"Father, your tea."
Soun Tendo, who had been gazing at the shimmering of the sunlit backyard pond for so long that he had lost his sense of self to nature, snapped back to reality at his eldest daughter's soft voice. He turned his head, finding Kasumi kneeling on the ground, laying a paper coaster on the wooden floor, and placing a steaming cup of green tea on top.
Soun tipped slightly from his cushion to reach to grab the cup. He poured the hot liquid down his throat in a quick sip. He smacked his lips and smiled.
"Delicious as always," he declared. "Thank you, Kasumi."
Kasumi smiled pleasantly.
Such was the relationship between Kasumi and her family. She was, in many respects, the perfect daughter for Soun, the perfect older sister for Nabiki and Akane, and the perfect host for the numerous freeloa- er, houseguests staying with them. Every day, Kasumi would wake just a little earlier than everyone else, and commence with a new day of cooking, cleaning, washing, shopping, and performing all the other household chores, only breaking with this pattern on those rare and unfortunate days when she fell sick. She did her work with grace and pride, with an almost motherly touch.
Everyone was grateful to her, most of all her father, who could wind up weeping thinking about how good he had to have been in his past life to be blessed with such a wonderful daughter.
And yet, something troubled Soun, and this troubled feeling must've crossed his face, because he heard Kasumi say, "Oh, is there something wrong with the tea, Father?"
"No, no, not the tea," he said. "I was just thinking...hmm...Kasumi dear, do you mind answering a question for me?"
Kasumi blinked. "What is it?"
"Kasumi, is there something you want that you feel you can't have because of us?"
Kasumi blinked again, confused. "I don't understand what you mean."
"What I mean to say is...how do I put this properly...well, you're a wonderful daughter, and you know that your sisters and I love you very much and we're so grateful that you take care of our family. I just think and worry sometimes that perhaps this might not be what you really want, and that you might feel like you have to set your own life to the side so you can take care of us."
"Oh, Father." She could see what he meant now. He was worried that she felt she was under some kind of pressure to act as she did. She smiled politely to reassure him. "Don't worry, I take care of our family because that's what makes me happy. For me, doing the work that makes you all happy is like martial arts for Akane and selling Ranma's naked pictures for Nabiki. You don't have to worry about me."
Nabiki does WHAT?! Soun grimaced, but figured he'd take care of that later. Right now, he just sighed with relief.
"I'm glad to hear that. But don't forget, Kasumi, that if you ever find something else that will make you happy, don't feel like you owe us so much that you'll make yourself unhappy."
"Well, there is a boy I've been thinking of eloping with—"
It took 0.7 seconds for two Niagara waterfalls to erupt from Soun's eyes.
"Father, I'm only kidding," said Kasumi with a light giggle. She stood up, lightly brushed her knees, and turned to return to the kitchen, leaving her father to calm down from his hysterics.
He's so funny sometimes.
Back in the kitchen, the faint ghost of the green tea's vapor lingered in the air. Sunlight poured in through the kitchen, falling on the fresh vegetables she had left on the table, shining under the warm rays and asking to be cut. In the corner of the room, the radio was on at a low volume, a voice pouring in talking about Reagan and Gorbachev and something about a wall. Kasumi didn't care for politics much, so she flicked the radio off as she prepared to get to work on dinner. She didn't need the radio, she could just hum to herself instead.
All in all, everything felt so serene.
This is nice, Kasumi thought as she brought a thin carrot to the cutting board. I don't know why Father would think I'm not happy like this.
Different things make different people happy, as she always figured it. For some people it's money (like Nabiki), for some people it's being the best (like Akane and Ranma), for some people it's playing a good game with a friend (like Father and Uncle Saotome), and for some sad, sad people it's underwear (like Grandfather Happosai). And then there are those things that make everyone happy, like wearing clean clothes, sleeping in a warm bed, and eating a good meal.
That was where she came in; she made sure the people she cared about had those things, and that was what made her happy.
But then again…
She frowned, and for a single moment, ceased the slicing of the carrot.
Kasumi loved her family, of course. She loved homemaking for the Tendo house, of course. She never, ever felt that she was keeping herself from something she wanted, of course.
But her talk with her father, as short as it was, introduced a little doubt, and with that little crack in her resolve, she realized something.
She was curious about what it would be like to throw all that to the wind and just be a normal nineteen year old.
She wasn't going to quit housework, not that she even wanted to. But she was curious to know what it was like to not have to worry about it. Even if for a little while. Even if that little while was only as little as one night.
"Like Cinderella," she found herself saying.
Cinderella was one of her favorite stories, and at that moment, she felt a bit like the fairy tale princess. Not in that her family was cruel or mean, but just in that she wanted to have one night away from her chores, one magical night to dance and play and...and maybe find her handsome prince.
Before she could get too swept up in her own fantasies, Kasumi accidentally cut the tip of her finger with her knife. "Oh my," she gasped, examining the little stream of redness trickling from the cut. She reached into the cupboard, grabbed the box of bandages, but noticed as she picked it up and shook it that it was empty.
"Well," she said with the smile of a woman undeterred, "I guess I know what else needs to be added to my shopping list."
As Kasumi was coming home, heavy plastic bags weighing down on both her arms, she noticed that the closer she got to her house, the louder the sound of shouting became. That's how she knew that Akane and Ranma were home. She smiled, amused by their perpetual conflict. Their arguing had become like background noise at this point; expected and in a weird way comforting. It just wouldn't feel like home if those two weren't fighting about something.
What that exact something was was something Kasumi had to ask about from Nabiki—who was looking on their fight, similarly amused.
"The school is holding a dance," Nabiki informed her older sister. "You can probably guess how their latest lover's quarrel spilled out from there."
"A dance?" murmured Kasumi, curious. "Shouldn't there be a festival instead?"
"Normally that's how they'd do it. But our principal's decided to import a Western tradition."
The Sadie Hawkins dance, it was called. It was a dance American schools held, where the gimmick was that only girls could ask boys to the dance. And since Hawaii was part of America…
Nabiki sighed mournfully. "And here I thought I'd be cooking up some brilliant festival booth money-making scheme. Thanks America."
"And what makes you think I'd ever ask you?!" shouted Akane in the background.
"Like I care!" replied Ranma, similarly not using his indoor voice. "The whole thing's stupid anyway, and even if I did care about it, I wouldn't want an uncute tomboy like you to ask me to go!"
"Suits me fine, because I would never ask an insensitive jerk like you!"
"Oh? So who are you thinking about asking?"
"Well...uh...maybe I'll ask Ryoga!" replied Akane with a wicked smirk. She knew that name would get under Ranma's skin the most.
Unbeknownst to her, Ryoga was there to hear that. Right at that moment, P-Chan was waddling his way into the room. His little ears pricked at Akane's words, and he quickly turned to rush towards the bathroom. Unfortunately for him, he found himself suddenly being kicked out of the way by a powerful force of perversion, sending the little piglet flying through the roof and into the sky.
"Forget little boys like Ranma and Ryoga, Akane, you should go with a man like meeeeeeeee!" squealed Happosai as he launched himself into her chest. As was usually the case, he collided with her fist instead.
"Ugh, this is why I hate boys!" she shouted as she stormed off to her room.
"Well that's a darn shame," grumbled Happosai, before looking to his next victim.
"What about you, Ranma?" he said as he doused the poor boy with water. "Care to give an old man a night he'll remember for the rest of his life?"
"I'll make the rest of your life right now, you old freak," growled the now-feminine Ranma as she began chasing Happosai through the house, loud noises of wreckage following them.
"Oh my," said Kasumi softly. She then turned to Nabiki. "Well, make sure to tell everyone that dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes."
"Will do," the middle sister muttered as she made her way up the stairs, grabbing onto the railing as a series of Happo-Fire Bursts shook the house.
Kasumi smiled, and turned to the kitchen. She turned on the stove to heat what she had already cooked earlier. As she watched the bubbling of the soup, she found herself crossing her hands, like a Christian in prayer, and placing them at her breast.
"A dance," she said softly to herself.
In the cauldron, a giant bubble of broth burst.
Ranma, for his part, seriously did not care about the stupid dance. Really, he didn't. He didn't glare at Akane throughout dinner because he was jealous or nothing. He was just...annoyed is all. Not annoyed that she'd ask someone else (because, again, he didn't care about some dumb dance), he was just annoyed with Akane for...usual reasons, he guessed.
Whatever, he thought as he shoveled rice into his mouth. Let her ask whoever she wants. Let her ask Ryoga. The pig and the ox, it's a real barnyard get-together.
As if she could read his thoughts, Akane suddenly cast him a nasty look.
At the end of dinner, Ranma set the bowl and chopsticks down and rose to stand, when he heard Kasumi say, "Oh, Ranma, could you help me with the dishes?"
"What? Oh, sure."
As everyone got up and left, Ranma and Kasumi picked up their dirty utensils. The last ones Ranma went to pick up were Akane's, as she was the last to finish eating. She put her bowl in his hands and gave him one last dirty look before letting out a Hmmph! and getting up to leave.
Seriously, so uncute. Even more than usual.
It was that stupid Sadie Hawkins dance. Ranma knew, from the first moment that the principal announced that Little Keikis gonna do a little dance I brought from the islands, just l'dat haha! that things were going to get real complicated, real fast. It always did in his life. He was just glad that Shampoo didn't go to Furinkan; that girl would be relentless in trying to get him to go with her.
Of course, that did leave open the question: who was he going to go with?
Nobody, he firmly decided. Even if a girl asks me, I ain't going, I don't care about the stupid rules. I'll go to school as a girl to make sure it doesn't happen if I have to. Though Kuno will be annoying if I do that...but hey, it's not like he can ask me or nothing!
It was a genius plan, he couldn't believe he thought up of it himself. Nothing could go wrong, nothing could force him to go, nothing at al—
"Ranma, are you listening to me?"
"Huh? What?"
Ranma was dragged out of his thought and back into the real world, remembering where he was. He was washing dishes with Kasumi, and she was looking at him oddly curiously.
"Sorry," he said, digging his finger in his ear. "What was that you were saying?"
"I was asking you about your school's dance."
"Oh, that. It's just some stupid thing the principal picked up overseas. A girl asks a guy to the dance, the guy goes with her, and that's that."
"I see. And has Akane asked you to go with her?"
"Pfft, of course not." He hated how his voice cracked at the end, making him sound like he was upset. "No one's asked me so far."
"That's rather surprising. You usually have a lot of girls wrecking the house fighting over you," said Kasumi matter-of-factly.
Ranma blushed. "Sorry about that. I'll try to clean up more when that happens in the future. But, uh, I don't know, I guess not today."
"Well then. In that case, I have favor to ask you."
"Sure. What is it?"
"Would you allow me to ask you to your school's dance, Ranma?"
Putting the dish in his hands under the hot water, Ranma then wiped it with a cloth, then set it gently to the side on the rack to let it dry. Then he looked at Kasumi, a little smile on his face.
"Sorry, but what was that? I think I poked something in my ear, cause it sounded like you said you wanted to ask me to my school's dance—"
"That's exactly what I said," said Kasumi cheerfully, without skipping a beat. "I'd like to ask you to the dance."
"Oh." Ranma nodded, absorbing the information, calmly, coolly, sedately…
His face exploded with color. Within seconds, his cheeks were as red as his shirt, and as hot as the steaming water running from the faucet. He backed away, waving his arms wildly like a baboon, his eyes large and dilated like he had just been surprised by death.
Oh my, I forgot how excitable he can be with these matters.
"You want to go the d-dance with me?"
"Yes," said Kasumi with a slight nod. "I think it'll be fun, and I've always wanted to attend a dance like that."
"Well, I mean, I guess, if it's just for fun, and we're friends, right? Uh, I mean...I-I'll think about it!"
She watched as the young man ran out of the kitchen like she was holding a cat, so fast he almost became a blur. Kasumi chuckled lightly; she knew there was a chance he would react like this.
"But he didn't say no," she optimistically noted. "He didn't say no."
And in that moment—that moment of him not saying no—a new story was born. The red strings of fate weaved a new tapestry in the heavens.
That of the strange story of Cinderella and her strange, strange Prince Charming.
I haven't written a fanfiction in a long time. Years, in fact. I'm in a strange place where everything is both familiar but also new and distant. But hey, sometimes you get nostalgic for writing this stuff, make a new account on a whim, write a few chapters of a story, wonder if you really want to upload them and thus dedicate your time to writing fanfic again...I can be a bit too neurotic for my own good.
But enough about that; I hope you've enjoyed so far. Criticism is more than welcome, especially in regards to tone (I still haven't decided if I'd like to do something similar to the wildness of canon or perhaps a bit more grounded). Encouragement is always very welcome. Really, just give me your honest thoughts and I'll be happy. Thanks for reading!