Oyu no Ranma
A Ranma ½ fanfiction by Zorknot
Chapter 9: Sit in Deceit and Look through Defense
In this chapter, Ranma, Genma, Nabiki, and Akane attempt to discover what Kasumi is doing to Dr. Tofu.
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Disclaimer: You Tube is nice for watching episodes of Ranma 1/2, but the original creator, Takahashi Rumiko and the various companies responsible for the anime and manga deserve something for making them. If you haven't already, please buy at least a dvd of the anime or a volume of the manga. Otherwise you will awake naked, hairless and alone in an unfamiliar town whose denizens can only communicate with each other via alternating blasts from their vuvuzelas.
~~~~~Ch.9: Sit in Deceit and Look through Defense~~~~~~
Ranma sat on the gray, cushioned waiting room couch in Tofu's clinic, her eyes wide as she stared at Nabiki, who was still holding the empty thermos she had used to douse Genma with hot water. "We have to stop whatever Kasumi is doing to Dr. Tofu," Nabiki said, making eye contact with Genma, Akane and Ranma.
If Ranma hadn't already been sitting down, she would have had to after hearing Nabiki's proclamation. The way she had phrased it, it almost sounded like Kasumi made Tofu act crazy on purpose. And if that were true, that meant she had found a way to get back at Ranma ten-fold, even a hundred-fold. She still ached from that pressure point maneuver Tofu used on her. If Akane hadn't been there to relax her muscles she might have permanently injured herself.
Akane stood behind the couch across from Ranma, her arms crossed. "Kasumi isn't doing anything to Tofu, Nabiki, he just likes Kasumi, that's all,"
Nabiki stared at her younger sister for a moment. "Akane," she put the thermos on an end table on top of a short stack of magazines. "Love can make people do crazy things? But there's crazy and then there's insane." Nabiki made her fingers explode out of her temples. "You saw what he did to Ranma. I heard from Grandmother Shiratori that he's also done things like that to his patients when Kasumi comes around. Tofu's patients are old, Akane. Something like that," Nabiki nodded toward Ranma to indicate the aftermath of the pressure point, "could kill one of them. We have to stop whatever it is from happening again."
Genma nodded slowly. "Your father told me about a curse that Kasumi had once that Tofu cured. Could that have something to do with it?"
"Kasumi had a curse?" Ranma asked.
"Yes." Akane looked off at nothing, holding the elbow her hanging right arm with her left hand. "I think that's how Tofu fell in love with her. He spent a lot of time with her when he was trying to cure her. And they couldn't be together because she was underage even though he was only twenty. That explains it doesn't it?"
"Explains what?" Ranma asked, irritated. "What curse did she have? How did Tofu cure her? And why, if he loves her so much, did he run off with a skeleton dummy he probably named after an old girlfriend. Oh, gods! What if it that was his old girlfriend!"
"He inherited the skeleton from his father, Ranma." Akane let go of her arm, "And he left because he was nervous, that's all."
"Akane, nervousness doesn't even begin to explain it," Nabiki sat on the arm of the couch across from Ranma, her arms folded as she addressed her. "Kasumi's curse wasn't like a Jusenkyo curse. She couldn't get rid of it with hot water, and it would have killed her if Tofu hadn't helped. She spent two or three months in this clinic while Tofu tried to cure her. It's possible something might have happened then. Could it just be that Tofu fell in love?" Nabiki shook her head. "That's a simple explanation, and so it survives Occam's razor, but I just don't see how being horny might make someone harm other people like that." She crossed her legs and put her elbow on her knee, resting her chin on her hand. "Sensei, you're a man, and you've lived longer. What do you think?"
Ranma winced a bit at not being asked to give the male perspective. She spent sixteen years as a guy, shouldn't that count for something? But she let it go.
Genma crossed his arms and looked down in thought. "If a man is denied something he craves, that craving can overwhelm him. It need not be sexual, but desire of any kind is a flame that is fed by the absence of fuel. This is actually one of the fundamental precepts of our school."
"So it's possible then. You think Akane is right?"
Genma shook his head. "If it was something like that. I would expect him to mindlessly attempt to satisfy his desire in some way. I would think he would have attacked Kasumi, or something equally disturbing. Instead he exercised a great deal of restraint. In fact the only one who got hurt was Ranma."
"Honestly! Of course Tofu isn't going to try to rape her or anything! He would never do that!" Akane leaned on the back of the couch her sister was sitting on as she gesticulated.
Nabiki regarded her sister. "He's aware enough to keep from doing that, but not enough to keep from hurting someone?"
Genma smiled, "Then again, men often do silly things for women. You know your father would keep getting beaten up by your mother, just to get her to go out with him?"
"Wait a minute." Nabiki put her hands up. "This is getting too confusing. We have several questions here. First is Tofu doing these things on purpose? Next, how is Kasumi targeting his actions? And finally How is this happening?"
"It didn't seem like Tofu really wanted to hurt me," Ranma mused, "He could have done that earlier if he wanted to. It was like he just didn't realize what he was doing. He was going through some kind of mind trip or something."
Nabiki nodded. "I agree. For him to treat patients and then try to hurt him, he has to be deluded or suffering a schizoid break. Any other thoughts?"
"The young doctor seems a little too willing to accept things at face value even when he's calm," Genma said pensively, "He didn't question my story at all when I applied for a job, for instance. When he went crazy it was really more of an exaggeration of personality traits he already possessed. I don't think whatever his trigger is resembles a switch so much as a leaky faucet."
"That's a good point." Nabiki pointed at Genma, her eyebrows raised. "That suggests there might be varying intensities. There is something that turns his craziness on, but it can have a larger or smaller effect. And it isn't simply Kasumi herself because, as Ranma pointed out, he was fine in the hospital when she was in the room with him."
"He was just concentrating on what he was doing more then," Akane argued.
"So you're saying that he hurt Ranma and Grandmother Shiratori on purpose, then?" Nabiki asked.
"No! He was…he just wasn't prepared! That's all. At the hospital he knew Kasumi was going to be there, so he was able to ignore her."
Nabiki looked up at the ceiling for a moment. "That actually makes some sense. Instead of the trigger not being there, maybe Tofu did something to limit its affect. We need to talk with Dr. Tofu about it. He has to have some opinion about it. Or maybe he's hiding something too."
"What is it about Kasumi that sets him off, anyway?" Ranma asked. "I mean, if Kasumi put a bag over her head would Tofu still go crazy? Is he okay when he talks to her on the phone?"
"He's in love with her! It doesn't matter how she looks or sounds as long as he knows it's her, he'll get nervous!" Akane seemed to be getting more and more exasperated.
"Except that one time when he didn't," Ranma noted drily.
Akane stormed around Nabiki and sat on the couch crossing her arms angrily.
Nabiki eyed this with amusement. "Well, you say she was in the waiting room at the hospital while Tofu was there. Was she visible to him then?"
"Yeah. And she talked."
"So unless Tofu was doing something himself to keep from losing it, the trigger couldn't be visual or auditory."
"Dr. Tofu started to be affected before Kasumi touched him or fed him one of her sweets," Genma added, "So that rules out touch and taste as well."
"Which leaves smell," Nabiki pointed out. "That would work. Kasumi could wear a certain perfume when she wanted Tofu to go crazy and she could decide not to wear it if she didn't want him to."
"Kasumi would never do that!" Akane almost screamed.
"…unless she wanted Tofu to hurt people," Ranma finished sourly.
Nabiki nodded. "Which explains why neither Akane nor I have ever been hurt by him. We're family, so we're off limits."
"And Kasumi wanted to get back at me for the thumbtacks," Ranma continued nodding.
There was a long moment of silence. Ranma noticed everyone's mouth was open and they were staring at her. "What?"
"You stuck her with the thumbtacks," Nabiki stated for clarification.
Ranma suddenly remembered that that was kind of a secret.
"Ranma, how could you! She could have tetanus now because of you!" Akane backed away in horror.
"Kasumi is a sweet girl, Ranma. I'm so ashamed!" Genma put his head in the crook of his elbow, though the extent of his melodrama made it obvious he was just joking.
Nabiki laughed. "Kasumi is a vindictive bitch, and it's about time someone other than me realized it. She put those tacks in your bed, didn't she?"
Ranma smiled. "Yeah. I almost didn't see them."
"Classic Kasumi. My favorite is the one where she 'accidently' forgets to take the pins out of your school uniform after she gets it altered. That's subtlety. I started going to Amiko after she pulled that one on me. "
Ranma nodded "And this morning she timed it so that when she said breakfast was ready, Pops would get distracted just at the moment when Akane was punching him."
"Ah so that's why you were saying I had a great…" Nabiki stopped. She leaned back looking momentarily confused.
"What is it, Nabiki?" Akane asked.
Nabiki waved her off. "It's nothing. Just something Grandmother Shiratori said to me today. So Kasumi is probably using a perfume to set Tofu off, and she has some way of targeting specific people."
"We don't know that!" Akane protested.
"True, but it fits the evidence we have so far. I know that Kasumi was never a big fan of Grandmother Shiratori, so that would explain why she ran out of here so fast. Maybe if we talk to some of Tofu's other patients we can figure out whether Kasumi had a grudge with them or not."
"What did Shiratori-san do to Kasumi?" Akane asked, her tone briefly going from furious to curious.
Nabiki tilted her head as she remembered. "I was there. Kasumi was passing by and Grandmother Shiratori tells her 'nothing you're doing now will avenge your mother's death.'"
"How dare she!"
Nabiki shrugged. "It was the truth. But what was strange was Kasumi. For a moment, she seemed like a completely different person; her posture, her facial expression, it was all different. And then she went back to that vapid smile of hers. I could tell Grandmother Shiratori had pulled one of her threads. I didn't think she had any threads to pull."
"Kasumi's smile isn't vapid! She's just a nice person!"
Ranma crossed her arms. "Akane, you know how you told me sometimes you delude yourself into thinking something's true, when you know at some level that it's not? You're doing it again."
Akane gave Ranma a wicked look. Then she stood up. "Fine! You're right! Kasumi has a mean streak, okay? I just…" She started pacing. "I don't know how to handle this. How could she do this? How could she lie to us all this time? If she's so angry, she should share that with us shouldn't she? If she's keeping all that pain inside her while she pretends like everything is okay…"
"She might explode." Genma's voice was shocking in its solidity. "Ranma, are you sure Kasumi was watching my fight with Akane? You're sure she timed her distraction?"
"Pretty sure, yeah. Especially now that it seems like she's doing this thing to Doctor Tofu. I was looking for her to do something to you this morning, and she did."
Genma sat down on the couch as he thought it over. "When did Kasumi renounce the Art?"
"About five years ago," Nabiki said. "She got the curse a few months after that. Why do you want to know?"
Genma put a hand to his chin. "I'm getting a different picture of your sister now, and it worries me. Is it possible she could still be practicing the art in secret?"
"That doesn't make any sense!" Akane protested from the window. "You were in the hospital with us, Uncle Saotome, you remember how upset she was that Ranma resorted to violence. Maybe she can be cruel, but she would never lie to us outright like that! Kasumi does not believe in fighting. That's that."
"Maybe she just doesn't like the idea of her sisters fighting," Ranma thought out loud.
Genma took a large breath. "It seems to me, that Kasumi is a woman with three hearts. We're just becoming aware of the second heart."
Nabiki nodded. "There has to be a reason why she's doing this." She looked at the clock on the wall. "It's getting late. I'll talk to some of his patients and set up that surveillance for the times when we aren't around Kasumi. Akane, you and Ranma both have challenges to get to, but you're cooking tonight, right? Maybe you can figure something out from her then. And, Ranma?"
"Yeah?"
"You've gotten under her skin. See if you can find a way to provoke her further. Just…don't do anything to her you wouldn't do to Akane, okay? She's still my sister, even if she is a bitch. And it's not like I'm winning any congeniality awards either."
"Hey, you called me 'Ranma,' what happened to 'Saotome?'"
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Don't get full of yourself. Your dad's in the room. It would be confusing if I called you 'Saotome.'" Her eyes moved to the door for a moment. "Okay. You two," She indicated Ranma and Akane, "need to get to your challenges. Sensei, you're staying here to wait for Tofu, right?"
"For another hour or so. I don't plan on missing supper."
"Right. We'll all convene at the dojo after supper to compare notes. Meeting adjourned." Nabiki banged on the coffee table with her fist in lieu of a gavel. Then she left out the outside door.
Ranma looked at Akane. They shrugged at each other. Then Akane helped Ranma up and they left. "See ya pops!" Ranma called out as she left.
~~~~~.~~~~~
Ranma jumped on top of the roof of the building next to the abandoned lot where Akane was to have her challenge. She waited for a few moments, then set the bag of potato chips Kuno had bought for her on the roof and looked down.
Kuno was getting a ladder and propping it up on the building.
"You need any help?" Ranma asked.
Kuno put his foot on the first rung. "I regret that I cannot ascend with the grace that you have shown, yet I believe that like Jacob in the stories of Christendom I will find my way to heaven where you wait."
"Right. Well don't take too long, I don't know when it's going to start."
The sun was setting, and the shadows of Akane and Chiba Sentaro, the lanky kid with the bowl cut she was facing, were thrown stretched far to the right along the scruffy grass of the lot. Ranma opened the bag of potato chips and put one in her mouth and crunched down on it. Akane's stance was good. Chiba was circling around her, but as long as Akane didn't get impatient, she should be fine. She should be fine anyway; the kid didn't look like much of a threat. But Nabiki said he was into explosives, which might make things more interesting.
Kuno sat beside her. She took another chip and then offered the bag to him. He held up his hand. "Later, my angel. First, since this is to be our first date, let me give you this."
Kuno handed Ranma something. Ranma glanced briefly away from the fight to see what it was. It was yellow, pink, and lumpy. "What is it?" Ranma asked.
"It's a cute little dolly."
"Oh," Ranma said. "Thanks. Was I supposed to get you something too? I never been on a date before. Don't know what the rules are." Ranma sat the doll on the other side of her so that it was like another spectator.
"Your overwhelming beauty is more than enough for me," Kuno assured.
"Oh," Ranma said, "Cool."
Meanwhile Chiba was getting closer to Akane. "Well come on," he jeered in a nasal tone. "Aren't you going to fight?"
Akane tensed for a moment, and then she smiled. She relaxed into a cat stance. Ranma didn't like the name but it was one of the more easy going stances that still provided a measure of stability. Back foot firmly placed with the toe of the front foot resting lightly on the ground. "Your move," Akane said.
Ranma ate a handful of potato chips, and offered the bag to Kuno again. This time the Kendoist took a handful for himself.
Chiba made a jab at Akane. Akane dodged. Emboldened, he tried a haymaker. Akane dodged and pushed the lab coated boy in the direction of his momentum causing him to stumble forward a little. He immediately backed up from his position. Almost as if he didn't want to step out of a circle.
"He is so dead!" Ranma laughed.
"You did not think that weakling stood a chance, did you my goddess? Akane is a fierce tigress!"
"Yeah, but she's got problems with anger, and that kid was trying to goad her out of the circle. He probably planted land mines all over the place."
"Landmines? That low-borne miscreant!"
"He's from the chemistry club. How did you expect him to attack her?" Ranma asked.
"Poison of some kind. Gas or injection. My sister is fond of such methods."
Ranma hadn't thought of that. That did make a lot more sense. "So your sister's a martial artist, is she?"
Kuno snorted. "Hardly. She studies gymnastics and implements goonish tactics to ensure her victories. Truly a vile woman."
"Huh," Ranma said, returning her attention to the fight. Now that she was worried about poisoning things didn't seem as clear.
Chiba was being more cautious. He tried kicking Akane in the shin, but she switched leg positions just in time, then she pulled off a crescent kick that slammed the sole of her shoe into Chiba's cheek. It wasn't very powerful, but it caused the kid to stagger to the side. Throughout the whole fight Akane hadn't moved from her original position.
Chiba tried walking in close, and kneeing Akane in the stomach, only to find her elbow crushing into his collarbone. Finally, he let out a growl of frustration and made a whipping motion with his arm. "Uh oh. That must be a syringe or something."
But Akane must have caught it too, because before Chiba could advance, Akane stepped forward slamming her foot into a new, solid stance and then delivering a powerful sidekick that pummeled into Chiba's solar plexus sending him about a meter back to collapse on the ground, right about where Ranma guessed the line of mines must be.
The explosion that subsequently occurred was beautiful. Ranma had to give the kid props for that. Chiba flew up in the air almost level to the roof Ranma was watching from, and then he came flopping back down to the ground like a rag doll. Ranma clapped in applause and Kuno joined in a moment later.
"Great job, Akane!" Ranma called out.
Akane looked up at Ranma and waved, beaming. Then she saw who Ranma was sitting next to, and her smile faded.
"Masterfully executed!" Kuno agreed.
Ranma jumped down to talk to her friend directly. "Couldn't have done better myself. That was awesome." Ranma lifted her hand to give Akane a high five.
"Why is Kuno here?" Akane asked querulously.
Ranma looked back briefly to see Kuno navigating the ladder back to the ground. "Well I had to forfeit, remember? So I had to go on a date with him. I said I wasn't free again until Tuesday but he wanted a date now. We both wanted to see you fight…" she shrugged.
"Are you going to kiss him again?"
Ranma looked away, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. "Maybe. I hadn't thought about it, but that's what happens at the end of a date isn't it? Why?" She brought her gaze back to Akane
It was getting dark, but Akane's face seemed to have more shadows than it ought to have. "I don't know, Ranma."
Ranma lowered her voice so Kuno still wouldn't be able to hear her, as he was walking closer. "We agreed, didn't we? That we'd…experiment?"
"I know! I just… could you maybe not experiment in front of my face?"
A light breeze blew between them. The streetlights overhead crackled and turned on. Ranma sighed. "You got a history with Kuno. I get it. He's been a jerk to you. Maybe worse. I don't like him or anything. I just…" Kuno was getting in earshot. "If you would rather be alone, Kuno and I will go another way, okay?"
"Nonsense! A lady mustn't travel alone in the city at night!" Kuno protested.
Ranma put a hand on his shoulder, "Cool it, Kuno. She can handle herself. You just saw her do that, didn't you? If she wants to walk home by herself, she can."
Kuno seemed unsure. "If it is what she wants…"
"It's what I want," Akane said sharply.
Kuno nodded slowly. "Then, Lady Akane, I will give you my leave for the evening." Kuno bowed. "And congratulations on an unequivocal victory. Lady Ranma?" Kuno offered his arm.
Ranma took it hesitatingly. She and Kuno walked out of the lot, Ranma subtly guiding Kuno along the path Akane had taken, so as not to walk over any undetonated mines. When they were at the street again, Ranma stopped. "Hey, um, Akane?"
"What?" Akane asked, obviously still annoyed at the whole situation.
"Make sure that Chiba guy is okay, alright? He didn't have any training. He knew what he was getting into, but, you know, it would suck if he…died or something."
Akane looked back briefly, and she nodded. "I'll take him to the hospital if he needs it," she assured Ranma.
"I'll meet you at the house!" Ranma called.
Akane waved her off, still looking annoyed overall.
Ranma turned onto a side road so she and Kuno would a different way from the straightforward route to the Tendos' house.
"It is a marvelous night, is it not?" Kuno said after a minute or so of walking.
There was a slight chill in the air. The streetlights threw yellow light onto the sidewalk around them while the sky still retained a dark shade of blue. "Yeah, I guess so," Ranma responded. "I kind of like the nights out in the country better though. I like to be able to see the stars."
"How true! This modern land of concrete and steel towers seems to slowly kill the soul. It is as if we were divorced from nature. And yet… there is a fervor in a city. A thrumming of life that one can feel like a pulse if one but looks for it." Kuno released Ranma's arm and stopped. "Listen for a moment, my fiery goddess."
Shrugging, Ranma did as Kuno asked. She heard the buzzing of the street lights, the barking of faraway dogs, the rise and fall of the thrum of car wheels as they passed on the main road a few blocks away.
"Every tower and every tree is beautiful." Kuno said reverently. "You are beautiful."
Ranma looked up at Kuno's face, surprised. He had a strong jaw, eyes that seemed to be looking far away at something… Ranma turned away, clenching her eyes shut. He was a moron. An overly controlling, full of himself, ass of a moron. So what if he liked poetry, so what if he had just called her beautiful. That was like calling the sky blue. Stating the obvious.
Ranma looked up at one of the yellow streetlamps. Two or three moths had found it and were dancing underneath. Ranma stopped, staring at them. Maybe it was good to state the obvious every now and then.
"What is it? Is something wrong?" Kuno asked.
Kuno's concerned face looked dramatic, one side of it in nearly complete shadow.
Ranma made a low, almost yowling sound of frustration. Then she elbowed Kuno in the solar plexus.
The air was forced out of Kuno's lungs with an "Ooph!" and he doubled over.
Seizing the opportunity, Ranma dropped the doll to the ground, grabbed Kuno's head and planted a quick kiss on his lips, before she could convince herself not to do it. It was just a peck really. Their lips touched. It was over in less than a second.
Ranma picked up the doll from the sidewalk. She dusted it off absently. She was just getting the kiss over with. Like pulling off a bandaid. Now she wouldn't be worrying about it the rest of the way home.
Ranma could feel her heart beating fast in her chest.
She wondered: exactly how long after the kiss could she expect to stop worrying about it?
"May I ask…" Kuno gasped, "the reasons for your actions…" He took another labored breath, "my goddess?"
Kuno was still doubled over.
Ranma could kiss him again if she wanted.
She looked away. "I just wanted to get it over with. The kiss I mean. And…well I was just thinking, it was a good moment? But you're too damn tall."
"If I could but shrink myself I would, for you."
Ranma felt a wave of frustration. "Shut up!" Her heart was still racing. What the heck is wrong with me? She closed her eyes. "Our date is over, okay? I've got to get back to help Akane make supper." She started walking down the sidewalk again, leaving Kuno behind.
By the time she reached the turn to get to the house, she was running. Her head was filled with half formed arguments and rationalizations. She turned the corner and jumped on to the roof of the first building. She started pacing frantically.
"It's just what Tasuke said. I'm a girl when I'm a girl. It doesn't mean anything! He just said something cool and I just… I mean it's not like I like him or anything. I just wanted to give him something back. It's not like I did it cause I thought he was... It was just a moment! Just…What the hell is wrong with me? I was just ready to kiss Akane wasn't I? Doesn't that mean I like girls? She wouldn't kiss me back though. Is it because I'm a girl or is it because I used to be a boy?" Ranma stopped pacing for a moment. Then she shook her head. "Doesn't matter. She doesn't want me like that, Kuno does. End of story."
Ranma was about to jump off the roof and head the rest of the way home when she realized what she just said. "What the hell is wrong with me? Kuno's a guy. Akane's a girl. How could I like both of them? I mean I don't like Kuno anyway so…"
Ranma slumped. She let out a breath and sat on the roof. She looked up at the sky, but she couldn't see the stars. She could only hear the buzz of street lights, the barking of dogs, the thrumming of vehicles. She took in a long breath through her nose, then she let it out and uttered a single word.
"Fuck."
The actual word Ranma uttered, of course, wasn't "fuck" but kuso, and the widely accepted translation for that is "shit," but the English curse word for feces doesn't carry the same phonetic weight that kuso does. Kuso is usually pronounced with an almost silent 'u' so that it seems to have only one syllable beginning with a hard, percussive "k" sound. You don't so much say the word, as punch it in the face.
Ranma really wished she could punch someone in the face right now. Akane would make a nice target. She was just pouring the rice into the small pot of water, smiling a little crazily. Ranma had only just managed to convince her that the rice came out of the bag labeled "rice" and NOT the one labeled "Rat poison" She was beginning to suspect Akane might have some strange curse or mental block. Either that or she was doing it on purpose to screw with her.
And then there was Kasumi. Saintly Kasumi, watching over the meat and potatoes like they were her children. Was she done? Was manipulating a chiropractor into making Ranma feel like her flesh was peeling off enough for her or was she planning on driving her point home? Ranma and Akane had asked her the expected questions, but she played the innocent to the hilt. "Oh my!" she said, "I did put on perfume before I left today. Maybe Dr. Tofu is allergic!"
What the heck was Kasumi hiding? Why couldn't she talk straight about it? It irritated the crap out of Ranma. She just watched the two Tendo girls cook, glowering from behind them with her arms crossed. To think Ranma had thought they were so different at first. But they were just two sides of the same coin. Strange incomprehensible mixtures of violence and kindness. Akane wore her violence on the outside. Kasumi chose to show her kind side, but she was just as hard underneath.
Both of them were born girls. Their father called them things like princess and sweetheart. He didn't tell them to be more manly. He didn't taunt them by calling them girls. They weren't taken all over Japan and then into China specifically for a single purpose that depended on their manhood. They didn't have that taken away from them with a fall and a splash of water.
Genma. The curse was ultimately his fault. He deserved a punch in the face more than anybody.
Or Kuno. If he hadn't told Ranma he loved her…
Ranma let out a yowl of frustration.
"Are you okay, Ranma?" Akane asked "You sound like a pissed off alley cat."
Ranma grit her teeth as she stared at Akane, using all her willpower not to vent on the girl. "I need to go to the bathroom I think. Kasumi, are you okay with Akane?"
The older girl nodded hesitantly.
Ranma turned and plodded her way to the bathroom. Genma wasn't back yet. Nabiki had changed into a pair of white shorts and a striped long-sleeved shirt and was sitting at the table watching television. She said she had called somebody who would watch Kasumi during school. She also said it was probably useless to talk to Kasumi directly about it, which turned out to be true.
Ranma looked away. It was Nabiki's fault too. Getting her all confused between sex and the Art. Like not knowing what you were was a weakness. Well, Ranma knew what she was now and it didn't help her Art one bit!
Ranma clenched her fists. Trying to will herself to calm down, she opened the door to the bathroom, closed the lid on the toilet and sat on it. She hadn't bothered to turn the light on, but she could see her shadowy face reflected in the mirror. How many days was it? Four? She shook her head.
No. It had been months. Since that first day of the curse. She had been getting used to this body. Most of the time all through out China she had been a girl. She hated it, but even as she protested, she was acclimating, adapting. And then she went and gave herself a reason for it to be okay. All her protestations…they really amounted to nothing. She was a girl, and had been a girl since the moment she came out of the Jusenkyo pool.
Ranma swallowed, and took a few short, ragged breaths.
The sound of the knob on the door turning startled her. "Hey! I'm in the bathroom!"
Nabiki looked down the light coming into the room from behind her making her almost a silhouette. "Saotome, I know you grew up on the road, but really, you should know how to use the toilet by now. You lift up the lid. You pull your panties down. You crap in the water."
"Go away,"
Nabiki held the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "Look, I really have to piss, so go somewhere else to cry, okay?"
"I'm not crying!"
Nabiki grimaced and did a short "really need to pee" dance. "Let's make a deal. You get out right now, and go up to my room, and when I'm done here, I'll listen to your problems and pretend to care, sound good?"
Ranma found herself staring at Nabiki's eye patch, just barely visible. She looked away when she realized she was staring. She got up. "Alright. I'll get out of your way."
Nabiki flicked on the light as Ranma walked past her. In the wash of light, Nabiki's good eye was a golden brown. There was something odd about how it followed her out of the bathroom. And how Nabiki paused before closing the door, a serious expression on her face.
Ranma stared absently at the closed door for a moment, then went upstairs to Nabiki's room.
Nabiki's room had a lot of books in it. Math books, economics books, books on business, autobiographies of billionaires, books on strategy games, books on psychology, and a few books which seemed like fiction, but which, alongside the others, just had to be allegorical tales of some kind that explained the secret of getting what you want. Nabiki also had a few posters up. One had a diagram of chakras overlaid over a picture of a serenely meditating woman, another had a black and white picture of some woman with extremely short hair smoking a cigarette and some words in English on the bottom, and then there was a poster of an attractive girl wielding an electric guitar.
Ranma felt weird about entering the room without Nabiki there. She decided to sit on the corner of the bed to wait for her. It was made neatly and sitting on it seemed somehow less intrusive than sitting in the office chair next to the door near the desk. Ranma was still wearing her school uniform. She halfway wanted to tear it off, but she crossed her legs and tried to ignore it.
Nabiki entered after about a minute, looking oddly depressed.
"Who's the chick with the guitar?" Ranma asked, pointing to the poster.
"That's a man, Saotome."
"Oh." Some of Nabiki's behavior when she first met Ranma was becoming more clear now. If Ranma thought men could look like that, she might have had to squeeze some breasts herself.
"You never heard of Sparrow?" Nabiki asked. "What kind of music do you listen to?"
Ranma shook her head. "I don't really listen to music."
"You never ran into something you liked on the road?"
Ranma considered this. "There was a Chinese opera I saw when I was there. That was pretty cool."
"Opera?"
"Yeah. Those guys were pretty talented. They did all sorts of martial arts during the fight scenes and the singing was kinda pretty. A lot of it was special effects, but even that took skill. I wanted to learn from them, but we were on the run by that time and I had my curse, so I didn't get a chance. They wouldn't let a girl in their troupe."
Nabiki nodded. "I heard Jackie Chan got his start doing that. I guess it makes sense."
"Who's Jackie Chan?"
Nabiki thinned her lips and then sat in her office chair backwards, her legs straddling the back rest that she rested her arms on. "Why are you here, Ranma?"
Ranma swallowed. Nabiki had used her given name again. Why? "You told me to come up here."
Nabiki shook her head. "I told you that if you wanted me to pretend to care about your problems, you could tell them to me here. You're here, ergo, you have problems and for some reason you can't talk about them with Akane or your father. I hope you realize that letting me into the bathroom bought you a listener. If you want advice that's going to be extra."
Ranma stood up. "Yeah? And how the hell am I supposed to pay you, Nabiki? All my money goes into paying for this stupid uniform!"
Nabiki smiled. "That's right, I haven't talked to Amiko since Monday. I'll call her. You should be able to keep your tips at the restaurant after tomorrow. The uniform is already paid for. I had arranged it so your pay got converted into family credit."
"Akane and I earned that money, Nabiki. That was a crappy thing to do." Ranma wasn't really upset. Just annoyed. By now, she expected as much from the middle Tendo sister.
Nabiki shrugged. "I agree. So let's say we're even, and I'll see if I can help you with these problems you're having."
"I don't want your help. I shouldn't have come up here." Ranma moved toward the door.
"I'll pay you back your money, Ranma. Sit down." All trace of humor was gone from Nabiki's voice.
Curious, Ranma sat back down on the bed. "What is it with you?"
Nabiki took in a breath through her nose. "I told you. I want us to be allies instead of enemies. Better for both of us that way. Let's just say there's something your father has that I want, and you can help me convince him to give it to me and you at the same time. Problem is, if you decide to run away, or do something stupid like try to kill yourself," Nabiki raised her eyebrows pointedly, "then I get nothing." She leaned back. "Beyond that, well…seeing through Kasumi's housewifery…maybe you're not quite as much of a dumbass as I thought you were at first. And you're helping Akane deal with her shit." Nabiki shrugged. "Maybe you're alright."
Ranma found herself smiling a little at this. That was probably the highest praise she could expect from Nabiki. "I'm not going to kill myself," Ranma assured her. "I was just…frustrated is all."
"What about?"
Ranma looked at the pattern in Nabiki's bedspread. "Turns out I like guys."
"You learned this from Kuno?" Nabiki sounded incredulous.
"He was nice to me, okay? No one's ever treated me like that before. He gave me a stupid doll. I mean, come on! I'm a martial artist, but… you know… he was thinking about me. And if I were in his shoes I might have done the same thing. Girls are supposed to like things like that, right? And then he said a few things that actually made sense and…"
"You kissed him again, didn't you." Nabiki said smiling as she pointed a finger at Ranma's nose.
Ranma nodded.
Nabiki got up from her chair and sat down next to Ranma on the bed. "You want to put him on your whitelist?"
"What?" Ranma asked before she remembered about the FuMa rules. "Oh. No. Not yet."
"Not yet. So you might later?" Nabiki wagged her eyebrows.
Ranma found herself smiling again. She forced her mouth into a more serious expression "It's not that simple. I used to be a guy, Nabiki. I'm going to be a guy again. What am I going to do then? And what if I still like guys?"
"Those are all 'if's. From what you've said about the vial you drank, you might never be a guy again. And even if it wears off, you'll be like your Dad. He spends most the time as a panda. Stands to reason you'd spend most your time as a girl. It's probably a good thing you like guys."
"I like girls too though," Ranma said in a small voice.
"Ooh! You're bi? Kinky."
"Bi?"
"Bisexual. That's when you like both guys and girls. It makes a lot of sense that you'd be bi, actually. So, what…did you kiss Akane or something?"
Ranma winced a little.
"I've created a monster!" Nabiki laughed
"I didn't kiss her. I almost did though." Ranma felt herself blushing.
"Oh. She pulled out huh?"
Ranma nodded.
"That's my sister," Nabiki sighed, "I love her, but she is such a prude!"
"She always thinks she knows what to do and she almost never does. She's smart, but she's so stubborn!"
Nabiki nodded, but she wasn't smiling anymore.
"I told her it wouldn't matter if she was a guy, I'd still want to kiss her. That's what seemed to weird her out the most."
"Well, in my sister's defense, I think that would weird out almost anyone." Nabiki seemed oddly sad as she said this. "You hate her a little, now, don't you."
Ranma's eyes widened. She turned away. "A little. But then I hate everybody a little right now. Akane, Pops, Kasumi, you."
Nabiki smiled slightly. "If you ask me, you can't ever really care about anybody without hating them a little."
Ranma stared at the side of Nabiki's face, letting her words sink in. They made a strange sort of sense. If she didn't care about Akane so much, she wouldn't be so upset with her. Same with Genma. Ranma sighed, getting up. "What am I gonna do about Pops?"
"What about him?"
"He's always telling me how important it is for me to be a man among men. How do I tell him about this?"
Nabiki's unpatched eye went to the ceiling as she thought for a moment, then she returned her gaze to Ranma. "What would he do to you if you told him?"
"He could disown me. Say I'm not his son any more. Refuse to teach me anything."
"Oh." Nabiki said. She got up. She put her hands on Ranma's shoulders. "Then the answer's simple."
"Yeah?" Ranma felt a little uncomfortable having Nabiki touch her like that. And her face was too close.
"You lie to him." Nabiki said. Then she tilted her head and opened her mouth. Her head came closer…
Ranma jerked away, breaking free of Nabiki's hands.
Nabiki laughed brightly. "Sorry! Just had to see for myself. Yeah, you're bi alright. You opened your mouth a little there. You had to think about it before you backed off. Before, you were so repressed I couldn't tell what you were."
"This a hobby of yours then? Figuring out people's orientation?"
Nabiki shrugged. "Partly I suppose."
Ranma shook her head. "I can't lie to Pops. He's the only family I got. Besides, he knows me too well."
Nabiki looked down and raised a finger. "He used to know you. You're a girl now. A teenager. You're pursuing relationships. Believe me, Daddy raised me and he still doesn't know what planet I come from."
"You want me to be like Kasumi? To have three hearts?"
Nabiki's eye flashed with anger, but then she calmed. "Kasumi has a reason for acting the way she does, Saotome. Don't judge her too harshly." Nabiki sniffed, and her tone changed. "Speaking of Kasumi, it smells like supper's almost ready!" Nabiki walked out of her room and Ranma followed.
Ranma stopped just outside of the doorway though. "Nabiki?"
Nabiki stopped, her right hand holding the banister. "Yeah?"
"What's in Kasumi's third heart?"
Without turning around, Nabiki said, "It's the same as what's in Akane's heart… and mine."
"What's that?"
"The memory of our mother," Nabiki said the words quickly, and rushed off down the stairs.
~~~~~.~~~~~
Ranma blinked at the half-eaten food in front of her. She looked up, Kasumi and Nabiki were on the other side of the table. Akane sat next to her, beaming. Soun and Genma were also there. There was some rice in Ranma's mouth. It tasted about as good as one could expect rice to taste, which explained Akane's beaming.
Ranma chewed a bit and swallowed. Frowning.
"What's wrong?" Akane asked, her smile fading a little.
Ranma shook her head. "It's…nothing…just…" Ranma looked around again at everyone sitting down at the table. Looking down she saw she was sitting on her feet, the same way Akane was. That might have been because she was still in her school uniform. It made sense.
The problem was, Ranma didn't remember sitting like that.
Ranma smiled nervously at all the stares she was suddenly getting. "Good job, Akane!" She said, holding up her chopsticks.
"You don't have to sound so surprised," Akane said, but she was beaming again.
Ranma took a mouthful of rice with a little beef and ate some of it. Not bad at all. It was a shame she couldn't remember the first part of the meal. What happened? The last thing she remembered was coming down the steps and then…nothing. Everything seemed as normal as it could be under the circumstances. "Hey, um…have I been acting strange at all the last ten minutes or so?"
Everyone at the table looked at each other and then back at Ranma with various shrugging motions. "You've been acting more like a girl recently," Genma noted darkly, "but I assume that's Akane's influence."
Ranma felt a knot in her stomach at hearing that. She felt an odd urge to stand up and hit somebody, but she didn't know who or how that would help. Everyone seemed to think nothing was wrong. Maybe the black out was nothing. Probably happens to everybody, Ranma reasoned, like when you're running a long time and you forget how you got where you are.
"Maybe she's just finding out who she is." Nabiki ate a little and swallowed. "You know she didn't know who Sparrow was until about half an hour ago?"
"I don't know this Sparrow character either," Soun pointed out.
"Of course you don't, Daddy. But he's a rock star. Everybody under the age of twenty-five knows about him!" Nabiki glanced at her older sister. "Well, almost everybody."
"Sayuri and Yuka wanted me to go with them to one of his concerts a couple of months ago," Akane moved her food around on her plate idly. "They said there'd be a lot of boys there, so I told them no."
Genma swallowed some tea and set his cup down. "So you think Ranma should listen to this Sparrow person so she can grow up like other girls?" Genma postured dramatically "My little princess, blossoming into a woman!"
"Shut up, Pops!" Ranma snapped, "I ain't blossoming into nothing!"
"It has nothing to do with being a girl," Nabiki said, "a lot of guys like Sparrow too. The point is Ranma doesn't even know if she likes him or not. She's like a baby bird thrust into the world, squinting against the light of the morning sun. She needs to spread her wings and fly." Nabiki held her hands clasped to her chest as she said the words almost matching Genma for over the top dramatics.
Desperately wanting to change the subject, Ranma asked abruptly. "So, Kasumi, I hear you had a curse once? What was that like?"
Everyone stopped eating and looked between Ranma and Kasumi. Kasumi slowly put her chopsticks down and wiped at her mouth with her napkin. "Nice of you to ask, Ranma-chan!" Somehow Ranma got the feeling Kasumi meant the opposite of that, even though she said it brightly enough and with a smile. "Have you ever gotten cut or pricked by something sharp?"
Ranma nodded. "Yeah. Plenty times."
"It was like that, but all over my body. It was a very distressing time for me. Thankfully Dr. Tofu was able to find a cure."
"We couldn't even hug her," Akane said with a shudder, "she had these sharp metal things sticking out of her body, and she was always bleeding."
Ranma's eyes were wide. That made Jusenkyo seem like a walk in the park! "How did you get a curse like that?"
"Who knows?" Kasumi said, and she stood up. "Would anybody like some more tea?"
~~~~~.~~~~~
Ranma, Genma, Akane and Nabiki sat in a loose square on the tatami floor of the dojo. Ranma remembered how she got here this time, but she felt a little strange for some reason. She was wearing her altered Chinese clothes and everyone else was in their training clothes. Her feeling of strangeness didn't seem to have anything to do with her clothing, but it was something about the dojo. Some vibe that she hadn't noticed before. Like a high pitched noise that's only noticeable during a dead quiet. Only this wasn't a noise, but a sort of twinge she couldn't quite shake.
"So? What did Tofu say?" Nabiki asked after they had all been sitting for a minute or so.
Genma pushed up his glasses. "I was in a hurry to get back, so I didn't have time to get the whole story."
"You didn't want to miss supper, you mean," Ranma clarified.
Genma gave her a dark look. "Right you are, sweetheart. What he did tell me was it was some form of hypnotic trigger and not merely an allergy. He's been trying to find a way to break the hypnosis, but even thinking about Kasumi causes him to lose focus. I'm going to help him with this tomorrow. He also said that Ranma should visit him as soon as possible so he can do some tests."
"Well, I'm working and going to school all weekend. The earliest I could see him would be Tuesday." Ranma moved so that instead of sitting cross-legged she was balancing on the balls of her feet.
"Not if you miss class," Akane pointed out, "It's only a half day Saturday, I can cover for you no problem."
Ranma frowned. The actual classes she couldn't care less about of course, but missing class meant not being around Akane. Or Sayuri and Yuka for that matter, who Ranma was starting to think of as pleasantly annoying instead of merely just annoying. Still, if it was important... "Yeah, okay. Saturday morning I'll pay Tofu a visit. So what are we doing about Kasumi? I know she's hiding something."
"No kidding." Nabiki crossed her arms. "We have her on the ropes now, but you have to understand, my older sister is THE master of deflection. Getting angry at her doesn't work. I've tried that. She just gets more and more sweet until you do something bad enough to get in trouble for, and then she's won."
"We're not going to try yelling at her, Nabiki, honestly!" Akane huffed.
Everyone gave her a long look. Then Nabiki continued. "That's not all, though. She's extremely indirect, but if we're getting close to something she doesn't want to talk about, she'll find a way to distract us. She'll bring up something that seems more important and we'll go chasing after that. We have to remain focused. Keep asking her questions. There was one time, one time she was even close to straight with me, and that was when we were dead broke and about to lose the house."
"So it was a Tuesday, then?" Akane scoffed sarcastically. Turning to Ranma she explained, "Like I told you earlier, we've always had problems keeping this place."
"This particular time would have been when you were about ten." Nabiki continued, "Kasumi was thirteen so she could get this job as an assistant I found in the newspaper and I couldn't because I was eleven. I kept needling her about it. I'd already forged Daddy's consent form and everything. She wasn't interested. Then one day she points to this suitcase full of cash she 'found' outside the house."
"A suitcase full of cash?" Genma clarified.
Nabiki nodded. "She was very blasé about it. You know, just like she is about everything. But I kept asking her how she got the suitcase and wondering out loud where it might have come from, and whether we should report it to the police and what not. Finally she snapped at me and told me, and I quote, 'stop asking questions, and just take the fucking money!'"
Ranma nodded slowly. "She was really upset at the hospital. If I hadn't seen her then I probably wouldn't believe you."
Akane shook her head. "Kasumi doesn't talk like that. I'm sure you're exaggerating." Ranma hit the back of Akane's head lightly with her open hand. "Hey!"
"You're doing it again," Ranma warned her.
"I am not! I don't care how angry or vindictive Kasumi is, she would never use that kind of language!"
"Not even when she was thirteen?" Ranma asked.
Akane paused for a moment, then let out a breath in defeat. "Maybe when she was thirteen."
Genma cleared his throat. "I'm not the best with math, but isn't that around the same time Kasumi renounced the school and got her curse? That was five years ago wasn't it?"
"The business with the suitcase happened six years ago," Nabiki corrected. "and let me tell you, it isn't all that easy to transfer cash into checks. I ended up having to ask Grandmother Shiratori for help again. But…now that you mention it…You know Kasumi actually started to feel pains that December? She kept excusing herself all the time. It just wasn't until February that things got so bad she couldn't hide it anymore."
"And then Dr. Tofu cures her, but ends up hypnotized so he goes crazy and hurts people she wants hurt whenever she shows up." Ranma rubbed her chin. "Yeah, you know I bet all this came from her trying to hide something from you guys. From her own family. Why would she want to do that? I mean that's like the lowest of the low, lying to your own flesh and blood."
Genma got up. "She's trying to protect them from something, Ranma. That's a noble thing, no matter how foolish."
Ranma shook her head. "Look Pops, we've had our differences, and you've not exactly been Dad of the year all the time, but the one thing we have is that we're honest with each other. We tell each other what we think all the time, even if it isn't pretty." Ranma shrugged. "I mean, I think that's what having a family is about. Having people you can be honest with."
Nabiki stood as well. "Ranma honey? Take it from somebody who's dealt with more family members in her day, having a family is more like learning to tolerate people you're related to, secrets and all, until you feel like you can't function without them."
Ranma stood up just to stop Genma and Nabiki from looking down at her. She forgot that she was still shorter than them though. "You got your definition, I got mine."
"Hey, guys, could we get back to figuring out what to do about Kasumi?" Akane was still sitting down, a worried look on her face.
"Do you have any suggestions?" Ranma asked.
Akane turned to Nabiki as she spoke with winged words. "She needs to know that we love her, regardless of what she's hiding, and that she doesn't need to protect us from it anymore. She needs to know that she can trust us, and setting up surveillance and conducting secret meetings about her behind her back doesn't really help with that." Akane got to her feet and this time she included Ranma and Genma in her glare. "You want her to be honest with us? How about we start being honest with her?"
Nabiki grimaced as if she had just eaten something bitter. "Ranma," she said, "why don't you go be honest with Kasumi, like Akane says. Akane, I think you should stay away from confronting her. Just give her support like you're saying. I'm going to keep working on plan B. Sensei, you're going to help Tofu, right?"
Genma nodded.
"Alright then. Meeting adjourned!"
Ranma could tell she really wanted to hit something with a gavel.
Kasumi was washing dishes in the sink when Ranma entered the kitchen, so Ranma quietly stood beside her, took a dish towel and started drying. Kasumi tensed noticeably when Ranma started, but then she relaxed. "Thank you, Ranma-chan," she said warmly. It was only because Ranma was looking that she could tell the thanks wasn't entirely genuine.
"You're welcome, Kasumi," Ranma said. "And I'm sorry… for stabbing you in the knee with those thumbtacks."
Kasumi just kept washing, saying nothing.
"I know you don't want me and Pops here. I know the hot water was never broken, that you just turned it off. I know that you put tacks in my bed and you distracted Pops so that Akane would get a shot in." Ranma put the dish she just dried on the dish stand next to the sink and started on the next dish. "Maybe the perfume has something to do with Tofu going crazy, but I know that's not the whole story. We all do. Me Pops, Nabiki and Akane."
Kasumi paused when she heard Akane's name. She started washing again, but more slowly.
"We think you've been hiding something from your family for a long time now, and that's why you're doing these things. Akane said we should be honest with you, so you might feel better about being honest with us."
Kasumi put her dish down in the sink. "We…us…" She turned the faucet off. "You are NOT part of this family!"
Ranma backed up, startled at Kasumi's sudden intensity. "I know that. I'm just sayin'…"
Kasumi's eyes were still wide with her barely controlled anger, but her mouth relaxed into a neutral expression. She moved past Ranma and opened a cabinet. She rummaged through some papers stored on one of the upper shelves.
"I'm tryin' to help here okay? Maybe you don't think it's right for Nabiki and Akane to be violent but..."
"You are not helping," Kasumi said with forced calm as she continued to rifle through the papers. "You're exploring a dark cave with a lit stick of dynamite. You don't even know what you're playing with." She found what she wanted and brought it to the counter. She smoothed it out under the light. It was a list of names and telephone numbers. Ranma's eyes caught on entry in particular: Genma and Nodoka Saotome.
"Your mother was friends with my mother. Did you know that?" Kasumi turned on the faucet and resumed washing dishes. "'Auntie Saotome' we called her. She stopped visiting after you were born though, and after Mom died, we never heard from her again. Not even a phone call. The last time I saw her was at the funeral. You weren't there. Neither was your father, and Father could have really used a friend that day. It was just her, and she cried as much as any of us. I thought of calling her every now and then afterwards. But she isn't my mother." Kasumi finished her last dish and turned the water off. "I don't even know if the number is still good, but the phone is next to the staircase if you want to find out."
Ranma picked up the paper with her mother's number on it and swallowed. It didn't seem real. It made sense that Kasumi would have known her mother before she died, but she was talking as if… "She's still alive?"
Kasumi smiled with genuine amusement. Perhaps the first real smile Ranma saw her make. "Who knows?" She moved over to the other side of the sink and began drying the dishes where Ranma left off.
In a daze, Ranma walked out of the kitchen and into the hallway, barely taking her eyes off of her mother's name. She picked up the black receiver and heard the dial tone. It was late, she though. Almost nine o'clock. Maybe she should wait. But she had to know. She put her finger in the first hole of the rotary phone, spun and released. The dial spun back like the unrelenting machinery of a torture device. Ranma spun the other numbers more quickly, trying not think about it too much. When she came to the last number she was almost surprised. And then she heard the ringing. One ring. Two rings. Three. Maybe she was asleep. Maybe it was someone else's number now.
In the middle of the fourth ring a mature soprano answered. "Hello? This is Saotome Nodoka speaking, may I ask who is calling?"
Ranma's heart slammed against her ribcage like it was trying to escape. She sucked in a breath. "Mom?"
"I'm afraid you have the wrong number. I have a so-"
Ranma hung up before her mother finished the word. She turned around, resting her back against the wall next to the phone, and sank down to the floor. Somewhere out there, she had a mother. A living mother. And her father had been lying to her about it for most of her life.
Some time from now, Ranma would get up and do something about this new information, but until she figured out what that might be, she would sit right here on the floor, staring at nothing.
~~~~~end of chapter 9~~~~~
Author's Notes:
Thanks to everyone who reviewed and special thanks to Kinrinrin for some valuable feedback on the last chapter.
I'm sorry if anyone has a problem with Ranma being bisexual, or a girl, or fallible, I know that's not everybody's thing, it's just how things seemed to play out. Some people also might have particular problems with the Kuno relationship. Or with Ranma kissing him again or something along those lines. Actually, is anyone still reading this? Hello?
Anyway, it seemed like what Ranma would do in the situation she was in to me, and I hope you are enjoying the aftermath as much as I am.
A small nitpicky point that I might as well address. Kasumi is quoted as using the infamous "fuck" word and earlier there was a whole paragraph about what Ranma was really saying when she said it. Kasumi wasn't using fuck either, of course, but in Kasumi's case she wasn't using kuso either. She was speaking in a very coarse dialect that someone on the street might use. Similar to some extent to what Ranma uses. I couldn't tell you all the words that would be different in what Kasumi would use, or how to explain the differences without boring everybody or at the very least breaking up the flow of the story. Basically, while there are exceptions, English has curse words, while Japanese has curse grammar and that's a little difficult to translate. Also the profanity level of what Kasumi said would probably be closer to "damn" in English, but I wanted to show a definite shift in the way she spoke and damn didn't seem to quite cut it.
I'd love to hear if anybody has a better way of conveying this or has any other thoughts on anything in this chapter. Reviews of any kind are always appreciated.