Disclaimer: I do not on Ranma. Enough said about that. This story is a collaboration effort between me and Drakuzz. Well we promised you after Chapter 3 that we would have a chapter would make up for it. This is it. We hope that you not only enjoy this chapter but enjoy the surprise twists involved. Without any further ado, just sit back and enjoy yourselves.
Twin Troubles
By David Knight and Drakuzz
Chapter Four: The Expected Grandfather, the Unwanted Suitor, and the Magical Ninja Girl
Kasumi looked up from doing the laundry to hearing the sound of fighting in the morning. That much was normal for the house.
However was more recent was that instead of father and son it was brother and sister. Though in this case it wasn't so much sparing, as an exercise in dodging.
A week had already come and gone at the Tendo dojo. Ranko had apparently settled right in. Better than how Genma, who was still missing, had. She was on good terms with everyone save Akane, who didn't speak to the redhead unless it was necessary.
Akane would have gone to training but she was still waiting for her body to finish healing from her fight with Ukyo. She had plans for after she healed though.
Ranko had taken the time to help Kasumi out with some of the chores around the house. Seeing as how she was guest it was only proper. It took some doing but she was able to get Kasumi to agree to it.
Soun had a sense of relief. It was rather quiet in the dojo; though he missed his friend Genma, he was quite happy that the Master had not shown up the entire week since Ranko had arrived. He was counting the days that this would continue until the Master did arrive again at his door.
As for Ranko, she was still bothered by her brother's refusal to take her seriously. "You'd think a week of this would convince you I'm not some fragile piece of china!"
Ranma smirked as he continued dodging. The week had gone by without incident and he was really enjoying his sparring matches with Ranko. Genma was a more challenging opponent in midair, but the redhead always pushed him to his limits on the ground. He really got a good workout dodging all of her blows as he familiarized himself with her style.
For Ranko, though she wasn't going to admit it to him as his ego was big enough, she had gotten to know that her brother's skills were very impressive. She wanted him to take her seriously, yet still he wouldn't. It frustrated her, but she did get closer to him. Whether it was because he let her or she could get that close she wasn't sure yet.
There was also that move that he had used in their first match. She had thought about it over the last week and knew it was an impressive technique. Wonder if I can actually get him to teach it to me.
Ranma ducked under a palm-strike and tickled Ranko's exposed side, which was infuriating as well. Instead of hitting her, when he did take the offensive, he teased her with tickling. And he knew just where her more ticklish spots were!
Ranko couldn't help but laugh. "Stop that you jerk!" she said in between giggles. "Come on! That isn't right!"
"What was that, little sis?" Ranma asked jokingly as he reached for her side again, using the nickname he came up with for her.
Suddenly she grabbed his hand as it went for it. A smirk was on her face, "This time... I GOT YOU!" She screamed as she managed to throw him over her arm for the first time.
Ranma was taken off-guard, but he did manage to recover in midair and land swiftly with a great display of acrobatics. His style was an aerial one, so he could do impossible feat while in the air. "Nice try, sis."
Ranko kept her smile, proud she had gotten that far. Keep it going girl and you'll get him to take you seriously soon enough. With that in mind she went back after her brother.
Soun watched from the table as he saw Nabiki come down and join him and Kasumi. "Where is Akane?"
"I went to her room and she said she wanted to sleep a bit more since school wasn't today," Kasumi said before taking a look at the martial artists sparing in their yard.
Nabiki knew better than that. Akane didn't want to see the twins sparring. But she kept silent about it. Her little sister would hopefully grow up with this. "Ranko's grandfather is supposed to arrive today, isn't he?" She'd done a background check on the man and discovered quite a few things. The middle Tendo sister sure was looking forward to meeting this man.
"Yes he is," Soun said solemnly. "And Saotome is nowhere near us. Perhaps no where in Nerima for sure."
Kasumi looked indifferent. Seeing her father looking at the Saotome Twins she took the moment to get her sister alone. "So what have you learned about Saotome Seijuro?"
Nabiki smirked. "Now what would give you the idea I know anything, Kasumi-chan?"
"I know you Nabiki-chan," Kasumi said with a smile. "You wouldn't meet someone that can make Saotome-san this scared without finding out a bit about him."
Nabiki gave in quickly, never able to keep things from her older sister. "It isn't really that interesting. Ranko's grandfather is a rather traditional man. The weird thing is his school of martial arts comes from China, even if they're full Japanese. The Saotome Clan is well off and very respected in Kyoto, all thanks to Saotome Seijuro."
"I think I can understand why Saotome-san doesn't like his father," Kasumi said.
Nabiki chuckled. "Is scared of him, you mean."
"True," Kasumi said with a slight smile.
The twins finished their sparing, both of them taking deep breaths.
"So," Ranko asked her brother. "Any idea when our father will show up?"
"Never seen 'im so scared before," Ranma admitted. "Maybe after your grandfather leaves?" That was another thing. Ranma still didn't acknowledge their grandfather.
He's too stubborn for his own good most of the time. Ranko thought to herself. "He's your grandfather too you know. When are you going to accept that?"
Ranma just gave her one of his confident smirks, as if she was an opponent in one of his many fights. During the course of the week, Ranko had seen her brother fighting off opponents left and right and almost seeming to enjoy being at the center of it all.
She had to deal with that weirdo with the glasses yet again, or rather would have if a certain purple haired girl hadn't bashed him over the head. Her meeting with Shampoo was actually rather nice. Plus I got a free meal at her restaurant. They got great Chinese food.
And as if to welcome Ranko to Nerima, there was a challenge posed by a pair of martial artists practicing tag team martial arts. Akane didn't take too well the fact that Ranko had to step in and help Ranma in defeating them, because she still was injured.
Both brother and sister fought together for the first time for real. Though Ranma didn't fight seriously against his sister, he did fight seriously with her. The match ended in the twin's victory. It was a rather interesting encounter, not to mention profitable for Nabiki as she had been able to make yen off of it.
That Ranma returned to his 'I don't fight girls' routine was irritating, but at least he trusted her enough during that fight to hold her own.
"So let's see here. Mousse and Kuno are real pains in the neck, Kuno lusts after us, well, us when you are a girl," Ranko listed off her fingers. "His sister is just as wacky only she wants to kill me." She hadn't taken well to her first meeting with the Black Rose. She had used a cheap trick to catch her off guard, blinding her. She tried to kill her with that ribbon.
Ranko was always glad to have her sword with her, as she tore that ribbon to shreds and proceeded to send the gymnast head first into the concrete.
"Don't forget the Amazons," Ranma pointed out. Even if Ranko and Shampoo hit it right off he was still suspicious of what his purple-haired fiancée was planning.
"And Ukyo, who is one of your better prospects if you ever go through with any of father's dumb vows," Ranko said with a slight tease. She did like the okonomiyaki chef though. "Anyone else we are missing or that all of your rivals and fiancées I have to worry about?"
"Those are the regulars," the pigtailed martial artist said. "And any fiancée or crazy martial artist that shows up."
"Well, it has been a bit different living here this last week but I really do like it," Ranko said to her brother. Her look faltered a bit.
"What?" Ranma asked, catching the look.
Ranko shook her head. "Oh nothing. I'm just thinking about my friends in Kyoto. I never even told anyone I was leaving." Though for some people, it was best to make sure they didn't know.
Ranma shrugged. Having lived on the road for most of his life he didn't get the chance to make many friends. He'd only made two, in fact. One was obsessed with defeating him and the other wanted to marry him. "Write them a letter or something."
"A letter," Ranko rolled her eyes at her brother as she picked up her bag that she had left to the side. "That's way too primitive." she said pulling out a cell phone. "Now this is a girl's best friend."
Ranma blinked. "You carry one of those things around?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Ranko asked as if it was an absurd question. "I've had one with me ever since I was ten. I needed this for every time I went out far, whether it was a school trip or a training outing."
"They haven't called you either, have they?" Ranma asked the obvious.
"Thing is, they probably thing I am on a training journey. This is the month I usually go," Ranko admitted. "And I've been so busy here I just haven't had time to call anyone yet."
"You only go on training trips for one month?" Ranma asked incredulously. Granted, he'd been in Nerima for a while now, but after returning from a training trip that took ten years anything else seemed tame in comparison.
"Not even that long at times," Ranko replied. "I might take additional trips if I feel the need for it, but this month is always one I take for a training trip alone."
Ranma shook his head, still weirded out by how different his sister's life was. What he didn't truly understand was that it was his own life that was out of the norm instead. Nerima just served to mask this reality from him.
Ranko shook her head. "You really have blinders on to the real world, don't you?" Taking in his confused expression she smiled. "Come on, let's go have breakfast. I'm hungry."
-----
Later that morning, Ranma was practicing his katas in the backyard. Since today wasn't a school day he decided to dedicate himself to the most important thing, the Art.
Nabiki lay on the couch reading her manga and munching on some crackers.
Akane was sitting on the floor watching TV, not trying to look at anything but the TV as if just being in thought.
Kasumi was in the kitchen with Ranko, who was helping her out with the dishes. The eldest of the Tendo sisters felt something strange with Ranko's eagerness to help out around the house. Her own sisters hadn't ever offered. Though in Akane's case, that would be a bad thing. she thought to herself.
Soun was sitting by the shoji board, just sitting in thought, almost imagining that Genma was there but knew that he wasn't.
All in all a perfectly normal day, which of course begged to be interrupted. It was just then that the doorbell rang.
Everyone froze at the sound of the doorbell. Ranko would have gone to the door but Kasumi was there first, years of serving as the mother of the household coming into play. She opened the door. "May I help you?"
"Good morning, young lady," a man said calmly. He bore a strong resemblance to Genma, only older. If it wasn't for the fact he wasn't wearing a gi Kasumi would've thought Genma aged thirty years in a week.
"Good morning. You must be Saotome Seijuro," Kasumi said, noticing the resemblance. "Please, come in."
"Such a polite pretty thing," Seijuro responded as he stepped past the gates. "I take it, by your knowledge of who I am, that my granddaughter is here?"
"Yes she is," Kasumi nodded. "I am Tendo Kasumi. A pleasure to meet with you sir. Ranko-chan respects you very much."
"It is my pleasure, Tendo-san. Saotome Seijuro at your service," the older man said. "I hope my granddaughter didn't cause you any trouble. She can be rather impetuous sometimes."
"Far from it," Kasumi assured Seijuro. "She's a very remarkable young girl." By this time they both could see Ranko, who was walking slowly to wards them. She looked at her grandfather in the eyes.
"Are you angry with me, grandfather?" Ranko asked.
"Should I be?" Seijuro returned with a question, as was usual for him.
"I went against your wishes. I went early," Ranko said slowly. "But... I don't regret my choice. I have gotten to know my brother very well this last week. I don't regret that for anything."
Seijuro smiled gently. "As impatient as always, child? You nearly gave old Miyuki a heart attack when you vanished."
"I'd imagine," Ranko sighed, feeling a little relieved.
"And what have you learned about your brother, Ranko-chan?" Seijuro asked, not knowing what to expect of a boy raised under Genma's care. Or rather being afraid of what to expect.
Ranko sighed again. "He's not like father. He has a sense of honor... although, in his own words 'I don't fight girls'."
Seijuro chuckled. "I don't know where your father picked that up. He proudly proclaimed that same phrase even when he lived under my roof."
"Regardless, he's an extremely skilled martial artist, but that's all he's focused on," Ranko added.
Seijuro sighed. "I'd like to meet with him, Ranko-chan."
"Of course," Ranko nodded. Maybe grandfather may change things.
"Ranma is inside the house with the rest of my family. Please," Kasumi said, showing Seijuro in, with Ranko right beside him.
Seijuro nodded, following the hostess with a steady pace.
When they walked into the den, Soun was the first to noticed the elder Saotome. He at once bowed out of respect. "Saotome-san. You honor my home with your presence."
Seijuro nodded to Soun in greeting. While he didn't like the man he was at least respectful. "Tendo-san. It is good to see you in good health." He then turned to Ranma, the boy was easy to recognize, who was sitting down casually and staring at him. Seijuro crossed his arms over his chest waiting for Ranma to acknowledge him, yet his grandson didn't in any way do so.
Ranma for his part was not going to treat this new guy any differently than he treated the others. His great likeness with Genma didn't help matters.
Ranko stood there, tapping her foot, wondering when her brother would say hello. Yes Grandfather looks somewhat like Father, but he sure as hell isn't father.
As the stalemate continued Nabiki smirked in amusement. It seemed like stubbornness was a Saotome trademark. She had yet to meet a Saotome that wasn't so strong-headed.
Seijuro finally broke the gaze with his grandson and turned to Ranko. It wasn't even necessary to speak, Ranko knew him so well she could clearly see him asking why her brother wouldn't greet him respectfully. Even if he was Genma's son he should at the very least be a little afraid of him, like his father.
"Father has done a lot more than we thought to him over the years," Ranko said. "To name one example, he engaged my brother to about at least half a dozen girls."
"I know of these... arrangements, granddaughter," Seijuro returned and turned to see Ranma again. "But why won't my own grandson greet me with the respect his elders are due?"
Ranma inwardly smirked at that. Considering the only elders he had contact with were Happosai, Cologne and the laddle lady Seijuro was happy the pigtailed martial artist didn't outright decide to ignore him.
"He um... he um..." Ranko frowned, not even sure how to put it into the right context.
"Don't sweat it, sis," Ranma said. "If the old man wants to say something he can say it to me."
Seijuro frowned at the open challenge. "I see your father spoke nothing of me."
Both Saotome men resumed glaring at each other.
Ranko let out a sigh. Oh this is going to take a while.
-----
Twenty minutes later and there hadn't really been any progress. Ranma had gone out of the room. Seijuro looked over at Ranko who looked back, both knowing what the other were to say.
Ranko left the house and went to the koi pond, finding her brother sitting there. "Yen for your thoughts?"
Ranma shrugged. "Not worth that much."
"I think they are," Ranko said plopping down beside him. "... Why?"
Ranma didn't have to ask what Ranko was talking about. He simply turned to staring at the water of the pond. A place he spent an inordinately high amount of time in. "He can't just demand respect, sis. That's what my old man does."
"He's an elder, you are supposed to respect them," Ranko said, though she lowered her head. "But that's what I was taught. Though I've come to learn that respect is earned... so I am kinda divided on this." She looked at Ranma. "But yeah, I understand what you are getting at."
The pigtailed martial artist looked up into his sister's eyes. "You like him, dontcha?"
"I love him," Ranko said, and Ranma could feel the emotion behind that declaration. There was a warmth and a respect that he couldn't quite place. "He's done so much more for me than our father. So much more."
"Yeah... well, he didn't do nothing for me," Ranma said quietly.
"Like I said, he tried to find you, but father was ahead of him," Ranko replied. "It's not an excuse. It's just a fact. I wish he had gotten to you, even if it was just before you fell into that cursed spring."
Ranma shrugged. He really wished he didn't have the curse, but wishing wouldn't make it come true. "I'm just glad... you didn't stay with us."
"I think that makes two of us. I could just imagine, me falling into a spring that made me into a boy if I was with you," Ranko said, giving off a shiver.
Ranma chuckled. "You'd walk funny as a guy." It felt good to have his sister around; he definitely would miss her when she was taken away. Everything he grew to like was always taken away.
The Art was his only life companion.
"Grandfather is old-fashioned but like I said, I understand where you are coming from," Ranko said, getting up. "You don't mind if I let him know that do you?"
Ranma waved it off. "Go ahead."
-----
Kasumi pouring Seijuro and her father some tea when Ranko went over to her grandfather and sat down by her grandfather. Soun and Kasumi took a moment to leave them alone. Ranko looked at Seijuro. "You can't demand respect from my brother. It won't work that way."
"It speaks ill of him that he disrespects his elders as he does, Ranko-chan," Seijuro said gravely, still cross that Ranma would greet him in such a cavalier manner.
"Maybe so, but he may also have reason to be that way if some of the elders he's been exposed to are like my father," Ranko replied.
"Are you suggesting his behavior today was the result of bad experiences?" Seijuro asked, trying to calm down and see things logically. He should've expected Ranma's reaction to him, but he was taken aback anyway.
"He has to deal with a LOT of headaches," Ranko said. "There are girls that want to marry him, boys that want to kill him. I seen him interact with many older people, but from our talk, I have to believe there are some elders that don't deserve to be respected in anyway at all."
"Among them Happosai, no doubt," Seijuro mussed, wondering when Genma's master in martial arts would make an appearance. "And your perceptions on the Tendos?" He asked, wondering what the girls were like. It was also a sort of test, to see how well Ranko got a hold of Soun's character.
"The youngest daughter Akane is very short tempered and thinks too highly of her skills," She frowned a bit. "She was also constantly bashing my brother over the head with a mallet whenever he said something wrong. I've since put a stop to that. I can't believe they engaged my brother to her considering that. Then there's Nabiki who happens to be a mercenary of sorts, but she supports this family through it. I dare say this place could have fallen apart long ago... if I didn't know Kasumi. Now Kasumi is the kindest, selfless person I have ever seen. Since her mother died she took up her position, but what has angered me is that no one has bothered to help her out around the house, yet she says she doesn't mind. But I, I just don't think that at all."
Seijuro nodded, frowning at the thought of Soun allowing his daughters to grow up like this.
"I personally like Kasumi the most out of them all and I have been trying to help her around the house," Ranko said. "I'll admit this is a rather weird town, but I like it here very much."
"And Ranma does nothing?" The old man asked, knowing Genma wouldn't even if forced to.
"I... I am not sure," Ranko said honestly. She didn't see her brother helping out around the house, but considering who he was, it wasn't impossible.
Seijuro took Ranko's uncertainty for denial and sighed. It seemed like Genma had managed to spoil Ranma's upbringing completely. "What of Tendo Soun, granddaughter?"
"He does nothing to help as far as I have seen," Ranko answered.
"I see..." The old man said thoughtfully. "And you, granddaughter? Do you wish to remain here? Or would you prefer to return to Kyoto?"
Ranko stared at her grandfather for the longest while before answering. "I know what you expect of me. To continue my studies, to continue to follow all that I have been taught, to continue being with my friends there...but I can't." She looked him in the eyes. "I wish to stay here with my brother."
"Are you willing to abandon all, just so you can be with a brother you haven't seen in more than ten years?" Seijuro asked neutrally.
"It's because, I haven't been with him for that long and been with him for such a short time, that I know this is where I need to be," Ranko said with finality.
Seijuro nodded gravely. "I see you are abandoning your responsibilities." When he saw Ranko start to cringe, however, he gave her a smile. "Just like I expected of you, Ranko-chan. Nothing is more important than family." While Saotome Seijuro was a traditional man, he also valued family above all else. That was why he didn't disown Genma, even knowing all that he did, and that was why Seijuro would support Ranko's decision now.
"You... you aren't angry with me?" Ranko asked wide eyed.
Seijuro adjusted his glasses and they glinted with the light. "Ranko-chan, I expected you to make this decision. That you took it even knowing I wouldn't approve... I'm proud to call you a Saotome."
"Grandfather!" Ranko cried as she decided to hug him, not caring if it was proper or not.
Seijuro smiled warmly and wrapped his arms around the little redhead. "I must now place a great burden on your shoulders, Ranko-chan. I hesitate to do so, but you proved to me today that you're up to the task."
Ranko froze, letting go of him as she was not sure what that meant but she looked at her Grandfather attentively. "What is it?"
Seijuro sat back and stared down at the girl. "Your brother, Ranko-chan. He will not listen to me, that much is obvious. It is upon your shoulders that this burden must fall."
Ranko relaxed then. "Do not worry grandfather. I will get him to be able to speak to you, not to mention get him to take me seriously. I swear it."
Seijuro smiled gently. "But don't forget to enjoy your time with him, Ranko-chan."
"I won't."
----
A few hours had passed and Seijuro had left the dojo. Ranko had a smile on her face as she and her brother had another sparing match. They hadn't had two in one day before, but Ranko felt like having a fight with her brother. She was incredibly happy.
Ranma, for his part, didn't really mind the extra practice. It gave him something to do aside from katas since Genma still hadn't returned from whichever hole he dug himself into.
"I am hoping you didn't think you were going to get rid of me after just a weak bro," Ranko smirked, get closer to him with each attack.
"Of course not, shorty. I just... Whoa! Nice try!" Ranma congratulated as he barely managed to avoid a sweep. She was definitely his sister, she learned very fast.
"Yeah well! Don't ever think you are getting rid of me. There isn't a person in the world that is going to separate us again."
That of course was when disaster had to strike.
"Oh Ranko-chan! I've come for you my love!"
Ranko paled considerably. "Oh no... no no no NO! How did HE find me here!"
Ranma stopped in mid-motion and turned to the voice in a defensive position.
The high pitched and almost effeminate voice came from an equally effeminate man wearing expensive looking clothes. He had short black hair and eyes which held an insanity that rivaled that of a Kuno's. Behind him were twelve well built men wearing black suits.
"I, Yamagata Mizuki, the Prince of Kyoto, have at last come to finally make you my bride, Saotome Ranko," he said with a smug smile on his face.
The look on Ranko's face was utter disgust. "Mizuki... how did you find me?"
"I followed your grandfather, my love," Mizuki drooled. "I have been so lonely with you gone. Now come with me to Kyoto so we can be wed and our families joined..."
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SMASH YOUR FACE INTO THE GROUND FOR YOU TO LEARN NO MEANS NO!" Ranko screamed, the volume of her disgust showing.
"Me thinks you protest too much," the rich boy said, totally ignoring Ranko's feelings.
Ranma tried to keep it in. He really did, for he knew how Ranko felt. But he just couldn't! "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" To actually see someone going through what he did on a daily basis was too hilarious.
"What is so funny, peasant?" Mizuki asked. "Away with you so I may take my bride home."
"I am not your bride!" Ranko snapped.
Ranma was still snickering a little, though the glare Ranko gave him silenced him somewhat, and turned to regard Mizuki. "Look, man. Just leave my sister alone and beat it."
Mizuki blinked. "Sister. Ridiculous! My fair Ranko-chan couldn't be related to you."
"He's my twin brother you moron!" Ranko roared.
Mizuki blinked again and stared back and forth between them before he reached a conclusion. "Aha ha! I see! You are some foul sorcerer or at least a man who wants my beloved Ranko-chan to himself! Well I won't have it!" He drew out his katana. "I will set her free from your grasp!"
"It's Kuno all over again," Ranma muttered to himself.
"Yes, you said it," Ranko added.
"Though it pains me to fight, I must to ensure the lovely Ranko becomes my bride by any means necessary," Mizuki said. "Attack!"
The dozen men in black pounced upon both of the martial artists, each of them having deal with six of them.
"This is a new low even for you Mizuki!" Ranko snapped as she fought against the six men, though with them surrounding her it wasn't exactly easy. The fact they had clubs or brass knuckles didn't help either.
Ranma was having a much easier time of it, used to big brawls against morons like Ryoga and Mousse. And unlike in his fights with Ranko, he was hitting back. "You're going to regret this, man!"
Mizuki laughed as raised his sword up. He saw some of his men noticing him and decided to move as he swung his sword. With a scream, he swung down.
Before Ranko and Ranma could even realize it, a blade of chi came from the sword, and it struck Ranma.
By now the entire Tendo family was watching the fight going on outside, and they exited the house just in time to see Ranma crash through the outer wall as a result of the chi attack.
"Ranma-kun!" Kasumi cried out.
"Ranma!" Ranko screamed out in shock, before getting hit in the back of the head for her momentary lapse by one of the other men. The other five then went to work on her before Mizuki screamed at them.
"You fools! That's my Ranko-chan! You aren't supposed to hurt her!"
"You can't channel chi! You're too weak!" Ranko growled, trying to get herself free but she was having a hard time. For some reason, these men felt stronger than they should have. "And what is the deal with your thugs?"
Mizuki gave off an arrogant laugh. "The world of magic is so grand, is it not? This magical sword allows me to attack my enemies from a distance, bracers for my hired men to become stronger," he had pulled out of his bag a golden necklace, "and something for you."
"What... what is that?" Ranko said, with a small bit of fear in her voice.
"Will you become my wife?"
Ranko rolled her eyes at him. "Do I even have to answer that?"
Mizuki sighed. "I wished to have you as you are... but at least with this you will be mine forever. The sorcerer's magic will be dispelled and you will find yourself, loving me as you always have."
That made Ranko redouble her efforts at getting free but they were still not good enough. These guys are really strong with those bracers Mizuki gave them. I have to find a way out of this fast!
Just then Ranma emerged from the debris of the wall and glared at Mizuki. "You're going down hard! MOUKO TAKABISHA!" He cried, launching his own chi blast at Mizuki.
"What!" Mizuki gasped, putting out his other hand in defense and felt himself being pushed backwards. He fell back into his other men, who caught him.
Yet everyone stared as Ranma's chi attack was being blocked by a force of some sort that was emanating from Mizuki's hand. Finally the blast stopped. "Oh thank the Kami." he praised. "He has blessed me on this day by inspiring me to bring an arsenal of magical items to use to obtain the lovely Ranko as my bride."
"Like hell you will!" Ranko snapped, trying to get free from her captors. She was annoyed at how strong they were. "Ranma, help me out here!" Damn it! I can't believe I ended up in situation like this!Mizuki actually came up with a GOOD plan!
Ranma didn't allow the fact that his chi blast didn't down his sister's unwanted suitor affect him and rushed towards her.
"Stop him!" Mizuki ordered the men holding him up to stop Ranma after he had gotten up on his feet.
Ranma paid them no mind as he started beating his way through them. They were strong, but Ryoga was stronger and a lot more skilled.
In fact Ranma would have gotten through them and to Ranko if it wasn't for someone breaking through the wall and shouting, "Where am I now!"
The shout made Ranma stop for a moment. A moment that Mizuki saw and decided now was the time to act, to get the necklace on Ranko. When he got close to her, his image of her in his Mother's wedding dress flashed before his eyes. He was paying more attention to the vision than the real girl as he reached to drop the necklace over her head.
He didn't expect someone else to tackle him.
"Who dares!" Mizuki roared as he put his hand on the throat of his assailant. It was then he realized two things.
One, it was a very beautiful girl.
Two, he had just put the hand with the necklace around her throat. A necklace that was now attached to her.
"People that can still have happiness, deserve to have it," a defiant Tendo Kasumi said to Mizuki.
Ranma froze at the sight. "Kasumi!" He cried in shock. Kasumi wasn't supposed to be caught in the chaos.
"Kasumi?" Akane gasped, staring at what her elder sister had just done.
Nabiki took a step towards her older sister, unsure what to do. She always remained aloof and detached from the goings on in Nerima... But this time Kasumi was at the center of events.
Ranma's eyes slowly narrowed to tiny slits, his demeanor changing drastically from his usual bravado in fighting to a silent and unemotional determination.
Ranko closed her eyes, her own mentality almost the same as her brothers. I don't care now... it ends. She had always held back with Mizuki, simply because he wasn't capable of doing anything to warrant her need to go all out.
He just gave her a reason, she decided as she let her battle aura show, using her chi to enhance herself. She took advantage of surprise the men that were holding her had with the situation. It wasn't much, but it was enough for her to get free, finally. Now she was back to fighting six against one. Since she wasn't holding back, it was much more even.
Something Mizuki noticed as he started walking backwards. His eyes caught sight of Ranma and his expression. "Now wait. This isn't my fault. I didn't mean for that peasant girl to get involved. Really, I..." he found himself suddenly unable to go any further. As if he had backed into something.
He slowly turned back to find himself leaning against a rather tall and well built boy, who was looking down at him menacingly.
Ryoga didn't really know what was happening. He barely noticed being in the Tendo Dojo. What he did notice, however, was that this person had done something to Kasumi. The nicest girl in the world... Maybe even nicer than Akane.
"Stay out of this, pig-boy. He's mine!" Ranma cried as he flipped over one of the men attacking him. When he landed the guy did as well, completely unconscious.
"It tingles..." Kasumi muttered, her hand over her chest as she started to get up.
"Kasumi? Are you alright? You aren't in love with that pervert are you?" Akane asked.
"No. No I am not… but I… I feel" Kasumi gasped, her heart was pumping faster and faster now and she couldn't understand why. Every part of her was feeling more and more alive. She put her hand to her head and felt a static shock. In fact she felt like her hair was standing on end now.
Ranma saw this and was torn between going to Kasumi's aid and ripping into Mizuki. In the end he went for Kasumi, seeking to take the collar off.
Ryoga, on the other hand, placed one strong hand on Mizuki's shoulder, quite menacingly.
"What...what's happening?" Kasumi asked, afraid for her life. She looked at her family who saw her fear filled eyes.
Their looks of terror were the last things she saw.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Everyone turned to Kasumi as she screamed in pain. The young woman was now, to their shock and horror, engulfed in a maelstrom of lightning.
"This... this isn't what the merchant told me the necklace would do," Mizuki muttered. "But at least my poor Ranko isn't harmed at all."
"KASUMI!" Ranma cried as he rushed into the lightning, ignoring the pain as he reached for the slightly older girl.
Ryoga's grip slackened on Mizuki as he stared in shock at Ranma actually lightening up like a Christmas tree to take a hold of Kasumi.
Ranma tried to get to her but shock was too great as he ended getting blasted away. He would have gone flying rather far if Ranko hadn't jumped in the way to get him.
"You still with us?" Ranko asked her brother.
The pigtailed boy was smoking, yet his eyes remained focused on Kasumi's body under all that lightning. If he couldn't get to her...
Mizuki saw that his men were all defeated now. However the boy holding him was not holding on as tight. Slipping out of his jacket, he got out of Ryoga's grip and was going to make a break for it.
Had he not ended running right into Soun's fist.
"How dare..." the rich boy started to say until Soun hauled him up by the throat and kept him in a vice grip. He fixed Mizuki with a look that he had look had not given anyone since his wife had died.
"If my daughter dies, I will kill you."
"What is that necklace, Mizuki?" Ranko demanded. "I can't believe you'd try to kill me in order to keep me from falling in love with someone else."
"Kill you! I'd never harm you at all Ranko-chan!" Mizuki defended himself. "That necklace I got from a man well versed in ancient artifacts. He told me, he told me it would release a person's hidden feelings and transform them into something special. I just knew if I got that on you, Ranko-chan, you'd shower me with love."
"You idiot!" Ranko snarled. "I don't HAVE any love for you! If you had put that on me and I had survived, I probably would have wanted to act on some of my daydreams and tried to KILL you!"
It was only then that Ryoga actually got a good look at Ranko and Ranma standing side by side. His eyes widened in shock. "RANMA! What's going on!"
Before anyone could say anything, there was explosion as a wave of air just washed over them all. Smoke billowed from the place Kasumi had been, but it was beginning to drift away.
Akane and Nabiki were closest to where Kasumi had been. As the smoke cleared they saw a form within it. They both felt relieved for that much.
However when the smoke totally cleared, what they saw was totally unexpected.
A woman with brown hair that went down past her waist, looking full of life, stood in Kasumi's place. Two belts crossed bandolier-like across her waist, securing to her hips ankle-length sections of cloth covering the lateral part of her legs. From the blue bikini-like bottoms, belts secured steel-grey leggings that hugged her like a second skin from mid-thigh down into her low-heeled, black shoes. Around her ankles were scrunched up warmers, completing her look. Black fingerless gloves encased slim arms up to the elbows, from which emerged a second, inner sleeve of steel grey fastened around her arms by plain black armbands.
As for the face, a featureless steel half-mask covered her face from the nose down; blue encased her upper torso from the neck down to her bustline, leaving her shoulders bare. The halter-like top wasn't wholly blue; the left side was steel grey in color. Around her neck was a black choker with a blue crystal spade in the center.
But it was her eyes that everyone noticed.
The Nerima residents could do nothing but stare in shock. This... certainly didn't look like the Kasumi they all knew.
"K... Kasumi?" Soun asked in disbelief. So great was his shock that he let go of Mizuki who grabbed his sword and took off as fast as he could.
Kasumi's eyes narrowed anger and she took off after Mizuki with a speed no one would have believed of Kasumi.
"Wait, Kasumi!" Ranma cried as he gave chase. Kasumi was moving fast, but Ranma was still faster.
"Hey, wait a minute brother!" Ranko called out, running after him and Kasumi.
"What is going on here?" Ryoga asked, more confused than ever over what happened.
Soun didn't say anything as he went after them too.
Akane shook her head. "It's a long story Ryoga. Real long but we don't have time right now. We gotta get to Kasumi!"
Nabiki rushed into the house, already planning on ways to keep up on what was going on. She wasn't a martial arts freak like the rest, but she definitely wasn't helpless.
----
Mizuki felt like the devil was after him. This place wasn't Kyoto. There were just too many strange things happening all at once. "At least I can try again to capture my dear Ranko. I still have other magical items and my sword... OUGH!"
A sharp pain fell right into his back as he impacted against a parked car. His sword was on the ground. He went to pick it up but a hand stomped hard on it, grinding it into the ground.
"You don't deserve a sword like this," Kasumi said coolly as she picked up the katana. Unsheathing it, she looked at it admiringly. "You know I have to thank you."
"Thank...me?" Mizuki asked.
"This feeling in me, its beyond anything I have experienced," Kasumi said, still looking at the sword.
Mizuki breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. "Well then you are welcome. Now if you can let me go and hand me back my sword I can..." A second later, blood trailed down his cheek from a shallow cut. He hadn't even seen her move.
"I've thanked you," Kasumi said coldly, not noticing the blood. "Now I'm going to ensure you never ruin anyone's happiness again."
"Wh...what do you mean?" Mizuki asked, suddenly very afraid.
Kasumi readied her blade. "Take a guess."
"Kasumi! Don't do it!" Ranma shouted as he landed softly a few feet away. He didn't know how affected Kasumi was by that magical necklace, but he was sure she'd later regret doing something like this.
"Why, Ranma-kun?" Kasumi asked casually. "Look at him. He's a pathetic excuse for a man who thinks he can buy the world. He's worse than Kuno. We'd all be better off he was dead."
"Stop her please!" Mizuki pleased with Ranma. "Name your price! I'll give you anything..." He suddenly saw hair falling down to the ground and realized that Kasumi had swung her sword again, taking a bit off the top of his own hair.
"You see what I mean," Kasumi said, her eyes narrowed at Mizuki. "He thinks he can weasel his way out of anything. Disgusting fool. It makes me want to throw up."
"This isn't you, Kasumi," Ranma said as he slowly started to prepare himself for action. She was out of control and he might have to physically restrain her.
"Isn't me? Isn't me?" Kasumi asked, turning her attention to Ranma for a moment. "Let me tell you something, Ranma-kun. The Tendo Kasumi you've known has been a lie. She's nothing more than a mask. I can't tell you what I feel like now."
Now's my chance! Mizuki decided that he would bolt for it.
What he got was Kasumi's elbow, sending him head first through a glass window of a car.
"Idiot." Kasumi said in disgust. "Did he really think I wasn't listening to his every move while I was talking to you?" She shook her head. "And now there's a mess. Well, I guess I should settle this." She put one hand to Mizuki's neck. "Let's hear a nice cracking sound, shall we?" She was about to put her other hand there but then she felt someone had just grabbed her wrist. "Let go."
Ranma didn't wait to see what would happen between Ranko and Kasumi. With the same unbelievable speed he'd been gifted with, and enhanced through training, he rushed Kasumi and tried to remove the choker.
"Don't you dare!" Kasumi screeched, letting go of Mizuki's neck and using that free hand to punch Ranma in the gut.
To Ranko's shock, her brother reeled backwards. "Kasumi, what are you---AH!" Ranko shrieked as a shock ran through her. Trying to find the source, she noticed that lightning wrapped around her hand on Kasumi's wrist.
"I like you a lot Ranko-chan, but I am not going back!" Kasumi declared, kicking Ranko to the ground. She immediately blocked Ranma's second attempt to go for the choker around her neck. "Think I'm unprepared, Ranma-kun? I've seen you fight enough to know how fast you come back to a fight."
Ranma grit his teeth. Fighting Kasumi was the last thing he wanted to do. The fact that he was being careful not to hurt her at all, while she wasn't holding back her punches, wasn't helping. "Calm down, Kasumi-chan!"
"Calm down! Calm down!" Kasumi mocked, though under her mask, Ranma could see her smiling. "For the first time in ten years I feel free! Can you even imagine how great that feels for me!"
Ranma grimaced slightly as he was put on the defensive. "... Yes..." He answered in barely a whisper.
"Kasumi!" Akane cried out as she arrived with Ryoga but both stopped at scene.
"Be careful..."
"Ranko?" Akane asked, seeing the red head getting up slowly, her hair frazzled. "Are you alright?"
"Just peachy," Ranko groaned as she got to her feet. "I definitely wasn't expecting her to try to shock me with electricity."
"Electricity..." Akane repeated, still in shock. She stared back at the sight of Kasumi fighting Ranma, with Kasumi being on the offensive.
Ranma remained fighting, mostly dodging to avoid hurting Kasumi, as he tried to reason with her. He wasn't very good at talking, though. "Come on, Kasumi-chan. I know how you feel but this is not going to work."
"No you don't know how I feel! No one can possibly know how I feel!" Kasumi snarled.
"Kasumi! Please stop! You don't know what you are saying!" Akane shouted to her.
"Shut up Akane! You're such a spoiled brat you know that!" Kasumi sneered. She took the shocked look Akane had in stride. "It's something I should have said to you before. How could have been so stupid with my life!" Taking advantage of her distraction, Ranma tackled her and pinned her to the ground.
"This has to stop, Kasumi-chan," Ranma said.
Kasumi pulled a hand free, enough to remove her face mask. "Oh I don't know... I think we should start." In a move that surprised everyone, she grabbed Ranma's head, brought it down...
And proceeded to kiss him on the lips.
Ranma froze in shock, taken completely off-guard; his pigtail stood on end.
Kasumi took that moment to get Ranma off her. She had a wide smile on her face as she stood up, looking at everyone with glee. "You people... you people don't know me at all."
"You... you kissed him..." Akane gasped in shock.
"And you would too if you knew how good man he was! But you are too stupid to realize how good he is!" Kasumi snapped, showing anger freely. "I've loathed you for how you've treated him. Despised it. Just as much as my life! What did I do with this life! I became a housewife! A housewife with no time to do anything. A housewife since I was nine! NINE! Nine year old girls should have to play with dolls! I had to clean the kitchen!"
Akane didn't know what to say, staring at her changed sister.
"But you all didn't understand. No. You did everything the way you wanted, and didn't care about poor little Kasumi. I became your slave! 'Kasumi cook dinner. Kasumi do the laundry! Kasumi be my mother!" The young woman cried out, every word she said touched with bitterness and anger. "You know when I was alone, I despised you all for having lives! Having lives I could only dream of having! But I couldn't because someone had to be a mom! But then I couldn't have one. Because I had to do everything! EVERYTHING! Why! Why did I have to have that kind of life! Why couldn't you do anything Akane-chan! Or Nabiki! You're my sisters! Or even my own father! Why didn't you do something!"
"I have no excuse."
Everyone turned to see Soun walking toward Kasumi. He stood no more than foot from her, looking her in the eyes. "Ten years ago, I fell apart when Kimiko died. I just couldn't imagine how my life could be without my wife. And so I went on living, becoming a man that had forgotten his place as a father." He took her hand with the katana and placed it at his throat. "If you want to kill someone for a crime, then kill me for I have failed you as a father and Kimiko as a husband that should have been able to tend to his children. Please. Do what you must."
Kasumi stared at her father for a long while. She looked him over, from his posture to his eyes. Yet once she had, she froze. The man she saw before was not the father she had known these last ten years. Rather, it was the man she had wished back for so very long. A man she thought had been buried with her mother. "Da...daddy..." she asked in an uncertain and shaky voice.
Soun's only response was silence yet the look in his eyes told Kasumi what she needed to know.
The sword fell from Kasumi's hands, and then she rushed to her father, embracing him tightly. "DADDY!" she cried out as tears fell down her face like rivers. She fell to her knee with Soun going down with her..
Ranma sighed in relief and some disappointment. He tried to get Kasumi to reason with him, with no success, and Soun managed it in less than two minutes.
Akane just stared at the sight before her. My father... he just offered up his life... just like that... She couldn't believe it. Even if Kasumi was his own daughter, she couldn't believe how willing her father was to give his life away.
Ranko let out a sigh of relief when she checked up on Mizuki. "The bastard is still alive, though we'll have to do something for the owner of this car." She noticed Ryoga then. "Oh hi. I'm Saotome Ranko, Ranma's twin sister. Are you a friend of his?"
Ryoga was still too busy making sense of the events of the day to really acknowledge Ranko. Even as the oldest of Ranma's rivals he was overwhelmed with today's surprises, and it had only been an hour! "Uh... hi..."
Ranma, on the other hand, walked over to Kasumi and knelt next to her and Soun. "You okay, Kasumi-chan?"
"I... am...happy..." Kasumi said between tears, looking at her father. "Daddy... daddy are you going to stay this time?"
Soun pulled his daughter in to a tighter grip. "I promise you, I won't let you go my daughter."
Kasumi sighed contentedly hearing that. She looked up at Ranma, a smile on her lips. "So, how did it taste?"
"Urk!" Ranma offered intelligently and nervously turned to the fuming Akane, sure she would find a way to blame this on him.
"Could we please find a way to take that necklace off?" Akane growled. "I'd like my sister back."
"You do have her back," Ranko said, getting a confused look from Akane. "Remember what Mizuki said. About how it releases the inner self."
"But Kasumi isn't like this!" Akane argued. "She's a saint!"
Kasumi gave a bitter laugh. "A saint I am not. A fraud is what I was. The only reason I never dropped dead from the days work was because I used a lot of chi to keep myself going every day and used what I had left to keep myself calm and not go insane."
Ranma grimaced at that, since he'd suspected it some time ago but had done nothing about it, except help with a chore here and there when no one was looking. "I'm sorry, Kasumi-chan..." While the words were soft, Ranma was not good at apologizing, they reached Kasumi's ears clearly.
Kasumi closed her eyes. A light shone from her choker, blinding everyone for a moment. When it faded, they saw Kasumi was back to the way she was, the necklace now around her neck instead of the choker. "... Apology accepted, Ranma-kun."
"Kasumi," Soun said as he and Kasumi got up.
Kasumi stared at everyone and saw Mizuki and the harm she had inflicted. Akane expected Kasumi to say it wasn't her fault, and Akane would say that she was right and it wasn't.
"... I guess, this is the price you pay for burying your heart," Kasumi said sadly.
What? Akane gasped. She wasn't expecting that. At all.
"Can we go home please?" Kasumi asked of her father.
"Of course," Soun said.
Ranma was tempted to reach for the necklace and pull Kasumi free of it, but didn't chance it right now. Kasumi became normal again, why ruin that?
"Um, before we go," Ranko said to everyone as she got up from where Mizuki was laying. "We really got to decide what we are going to do about the rich fool and the car with the busted window."
Akane huffed. "What's difficult about it? It's all that pervert's fault. He should pay for all the damages!"
Ranma, for once, didn't argue with Akane. "We always let them pick themselves up anyway. The same with pig-boy every time I kick his butt."
Ryoga bristled at that. "RANMA!"
"Will you stop teasing him!" Akane growled. "Honestly!"
"I don't get it. Why do you call him a pig-boy?" Ranko asked her brother as she didn't get the joke. "I mean the last thing he looks like is a pig."
"You see, even Ranko agrees with me!" Akane snapped, enjoying the moment. Then she realized that she just agreed with Ranko.
Ryoga was about to thank Ranko, even if he still didn't know who she was, when Ranma decided to open his mouth. "You're right, sis. Ryoga is even stupider than a pig, anyway."
"RANMA! PREPARE TO DIE!" Ryoga shouted his usual battle cry and launched himself at Ranma, all according to the latter's plan. The pigtailed martial artist really needed a good fight.
"Oh for the love of..." Akane groaned.
"Let them," Kasumi said softly. "Just so long as they don't fight inside the house."
"They fight in the house?" Ranko asked.
"You wouldn't believe the walls I have to rebuild after people go through them," Kasumi said with a slight smirk.
Ranko stared then shook her head. "Things are even weirder than I thought." Sighing, she went to write a note and leave Mizuki in the car. She found paper and pen in the car's back seat. As for how she left him in the car, she pushed the rest of him through the broken window. He ended up in the back seat of the car.. "I think this will be just punishment enough. At the very least he'll be held over night in jail."
"If he comes again, he'll get much worse," Soun said with conviction. "Let's go home now." He walked with Kasumi, with Akane staring after him.
"Something bothering you?" Ranko asked.
"I...don't know..." Akane said truthfully.
-----
Ranma sat on the roof that night. After a very long and fun fight with Ryoga, and winning of course, he'd retreated to his place under the bridge to think. He'd even missed dinner, he stayed there for so long, and upon returning to the dojo he went to the roof without telling the others he was home.
He brushed his lips slowly with his fingers, lost in his thoughts about the events of the day and what they led to.
Namely the kiss Kasumi gave him.
It felt... possessive and longing, like something Shampoo and Ukyo would attempt, but the fact that it was Kasumi of all people... Ranma knew Kasumi hid her feelings before, but he had no idea how much.
"Ranma-kun?"
Ranma stiffened at the voice and snapped his hand away from his mouth. "Yeah?"
"Are you alright?" Kasumi asked him, climbing up a ladder to get on to the roof. She wasn't like him. She couldn't just leap up on to the top.
"Why do you ask?" Ranma asked trying to sound casual, but even then there was a slight nervousness in his voice.
"Because I am worried about you," Kasumi replied. "Can't I worry?"
"You shouldn't' worry about me, Kasumi..." Ranma said. Left unsaid was, however, that Kasumi didn't deserve to worry about anything.
"Can I sit down by you?" He nodded and she took a seat beside him. "There's no way I can take back what has happened today. And yet I am asking myself if I even want to. I've had these feelings bottled up for so long, so hard that I never thought they'd come up...and now..."
Ranma's eyes widened and he turned to look at Kasumi as if she had grown a second head. "Feelings!" He couldn't really tell which kinds of feelings, though. Was she angry? Mad? She had a right to be.
But...
There was the possibility... That she was speaking of that kiss?
"Everything I said when I... was changed," Kasumi started to say, "the words could have been better, perhaps even left unsaid. But they were true."
"Why didn't you say anything before?" Ranma asked softly and turned to stare at his hands. "I could help..."
"Could you have helped me ten years ago?" Kasumi asked. "I was nine years old. I should have been playing with dolls. But as the eldest daughter, I had a duty to perform as our culture demands." She bowed her head then. "So I gave up on my life, and my dreams, did just enough in school tograduate a little above average. I didn't study at all. I was too busy. Busy being a mother and a housewife."
"Kasumi... is it really so bad? Duty..." Ranma trailed off, unsure of why Kasumi found it so hard. He had been taken from his mother when he was a toddler still, trained under the most insane and irresponsible of martial arts masters and found in an unattainable position. All because of duty, and he didn't think if it was worth it or not. It just was.
"Ranma, what is your dream?"
"Huh?" Ranma asked taken off-guard.
"Your dream," Kasumi repeated. "It's been so long, that I don't have a dream any more... I can't even remember what I used to dream I would become." She looked into his eyes. "What do you dream of achieving or becoming?"
"To be the best!" Ranma replied instantly, but it was mostly because that was Genma's talk. For all his life he couldn't remember anyone ever asking this, so he stopped questioning himself and accepted what Genma and the others demanded of him
"What's your father's desire for you," Kasumi sighed. "What do YOU want? What is YOUR dream?"
Ranma closed his eyes and thought about it, really thought about it, for the first time since he could remember. What did he want out of life? It obviously wasn't a boring life in school or anything like that, but then what? "... I... I want to keep improving in the Art. It's all I have, Kasumi..." Everything else could be taken away, but never his precious Art.
"It's not all you have," Kasumi returned. A bit more softly, "... or could have."
Ranma decided to change the subject from his dreams to a safer one, though it was only safer because it wasn't related to him. "What about you, Kasumi? What did you want before...?"
"I don't remember," Kasumi sighed. "When I made myself be the mother of the house, I had to push away all my happy thoughts. All my dreams. In time, I forgot them all." She laughed a bitter laugh. "You know the only people I could possibly consider friends are all the people you have brought though this dojo Ranma-kun. I've had no time go out and meet new people."
Ranma slumped at that. Those were not the kinds of friends Kasumi deserved. "I'm sorry, Kasumi..."
"Don't be sorry," Kasumi said with a smile. "If it wasn't for you, I'd never have my father back."
Ranma smirked slightly. "Tendo-san did seem to wake up, didn't he?"
"Yes, I haven't seen father with those kinds of eyes since before mother died," Kasumi said solemnly. "When she died, my father was never the same. Today is the first day I've seen the father I remember back in this house."
"Kasumi... About that necklace..." Ranma trailed off, unsure of how to ask about this.
"If you want me to get rid of it, the answer is no."
"But... why?" Ranma asked. In his experience magic was never a good thing.
"I can't take back everything I said. Can't return back to Kasumi the Mom and Housewife, even if I wanted to," she said seriously, her hand going to the necklace around her neck. "This necklace brought me my father back. Regardless of all else, that makes this good magic." A slight smile came on her face. "And besides, I'll probably need the magic it has soon enough."
"Huh?" Ranma asked intelligently, Kasumi's words going totally over his head.
"This is Nerima. Land of the weird. Anything and everything happens here. With this necklace, I won't be such the helpless little lady," Kasumi said, getting up. "I'm going to finish taking care of some things around the house, assuming Ranko didn't to take care of it. Good night." She was about to leave but then stopped. "Oh, Ranma-kun?"
"Yeah, Kasumi?" Ranma asked, in a daze, as he turned to see Kasumi.
"Make any more holes in my house and I'll be like one of those magical girls, transform and start chasing you around with my katana," she said coldly. She took in Ranma's gaping look before smirking. "Kidding. Well, kidding about the magical girl part. As I said before, I HATE having to walk down to the hardware store to buy wood and then make the repairs to the house." Kasumi had a surprised expression her face. "Oh dear... that felt very good to get that out." she then walked back to the latter and started to climb down.
Ranma slumped against the roof and sighed. "It's not like I want to damage the house," he grumbled to himself. Mostly it was Akane's or Ryoga's fault. But did anyone care? Nooooooooooo...
"Oh and I'm going to tell Akane and P-chan the same thing I told you," Kasumi's voice called out to him. "P-chan and I are going to have a long talk in private."
Ranma chuckled slightly and relaxed. Sometimes it almost seemed like Kasumi could see right through him.
-----
Akane sat in the dojo, looking at a pile of bricks, as if set up to break them. She stared at them intensely, as if testing her own self.
With a scream, she broke through them all. However looking at her hand, she saw it was bleeding this time. "Damnit!" Akane screamed, slamming her fist against the wall. Is this how pathetic I've become! I'm supposed to be a martial artist! I am much better than I was after the fight last week, and yet Kasumi went and tackled that pervert! "Why! Why didn't I do something damn it! She's my sister!"
"No wonder boys think you're weird, sis," Nabiki said as she walked into the dojo, repeating the same words she told Akane the fateful afternoon a certain redhead and her panda arrived at the Tendo Dojo.
"Shut up!" Akane snapped. "I'm not in the mood Nabiki!"
The middle Tendo sister shrugged and leaned against the wall. "Lately you're never in the mood, Akane-chan."
Akane growled a bit before letting off her steam. "I watched. I just watched and did nothing while that pervert was around. And it was Kasumi, KASUMI, that got involved in this. And now look at what's happened."
"And what has happened that is so terrible?" Nabiki asked with a raised eyebrow. Once she took the time to calm down and think about what happened, she came to the conclusion things didn't go badly at all.
"Terrible! Ha! Can't you tell? I mean Kasumi... she... she..." Akane trailed off. Even she had to admit to certain truths.
However admitting to them made her feel rather low.
Nabiki knew Akane wouldn't be able to talk about it, so she went to the second thing that must be eating at Akane. "She kissed Ranma-kun?"
"How could she! I am engaged to him right?" Akane snapped then frowned. "I mean... well..."
"You were engaged to him because we didn't take him... But the engagement is to one of us," Nabiki reminded her little sister. Maybe if she felt herself threatened she would start to be nicer to Ranma.
"So?"
Nabiki smirked. "So, my little sis, maybe Kasumi does want Ranma after all."
"You have to be kidding!" Akane gasped, her mouth . "Maybe it's that necklace. And what about how she feels about Dr Tofu or how he feels about her?"
"Have you ever seen Kasumi be nicer to Tofu than she is to anybody else?" Nabiki asked, wondering if Akane thought only because Tofu was a nut around their sister they were meant to be together.
"No"
"Is Kasumi immune to the effects of Ranma-kun's charm?" Nabiki asked, though she wasn't sure if Kasumi was really interested in Ranma.
"Sure she is, I mean what charm does he have?" Akane frowned. "Like Ranko said, social niceties of a child."
"So that's why he has every single girl in Nerima falling in love with him. I was so blind, that must be it," Nabiki stated sarcastically.
Akane laid back against the wall, thinking things over for a bit before speaking. "... I don't what I feel for him okay. He can be alright but he can also be a real pain in the ass. Some times its his fault, some times not. I... just don't get it with him."
"You better make up your mind, sis," Nabiki warned and started walking out of the dojo. "If Kasumi does have the hots for him..." she trailed off and left, leaving Akane to think about that.
-----
It was a very irritated Hibiki Ryoga that picked himself up, wincing at the bruises he received in his latest fight with Ranma. During the fight it was easy for him to ignore the pain, he was mostly running on adrenaline, but always after those fights he had to take some time to recover. He frowned to himself as he thought back to the fight, which was more one-sided than usual. Ryoga barely managed to tag Ranma once or twice, the pigtailed boy's speed having increased dramatically since they last fought. It was almost as if Ranma was training exclusively to dodge around his opponent's attacks, even more than before.
It was annoying and humiliating for Ryoga, who got his butt kicked and had to leave to get some more training. Some new technique that hopefully Ranma wouldn't be able to master in a week's time.
"Sounds like you and my brother have issues."
Ryoga turned in a ready stance as the voice interrupted and his eyes widened in recognition. "RANMA! You..." Whatever he was going to say went unspoken as he winced and fell back on a sitting position, holding his tender ribs. He was very tough, but even Ryoga needed time to recover after a hard fight.
"Geez, everyone really is going to confuse me for my brother's cursed form until I prove it to them," Ranko said pouring over her head a kettle of hot water, to show herself in front of Ryoga. "Let's try this again. Hi. I'm Saotome Ranko. Ranma's twin sister."
"What are you after now, Ranma?" Ryoga asked uncertainly. It wasn't the first time his nemesis fooled him.
"Please tell me you aren't as thick headed as that pervert Kuno," Ranko sighed. "Look, I don't know what my brother has done to you. He told me I had already met all of the regular pains he has. And why does he call you pig-boy?"
Ryoga gave Ranko a suspicious look, though it was obvious he was starting to believe her. He did, after all, see her and Ranma at the same time. "That's between him and me." There was no way he was revealing his curse to Ranma's sister, if she really was his sister and not some trick.
"Whatever," Ranko shrugged. "How are you feeling? That was some beating you took."
"He got lucky," Ryoga protested, not willing to admit Ranma actually defeated him quite easily. "And this is nothing. I'll be back on my feet very soon."
"I think it has to deal with the fact he won't take me seriously when we fight," Ranko said candidly.
"What?" Ryoga asked, unsure of what that had to do with anything.
"See, we've been sparing every day for the last week, but my brother refuses to hit back. Every attack I throw, he just avoids it though barely, and I mean barely," Ranko frowned. "It sucks for me because my true style isn't offensive so I'm at a disadvantage just fighting aggressively. Still, I know my own speed has improved since I started fighting him like this."
"That insensitive jerk," Ryoga growled out. That was the same thing Ranma always did to poor Akane, not taking her seriously. Now he was doing the same thing with his own sister!
"Like I said, you seem to have some issues with my own bro. Though father did a good job screwing him up," Ranko said with a grin. "I am so glad for the umpteenth time I was only with them for three years before Father lost me and Grandfather found me and raised me." She fixed a look on Ryoga. "So, you hungry?"
"No..." Ryoga said and his stomach protested audibly, making him blush slightly.
"Good. How about we talk while having some Chinese food. My treat?" Ranko offered.
"No funny stuff?" Ryoga asked suspiciously.
Ranko looked confused. "What do you mean funny stuff? All I want to do is talk, have some Chinese food for dinner and try to get you know you..." she frowned. "Oh shoot. I don't even know your name."
"Hibiki Ryoga," the boy said as he stood up, already feeling stronger but nowhere near top form.
"Well, let's go eat then Ryoga-kun," Ranko said with a smile.
-----
Arriving at the Nekohaunten was somewhat a surprise to Ryoga as he and Ranko walked in and took a seat.
"It's the best Chinese restaurant in town. It is definitely as good as anything I ever had in Kyoto," Ranko said to Ryoga.
"My, you certainly are a sight for sore eyes, child," Cologne said as she poggoed in from the kitchen, as if she felt the presence of the redhead before she even arrived. "And I see you brought the Hibiki boy with you. Have you taken a liking to your brother's rival?" The old woman teased with a raised eyebrow.
Ryoga's eyes went wide and he started choking at that. He... with Ranma's sister? NEVER! He'd never betray Akane like that.
Good evening Elder Cologne, Ranko returned in Mandarin, giving respect to the Amazon matriarch as she was an elder and it was how she was raised.
Cologne chuckled at the response she got from Ryoga and turned to Ranko. "While I thank you for your using my home language, if would be rude of us to speak it since Ryoga won't follow the conversation, child. Now what can this old woman do for you today?"
"I'll have ramen for tonight. What ever Ryoga-kun wants he can have. I'll be paying for everything."
"Absolutely not!" Ryoga protested. "I'll be paying." Ryoga might not have spent a lot of time with his parents, but they where there to teach him to always to pay for a girl's food, even if she was his enemy's sister.
"Ryoga-kun it's not a big deal," Ranko replied. "It's not as if I'm poor. I'm far from it."
"It's still not right," Ryoga countered and crossed his arms over his chest, the Hibiki stubbornness raring its ugly head and reminding Ranko of her own brother. No wonder Ryoga and Ranma continually butted heads.
"Well, there's something you both share in common," Ranko muttered. "Please don't tell me you're not into taking girls seriously too. That will really wreck my idea."
Ryoga blinked at her, confused about what she was getting at.
Cologne simply smiled knowingly. For the past week Ranko had been very clear about her disappointment in Ranma not taking their sparring seriously.
"You want to beat my brother, I want him to take me seriously. Individually, we are failing and he's just improving by taking us both on at different times," Ranko explained, a smile forming on her lips. "However, if you and I fought each other seriously, well..."
Ryoga seemed to think about it for a moment, really think about it. Ranma was somehow always a step ahead of him... but if he could get the drop on the pigtailed martial artist... "I'll do it."
"Perfect... and now let's eat."
Ryoga couldn't help but laugh slightly. Different or not, they still have an appetite. He only hoped that hers wasn't as bad as Ranma's. It would be a blow to his savings.
To Be Continued...