Author's Note: Here's another chapter for you guys. Please Read and Review. ^^

Chapter 10 – Doubts and truths

They left the Tendo Dojo in the afternoon. Kasumi said she'll be going to the market to buy some ingredients for dinner and Ranma tagged along with her. Akane did not agree with this as she thought that Ranma isn't well enough to come with Kasumi, however, after some convincing and persuasion, they were able to make her agree with them as Kasumi explained that some fresh air would be a best distraction for Ranma after being coop in his room for more than a day.

The walked towards the park was uneventful. They walked beside each other with Kasumi having a tight grip on Ranma's left hand. It was a typical sight for any siblings or a mother to her child, but for Ranma it was a very unusual experience. He grew up not knowing the kind of feeling of holding someone's hand. Being brought up without his mother, he had never experienced these kind of things with his father. Indeed, Genma would sometimes carry him on his back or on his head but that were the usual fatherly gestures. The nurturing of a mother was so alien to him that he doesn't know how to act with it.

When Kasumi first held his hand, Ranma couldn't stop himself from staring at it. Apart from the blush that slowly creeped onto his face, he was feeling nervous and self-conscious too. He wonders if it was like this if his father didn't take him away when he was a kid. Will his mother hold his hand while they walk down the streets? Will he feel safe and secure as their hands intertwined the same way as his with Kasumi? Questions like these immediately came popping into his head as he stared at their hands.

Kasumi, who had then noticed Ranma staring, beamed a smile at him and asked, "Does this make you uncomfortable, Ranma?"

"No!" he blurted out quickly. "It's just surprising and a little bit alarming since if Shampoo or Kodachi will see this they would jump to conclusions." Ranma explained although it was only half of the reasons.

"They would, won't they? But you are forgetting Ranma that you are not your usual self, today. You are the five year old Ranma and your fiancées with the exception of my sister, don't know about this. They only know you as Ranma's cousin, who we have agreed to introduced you as," the older woman stated knowingly and reassuringly.

Ranma fell silent as he digested what has been said. She was after all right in saying those things to him. He sometimes forget of his condition that he still constantly look behind his back just to see if Shampoo or any of his fiancées would suddenly appear and catch him on the act. Although he knows he was doing no wrong, he still feels that awful feeling of being caught by them. He fears of what they might do in the end of it all as it often ends up in a catastrophe.

After a few minutes, the grim look on his face disappeared and was replaced by a smile as they near the park. Ranma's mood brightened up as he heard the loud laughter of children playing and the whistling sound of the afternoon wind that blows into the green area inside the city. His eyes quickly darted onto the lined benches by the side of the field. Most of it was empty except for a couple of it, which were occupied by lovers and mothers chatting over their children. Ranma's line of vision focused on the third bench that Reiko usually sits on. He pointed it to Kasumi, who just smiled and follow his lead.

They sat there for about ten minutes before Ranma said, "I think she's not coming." The words came out weakly. His disappointment was written all over his face as he tried to face the older woman beside him.

"What time does she usually come?" she asked curiously.

"Usually she arrives an hour earlier. Her classes end early." Ranma said now not bothering to look at Kasumi. He just stared onto the baseball field, trying to imagine the time when he was playing there.

"Well, we just waited for 10 minutes. Let's wait a little longer. Maybe she's just late for today." Kasumi said with her usual optimism.

"She doesn't get late. She hates being tardy because according to her every seconds count. I don't know why she says those things, but she does," he said while remembering the time when she told him those exact words. It was one of those short conversations they had that lingers into his consciousness. Those moments were the ones that make him curious about Reiko's real self. There were depths behind it that he's afraid of asking for it because it may look like he's intruding into her personal life. At those moments, she spoke as if she regret things in her past. Her usual smile doesn't come off as gay as it usually does. But it was her eyes that speak more of it than her words. They become dark and misty like a storm full of rain and ready to drop. Yet, when he thinks that the tears were now going to fall, she blinks them away and it disappears and replaced by her sunny disposition again. How she does that, Ranma could only wonder.

"Well, there's always a first time for everything." Kasumi said not knowing the storm of emotions that Ranma was feeling.

Another ten minutes had passed and Ranma had already given up. For him, Reiko was never going to come, but he doesn't know how to tell Kasumi about it, so he opted to wait for her to give up. Kasumi, on the other hand, was enjoying herself. She rarely has time for leisure and so when she gets it, she likes to enjoy every moment of it while she can.

"Excuse me," a voice said. "I think you're sitting on my spot," the voice continued.

Kasumi turned to see the person talking to her, but as she did, Ranma was already running toward the girl.

"I thought you're not coming. I was sure you're not coming. Where were you? We waited for a long time," Ranma ranted like a scared little boy, who just found his mother.

"Sshhh... I'm here now. Please don't cry." The girl said softly then cupping the boy's face into her hands.

"I'm not crying. I'm just worried," he said indignantly. As he saw her appear behind them, all his worries about her being hurt or kidnap had disappeared. It was replaced by a sense of relief that he never knew he was holding onto. He turned his reddening face away her, as he was too embarrassed of the show of affection.

As all that was happening, Kasumi remained where she was and just stared at them. It was obvious from it that the two share deep attachments with each other. She wasn't sure if it was deeper than Ranma's feeling for her sister, but she knows it was something more than rest of his fiancées combine. For all the time she knew him, she never saw Ranma this affectionate with someone. The Ranma she knew would quickly runaway from even the minutest signs of affection. Genma thought him that way and he thought him too well, that Ranma was not only afraid of his own feelings but also he has learn to evade people from showing them to him as he doesn't know how to deal with them. Although, she has been encouraging him to be more confronting with his emotions but it was still not enough. Now, seeing him with the girl, Kasumi realized that she had done good with him.

"Why were you worried?" the girl asked as she continued to stare on his red face.

"I thought something happened to you. Because you were late and you never get late, you said. So...," he trailed off muttering to himself the words.

"I see. But you see Ranma, I wasn't exactly late. I went to buy these," showing a paperbag of melon bread in her hands. "I thought you'll like them."

Ranma's eyes went as wide as he could and stars were seen erupting in them. "I like Melon breads. I fought Ryoga with it when we were in elementary school."

"I thought so. I bought them to the man who makes the best melon breads in Tokyo." Reiko exclaimed animatedly as she stared at him.

Ranma was about to take the bag out of her hand and carry it onto the bench when he realized that Kasumi was watching them. He slowly looked into her eyes to see the accusing and angry looks that may appear in them. But what he saw in them was different from the ones Nabiki or Akane might have given him. Her eyes were filled with curiosity and understanding. Carefully, he tugged Reiko's hand and pulled her to face Kasumi, who then stood up. "Reiko, this is Kasumi. Kasumi, this is my friend Reiko," he introduced them awkwardly.

"Hi!" Reiko said first, breaking the silence between them. She hesitantly lift her right hand getting ready to shake the other woman's hand, but stop midway as she realized that Japanese doesn't do that practice. Her long stay in America has made her adapt to some western culture. Although, she was thankful for some of it like her English, which is quite superior than the rest of her class, but habits like this makes her feel so westernized that she realized how odd it was for some Japanese to see her do that. Thankfully, the older woman did not realize this and just bowed slightly at her before giving her a smile.

"Hello, Reiko." Kasumi answered. "Ranma has told me a lot of things about you. I'm glad to finally meet you." She continued trying to start a conversation.

"I hope he didn't embarrass me too much," the younger girl stated. "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't know you were with Ranma. And I love this spot too much to want to share it with anyone except him."

"Oh, don't be. I would also feel the same way. Well, this spot is certainly a nice one. You get to see all the view from here, but also hide yourself from the rest of the world as the big tree over here, shades you from their eyes," Kasumi said as she pointed the giant tree not so far beside them.

Ranma suddenly realized what she said. It never had occurred to him, why Reiko likes that tree. Indeed, it gives shade to them but he never thought that in some way Reiko was also hiding behind it.

"It does, doesn't it? But I never really thought of it that way," Reiko answered plainly. "I just come here to see the baseball field and to read my book."

"Is that the book you are going to read now?" Kasumi asked as she saw the heavy book on the girl's hand. It was an old tattered book with its pages colored yellowish from time. "Did you borrow it in the library?"

"No. It's from my mother's book collection. She has tons of old books in her shelf," she answered rather bitterly at the end.

Ranma chose that time to pull the two together and let them sit on the bench. His excitement in seeing Reiko was apparent. He was too eager to get her attention.

"Reiko, I'm sorry I wasn't here yesterday. I was sick. Right Kasumi?" turning his head to make his point and to show that he was not lying. Kasumi, who saw his intention, just nodded her head in agreement.

"Is that so?" she exclaimed. "And here I thought you had gotten so full of me that's why you never came." Reiko said with a pretence accusation.

Ranma gave a hearty laugh then made his boyish grin than melts anyone's hearts who sees it. "I never get full of you. Besides, Ranma Saotome always tries to keep his promises."

Reiko gave him a questioning look. "Always tries? Whatever happened to always keeping them?" trying to humour the boy.

"I can't keep all my promises. Some of it, I needed to break but only if I had no other choice about it." Ranma explained plainly. Then he slowly opened the paper bag and took out the melon bread inside. They were still hot but Ranma was so excited that he let his teeth munch on it without thinking.

Kasumi and Reiko laughed at his enthusiasm. Both knew that only food can pacify him. Ranma yelped out of pain when the hot bread burned his tongue. Instantly, Reiko's hand went to her bag and took out a bottled water, which she gave to Ranma.

"That's what you get for being so impatient," she scolded him.

"His manners have always been a big flaw in him," Kasumi started. "We've tried correcting them, but he has a hard time getting rid of those bad habits."

"Its fine actually. You could say they work as his charms." the younger girl said as she took some napkin and gave it to Ranma.

Kasumi just watched her taking care of Ranma. To anyone, they look like siblings and a very close one. Reiko is like an older sister who fusses over her brother. Ranma, who is loving the attention, lets her do whatever she wants. For the elder Tendo, it was something she wasn't used to seeing particularly with Ranma, but now that she's seeing it, the scene doesn't look as bad as some thought it would be. He's acting like a normal boy, except for the name calling, which Ranma had never got accustomed to calling elder people with honorific. But Ranma in his right age wouldn't actually need to address Reiko with anything, as the girl look like she is about a year younger than Ranma and Akane. So it would only be right for him not to call her anything, but with other people not knowing Ranma's circumstance, it would sound rude to them for him to just call Reiko by her first name.

"Right Kasumi?" Ranma asked of her. But Kasumi wasn't really listening as she was deep on thoughts on the matters concerning Ranma. Her mind was still wondering what would happen to them when Ranma would return back to his old self. Would they be able to continue with this kind of relationship? Somehow, she doubted that idea for it would be too dangerous for Reiko's part to continue with it. His fiancées would never hesitate to hurt her as they weren't hesitant to injure Akane. If Ranma wanted to do this, he needed to make a decision - one that would end all his fiancée problems. "What was it again?" she answered trying to focus her attention on the subject.

"I was telling Reiko that there are more severe things that could happen to anyone other than catching a flu for a week," Ranma explained exasperatedly.

The younger girl was pretty amused with Ranma, as he gave out a list of instances with one more severe than the other. "But those things aren't real Ranma. First, dragons or any other mythical creatures you're saying are not true. Second, there are no kidnapping princes in our time. Kidnapping for ransom, perhaps, but for marriage, I doubt it exist anymore in this era. And third, there's no way a person would turn into a doll or any other being. Its physically and scientifically impossible to do that. We even have a hard time cloning things, now you're telling me about transfiguring something else." Reiko argued pointing out the flaws in Ranma's lists.

"But they are all true. Why won't you believe me?" he pouted as he already knew what her answer will be.

"Kasumi, is he always like this? I mean, does he always want to argue with anyone and try to convince them on his side?" Reiko asked ignoring Ranma's glares.

Kasumi took a moment before saying, "Normally, yes he is. He usually bickers with my younger sister about silly things. If you'll hear them, you'll think it will never end."

"It's not my fault that Akane likes to start a fight with me. When I'm not doing anything, she gets angry. When I'm doing something, she still gets angry. I just don't know what to do with her anymore." Ranma ranted fervently. Then he left the two women talk with each other as he went and played with the kids playing nearby.

"Now, do you see my point?" Kasumi asked with playfully.

"Yes, I do. How old is your sister anyway?" Reiko inquired trying to continue the conversation.

"Didn't Ranma tell you?" The older woman said while wondering if Ranma had talked about her sister to Reiko.

Reiko let her eyes drift to the playground before answering, "Ranma might have mentioned it to me, but I couldn't really remember. All I could remember is the play that she and Ranma took part in."

"I see," she said understanding what is going on to the younger girl's mind. Softly, Kasumi told her, "But if you didn't believe him then, you might not believe me also."

"Why?" alarmed at Kasumi's words. A part of her is scared of knowing the truth behind Ranma's stories. If there was any truth to it then what really happened to Ranma. "What does her age got to do with believing him?" her scepticism was evident on her voice.

Kasumi gave her sweetest smile and then said, "It has a lot to do with it. Because it would confirm something you aren't ready to believe yet."

"What do you mean?" the younger girl getting more agitated by the minute.

Without looking at her, Kasumi gave a huge blow on the girl by saying, "My sister is sixteen years old. She'll be turning seventeen in a few months and so as Ranma." She has some idea on what her reaction might be, after all, people often has the same one when they see Ranma turn to his curse form. However, this time it is different. It's not his curse that will create such surprise but the mere fact that he was telling her the truth all along. The question afterwards is - will she believe them or is she going to keep on believing the theory that she had about him. Ranma had mentioned Reiko's disbelief on him. According to Ranma, Reiko believes in this notion that everything can be explained by science. To her, magic is just an illusion to deceive the human senses. For such a young age, Kasumi would have thought that she would believe him. But meeting and seeing her now, she knew why. Something might have happened that made her cynical. It must be something terrible for her to stop believing in magic and miracles because she isn't the type to speak of scientific theories as defences to any problem in the world. The book in her hand says that she is just like every girl in the world who dreams about prince charming and true love. She won't be reading Midsummer Night's dream if she didn't believe those things. Yet, Kasumi is wondering on what could have happened to Reiko that changed her.

Kasumi is no martial artist, but she is proud to have her motherly instincts. By just looking at Reiko, she knew the girl is suffering. In the surface, you cannot see it but looking beyond her eyes and dark circles in them, she could say that she has been suffering for a long time. She wanted to help her but she doesn't want to scare her away by prying into her business. It would also be rude to do so as they had only met today. So many things were dancing on her mind at that moment, but she cleared them all just so she could focus on the teenager beside her.

"What?" Reiko said with an incredulous voice. The disbelief she felt was written all over her face. When Ranma told her about it, she was laughing at how impossible his story was. Yet, she could not laugh at this woman. Why is it that hearing it now from her makes everything terrifying instead of impossible? Reiko is wondering why she actually believed in Kasumi when she said it. Ranma wasn't able to convince her, but with Kasumi, Reiko didn't need to be convinced. She believed it was the truth because Kasumi's eyes told her so. Reiko saw the same thing in Ranma's eyes, but she ignored them, just as she ignore to believe the rest of his stories.

Her eyes moved from Kasumi to Ranma, who was laughing as he played with another kid. Reiko's face became grave and solemn as she stared at him, analysing every inch of his being. Then as if Ranma knew he was being stared at, He turned his gaze onto Reiko where their eyes met. Slowly, he went up to her and greeted her with 'Hi'.

Reiko continued to stare at him, as if it was the first time they saw each other - fully saw each other. And then she said, "Who are you?"