Ranma - The smallest of actions
The smallest of actions[R]
Niklas "Hawk" Jonsson


Summary: One small event drastically changes things for our young sex-changing Martial Artist. Ever since that event, things have been upside down in the Tendo residence and once things come to a head, Ranma decides to leave. But, he doesn't do so alone. Kasumi decides to come along with him! Just what caused this most dutiful of daughters to abandon her home and family to follow Ranma?

Disclaimer: Ranma ½, the characters and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were! Azumanga Daioh 'aint mine either! The story is mine though, all mine. This series deals with mature subject matters and violence. If this disturbs you, don't read. But if it does, then why the heck are you watching the show/reading the manga in the first place?

Oh, and listen up all you Akane:ites out there. You won't like my Akane. Trust me, you will NOT like her. You have now been warned, so don't say that I haven't warned you.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)
I can be found on ICQ as 21771860 or through e-mail as iamhawk@yahoo.com, more stories are available at my nifty lil' site at or by clicking on my handle up above if you're reading this on fanfiction.net.

"speech"
*emphasis/shouts/Kindred Domination/post-hypnotic triggers*
/thoughts/
*/telepathy/*
~translation~
+soundeffect/radio/telephone conversation/TV+

*** Previously, on 'The smallest of actions!' ***


When everybody was finished and Ranma had gotten a round of more-or-less surprised thanks, Kasumi reached out as if to pick up her plate and begin cleaning the table, but never got that far before she was stopped.

"Uh, uh, uh. The kitchen is off limits to you for now. Now, scoot." Ranma admonished her and hounded her out into the living room, before he set out to clean up and do the dishes. Once finished, he snatched up three lunch boxes, handed one to Akane and one to Nabiki, then all three of them took off for school.

Kasumi went about the rest of the day with her smile a little bit wider then usual.

*** Roll credits ***






Chapter Three:


Day 11.


"Ranma no baka..." Akane muttered.

"Hey! I didn't say nuthin'!" Ranma protested and for once, he was entirely in the right. He hadn't said anything and showed a remarkable amount of restraint after having tasted Akane's Miso. It was Nabiki who had, after witnessing the lack of a negative reaction from Ranma, dared to try Akane's cooking and promptly spit it out right across the table, striking Soun in the forehead. The words that had emerged from Nabiki's lips after that, were not fit for printing and could not be repeated in polite company.

"Oh... Force of habit... Nabiki no baka..." Akane groused, pondered the matter for a moment, then repeated her first statement. "Ranma no baka."

"What'd I do now?!" he demanded, shaking his head as he concluded that he'd never understand women even if he lived to be as old as Happosai!

"I don't know yet, but it probably won't be long before you do something perverted or say something stupid." Akane snapped, not at all in a good mood now that her father had forbidden her to even set foot in the kitchen for the time being. Having nearly choked to death on the concrete rice and then being struck by projectile breakfast seemed to have temporarily given Soun back his spine and a command had emerged from his lips before it was gone again and he started crying about his youngest lack of culinary skills.

"Akane, now you're being unfair to Ranma." Kasumi admonished her, but Akane was in no mood to listen to her, especially not as even Kasumi had seemed relieved when their father ordered the youngest Tendo to stay out of the kitchen!




Day 11, Later.


"Kasumi? Where's my yellow sweater?" Akane inquired. "I thought I put it in the dirty laundry yesterday."

"Oh. Did you need it now? I'm afraid I only did one machine today." Kasumi replied apologetically.

"No, I'll take something else." Akane replied, then kept on rummaging through her closet for something to wear, before she strolled into Nabiki's room to check her closet. The middle sister often had more of Akane's clothes in her wardrobe then Akane herself had in her own! As she rifled through the clothes though, she stopped as she came across one of Nabiki's sweaters. It was yellow. It had also been in the laundry basket underneath the yellow sweater Akane threw into the basket yesterday. Did Nabiki have a double?

Akane blinked in surprise, found a sweater she could use and pulled it on, then went to check the dirty laundry. Sure enough, there was her yellow sweater. But there was no sign of Nabiki's. In fact... All the laundry in the basket belonged to Akane, everything else in there had been washed but hers! Had Kasumi done that on purpose? Kasumi?

Akane shook her head, laughing at herself. No way, there had to be some other explanation. Still chuckling at her groundless suspicion, she left the house, looking forward to a night out with her friends and away from Ranma.




Day 14.


"I came across some extra cash today, sis. Next weeks budget will be eight thousand yen larger then usual and I'll put another twelve thousand into the account set aside for repairs." Nabiki revealed, a happy twinkle in her eyes and Kasumi nodded. While the money certainly would come in handy, she didn't want to think about just *how* Nabiki might have earned those extra twenty thousand yen.

+BANG+

The kitchen door was flung open with enough power to crack the wood and in strode a furious Saotome Ranma, stalking up to the table and stopping right in front of Nabiki. He reached into his Chinese shirt and slammed a handful of photographs down onto the table with a resounding boom as flesh struck wood.

"Yours, I expect? Kuno was unconscious when he dropped them, so I couldn't exactly ask where he got them, but it certainly looks like your handiwork and his wallet seemed a bit thinner then usual." Ranma gritted out between clenched teeth.

"Nabiki! You didn't!" Kasumi exclaimed after having picked up one photograph that had come loose from the pile and landed in front of her. On the picture, was a topless Ranma in his female form, spawled out across his futon and with the blanket thrown off. Kasumi checked the date, noting that the pictures were taken yesterday night. Only she clearly recalled that Ranma went to sleep in his male form then, as she had encountered him as he exited the bath just before going to bed. So, Nabiki had transformed him in order to take those pictures. "That wasn't very nice of you." Kasumi chided her younger sister.




Day 14, Later.


"That's odd... I could have sworn..." Nabiki muttered as she looked through the refrigerator for the fifth time, without finding what she was looking for.

"Nabiki?" Kasumi inquired as she entered the kitchen. "Are you hungry again already?"

"My chocolate addiction needs satisfaction. Sushi always makes me crave chocolate later on." Nabiki chuckled. "I know I had some chocolate in here."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I used it to make a cake earlier." Kasumi apologised. "I didn't know it was yours."

"My name was on it." Nabiki complained, then blinked. "Your chocolate cake? I didn't see that at dinner? Is there any left?" Nabiki inquired, wiping some drool off the left corner of her mouth. Kasumi's chocolate cake was to die for!

"Was it? I didn't see that." Kasumi admitted. "No, I'm afraid not. I thought Doctor Tofu could use a little treat. I sent Ranma over to deliver it." she explained apologetically, just moments before Ranma walked in through the kitchen door, a brown smudge around his lips. "Welcome back, Ranma." Kasumi greeted him cheerfully. "How was doctor Tofu?"

"I'm home." he needlessly announced. "He's fine, says thanks for the cake. Well, what he *actually* said was 'Manamana. Bork! Bork! Bork!', then he started dancing on the examination table with Betty-chan. I think he meant to say thanks though." Ranma explained with a faint shrug.

"Oh, that Doctor Tofu. He's such a prankster!" Kasumi giggled, while Nabiki suspiciously glared at Ranma's chocolate-stained lips.

"Saotome? What is that on your lips?" Nabiki demanded, pointing accusingly at his face.

"Oh? There's something on my lips?" he asked, his tongue darting out to swipe experimentally across them. "Oh, that's chocolate. Kasumi let me have another piece of the cake before I ran off to deliver it." Ranma explained.

"*Another* piece?" Nabiki breathed out, her eyes bulging out of their sockets.

"Yeah. We had cake for tea, remember?" Ranma asked, then blinked. "Oh, you weren't there. Right. Forgot about that." he added.

"There. Was. Kasumi's. Chocolate. Cake. Served. At. Tea-time." Nabiki stuttered out in shock.

"Yes. I came past your room and asked if you wanted tea, but you declined, remember?" Kasumi inquired.

"I didn't know there was chocolate cake!" Nabiki wailed, then shuffled off towards her room and a restless night. She just *knew* that she wouldn't be able to sleep properly after finding out that not only had her clearly marked chocolate been used for Kasumi's chocolate cake, which she hadn't gotten any of, but Ranma had gotten two pieces. Two! She mentally raged at the injustice of it all and got all the way to her room before she started to consider things.

Kasumi always checked things before she used them, didn't she? Then why hadn't she seen Nabiki's name written on the chocolate? And she was always careful to let Nabiki know when she made her chocolate cake, didn't she? Kasumi *knew* how much Nabiki loved that cake! And sushi? Hadn't Kasumi said something at breakfast that she was planning to make ramen? Kasumi knew what sushi did to Nabiki, didn't she? She knew that they were all out of chocolate after making that cake, didn't she?

Nabiki mulled these things over well into the night, not being able to go to sleep until mere hours before it was time to get up again.




Day 18.


"Akane. Have you noticed something... Off... About Kasumi lately?" Nabiki asked as she and Akane walked through Nerima, doing some window-shopping along the way.

"Kasumi? No. Why do you ask?" Akane asked.

"Well... I started noticing something last week. Whenever I treat Ranma... Well, unfairly... She becomes... Less nice." Nabiki revealed, causing Akane to blink.

"Kasumi? I can't imagine her being anything other then nice." Akane snorted.

"She's still nice, she's just... Less nice." Nabiki muttered. "Yesterday, when Ranma made breakfast again, I needled him a bit over the fact that he'd over-salted the rice. Kasumi chided me for not being nice. When I went to bed at night, there were crumbs in it!"

"Well, you were nibbling on a cake as you stumbled down to breakfast, weren't you?" Akane inquired as she thought back to yesterdays breakfast.

"Well, yes. I keep a supply of chocolate chip cookies in my room now and I figured I deserved one after that nasty alarm woke me up. So I had one in bed, then had another one on my way to breakfast. But I've eaten things in bed before and Kasumi *always* cleans before she makes my bed because she knows that I tend to eat in it. But yesterday, she merely made it. She didn't clean it out beforehand." Nabiki pointed out.

"Perhaps she was distracted." Akane replied, then frowned as she recalled the laundry incident. "But I socked him yesterday, nothing happened to me." she offered.

"Well, before you punched him, he did call you 'A graceless gorilla with hips wide enough to give birth to a skyscraper without noticing it' as you 'accidentally' stepped on his foot when Shampoo glomped him." Nabiki offered. "Kasumi might have been cross with both of you."

"Kasumi? Cross?" Akane repeated, shaking her head in disbelief. She just couldn't imagine the eldest Tendo sister doing anything like that on purpose. It just wasn't possible, she was just too... Too nice, to do anything like that! Any why would she feel inclined to do so because of a baka like Saotome Ranma?!

The End! ( For now... )