"I'm never going to be able to fit all these clothes in here." Kari felt
defeated as she had two suitcases full and still many bags scattered on the
floor filled with clothes.
She thought about taking a fresh stab at this after a hot bath. Maybe she would be lucky and comeback to suitcases neatly packed and her worries gone.
Kari entered the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror, her blue-black hair just touching her shoulders. "I wonder what Akane looks like. I mean we are twins and all but how does she dress what style is her hair? Would I recognize her right away or would we pass each other on the street without noticing?"
Kari pulled her hair back in a ponytail and looked closer at her eyes. "It's funny I never really thought about my features before. Now that I know someone else might look exactly like me it's funny how you notice things." Her deep brown eyes shimmered as they watered up thinking about a sister she should be closest to in this world but has never met.
Kari pulled off her shirt and let it drop on the floor. She stood sideways and looked studying her frame. Sure she had a small chest but it never bothered her. Her stomach was flat yet her hips were a little too round. "Womanly hips my butt." Kari pulled off her jeans and tossed them and her shirt into the hamper.
She looked herself up and down in the mirror. She thought of her sister. "I wonder what she is doing right now."
Kari turned on the hot water. The tub started to fill and the steam slowly washed away her reflection in the mirror.
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At the same time Akane entered the bathroom ready for a nice bath before school. She sat down and started to wash up. She was trying to not be annoyed this morning even though someone had to wake her up by screaming early this morning. "Damn that Ranma, always fooling around."
Akane rinsed off and got into the tub. The water was slightly warmer than room temperature. She sat there and closed her eyes. This would be the last relaxing moment she would have today so she tried to enjoy it.
Kasumi and Soun sat at the table whispering when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "What is what the secrecy you two?" Probed Nabiki. She couldn't stand not being part of any secret being that it would be one less thing she could exploit.
"Secrets? There are no secrets here." Kasumi said giving her Father a look as if to say don't break down and cry now we still haven't figured out what to do.
"Kasumi is right, there are no secrets here Nabiki." Soun quickly picked up the newspaper and pretended to read.
"Yeah, sure no secrets. I will find out, I always do." With that Nabiki went back to her room to grab a ledger she had forgotten.
Ranma just finished getting dressed and started down the hall when Nabiki bumped into him. "Saotome you should really watch where you are going."
"Uh, sorry." Nabiki had grabbed him by his sleeve and pulled him into her room.
"Ranma, something strange is going on in this house and for once it isn't people changing genders. I caught Father and Kasumi whispering on my way down stairs for breakfast. You wouldn't know anything about this would you?"
"Whispering? Sorry Nabiki, I don't know anything about it. So if you don't mind I'm really hungry." Ranma opened the door and walked right into Akane.
"Is this going to be a problem all day Ranma?" cracked Nabiki from behind him.
"Ranma, what are you doing?" Asked Akane. "Honestly!"
The two went downstairs for breakfast and Kasumi pointed out that they were going to be late and should hurry up.
Akane and Ranma ran all the way to school as usual. At the gate Sayuri greeted Akane. "Akane, how are you?"
"Hi Sayuri! I'm ok even though we had to run all the way to school." Akane quickly looked around to see if Kuno was waiting to give her and Ranma a hard time.
Ranma went ahead and entered the school leaving Akane to talk with her friends. "Akane, remember when I told you a few weeks ago that my family will be a host family for an exchange student?"
"Yeah Sayuri? You still doing that?"
"Yeah, she's going to be here in a few days. I think my Mom said her name is Kari."
"Do you know anything else about her?" Asked Akane.
"All I know is that she is our age and she is from the United States of America." Sayuri was excited and talking more about the exchange program as they entered the classroom and took their seats.
Class was started and Ranma dozed off into a nap as usual. "Akane looked over to him. I'll have to make extra copies of today's notes. I really wish he would stay away for more classes than just Gym."
Akane started thinking about the new exchange student. "A new student from the US. This would be interesting. It would be just a matter of time before Ranma had a fiancée from there too." Akane laughed to herself.
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Lilly came home from work, the house was so quiet. "Kari are you home?" No answer. She went to the foot of the stairs. "Kari are you up there?" Still no answer from Kari. Lilly went up to her room. In the nightstand beside her bed was a small book. On the very last page was a series of numbers.
"I have to risk calling them." Lilly picked up the phone. She started dialing the numbers. She was about to dial the last number when she heard the front door fly open and an ecstatic Kari rush through.
"MOM!" Kari yelled through the house. Lilly put the receiver down and went to see what the commotion was all about.
"I'm right here Kari, you don't have to wake the dead." Kari was waving something wildly about in her hands. "Well are you going to tell me what it is or am I going to have to have you committed?" Joked Lilly.
Kari handed her Mom her plane tickets and detailed instructions about her trip. Lilly's heart sank. She had to find a way to keep Kari here, for her own safety. Lilly needed to get Kari out of the house so she could make that phone call. She looked at the clock. "It's already past nine. I can't tell her to go out, she will wonder what is going on."
Kari and Lilly went into the kitchen to grab a late night snack. "So Mom, is there anything I should know about Japan that you haven't told me yet?" Kari sat at the table spooning chocolate ice cream into two bowls.
"Well you already know to mind your manners. Be very careful of how you speak to people of course you know that. Hmm well most likely you won't be eating cold cereal in the morning and breakfast is a bigger deal than I make it out to be. You will be expected to eat with your host family every morning." Lilly and Kari kept talking about small things. Kari sat with her empty bowl in front of her. She let out a loud yawn.
"I'm going to bed. I can't believe it's is eleven o'clock." Kari hugged her Mom and put her bowl in the sink. Kari departed and went to bed to dream about her adventures.
Lilly pulled out a scrap of paper she wrote the number from earlier on. "I have to call them now or I'll never get the chance."
Lilly grabbed the kitchen phone. She listened for a second to make sure no one picked up one of the other phones. Lilly punched in the numbers. The phone on the other end of the line rang. A sweet voice answered. "Tendo residence, how may I help you?"
"I need to speak with Mr. Tendo, it is urgent." Lilly waited for a second. A man's voice answered. "Hello?"
"Soun, it's me. We have a huge problem." Soun knew at that second that it was Lilly and something was wrong with Kari.
"Soun are you there?" Pleaded Lilly.
"Yes, what has happened? Is she ok?" Concern grew in his voice.
"Yes, she is fine but well she is coming to Japan."
"What? No, you cannot let her. How has this happened?"
"She is taking part in a student exchange program. I told her that she was sent here with me because her Mother died and you could not feed all the children. I think she is on to this not being the real story but what am I supposed to tell her. That her Father was going to sell her soul?"
"You know what will happen if she comes to Japan." Soun said flatly.
"I'm aware of that. There has to be something we can do."
Soun was silent for a minute. "Soun? What are we going to do? Is there a way to undo the deal? We have to have more options than to just let it take her."
"We will figure something out. I'll trade my own soul if I need to." Soun tried to keep from crying. He so badly wanted to see his daughter, to tell her the truth.
"How long do we have?" Asked Soun.
" I have her tickets right here. She leaves on the 20th."
"That gives me less than a day to figure something out." Soun sighed.
"It's out of our hands, she was bound to want to go to Japan sooner of later." Lilly felt like she was going to lose her daughter. That once she left she would never see her again, this made the pain come in waves.
"Call me the second her plane takes off, I don't care what time it is." Soun hung up the phone. Kasumi was standing next to him the whole time.
"Father, what is going on?" Kasumi looked more worried than she had in a very long time.
"Are your sisters around?" Soun looked in towards the heart of the house.
"No Father, they are all still at school and Mr. Saotome is at Dr. Tofu's clinic."
Soun lowered his voice. "Kasumi, she is coming to Japan. She found out about certain things and she is coming here with an exchange student program."
Kasumi's face lost color. "Father, wouldn't that mean that she will." She didn't finish her sentence. Her Father grabbed her into a tight hug.
"We will not let anything happen to her. We will figure something out. Kasumi you have to pretend nothing is going on we can't have everyone knowing."
"Father, we need to find some help." Kasumi was trying to think of anything they could do to keep Kari from reaching Japan and having her soul taken.
"Who would be wise enough to know about things like this?" Asked Soun.
"Well do you think that young Chinese girl and her grandmother might be able to help us?"
"I don't know Kasumi, they might be the last people we want to ask a favor of." Soun kept thinking about that idea. Kasumi might have a point.
"I'm going to see what I can do about all of this. I'll be back before dinner Kasumi." With that Soun left the house and started walking to the café that Shampoo and her Grandmother ran.
Soun approached the door. "I hope this is good idea."
The door opened and there stood a very small and old Chinese woman on the top of a cane that was about as old as the woman herself. "Come in Soun."
Soun laughed with a twinge of nervousness in his voice. "Hello Cologne, how are you this fine day?"
"I know you are here for something Soun, I can see it in your eyes." Cologne's gaze was chilling his bones. He had to hurry up and ask her before his head exploded.
"What do you know about shinigami?"
"I know that you would have to be pretty stupid to make a deal with one. They are persistent on getting what they want." Cologne hopped on her cane towards the backroom motioning for Soun to follow her.
"Is there anyway to undo a deal?" Soun started to look more upset.
"Anything in this world is possible, though it doesn't mean it would be easy." Cologne wondered just what sort of trouble Soun had gotten himself into. "Soun, why don't you just tell me what this is all about? I don't know if I can help unless I know exactly what is going on."
Soun looked at the old woman. "You have to promise me you will not tell anyone."
Cologne promised. "This is a long story, I hope you have time." Cologne poured them both some tea and Soun began his story.
Cologne nodded her head at the completion of Soun's story. "It looks like you have a very big problem there."
"Do you know of anything we can do Cologne? Please my daughter is innocent and has done nothing to deserve this." Soun was afraid; first to lose his daughter and second that Cologne would use this to take Ranma away from the Tendo family.
Cologne motioned for him to lean in as she started to whisper to him. He nodded his head a few times and then quickly got up to rush out the door but not before thanking her profusely.
"It might not be a lost cause after all Kari, Daddy will fix all of this. That I swear as a martial artist."
Soun left the café but was careful to make sure no one saw him. He made his way back to the dojo and waited for instructions from Cologne.
"THAT JERK!" Akane walked up the street to the gate of her house. "Why does he always have to take off to Ukyo's after school for a snack." She sighed as she walked into the foyer and slipped off her shoes. "I'm home."
Kasumi stopped what she was doing. "Oh no, what will I tell Akane if she asks why I am cleaning out the spare room? I better put this stuff back."
Kasumi turned around to find Akane climbing the stairs. She quickly shut the door hiding what she was doing. "Why hello Akane, how was school today?"
"It was fine Kasumi. I'm just going to go do my homework and then practice some before dinner." Akane went to enter her room just as Kasumi's voice stopped her.
"Where is Ranma?" That was the wrong question to ask. Akane's face went red and she nearly ripped the handle off the door.
"That JERK is at Ukyo's getting a before dinner snack."
"Oh, ok then."
Akane noticed that Kasumi was standing in front of the spare room where the family stored extra items. "Hey Kasumi, you're all dirty, what are you doing in that room?"
"Nothing." With that Kasumi took off downstairs to make dinner.
Akane's thoughts went back to Ranma and she quickly forgot about the room and Kasumi being quite dusty.
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Kari lay in bed she couldn't seem to sleep. She wondered why her Mom was on the phone so late but she could ask her about that tomorrow. She would be on a plane shortly and she would know her sisters. That's all that mattered now finding her sisters and figuring out why she was really given away. Her heart sank. "What if they don't love me? What if I go out there and they want nothing to do with me?"
Kari drifted off to sleep only to have a rough night of horrible dreams about her family.
A small voice from nowhere particular said. "It will all be over soon."
She thought about taking a fresh stab at this after a hot bath. Maybe she would be lucky and comeback to suitcases neatly packed and her worries gone.
Kari entered the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror, her blue-black hair just touching her shoulders. "I wonder what Akane looks like. I mean we are twins and all but how does she dress what style is her hair? Would I recognize her right away or would we pass each other on the street without noticing?"
Kari pulled her hair back in a ponytail and looked closer at her eyes. "It's funny I never really thought about my features before. Now that I know someone else might look exactly like me it's funny how you notice things." Her deep brown eyes shimmered as they watered up thinking about a sister she should be closest to in this world but has never met.
Kari pulled off her shirt and let it drop on the floor. She stood sideways and looked studying her frame. Sure she had a small chest but it never bothered her. Her stomach was flat yet her hips were a little too round. "Womanly hips my butt." Kari pulled off her jeans and tossed them and her shirt into the hamper.
She looked herself up and down in the mirror. She thought of her sister. "I wonder what she is doing right now."
Kari turned on the hot water. The tub started to fill and the steam slowly washed away her reflection in the mirror.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
At the same time Akane entered the bathroom ready for a nice bath before school. She sat down and started to wash up. She was trying to not be annoyed this morning even though someone had to wake her up by screaming early this morning. "Damn that Ranma, always fooling around."
Akane rinsed off and got into the tub. The water was slightly warmer than room temperature. She sat there and closed her eyes. This would be the last relaxing moment she would have today so she tried to enjoy it.
Kasumi and Soun sat at the table whispering when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "What is what the secrecy you two?" Probed Nabiki. She couldn't stand not being part of any secret being that it would be one less thing she could exploit.
"Secrets? There are no secrets here." Kasumi said giving her Father a look as if to say don't break down and cry now we still haven't figured out what to do.
"Kasumi is right, there are no secrets here Nabiki." Soun quickly picked up the newspaper and pretended to read.
"Yeah, sure no secrets. I will find out, I always do." With that Nabiki went back to her room to grab a ledger she had forgotten.
Ranma just finished getting dressed and started down the hall when Nabiki bumped into him. "Saotome you should really watch where you are going."
"Uh, sorry." Nabiki had grabbed him by his sleeve and pulled him into her room.
"Ranma, something strange is going on in this house and for once it isn't people changing genders. I caught Father and Kasumi whispering on my way down stairs for breakfast. You wouldn't know anything about this would you?"
"Whispering? Sorry Nabiki, I don't know anything about it. So if you don't mind I'm really hungry." Ranma opened the door and walked right into Akane.
"Is this going to be a problem all day Ranma?" cracked Nabiki from behind him.
"Ranma, what are you doing?" Asked Akane. "Honestly!"
The two went downstairs for breakfast and Kasumi pointed out that they were going to be late and should hurry up.
Akane and Ranma ran all the way to school as usual. At the gate Sayuri greeted Akane. "Akane, how are you?"
"Hi Sayuri! I'm ok even though we had to run all the way to school." Akane quickly looked around to see if Kuno was waiting to give her and Ranma a hard time.
Ranma went ahead and entered the school leaving Akane to talk with her friends. "Akane, remember when I told you a few weeks ago that my family will be a host family for an exchange student?"
"Yeah Sayuri? You still doing that?"
"Yeah, she's going to be here in a few days. I think my Mom said her name is Kari."
"Do you know anything else about her?" Asked Akane.
"All I know is that she is our age and she is from the United States of America." Sayuri was excited and talking more about the exchange program as they entered the classroom and took their seats.
Class was started and Ranma dozed off into a nap as usual. "Akane looked over to him. I'll have to make extra copies of today's notes. I really wish he would stay away for more classes than just Gym."
Akane started thinking about the new exchange student. "A new student from the US. This would be interesting. It would be just a matter of time before Ranma had a fiancée from there too." Akane laughed to herself.
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Lilly came home from work, the house was so quiet. "Kari are you home?" No answer. She went to the foot of the stairs. "Kari are you up there?" Still no answer from Kari. Lilly went up to her room. In the nightstand beside her bed was a small book. On the very last page was a series of numbers.
"I have to risk calling them." Lilly picked up the phone. She started dialing the numbers. She was about to dial the last number when she heard the front door fly open and an ecstatic Kari rush through.
"MOM!" Kari yelled through the house. Lilly put the receiver down and went to see what the commotion was all about.
"I'm right here Kari, you don't have to wake the dead." Kari was waving something wildly about in her hands. "Well are you going to tell me what it is or am I going to have to have you committed?" Joked Lilly.
Kari handed her Mom her plane tickets and detailed instructions about her trip. Lilly's heart sank. She had to find a way to keep Kari here, for her own safety. Lilly needed to get Kari out of the house so she could make that phone call. She looked at the clock. "It's already past nine. I can't tell her to go out, she will wonder what is going on."
Kari and Lilly went into the kitchen to grab a late night snack. "So Mom, is there anything I should know about Japan that you haven't told me yet?" Kari sat at the table spooning chocolate ice cream into two bowls.
"Well you already know to mind your manners. Be very careful of how you speak to people of course you know that. Hmm well most likely you won't be eating cold cereal in the morning and breakfast is a bigger deal than I make it out to be. You will be expected to eat with your host family every morning." Lilly and Kari kept talking about small things. Kari sat with her empty bowl in front of her. She let out a loud yawn.
"I'm going to bed. I can't believe it's is eleven o'clock." Kari hugged her Mom and put her bowl in the sink. Kari departed and went to bed to dream about her adventures.
Lilly pulled out a scrap of paper she wrote the number from earlier on. "I have to call them now or I'll never get the chance."
Lilly grabbed the kitchen phone. She listened for a second to make sure no one picked up one of the other phones. Lilly punched in the numbers. The phone on the other end of the line rang. A sweet voice answered. "Tendo residence, how may I help you?"
"I need to speak with Mr. Tendo, it is urgent." Lilly waited for a second. A man's voice answered. "Hello?"
"Soun, it's me. We have a huge problem." Soun knew at that second that it was Lilly and something was wrong with Kari.
"Soun are you there?" Pleaded Lilly.
"Yes, what has happened? Is she ok?" Concern grew in his voice.
"Yes, she is fine but well she is coming to Japan."
"What? No, you cannot let her. How has this happened?"
"She is taking part in a student exchange program. I told her that she was sent here with me because her Mother died and you could not feed all the children. I think she is on to this not being the real story but what am I supposed to tell her. That her Father was going to sell her soul?"
"You know what will happen if she comes to Japan." Soun said flatly.
"I'm aware of that. There has to be something we can do."
Soun was silent for a minute. "Soun? What are we going to do? Is there a way to undo the deal? We have to have more options than to just let it take her."
"We will figure something out. I'll trade my own soul if I need to." Soun tried to keep from crying. He so badly wanted to see his daughter, to tell her the truth.
"How long do we have?" Asked Soun.
" I have her tickets right here. She leaves on the 20th."
"That gives me less than a day to figure something out." Soun sighed.
"It's out of our hands, she was bound to want to go to Japan sooner of later." Lilly felt like she was going to lose her daughter. That once she left she would never see her again, this made the pain come in waves.
"Call me the second her plane takes off, I don't care what time it is." Soun hung up the phone. Kasumi was standing next to him the whole time.
"Father, what is going on?" Kasumi looked more worried than she had in a very long time.
"Are your sisters around?" Soun looked in towards the heart of the house.
"No Father, they are all still at school and Mr. Saotome is at Dr. Tofu's clinic."
Soun lowered his voice. "Kasumi, she is coming to Japan. She found out about certain things and she is coming here with an exchange student program."
Kasumi's face lost color. "Father, wouldn't that mean that she will." She didn't finish her sentence. Her Father grabbed her into a tight hug.
"We will not let anything happen to her. We will figure something out. Kasumi you have to pretend nothing is going on we can't have everyone knowing."
"Father, we need to find some help." Kasumi was trying to think of anything they could do to keep Kari from reaching Japan and having her soul taken.
"Who would be wise enough to know about things like this?" Asked Soun.
"Well do you think that young Chinese girl and her grandmother might be able to help us?"
"I don't know Kasumi, they might be the last people we want to ask a favor of." Soun kept thinking about that idea. Kasumi might have a point.
"I'm going to see what I can do about all of this. I'll be back before dinner Kasumi." With that Soun left the house and started walking to the café that Shampoo and her Grandmother ran.
Soun approached the door. "I hope this is good idea."
The door opened and there stood a very small and old Chinese woman on the top of a cane that was about as old as the woman herself. "Come in Soun."
Soun laughed with a twinge of nervousness in his voice. "Hello Cologne, how are you this fine day?"
"I know you are here for something Soun, I can see it in your eyes." Cologne's gaze was chilling his bones. He had to hurry up and ask her before his head exploded.
"What do you know about shinigami?"
"I know that you would have to be pretty stupid to make a deal with one. They are persistent on getting what they want." Cologne hopped on her cane towards the backroom motioning for Soun to follow her.
"Is there anyway to undo a deal?" Soun started to look more upset.
"Anything in this world is possible, though it doesn't mean it would be easy." Cologne wondered just what sort of trouble Soun had gotten himself into. "Soun, why don't you just tell me what this is all about? I don't know if I can help unless I know exactly what is going on."
Soun looked at the old woman. "You have to promise me you will not tell anyone."
Cologne promised. "This is a long story, I hope you have time." Cologne poured them both some tea and Soun began his story.
Cologne nodded her head at the completion of Soun's story. "It looks like you have a very big problem there."
"Do you know of anything we can do Cologne? Please my daughter is innocent and has done nothing to deserve this." Soun was afraid; first to lose his daughter and second that Cologne would use this to take Ranma away from the Tendo family.
Cologne motioned for him to lean in as she started to whisper to him. He nodded his head a few times and then quickly got up to rush out the door but not before thanking her profusely.
"It might not be a lost cause after all Kari, Daddy will fix all of this. That I swear as a martial artist."
Soun left the café but was careful to make sure no one saw him. He made his way back to the dojo and waited for instructions from Cologne.
"THAT JERK!" Akane walked up the street to the gate of her house. "Why does he always have to take off to Ukyo's after school for a snack." She sighed as she walked into the foyer and slipped off her shoes. "I'm home."
Kasumi stopped what she was doing. "Oh no, what will I tell Akane if she asks why I am cleaning out the spare room? I better put this stuff back."
Kasumi turned around to find Akane climbing the stairs. She quickly shut the door hiding what she was doing. "Why hello Akane, how was school today?"
"It was fine Kasumi. I'm just going to go do my homework and then practice some before dinner." Akane went to enter her room just as Kasumi's voice stopped her.
"Where is Ranma?" That was the wrong question to ask. Akane's face went red and she nearly ripped the handle off the door.
"That JERK is at Ukyo's getting a before dinner snack."
"Oh, ok then."
Akane noticed that Kasumi was standing in front of the spare room where the family stored extra items. "Hey Kasumi, you're all dirty, what are you doing in that room?"
"Nothing." With that Kasumi took off downstairs to make dinner.
Akane's thoughts went back to Ranma and she quickly forgot about the room and Kasumi being quite dusty.
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Kari lay in bed she couldn't seem to sleep. She wondered why her Mom was on the phone so late but she could ask her about that tomorrow. She would be on a plane shortly and she would know her sisters. That's all that mattered now finding her sisters and figuring out why she was really given away. Her heart sank. "What if they don't love me? What if I go out there and they want nothing to do with me?"
Kari drifted off to sleep only to have a rough night of horrible dreams about her family.
A small voice from nowhere particular said. "It will all be over soon."