at an end even before she added, "I regret that I have no more time to spare right now. There are many preparations for the wedding to which I must attend."
Cologne briefly considered her options before concluding that there was nothing else to do at the moment. Harming or threatening Kasumi Tendo would not be the correct approach at all, as it would do nothing to convince Ranma to return to China with them, and would probably turn him against them to a degree they might never overcome. She stood as well and merely said, "I am sorry to hear you say that. From our point of view he must marry Shampoo, and thus this planned wedding cannot take place. We will be back in touch."
No further words were exchanged as Kasumi politely escorted the old woman to the front door, looking on in silence as she resumed her shoes and left, her spry step as unexpected as always for one of her advanced years. Kasumi watched from the door as Cologne exited the gate, then gave herself a little nod at how their discussion had worked out. She had expected a visit from the elder and it had gone as well as she could have hoped, although truly Kasumi had not expected any direct threats or violence at this stage.
With a sigh she turned back, only to find herself facing Ranma's mother Nodoka. The older woman smiled and said, quietly but firmly, "I'd like to have a private word with you, Kasumi-chan. Concerning your intentions toward my son. In fact, if you're willing, I would like to offer you my help."
Author's note:
"Buraku" refers to a member of the burakumin, Japan's untouchable caste.
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