Disclaimer: I don't own Ranme 1/2 and am doing this for the fun of it.
Only you...
By TsunamiSaotome
It was an hour later that a freshly dressed Kasumi was bowing and apologizing to a recently awake Ranma and delighted Nodoka. Nodoka was happy Kasumi had apparently resolved whatever was troubling her and returned to being the daughter she had come to love in the previous few weeks. Ranma was ecstatic to know that Kasumi was the woman he had come to love again; also he was glad his gamble last night had helped Kasumi, instead of damaging their relationship. Best of all, he received a kiss for his actions. Kasumi finally stopped apologizing as Nodoka spoke.
"It's okay. Ranma and I are glad that you've retuned to normal. One thing that we're wondering is what happened last night that's got you so happy?"
Ranma nodded agreeing with his mother.
Kasumi stood up and addressed the two in front of her, "Okay, but go sit down at the table and let me make some tea. It will take a bit of time to tell you the whole story.
Mother and son complied with Kasumi's request and went to settle themselves at the table. Minutes later, Kasumi approached to the two with a tray holding cups and a pot of hot tea. After taking a moment to compose herself, she began to speak about her dream. Omitting certain details that were disturbing and ones she didn't want to think about. She also skipped the part where her mother wanted her to continue the art again; she would wait until after breakfast before telling that part. When Kasumi finished her story, Ranma was the first to respond.
"I'm very grateful to her for helping you, and also for helping me find you." Ranma easily accepted that Kasumi's mother, though dead, had visited her daughter in her sleep. After all, stranger things had happened to Ranma before, many times, in fact.
"I'm also glad that Kimiko intervened, because I can see that you two have something special, as I'm sure she can as well." Nodoka was very happy with the knowledge that her best friend approved of her son.
"Well, I'm beginning to really stink, so I should use the furo." With that Ranma started to make his way to his room. He'd taken about three steps before being interrupted by Kasumi.
"Could you wear a towel while bathing?" Kasumi quickly asked.
"Hmmm...why?" Ranma was confused at the odd request.
"eh he he...uhh...no reason...never mind." Kasumi tried to retract her previous statement, realizing she'd embarrassed herself.
Ranma and Nodoka directed odd looks at Kasumi before going off to do their tasks. Ranma to his much needed soak, and Nodoka to start the breakfast preparations interrupted by Kasumi's explanation.
As the two were leaving, Kasumi could feel her mother give her a raspberry then follow Ranma.
Sighing in defeat, Kasumi walked to the kitchen and started to help Nodoka make their morning meal. She couldn't do anything to stop her mother from peeking in on Ranma short of putting up wards, but knowing that both of her mothers were best friends, she knew that her mother would find a way to get back at her, most likely through Nodoka... er, her other mother.
Soon enough, Ranma finished his bath and breakfast was over. The only odd thing during the meal was Ranma had constantly been sneaking peeks at Kasumi. He was still on an emotional high from his little gamble which had, thankfully, succeeded.
When all three finished, Kasumi took a breath and steadied herself, "There was something else that happened in my dream that I didn't tell you." Seeing that she now had the full attention of both Ranma and Nodoka, she continued, "At the end of my time with mother, she asked me to start practicing her...our school again. So, there is a request I would make of both of you... Ranma, could you start training me? And mother, could you take me to the Enjeru dojo?"
Nodoka was quick to nod; while, Ranma was very hesitant.
"I... I don't know Kasumi..." Ranma saw that Kasumi was hurt because of what he said and quickly explained himself, "I don't know if I can be a good teacher. I mean, I've only had one example of a teacher, and the only person who deserves to be taught like that would be the teacher himself."
"Ranma, I understand you have doubts but this is something very important to me, and I want to share it with the people I care for. I trust and believe in you." Kasumi's voice was one that Ranma had not heard of very much in his life until very recently. It was a voice of warmth, love, and utter devotion.
Reluctantly, Ranma agreed. He still had doubts about how well he could teach and train her but the sheer amount of faith Kasumi had in him moved him enough to try.
"I'll arrange for a car in the afternoon. Is that all right with you, Kasumi?" Nodoka asked, "Both of you go get a couple days worth of clothes ready, it's been nearly a year since I visited."
"How often do you go there?" Kasumi wanted to know.
"At least two or three times a year, maybe more if I get too lonely." Nodoka's face grew distant as she recalled most of the times she spent at her best friend's old home.
Kasumi took Nodoka's hand, "This time we could make happy memories, like when you and my mother were together, because..."
Ranma picked up, "...you won't be alone."
Nodoka smiled in gratitude at her children's attempt to cheer her up. "I want to spend at least a week there. We're going to clean the place up, and I'm sure Kasumi would like to spend some time getting to know her mother's first home."
Ranma and Kasumi quickly agreed and soon were in their respective rooms packing for an extended stay.
Within the hour Sakiri had arrived and the three of them quickly loaded everything into the black car. The car ride was a relatively quiet one. Kasumi was thinking of what her mother's childhood home would be like. Nodoka was reliving better times she had at her friend's home. Ranma was thinking of ways he could train Kasumi that didn't seem too extreme. The only bad thing about that was Ranma had developed a very warped sense of what was extreme and what was not. While Ranma was thinking he was staring vacantly at the passing scenery. Ranma was staring vacantly at the passing scenery as he debated the merits and flaws of the various training methods he'd been exposed to.
Had he been paying attention, he would have noticed as the car moved from the heavily forested area surrounding their home to a lightly wooded area surrounding a small community. They passed a small, empty, school that was out for break, a small market place, and several townspeople going about their business. By simply looking around one could tell that, despite looking like a small and rural village, the town was an upper-class community. There were some obvious signs of wealth, such as the majority of the cars were very expensive, the homes in the area were huge compared to the normal Japanese home, and each home was surrounded by a good amount of space. Along with the obvious signs there were many subtle ones as well. If one were to look close enough, they could see that almost everything that was sold was expensive, the people they passed were wearing expensive clothing or jewelry, and the town looked like it was kept extremely clean. After a short, twenty-minute, drive their black car pulled into an enormous house that easily set itself apart from its peers in the area.
"Children, this will be our home for a while." When she spoke, her voice pulled her children from their thoughts. Ranma and Kasumi stared in awe. They had thought their other home was big, but this place was bigger.
The house was more like a small mansion and was easily twice the size of Nodoka's summer home. It was a surprisingly simple wooden home, but what made it so impressive was it sheer size. It had, what appeared to be, two triangular roofs put together, but on closer inspection it was two separate buildings connected by a stone pathway. The larger building had a window in the triangle of the roof, and below that window was an oak brown door that was the same color as the roof. The rest of the front of the house was painted white. In the front of the house was the driveway, it was in the shape of an semi-circle with both ends accessible to the main road.
When the car stopped, Kasumi quickly convinced Ranma to bring in her things and went looking around the house. The front door opened to a small hallway, which led to the main living room. When Kasumi first walked into the room she noticed that the room was decorated with many traditional items and also had many modern things tastefully mixed in. To her right she could see a set of stairs. Kasumi went to her left and through a set of double doors...and nearly had an orgasm. On one side she could see many traditional tools for her to cook with; on the other she could see a modern kitchen with many of the newest kitchen appliances available. She made her way to what looked like a giant seasoning rack, looking at the herbs nearly made her knees buckle, here was every herb and spice she could think of. What made her wet and caused her knees to almost fail was the amount of rare and expensive herbs she saw there. She also developed a couple of thoughts of what the food would do to Ranma when she served it, or what Ranma would do to her when she was served with the food. Kasumi resisted the urge to smack herself, 'I have been spending too much time around both my mothers, I'm becoming perverted.' Kasumi thought to herself.
Shaking most of the naughty thoughts from her mind, she exited through the door at the upper right corner furthest away from her entrance to the room. Walking through the doorway led her to the dining area with a wooden table. To her left were sliding doors that opened to an engawa veranda, to her right was a hallway back to the living area. Making her way through the doors and a short hallway that were in front of her, Kasumi found herself in a tea room. Returning to the dining room, she exited through the veranda, most of the open area looked like it was set up to be a training ground. To her right were two paths, one running parallel to the veranda to the second building, the second path also ran to the right but to the left of the dojo and circled a Japanese style garden. She could see some Koi swimming in the pond that was obviously the centerpiece of the garden. Kasumi moved along the path parallel to the veranda and paused at the entrance of the second building.
It was her mother's dojo... and now it was hers...
Kasumi tentatively took one step inside, then another. She could see that the dojo had been very well cared for, and she could also see it had been used constantly until these recent few years. She could sense the centuries of dedication that passed through this dojo. Feeling intimidated and unworthy, she backed away, and was about to turn and run back to the house, but a firm, strong hand grabbed hers and held her in place. Frantically spinning around her eyes locked onto...Ranma's warm, handsome and loving face, and behind him Nodoka was exuding a secure and comforting aura.
"I..." was all Kasumi could get out before Nodoka cut her off.
"Your mother sent you here, so she believes you can learn she school; I know and believe you can, as well, and..."
"...I do to. I don't know how well I can teach you but I have no doubts in my mind, soul, or heart that you can, and will, master the fallen angels' schools of martial arts." With each word Ranma slowly guided Kasumi to the shrine in the dojo.
When the three of them reached the shrine, all three bowed in respect and offered a silent prayer. Kasumi, though, added one more: "Please let me prove to myself that I am worthy."
Kasumi had carefully kneeled and removed the floorboard revealing six carefully labeled boxes: Novice, Intermediate, Advance, Master, Grand Master, and finally Forbidden. She took the boxes with the beginner scrolls and then put the floorboard back. She paused for a couple of seconds, then glanced at Ranma.
"We'll begin tomorrow, for today let's just get settled in and rest, okay?" Ranma answered the question in her gaze.
After that, the three gathered their things and went off to find rooms to claim as their own. Next to the stairs was a set of empty rooms that went unclaimed, up the stairs there were four bedrooms, one large master chamber, two smaller rooms below it, and another off to the side of the master room.
Kasumi tried to claim one of the smaller rooms, but Nodoka would have no part of it and ordered Ranma to take Kasumi's luggage and place it in the master bedroom. Kasumi started to argue but was silenced by Nodoka. Nodoka explained that she had given Sakiri the papers that would make Kasumi the official head of the Enjeru clan and that, by all rights and means, the master bedroom was hers. Kasumi relented after that and entered her new room. The room itself was large, being about the same size as the main living area on the floor below, though was very bare, it only had two pieces of furniture: a huge bed, and a very old mirror. The most notable thing that she found about the bedroom was that it had its own private furo. While Kasumi and Ranma were distracted by the room itself, Nodoka had started to move Ranma's stuff into it as well. Nodoka had just finished arranging Kasumi's lingerie and Ranma's boxers and admiring her work when the other two occupants finally noticed what she was doing.
'Ack!' summed up their simultaneous reactions.
Nodoka was ushered out of the room by the now red faced couple and sat in the hall pouting watching all of her work being undone. Ranma moved his things into the room closest to Kasumi's, and the two quickly settled in. Nodoka temporally withdrew from her endless battle for grandchildren to start lunch and devise another plan to get her children to share a bed.
Soon enough, Ranma and Kasumi wandered down from their rooms after smelling lunch being prepared.
"Mother, where did you get the meat, I was here earlier and didn't see any?" Kasumi blushed as remembered her reactions when she explored this room.
Nodoka looked at Kasumi and, at seeing Kasumi's blush, she cast a sideways glance towards Ranma, and then answered her daughter, "When I called Sakiri, I asked her to do a small grocery run for me, but we only have enough for lunch so you two will have to go get some more food for dinner."
Ranma wasn't really paying attention; he was busy trying to get a taste of lunch. While Nodoka was talking with Kasumi her hands were busily fending off Ranma's attempts at a pre-lunch snack.
"Okay." Kasumi grabbed Ranma's arm and pulled him away from the food causing him to pout, setting off a round of chuckling from Nodoka and Kasumi.
"Could you and Ranma go set the table?" Nodoka directed her request at Kasumi.
"Sure." Kasumi dragged a now distressed Ranma away from the food. Nodoka smiled at her children's antics then quickly turned her attention back to making lunch.
After Lunch, while Kasumi was busy cleaning up, Nodoka took Ranma to her room. Just like when the three of them first went to their new home, Nodoka also had a fully finished room in this home as well. As with her room at the other house the room was very simply decorated. The bed was covered in a white satin bedspread but when Ranma took a closer look he could see a floral design done in a light sparkling white thread. The one difference between both rooms was that this room had lots, maybe hundreds, of figures and other little items were carefully arranged around the entire room.
"Here." Nodoka had walked over to one of the dressers and pulled out a huge amount of yen.
"I can't!" was Ranma's first response, but was quickly cut off by his mother.
"Yes, you can. Consider it your allowance." Nodoka's voice meant that there was no arguing the point.
Ranma conceded to his mother and counted the money and nearly dropped the wad, "There's 100,000 yen here!"
His mother's causal response was, "So?"
"It's so much!" Ranma, in his entire life, never thought that he would be holding this much money.
"You two are going to get supplies for dinner and, honestly, the two of you need a bigger selection of clothes!" Nodoka remarked.
"Clothes shopping..." Ranma wined.
"It's not too bad. You could take Kasumi shopping for some lingerie. I seem to remember that you enjoyed what she had on this morning." Nodoka's last comment had the desired effect on Ranma that she wanted.
Ranma flushed as his eyes gained a far away look.
Nodoka gently pushed the preoccupied Ranma out of her room and helpfully left him in front of Kasumi's door.
It was a few minutes later when Kasumi went to get something from her room and found Ranma standing in front of her door with a dazed look on his face.
"Ranma?" Kasumi probed.
"He he...white...lacy...see-through...eh he he..." Images form earlier that morning flooded Ranma mind and overrode his higher brain functions.
Kasumi blushed as her imagination, thanks to her mother's constant teasing, came up with what Ranma was imagining; "Is there anything you wanted?"
Snapping out of his daze, he spoke the one thought that had all but filled his mind, "Let's go shopping for some lingerie."
Instead of the chestnut-haired angel swaying in Ranma's fantasy, Kasumi's imagination supplied her with a scantly clad redhead posing shyly and offering herself up to anything Kasumi could come up with.
Ranma was woken from his daydream by, what sounded like, the word 'Grandchildren' being whispered.
The first sensation he felt was that of his left arm being wrapped around something, his right hand gripping something firm and toned. Also there was something warm and 'nice' pressed against his abs. He slowly opened his eyes and found himself looking at a... his... timeless beauty: Kasumi Enjeru. He pulled his arm in a bit tighter, bringing Kasumi just a bit closer to him. Whatever his hand was resting on felt a bit different, and upon looking down, he almost fainted, almost suffering a vicious nosebleed in the process.
Ranma froze, and again his long denied hormones began to react.
Somehow his hand had bunched up the left side of Kasumi's dress, then managed to find its way underneath her dress, and seemed to be rested on her outer thigh. When he had moved his hand higher, he had inadvertently exposed Kasumi's light blue lace panties to his field of vision.
Kasumi was distracted from her imagination when she felt something rough and yet, somehow, soft being drawn across her sensitive skin. When her senses began to return to her, Kasumi was flooded with warmth, as well as a healthy dose of arousal. Almost happily, she drowned in the feeling that her body was exuding. She felt her hands on something hard as she slowly began to flex her hand... no, it wasn't hard, just very firm. After feeling whatever it was her hand had been massaging shiver, she opened her eyes only to find her own blue-gray eyes trapped by Ranma's sapphire orbs.
'Those are Ranma's eyes, but they're so different.' was Kasumi's first thought. Ranma's eyes showed shock, fear, and... lust. 'He wants me... and only me...' and for the first time in her entire life, her intense sexual desires overwhelmed her rational mind.
Ranma stared into Kasumi's eyes, which held something that Ranma had only seen in his dreams. Kasumi elicited the same reactions and emotions in him now as she did in his dreams and fantasies, except these feelings were real, and so much more powerful. Ranma could feel the fire of lust and desire swirling around Kasumi, which only amplified what he felt coming from within himself. 'She's... perfect, and could have anyone she wants, but she wants me... and only me...' Ranma's thoughts died a swift and pleasurable death as he saw Kasumi's lips moving toward his, but he did nothing to stop their progression... in fact, he welcomed them.
Just as she had done right after she had woken up, Kasumi meshed her lips with Ranma's, but unlike his reaction earlier in the morning, Ranma returned her kiss just as passionately.
Somehow they had moved, or had been moved, into Kasumi's room. A fact which Kasumi, unknowingly, took full advantage of as she used her hands to gently reposition Ranma, causing him to fall on top of her bed. Ranma's reaction to the sudden jolt was to part his lips a bit, which was all Kasumi needed, allowing her to force her tongue into his mouth. Ranma was stunned at Kasumi's aggressiveness, but it quickly disappeared, and soon their tongues were dancing together.
As their mouths came together, their hands didn't stay idle. Kasumi's hand continued to massage his taught stomach as the other hand had worked its way up to Ranma's chest. Ranma's hand freely roamed Kasumi's body, every time he touched a sensitive spot and caused her to shiver; he paused to pay more specialized attention to that spot eliciting moans from Kasumi, which were only muffled by their kiss.
As Nodoka made her way from the doorway of Kasumi's room she had a happy grin on her face, and with each sound coming from the room her grin became wider and wider as one thought consumed her entire being: 'GRANDCHILDREN!'
It was over an hour later that Ranma and Kasumi finally emerged from her room. Both had healthy blushes decorating their faces as they rejoined their mother.
Ranma looked at his mother and saw that she appeared to be disappointed and a bit agitated, "Mom, what's wrong?"
"Phhht...all you two did was kiss." Nodoka sounded agitated now.
Ranma, of course, had no clue what his mother was talking about and replied with a, "Huh?"
That was when Kasumi walked up to Nodoka and gasped. Ranma moved next to Kasumi to see what she was looking at, but only saw a television, "So, what's so special about a television?"
Kasumi temporary forgot her embarrassment and sighed in exasperation, "What's on the screen, Ranma?"
"A picture of your room," Ranma responded without really thinking about it. A second passed, then another, then a third, and finally, "Urk!"
Kasumi let out a breath as Ranma finally realized what was so embarrassing. She watched Ranma turn a shade red reminiscent of their mother's red highlights. Kasumi remembered that it was them, as in the 'them' that included her, which caused her embarrassment to return with a vengeance, she was quite impressive as she had managed to maintain a shade brighter then Ranma. 'If she pulls a couple more stunts like this last one, she'll get grandchildren a lot sooner then Ranma and I thought.' Through her blush she turned to Nodoka with a nervous glance.
Nodoka looked at her and, as if reading Kasumi's thoughts, the small smirk that both Ranma and Kasumi had come to fear appeared on her face.
Kasumi began to get very nervous, "Come on, Ranma... We have to... uh... go shopping and... umm... get stuff for dinner." Kasumi tightly gripped Ranma's hand and pulled him out of the house. Ranma's mind was still getting itself wrapped around the idea that there had been a camera in Kasumi's room.
"Ranma..." Kasumi uttered in a small and embarrassed tone.
Ranma, knowing she was thinking the same thing, took a deep breath and spoke, "Knowing mom, we should have expected something like this." Ranma then pushed all of the other thoughts out of his mind and concentrated on Kasumi.
Kasumi paused and thought about it, and about what both of her mothers might do, and reluctantly nodded.
"Nothing we can really do about it now so come on!" Ranma turned the tables and began to drag Kasumi along.
"Ranma... hey... come on, stop... Ranma... where are we going?..." Kasumi rambled on.
"SSShhhooooooppppiiiiiiinnnnnngggg..." Ranma wined.
Kasumi cracked a smile and then giggled at Ranma's long-winded, over-dramatic, high-pitched wine.
"Good, you're laughing again! Come on!" Ranma then slumped, "The things I must torture myself with to please the one I care for..."
Kasumi just wrapped her arms around Ranma's bicep and pulled herself closer to him. Then, with smiles on their faces, the two walked deeper into town.
It only took ten minutes for the two to make it into the heart of town. Having people glance at them and start whispering to those around them for the first few minutes of their entering town was getting to Ranma, and he started to fidget. It was a few moments later when Kasumi pulled Ranma to a secluded spot and tried calming him down by kissing him.
"What's a matter, Ranma?" Kasumi asked after she broke the kiss, which achieved the desired result.
"It's just that I'm not used to this." Ranma admitted.
"What? You should be used to people staring at you by now." Kasumi spoke with a feathery smile.
Ranma chuckled, "Oh, I'm used to that, but for other reasons, not this one." Ranma gestured to Kasumi's arms wrapped around his.
"Do... do you want me to stop?" Kasumi hesitantly asked with a quivering voice.
"NO! NO! NO! It's just that, I kind of wanted to know why. That's all." Ranma had used his other arm to rub Kasumi's back.
Kasumi relaxed against Ranma's chest, "I think I know why. I think this community is very small, so everyone knows everyone else. Since we're new faces, all the people who see us become curious."
Ranma took a moment to think over what Kasumi said, and accepted it. Even if it wasn't true, coming from Kasumi, it served to calm his nerves. After a long moment together, Ranma pulled Kasumi back to the main street and the two began to window shop.
After twenty minutes, the two passed dozens of stores, but never entered one. Oddly enough, it was Ranma who realized that both he and Kasumi never had much and so they would only take what could get, never going out and getting something for themselves unless it was absolutely necessary. So Kasumi was surprised when Ranma pulled her into a store. When they entered the store Ranma saw something that made him smirk. When they stopped, Kasumi gathered herself enough to talk.
"Ranma, what are we doing in here?" Kasumi was confused as to why they were in that particular store.
Ranma looked at Kasumi, "To by clothes, why else would we be in here?"
"But isn't it expensive?" Kasumi had a bit of worry in her voice. She had seen one of the price tags and her mind boggled. She had never spent so much for clothing, and now Ranma wanted them to buy clothing from this shop.
"Its alright, I got some money." Ranma explained.
Kasumi slowly followed, she figured that Ranma could buy all he wanted, and she would just stand there and watch him shop.
The first item that Ranma picked up was a pair of blue jeans. The odd thing, to Kasumi, was that the jeans looked too small for Ranma's male body and to long for his female body. Kasumi was about to tell Ranma but he was studying them so intensely so she held her tongue. The next piece that Ranma picked out was enough to make Kasumi gasp in shock. It was a white halter-top that would expose Ranma's midriff. Kasumi did find it a bit odd that Ranma was buying cloths for his girl half, but it didn't really matter as Ranma was always Ranma, no matter the shape or form.
Ranma was making his way to the dressing area. Kasumi was quietly following behind Ranma as he moved through the store, and nearly bumped into him when he stopped at a stall and turned around.
"These should fit you, go try them on." Ranma then dropped the clothing he was holding into Kasumi's arms.
Kasumi was so surprised that all she could keep saying was, "But... but... but... but... but..." even as Ranma pushed her into an empty stall.
Standing outside the stall, Ranma spoke, "Now hurry, because we still have to pick up stuff for dinner."
Kasumi was still frozen in the stall and muttering the same word over and over again.
Ranma's voice became playful as he spoke his next few words, "Buuut if you want, I could go in there and help you."
That brought Kasumi back and her cheeks colored as she recalled the first time they made out earlier in the day. She was tempted to have him come in and try, but she didn't want to get kicked out of the store. She took off her dress, folded it and carefully put on the foreign articles of clothing she had acquired from Ranma. After she finished dressing, she looked in the mirror and suddenly felt self-conscious. She opened the stall door and took small, reluctant steps until she was in front of Ranma and timidly posed for him.
Kasumi had closed her eyes as she waited for Ranma's opinion. As the seconds passed her nervousness grew towards agitation but she remained silent and waited, and waited, and waited some more. Finally reaching the end of her patience, her eyes snapped open in time to witness Ranma's eyes slowly roaming her body, his mouth opened to say something but nothing came. Normally, Kasumi wouldn't really care but having Ranma, the person she loved, look at her like that was a huge boost to her ego and confidence. Feeling bold, Kasumi swayed closer to Ranma, each movement designed to magnify her feminine charms, and doing so flawlessly. When she was close enough, she bent forward, giving Ranma a full view of her cleavage and held that pose until Ranma's eyes drifted downwards, "You like?"
Ranma's breaths came quickly and were very shallow. All he could do was nod once, his eyes never leaving the divine sight before him"
"Good..." Kasumi's husky voice left Ranma shivering in pleasure.
Kasumi stood up straight and slowly, sensually walked back into the stall. She could feel Ranma's eyes glued to her body the entire time as she made her way back. As soon as the door closed Kasumi practically collapsed onto the small bench in the room. Her breathing was now ragged and rapid as she thought, 'Kami, I've never done that before, but it felt so good.' She took a couple of minutes to let herself calm down, put on her old dress, now seeming rather tame, and stepped out of the small room.
It was a good thing Kasumi had taken the time to recover because Ranma seemed to have needed every second. When Kasumi stepped out in front of Ranma again, he had yet to completely recover, but at least he was capable of speech. It wasn't intentional, or maybe it was; either way, Kasumi had given Ranma a lot more images to play with in his dreams. When he saw Kasumi he said what he'd tried to say a few minutes ago, "Wow... beautiful... good... Kami-sama... hot... wow..." He was able to speak, but no one said it would be coherent.
When Ranma was able to figure out how to walk again, he led Kasumi to the cashier and paid for her outfit. Ranma and Kasumi entered another shop a few minutes later, and once again Ranma made his ways directly to the women's clothing section. Ranma picked up a white tube top, turned to Kasumi and held it in front of her. Unknown to Kasumi, Ranma had remembered all of those lessons his mother had tried to teach Ranko, and now was using that knowledge to his advantage.
Kasumi started to blush as she imagined herself wearing it, "Ranma, shouldn't you go get some clothing for yourself."
Ranma gently smiled as he shook his head, "No, I already have enough and I wanted to buy something for you."
Kasumi knew that this wasn't true as both she and Ranma didn't own much, and she knew she still had so much more than he did. Comparing the clothing they brought with them when they left the Tendo home, Kasumi easily had three to four times more then Ranma. This confused her as, if anything, Ranma needed the clothes more then she did, but everything Ranma was looking at or purchasing was for her. He never needed, and could never have, much on the road and would never buy anything unless he needed it, just... like... her... Kasumi wanted to kick herself in the shin. Like herself, Ranma wouldn't buy something for himself unless absolutely necessary, so someone else would have to buy that something for either of them. 'Ranma thought of this a while ago. That's why he's been leading me to all these places' Kasumi told herself, then she promptly latched onto Ranma's arms and dragged him over to the men's section.
"Hey! I'm not...done, yet!" Ranma protested as he was dragged off.
Kasumi worked quickly as she selected a combination that was similar to what Ranma had bought for her: A simple pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt. Kasumi handed Ranma the clothing and shoved him into a dressing booth, a silent command telling him to try them on, or else. Ranma briefly blinked at the wall in front of him, then began to switch clothes. After all, he didn't want to see what she would do if he disobeyed her.
When Ranma finished getting dressed, he strode out of the dressing room and stood in front of Kasumi with an air of confidence. The jeans fit Ranma almost like a second skin, but the shirt was a bit loose on his upper body, she had to take into account Ranma's other form. This would work for now, but she would need to make some adjustments later, and she told Ranma to walk a few steps so she could see what she would need to do. She never saw if she needed to do anything because as soon as Ranma took the first step out of the booth, her eyes became glued to his muscles and the blue material that strained against his rippling form with every slight movement. Out of the corner of her eye, Kasumi caught the sales girl directing a hungry look towards Ranma. This made her ego grow a bit bigger because she knew that she and Ranma were committed to each other. Now, normally one would think that Kasumi would become territorial and attack the female who wanted to chase her mate, but with Kasumi, Ranma received her, well deserved, total and utter faith. Ranma stood there waiting for Kasumi's judgment, and was growing anxious due to her extended silence.
"Very nice." Kasumi finally spoke to Ranma.
Ranma was visibly relieved as he heard Kasumi complimenting him. He turned to re-enter the stall and thus failed to notice that both girls had their eyes glued to his powerful and well-defined muscles.
As soon as Ranma had finished getting back into his street clothes, Kasumi escorted him past an envious sales girl and paid for Ranma's new clothes.
For the next few stores a pattern developed. Ranma would choose clothes for Kasumi and after he sent her to model the selections for him, they would switch roles and repeat the process. Somehow, the modeling part became a bit of a competition, one would pose and try to get a reaction out of the other then, when they traded places, the person doing the modeling would try to get a better reaction then before. Kasumi, much to Ranma's agitation, easily won. As a man, Ranma had used his natural charm and a smile, unlike as a woman where he had learned to use his 'gifts', usually for free food and such. Another facet that led to Ranma's downfall was that Kasumi was able to hide her reactions more effectively. In the end, both Ranma and Kasumi were having a wonderful time teasing and being with each other.
Kasumi looked around while she and Ranma were walking amongst the stores and saw one that sparked an idea she was sure would make either of her mothers beam with pride. Telling Ranma she was thirsty prompted a stop at a vending machine for a cold drink, and she started enacting the plan she had come up with. Kasumi looked around to see if anyone was looking, and when she saw that there was no one in their immediate vicinity, Kasumi turned to her target.
Ranma watched as Kasumi purchased a bottle of water from the vending machine, but didn't think much of it. After all, if Kasumi wanted bottled water, who was he to question her choice of drink? Ranma had taken all of two steps when Kasumi upended the bottle over Ranma's head. Ranma sputtered and spun around to ask Kasumi why she did that, but her words died in her throat when she saw Kasumi's expression. Ranma froze as Kasumi took a couple seconds to openly admire him, now her, in her wet shirt. A reawakening part of Ranma's mind became aroused as Kasumi looked at her in that way, but that part of Ranma was also lost to the emotional response that the rest of her was now feeling. Ranma watched as Kasumi's delicate lips formed a smirk, and it wasn't one of her normal smirks, oh no, it was the same exact smirk Ranma herself, or her mother, used when they were planning something mischievous. To see it on Kasumi's heavenly features scared Ranma shitless, and froze him in place.
Taking advantage of Ranma's apparent inability to move under his own power, Kasumi pulled Ranma towards the street but after only a handful of steps Ranma seemed to completely lose his willingness to move. After a couple of futile attempts to pull Ranma along, Kasumi licked her lips as an idea came to her. Fortunately for Ranma, Kasumi's was plan was quite pleasurable: Kiss her till she can move again. Kasumi initiated the kiss and forced her tongue into Ranma's mouth. It only took Ranma half a second to instinctively respond to the kiss. A few minutes later Kasumi broke contact, leaving Ranma in a daze and wanting more. Kasumi knew the kiss didn't have to last quite that long but she enjoyed it too much to want it to end so soon. After Kasumi reluctantly released the kiss, she led the stupefied Ranma into a store.
The only living Enjeru family member, in her over-eagerness, had forgotten to look through nearby windows before initiating the kiss, and had inadvertently put on a show for a small bar/restaurant whose customers had had a perfect view of the lip lock. Nearly all of the men complained about how all the pretty girls were lesbians. Unfortunately, not all the men were single and those who weren't got slapped and/or glared at by their significant other, leading to days or even weeks of begging for forgiveness. Not all of the women acted that way, of course. Some wondered if they could join in and others were indifferent, believing that a person's choice was their own. Then, there were some women who were attached that were openly leering at the busty redhead and the elegant chestnut haired girls. The partners of those women weren't sure if they should be angry, worried, or excited.
"Ranma... Ranma..."
Ranma blinked and saw a hand being waved in front of her eyes, "Huh? wha...what?"
"Go try this on." Kasumi hid a small smile.
"Okay..." Ranma took the clothing without really paying it any attention. She walked into the booth and held the item in front of her body and looked in the mirror...
The longer Ranma was in the stall, the harder it was for Kasumi to hold in her giggling. She had tried to hide a smile, but that proved impossible, so she settled for trying to not make any noise.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Ranma nearly tore the door off the dressing room, "This is...this...is..."
"What you wanted to go shopping for." Kasumi calmly replied.
Had Ranma not been so disturbed, she would have seen that amusement was clearly evident in the former Tendo daughter's eyes.
The piece of clothing Ranma held in front of her was plain white lingerie. It wasn't made to be sexy, or anything, but Ranma's figure could make almost anything sexy. "But I wanted to get the lingerie for you to wear, not me."
Kasumi took a second to study the article of clothing, then Ranma, "Hmmmm... You're right. You can't. At least, not with your body, you can't... You wouldn't look very good in this at all, would you? You're right, it probably would look better on me." Kasumi then snatched the lingerie from Ranma and made her own way to the dressing room.
Ranma may not have liked his cursed body when she had first got it, but even she knew that she was beautiful and desirable and Ranma always took pride in that fact. Now that she was starting to enjoy her female body she was not going to let a challenge like that slide.
Kasumi was taking her time and had almost made it into the stall when Ranma brushed past her, grabbed the lingerie, and shut the door to the booth with an audible click, 'It's all going exactly as I planned it.'
Ranma had undressed and put on the lingerie when her mind caught up with what she was doing, 'Aww...man. Damn me and my pride.' Ranma began trying to think of a way to get Kasumi back, but nothing immediately came to mind, so she took a moment to study her reflection, 'I seem to make everything look good, and Kasumi could have found me something better. Her taste in... clothing... is... so... tame...' had someone been looking they would have sworn they'd seen a lit light bulb appear above Ranma's head. 'I could tell her the truth...'
Almost as soon as she got the idea, Ranma came up with a plan to get back at Kasumi. With a general idea of what she wanted to do, Ranma walked out and took a pose in front of Kasumi. Ranma had both arms behind her back with one hand holding her other wrist and she stood with her feet close to each other. She also bent her upper body forward, not quite enough to expose her cleavage, but enough to tease Kasumi. When she spoke, her voice was sweet and innocent and, somehow, managed to be sultry and sexy at the same time.
"You know, Kasumi, this looks very good on me, but then I make anything look good. Your choice is, well... tame. You could have picked something better for me. Maybe you should stay with getting clothing for my other body, that way anything you pick would look good."
When Ranma stepped out of the changing room and stood before her, it mesmerized Kasumi. Kasumi could feel a shot of anger as soon as she understood that Ranma had insulted her taste in clothing, but that was mixed with shock a few seconds later when she realized Ranma had managed to do it subtly. She stayed still long enough for Ranma to change, go pick something else out, put the selected items in her hands, and shove her into the stall.
Kasumi looked at the lingerie in her hands and had to admit that it was a lot more revealing then the one she picked for Ranma. It was white and still covered most of her body, but most of the material that made up the one piece was see-through translucent with some solid white satin placed in certain areas to keep the wearer covered. She quickly slipped it on, still simmering about Ranma's miraculously subtle insult. When she walked out of the dressing room, Kasumi made sure that she had Ranma's attention, and glided over to Ranma sexily, took the same pose Ranma had earlier, and spoke to a now stunned Ranma, "You like?"
Thus began the lingerie wars...
Ranma and Kasumi were both flushed as they made their way to the open food market. Both were shocked but not to embarrassed about what they had just done. Each had bought two pieces, each more risqué and exposing than the one that was picked before. Ranma's thoughts were centered on the idea that Kasumi looked, well...tasty. Kasumi's thoughts were a bit more varied but somewhere in her Nodoka corrupted mind, similar thoughts kept cropping up. Kasumi had kept having difficulty remembering that the two of them were supposed to get dinner materials or their mother would get annoyed. That was something neither of them wanted. So during their last exchange, Kasumi pounced on Ranma while wearing practically nothing, leaving the nearly comatose Ranma in a state which gave her enough time to get dressed, search Ranma for the stash of money, pay for their things, and pull Ranma to the street. Kasumi was amazed at the reactions her looks gave to the lingerie clad Ranma but she took a lot of pride in the fact that she could induce reactions equal, or maybe even stronger than, those of Ranma. Given all of the teasing and intimate positions that the two of them had been in, she should have been surprised at her behavior or responses. She was surprised at Ranma, though, going through all of the same experiences that she did, Kasumi would have thought that Ranma would be more used to these kinds of situations, but she was almost as innocent and naive as when she first arrived at the Tendo home.
When the two girls neared the open market they were acting so differently that no one would have guessed at their behavior a few minutes prior. As the prospect of food presented itself, Ranma set herself off on the unsuspecting vendors, and with her hands firmly on Kasumi's she forced the other girl along. Oddly enough, the two of them made an interesting pair; Ranma was wild, shameless and animated, while Kasumi was meek, embarrassed and shy.
Entering their second home, Ranma was carrying multiple armloads of bags filled with food and clothing, as was Kasumi. At the door Nodoka watched as her daughters walked into the kitchen with their purchases.
"I see you two have been busy."
"Uh-huh." came the muffled reply form her redheaded daughter.
Nodoka quickly and efficiently began putting the food away, but paused as she saw a store's seal on one of the bags. She raised one eyebrow and turned to Kasumi.
Kasumi saw her mother's inquiring look and saw the bag Nodoka had paused at... and every thought in her head disappeared, "Ranma wanted to..." She spoke the first words to come to mind and, unfortunately, deferred to Ranma.
Ranma picked up the statement, trying hard not to swallow her foot, "Practice!" and failing.
Kasumi's jaw really hurt from its attempt to hit the floor.
"Oh well, don't let these groceries stop you, let me take care of them so you two can have more time to yourselves."
"Thanks, mom." Ranma called back as she grabbed a shocked Kasumi and pulled her toward the stairs.
Kasumi walked into the living room, relieved. It had taken her a while to figure out what Ranma was talking about during the flirting they did while buying the dinner ingredients, though it was embarrassing, it wasn't as humiliating as talking about their sex life. A happy male Ranma followed Kasumi as the two of them quickly made their way into the kitchen and began to help Nodoka with dinner.
"Apparently, you both enjoyed your little shopping spree. You even went to one of my favorite shops." Nodoka developed a far away look, "Seeing those bags brought back a lot of fond memories of Kimiko."
Ranma thanked his mother, though he didn't really understand why a bag would remind his mother of Kasumi's, so he just nodded and smiled.
Kasumi, when she heard Nodoka's words, paled. She then watched Nodoka look at her and felt like she was watching a train wreck, as a spark of reconciliation grew in her mother's eyes. Kasumi only thought was, 'She knows that I know!' and she felt like crawling into a cabinet to hide, eternity couldn't be that long, could it? Kasumi was pulled from her plans for the future when Ranma asked a question.
"Mom, what's that?" Ranma was a bit pensive.
Nodoka and Kasumi both looked at the object Ranma had pointed at. Kasumi instantly knew why Ranma sounded pensive; it was the television screen that still showed a picture of her room.
"Just some old video of Kasumi's mother and I." Nodoka replied and noticed the relief in Ranma's face and tried to figure out why he was so relieved. Ranma's mother looked at her son, then at the television, then her daughter, and back to the television. "You thought that I would put a camera in Kasumi's room to record my son's special moments?"
"Urk!" came the dual reply.
"As much as that is a great idea, I know that you, Ranma, have never received any kind of privacy, either due to your father or at the Tendo dojo thanks to Nabiki. I want to give you the privacy to do whatever you want on your own, and since you have done nothing wrong to deserve that privilege to be violated or revoked." Nodoka started speaking in a light humorous tone but she had taken on a very serious tone at the end of her rant.
Oddly, Ranma began to speak meekly, "Then...then how did you know that the only thing Kasumi and me did was kiss this morning?"
"Ranma, you know that I practice the art, right?" seeing her son nod Nodoka continued, "I am able to see ki and chi flows and a virgin has a slightly different aura from a person who is not and you and Kasumi are still clearly virgins."
"Oh..." was the only thing a red faced Ranma could say.
"Although, I would love it if I received a grandchild in nine months." Nodoka sighed, "You two are cruel, making me wait this long, but I guess it's your choice. I had a few more things I wanted to try, but I guess I'll let you two take as long as you need."
Ranma and Kasumi had the urge to devote themselves to whatever god or goddess had prompted Nodoka to say that last sentence.
"Enough talk of depressing topics, are you two going to help with dinner or not? Oh and I think you might like this particular video." Soon the delicious scent of dinner filled the house, along with the sounds of Kimiko's sixteenth birthday.
Ranma knew that Kasumi was an early riser, so he had gotten up earlier then usual, in hopes that he could wake her up. It was a teacher's job to wake the student after all, and he didn't want a lazy student. The thoughts of Kasumi's nightie never entered his thoughts...really...kind of...well not for very long anyways.
Sadly, when Ranma checked, Kasumi's bed was neatly made so, dejectedly, Ranma made his way to the wash room and cleaned himself up. Once he made his way to the kitchen, he spotted the object of his desires in the main room, engrossed in scrolls of her school. Kasumi was also dressed in a pristine white gi tied together with a white belt.
"Kasumi..." Ranma asked with a raised eyebrow.
Kasumi looked over to Ranma and started to rub her hands nervously, "I couldn't sleep, so I came down here."
Ranma could understand why, Kasumi was asked by the spirit of her mother to continue the art that she had given up in her youth. She wasn't sure if she could do it, or live up to her mother's expectations. To try and calm Kasumi's nerves, Ranma put on a gentle and supportive smile, "I guess I don't have to ask if you're ready?"
Kasumi took a breath, stood up and, with that signal, the two of them walked to the dojo to begin.
In the dojo, Ranma was about to instruct Kasumi on the warm up exercises, but was greatly surprised as Kasumi began to go through the exercises easily and with no errors.
Kasumi saw Ranma's reaction and paused, she then blushed and looked sheepish, "I kind of spent a lot of time watching you do them."
Ranma opened his mouth to try and embarrass her more, but stopped. In this place they were not boyfriend and girlfriend. Here, they were teacher and student, so he nodded and continued.
Once their warm-ups were done, Ranma spoke, "Now Kasumi, we're not going to start with a kata from the scrolls, but one from anything-goes because I want to judge where you are at the moment and how hard I can push you at this point."
Kasumi nodded and watched Ranma carefully as he preformed a basic anything-goes kata. When he finished, she mimicked the stance and began the kata herself. As she worked through the kata, Ranma watched her intently. Normally this would fluster her but she too, like Ranma, recognized that here, their relationship was different. Ranma corrected her when she made a mistake and had her run through the kata a few more times to make sure she didn't have any reflexes that needed to be broken.
At the end, Ranma nodded, "Very good. Do you remember how far you were when you stopped practicing?"
Kasumi shook her head, "No, but when I went through the scroll earlier I recognized almost all of the techniques. I think that I stopped when I was somewhere in the intermediate level."
Ranma thought about what Kasumi said, "It's been so long since you practiced, so we're going to start from the beginning, okay?"
Kasumi straightened up and replied, "Yes, Sensei."
With that settled the two of them sat in the middle of the dojo and began to go over the scrolls of Kasumi's school.
Over the next week, Kasumi quickly relearned the basics of her school. Early in the week Ranma had tried to test Kasumi's learning abilities and was amazed. Although, nowhere near Ranma's own learning curve, Kasumi's was no less amazing. Within four days the girl had learned that kata. 'Learned' was a weak word to describe what Kasumi had done; she didn't just memorize the kata, she began to do the kata with unearthly grace, something similar to a master. If that was how quickly and how well Kasumi was going to learn everything, Ranma easily understood why Kimiko fought with Soun to teach Kasumi the Fallen Angels' School of Martial Arts. Kasumi was... is... a prodigy in her own right.
During the following week, Ranma and Kasumi spent eight to twelve hours a day training. Their day usually followed the same path, wake up, get ready, train, eat, train, eat, train, bathe, spend time with each other and/or their mother before and after dinner and, finally, sleep. Then, on the next day they would repeat the process. This was normal for Ranma, but he wanted to ask Kasumi why she was subjecting herself to this life style. Ranma had become curious because, yesterday, he watched as Kasumi modified a kata to do her household chores. At first he was going to leave it alone, but it kept nagging at him throughout the entire day, so he was going to ask about it in the morning. When Kasumi entered the dojo and was about to start her warm up exercises, Ranma stopped her, "Kasumi?"
The girl stopped and looked up, "Yes, Ranma?"
"I was wondering... why do you train so hard?" Ranma had paused slightly, not sure if he should be asking.
Kasumi closed her eyes in thought.
After a few minutes Ranma thought his questions had been too intrusive. "It's okay, you don't have to answer."
Immediately after Ranma said that, Kasumi answered him, "Ranma, you know that my mother asked me to start practicing the school, knowing that I am the last to practice it, right?" She looked at Ranma, who nodded, then continued, "Being the last of a school means that I am or am going to be the grandmaster of the school..."
Ranma eyes widened as he realized that fact.
"...making the art a major part of my life. To become a grandmaster I must have an enormous amount of dedication, and my life has to be dedicated to the art. I only know a few people who would be near the level of a grandmaster, and I have tried to be like one of them. I want to become a martial artist that won't betray the title of grandmaster."
It didn't take Ranma long to realize that she was talking about him. He had said that the art was life, and it seemed Kasumi was taking that philosophy to heart. Ranma nodded to her and began to stretch, an action that was quickly followed by Kasumi. Ranma was going to take Kasumi's training to another level, if she was going to be a grandmaster, Ranma was train her and keep training her until they mastered the Fallen Angels' School of martial arts, and Kasumi could confidently call herself Grandmaster of the school.
Author's Notes: As always, I would like to thank my pre-reader DelShalDar.
Anyways, as always, you can leave a review or e-mail me a comment at:
tsunami(underscore)saotome(at)yahoo(dot)com
I would like to thank everyone you took the time to review my story even those who took the time to read it. I hope hear from everyone again and hopefully even more people.
Reviewer Responses:
Wonderbee31: I like Nabiki so she won't be to bashed in this story. I'll get to her in the next chapter. The others are going to attack Ranma's loved ones but I not good at writing fight scenes (or at least I thinks I'm no good) so I came up with some non-violent ways do deal with them.
glazedlookineyes101: I happy you find my story interesting. The part interlude into Nerima was suposed to happened last chapter, at least thats what I had planned in the orginal outline but I started to write more details into each scene so that didn't happend, but don't worry a part into Nerima is planned for the next chapter.
JonnyG: You know I recently went back to reread my old notebooks and found that this story was to be a drama and romance story but it became waffy not what I had orignally planned but I still enjoy writing this story none the less.
Rubel: I plan on moving this story a bit slow but I will deal with all of the NWC eventually.
shinji the good sharer: You and you toys smily face. Sorry I haven't logged on my IM lately but I just don't really feel like chatting lately.
James Axelrad: I though that if I picked a unique name it would cause Nabiki to find them sooner, So I look on the internet for the most common japanese family names and found Inoue all so Nodoka is a fairly common first name so I figure that would throw Nabiki off. Also there is another reason but you'll have to keep reading to find out :)
Lerris: What you said is true, but I don't really like those three and that come out in my writing esspecially when I am free writing.
nonengel: WOW! I almost caused you tears. That is as amazing as Ranko telling me I'm funny. :p
SSJGuyver: The best you've read ina while that doesn't seem likely but thank you for saying that.
Hiryo: Hmmm... I should blame you for the update taking so long. ;)I'll read anything that is a NON akane pairing so I spent a lot of time reading the stories in you C2 archives. Geart Archive. Yes he will meet his aunt and uncle but that will be in a later chapter.
Goku: The interlude to Nerima was to happen last chapter but It didn't don't worry its going to happen in the next chapter.
Oh and flames will be tossed into Akane's cooking. Then when they're alive be force fed her cooking to die a slow, painful death.