"Kasumi, isn't this exactly what we ate for dinner yesterday?" an eight-year old Nabiki asked.
"No Nabiki, you ate all of that. This is the same receipe however."
"Why do we always eat the same things everyday? Mommy never made us do that?"
"If you want to take over the cooking, Nabiki, you can do so any time," the oldest Tendo daughter advised, taking a bite out of the simple meal that she'd prepared. "Otherwise you're going to eat what I can cook. Your call."
Nabiki's eyes teared up.
.oOo.
Tears poured down Soun's cheeks. His beloved wife was dead. Wah!
His daughters didn't have a mother any more. Wah!
Everyone in the market was looking at him funny. Wah!
Thwack!
Kasumi just hit him with a riding crop. OW!
"Stop maundering," the eleven year old girl ordered, not even looking up from the text book she was reading.
The shopping bags were really heavy. Wah!
.oOo.
"Why can't you be like a normal big sister?" nine-year old Akane asked Kasumi.
"Normal big sisters don't have to bully their families to do their chores," Kasumi explained from the stool she was standing on to hang the laundry from the clothesline. "Now go sweep the dojo."
"I hate you!" Akane shot back over her shoulder. "Mommy never made me sweep the dojo!"
Kasumi's face twitched. "Mommy is dead, Akane. Get used to it."
.oOo.
Nabiki stared at the small portion on her plate. "Kasumi? Why do I only get half as much as Akane?"
"Remember how I said that if you wanted that dress then I couldn't buy as much food as usual?"
The eleven year old's eyes went wide. "But, but everyone else has normal portions."
"We don't have a new dress," Kasumi explained. "On half-portions it'll take about a week for the savings on your food to pay for the dress."
"You can have some of my food," Akane offered, moving some across to Nabiki's plate while glaring at their older sister.
Kasumi shrugged. "It's your food Akane," she said. "If you want to give some to Nabiki then that's up to you. I'm not going to though."
.oOo.
Soun stared blankly at Kasumi's report card. All the grades were good. The notes by the teachers were not.
"Kasumi?" he asked cautiously. "What's this about fighting at school?"
His oldest daughter didn't look up from where she was washing the dishes. "Certain of my classmates think they can say nasty things about me because I don't hang around the shopping district and pick up boys like a trollop. So I slapped them around a bit to remind them of their manners."
"Y-you really shouldn't say things like that," he ventured a suggestion.
"I told you to dry the dishes, not make conversation," she snorted.
Soun lowered his head and obeyed.
.oOo.
"My knee hurts," Akane complained.
"That's what happens when you scrape it on gravel," Kasumi observed, letting the antiseptic soak into the cloth that she was going to use. "Now hold still, this is going to hurt even more." She wiped at the scrape and Akane shrieked as the anti-septic stung her.
"You're mean, Kasumi!" she declared. "I wanna go see Doctor Tofu. He's nice."
"Doctors cost money," Kasumi told her. "If I take that much money out of the food budget you'll probably be ill with how small the portions would be." She held up the wipe. "Now either I clean your knee up or you do."
Akane sniffed and then accepted the cloth and dabbed at the scrape while Kasumi readied a bandage.
.oOo.
"Being your sister sucks," Nabiki complained. "Everyone thinks I'm in a gang or something. Do I have to go to the same High School as you next year?"
Kasumi shrugged. "If you go to the same school then you can wear my old uniforms which saves money. It's also the nearest school so you don't have so far to go in the morning."
"How much do school uniforms cost?" Nabiki asked. "I've got some money saved up."
Kasumi quoted a figure and Nabiki's head slumped. "Great, another three years of having the reputation of 'Kasumi Tendo's sister'."
"I feel so loved," Kasumi noted and went back to sewing the seam of one of Akane's dogi back together.
.oOo.
"You don't have to do this, Kasumi," Soun protested.
"Your father is correct, Miss Tendo," the doctor advised. "I strongly recommend that you go to hospital. It's extremely likely that you've fractured your shin bone. There cannot be any possibility of your continuing in the tournament."
"Unfortunately," Kasumi explained. "Our family medical insurance will not pay for such an expense. And with the reputation of the family dojo at stake, I cannot withdraw from this tournament."
.oOo.
Akane groaned as she picked herself up off the floor. Kasumi had already turned away and was limping back to where she'd left her walking stick, glad that her younger sister couldn't see her face as it betrayed the pain that sparring had caused her leg.
"Where are you going?" Akane gasped, climbing to her feet. "I can keep going."
"Since you're feeling so energetic," Kasumi said, leaning slightly on her walking stick, "Show me the third variation of the ninth kata. Half speed."
"But -"
Kasumi hit the floor with her stick. "Half speed," she repeated herself, without an ounce of emotion visible on her face.
The fifteen year old sighed and adopted the correct stance.
"Begin."
.oOo.
"Your problem isn't so terrible after all," Soun beamed, patting Ranma paternally on her shoulder and then pointed at the shorter haired of the two girls. "My daughter Nabiki. Seventeen. And Akane. Sixteen," he continued, indicating the youngest of Tendo girls. "And Kasumi will be here soon. She's nineteen. Pick the one you want. She's your fiancee."
"Oh, he'll want Kasumi," Nabiki said instantly. "Everyone knows that she's the pretty one."
"Definitely," Akane added, a smug smile on her face. "And she's the real martial artist in the family so they'll have that in common."
The door slid open and Kasumi stepped in. Ranma blinked at her. Somehow the concept of the as yet unseen older sister being pretty and a martial artist didn't seem to add up to what he was seeing. Kasumi was taller than he was and like Akane, her long hair was tied back in a high pony-tail. Unlike Akane, she was wearing jeans and heavy boots that looked like they would slow her down in a fight. In fact, with those boots and the plain shirt she was wearing under her raincoat she looked more like a construction worker than a martial artist.
The fact that she was leaning lightly on a walking stick and had a six-pack of beer in the other hand didn't help with the impression that she was making.
Kasumi was looking around the room herself and sighed, leaning her stick against the wall before peeling a can off from the six pack and cracking it open. "Another night of the Tendo family's hijinks," she sighed and took a swig. "Cheers."
"Kasumi!" Akane protested. "How can you drink that stuff? And when we have guests!"
"Father's halfway through a bottle of sake, Akane," Kasumi pointed out. "Do you want some?" she added, offering the open can to Ranma.
"Uh, no thanks."
"Let me know if you change your mind," she said unabashed. "They drive me to drink regularly." Walking past them she headed for the stairs.
"Kasumi."
Kasumi paused at the foot of the stairs and glanced back at Soun. "You have my attention."
"Meet your new fiance, Ranma."
"Right, nice to meet you Ra-" She paused and examined the can of beer carefully. "You know it doesn't look like someone tampered with this but it sounded like you just said something rather strange, father. Repeat yourself. Please."
"R-ranma is your fiance," Sound explained a little uneasily.
Kasumi nodded thoughtfully and then looked at Ranma. "No offense to you, Ranma - I've barely met you and thus far you seem like a nice enough young man - but this is the first that I've heard of this and I really haven't had any plans to marry so WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU BABBLING ABOUT FATHER!"
.oOo.
Half an hour later, Ranma was soaking in the furo.
I guess I'm engaged to her, he thought. Why did the other girls say that I would want her? She's not as cute as Akane and what sort of martial artist needs a cane?
"So who are you?"
"Huh!?" the boy exclaimed, turning suddenly, a wave of water sloshing across the furo in response to his movement. Through the translucent panels of the door he saw a tall shape with long hair. The voice wasn't deep enough to be Soun and the shape was too tall for Akane, so it had to be his...
His new fiancee.
"Who are you, Ranma Saotome?" she repeated and he could see her fingertips pressing against the panel. "It would seem that we are to be man and wife. Who are you?"
"You know who I am!" he protested.
"Are you just a name?" Kasumi asked, her voice slightly mocking. "Is being my husband all that you will ever be? That's all I know of you, fiance. Is there more? Do you have dreams? People who are precious to you? Secrets that you would never share with your father?"