Chapter 18
Ranma looked at his wife. He was able to acquire a red silk shirt and black pants and Kasumi had kept one of the outfits from the village she liked. The clothes screamed Amazon, but the face, hair and eyes said in a calming voice 'Kasumi'.
"Ready Kas-chan?"
"Of course Ranma, are you ready to face them again?"
Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I think so. They may have been able to manipulate me once, but that was many years ago, wasn't it?"
She smiled at him. "Yes, it was, wasn't it. I suppose you have changed quite a bit since then."
He thought back about all they had gone through, the years of learning, caring, and even of marriage. Yes, he was without a doubt, the best there was at Martial Arts, but he found that it wasn't as important to him as he once would have thought. He was much more proud of his relationship of Kasumi, and all that they meant to each other.
"Yeah, right again. What about you?"
Kasumi had a puzzled expression on her face. "What do you mean?"
He turned the final corner before coming to the front gate. "I think you might have it as hard as I do when we walk in there. We've talked over the years about how I think they treated you, and I don't think you ever really accepted how bad it was. In case I'm wrong and they surprise me, I won't say more now, but I wouldn't be surprised if they try to do a number on you too."
She walked with him toward the gate wondering what he was getting at.
--
When they opened the door, the first thing that hit them was the odor. It wasn't stomach turning, but it wasn't the fresh clean smell that they had both associated with the home that Kasumi took care of. They looked at each with the same thought What is that?
"Hello? Is anybody here?" called Kasumi tentatively.
"Kasumi!" somebody yelled. They heard footsteps thundering down the steps and Nabiki rounded the corner. "Kasumi! You're back! Thank god!"
Nabiki crashed into Kasumi giving her a fierce hug. "I'm so glad you're okay! Where did you go? How did you get back?". Neither Kasumi nor Ranma had ever seen Nabiki this emotional.
"Nabiki, your sister might want to breathe..."
"Sorry!" She released Kasumi. She looked back and forth between the two of them. "How did you get back, Cologne said that it was impossible?"
"Well, you know me, always doing the impossible!" Ranma said with bravado. He got a quick elbow to the ribs from Kasumi. "Be nice" she scolded him.
They walked farther into the house, and Kasumi stopped and looked around. "Wha...what happened to the house?" she stuttered.
To put it simply, the place was a mess. Clothes were tossed on chairs, empty food containers littered the table. As Kasumi walked in farther, she saw that there was a huge pile of old dishes in the sink.
Nabiki, the ice-queen of Nerima, looked slightly embarrassed. "Well...you see...we were still debating over who should take care of the house, what with you gone and everything. We kinda haven't agreed on anyone. Akane tried cooking, and without you around to stop her we were all miserable the first week. Fortunately, she ruined all of the cooking pots and pans, so we've had an excuse to do carry-out ever since. Thank goodness you're back and things can go back to normal!"
Kasumi felt sick to her stomach. She had worked so hard at trying to give everybody a nice home, that when she saw what they had done with it...she wanted to cry.
Ranma saw the change in body language and he knew that Kasumi wasn't taking this well. He turned to Nabiki and said "Man, I can't believe it, not one of you could even try to clean up just a little bit. I knew you took Kasumi for granted, but this is ridiculous." He glared at Nabiki, "and what do you mean about going back to normal? Don't you mean 'back to Kasumi waiting on you hand and foot?'"
"Watch it Saotome." Nabiki was back on familiar ground dealing with Ranma. "It's not like you've ever helped out around the house. I seriously doubt you'd ever help to keep a house up."
He matched her gaze and calmly stated "You might be surprised, Nabiki." He then walked over to Kasumi, and in a quiet voice said "You okay Kas-chan?"
She sniffled a bit, then stood straighter. "Yes, I am. I'm just surprised, that's all. I knew I did the lions share of work around here, but I never thought that they would be so...thoughtless if I couldn't do the work." She reached out and grabbed Ranma's left hand. "Thank you. Thank you for appreciating me, and helping me all this time. I guess I didn't realize how bad I had it after all, you were right."
As luck would have it, Akane decided to come in from the dojo and saw Ranma and Kasumi. "Kasumi! You're okay! Ranma you're back too!" she started toward them when she noticed Ranma holding her sisters hand. "I knew it, I knew you'd try something perverted! How DARE YOU! LET GO OF MY SISTER THIS INSTANT!"
This was the last thing Akane wanted to do. During the time they had been gone, she had tried to come to grips with her affection towards Ranma. She had promised herself that if he ever came back, that she wouldn't jump to conclusions, no matter how suspicious something looked. She also promised to keep her anger in check and not mallet Ranma the first time he did something to upset her. And yet here she was, reaching up for the always available mallet, ready to administer his richly deserved punishment for doing who-knows-what with her sister.
She fought with her emotions for a moment longer, but the anger won out, as it always had. The mallet appeared in her hands, the weight feeling comfortable in her grip. She tensed her stomach muscles and swung the hammer down with all of her might...
...only to have it stopped before it reached Ranma. But not by Ranma, no it was her sister that had stopped the mallet dead in its swing.
"Ka-Ka-Kasumi? What are you doing? I'm just trying to help you!" she blurted. In her surprise, she was wondering why Kasumi was stopping her, instead of how in the world she was stopping her in mid blow. Kasumi didn't even seem to be straining as she held Akane's mallet in check.
Kasumi looked at her and told her firmly. "No little sister, not again, you shall not strike Ranma any more."
"But Kasumi, he was fondling you!" she cried.
Kasumi looked at her sister. Years ago, when she lived here, she tried to see things from Akane's view, tried not to judge her sister too badly. Now, time and experience made it all too apparent that Akane had a few...problems.
"Akane, he was only holding my hand. Can't you tell the difference between that an fondling?"
It was at this time that the other two players arrived. Genma and Soun walked through the front door and saw the two newcomers.
"Waaah! My baby daughter has come home!" Soun as he enveloped Kasumi in yet another hug.
"Boy! You should be dead!" He rushed to Ranma and tried to pull him out of the room. "We need to get you out of here, does anybody know you are here yet."
Ranma had expected most everyone's reactions except this. What was up with his father. "Leggo pops! I'm not going anywhere. What's with you?"
Nabiki held out her hand "5000 yen."
Ranma groaned and just said "Put it on my tab, now what's going on?"
"Well, it seems your father had an insurance policy taken out on you. I guess the fool figured that if he ever killed you in training, he'd still have something to take care of him later. A week after you disappeared he put in the claim."
"You what!"
Genma continued to pull on his arm. "Now boy, a man has to watch out for his future, besides, it's your duty to take care of your aging father..." Genma tried to change the subject. "What matters is that your honor demands you marry Akane now that you have returned. The schools must be joined!"
Ranma shrugged off his father and calmly faced him.
Of the audience, only Nabiki picked up the strange reaction by Ranma, or rather lack of reaction by Ranma. He isn't rising to the bait? Interesting...
"Pop, my honor is just fine, in fact it's better than ever. Why can't you just be glad we're back?" he asked.
Kasumi once again took his hand and only nodded in agreement. She was proud of him to not argue with his father right away.
Many eyebrows were raised at the holding of their hands. "Boy, what is the meaning of this, Akane is your fiancée, how dare you show affection to her sister!"
Soun joined in. "Yes, quite right! Akane is your fiancée. What are you doing with Kasumi?"
Ranma held up Kasumi's hand and showed them the ring. He calmly told them, "No, Akane is not my fiancée." He turned to Akane "sorry about this, I would have liked to tell you in a more...controlled environment."
Her face went white as she saw what was on Kasumi's hand. "N-n-n-no!"
"Kasumi is my wife. She has been for some time now" he told her.
"Nonsense, I'm sure its all a big misunderstanding." They turned to Soun who started babbling. "I'm sure we can fix things now that you two are back. Kasumi belongs here with us."
Kasumi noticed the motion first, and whipped around to see Akane bringing the mallet to bear on Ranma again.
"You two-timing pervert!" she screamed. "I knew you would molest my sister!"
She instinctively struck Akane. Akane was trying to hurt her husband, who always had a soft spot for the violent maniac who sometimes passed as her sister. Akane flew back against the wall as Kasumi caught the now owner-less mallet.
"Nice shot Kas-chan." Ranma commented.
"Thanks!" she said. "I told her no more of that. If she thinks being hit is no big deal, then maybe it's time she found out that it hurts."
Everyone else gaped at Akane implanted in the wall. Nabiki was the first to recover. "Whoa, where did that come from" she asked with more than a bit of awe in her voice.
"Let's just say that both Ranma and I did a bit of...growing...while we were gone. I'm not the same Kasumi and he's not the same old Ranma. It would be to your advantage to remember that."
Nabiki quickly nodded her agreement.
"If you'll excuse us, we'll be upstairs settling in." With that comment, Ranma and Kasumi disappeared up the stairs
--
When they came back down, they weren't surprised to see Akane sitting in the corner mumbling about unfaithful perverts. They both ignored her and proceeded to the kitchen. Ranma noted that their fathers seemed to have vacated along with Nabiki.
"Start here?" he asked her as they looked at the mess that used to be Kasumi's kitchen.
"I suppose so" she replied. "I guess get the most painful out of the way first."
They proceeded to attack the mess that their families had left. Once during the cleanup, Kasumi had looked over to Ranma, who was looking at her through a hole in a copper pot. Even though the damage to her equipment was severe, she had to laugh at his puzzled face.
"How in the world?" he asked her through the hole.
"You've got me. If only she'd used her talents for the forces of good..."
Ranma snorted with amusement, and tossed the pot into the growing pile of un-salvageable pots and pans. As he turned back to his area, he saw Kasumi picking up a power drill out of the sink. He almost asked, but decided he knew the answer ahead of time, and continued to paw through the mess in front of him.
Between the two of them it took about an hour to clean up. Ranma said "I notice that nobody came down to help out, did you?"
Kasumi sighed and nodded. "Yes, but I still expected, well hoped that somebody would help out..."
"Yeah, me too. Believe it or not, I thought at least Akane would help out. I guess she was too shook up from your...conversation...earlier." His face brightened and he held out an arm. "Could I escort you to the market fair lady?"
She giggled, and linked her arm in his. "I'd be delighted. I still can't get used to the variety of food we can get again!"
"Yeah, but who knew that after all those years of being an unwilling vegetarian that it would be hard to go back to our old ways. I remember how upset our stomachs were after that first feast at the Amazon village. Still" he smiled at her, "a Martial artists life if filled with peril. Let's go live dangerously and see what the market has for us!"
--
The meal that evening was thankfully uneventful. There were a lot of comments when it was noticed that Ranma was helping Kasumi in the kitchen. Akane was particularly hurt that he was allowed to help her out, while she wasn't. All in all, it was a relatively peaceful time. Both He and Kasumi recounted their experiences in the world of 'Yesterday'. Everyone was particularly entranced with their last days and the creatures they had to contend with.
They avoided talking too much about the episode in the village with the Amazons. On their journey to Japan, they had agreed that the less everyone knew about the Amazons, the better. All they told everybody was that they had appeared at the edge of the village and had left before being noticed.
Ranma knew the peace would come to an abrupt halt soon enough. For as chaotic as Nerima was, the one thing he could always count on was peace never lasting. Once everyone realized where he and Kasumi would be sleeping, the proverbial poop would hit the fan.
Nabiki was the first one to crack. "Well guys, its been a great night, but I'm going to bed."
Genma grunted, then said "Yes, yes, it will be good to be back in the old routine. Be ready for me to wake you up tomorrow for training Ranma. You futon is still in the room, so everything is all set for you."
Ranma squirmed, not wanting to break the quiet mood. Kasumi was the one who decided to enter the fray and liven up the conversation. "Why Uncle Genma, Ranma will be sleeping in my room tonight, and I don't think it would be nice to barge into our room in the morning."
Akane's eye twitched, and Nabiki stopped dead in her tracks halfway up the stairs. She didn't want to miss this little conversation.
"Well, uh, ..." Genma for once was at a loss for words. It was one thing to hear that the two of them were married, it was quite another to think of the...implications.
Soun managed to break the awkward silence. "Yes, I suppose that is quite right. Genma old friend, I would suggest that you wait for Ranma to join you tomorrow."
Genma was not about to change his routine though. "Now see here, the boy must train, or he'll go soft. Your daughter is already a bad influence on him."
A slow smile spread on Ranma's face. "Tell you what Pop. You wait for me to get up tomorrow, and we'll spar. If you think I've slipped, then I'll do whatever training you want. Sound good?"
"Well, I suppose that would be allowed this once. Very well" said his father.
Ranma and Kasumi stood up. "Great, then we'll see you all tomorrow morning" the said, and proceeded past Nabiki up the stairs.
Nabiki was crestfallen. She expected to see some ridiculous display of anger, guilt and posturing. Instead, she saw Ranma skillfully placate his father and avoid an unnecessary confrontation. Hmm, he sure doesn't act like the old Ranma. They've changed more than people think. I've got to be careful around the two of them until I find out what's up.
She went to her room, ignoring the slightly glowing Akane in the room below. I could always count on Ranma being the catalyst around here, but I have a feeling he's passed that mantel on to Akane.
--
Up in Kasumi's room, the two Saotome's were discussing the day's events.
"So Kas-chan, how do you think it went?"
Kasumi was sitting on the bed, looking at the ceiling. "Not as good as I'd hoped. I'm glad we're back, but I'm not as glad to be here as I thought I'd be."
He knew she meant her home, or rather this house. He had a suspicion that after all they had gone through, they wouldn't fit in as well as they used to, and he was right.
"So, think we'll be able to sleep tonight?" One of the strangest consequences of their banishment to the world of Yesterday was how much they had gotten used to the quiet. Now that they were back with so many people and animals, they both had a hard time getting to sleep at night with all the sounds present again
"Oh, eventually." She grinned at him, "shall we go to our spot? We can talk until we get tired?"
"Sounds good to me!" he said as he opened the window and grabbed hold of the ledge. He swung up and out and flipped onto the roof. He looked back at the ledge and saw Kasumi do the same. The two of them sat on the roof, looked at the stars, and talked to the small hours of the morning before they both got tired enough to go to sleep.
--
Nabiki woke so the smell of coffee wafting up the stairs. Oh god, I can't believe it, finally I don't have to make my own coffee in the morning any more. Thank you Kasumi! She threw on a robe and walked downstairs to hear somebody working in the kitchen. She was surprised to find Ranma in the kitchen and not Kasumi.
"What's going on?" she asked as she watched Ranma chop the ingredients for the Miso soup.
Ranma didn't look up. "Just breakfast" she said.
"Oh-kay. Why are you making breakfast, why are you a girl this morning, and where is Kasumi?"
He looked up from his work, and she flinched at the look on his face. She had never before seen the look of seriousness that appeared on her face. "In no particular order, One: Kasumi is upstairs still asleep. Two: We had a rough night last night and I'm giving her a break. Three: my current state is due to the dew that hit last night. Why?"
Nabiki was not intimidated. "Now look Saotome, what's your problem. Why did you get up so cranky?"
She finally stopped what she was doing to give Nabiki her full attention. "Why? Let's see, your sister, whom you thought was dead, appeared yesterday. You find out she's been alone and on her own for...a while, had to escape from an Amazon village, and traveled all this way to see you people. Do any of you want to actually do anything for her?" He paused, knowing Nabiki had no answer. "Of course not, you expect her to wake up the next morning and go right back to taking care of all of you."
She took a few steps toward the shocked Nabiki and lowered her voice. "Nabiki, you're the smartest one left in this family, you had better figure this out pretty quick. Kasumi's changed, I've changed, and neither one of us is going to put up with this crap anymore."
Ranma turned around and went back to finishing breakfast. "I'm doin' this for Kasumi, and you guys are getting breakfast only because I think it would be rude to ignore you. I'll tell you one thing Nabiki, Kasumi and I watch out for each other, and I'm not lettin' things slide anymore when it comes to her."
Once again, Nabiki took note that Ranma and her sister had changed more than a month would allow. She also noticed the pause when Ranma was telling her how long Kasumi had been gone. Ranma didn't develop that kind of backbone in only a month. She was determined to find out what really happened while they were gone.
--
After breakfast, Genma told Ranma she should change back so they could have their sparring match. Ranma declined saying it didn't matter, she could still whip Genma. "But before we start old man, we're going outside. The one rule today is no property damage."
"Fine" Genma muttered. They walked outside and bowed to each other. "Remember boy, when I win, you must start practicing again."
"Yeah" she grinned. "When you win."
Genma first few attacks were blindingly fast, but Ranma deflected them almost without thought. As Genma bounced off the surrounding rocks and trees, he seemed to bounce off the stationary Ranma, who stood nonchalantly near the pond.
To Akane and Nabiki, it looked like something out of the ending of the first Matrix movie. Ranma absently blocked every attack by Genma, who was getting frustrated at how easily his son was holding him off. "Come on boy, fight me!" he taunted. Try as he may, the older fighter was completely unable to penetrate Ranma's defenses. "Damn it, fight me! He yelled again, getting more and more frustrated with Ranma's advanced abilities.
"Okay old man, you asked for it." In less than a blink of an eye, Genma was flying toward the far wall. Kasumi was the only one who had followed Ranma's attack. To her, it was nothing special. She used no Ki-based moves or advanced Amazon techniques, it was all speed and power. To everyone else, they could see immediately that something was wrong with Genma as he flew back. Instead of the smooth Saotome mastery of aerial combat, he moved like a floating sack of potatoes. It didn't really register on any of them that he was already unconscious until he hit the ground.
Genma hit hard and rolled to a stop. As he lay there motionless, Soun worried that he was more than unconscious. "Ranma, what have you done...your father...?"
"Don't worry Mr. Tendo, when I hit him, I combined it with a few pressure points. He'll be sore, but he'll be fine."
Soun looked from his inert friend to Ranma. "Why, I didn't even see you move! How did you get so good?"
"Feh" she said. "I doubt even Happosai would give me a run for the money, but if luck is with me, I'll see him before too long."
Soun made warding gestures. "Now son, don't invite that on yourself!"
She walked over to her father and grabbed him by the collar. She then proceeded to drag him into the pond to wake him. Within a few moments, some indignant "growfs" emerged from the panda and Ranma tossed him back on the lawn. She waded out of the pond and stared at her father. "Well pops, looks like I get to sleep in now when I want to, unless you'd like to persuade me that I'm wrong again." She cracked her knuckles for added effect.
Her father whipped out a sign, You win, you win. He knew the boy had gotten better after Saffron, but his son was now in a completely different league. Even Genma, who had very little common sense, knew that his son was no longer in his class.
"And pop, neither I, nor Kasumi, want to hear anything about weak girls again, got it?"
The panda nodded violently.
"Glad we had this talk pop. I'll see ya later, I got some errands to run." Ranma grabbed his stuff and went inside to get cleaned up.
--
Kasumi had already made it into the furo when Ranma came in.
Kasumi was sitting back against the edge with her eyes closed. "So how did it go with your father. Did you many to convince him that you hadn't lost your touch."
"Hold on Kasumi." Ranma washed the pond water off and then headed to the furo. "Yeah, I think I managed to beat some sense into him. It'll only last for a few days, but maybe that will be enough."
He sighed as he slipped into the hot water. "You know, it's nice, but I still liked the hot springs best." He settled in next to her.
"It was nice wasn't it. No heating the water, no cleaning things, the beautiful sky above. I miss that place Ranma."
"Me too Kasumi, me too." He closed his eyes as well.
"You know, nothing prevents us from seeing if that house if for sale..." she offered.
"I can tell I've been with you for a while. I actually had that same thought before we got here. I have a feeling that once we've tied things up here, it might be worth our while to check that place out. I'm not sure how we'll afford it yet, but I've got an idea or two."
Kasumi smiled. Ranma couldn't see it, but it was a smile that someone had when they had a good secret. "Oh, I'm sure we'll figure out something."
"Yeah, I got a couple of ideas" he agreed. Now that I can check my pop off the list of things to take care of, I can start working on the rest of the list."
She opened her eyes to stare up at the ceiling. "It's still a big list isn't it?"
"Tell me about it. Still, I don't think it'll be that hard. I feel a lot more in control than last time." he said.
Of course that is precisely when one Akane Tendo should waltz into bathroom. Like so long ago, she never thought to check the occupied sign. Both he and Kasumi heard someone come in and turned to see who would be so oblivious to barge in on them.
As Akane closed the door, she turned around to see Kasumi and Ranma in the furo. Even though the rational part of her knew they were married, her jealous streak got the best of her. "Ranma! What are you doing in the furo with my..my..sister! How dare you!" She glowed red and reached for the trusty bringer of pain.
Ranma started to get up when Kasumi grabbed his arm. "No, let me." she whispered to him. "She won't listen to you no matter what."
Kasumi rose from the steaming tub and headed for her robe. The sight of her sister comfortably naked before Ranma threw Akane for a moment, long enough for Kasumi to at least don a robe before turning to confront her angry sister.
"Out of my way Kasumi!" she hissed.
Kasumi stood firm, and launched a quick Ki blast which vaporized Akane's mallet in an instant.
"Wha..what did you do?" Akane was stunned. Did her sister just launch a Ki attack at her?
A dripping Kasumi stared at Akane, who was still standing with her hands raised over her head, holding on to a now non-existent mallet. "Akane, I thought I made it clear that you were not to take out your frustrations on Ranma anymore."
"But he...you...you were both..." she stammered.
Kasumi raised one eyebrow. "Yes?"
"But he shouldn't..." she still couldn't complete her sentence.
"Akane, we are married. We've been married...for a while. Longer than you might think. I love him, he loves me. Beyond that is absolutely none of your business." Kasumi grabbed Akane's arm and walked her over to a bench in the corner of the room. Ranma just sat back and watched his wife try to talk sense into Akane. Maybe I can get some ideas from her if I have to face Kuno before we leave he thought.
She sat Akane down, handed her another robe, then joined her on the bench. "Akane, I know this is hard for you, in more ways than one. I know you care for Ranma, and that makes it all the harder." She looked down at her hands, not wanting to meet Akane's watery gaze. "We fell in love, and as much as I didn't want to compete with you, I couldn't ignore my feelings either. When you get mad at Ranma for being with me, you aren't helping me."
"I'm not?"
"No, not only are you hurting me, but you are hurting someone I love more than anything in the world. Ranma still cares for you enough that he won't hit you back."
Akane looked over to Ranma, who didn't interrupt. "He won't, will he?"
"No, he never did, did he? But Akane," she raised her eyes again and looked Akane straight in the eye. "I will. You don't seem to want to listen to reason, and if you won't, I'll break you of the habit. I don't want to, but I will. Ranma has been hurt for too long, and I love him to much to let it continue. He is my husband, your brother-in-law now. You've got to accept it, or you'll lose us both."
Akane didn't break down, but tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. She forced out a broken "I understand big sister...I'll try."
Kasumi smiled and leaned forward to hug Akane. "Thank you. I don't want to lose you, but I'm not going to lose Ranma."
She leaned back, and looked over at her still silent husband. "I think it is about time you worked on your next item on the list, don't you?"
Ranma could tell by the tone in her voice that it was time to leave. "Yup. Akane, close your eyes and I'll be out of hear in a flash...oops, no pun intended."
He raced out of the main area into the dressing room. Oh boy, another problem hopefully taken care of, now it's off to Tofu's...
Author's Notes: A special thanks to Anime-Freak317 who had the idea about Genma taking out the inusrance policy. Also, I'd like to thank everyone once again for the great reviews and feedback. Not only does it help because this is my first story, but I always liked a good Ranma/Kasumi matchup, and I'm glad to see that others like it as well.