DISCLAIMER: Many of the characters and situations described in the following fic are owned entirely by Takahashi Rumiko, a woman I have the greatest respect and admiration for. (In fact if she were willing, I would have her love child. A neat trick since I am a male kinda guy and not built to bear children.) Her creativity has even inspired the creation of a whole new branch of the Trek Universe. Therefore, any mentions of historical moment from Trek, Trek-Tech and characters and ships, which I shall endeavor to keep at a minimum, is entirely intentional. Within this story are characters who are from the Trek Universe, but not of Trek. These are my creations. All other characters that are integral to this story are her property, apart from the characters from AMG. This is a work intended to share a concept, and perhaps my story telling abilities. There is no money to be earned by me or by anyone else from this work. I might also add, Paladin, Team Paladin, the Starship Percheron and her crew, and Miss Kitty as she is here, ARE my property, and not to be used with out express consent from myself. I have worked hard to develop these characters and hope to use them in published works eventually. I choose to share them and their attitudes with you here. The character from OH! My Goddess belong to who ever owns them… sorry but my copies of this series (as well as Ranma ½) mysteriously disappeared during a move
I would also like to add the following. NO the character of Jerrod Randolph Macon, A.K.A. Paladin is in no way related to T.N.G.'s Silver Paladin. That character was little more than a pirate, my character is intended to embody the true spirit of the word paladin.
Also, for the Trek nitpickers out there. I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but. There is no such thing as a society that doesn't use some form of currency. Roddenberry's vision of the future is a wonderful vision, but impractical as far as money is concerned. It is a socialist utopia, and it cannot work. Any historian or economist can tell you that. Even the most primitive cultures on the planet barter with each other for goods and services, and that is the earliest form of currency. Let's face it, even the People's Republics around the world, (Read as oppressive communist governments, where if you speak out against anything, you wind up run over by a tank.) Even they have currencies that the civilian public uses for internal trade. It has been postulated that the Federation has solved the issues of limited resources thereby removing the need for any form of currency. I disagree with this. Not that the resource problem has been addressed, but that currency will be done away with.
In the Federation future, most of the actual trade where currency is used to make a purchase will be of the 'intellectual properties exchange' forum. The reason why currency will always exist is because of the inherent need of humans for an incentive to improve. It wouldn't be worth your time to be a clothing designer or civilian engineer if you weren't given concrete evidence of your value. Payment of some form of currency will be much easier to keep track of fifteen hundred credits than twenty goats and fifteen sheep and three chickens from the buyer in China who really loved the new spaghetti strap, plunging to the ankles neckline evening gown.
Capitalism may not be perfect, but it's better than anything else around is right now.
Most likely the currency used in the world of Trek is closely related to various forms used in much of Sci-Fi, a credit system, there may be no hard currency, but there is a form of monetary exchange.
Internally to this story, there are some glaring examples, (to some) of extreme OOC, as well as outright character revision. As this is intended to be an original telling with some new characters with a minor twist here and there to aid in making the whole thing insensible… inchoate? …to the world of Rumiko's vision. There has been some comment that her characters aren't the way I have them here. And why would Ranma have a crush on Nabiki?
Okay, think about this. You live in a house with three very pretty girls. One of them you can't bring yourself to look at in any way other than as a big sister/mother figure. Then there are the other two, the youngest that you happen to be engaged to is violent, quick tempered, never lets you answer any question be fore she belts you and you are forcing yourself to love her.
And there is the third one, she isn't very nice to you, but you think you know why. She was also the only one that seemed excited when you arrived, and she doesn't hit you, ever.
I'd have a minor crush on her myself if I were Ranma.
Let's face it, Nabs, if she were a real person, would be a major babe.
The timeline for this story is just about there. Meaning there aren't going to be any of the big events that occurred in the manga and anime. The story makes an assumption that events alter somewhat with each restart by the Norn. So Herb and Saffron may exist but won't be part of the story.
And finally, for convenience sake. ( ) author's commentary.
Sound effect
Chinese
Japanese usually spoken planetside
English generally spoken aboard ship
And now for sumpin' gnu.
On with the tale
PALADIN ½ - SHE'S THE ONE
Chapter 5- izzat a cat?
January 14, 1993 Nerima, Zu, Tokyo, Japan, a Thursday…a half day for Furinkan, a Teacher's meeting being the case.
Paladin had spent a little time with Chief Carlisle in trying to find a suitable beam in point. So far this appeared to be the train station, but that seemed to be a bit crowded. They accessed the planetary database on board and determined that a park just inside the confines of Nerima would be the best choice. This time of the local day, there were few people in the park, and beam in amid some shrubbery would go unnoticed by the few who were there. They further accessed the planetary data-network and pulled up particulars about this park, and the distance of it from the Tendo compound, as well as directions from point a to b., not that Jerrod planned on using these directions. He intended to call Nabiki, expecting to have someone meet him there. And since it was a nice day planetside, though a bit cold, he decided to take his daughter to the park for some fresh air.
As he was making sure that Kitty was properly bundled up for the excursion into the strange world of Nerima, he Okayed a twenty-four hour shore-leave rotation. So the crew could unwind a little before going on the boring job of waiting until he had gotten the additional gear he would need set up in another location than his new residence.
To anyone looking up at the night sky of Nerima, they wouldn't be able to tell that directly above was a gleaming white, two-hundred eighty-six meter long star ship in geosyncronous orbit. Not that it was night, nor would they be able to tell that the two columns that appeared within a small thicket accompanied by an electronic whine like the sound of a million mosquitoes, leaving behind two humanoid beings were related to that ship overhead.
If they had been aware of this they might have been surprised to find that one of them was actually human, and the other was half-human. Of course outwardly they gave no sign of their physical capabilities or their mental ones for that matter. The fact that one of them looked remarkably like a cat/human cross, and behaved distinctly as any child of the same apparent age, was the only thing that would have tipped off an outsider that something was completely different about these two. The transporter effect should have been enough.
But that was in the event that they had been observed beaming in.
As it was Paladin and Kitty were able to extricate themselves from the small stand of heavy brush and into the bright sunshine and the playground of the park proper. It being fairly cold out there were only very hearty people out in the park. The few parents and children looked up at them to see who they were and then went back to what they were doing. The parents watching their youngsters at play. The children playing a game of chase, or sandbox, or just playing on the swings.
Smiling down at his daughter, because they had plenty of time, he took her little hand and walked her to the swings. He then put her in one of the free seats and started to push her back and forth in the traditional way a father does with his daughter at a playground. He was thinking to himself that the people around him were pretty tolerant of strange looking people. Then again, it could have seemingly been tolerance, xenophobia being the primary cause. People are people, most have difficulty accepting strangers in their environment.
Of course one of the kids turned out to be snotty. And had no problem showing it off with his thrown out little chest and diminutive swagger he came up to the Macon pair. "Better watch out mister, this is Nerima, Demons get killed here." Little snot said from his scarf-covered face. The kid said this with an evident intent of letting the newcomers know that he wasn't going to let the strange looking kid get out of hand. Exactly what the little snot thought he could do with a real demon was anyone's guess.
Paladin looked at the kid and just politely said with a small grin. "That's good to know kiddo, I wouldn't want my daughter attacked by a demon."
The apparent mother of the snot came up with a look of mild anger at her son and said. "I am very sorry about the rudeness of my son. He has the silliest notion that anyone who looks different is a demon. And he has seen real demons too. This darling little thing couldn't possibly be a demon." (Yes, the cute factor has a living avatar and her name is Kitty. Hardly anyone can encounter her and not say something about her adorablity, cuteness or angelic demesne.)
Paladin wondered after staying in Nerima for a time if it would be possible to bottle Kitty's cute. (Kitty is the undefeated mistress of what will henceforth be called 'Cute-Fu'. None can stand against her. Even the indomitable Mistress of 'Sweet-Fu' and 'Nice-Fu' and the master of panda-fu fall to her might.)
That was for later, as he and his daughter had only just arrived.
"I'm sure he has ma'am. Could you tell me where he has seen these 'demons'?" Paladin inquired, truly interested. He'd like to see one himself and run some scans on them to see if they were in fact demonic and not just some alien with a twisted sense of humor. Of course his money was on the aliens with odd senses of humor. From what had learned from the Norn, the real demons were also Norn. This made them very human appearing and unlikely to give off any sort of physical indicator that a person could tell the difference unaided.
"I really couldn't say, my son is always claiming to see 'demons'." The woman replied. Evidently the boy had an active imagination and it annoyed her to a degree.
"Quite alright ma'am. I'm called Paladin by the way, and this is my daughter Katherine." He introduced himself and his daughter.
"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Yoriko Sarogawa, and my son is named Keichi." The woman replied.
They spent the next half-hour chatting about the various things their children imagined and how much of a delight they were, when Yoriko looked up and stepped back a few feet. Paladin looked up himself and saw the body of a young man in a red shirt flying toward them. Almost at a loss for what to do, Paladin stepped into the incoming form and caught him before he could hit the ground. It wouldn't have been a good thing for the kid to hurt himself, that was concrete the adults were standing on.
At this action Paladin's new friend seemed amazed and nearly swooned at the masculine behavior of the father of the cute little one. Doing her best not to embarrass herself, Yoriko made a hasty goodbye, said something about being home in time to make dinner for her smelly husband and snagged her son and left.
Paladin looked after her with slight bafflement 'Smelly husband?' and then looked down at the youngster he had caught. The kid was trying to get out of the grip that was holding him off the ground when he suddenly stopped.
"Hey, how'd ya do that?" the kid asked.
"How did I do what?" Jerrod asked, mildly confused.
The kid looked him in the eye after being set on the ground and said, "Catch me outta the air like that. Are ya a martial artist or sumpin'?"
Jerrod smiled and said, "Or something."
"Hey, I'm Ranma Saotome. Thanks for catchin' me like that. That uncute gorilla butt tomboy coulda hurt me this time." The kid introduced himself.
'So you're Ranma.' Paladin thought. The kid felt pretty solid, and had a pretty good mass; another twenty kilograms and Jerrod wouldn't have been able to slow the kid down completely.
"You're welcome Ranma. I'm Paladin." He replied and held out his hand in greeting. The handshake was surprising to both. The grip of the new guy that called himself Paladin was really strong, almost as strong as Ranma's. And Paladin was surprised because he was amazed the grip could come from someone that just trained physically.
"And this is my daughter, Katherine. Most people call her Kitty." Jerrod introduced her.
"Hey, uh, Paladin? I don't mean ta be rude or nothin', but yer daughter looks kinda like a c-c-cat. Not that there's nothin' wrong with that, but I got this little problem with c-c-c…those kinda animals." Ranma said, backing up a little in fear from Kitty.
'That's interesting, he has genuine fear of my daughter. I guess it's a good thing she doesn't meow! Strange though, Bill asked Kitty about it once and she said it was too much like baby talk. Better address this now and take care of it.' Paladin thought, "No, Ranma, she's my daughter and nothing you need to be afraid of. She'd never hurt you. Besides, Kitty is only six years old and couldn't possibly be a threat to anyone."
"Sorry 'bout that, I didn't mean nothin' by it. It's my pops fault anyway." Ranma briefly explained. Paladin assumed some sort of inherited ailurophobia. Something not entirely unheard of, but not terribly common either. 'Looks like I have a little psychological help I'll have to administer as well as just being a friend to this kid.'
"I'm sorry if I scared you. You seem awful nice though, where do you live?" Kitty broke the uncomfortable moment by being Kitty. "Would you play with me? I really like to run and stuff!"
At this Ranma didn't look like he knew what to do. He was still a bit bothered by her looking like a cat. Ranma felt a little trepidation about it, but not too much, his fear of cats at the moment was subdued by his curiosity and natural friendliness. He thought the strange looking kid was pretty cute, and seemed really sweet. The Paladin guy that said he was her father might be really protective of her and not like other people being too close to her. Looking up into the friendly eyes of the bigger man, Ranma suddenly felt like the world was really okay for the first time that he could remember and smiled at the kid and said, "Sure, I'll play with you. But go easy on me, I'm just a guy."
"Daddy, Is it okay for me and Ranma to play?" Kitty looked to him with real hope that she could play with the good-looking boy that seemed a lot like her daddy. She'd never met anyone that was afraid of her before though. Kitty hoped she could prove she wasn't scary or anything at all. And she really did like to make friends.
Smiling down to her and squatting to be eye level with her, Paladin said. "Of course it's okay! While you play I'll make that phone call I need to make."
"YAY!" kitty exclaimed and she and Ranma started a game of tag. She had wanted to play with the other kids but none of them seemed to want to get close enough to her to talk, let alone play. At the sight of the neighborhood super-man playing with the strange looking child the other kids decided it was okay to play with her too. They knew Ranma wouldn't let anything happen to any of them. And if he thought it was okay to play with the cat looking kid, it must be all right.
He played with the kids at the park pretty often, at least three times a week. This was a testament to the number of times Akane had issued free tickets on Akane Airways. (There were a few other members of the 'See Nerima by air' tour group. Several of them belonged to Ranma Charter's.)
Paladin sat on a nearby bench and watched with the indulgence of a father as Kitty played happily with her new friend and the other kids her size. Smiling at the sight of the powerful looking teen being so gentle with Kitty and the other kids, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number to the Tendo Dojo. Resting his feet on the two packs he had brought along with their possessions.
"Hello, Tendo residence." A very sweet voice answered. Must be Nabiki's mom, Paladin thought.
"Hello! I'm Jerrod Macon, I just called to let Nabiki know my daughter and I are here and at the civic park near the market." He said.
"M-m-mr. Macon? Nabiki isn't home right now. She is at school. Ranma should be home soon though I could send him to bring you here." The voice said.
A small playful smile came to Jerrods face, "Would that be Ranma Saotome?"
A pause on the other end and then, "Why yes. How would you have known that?"
"It seems this boy came flying in from out of nowhere and could have gotten hurt if I hadn't caught him. Concrete isn't the best medium for crash landings, he's playing with my daughter right now, and the two of them seem to be having a ball." Paladin explained. The two mentioned were currently wrestling, and from the looks of it Ranma was losing. The grin the boy had on his face would make someone think otherwise however.
"You're sure he's all right? Akane sometimes isn't very careful with him." The nice voice said on the phone.
"He's quite all right. No bruising I can detect, although I wasn't looking for any bruises." He said. 'Odd how this woman brought up how someone isn't careful with Ranma.' Paladin thought
The nice voice then said. "That's good then, when you are ready, have him bring you to the house."
Paladin looked at the group of kids surrounding his daughter and Ranma and smiled, when he said. "It may be pretty soon, Kitty has had a big day already. And she's looking a little tired." Kitty's excitement at making a new friend and getting to experience the 'rips' outside the confines of the controlled environment of Percheron, combined with unrecycled natural air were taking their toll. If it hadn't been for the light fur on her face, Paladin knew she would have a very pink color to her skin from the briskness of the air and the exuberant play.
"She must be very young then." The nice voice said.
"She's six, and every bit as precocious as you can imagine." Jerrod told the nice voice. "By the way! I can't keep thinking of you as 'nice voice', what is your name?"
At this the other person stopped breathing for a moment, as if something had shocked her and she said, "My name is Kasumi, I'm Nabiki's older sister. I will have a warm bath and hot tea ready for you and your daughter when you arrive."
"Thank you for the consideration, with the rolling around she and Ranma are doing, she'll need a bath. I guess Ranma is just a big kid too, isn't he? Paladin asked.
"Oh my yes, he's always playing hard with his friends and sometimes gets very dirty. Sometimes, though he comes home bruised or cut up from his friends getting carried away. I try to take care of him, but he just seems to ignore most of it. I know he's hurting sometimes!" Kasumi continued the talk with Jerrod. "If you are hungry when you arrive, I'll have lunch ready in about twenty minutes." She changed the topic, as if she weren't very comfortable about saying too much about Ranma's hectic life.
"Thank you. I believe that should be enough to attract Kitty from the playground. She loves good food, and Nabiki told me you are the best cook in all of Japan." Paladin said, while thinking to himself that 'if this girl looks a quarter as sweet as she sounds, I'm probably going to be in trouble. I wonder if she gives out that much information on purpose. I also wonder why Ranma would be getting into so many fights. He seems like a pretty good kid to me.'
"All right, I need to get back to the kitchen! Please come as soon as you can! I am sure NABIKI wants to meet you." Kasumi was sure to put the emphasis on her sister's name. Hoping she wouldn't let on that she was very interested in the man whose picture Nabiki had shown her, with his very nice smile, broad shoulders and warm, inviting eyes.
"I will do that Miss Kasumi, good-bye for now." Paladin said
"Good-bye Mr. Macon." Kasumi said. Paladin thought he must have said something wrong because he could swear he heard a sharp intake of breath from the girl on the phone when he said her name. Shaking his head a little, he turned off the connection and looked to his daughter to see her swinging upside down from the monkey bars, giggling like any other little girl does, with Ranma attentively staying close so she wouldn't get hurt. 'Ranma seems to be extremely protective of smaller people too. Could he get into his 'heavy play' because he's protecting others?' Paladin asked himself.
Feeling sorry that he had to break it up he approached the two with the packs in one hand. "Okay, Kitty time to go! It's almost lunch time." He said.
Ranma looking to the bigger man and back to the girl opened his mouth to speak and was interrupted by his own stomach making the same proclamation. 'Oh man, that has to be the worst possible way to have somebody new remember ya by.' He opened his mouth to speak again and managed to get out what he had wanted to say the first time. Even though it was to the silent laughter of his new friend. "Hey, if ya got time, I know where ya can get the best food in Japan! My friend Kasumi is the best cook around. An' we're pretty close too, that way ya can save yer money a little and have it for when ya gotta find someplace to stay later. I can't invite ya to stay where I'm livin' cuz I don't own the place, an' I dunno if Kasumi'll be able to let ya either. Ya see there's this guy coming to spend his vacation with the Tendo's and he wants ta learn about our culture and stuff."
"Well, I don't know Ranma. Are you sure we wouldn't be a bother to this Kasumi girl? I really don't want to put anyone out. And my daughter usually eats like a horse when she's had a big play day like today." Jerrod decided to play with Ranma a little to see how he dealt with minor embarrassment. Jerrod could see the boy had a big heart and that was probably where most of his troubles came from. He knew he wasn't able to hide the amusement from his eyes, but the kid was so likeable and easy to tease, he couldn't help it.
Ranma looked to the man and caught the look of amusement, 'There's somethin' I'm missin' here. But the guy don't seem dangerous. And Kitty's really cute and fun to play with.' Thinking there was a joke that he'd find out about later, Ranma said. "Ain't a problem at all Paladin. Kasumi loves to have guests!"
"In that case Ranma, lead the way." Paladin said. Carrying the backpacks in one hand while holding Kitty's smaller hand, he followed Ranma down the street to the Tendo home. Shortly they came upon a nice mixture piece of architecture, showing influence from the west and the native culture. The sign over the gate said it was the Tendou Dojo.
Paladin had taken note that the houses immediately surrounding the structure had all suffered some form of damage, and all had for sale signs up. 'Something to look into later, that much property for sale. There must be a very interesting reason.' Jerrod thought as they entered the gate and approached the front door.
………………………………………………………………………………
Kasumi had been having a hard time thinking since the phone call from that nice Mr. Macon. He had such a warm and provocative voice, she had been in a slight daze from the moment she'd heard it. She had tried very hard to make small talk with the man, just to keep that wonderful sounding voice speaking to her. Kasumi felt so foolish prattling on about inane things like Ranma getting hurt, or that Akane isn't very careful with him. Her skills at small talk weren't what she'd like. Kasumi not having many friends her age that weren't married and parents didn't help with that either.
But his voice, when Kasumi had heard it, for some reason her breath caught for a moment when he spoke. And the way he said her name when they broke the connection. She had shivers running everywhere from it. While she was in the kitchen finishing up the lunch she had been preparing, she found herself wondering if Mr. Macon liked to walk in the park, if his daughter wanted to learn how to cook, and a myriad of other mundane little ideas like this.
Kasumi knew she was being foolish, such a nice man as that wouldn't be interested in a career homemaker like her. (For some strange reason that defies explanation, Kasumi pictured herself as a frump.)
It had been a long time since Kasumi allowed her deeply submerged self-image to come to the fore. The last time had been just at the time she had graduated high school. None of the boys had asked her to go to the dance. It wasn't as if she'd been able to, having to take care of the family like she did. Her responsibilities at home wouldn't allow for her to go to silly things like dances.
Although it would have been nice to not have been forgotten by them all.
She still felt as if there was something she'd been denied. Especially at times when she spoke to nice sounding men on the phone, or had very nice looking young men to take care of, like Ranma. But Kasumi kept her selfish thoughts to herself. Besides it wouldn't be proper to think such things about Ranma. Mr. Macon though was older, and seemed like a very kind man.
Kasumi found herself wondering what Mr. Macon liked to eat, what kind of cologne he wore, and if his eyes sparkled the way she thought they should. 'Kasumi, control yourself! He already has a daughter and from the sounds of things that Nabiki had uncovered, he isn't looking for a wife. This visit of theirs is for his daughter to learn about Japan. Not to find a girlfriend!' Though somewhere deep within her held down subconscious there was the tiniest flicker of an idea of a possible spark to maybe spring to a tiny and unnoticed flame of hope.
She was still thinking these thoughts in a chase your tail way, when she heard the front door open with the familiar voice of Ranma. "I'm home, an' I brought a guest for lunch."
Kasumi smiled to herself over the naiveté of her future brother in law. 'He probably doesn't even realize who he brought home with him!' Her smile widened as she decided to play a little joke on Ranma.
"Welcome home Ranma!" Kasumi said with her usual cheer.
Then she heard that oh so nice voice say, "Take your shoes off Kitty, it is impolite to wear shoes in a home in Japan. And here are your house slippers."
Then Kasumi heard the most adorable voice she could imagine reply, "Okay Daddy. It sure smells good here, I smells fish, and sausage and cookies and …and brococolili eeww ."
Laughing the man said, "Yes Kitty, it does smell very nice."
Kasumi almost forgot to play her trick on Ranma, she was so taken by the child's voice. She could hardly wait to see such an adorable sounding little girl. "Ranma, I know you like my cooking, but Mr. Macon called and said he is in town. Nabiki is expecting us to make sure he arrives without getting lost on his way to the house!"
Paladin, hearing this from Kasumi, looked to Kitty and winked making sure she knew they were to play along with the woman. "Aw, Kasumi. I can eat plenty fast and still go and get the guy! I'm sure a few minutes wait won't hurt him none. 'Sides, I got my new friends here and I told 'em yer the best cook around and Kitty is lookin' pretty tired an' hungry too. I thought mebbe you wouldn't mind feedin' 'em?" The teen tried to get out of having to leave so soon after getting home.
"I don't know Ranma, Nabiki might be unhappy if you make Mr. Macon wait too long." Kasumi said, the smile of mischief clearly in her eyes, as Paladin and Kitty walked from the entry to stand behind Ranma. Jerrod noted the eyes of the young woman, and the smile that seemed to make everything else dim in comparison. He had a hard time looking away from her face to notice much else about her, but from everything he saw, she was every bit as lovely as her voice would make you believe.
'Yep! I do believe I am going to be in trouble.' Paladin thought, keeping them buried.
Ranma had the look of a puppy that had been denied it's favorite stuffed toy while he said " 'Kay, but lemme innerduce ya to ma new friends. This here is Paladin, and this is Kitty, his daughter."
Jerrod wondered how long Kasumi would keep this going when he reached around his new young friend and took Kasumi's hand in a gentle grip, noticing how soft and gentle her hand felt. "Hello, you must be the magnificent cook Ranma told me about." Keeping his eyes on hers the entire time.
Kasumi tore her eyes from the man to his daughter when Ranma introduced them. 'His eyes do sparkle with all kinds of life!' she thought 'And mischief!'
The girl was quite different looking, but not in a frightful way. She was kittenish in appearance mostly because of her resemblance to a cat. But that seemed to make her all the more cute. Then the man spoke to her directly with the same warm friendly tone from before on the phone. She looked up to his eyes again and barely noticed he had his hand out in greeting. His grip was gentle but so very strong, Kasumi felt her knees weaken a bit and she hoped he didn't notice it. So lost in his eyes she almost forgot to breath and she felt her face growing warm as well.
'This isn't right,' Kasumi thought, 'if I don't calm down, I'll embarrass myself!' She still had her eyes trapped in this mans gaze and she barely heard Ranma asking a question.
Shaking herself mentally, Kasumi regretfully pulled her gaze from those deep compassionate friendly eyes, "What did you ask Ranma?" she asked softly.
Ranma couldn't believe his eyes; Kasumi was acting like she'd never seen a guy before! But he decided he'd ask again anyway. "I asked. Where do I have to go to find this Macon guy Kasumi?"
For some reason the game didn't seem as important anymore to her, "um, uh, um, not very far at all Ranma." Kasumi gave an even softer reply.
Ranma turned around to look at his new friend only to see him smiling at something he thought pretty funny, and then he noticed Kitty had the same look on her own face. "I'm that 'Macon guy' Ranma. It's nice to meet you by the way"
Ranma finally caught on and grinned back. He could have been angry, but it was Kasumi who'd done it and he could tell his new friends weren't doing it to be cruel to him, but to be nice to Kasumi that made him like them more for some reason. Anybody that was nice to Kasumi for no reason was okay in Ranma's book.