ClubCafé presents:
The Widow - Chapter 7 Part 2
After the two of them paid for the meal and left the restaurant, Ranma walked along side Nabiki to the nearest train station so she could catch a ride back to her dorm. The walk was bereft of any conversation as neither wanted to break the comfortable silence that had fallen over them. As the lunch rush was just starting to settle down, the station was not terribly busy, but still filled with enough human traffic to fill the air with the unmistakable sounds of humanity. As the pair approached the gates leading into the platform, Nabiki turned to Ranma and gave a sad smile.
"Thanks again, Ranma. I'm really glad we got out together today."
Ranma just shrugged nonchalantly and dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand.
"C'mon Nabs, you know you've always got my number. Anytime you wanna hang out or just hit the town, let me know."
Nabiki's sad smile turned upwards at his words and she couldn't help but grab him in a hug once again.
"Alright you got it you big lug." she squeezed him once more before pushing herself back to arms length. "Now all I need from you is to make a move on Kasumi and we'll be set. She likes you, you know. Don't worry, you've got Daddy's and my approval."
Ranma made a strange gurgling noise and seemed to stiffen at her words.
"Guh...ah..." was his eloquent response, which only made Nabiki chuckle.
"As articulate as always Ranma baby."
Separating from him, she went up to the gate and swiped her transit pass in the card reader. After it beeped and displayed her zone fare on the small screen, the gate opened and she stepped through. As it closed behind her, she turned back to Ranma.
"Listen, just go for it ok? If you don't, I'm not sure if I can hold back any longer." And with that she was gone, merging into the steady throng of commuters. Ranma sighed and shook his head with a wry grin.
"You just never stop piling it on, do you Nabs?"
Glancing at a clock on the wall, Ranma cursed as he took notice of the time. It was almost one thirty, leaving him only half an hour to get back to his home and get his stuff ready for his volunteer work at the hospital. Normally this wouldn't have really posed a problem, as he wasn't that far from his home. The thing was he didn't want to draw too much attention to himself roof hopping home right before visiting the hospital, as it might attract the type of people that only communicated through physical acts of violence. Taking off in the direction of his home, he mentally thought out a few routes he could use that had some back alleys he could up his speed in, and picked the one he remembered as having the least road intersections. Deciding on his path, he upped his speed slightly and set off.
Having made it home with some time to spare, Ranma had no problems making to the hospital on time and ready for his volunteer shift. The afternoon passed by without much notice as he went about his usual routine of helping out the orderlies and entertaining the sick children. A particularly entertaining moment in the afternoon stood out to him as he recalled how one of the girls wanted to give a love letter to one of boys and asked Ranma to deliver it for her. Ranma mad a big production out of it stating that the boy had to prove his worth and defeat him in virtual combat before he would relinquish the letter to the boy. They had played battle Tetris until Ranma lost to the boy in level twelve. The boy claimed his letter and danced in the sweet moment of victory. After leaving the kids to their own for a while, one of the nurses approached Ranma and asked if he lost on purpose.
"Who me? Never!" Ranma replied with his usual, horrid poker face. The nurse just smiled cutely and rolled her eyes.
"Of cooooourse not. But the invincible Ranma Saotome never loses!" she joked as she poked him in the side as she giggled.
"Hey now, have you played Tetris on level twelve? It's pretty darn hard! Gimme a break here!" Ranma proclaimed, gesticulating with false indignation, hamming it up for the pretty nurse.
"Well maybe I'll have to take you on sometime and find out, hmm?" she smiled slyly at him. He just smiled and winked as he turned down the hallway.
"We'll see."
All in all a fairly normal day at the hospital for him. After mulling around his apartment for a short while, Ranma decided that after some dinner he would call Kasumi to see how she was doing and what she was up to that evening. Digging through his fridge, he pulled out some ingredients for a quick meat dish and some leftover noodles before moving over to the rice cooked to start the rice. After making sure the timer was set correctly, he continued on to the stove and pulled out a medium sized frying pan. After lighting the burner and leaving the pan to heat up, he began the task of slicing up the meat. As he worked he began humming to himself, quietly at first, but then began to pick up in volume. After a few minutes of just humming he broke out singing, belting out a rock tune that was stuck in his head, his voice carrying throughout his empty apartment. Soon everything was cooking and Ranma went over to and turned his stereo on.
"Better than me trying to pull off some Paul Stanley..." he mumbled as he put in a KISS cd. Soon the thumping sounds of Rock filled the air and Ranma grinned as he sang along, heading back to the kitchen to finish up cooking his meal. After everything was ready, he dished himself a large plate and headed to the table to sit down and eat.
As Kasumi was just finishing up the dishes from her own dinner, her phone began to ring. Looking from the dish she held in her soapy hands over to the telephone, she made a small sound of annoyance before placing the dish back in the sink and toweling off her hands.
"Hold on, I'm coming!" she called out to the phone, even though there was no way that the caller would hear her. Making it to the desk where the phone was located, she picked up the handset on the fifth ring. "Hello?"
"Hey Kasumi-chan! How are ya?" the voice on the other side cheerfully rang out. "Hope I'm not interrupting your dinner, am I?"
"Oh no Ranma-kun, I was just finishing up with the dishes. I am fine though, thanks for asking. How are you?" Kasumi smiled at the sound of Ranma's voice.
"I'm great, thanks! Was just calling to see what you were up to tonight? Wonderin' if maybe you wanted to go for a walk or something?"
Kasumi thought about what she was planning on doing that evening and nothing came to mind, since she usually sat at home and watched television or read books to keep her mind from wandering. Deciding that a walk sounded like an excellent evening activity, she let Ranma know of her decision.
"That sounds like a great idea Ranma, what time were you thinking of going out?"
The sound of Ranma's speculative humming came out of the earpiece as he thought of the best time for their walk.
"How does seven thirty sound? Should be hardly any traffic out by then!"
"Alright, that sounds good. What area did you have in mind?" Kasumi thought of areas around her house, but couldn't recall too many as she hadn't ventured out into the area much at all.
"Well there's a nice park that's fairly close to your place we could go to. Has a really nice pond and everything! Trust me, I've landed in it before." Ranma said with a dry chuckle.
"Ah I see...well that sounds excellent. I'll see you around seven thirty then?" Kasumi's voice was filled with warmth at the idea of going out of her house.
"Yup! See you then!" Ranma said and then hung up. Kasumi smiled to herself and went back to the sink to finish her abandoned dishes.
It was nearing seven when Ranma decided to get ready to head over to Kasumi's house. After mentioning the pond in the park, he decided to apply some of his limited supply waterproof soap as insurance that he would stay male the whole night.
"Normally I wouldn't use you just for going to the park," he said to the soap as he lathered up a small piece "but I kinda want to stay a guy tonight. We'll call it a special occasion, ok?"
The original bar, missing a few corners, offered no reply as it sat in it's wax paper wrapping.
"Good! Glad we agree."
After suiting up in his riding gear, Ranma locked up his apartment and headed off into the slowly fading light of the day.
Soon after a short ride he found himself at Kasumi's house. Parking his motorcycle around the side of the house, he attached his disk lock and attached his helmet to the seat before striding towards the front door. Knocking a jolly little pattern he waited until Kasumi opened the door with a smile.
"Hello! Ready to go? I'll just lock up." she said as she stepped through the doorway, closing the door with one hand behind her, then turning and putting her key in the lock. After she placed her keys back in her handbag, she turned back to Ranma. "Alright, shall we?" she said, offering her arm to him. Ranma smiled warmly and grasped the offered arm before setting off.
"We shall!"
As they walked towards the park, they chatted about how each other's days went, and idle things like what they had for dinner. The weather was holding true to the forecast and stayed a pleasantly warm twenty degrees celsius, great early summer weather as far as the pair were concerned. There were very few cars on the road, as Ranma had predicted, and a few couples and some families were moving about the pathways of the park. Everything seemed to be going well as they approached the center of the park, where the pond lay, until a slight change in the air made Ranma's hair stand on end. Kasumi seemed to notice the change in Ranma as he scanned the park for the source of the feeling, noticing the stiffness of his person.
"Ranma? What's wrong?"
"Not sure Kasumi, something feels really wrong though. Haven't felt this kind of heavy ki in a long time. Somebody's pissed out there, that's for sure. We should head out of here pronto."
"Alright, that sounds like a good idea."
As the two turned away from the pond and began to head towards the exit, an echoing chuckle filled the air, it's hollow tone filled with contempt.
"Well well well. What are the odds of running into you here! Must be my lucky day." the voice filled Kasumi with worry and dread, reminding her of her late husband in its cruelty. Ranma's eyes hardened as the both turned to a small crop of trees close to the edge of the pond. A shadow stepped out from the darkness of the branches and into the dull orange light of the street lamps posted around the park paths.
"Kasumi, I want you to run out of here and head home. Things are gonna get ugly."
"What makes you think I'll let your bitch run, eh? When I'm done with you, I'll be on her in no time." the speaker said with an evil grin.
"Go now, Kasumi, I'll handle him here, but I don't want you to get hurt ok?" Ranma spoke to Kasumi without taking his eyes off the man in front of him. Kasumi nodded and turned to make her way out of the park, setting off in a quick jog. The man just leered at her as she ran, before turning his gaze back to Ranma.
"I'm going to enjoy this, femboy. Then her, too!"
Ranma seemed to quake with rage as the man moved backwards to step into the pond.
"Taro, you fucking prick."
End Chapter 7