A Gift for Kasumi

By Dojo-Ranma

Thanks to everyone who has read it this far, I'm hoping to keep up the pace but, not sure right now. Thanks to my prereaders (you know who you are) and everyone who took the time to review my story, it means alot. Thanks and Enjoy Chapter 3.

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Chapter 3 - A Christmas in Ruins

Christmas Eve...

Evening rolled around and everyone began to show up, Ryoga showed up first amazingly enough, followed by Shampoo and Mousse, Ukyo, the Kuno siblings, and the rest to follow.

The Tendos and Saotomes worked vigorously to get everything finished in time. Nabiki was in her room trying desperately to calculate the expenses for the party and trying to work it into the budget, Kasumi was preparing dinner, Genma and Soun spent their time desperately trying to salvage Akane's messed up decorating scheme, Akane was keeping an eye on the guests and Ranma was sent to go pick up some last minute groceries for Kasumi.

It didn't take long for chaos to be unleashed as Kuno, Mousse, and Ryoga all began trying to tear each other apart as they fought in the yard. The girls spent their time argueing over which present Ranma will like the best, and which of them was going to receive a present from him.

Ranma returned with the last of the ingredients needed for dinner. He noticed the three guys in the backyard, quarrelling amungst themselves. He shook his head in disgust and walked inside. He could hear the war raging between the girls and put one hand to his head. 'Not again!' was all he could think as he removed his shoes and headed for the kitchen.

"Hear you go, Kasumi," he announced as he stepped into the kitchen with the bag of groceries.

"Thank you, Ranma." She replied cheerfully, "If you get a chance, I could use a couple of extra hands to finish dinner, please?"

"Okay, Kasumi. I'll get a couple of the girls to help. But right now, I'm going to take care of a little pest problem out back." And with that he walked out on to the back porch.

"Hey guys!" He shouted at the brawling boys. They didn't bother to notice Ranma as a spear-tipped chain came whipping across the yard directly at him. Ranma deftly caught the chain before it was able to enter the house, and pulled Mousse across the yard to him. Ryoga and Kuno dumbly followed as the duck boy was pulled across the yard toward Ranma. The boy bounced twice and stopped two feet from the porch. The other two ran up furious and stopped right by Mousse.

"What is the meaning of this, foul sorcerer?" Kuno demanded angrily.

"Yeah. What do you think you are doing?" Ryoga agreed.

Ranma's eye twitched slightly, "You all were invited here as guests. Now, if you think that it's appropriate to destroy the residence of your hosts, I would suggest that you leave now. If you'd prefer to stay for the party, I'd suggest behaving."

The three boys looked at one another guiltily. "Hai," the three responded in unison rather shamefully.

"Good," Ranma stated, "The only fighting that will be allowed is snowball fighting. No martial arts, no other weapons. Okay? And, don't worry, the party will be starting shortly." With that Ranma went back inside the house. The three boys looked at Ranma's retreating form, then at each other, and then began running around picking up snowballs, hurling them at one another.

Ranma walked through the dining area, still hearing the girls bickering upstairs. He shook his head as he walked towards the staircase and made his way up to Akane's room where the girls were staying at until the party. He rapped on the door politely and then called through.

"Excuse me ladies, but Kasumi would like some help getting the last few preparations made for the party if you could help out." He turned and walked downstairs.

All the guests had finally arrived and the celebration began. The girls did Karaoke (including Ranma-chan again!), individuals from the nerima crew did performances during dinner, there were tables for blackjack and other card games, and all sorts of activities going on.

For the most part, things were going very well. Well, that was until the moment that Ranma feared over the past few years, the moment when Nabiki walked up on stage to announce the gift exchange. The girls were expecting this and began looking around frantically for Ranma, all wanting to get the jump on the other competitors. He was nowhere to be found. The girls were just about to leave when a Panda with reindeer antlers on its head and a tall man in a Santa suit with a red sack rode across the stage. The girls groaned, Soun and Genma were at it again!

"HO! HO! HO! Merry Christmas one and all!" The Santa called trying to disguise his voice, "I have travelled all the way from the North Pole to deliver some gifts to some very special children!"

"Didn't they try this once before?" Ukyo whispered to Shampoo, who could only nod in agreement.

The Santa reached into his sack and pulled out the first package. He looked at the tag and called out, "Nabiki Tendo!"

The girls were stunned, it wasn't a big setup for a marriage between Ranma and Akane. Yet, anyway, but they were on guard just in case.

Nabiki accepted the present as the Santa reached in and pulled out another gift, "Ukyo Kuonji!"

Ukyo was surprised but went up to get her present nonetheless. She made her way to the front and received her gift. There was a tag with her name on it and nothing else. She was a little worried opening it until she noticed Nabiki jump up and down and hug the Santa in excitement with her new ornate abacus that she had received. Ukyo ripped open her present to find a small silver spatula with a padded red velvet grip on the handle.

She looked up at the Santa, tears ready to burst from her eyes, and asked in defiance, "Who got this for me!"

The Santa looked at her, "That's why it's called a 'Secret Santa' gift, my dear."

She paused thanked him and turned to walk off as he called Shampoo's name, followed by Ryoga, Mousse, Akane, even Happosai and Cologne. Unfortunately, Ranma wasn't there to accept his gift and Kasumi's name wasn't mentioned either.

All the recipients ripped open the wrapping paper and seeing what their 'Secret Santa' got them. The Santa and Panda slipped off stage, while everyone was in awe of their new gifts, and everyone else pondered who could have gotten them those gifts.

Backstage, the Santa handed the "gift" for Ranma to the Panda. "Here ya go, Pops," as Ranma pulled his beard off, "That's for you and Mr. Tendo. Enjoy."

Genma bear-hugged his son and opened the package. Inside, was a new Go board with glass and onyx stones. The Panda held up a sign +Thank you, Son+ and went skipping off to go find Soun, who had gone to go use the washrooms a few minutes earlier. 'Now to go find Kasumi and Tofu, get out of this costume, and get out of here.' Ranma thought as he slipped out the side door, making sure no one saw.

Kasumi watched Santa hand out all the gifts and could only smile. 'How thoughtful.' She thought, as the Santa handed out the last present was handed out and everyone resumed exchanging gifts. She began looking around for Dr. Tofu, her gift for him in hand, as she meandered through the crowds of people trying to locate him.

She noticed him standing by the Christmas Tree dressed rather nicely. She summoned up all her courage and walked up to him. He noticed her as she approached.

"Merry Christmas, Kasumi." He greeted contentedly, "You look very much in the spirit of things, this year"

"Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you too, Tofu-ono." She bowed respectfully. 'There's something different about him tonight.' She looked at him again, his eyes seemed much clearer to her tonight than in previous encounters.

"Wonderful party your family put together, and dinner was delicious."

"Arigato," she replied, blushing slightly. She steeled herself as she attempted to break the ice. "Th-this is for you." She said as she held out the gift she had found for him.

He opened the box and found a new stethescope laying in amungst the white tissue paper.

"Arigato," he replied still looking at the medical instrument.

"Umm... I also wanted to ask you something..." Kasumi said as she scratched the back of her calf with her other foot

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I wanted to ask you if..."

"Tofu dear..." A blond haired girl called as she walked up to him, "Oh, I'm sorry. Was I interrupting something?"

"Oh, no. Not at all," Dr. Tofu responded, "I was just thanking Kasumi here for a lovely party and for the lovely gift."

"Oh," the girl said as she turned to Kasumi, "I'm sorry. My name's Akira Motosuki, I'm Dr. Tofu's fiancee."

Kasumi stepped back to catch herself, 'No. I must not have heard that right.'

Tofu took a step forward, "Kasumi, I'm sorry. I was meaning to tell you. I became engaged last week, I just never got around to..."

Kasumi turned on her heels and ran out of the dojo, tears streaming down her face. Her hair whipped about behind her as her Santa hat fell off as she tore through the crowds and out the door.

Dr. Tofu just stood there as he watched her leave, his heart sinking down into the pit of his stomach.

Ranma ahd made it all the way back to the house without being caught yet. 'So far, so good!' As he stepped into his room to get changed, he heard footsteps running through the house. He ducked into a dark area of his room, and hoped no one would find him. He heard the footsteps and as the footsteps got closer he could hear something else. Crying.

He stepped out of the shadows and looked outside the door to notice Kasumi opening and closing her bedroom door.

'This is bad. Real bad.'

End Chapter 3