It had seemed like a completely normal afternoon.
There was nothing strange about Kasumi standing outside, broom in hand. She frequently cleaned the walkways around the time that Akane would get home from school.
Ryoga being there wasn't unusual, either. His appearances at the Tendo home may have been unpredictable, but they were fairly frequent.
The fact that there was a dog next to Ryoga was a bit unusual.
"Shirokuro!" Akane squealed. She ran over to pet the dog, receiving numerous doggy kisses in return. "I missed you too, girl," she giggled, before looking up. "Hi, Ryoga," she added sheepishly.
"Hi," he answered, blushing. "Since Akane's back, maybe I should stick around a little…"
"Now Ryoga, you told me yourself how unusual it was for one of your parents to find their way back to your house. Honestly, you should go home right away."
"Yeah. I guess I'm a little nervous."
Akane stood up from dog-level. "Your parents are home?"
"Just my mom. It's been awhile."
Akane's smile looked a bit wistful. "I'm sorry I missed most of your visit, but Sis is right. You really should go home if your mother's there."
"I know. I'm going. See you later. Akane, Kasumi."
Kasumi touched his arm. "You'll call me later and tell me how it went, okay?"
He touched her hand in response. "I will. Thank you."
"I didn't know Sis and Ryoga were phone friends," Akane thought.
"And maybe I can come over a bit later?"
Ryoga smiled. "That would be nice."
"I didn't know Sis knew where Ryoga lived."
"I love you."
"Love you, too."
"What?"
Kasumi and Ryoga leaned in and briefly kissed.
"WHAT?"
Akane tried in vain to regain the power of speech, so she watched silently as the two separated and smiled fondly at each other. Ryoga hefted his backpack, and held on firmly to Shirokuro's leash. He waved goodbye before leaving the yard, Kasumi waving after him until the gate closed.
"Sis… that… you… him…" While Akane had regained the ability to say simple words aloud, the facility to construct those words into a coherent sentence still eluded her.
She was startled when there was a heavy thud next to her. It was Ranma, headfirst on the ground, where he had fallen from his perch above the gate.
Seizing the opportunity to escape an awkward situation, she grabbed Ranma by the shirt and pulled him around the corner of the house.
"Did you see that?" she demanded in a loud whisper.
"I didn't see anything that was possible. Kasumi and Ryoga were kissin' and that's just not something that could happen in real life."
"You did see that. It did happen."
"Nah, I must be hallucinating. I didn't eat your cooking again, did I?"
She punched him square in the face. "Jerk!"
As Akane stomped away, Ranma muttered "I don't think you're supposed to feel pain in hallucinations."
"Soooo, Sis," Akane asked as casually as possible, "this may be a silly question, but… are you dating someone at the moment?"
Kasumi frowned in confusion. "Well, yes. It's…"
Akane interrupted "And would your boyfriend happen to be someone I know?"
In confusion, Kasumi paused. "Yes. It's…"
"And in fact, is your boyfriend, Ryoga?"
"Yes. It is."
Akane wasn't sure if she was happy or unhappy to verbally confirm what her eyes had seen before. A chilling thought occurred to her. "This might sound like a strange question, but he didn't hit you with a fishing lure, did he?"
Kasumi's look of confusion turned into one of amusement. "He told me all about when that happened to him and Ranma. He's very ashamed, but I did find it a little bit funny."
"I see." Akane toyed with her fingers. "Have you been dating for a long time?"
"Not all that long. About three months, I think?"
"Ah. Okay." Akane recalled that Ryoga had seemed to be a more frequent visitor of late, but that fact hadn't been remarkable enough to stand out. "And… were you trying to keep it secret?"
Kasumi touched Akane's cheek. "We weren't exactly trying to keep it from anyone, we just didn't want to go public until he told his parents that he has a girlfriend. Since he's doing that right now, I suppose we both decided that it's okay for people to know now." She smiled softly. "Is it okay with you?"
Akane thought for a moment before speaking. "It shouldn't matter what I think, because it's your relationship, not mine." She smiled. "But Ryoga's a good guy. I guess I'm surprised that you like him, but I am happy you have a boyfriend."
The two hugged tightly. "And I'm happy that you have one, too."
"Yeah." Akane separated from Kasumi. "Wait. I don't have a boyfriend!"
"You don't?"
"Ranma's not my boyfriend, he's just my fiance. There's a big difference."
"I see, I see."
Sometime after dinner, Ranma found Kasumi alone for a minute. "Hey, uh… about Ryoga."
"Yes?"
"Um… are you sure about it? The guy's got problems."
"We've all got problems, Ranma."
"I mean… just," Ranma struggled with a subtle way to ask, before deciding that subtlety was overrated. "I mean that he can be a real pig sometimes, if you catch my drift."
Kasumi chuckled softly. "I know about his curse, if that's what you're asking. And we're working on a plan to tell Akane about it soon."
Ranma exhaled, relieved. "That'll be good to get out in the open." He frowned. "He's not just going to blame the whole thing on me, is he?"
"That was his first plan. We've moved on from that."
"Oh. Okay." Ranma looked around again for eavesdroppers. "Hey, when me and Pops first got here, you said something."
"You'll have to remind me what I said exactly."
"You said that I couldn't be your fiance because you didn't like younger men? And I hate to bring it up, but Ryoga is a couple months younger than me."
"Oh, that. I'm afraid I was telling a bit of a fib. The truth was…" Kasumi winced. "...the truth was that I didn't find you attractive. At all."
Ranma grimaced. "All right, that kind of hurts, I won't lie. But you find me attractive now, right?"
Kasumi was suddenly fascinated by the floor. She looked at it closely.
"You find me attractive now, right?"
Omake:
"How can you find Ryoga attractive and not me? Except for me being way more handsome, we could almost be twins!"
"But you don't have fangs, Ranma." Kasumi closed her eyes and shivered. "The fangs..."
Author's Notes:
Story begun: 15 February 2023
Story completed: 15 February 2023
The first part of this story that I wrote were the last lines between Ranma and Kasumi. I worked backwards from there.