Monday came and went as the residents of the Tendo household moved on with their respective lives. As Ranma predicted Akane had come home, only to see the dojo in its state and immediately go straight to where Ranma was busy preparing dinner. They had fought but to Ranma's credit he had just managed to placate the girl enough not to earn a malleting. Akane went on without finding out about Ranma's episode; something the entire household had silently agreed would be for the best. Even if nobody admitted it out loud, everybody knew where a good portion of that anger of his was coming from.
Likewise, nobody noticed all the extra work Kasumi was putting in around the house, doing almost enough for two whole days. By the end she collapsed exhaustedly into bed and fell instantly asleep. Ranma would be ashamed to say he too didn't notice the change, but between school, getting lost in cooking and starting work fixing the damage he had done to the dojo, he barely saw the older girl the entire day.
So it was that Tuesday morning came around and everything seemed like it always did. Ranma came down, cooked breakfast and everybody ate. Of course Ranma and Akane managed to fight over some trivial thing everybody would have forgotten by the afternoon and she chased him out of the house. Nabiki set off for the train station and by extent University while the two fathers lost themselves in game after game of Shogi or occasionally, Go.
Kasumi finished washing the dishes, humming a tune that for some reason she couldn't get out of her head. Checking to make sure the two father's really were immersed in their game she quickly left through the front door and hurriedly started making her way through the city. This wasn't a day off after all; she didn't have a lot of time. It was a hurried walk through the city with quick nods to the shopkeepers as she passed by who once again wondered if the world was ending when the girl didn't stop to buy anything.
She made it to Okonomiyaki Ucchan's in good time as, far from Nerima's normal unpredictable weather, it stayed brilliantly sunny. She entered through the curtains and looked around the teeming restaurant for the chef herself. Kasumi had chosen to talk to Ukyo first as, from what he could gather from her visits, she was the most mature of the three fiancées. She still appreciated the time when the Gambling King had managed to take the house and the young chef took them all in, however briefly. She walked over to the grill, noting the oddly dressed serving girl behind it.
"Hello, I'm Kasumi Tendo. Could I speak with Miss Kuonji please?" Konatsu took in the tall girl before him, looking up only briefly from the food he was preparing. In the last few months Ukyo had really gotten him to appreciate the art, even letting him run the restaurant in her absence. He still made the occasional mistake but he was certainly getting better, the gender-challenged ninja had only messed up last week because he had misinterpreted Ukyo when she had told him everything was half off. Selling off half the furniture was an honest mistake in his opinion.
"I'm sorry, Ukyo is at school right now. Could I leave a message for Mistress Kuonji?" Kasumi let her head roll back for a moment. 'Sometimes when they all talk about the girl running a restaurant it makes me forget she's only Ranma's age!' She politely shook her head at the young girl before her who happily returned to flipping the Japanese pizzas. Kasumi walked out of the restaurant, actually a little annoyed; while Furinkan high school wasn't out of the way it would take up more time than she had.
If she left now she could probably reach it just as first period ended, that would give her a ten minute break to talk to Ukyo in. Of course she would have to avoid both Ranma and Akane so she could maintain her secrecy. It seemed to be her only choice as she feared if she waited until next weekend Ranma might have another outburst. She walked at the briskest pace possible without it being called a jog in the direction of the school. Jogging wasn't really something she could do in her attire anyway.
She had found that at least one thing had come about due to her day off, or at least it had stuck with her. She found that she was appreciating her surroundings more and more, taking in what was around her as opposed to walking on by. Even now as she hurried toward the school she was noticing things she never would have before. She passed by a park and saw a young couple on a bench holding hands.
It was a nice scene, touching enough that she ignored the fact they should probably have been in school. She also passed an elderly man practising Tai Chi on a mat in the same park. If she wasn't in such a rush she may have stopped for a few moments to watch in fascination as the man went through his various motions. It wasn't nearly as graceful or beautiful as anything Ranma could do but it had an appealing delicacy that the gentle woman could appreciate.
She approached the large white school even quicker than she had planned so it actually gave her a few moments to wait until the bell rang for second period. She calmly stood in the corridor, not far from Ranma's homeroom. She was thankful she knew which room he was in due to the few times she had to bring him his lunch. She might not have bothered even a few months ago but with the severity of his and Akane's arguments increasing as they had she found he forgot the food more and more often.
Lately at least he had improved in that regard, always making sure he had time to grab a lunch, even once right out her hands as he shot her a grin before being chased out of the house. It saddened her that anybody would have to start their day in such a manner; it seemed so wasteful of a good morning. She was interrupted from her daydreams as the bell went off and she calmly awaited the inevitable crowd emerging slowly from the classroom.
This was all the reason she was even more shocked when the teen she had been thinking about burst from the room, apologising for something before diving right out of the window. Kasumi involuntarily gasped as she remembered they were on the third floor but based on the claps coming from the ground she figured Ranma must have landed safely. A few seconds later a blue-haired blur ran out of the same door shouting nonsensical curses and immediately made for the stairs, not even noticing her sister as she passed.
Kasumi winced at some of the language she heard her sister using; at least she had never learnt any of that from her. She was at least grateful that her sister hadn't spotted her, despite running right by her. Now all she had to do was-
"Ranma honey! Wait for me!" There was the girl Kasumi was looking for. As Ukyo passed by at a slightly slower rate than Akane had previously, Kasumi politely tapped her on the shoulder causing the younger girl to spin on the spot. "Oh, hello Kasumi, what are you doing here?" She smiled at the okonomiyaki chef which caught the girl off guard as she had no idea what any of this was about.
"I had hoped to talk to you at your restaurant, it was lucky that nice young girl you have working there told me I could find you here." Ukyo stared blankly at her for a moment.
"You wanted to talk... to me? Wait what young gir-?" Suddenly Ukyo burst out laughing for some reason Kasumi couldn't figure out. She managed to stop herself and look up at the older girl, slightly apologetically. "Sorry, I assume you mean Konatsu?" Kasumi nodded, still smiling. That purely innocent look on her face made Ukyo not press the subject further. While she still found it funny when people made that mistake she could hardly blame them with the way the poor ninja dressed.
"Yes, I wanted to talk to you about Ranma." Suddenly Ukyo became all business, straightening up and looking very serious all in a flash.
"What about my Ranchan?" Kasumi smiled, now glad she had at least thought about what she wanted to say.
"I just wanted to ask how you saw yours and Ranma's futures together." Suddenly Ukyo couldn't maintain her business demeanour, switching instead to a dreamy wistful look that only a school girl could posses.
"Oh, it's going to be magical. I'll expand my business with Ranma at my side and then when we're financially secure we'll start a family with Ranma looking after the children while I run the restaurants. Until then he can always use his girl form to attract a few customers, they do love a cute waitress." She suddenly snapped out of it, looking up hopefully at Kasumi. "Why are you asking? Did Ranma say something?" She looked over to the window he had leapt from. "He has been acting differently lately." Kasumi just considered what Ukyo had told her, ignoring the last two comments.
"Do you think Ranma would be happy with all of that?" The question immediately put the younger girl on the defensive, even after it caught her off guard.
"What do you mean? Why wouldn't Ranma be happy with me?"
Kasumi smiled understandingly at the young chef. "Take no offense Ukyo, I meant nothing about you. I simply wonder if Ranma has ever expressed any interest in the restaurant business, or in raising a family as the homemaker?" She left out Ranma's newfound passion for cooking, after all she had come to help out Ranma a bit, not strengthen his suitor's claims on him.
Ukyo for her part just looked at the ground, for the first time thinking about Ranma unsurely. "Well, no... But who wouldn't be happy with that?"
Again Kasumi was prepared. "Well, as I understand it, Ranma is very much a free spirit, not the type I would expect to settle down in such a way without first finding his own goals. I also understand he has his own dreams in life, many of which revolve around martial arts, something you failed to mention even once in your shared future. You don't really expect Ranma to give that up do you?"
Ukyo seemed distressed at how the older girl, someone she had honestly had very little direct contact with until now, was picking apart her fantasies. "Well, I mean, the future's always open to change. Once we're a bit more secure money-wise we could buy a dojo. Ranma could teach while I cook, each doing what we love."
Kasumi could already see the flaw all too easily. "But then if you are both working who would look after your children?"
Now Ukyo was becoming worried; she had thought about this dream for so long now it had just seemed perfect, irreplaceable, yet here this other girl was, pointing out every imperfection as if they were clear as rain. "Why are you doing this Kasumi?" The older girl winced at the pain in Ukyo's voice, this obviously wasn't easy for her and Kasumi tried to sympathise.
"Please, I only want you to really think about your future with Ranma. He's been under quite a bit of stress lately and I at least want everybody who is causing him problems to at least know for certain their feelings." It hadn't quite come out the way Kasumi had wanted to say it but she was pressed for time as the bell rang once again and she had to leave Ukyo, already behind on her housework. The Okonomiyaki Chef watched the Tendo homemaker leave before her eyes dropped to the ground.
"I'm causing Ranchan problems?" It was a barely a whisper, caught up in the ruckus of teenagers moving through the halls to get to their next lesson. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts for the rest of the day that even Ranma noticed something was off about his 'cute' fiancée. He thought about approaching her but the day was going so smoothly so far, barring that one fight with Akane, that he didn't want to risk jinxing it. He decided to drop by her restaurant some time and ask her about it, where at least Akane couldn't accuse him of perversity; he hoped.
Kasumi walked away from the school at an equally brisk pace, slightly disheartened. She felt as though she had no impact on the young girl, at least nothing major. She now realised that it just hadn't been enough time to say everything she wanted and needed to say. She decided to make sure that wouldn't be the case when she talked to Shampoo and started mentally planning what she would have to do to get more time with the bouncy Amazon than she had with Ukyo.
Wednesday passed in much the same way as Monday; with Kasumi working extra hard throughout the day to make sure she had time on Thursday, even as nobody noticed. Ranma continued his repairs on the dojo, forgoing his own training which Kasumi noticed was starting to have an effect on the young martial artist. He was becoming slightly more irritable, only just managing to stop himself before retorting Akane with his old insults like Tomboy and Uncute. Something that Kasumi knew must have had an impact over the years with Akane. The whole house was just starting to feel like one giant powder keg and she had the unfortunate feeling that for once, Akane wouldn't be the fuse.
On Thursday the older girl waited longer into the day before she set out, having found out prior to leaving that Shampoo made deliveries during the day so would be unavailable. It was late into the afternoon by the time Kasumi made it to the Nekohanten; she had made sure to leave about a half hour window to talk in before returning in time for Ranma and Akane to get back from school. She looked over the simple white building with its Chinese designs and elegant storefront facade.
She mulled over just how many problems for Ranma had been cooked up in this place. There were just too many to count; the reversal jewel, the red thread, the love mushrooms, food with 'special' spices, and many more. It was odd to think of this inconspicuous building housing such mischief and trouble. She stepped inside, realising for the first time that she had never even had the pleasure of coming here before, despite the food, especially the ramen noodles, being recommended to her.
The musk of warm food and herbs assaulted her as she stepped through; making her briefly wonder if this was what China smelt like. It was actually rather cosy and she found herself immediately at ease in the simple decor and temperate atmosphere. She looked around and spotted the bubbly lavender-haired girl she had come to see, smiling with semi-satisfaction. She also saw Elder Cologne, occasionally throwing out orders of food through the large opening between the kitchen area and the dining area which Shampoo caught expertly.
It was an impressive display of dexterity and skill which Kasumi could see the customers all appreciated as well. She couldn't dwell on it long as she had to make a choice. Before coming she had been confident about talking to Shampoo in the same way she had with Ukyo, except now that she was here she wasn't so sure. As she understood it Cologne was the driving force behind more than a bit of Ranma's grief, albeit she had also aided him in fixing a lot of it. It seemed her choice was made for her as she stood there, frozen with indecision.
"Aiyah, Nihao too too nice girl! You bring news of Shampoo's Airen!" Kasumi smiled, glad to be rid of the choice and just go on with what she wanted to say.
"Nihao Shampoo." The Chinese girl beamed even more brightly at somebody responding to her greeting in kind. "Could we talk for a moment?" The cheerful girl nodded happily and soon the two were sat opposite one another far from the ears of the other customers.
"What too too nice girl want talk about?" Kasumi kept up her usual neutral smile, hoping that all of this would go better than it did with Ukyo.
"I wanted to talk about Ranma, and please, call me Kasumi." Shampoo took on the exact same dreamy look that Kasumi had seen on Ukyo's features not two days ago and her stomach started to sink ever so slightly. "I just wanted to ask, do you know that you cause Ranma quite a bit of trouble?" Suddenly Shampoo sat up straighter and looked at Kasumi a bit more critically. One again the older girl noticed the duality between now and her conversation with Ukyo when the girl had the exact same reaction.
"What Kasumi mean trouble?" She struggled with the name for a moment but with an encouraging nod from Kasumi she smiled a little before returning to her more demure manner.
"Well, when you..." She thought about the next word, not wanting to use the silly description everybody seemed to give the action "...hug Ranma, it causes him to get into trouble with Akane."
Shampoo merely looked up at the ceiling and crossed her arms. "Is no Shampoo's fault if violent girl has too too short temper!"
Kasumi looked down at the ground and sighed. "Yes, I admit that. I just wanted to know if you ever tried just being Ranma's friend."
Shampoo uncrossed her arms, looking curiously at Kasumi. "Shampoo is friend with Airen." Her voice did nothing to hide her uncertainty at the remark.
"What I mean is normal friends, who get to know one another. Have you never noticed how uncomfortable Ranma becomes when you... hug him?"
Shampoo became defensive again. "Airen like Shampoo hugs!" But once again her voice belied her uncertainty, her brow started to furrow as she wondered how this girl was managing to get to her so easily. "You just here because want violent girl to marry Airen!"
Kasumi sighed and looked around again, an action that caught Shampoo of guard. "No, I believe I'm starting to have my doubts about my little sister. I merely came here to try and help Ranma; I don't like seeing him in such pain."
Shampoo once again furrowed her brow in disbelief. "Airen no in pain, he too too strong martial artist, God slayer, he no show emotion like weakling!" Kasumi smiled weakly, marvelling at this foreign girl's innocence, despite her having felt Ranma's outburst and seen the result. Before she could say any more to the young girl a voice caught them both by surprise and Elder Cologne suddenly appeared between them without warning.
"I'm afraid I couldn't help but listen in child, what were these doubts you were having about young Akane now?"
Kasumi smiled almost playfully at the older woman. "Whilst the bond I see between Ranma and my sister is in question in my own heart elder, she is still my sister and I couldn't possibly betray her like that."
The older woman grinned herself, letting out a cackle that caused many of the patrons to look around for the source of the hideous noise. "Can't blame an old gal for trying now?" She looked over the eldest Tendo daughter, sensing something had changed since the last time she had seen her, however subtle. "So you are here to look out for son-in-law? Well let me put your fears to rest. He will be more than happy with the Amazons. Believe me, we are a warrior people, praising fighting skill and ability and even you must admit that Ranma is amongst the best fighters in the world now."
Kasumi nodded but her eyes still spoke of troubled thoughts. "Yes, but don't you believe that should be Ranma's choice?"
Cologne became a little bit more serious. "Child, Ranma made his choice when he challenged my Great-Granddaughter and defeated her. By the laws of the tribe he is her husband and nothing will change that." Kasumi caught a strange look pass across Shampoo's face and she wished she had more time with the younger of the two Amazon's. However the look on Cologne's face quite clearly told her the matter was no longer up for discussion.
"Well, thank you for your time Elder." She nodded politely and turned to face Shampoo, once again noticing the subtle change in the way the girl was sitting "Shampoo". The girl looked up out of her semi-daze, but when she realised Kasumi was saying goodbye she returned to her former chipper self and smiled brightly. Kasumi left the cafe as the Amazon's returned to their work even more disheartened than she had when leaving Ukyo.
She now understood just what Ranma had to put up with on a daily basis and why he had such difficulty sorting out the tangled mess of his life. She quietly contemplated all of this as she walked back through the late afternoon air, once again retreating into her own thoughts and missing out on the sights around her. She made it back to the house in time for Ranma to burst through the front door with obvious frustration written across his features.
He smiled when he saw her and she in turn smiled back before he had to rush on upstairs. The reason soon became clear as Akane trudged into the room, her face red and fingers twitching to start pulling out the mallet. Kasumi knew she still had work to do but he couldn't pass up an opportunity like this. She calmly placed her had on her little sister's shoulder and waited a moment for the younger girl to calm down.
"Could I speak with you in the kitchen Akane?" She made sure to use her most neutral tone so her sister wouldn't notice anything was different and the girl rather happily followed her through to the other room. Akane sat down on a chair while Kasumi leaned against the work surface, sorting through her words to find what she needed to say. While she had briefly skimmed this in her mind she hadn't thought about it as deeply as she had with Shampoo or Ukyo.
"Akane, why are you angry at Ranma?" The other girl looked up, slightly indignantly.
"Well at school I saw him and Ukyo-" Kasumi calmly raised her hand to silence her sister.
"No Akane, not today. I mean all the time." Akane's brow furrowed.
"I'm not angry at Ranma all the time, only when he deserves it." Kasumi raised a brow at this.
"Like whenever Shampoo hugs him?" Akane's eyes turned fierce. "Or when he spends time with Ukyo?" Her frown only increased.
"Well yeah! You see the way he squirms in Shampoo's glomps, rubbing his body all over hers!" Kasumi sighed at her sister, imploring her with her eyes, however she didn't get the message. "And when he's with Ukyo I know he's just thinking about perverted thing he could do to her!" Kasumi shook her head a little; an action that went unnoticed by her little sister.
"Akane, don't you ever see just how uncomfortable Ranma is in those hugs? He's trying to get out of them, not rub his body over Shampoo. And why shouldn't he spend time with Ukyo? Would you really deny him time with his friends just because they're girls?" Akane was once again caught off guard as her mind spun in circles attempting to work out why all of a sudden her sister had turned against her.
"But Kasumi-" The older girl gave her a look that silenced further protest.
"How did you get this image in your head that Ranma is a pervert Akane? As long as I've known him he has only been the most honourable gentleman I know." The cogs in Akane's mind were still turning.
"But when we first met, the bathroom, he looked at me!" Kasumi sighed again, helpless against Akane's apparently selective memory.
"Akane, as I remember that night you walked in on him and the sign quite clearly said occupied." Akane frowned against her own differing memories, yet once again she couldn't find it in her to argue against her sister. "Why can't you see the difficult position Ranma is put into every day?" Akane continued to stare at her sister, not quite believing what she was hearing yet on the other hand having to. She didn't want to believe her own memories were wrong but she couldn't believe Kasumi was lying to her. Somewhere inside her a wall crumbled and a tear leaked out from her eye.
"Oh Kasumi! The way he acts around them, the way he calls Ukyo cute or the way he looks at Shampoo! Why can't he be like that with me?!" She leapt into her sister's comforting embrace, weeping openly as she poured her heart out. "Why can't he just care about me?" Kasumi softly stroked her sister's hair, trying to be as comforting as possible.
"Oh Akane, he does care." The younger girl looked up at her inquisitively, still sniffling and trying to wipe away the tears. "You know how father and uncle Saotome are, at the first sign of you two getting along they hear wedding bells. I just think Ranma isn't ready for that kind of thing." She looked down at her little sister, remembering how they had shared a moment not unlike this when their mother had died. "And I don't think you are either."
"B-But at the wedding..." Kasumi gently laid a finger on her sister's lips, quieting her down.
"That's just what I meant, you felt you were so ready to go through with it, yet nobody consulted Ranma, asked what he felt or if he was ready. He's a teenage boy Akane, it's normal for him to not be ready for marriage. It would be weird if he wasn't." She looked away wistfully, thinking about that horrible day. "Your relationship didn't have the best of starts, but if you do truly care about Ranma, you should see that he is trying to make an effort." She looked back down into her sister's watery eyes "And I hope you can too." Akane looked back into her eyes, trying to find what all of this was about.
"Kasumi I... I-" Before she could say what it was she was cut off as Soun practically pounced into the room, tears streaming down his face.
"Oh Kasumi, how could you do this? Are you hoping to tear apart the relationship between Akane and Ranma?" Behind him Genma as a Panda was holding up his sign that read *Now the school will never be joined, oh woe is me* It was a little worn from the amount of times it had been used.
"But Father-"
"Why Kasumi? Why would you do this to my little Akane and her fiancée?" The older girl began to get a little annoyed when she wasn't allowed to finish. With an internal curse she looked down at her sister whose tears had dried up and her eyes had hardened with suspicion, suspicion she realised was aimed at her. By now Soun had devolved into a weeping mess unable to continue talking. Nabiki, attracted by all the commotion looked in on the room and took in the entire scene with one appraising glance.
"Huh, maybe it would be better if you were Ranma's fiancée Kasumi. After the way you two have been acting around each other lately" It was obviously sarcastic and not meant to be taken literally but Soun let out another wave of tears, trying to build a small pond in the kitchen floor. Seeing that this situation was unsalvageable with Akane already walking off and the two fathers in no state to talk reason with, Kasumi walked off, more than a little irritated. She felt as though she had actually made progress with Akane, for it to all come to nothing.
Later that night she sat in her bed, unable to get to sleep; while she knew Nabiki had only been joking in what she said, it still got her thinking. 'Why were we so quick to push Ranma on Akane?' She already knew the answer. On that first day Kasumi had actually been more than a little excited, more so at least than her sisters. It was so disappointing when she found out about Ranma, how much younger he was than her.
She had been so set at that time that younger men were boring, what she now knew to be a dreadful generalisation. She chuckled silently to herself. 'Well it can be said that Ranma is anything but boring.' There it was again; those thoughts weren't going to do her any good! She smiled sadly, it wasn't the only reason she knew and was more than a little ashamed about. 'That curse was just so shocking and alien.'
Of all people she should have known better than to judge somebody so harshly on appearances, at least now she knew better, that Ranma was Ranma no matter how he looked. It had helped at the time that the two of them went off looking like such fast friends. Those words still wrung in her ears to this day. 'Hi, I'm Akane, want to be friends?' The look of sheer hopefulness in Ranma's eyes had been wonderful and Kasumi truly believed that the two were right for one another.
'Where did it all go wrong?' Honestly Kasumi couldn't answer herself. She never felt right blaming others, for anything really. Perhaps that was why it was so easy for all those years to simply sit back and casually ignore all the times Akane falsely accused Ranma of something, only for him to retort with an insult and watch it deteriorate from there. She guessed if she really had to blame anybody at all it would be that darn Kuno boy.
While it was difficult for anything to truly anger the eldest Tendo daughter, Tatewaki Kuno had certainly made a good go at it. 'Who did he think he was, setting all those boys after poor Akane every morning?' For all she knew it was what had pushed Akane against boys in the first place. Maybe to Akane it didn't matter what Ranma was really like, just whether or not he had a Y chromosome. It made her feel even worse for pushing the two together, Akane should have had time to heal, to get over her stigma concerning the opposite gender before attempting any kind of relationship.
She sighed quietly to herself, lots of ifs and buts, but the past was the past and there was no sense in thinking about what could have been. She was shaken from her melancholies by grumbling coming from outside her window. She saw a shadow flash by on its way to the roof and inwardly smiled. Ranma loved to go out onto the roof and think, more than a few times she had come back late from an errand just to see him up there, staring at the moon.
She wondered how peaceful it must be with only the ambient sounds of the city and the still night air as your companions. The moon bright overhead, lighting the streets in a light blue that cast a supernatural glow over the city. Her curiosity got the better of her as she found herself up out of bed, already moving towards the window.