The Other Tendo Girl

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Chapter 4

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"This gets more interesting by the minute," Nabiki stated as she leaned forward in her seat.

"I see… so when doused with hot water you return to human form," her father said as he tested the theory for the third time.

"It needn't be quite that hot thank you," Genma panted as he was once more relieved of his panda form.

Kasmi sat erect, eyes unblinking, certain she was going into shock. She was delirious, hallucinating. She needed a leave of absence and a psych evaluation. No, she was probably already locked away in a small room somewhere deep underground, hyped up on so many medications that reality was being distorted because there was no possible reality in which a panda turned into a man because of something as mundane as water temperature.

Beside her, Akane pinched herself while Nabiki's lips curled upward in a calculating smile. Soun continued on, ignoring the various reactions. "…and when splashed with cold water you become a girl, and hot water brings you back to a boy."

"Gah!," Ranma exclaimed in a high-pitched squeal as she dodged the steaming kettle, "Hot water, not boiling!"

Soun laughed easily, putting the kettle down. "Well now, you're problem's not so terrible after all."

Kasumi felt a distinct churning in her gut like the flash of lightening or the bellow of thunder right before a massive storm breaks loose.

Soun wrapped a fatherly arm around Ranma's shoulder, directing the girl's (boy's?) attention to three sisters seated around the table. "These are my three daughters," he said with no small amount of pride, "My oldest daughter, Kasumi, she's nineteen, my middle daughter, Nabiki, she's eighteen, and my youngest daughter, Akane, she's fifteen. Choose any one you want, and she will be your new fiancé."

It wasn't hard to tell that Ranma looked squeamish about the very idea of having a fiancé much less being put on the spot and having to decide which girl that he had met over the past half hour was the most compatible wife material. To a certain extent, Kasumi could sympathize. Such a short amount of time was hardly sufficient to get to know anyone much less your potential future spouse.

Yet, any thoughts of pity evaporated when those dark blue eyes ghosted over her, hovering, questioning, as if they were asking for permission.

No. She stiffened. No, no, no, no, NO! She couldn't, she wouldn't! Not with the agency breathing down her neck, and hunters sniffing for her trail. No, no, no. She didn't have time, so much work to do, so many secrets to cover up, no time for mess and clutter and fiancés that would want to know why you wandered out of the house at two in the morning.

No already! Stop looking at her like that, like she was the only one of the three Tendo sisters he was realistically considering.

Kasumi's mind never worked faster than it did in that moment. She had to do something, quickly, before he opened his mouth and said something they would both regret. As she quickly glanced at her sisters, she took in more than their postures and facial expressions; she took in their hobbies, their likes and dislikes, Nabiki's business mindset, Akane's quick anger but enduring kindness, she took in everything she knew about her siblings, processing it with lightening speed.

Kasumi had never been, and likely never would again be, as brilliant, as ingenious, as quick-witted, as she was in that moment, but, as the saying goes, 'necessity is the mother of invention.' Nabiki wouldn't work; she didn't have the patience for someone with Ranma's problem. Furthermore, if Kasumi so much as suggested such an arrangement, she would lose a potential ally in siding against Akane.

Oh! Could she really? Could she thrust such a thing on Akane? Akane hated boys, and based the way she was positively steaming, it was apparent that Ranma had already made a poor impression on her. The blue haired girl would fight against the engagement with tooth and nail, making life as miserable as possible for the Saotome boy until either she chased him off or her father cancelled the engagement on her behalf.

But that only left…

No, no, no! She was not getting married! She couldn't, wouldn't. She was cursed. It had to be one of her sisters. Such a thing could not be entrusted to one such as herself.

She was moving before the thought was half-formed, her hands coming to rest delicately on her youngest sister's shoulders.

"Akane would seem the wisest choice," she heard herself saying.

Nabiki smirked, willing to agree to anything that kept her own head from the chopping block. "Couldn't agree with you more."

Akane's eyes swiveled to her, wide with surprise. "What?! You must be joking…"

Nabiki's smile was smug and teasing, while Kasumi's grip on her shoulder tightened comfortingly. Akane was stunned. It wasn't much of a surprise that Nabiki would throw her under the bus, but Kasumi too?

"But," she protested her sisters, "why would I be the best choice?"

"Because you hate boys don't you?" Nabiki stated as if it were obvious. "And lucky for you Ranma's half girl."

"Me?!" Akane said with ever increasing volume, "Marry him?!" She looked at Kasumi desperately, eyes wide and pleading, hoping to hear something to the contrary. Kasumi was always on her side, always had her back, and there is no way she would force Akane into something like this horrendous nightmare. Right?

Seeing that harried expression, Kasumi briefly felt her resolve waver as a wave of sympathy rushed through her. It was unfair to put this all on Akane, but then she felt another set of eyes on her, sharp blue and piercing. It was the same sensation she had had at the park, the same sensation that prickled at her frayed nerves. Nabiki & her father turned their attention towards her too, subtly probing for weakness. Kasumi looked away from her youngest sister, feeling the sharp sting of betrayal as she cast her vision down at the table.

"Because," she answered the in her quiet way, "you are the only one who practices the art."

Akane tensed, but whatever she was about to say-emotional outburst or even more fervent protests-was rudely interrupted by their increasingly unwelcome guest.

Ranma snorted, rolling his eyes, "Yeah right."

"What was that?!" Akane started up ready to pummel the read-head for insulting her skills, "I'll have you know, I've been training since I was—"

"I wasn't talking about you," Ranma interrupted, his eyes intent on Kasumi, "if anyone around here is a martial artist, it's her."

His statement was met with silence. For Kasumi, the world seemed to close in around her, tightening and tightening like a constrictor around her throat. She had been so careful for so long and not even her family was suspicious anymore. Someone was bound to find out sooner or later, but so suddenly and by someone she had only just met…

Her father coughed uncomfortably. "I believe you are mistaken. My Kasumi may have practiced the arts when she was a child, but that was years ago. Akane is the only one who kept up with it."

Ranma shrugged carelessly as though such a statement didn't bother him, but Kasumi couldn't help but notice the way his muscles tensed and how his eyes narrowed slightly.

"I know what I saw," he said softly. It was hardly more than a whisper, but as silent as the table had became over the past few minutes, he might as well have been shouting.

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"What did he see?" Soun asked Kasumi in an anxious manner. When she failed to respond, hands still pressed to her lips in surprise, Soun turned back to the Saotome boy, "What did you see?"

Akane rolled her eyes, muttering something about perverts hiding in the bathroom, but Nabiki elbowed her to keep those kinds of thoughts to herself. The middle Tendo was intrigued at this new direction the conversation was going. Kasumi as a martial artist? Could you imagine? And here she thought the boy to girl transformation was juicy.

"On the stairs," Ranma slowly drew out, "her reflexes were faster than any non-martial artist's can be."

"So…" Akane wrinkled her nose, "you think she's a martial artist just because she has good reflexes?"

Ranma shook his head exasperated that she wasn't picking up on what he was trying to convey. "Faster than yours weren't they? And it's not just the speed in which she reacted, but how."

"How did she react?" Soun asked nearly bouncing on the edge of his seat.

Akane shot her older sister a sympathetic look. 'I don't believe this. Next he'll be saying Nabiki secretly runs a non-profit organization for the impoverished just because she dropped a few yen suggestively. Wait, no, Nabiki would never drop money.'

Ranma spoke solemnly as if he were explaining an advanced move. "She used the broom to stop the two of them from falling, jabbing it between the railing. Then when that was starting to give way, she pushed Akane backwards so she wouldn't get hurt."

"Again," Nabiki stated with a hint of a yawn, "I don't see how the utilization of cleaning instruments makes Kasumi a martial artist."

Despite her sisters' vote of confidence, Kasumi could see how the attitude of the other two men was beginning to shift with Ranma's words. Her father appeared surprised while Mr. Saotome was studying her thoughtfully as though he was re-evaluating her.

"Ah, that's right," Soun recalled with a snap of his fingers, "Kasumi was more talented, er, had more potential," he amended with a quick glance at his youngest, "but she quit several years ago."

"Hold on a minute," Ranma interjected, "What do you mean she quit."

"Well after my wife passed away—Kasumi, where are you going?"

Kasumi who had already made it to the doorway turned to regard her father with a grievous frown. "Perhaps it would be easier to talk about me if I am not around to hear it." She wasn't smiling, but her current expression was the closest she ever came to showing irritation around her family. "Since my input is considered to be irrelevant, I see no need for my continued presence."

Nabiki snorted in amusement, likewise standing and making her exit, "Good luck with the wedding planning boys and girls." With a wink and cutesy wave, the middle child vanished after her sister.

"Erm," Akane grunted, quickly getting to her feet, "I'm leaving too." And off dashed the last Tendo girl without so much as a parting glance.

"Well," Soun said with a grimace as he watched the last of his daughters vacate the premise, "that could have gone better."

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"You look so beautiful."

Pink painted lips smiled sweetly while fingertips trailed teasingly up his arm. Of course she looked pretty, Kasumi thought somewhat bitterly as she deliberately leaned forward and curled a long strand of platinum blonde hair around her finger. All of the most successful spies were easy on the eyes and appeared soft to the touch.

It put her targets at ease to think she was a delicate, fragile thing, and they rarely thought twice about her company. To these men, she was just arm candy. A trophy.

Not that much of anything was soft about her anymore.

Kasumi shifted subtly in her seat, exposing the sweeping curve of her back, and the man's eyes trailed down her form appreciatively. She remembered how her skin used to crawl when men like him gave her such crude glances as that, but time and experience had worn down such repulsion such that she only internally rolled her eyes at the predictability of the other sex.

At least it made her job easier.

Information flowed more freely when her targets were already clouded with alcohol and eager to impress some fine young thing at their elbow. Human behavior was easy enough to predict and exploit, and men rarely considered women to be dangerous opponents even in the modern era. At this point, it was all about probing a given target for how willfully blind they wanted to be, and then exploiting that weakness with calculated precision.

Every mission, every espionage was a different face, a different mask. Her face was her shield, her smile her sword. The greatest technology and equipment would never equal the skill of being one with the environment, of blending in so well that even the natives would not find her out of place. Kasumi owned that unteachable skill as if it were woven into the very fabric of her soul - the ability to belong anywhere.

Yet the more missions she ran, and the more faces she exchanged, the more empty home felt. She could have been anyone's daughter, the graceful creature on anyone's arm, and she could just as easily walk away from her life as a Tendo as she could remove the blonde wig from her head. For the ugly truth was this: in order to belong anywhere, she simultaneously had to belong nowhere.

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She returned home in the wee hours of the morning, head buzzing from the lingering alcohol and her coat feeling unusually heavily with the stiff business card in her pocket. A light fog had settled in, and it had an eerie effect on the dojo as the sun started to rise.

All she wanted to do was crawl into bed and bury herself in soft blankets for the rest of the day, but right now, she was Kasumi Tendo and she had breakfast to make, tea to pour, and school lunches to prepare. So with as much gusto as she could muster, she put away her equipment and put on her apron.

"Morning!" Akane greeted cheerily as she darted out the door for her routine morning jog. No doubt Nabiki was still upstairs refusing to acknowledge her alarm clock's existence while her father was likely heading down to the dojo to start his morning katas.

Typical morning, peaceful, quiet, and for a moment, Kasumi could almost forget the awfulness of yesterday-until the yard exploded with activity.

"Bring it old man!" shouted a dark haired boy gleefully as his fists and feet blurred with movement.

"You're on Ranma" came the answering battle cry as the elder Saotome met his son with equal fervor.

For a moment, Kasumi watched them as she set the table, instinctually measuring up their strengths and weaknesses. If she went against them together, a head to head battle would not be in her favor. Separately and she may have stood on equal footing with their increased strength matched against her speed and agility. If she dropped Ranma in a surprise attack, she had no doubt in her ability to outmaneuver Mr. Saotome, and if she took down Mr. Saotome first, a fight with Ranma was more likely to depend on who had the greater experience.

Kasumi was an expert in a different kind of combat, quick, efficient, specializing in surprise, shadows, and confined places. An open brawl would not favor her at all, but if she were able to set the time and place for such an encounter with the Saotome's, then surely the odds would swing back in her favor…

Nabiki groaned, breaking Kasumi from her thoughts, "Well, aren't they perky this morning?"

The middle Tendo looked bedraggled and mildly annoyed at all the excess noise coming from the yard, and she yawned loudly as she sat herself at her usual place at the table, blearily groping for her cup of tea. Kasumi smiled fondly at her sister's predictability, and placed the cup of tea in her hand before she managed to spill the entire kettle.

By the time Kasumi had returned from the kitchen with breakfast, Akane and Soun had trickled into the dining room, watching the spar of the Saotomes.

"They've been at it all morning," Nabiki groaned, covering her head with her hands to try and drown out the racket.

"They sure are lively," Kasumi commented.

"I guess they're pretty good," she overheard Akane reluctantly admit as Ranma and Genma completed an impressive series of kicks and punches while leaping about acrobatically. While Akane looked as though she had just swallowed something bitter, the other Tendos smiled knowingly at the youngest's predictability.

Just because he was a good martial artist, didn't mean she had to like it.

Deciding to let her little sister off the hook. "Ranma! Mr. Saotome!" She called, "Breakfast is ready."

Blue eyes shifted on her, distracted for the barest of seconds.

Splash!

"Ha!" Mr. Saotome crowed as a red-haired girl erupted from the pond, "You're sloppy Ranma!"

"Oh yeah!" The petite girl dived back into the fray as the friendly spar turned into an all out brawl that only ended when the gi-clad man was smashed into the pond.

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Over the course of breakfast, Akane caught Ranma stealing glances at Kasumi and found herself glowering into her bowl of rice. That boy, that pervert had his eyes on her sister, and there was no way Akane was going to let him within spitting distance of Kasumi.

When Nabiki abandoned her to walk Ranma to school alone, the bluenette was initially irked, but after her temper cooled, she saw the opportunity her sibling had left for her - the chance to talk to Ranma alone. Oh, the temptation to punch him into the river was hard to pass up, but she didn't want Ranma to get the wrong message.

No, she wanted him to understand her loud and clear — then maybe afterwards, she'd punch him in the river. Just for herself. And maybe because she was still gnashing her teeth about the whole shower incident.

But first things first.

"Stay away from my sister." Akane had learned some time ago that if she lowered her voice and spiked her aura threateningly, people tended to take her words more seriously. Her eyes narrowed, and, despite her cute uniform, she looked quite feral.

But the boy on the fence just blinked at her, not seeming the least bit concerned about her dangerous aura. "Why should I?"

Akane growled at him. The arrogance! The nonchalant attitude and laidback body language set her teeth on edge. Why wasn't he taking her seriously?!

"Just leave Kasumi alone alright! She doesn't need a prick like you making things any harder for her."

"Oh yeah?" he rose his eyebrows challengingly, "and how are you making life easier for her? I bet a tomboy like you doesn't know the first thing about the domestic stuff she does."

Akane saw red. She raised her book bag ready to beat him into a bloody pulp—when suddenly there was a man in a gi punching him in the chin for her.

"Ranma! That's no way to treat you're fiancé!" Mr. Saotome shouted at his son.

Akane blinked, stupefied, as Ranma dodged Mr. Saotome's follow-up kick. She was tempted to just turn on her heal and leave them there, making a spectacle of themselves, but after being labeled as the pervert's "fiance" pride just wouldn't let her take that standing down. The sooner she was able to beat that out of their heads, the better.

"She ain't my fiancé!" the pigtailed boy yelled spinning into a kick that knocked his father off the fence and into the waterway.

She straightened, but the scowl on her face remained. "That's right," she harrumphed, "I could never marry someone like you."

If Ranma heard her, he ignored such a comment, too busy fighting off the panda that had leapt back up on the fence. The massive animal was trying to hit him with a sign that read, "Have you no honor! Our two families have sworn to be united!"

"I ain't marrying that tomboy!" He declared while attempting to dodge the sign wielding panda, "Mr. Tendo said I got to pick which one I was marrying and I never said it was going to be her."

The panda paused mid-strike as if suddenly remembering. Akane too, who had been angrily marching down the block, abruptly stopped and cocked her head at such a declaration.

Then the panda flipped over his sign, thrusting it in the boy's face. Ranma shoved it aside, leaping off the fence.

"Will you cut that out already?" Ranma flipped and dodged, "I'm not marrying anyone till I'm good and ready ya hear?!"

Then out of nowhere, someone grabbed his ear and gave it a good yank. "Ahh! Lemme go!" He spotted the hem of a girl's school uniform. "Akane, let me go!"

The girl grunted disapprovingly. "How about you stop being a jerk then! I'm not going to be late because of you!" The panda-man watched in awe as the shortest Tendo manhandled one of the best martial artists this side of Tokyo like he was a belligerent puppy.

"Ow! Hey! Will you stop it!"

"And for the record," the blue-haired girl leveled a glare at the panda, "he's not marrying any of us."

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A/N: Another chapter down. Already some big story changes are starting to shape up. As we stray farther from cannon where do you think we'll end up?