Ranma 1/2
Altered Destinies: A scary thought
Chapter 3
Ranma tumbled to the ground, just barely avoiding the carp pond. He flipped back to his feet in frustration and stared at Kasumi's male form. Kasumi stood ready to continue their sparring match. Ranma was beginning to curse himself for his slack training. Kasumi was making a fool out of him. As hard as he tried he couldn't land a blow.
Ranma looked across the pond at Akane having similar results sparring with his father. This had all sounded so nice when Kasumi suggested it. She wanted to restart her morning training sessions with Ranma's father. That gave his father the idea of expanding Ranma's training. Then Akane insisted on getting involved. Now Ranma was questioning whether this was all such a good idea.
To think he was being bested by a girl. Well, actually Kasumi was a boy at the moment but it was still embarrassing. To add insult to injury Kasumi wasn't even going all out. He was pulling every one of his punches and not even bothering to go on the offensive. And to think I am supposed to marry this show off, Ranma thought with a frown. That brought to mind a rather unpleasant image in Ranma's mind of him and Kasumi together in bed. It wouldn't be that bad except Kasumi was in her male form.
Ranma quickly shoved aside that thought and launched into another barrage of punches. Once more Kasumi dodged every one of them with his usual ease. Ranma wanted to holler out his frustration but managed to keep his feelings held to just an angry frown.
"All right Ranma. It's time for breakfast." Kasumi said as he dropped out of his fighting stance. Ranma shot a glance to the common room and noticed Nabiki placing some food on the table. Reluctantly Ranma followed suit and walked inside. He'd get even soon enough.
As Kasumi sat at the table Nabiki, with a slight scowl, handed her a kettle of water. Kasumi accepted the kettle and changed back to normal as Ranma examined Nabiki.
"I told you that you should have trained with us." Ranma said to Nabiki as the others gathered at the table.
"What? What are you talking about?" Nabiki asked in confusion.
"Well that's why you're mad, right? Stuck doing kitchen duty."
"Ranma, there is nothing wrong with cooking." Nodoka interjected then turned to Nabiki. "You shouldn't feel like you've been given a punishment. It is an honor to cook for your family."
"Who said anything about me being mad about cooking? I'd much rather be doing that than getting bruises from that stupid martial arts nonsense." Nabiki protested.
"Then why are you so mad?" Ranma asked.
Nabiki shot Ranma and then Kasumi a quick angry look, and put one last dish on the table rather roughly. "I'm not mad. It's nothing. Okay?" Nabiki responded, challenging Ranma with a glare to open his mouth again.
Ranma shrugged and let the subject drop. Breakfast passed fairly uneventfully from there and soon Ranma and Akane were on their way to school, walking in Kasumi's company. Akane fell back a little, signaling Ranma to do likewise.
"What?" He asked as he joined her.
"I bet you're not so confident now, are you?"
"What are you talking about?" Ranma asked then quickly realized she was referring to his sparring match with Kasumi. "Ahh, I was going easy on her."
"Yeah right. You were getting consistently destroyed."
"So what? As if I care."
"Oh sure, you don't care one little bit." Akane sarcastically replied. "Just don't go around doing something stupid because of it."
"I'm not that petty." Ranma replied but at the same time amused himself with a few fantasies. However, he quickly brushed them out of his mind. He was better than that.
Akane and Ranma's attention was quickly switched to the school ahead where Kuno stood waiting by the entrance. As Ranma expected he immediately stepped forward to greet Kasumi. "My dearest Kasumi, you are well. After what that fiend did yesterday I feared for your safety."
"Thank you for the concern but there was really no problem. I really should explain."
Before Kasumi could continue Ranma grabbed her by the arm. "We should talk for a second." He hinted and Kasumi nodded and allowed herself to be lead off. "You can't tell him about your curse."
"And why not?"
"Look, Kuno is a nice guy and all but he has his bad points too. One is his rather irrational response to things he doesn't understand. There's no telling how he'll react to learning about your curse so early on. Give him some time then maybe you can tell him but for now I'd suggest you keep it to yourself."
Kasumi considered this for a moment then reluctantly nodded. "Perhaps you're right. Thank you Ranma." Kasumi replied then moved back over to Kuno who was talking with Akane who was less than amused with the attention.
Kuno quickly turned his attention back to Kasumi. "My love, you were about to tell me something?"
"Yes, but it's not really important at the moment. As you can see I am well."
"Of course and fear not, I shall not be so lack in your defense in the future. Should that knave appear again, I shall most assuredly bring him to justice. I, Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High do so vow this." Kuno raised his bokken dramatically to emphasis the last point.
"That is a very kind and noble gesture of you but unnecessary. There was simply a misunderstanding."
Kuno put up his hand to silence Kasumi. "Speak no more for I know it all. Now, allow me to escort you and your fair sister inside and-"
Kuno never got to finish his line as Akane punted him into the stratosphere. Kasumi looked at her sister in disapproval. "Akane, was that really necessary?"
"In my opinion, yes. He was just going to rant on into tomorrow. Now let's get going." Akane answered then continued onto the school. After she shook her head Kasumi followed. Ranma gave the speck in the sky a brief look. Before he started after the others he noticed a movement on the roof of the school. He examined the area closer but saw nothing. He dismissed the event and entered the school.
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On the school's rooftop a figure lay in wait. The temptation to attack was great but things weren't quite right. No, there had to be an audience to witness what was to come. The time was near though, very near.
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The day passed much more uneventfully than the previous one for Kasumi. She was glad for that. Her classes were easy enough, just assisting the regular physical education teachers. A slightly more daunting task that she was handed was that of looking over old incident reports. A whole section of the office was devoted to storing files on this topic. Kuno was still presenting a problem but she managed to avoid him for the day. However, how to deal with that situation was quickly becoming a very problematic question.
As the school day came to an end Kasumi made her way to the front of the school and began to wait as she had the day before. She had just noticed her sisters and Ranma when a sudden sense of danger pushed her into action. She leapt to the side, turning in midair just in time to notice a large metallic object embed itself in the pavement where she had been standing. Kasumi landed and scanned the startled crowd for her attacker.
"Kasumi Tendo! At last I've caught up with you! You won't be able to run away this time!" A voice called out and a form dropped to the ground in front of her. Kasumi quickly sized up her opponent as a crowd gathered around the pair. It was a girl with long brown hair hanging loosely down to her shoulders. She was wearing a set of dark brown and purple travel clothes similar to Kasumi's own but more feminine in appearance. She had the strong build of a formidable martial artist and judging from her ability to embed something in pavement was very capable of using that strength. Then Kasumi realized what the metal object was. A giant metal spatula?
"What's wrong? At a loss for words?" The girl asked, anger clear in her voice, as she removed the spatula from the ground.
"Why did you attack me?" Kasumi asked as she cautiously took up a defensive posture.
The girl's anger seemed only to grow at the question. "Why did I attack you? Why did I attack you? Don't you dare try to play innocent!"
Kasumi was taken aback by the harshness in the girl's words. What could she possibly mean? Kasumi didn't remember this girl... Actually, she did seem vaguely familiar. "Do I know you?" Kasumi asked.
The girl responded by getting even more angry. "You don't even remember who I am? You don't remember the person whose life you ruined?"
The situation was getting quickly out of hand. Kasumi strained to remember the girl. She had to or things would only get worse and fighting might be inevitable. Whoever she was it must have been sometime since Kasumi had last seen her. Then it came to her.
"Ukyo?" Kasumi asked in disbelief, and got an angry frown in confirmation. "Ukyo, why are you angry with me? I thought we were friends."
"Oh friends, yeah, sure. Some friend you were! You destroyed my life and you call yourself my friend! Don't insult me! I'm here to get my revenge on you, so you better be ready!" Ukyo readied the giant spatula and fell back into a fighting stance.
Kasumi was at a loss. Everything she said just seemed to make Ukyo angrier. What could she possibly think Kasumi had done to her to ruin her life? "Ukyo, please, if you would just explain then maybe-"
"Shut up! I'm sick of your fraudulent niceness. I know what you did so don't even think of denying it! You won't fool me!" Ukyo rushed forward, swinging her spatula as she came. Kasumi leaped into the air to avoid the blow and to consider her remaining options. Ukyo, however, wasn't about to let her consider and quickly joined Kasumi in the air with a new attack. The situation was forced, Kasumi had to fight back. With a quick motion she kicked out at the spatula, attempting to knock it from Ukyo's hands. Ukyo surprisingly managed to block the attack and initiated one of her own as they landed.
Kasumi dodged away from two more attacks then made another attempt for the spatula. This time she succeeded in knocking it loose from Ukyo's grasp but Ukyo pressed on using her fists. Kasumi twisted away from one set of punches then caught each of Ukyo's hands as she attempted another.
"Would you please talk to me?" Kasumi desperately asked as she held Ukyo's hands to the sides.
"NO!" To emphasis the point Kasumi was knocked back by a knee to her abdomen. "There's nothing to say."
Kasumi got back to her feet as Ukyo retrieved her spatula. She wouldn't continue this fight. It was senseless. She needed time to think, to figure out what she had done to make Ukyo so furious. As she looked around she spotted something that just might do the trick.
Spatula back in her hands, Ukyo rushed in with a sweeping slash. Kasumi hopped onto the spatula in mid-strike, used it as a spring board and leapt over Ukyo. Before Ukyo could recover she was knocked to the ground as Kasumi used her back as yet another spring board.
Ukyo pounded the ground in frustration then flipped back to her feet. However, as she searched the area she could find no sign of her enemy. "You coward! Come back here!" Ukyo yelled out angrily. Other than the crowd's puzzled looks as they too tried to find Kasumi, Ukyo got no response. "You can't stay away from me forever! I know where I can find you! If you don't face me before sunset I'll hunt you down!" Ukyo yelled out. When she got no further response she turned and walked off towards the school fields.
Finally the crowd began to break up, Ranma, Nabiki and Akane searching around for Kasumi. After a few moments they noticed Kasumi, in her male form, handing a empty sports bottle to a confused student, thanking him for the loan.
"Do you mind explaining to us just who the heck that was?" Ranma asked as they approached.
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A short time later at one of the local cafes Kasumi, back in her female form, sat at a table with the others and began her tale.
"It was a short time after mother's funeral that I met Ukyo. Mr. Saotome and I were already training on our own but at times our budget was a bit tight. We soon discovered a yatai owned by Ukyo's father. To help alleviate our economic trouble I agreed to work at the yatai with Ukyo and her father. The way I remember it Ukyo and I became good friends. I never got the impression I was angering her. I guess she might have been disappointed that she could not finish that cooking contest they had just before we left."
"Cooking contest?" Akane asked.
"It was a contest held by one of the local restaurant owners. Everyone in the area who was a skilled cook and martial artist participated. One particular grouping matched all the children against each other. I originally wasn't participating but Ukyo was having some difficulty in her quarter-finals match so her father asked me to take her place. I know she wished to continue but I can't see that alone leading to all this anger towards me."
Akane nodded in agreement. "I kind of doubt that too but she is certainly ticked off at you. Did you or Mr. Saotome do anything else before you left?"
Kasumi thought hard. It would be just like Genma to do something that would cause this kind of anger but nothing happened that she could recall. "No, we left the next day to continue our training."
"Well, you got one very angry girl on your hands who isn't about to go away. What are you going to do?" Ranma asked.
"I suppose I have no other choice but to face her. If I could just get her to tell me-"
"She doesn't exactly seem overly willing to have a pleasant conversation and discuss things."
Kasumi let out a sigh and nodded. Once more it looked like she was forced to face someone's challenge. She could still remember the results of other such incidents. She dearly hoped this one didn't follow the pattern.
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The Furinkan High soccer field was surrounded by a large crowd, all intent on seeing the coming match between Ukyo and Kasumi. Ukyo paced back and forth impatiently at one end of the field, waiting for her opponent to show up. Murmurs from the crowd caused her to stop and spot Kasumi walking onto the field.
"It's about damned time! Let's get this over with." Ukyo said as she removed her spatula from her back and readied it.
"Ukyo, I don't want to fight you. Whatever I did to you, I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you."
"Sorry? Sorry doesn't make up for the mess you've turned my life into!" Ukyo replied angrily then set herself in a combat stance. Kasumi shook her head then reluctantly did likewise. Ukyo was determined to have a fight. Well, if Kasumi could keep this short she might just avoid anyone getting hurt. The two began examining each other for an opening.
Off at field side Akane and Ranma sat down to observe. Nabiki soon joined them, counting a large wad of bills. Akane soon noticed this and glared at her sister. "Nabiki! You didn't?"
"And why not?" Nabiki asked but a battle cry from Ukyo cut off any response.
Kasumi dodged away from a downward slash from Ukyo's spatula. She responded with a leg sweep. Ukyo back-flipped over the sweep and as she returned to her feet blocked a kick with one of her own. Kasumi tried to slip through a strike to a nerve center but Ukyo seemed to know it was coming and moved just enough to have the blow hit off target.
"Don't think you're going to win this fight with those dumb tricks." Ukyo taunted as she withdrew for a second. Suddenly she drew several small metal spatulas from her shirt and threw them at Kasumi. Kasumi managed to dodge these at the expense of her shirt's sleeve.
This wasn't looking good. Kasumi tried twice more to slip through with a critical point blow but each time Ukyo countered. As she blocked a series of attacks from Ukyo Kasumi considered the situation. She really didn't want this fight, and she certainly didn't want to hurt an old friend. However, if she expected to make it through this in one piece she might have to. She had one option left, fight on and hope she could exhaust Ukyo enough that she'd be open to talk.
Kasumi dodged past Ukyo's spatula, grabbed it then directed two kicks at Ukyo, knocking her down and forcing her to release the weapon. Kasumi threw the spatula off to the side and prepared to continue as Ukyo recovered and flipped back to her feet. Kasumi dashed in, ready to deliver a set of kicks that would hopefully keep Ukyo down. Unfortunately, as Kasumi kicked out, Ukyo pulled something else out of her shirt and blocked. A clang of metal was heard.
Kasumi hopped back, her foot surging with pain. She looked over at Ukyo to notice her holding a wok with a foot shaped dent in it.
"A wok? I though you were into Okonomiyaki." Kasumi said as she tested her injured foot.
"I diversified. Here, have a cake!" Ukyo pulled out and threw, well, a cake. Kasumi let out a startled yell and managed to roll to the side, avoiding it. However, Ranma wasn't so lucky and got stuck directly in the face by the flying dessert.
"Ranma, aren't you supposed to be a martial artist." Akane teased.
"Shut up!" Ranma replied in annoyance as he wiped icing off his face, tasting a little bit of it. "Not bad actually."
Kasumi looked over at Ranma in sympathy, not noticing Ukyo stepping up behind her. Suddenly Kasumi found her wrist bound by a handcuff. She spun to face Ukyo who locked the other end of the handcuffs to her own wrist.
"This time you won't be running off. Now, let's finish this." Ukyo pulled a rolling pin out and tried to bring it down on Kasumi's head. She caught the kitchen tool and countered with a punch. The punch connected with Ukyo's shoulder and Kasumi followed up with a hook kick, throwing Ukyo to the ground. Before Ukyo could fully recover Kasumi used the metal wire connecting the handcuffs to bind Ukyo's arms to her sides.
"Now, are you going to calm down and talk or am I going to have to knock you out?" Kasumi asked as she hauled Ukyo back to her feet.
Ukyo finally ceased her struggles and just glared angrily at Kasumi. Just as Kasumi began to ease up, however, Ukyo tossed a bag of flour into her face with her foot. Kasumi recovered but found Ukyo grabbing up her spatula then jumping up onto the fence. Still bound by the cuffs, Kasumi was forced to follow after her.
"Looks like this fight is going on the road." Ranma said as he jumped to his feet and began to race after the two combatants.
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Ukyo dodged away from a kick from Kasumi, jumping down into a nearby street. As Kasumi descended to meet her Ukyo spun to face her and lashed out with a kick of her own but had her leg caught. "Ukyo, this is crazy! You're going to get one of us seriously hurt if you keep this up." Kasumi said as she sent Ukyo tumbling backwards with a push on her caught limb.
Ukyo rolled out of the tumble then sprang into the air, tossing a spray of tempura flakes down on Kasumi. Kasumi shielded her face then looked down at the flakes in confusion after nothing happened. This allowed Ukyo enough time to light a match and throw it down into the flakes. The resulting explosion created a dust cloud concealing the whole area.
Just then Ranma and Akane arrived to see Ukyo stepping out of the cloud with the connecting wire of the handcuffs hanging loosely at her side. However, before either could jump to a wild assumption Kasumi, slightly worse for wear, stumbled out of the cloud and faced off with Ukyo.
"Are you still standing?" Ukyo asked angrily as she renewed her attack. Kasumi blocked and countered with a kick, sending Ukyo lurching back.
As Ukyo and Kasumi continued to battle several other people ran up. "Who's winning?" Nabiki asked as she joined Ranma and Akane.
"They're pretty evenly matched from what I've seen." Ranma responded then stepped to the side to avoid Ukyo as she fell to the ground.
The crowd backed away as Ukyo recovered and returned to her feet, covering her right eye with her hand. "Great, just great!" Ukyo shouted angrily as she uncovered her now red eye. "Oooooh, now you're really going to pay."
"If you'd tell me what this is all about-" Kasumi began.
"What this is all about? I'm sick of you playing innocent!" Ukyo replied, rushing in with a slash from her spatula.
"Is this about that cooking contest?" Kasumi asked as she dodged away.
Ukyo finally stopped for a moment. "That contest was just one of many humiliations you handed me!"
"It seems sis has been hiding stuff from us," Nabiki quietly commented to Akane and got a scowl in response.
Before Kasumi could respond Ukyo continued. "I tried to be civil, I tried to be nice and what did it get me? Nothing. You got all the praise! You got all the attention! Even my own father couldn't stop talking about you! It was like living in the shadow of some perfect goddess! No matters what I did I was always second best to you! It was driving me insane!" Ukyo roared out in growing frustration.
"More like drove if you ask me," Nabiki whispered but went unheard.
"I... I never knew anything about this." Kasumi managed to reply after a moment.
"Hmph! Yeah sure. I might have believed that at one time but not after what you did to me."
Kasumi shook her head in confusion. "What... I don't understand."
Ukyo responded with an annoyed laugh. "You must think I'm a complete idiot, or blind. I saw you Kasumi, so just drop this damned innocent act. You may be fooling them but you'll never fool me again."
Various members of the crowd looked at each other and the two fighters in confusion. Kasumi could only stand confused and stunned. Ukyo took advantage of Kasumi momentarily inaction to pull out another large handful of tempura flakes. "I'm ending this right now!" Ukyo shouted as she threw the flakes at Kasumi along with a lit match.
Kasumi, however, was ready for the attack in time to avoid the explosion as Ukyo grabbed another handful of the flakes. With a look of grim determination Kasumi turned on Ukyo and rushed her. Ukyo managed to dodge two punches, dropping the flakes in the process, but when she raised her spatula to block a roundhouse she came back holding only a handle. As Ukyo stared at her broken weapon in shock Kasumi continued on and landed two more blows, one causing the younger girl to partially crumble to the ground.
Kasumi withdrew for a second, hesitating, allowing Ukyo to recover and leap to the rooftops and run off. Kasumi took a second to catch her breath.
"Just let her go Kasumi," Akane said as she rushed to her sister's side. "You're just going to get yourself hurt fighting her."
"If I don't fight her now she'll just find me later. We have to settle this," Kasumi replied then leapt to the rooftops to pursue, leaving the crowd behind.
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Kasumi scolded herself for this whole mess as she raced after her one time friend. She should have seen Ukyo's anger all those years ago. Now it was ingrained and was going to be that much harder to correct. And what was this other thing she was talking about? She hadn't seen Ukyo since the contest. What could she possibly mean?
She saw Ukyo jump down to the river side street and make for a bridge. Kasumi couldn't let her get away. Ukyo had kept this fight relatively up front but her next attack could very well leave Kasumi in severe danger. Kasumi sprang high into the air and landed directly in front of Ukyo on the bridge.
Ukyo immediately dropped back into a fighting stance and struck out with spinning roundhouse kick. Kasumi caught Ukyo's leg and swept her other one, dropping her to the ground. However, Ukyo reacted quickly and kicked out at Kasumi, catching her on the shoulder, as she fell. Kasumi stumbled back to the bridge railing then reset her stance as Ukyo recovered.
"Ukyo, I honestly don't know what-" Kasumi began in one last attempt to talk Ukyo out of this.
"Shut up! I won't listen to you anymore!" Ukyo yelled out and jumped in with a flying kick. Kasumi parried the attack with her arms but the force of the blow threw her off balance. Ukyo landed and spun into another kick. Kasumi grabbed the kick but was thrown further off balance and tipped right over the rail. Both girls let out a startled yell as they tumbled together into the water below.
Kasumi felt her curse take effect as she hit the water. This will complicate things, Kasumi thought. However, as Kasumi righted himself and resurfaced he found Ukyo to be no where in sight. Kasumi waited a moment longer then decided to dive and try to find her. After a minute he resurfaced and dove again. He searched for as long as he could hold his breath but couldn't find anything. Once back above water Kasumi scanned the area but could find no sign of Ukyo.
After searching one last time with no success, Kasumi swam to shore where Akane and Ranma had just arrived.
"What happened?" Akane asked as she and Ranma helped Kasumi out of the water. "Where did Ukyo go?"
"I don't know. We fell in the water and she disappeared. She must have gotten away somehow." Kasumi responded as she again searched the surroundings for any sign of Ukyo. Ranma and Akane did likewise for a moment but quickly gave up.
"Well, nothing you can do about it now. She'll show up." Akane said as she began to make her way back to the road. After a moment Kasumi nodded and followed his sister.
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Hidden in the shadows behind the bridge support Ukyo watched Kasumi and the others leave with an anger she could barely keep in control. There is no justice, she wanted to scream out, I change into this and she changes into... THAT! Ukyo glared with even more anger at her old 'friend'. This wasn't the end. Oh no. She was going to make Kasumi pay... as soon as she could find some hot water.
End Chapter 3
Okay, that's chapter 3. One note: You may have noticed two things about Ukyo. One she is dressing feminine. Two, she seems awfully good at Mousse's style. The first is just due to the different timeline. The second, well actually I've seen Ukyo pull out a very large portable grill, propane tank and all, from no where so cakes, woks, rolling pins, and spatulas aren't a big jump.
Bye for now.