Broken Mirror Reflecting
By: Shadow/Li
Disclaimer: I don't own any anime, only the plot ideas. And a few OC.
Summary: The spirit to be reincarnated as Tendo Kasumi turns out to be unavailable when it is called, so another is sent in her place. This soul, however, remembers everything of it's many past lives, a female otaku in the most recent. Armed with the knowledge of what the future of Nerima holds, she begins to plan for the future while trying to forget something in the past.
A/N: In this chapter, there will be an original character. Not many stories that have an original plot don't have at least one, so I'm adding my own. Don't be put off by her; she'll play a semi-important part in future chapters.
Enjoy the story!
-0-0- -0-0-
Chapter Two: The First Sister
-0-0- -0-0-
Otou-sama returned from his training trip ten days before my second birthday. He immediately did everything he could for his pregnant wife and myself, crying all the while. I was happy enough to just toddle over to the dojo and watch the students practice like I always do as oka-sama and otou-sama caught up.
In secret for the past eight months, I'd begun teaching myself to walk again. It was surprisingly hard to relearn such a basic skill, but at least I could walk a few yards without tripping, falling, or otherwise using something as a crutch. In front of others, though I tried to be as average a baby as possible.
Otou-sama saw me sitting comfortably on a random mat, staring with what I guess was as much of a look of concentration on my face as any baby could have. Crying tears of what I supposed was joy (his fits were beginning to get annoying again after the long time apart) and cradled me in his arms. I stayed very still, frightened that he might accidentally hurt me if I moved; he was so overcome by emotion.
"Oh, Kumiko-chan! Kumiko-chan!" sobbed my oh-so-darling father, finally setting me down. On a chair no less. I wasn't going anywhere, that's for sure. "Something wonderful has happened!"
"What, dear?" oka-sama asked from the kitchen. Even seven months pregnant and she insisted on continuing to cook. I have long since known where the original Kasumi come about her love of the culinary arts, and Akane her stubbornness.
"Kasumi-chan," began otou-sama, "has shown an interest in martial arts! To satisfy my darling daughter's needs, I must begin training her right away!"
Oka-sama entered the room, spatula in hand looking more like a dangerous weapon than a cooking utensil. I could feel her anger, and I imagine otou-sama did too, since he'd begun to cower away from the dark haired woman.
Why such a wonderful woman like my new mother married the spineless Soun in the first place is a question I plan to ask in the future. Probably love, or an arranged marriage, are my main theories.
Most likely love. People do a lot of stupid and moronic things when they're in love, don't I know. In my past lives, I've been one of them. Usually at the opposite end, though, which I've found to be quite annoying.
"We've spoken about this, husband," said oka-sama with forced calm. I don't think she wanted to have a (mostly one-sided) fight with him when he'd just come home. "Kasumi will decide for herself when she's older. The same goes for any of our other children." She patted her stomach fondly, and I imagine Nabiki kicked in return.
"But, my dear, I was only ten when my first Master began my training. If I'd begun sooner-"
Oka-sama cut him off. "Kami-sama, Kasumi's not even two!"
"Exactly," said otou-sama, this time with more conviction and a lot less tears. "The younger she is, the more she's likely to retain later in life. Think of it, Kumiko! Our little girl will be strong! And it makes a father proud to think of it."
Mother was silent for some minutes, and I knew she was likely to give in at least a little. True as it is that I'm interested in martial arts and the like, I don't want to hurt anyone, and neither would my Kasumi.
"Fine, dear," oka-sama said. Soun burst into tears of happiness. "She shall begin instruction at three."
I don't think otou-sama heard her last part as he picked me up and settled me on his shoulders, hands firmly in place to keep me from falling. "Let's go pick out a cute training outfit, Kasumi-chan!" my father said proudly, smiling.
Oka-sama came running after us, spatula dropped in favor of a mallet similar to what Akane would wield in the future. Maybe she'd inherit mother's ability to access hammerspace, or just the mallet.
Probably just the mallet, I decided as Kumiko chased after her husband and me.
I did what any other otaku-reincarnated-anime-character would do in my current situation; I laughed.
-0-0- -0-0-
My first birthday had been a quiet affair. My clumsy fingers hadn't opened any packages, since oka-sama had left all but one gift unwrapped. The gift had been from my obaa-sama and ojou-sama, Kumiko's parents. Otou-sama rarely spoke of his, and never in my presence.
My second birthday, however, was anything but peaceful. All students, friends, acquaintance and even a few strangers had been invited. The dojo-turned-party hall filled with people I've never seen before, let alone heard my parents speak of. I thanked my photographic memory that I forgot no name or face introduced to me.
Dressed up like a doll, I sat on a raised platform tall enough to put me face to face with a six foot (I bit less than 2 meter) tall man. I tried my best to keep from fidgeting, but to no avail. And to think that this had been oka-sama's suggestion.
"Isn't this a little much?" mother asked father, who had drunk just a bit too much sake.
"No, no, my dear. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves," otou-sama slurred. He was an unusually calm drunk, far from his normal sobbing self. "It's so wonderful that all these people are celebrating Kasumi-chan' birthday!" He broke out into sobs.
Alright, so maybe not. But it was better than his personally waterfalls falling all over me.
"If you say so, dear," oka-sama replied, smiling thinly at the crowd. With only two months until Nabiki was due (in the middle of February no less), Kumiko was having frequent mood swings. I think today was one of her good days, since yesterday her temper had been set off by the slightest thing.
"Ah, Soun, my friend. It's been too long," said an unfamiliar voice belonging to a too familiar face. Standing not ten feet from her platform was Saotome Genma, outfit the same white gi and a bandanna a top his already-balding head. Standing to his left, two steps behind, was a rather attractive, quiet and yet unnoticed woman holding a cloth-wrapped katana tightly.
"Genma, old pal. So it has, so it has," cried otou-sama, giving the yet-to-be-cursed man a friendly pat on the back.
I truly detested that man, and I am not someone to dislike on sight, or otherwise. But what I knew he would to was enough of an excuse for me. I suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of sympathy for Ranma, Ukyo, and anyone else yet to cross that dastardly man's path.
The two Anything Goes practicer's made idle chat about training and happenings while apart.; I saw immediately how uncomfortable Nodoka-san was , but a baby could do nothing to help her. I knew oka-sama could, however.
I tugged on my mother's sleeve to draw her attention, and opened my arms in a gesture to be picked up. Kumiko, smiling happily for the first time in a long while, held me close..
It turned out that Nodoka-san was watching us with what I took as longing, which my mother noticed as well. A mother always recognizedly a lover of children, I have grown to know.
"My name is Tendo Kumiko, and this is my daughter, Kasumi," oka-sama introduced us. I made this cute little giggling sound that always made my mother laugh, and it succeeded in winning a smile from Genma's guest.
"I'm Kamiyo Nodoka. It's a pleasure to meet you." Ranma's oka-san bowed politely, something Kumiko was unable to do since she was holding me and pregnant. "I must say, Kasumi-chan is an adorable little girl." She poked me shyly in the stomach and I giggled for her again.
"Why thank you, Kamiyo-san. Are you a friend of Saotome-san?" asked oka-sama, shifting me gentling to a more comfortable spot.
"Fiance, actually," Nodoka-san almost stuttered. I truly felt sorry for the poor woman, but at least I know she'll be stronger in the end. Or maybe she just didn't like drunk, overwhelmingly crowds. "Our fathers' arranged it."
The women and I were distracted from further conversation by the drunken chatter of Soun and Genma. What they were discussing was more jolting than anything else I'd reluctantly eavesdropped upon.
"We promised, right?" Soun asked his friend, swaying.
"Yes. You signed, and I signed, the other day." The future panda-man hiccuped, cheeks rosy from too much drink.
"It's settled then," the former agreed, and raised his glass in toast. "To the engagement! Banzai!"
"Banzai!" said half the room. I doubt to an outsider this would look like a two year olds' birthday party. More like a wedding celebration, or a child's sweet sixteen.
I didn't think for a moment that the engagement the drunks spoke of was between Genma and Nodoka-san.
"What engagement?" oka-sama demanded, as did Nodoka-san, coming out of her shell just a bit.
"To join our families," Genma slurred, hugging his Fiance tightly. "One of our children will marry Soun's kid."
The mallet and sword pounding what ensued I know both men wouldn't feel until morning. Both were too passed out to care. I doubt their hangovers would help much, either.
I'm both happy and sad that mother and Nodoka-san got along so well. I knew she would be gone for good in just over five or six years, sometime when Akane was still too young to remember. Kamiyo-san would be hurt badly, and I made another promise to myself.
I'll try my best to make everyone happy, even if that included people I'm not inclined to like.
-0-0- -0-0-
In the beginning of January, oka-sama hardly left her room. She was too pregnant, otou-sama said, and any undue stress might hurt herself or the baby. Kumiko agreed with him for only a short time.
When I say her room, I mean the guest room containing the secret altar, mini-library on the occult, and various other items needed to cast spells and preform rituals. I mostly stayed away from that room, remembering how such things had resulted in being both burned at the stake and beheaded in my previous lives.
I keep mentioning my previous lives, don't I? Well, I have only the memories of my last ten or so, up until the age I died in my last incarnation. The rest are just facts that need a trigger to remember.
In the dojo, as usual, I watched the older students sparring and the newer learning katas. Oka-sama entered and took me away to spend some quality time bonding. (Bonding has become more constant the last few weeks.) No one but the Chinese boy Li Mein, who'd been kind to me in the past, noticed and he had chores to distract him.
Oka-sama spoke to me as we climbed the stairs to the second floor of the main house. "I'm going to teach you something very important, Kasumi-chan. Your father's not the only one with a school to train and heir for."
I didn't know precisely what she was talking about until we turned into the hallway leading to Akane's future room. Then I began to panic and though I squirmed in my mother's arms to be let down, she only held tighter.
"And now with that silly engagement he and that moronic friend of his enacted, I have to start early. I can't have my successor marrying a marital artist. The first born female always inherits the most powers, after all," murmured oka-sama, unaware I listened and understood.
My heart stopped and my blood froze. First born female? Heir to a school of occult? The next thing she'll say is that we're descended from some great sorcerer like master Aiden or something.
Just to say, I'm very grateful that the laws of Nerima and that pessimistic man Murphy haven't yet applied themselves to me. Come to think of it, the never did for cannon Kasumi either. I so hope they never do.
We entered the guest room and oka-sama headed straight for the section of wall that I somehow knew as an illusion, and could see through. Huh. It was such a shock, I( ceased my struggling and stayed completely still.
I've been a farmer, a hunter, an apprentice sage, silver smith, a low level librarian at Alexandria killed in the Great Burning, and many other things. I have received empathic powers, skills in arts, mathematics, science, animal care, and many other things in the lives I remember, but never held an active power.
"Now, Kasumi-chan, I need you to stay very, very still," instructed oka-sama, heaving herself onto a sturdy stool that sat before the altar after setting me down. "Understand?"
I nodded absently and forced myself to pay attention.
Oka-sama started as I had a long time ago, but ended in a different way. I won't describe anything, since words can not explain such things. What caught my attention, however, was her prayer/spell spoken near the middle.
"Oh Gods, you have given me an heir of intelligence and gentleness. I wish now, if you so will, for a child of cunning and power, to please my most honorable husband. If you so please, Oh Gods, thus shall it be." Kumiko bowed awkwardly.
An intelligent and gentle daughter? From what I've read and seen in the anime and manga, Tendo Kasumi had been just that, though under appreciated by her self centered family.
'I'll do my best to fulfill your wishes, oka-sama. It's that least I can do for agreeing to take your true daughter's place,' I thought.
I suddenly had a feeling inside my mind that whatever Gods listening had heard my thought and bound me to it. I knew now that my life would begin to get much more interesting very soon.
Kumiko picked me up and carried me to our room, and I was suddenly hit my a wave of tiredness. Oka-sama and otou-sama shared a futon, and I slept in a high quality crib on the other side of the room.
As oka-sama tucked me into my many blankets and stuffed animals (my favorite being a huge -to me- stuffed black dog someone had given me for my birthday) I heard her whisper, "When you grow up, Kasumi-chan, I wish you'd help everyone you can. I have a feeling a little kindness will go a long way in the future."
I fell asleep clutching Kurei the black dog, and pondering her words.
-0-0- -0-0-
Tendo Nabiki was born February 11, year unknown to me. I finally had a cute baby sister, even if she looked more like a fox as a new born than she did at seventeen.
Oka-sama had been lounging in the kitchen, enjoying a nice cup of tea, as otou-sama once again tried to convince her to let him begin my training early. I don't know what he was thinking, trying to reason with a woman who had too many mood swings.
Wonder of wonders, she was just about to mallet him in the ground when her water broke. Immediately Soun went rushing around and eventually we got to the hospital in time, though I don't remember how.
"Ah, my wife has blessed me with another beautiful girl! Isn't she cute, Kasumi-chan?" otou-sama asked me as I stared at the babe in my mother's arms. My baby sister.
Sister. Imotou-san. I now had a sister. Oh, Kami-sama! I had a sister!
"What shall we call our wonderful second child, dear?" asked oka-sama. "Ayame and Iyo are cute names."
"Tendo Nabiki," suggested my father. I continued to stare at the new born, asleep in oka-sama's breast, only half listening to their conversation.
"That's a nice name, husband. Nabiki-chan it is," concluded mother, then spoke to me. "You'll have to be a good 'nee-chan and care for your little sister, ok? Kasumi-chan?"
I nodded, still stubbornly silent until I knew the time was right to speak, and grinned big. My teeth were coming in nicely so far, and they had yet to bother me even a little.
"Congratulations," said a random nurse, smiling at our little family.
"Thank you," Kumiko said tiredly. I knew she would want to sleep after an twelve hour delivery. "You want to take her now?"
"Please, if you don't mind," said the nurse nervously. "We need to check her over."
"Alright," oka-sama said, handing Nabiki-chan over to the woman and laying comfortably in the hospital bed.
"It would be a good idea for you to allow you wife to rest, Tendo-san. She must be very tired," suggested the nurse to otou-sama.
"Excellent idea. Kasumi-chan, let's wait in the lobby," said otou-sama. I followed reluctantly, wanting to sigh sadly as I took one last look at my peacefully sleeping mother. The nurse held Nabiki gently, and I knew they'd both be in good care.
-0-0- -0-0-
If I was older, I'm sure my eyebrow would be twitching in irritation and an angry aura would surround me as I glared at anyone and everything that I could see. As I am only a little passed two, I settled at sitting innocently in the maternity ward's lobby as otou-sama snored loudly, taking up three chairs.
Various nurses working the late shift pointed and giggled behind their hands at my father, finding him unusually amusing. I clutched Kurei to me tighter. I never liked being small and ignored, though it did come in handy sometimes.
Like now.
Unnoticed and bored, I decided to explore the hospital. There was nothing else to do but sit around and wait for father to take us home so oka-sama could rest here.
It was surprisingly easy to walk around, though I noticed too much bleached white for my tastes. The hospitals I'd stayed at in my last life had had a few murals here and there, just to add some color. I would think it'd be unhealthy to be around so much blankness all the time.
I stopped my explorations as soon as I came to the children's ward. Now this place was more like it. The walls were a pale yellow, but it still qualified as a color, and the doors themselves different, vibratant colors. It also looked as if some of the younger children fingered painted at their level regularly.
I usually wasn't one to like anything that I'd call an eyesore (which was most of the rainbow), but being around so much white, it was more a relief than a nuisance to see so much color.
As I walked down the hall, clutching Kurei the Dog so he didn't drag on the ground, I stopped at a particularly neon door when a little girl, maybe three or four, came up to me and just started talking. I've had this happen to me before, of course (who hasn't), but never been approached by someone so young.
"Are you new here? I am. My name's Mio, what's yours? What are you here for? I'm here for something called- oh, I forgot! But I know it has something to do with blood, though. That's a cute dog. Where'd you get it? Are you lost? Are you looking for the bathroom? 'Cause I know where it is. What did you say your name was?" the strange, pale haired girl babbled.
I hadn't yet talked as Kasumi, and I wasn't going to say anything without oka-sama or otou-sama present. I did, however, move Kurei a little and point to the hiragana of my name sewn into my light blue dress. (Kumiko had given up on the frills and lace. Poor Nabiki would have to put up with it mother's obsession with cuteness now.)
"Ka-su-mi," Mio read slowly. "Kasumi. I like that name. How did you get it? My ka-chan named me after her favorite character in a book. I don't know the tittle."
I tuned out her rambling and instead took the chance to look her over. She had shoulder length, pale hair that seemed white, and equally pale skin. Her eyes were almond shaped, the irises dark brown, almost black. She was dressed in the blue hospital gown, a necklace tucked under it so I couldn't see. All in all, I knew she's grow up to be quite pretty, in a pale sort of way.
I was thankful when the nurse assigned to Mio came and apologized for her, then took the still babbling child back to her room. I found my way back to the maternity ward, still unnoticed, and fell asleep next to my still snoring father.
My thoughts, however, were on Nabiki and the strange girl Mio-san, whom I left drawn to, in a sense. Maybe we could be friends, I hoped. Even if she was annoying, I knew I needed outside contact. I hadn't realized how desperately I needed human contacted besides my family until to day.
I wonder, though. How will Nabiki act, growing up?
-0-0- -0-0-
A/N: Thank you all for reading, and review only if you want to! I don't like pressuring people, as you'll find out.
'Til the next chapter!
Sister Shadow/Li