Akane headed downstairs to take a bath. Tossing her sweaty keikogi in the laundry hamper, she settled into the tub, turning the hot water on. Immediately, she heard that familiar commotion, the sound of water rushing into the tub, clear and invigorating. Akane let herself bask in the simple luxury, her eyes closed in meditation, and her long, black hair fanned out from her head like an odd halo.
As she lay there, trying to relax, Akane found that she couldn't help thinking about her new friend. Suddenly, she found it odd that her affection for this girl was strong enough to consider her a friend, and yet she didn't know anything about her. All she knew was the manner in which she arrived.
Quietly, Kasumi shut the door to the girl's room, having handed her the shirt, now fresh and clean from the wash. As she headed back downstairs, she marveled at what an oddity their guest was. In the short time she spent with her, Kasumi had already noticed a certain duality to her personality. She seemed like such a nice girl, so polite, yet at first glance, Kasumi would've guessed she was a tomboy, much like Akane.
"But she is a tomboy," she thought. She knew that now, after washing the girl's shirt, a shirt smelly with perspiration, and stained by blood, of all things. Then, thinking about the blood, she could only assume it came from the blow to back of the girl's head. And though she knew, with some certainty, where the blood came from, Kasumi found the girl and everything about her a mystery, everything except how they met.
The funny thing was Kasumi wasn't expecting to meet her, looking forward instead to seeing Saotome Ranma, hoping he wasn't too old for her. But, as fate would have it, there was no fiancé. Instead, a pigtailed girl literally fell into her father's arms, a redhead whose mind turned out to be a total blank.
She was struck by a sudden, creepy thought. There really was no way of knowing the kind of person she might've been, prior to losing her memory. They knew only the person she seemed to be.
"And she seems like a nice girl." Kasumi thought finally, putting her sense of morbidity to rest.
Meanwhile, Nabiki lay on her bed with the door shut, listening to pop music, though the songs blaring incessantly from her expensive stereo were far more cheerful than she was, at the moment. Both Akane and Kasumi wondered who the girl was. She, on the other hand, didn't care. After all, why should it matter to her who the girl was? All that mattered was who she wasn't. She wasn't Ranma.
Nabiki remembered feeling annoyed, yet anxious to meet the man who might be her fiancé, annoyed because of her Daddy's inability to give her a straight answer. Annoyed because, hearing him talk about the two of them, she made the assumption he had actually met his friend's only son. He hadn't, much to her chagrin.
She asked, "What sort of man is he?" Of course, Nabiki knew that all she was really looking for was money. She wanted to know whether he was well off, or if his father was. Either way, she would be wealthy if she married him. However, soon as Nabiki met the pigtailed girl, her hopes of meeting a rich fiancé were put on hold. At first, she clung vainly to the hope that the girl was really a guy, just a really cute one, but soon Nabiki began to suspect that she was in fact a girl.
Needless to say, Nabiki no longer doubted the girl's authenticity.
With a fresh shirt, the girl finally went downstairs. But without one, she knew she'd still be up there. She wasn't about to parade around the house naked. To do so would be uncivilized.
That evening, she joined Akane at the dinner table. Suddenly, they heard Kasumi's soft voice emanating from the kitchen. She asked Akane, "Would you mind taking her to school with you, tomorrow?"
"Sure." Akane replied cheerily.
"School?" the girl asked.
"It's okay. Everybody goes to school."
"Oh," she said, not sure if she would like school or not.
That night, the redhead was grateful to have a bed to sleep in, though she tried desperately not to actually sleep in it. After the last nightmare, she feared sleep, as vehemently as she feared water. And she was willing to fight it to the bitter end. However, even with such resolve, she could not hope to hold out forever. In the end, her body betrayed her. Her eyelids became heavier and heavier, harder to keep open. Soon, she was forced to give in to her ever increasing desire to simply let go.
Suddenly, the girl felt herself caught up in a whirlwind of strange emotions. Incredible excitement mixed with fear and impatience. The girl somehow recognized the tree she was standing beside. It was a sakura, or cherry tree. She caught herself staring at the tree, marveling at its branches, heavy with thousands of pretty pink flowers, experiencing a sense of tranquility at the same time. Just then, she saw a figure approaching, practically running, as if to meet her. She watched as the hood and cloak of the figure were swept back as it ran, revealing the face of a boy. He reached her then, placed his hands in hers, and she felt how rough and calloused they were. Also, she became aware of a sensation, cold and metallic against her palm. Instinctively, she opened her right hand to see what he had given her, a piece of jewelry, brightly painted, in the form of a sakura.
"It's your favorite flower, isn't it?" he asked.
"Yes," she said. "Thank you."
"Here," the boy said, as he helped her put it on, by threading it gently through her hair.
Then, looking at her again, he did something that took the girl by surprise. He kissed her.