Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma, crazy old Takahashi-san does… Nuff said….
Morning struck the zone of chaos known as
Nerima, Japan with an unusually sedate feeling this particular day. Of course,
morning was perhaps the only time of day when a resident of the Ward could
enjoy some peace without having to worry about a ki-blast in the air, or a
razor-sharp bandanna whizzing by, or any other number of chaotic disturbances
that marked the place as Japan’s number one hot spot. Most stayed away from it.
People weren’t that stupid after all. But some lived there anyway, because it
was exciting, or because it meant possibly witnessing a phenomena of amazing
proportions, and some, some lived there because it was their home. Kasumi
Tendo, unmarried housewife and paragon of kindness, fell into the latter
category. She had lived there her whole life, and was not about to stop now,
even though she was at the age when one normally left the “nest”. Even if she
did live with the center of the chaos, one Ranma Saotome, she wasn’t about to
abandon her admittedly needy family. So as it was everyday, that Kasumi rose
this morning earlier than the other residents of the Tendo Dojo, to make
breakfast and prepare the house for the day. She rose with her trademark smile;
happily greeting the morning with the cheerfulness only one with a truly kind
soul could muster. Some questioned how Kasumi could remain so happy even when
disaster upon disaster seemed to fall upon her home. But Kasumi viewed Ranma’s
arrival with a different light. Unlike many, she did not view him as the cause
of all the destruction and terror that plagued the area. Rather, she saw in him
a kindred spirit. A victim of fate who had many heavy responsibilities dropped
on his shoulders at a young age with little choice but to endure. Just like
her. So even when the pig-tailed one screwed up, as he often did, Kasumi always
gave him the benefit of the doubt. She always quietly supported him when
nobody, even his own fiancée Akane Tendo, did not. Because there was other
thing Kasumi saw in Ranma that no one else did. The fact that he had a kind
soul almost the equivalent to her own. He did not always let it show, but when
he did, it mattered, at least to her. He wasn’t perfect, but he tried. He tried
so hard to be honorable, to do the right thing, to make everyone happy, no
matter how much suffering it brought him. Again, this was similar to herself.
Kasumi smiled as her thoughts of Ranma continued.
“He’s such a good person. I sometimes wish that I hadn’t…” She lightly blushed as she let her thoughts stray towards her refusal of the engagement on that fateful rainy day. She couldn’t believe she was even feeling this peculiar attraction to the younger man. Yes she had been living in the same house as him, and he was extremely pleasing in terms of physical looks, but still… She sighed and tried to focus on something else. She found it in the form of a beautiful, ornate urn that rested on her dresser. There was one other reason besides the young Saotome, that Kasumi remained so cheerful, and that reason was the urn. The lovely, flawlessly green urn that rested sacredly on her mantle. The color matched her vivid emerald eyes, and the beauty of its appearance matched her own looks if one were to compare the two aesthetically. It had been a gift from her Mother. The most precious item the late Mrs. Tendo had left her eldest daughter. She had given it to Kasumi when she was about to pass away.
On the final night of her days on Earth, she had called the family into her bedroom, and told of her love for them all. She then asked to talk to Kasumi privately. The younger version of Kasumi had watched her Mother with sadness in her pools of green. Her mother had spoken to her of many things that night, but some words stuck in her mind more than others…
“Kasumi dear, please, don’t be sad. I won’t
just fade away you know. You’ll see me everywhere you go. I fear that Akane and
Nabiki are not yet old enough to deal with this yet… So I beg you dear, try to
help them through it. I know how strong you are… I’m going to give you
something to give you strength though I think it might give you something
else…” Her mother reached over from her bed, and took a small green urn into
her hands. Cradling it gently, she presented it to the awed Kasumi, who took it
wordlessly.
“That Kasumi dear, is something that has been
in my family for generations. It is my most precious worldly possession. Passed
down from Mother to daughter over the years.” She paused and smiled faintly at
her daughter.
“I
want you to have it… Keep it always. I somehow have the feeling, call it
women’s intuition if you like, that it will bring you great happiness in the
future, it will bring you great love from another…” She then sighed and laid
back on the bed, suddenly feeling tired. She smiled a loving yet sad smile at
her oldest child, her face displaying wistfulness.
“You look so grown-up. It seems like only
yesterday I was smiling at your innocent face while you were in your crib… I
love you Kasumi, give my love to the others, and please, be strong…” With that
said, Mrs. Tendo left our world for one of eternal peace. Her eyes closed one
final time, a content smile on her face. Kasumi just stood there, still in
shock, before she yelled for her family to come quickly…
Smiling sadly at the now bittersweet
memories, Kasumi sighed and came back to the present. Finishing her morning
preparations, Kasumi spared a moment to glance outside her window. The sunlight
shone on the house like a heavenly light, and the air was crisp and cool with
the morning breeze. Kasumi smiled a genuine smile of bliss and hope.
“Yes, I think it will be a good day today…
Yes indeed…”
Ranma sighed as he headed downstairs for
breakfast. He didn’t think it was going to be a very good day. He had woken up
feeling very tired. Running away from crazed fiancées all night will do that to
you. He had finally lost Ukyo, Shampoo, and Kodachi around eleven at night, and
had crawled home, only to find Akane, her accusations, leaps of logic, and of
course, her mallet, waiting for him. Though thankfully the other members of the
Tendo family had left this morning to take care of some sort of business
pertaining to the neighborhood council that Mr. Tendo was a part of, though why
his old man went was beyond him…perhaps food was involved…yes, that was
probably it…
“At least it’s a Sunday…” He mused with a melancholy smile on his
face. He walked into the kitchen, hoping to grab something to eat since he had
woken up late. Stepping into the only truly calm place in the whole Tendo
household, except when Akane was cooking of course, he immediately noticed that
the ever-present Kasumi was nowhere to be found, only to remember a moment
later that she had gone with the others.
“Duh you idiot…” He muttered to himself,
wishing his brain wouldn’t take so long to wake up. Not that it was ever put to
much use, some would argue.
“Oh well…” Shrugging Ranma went to fix a meal for himself. He frowned as he found the cupboards bereft of plates or bowls. He was about to just wash a few himself, when he heard the small sounds that indicated someone was out near the koi pond in the backyard. His eyes blinked in confusion.
“Now who could that be?” He wondered. Ranma quickly and very silently,
moved out to the backside of the compound, and scanned the area. He hoped it
wasn’t a rival, or worse yet fiancée lurking about, and was extremely cautious
just in case. One had to be in his situation. Finally his eyes settled on the
supposed intruder. The person was behind one of the sheets that Kasumi had hung
up to dry earlier. Stealthily as a cat, but don’t tell him that, Ranma came up
from behind the sheet, and in one fluid motion, flipped it up, grabbed the
person from behind and turned them to face him. His wide blue eyes met slightly
frightened emerald ones as he realized how truly stupid he was.
“Ka…Kasumi!” He stuttered in fear. He
immediately started bowing and voicing apologies. It was true Ranma bowed to no
one, but for Kasumi, he made an exception. She was Kasumi after all!
“Oh geez, I am so sorry! Please, please
forgive me! It…It won’t happen again! I promise! I know I’m a moron and I…” He
felt a delicate hand on his shoulder, and glanced up to behold the giggling
face of the eldest Tendo daughter. He had never really noticed before, but
Kasumi was actually rather attractive, no, more then that. She was…
“Cute…” He whispered. He started as he
realized that not only had he said that out loud, but also that she had heard
him. She blushed in embarrassment, and he mirrored her in that regard. There
was an uncomfortable silence for a while, before her tentative voice came to
his ears.
“Um… Why don’t we go inside Ranma? I was just
about to fix some tea…” Ranma nodded and the two entered the worn Tendo living
room, which had seen its fair share of battles, table-bashings, and
stratosphere kicks, but still, thanks to the miraculous home-making skills of
Kasumi, appeared very peaceful and homey. Ranma welcomed the familiarity. It
helped to get his mind off of things… Like how nice Kasumi’s soft arm felt when
he grabbed her. Or how pretty her eyes were. He gulped rather loudly. What was
he thinking? Was he sick or something? Maybe Akane had hit him too hard last
night…
“Bad thoughts. Must make bad thoughts go
away…” With that in mind,
Ranma tried to think of a martial arts kata to get his mind off of…
“Damn it! Not again! Wish Akane were here to
just brain me again with her mallet…Stupid tomboy, never around when ya need
her.” Seeing that a
malleting was not going to happen since Akane was not here, he ran over to the
wall and started slamming his head into it, very hard, hoping to simulate the
effects of his fiancée’s wrath and replace his strange and frightening thoughts
with the much more familiar pain. The sharp agony of an attempted concussion
started to replace the images of Kasumi, that is until she asked calmly but in
a worried tone of voice what on earth he was doing. Turning to her with a
sheepish expression on his face, Ranma stuttered and tried to come up with an
excuse.
“Uh…um…that is…” He was stumped, but Kasumi
let him off the hook anyway.
“Well it doesn’t matter what you were doing. Come on, sit and have some tea with me.” She kindly requested. He nodded wordlessly and sat across from her. Akane never let him off the hook. If he didn’t answer or even if he told the truth, she nailed him with the damn mallet. He could admit that he put his foot in his mouth many times, but still…
“Man, Kasumi is so much more understanding
and well…nice than her sisters… I wonder why?” He mentally shrugged his shoulders at the
question though. The Tendo sisters were as different and varied as the weather,
and twice as unpredictable. Much like a pleasant misty day, Kasumi was a
welcome and peaceful relief from Akane’s raging thunderstorms, and Nabiki’s
ruthless blizzards. He shook his head as he realized that she was talking to
him.
“What Kasumi? I didn’t hear you.” He said, a
tad embarrassed for not listening to her. She smiled and repeated her question.
“I said, how is the tea?” She replied. Ranma
realized that he had not taken a sip of the tea the whole time, and
embarrassedly took a gulp. Of course, he could have just answered her without
tasting it. Kasumi’s tea, like everything else she did, was flawless. Ranma
grinned and gave her the thumbs-up, causing her to laugh lightly. As the two of
them sipped their tea in companionable silence, Kasumi was struck by just how
“right” it all felt. Her sitting there, with him, the cool breeze blowing in
through the open back door, the morning sunlight warming the air, and the rare
peace permeating the general area. She soaked it all in like a sponge taking
water. Of course, the peace wasn’t always what she preferred. Before Ranma
came, things were much too boring. Although she didn’t show it, Kasumi actually
enjoyed it when interesting things happened. It was so dull without Ranma
around. That’s why whenever there was a danger of him leaving, she always grew
very worried. Worried that the excitement and adventure that had become a
staple in her life would leave with him. Sometimes she envied Akane; being
engaged to such an honorable, kind, and exciting young man like Ranma. He had
many faults, but his good points shone through, particularly considering his
only influence when growing up was a greedy lazy man with little decency at
all. She frowned internally when she thought of Genma, but shrugged it off, as
it was far more pleasant to her, and most people, to think of his son instead.
She was so deep in thought that she didn’t notice when her elbow knocked the
cup of hot tea she had just poured herself over, and right onto her foot, which
was by the table. She bit back a scream of pain, but a small cry escaped
anyway. Ranma heard and realized what had happened.
“Oh geez Kasumi! Are you alright? Here! Let
me help you!” He dashed over to her with lightning speed usually reserved for
his fights, and scooped her up into his arms before she could protest, not that
she would have. At least not very much… He made sure that her burned foot was
not rubbing against himself, and gently carried her upstairs.
“Ranma, where are we going?” She asked
curiously. He looked slightly nervous and replied.
“Well, I thought you might wanna lie down, so
I’m taking you to your room. Um, is that okay?” She smiled at his overreaction
to a rather simple accident, but did not protest.
“He’s so sweet… How can Akane call him
insensitive?” She wondered.
They reached her room, and he nudged the door open with his foot. Striding into
the, in her eyes, dull room, he delicately placed her on the bed and helped her
get comfortable. Unfortunately, as he was placing her on the bed, he stumbled
in his embarrassment and fell on top of her. To say that they were blushing
would be the understatement of the year. Both of them were so red that their
entire bodies felt as if someone had set them ablaze. But neither moved. Ranma
couldn’t help but stare into her jade pools and she got lost in his own
deep-blue eyes. Both were unsure of what exactly was going on. Both had never
let themselves feel attraction towards another, and had kept normal human
feelings of that sort bottled up inside, only to have them begin to erupt
unexpectedly. Closer and closer their faces grew… but then the spell was broken
as they realized what was happening, and Kasumi hesitantly spoke.
“Um, Ranma?” She whispered without breaking
eye contact. He gulped and slowly rose.
“Uh, sorry Kasumi. It was an accident…” He
apologized sheepishly. She nodded slowly.
“Yes, an accident…” She sounded almost
disappointed, but he didn’t notice. He realized that this was the first time he
had been in her room ever since he had begun to live at the Tendo Dojo. To him,
it was very nice and pleasant, much like her. She seemed to own a lot of stuff.
But then, compared to his meager belongings, anyone owned a lot. His gaze
eventually centered on a small green urn sitting on her dresser. It exuded a
peaceful aura of tranquility that reflected Kasumi herself. It also piqued his
curiosity oddly enough. It just seemed so…special for some reason. Like a holy
object of some sort.
“Hey Kasumi, what’s that?”
Author’s notes: I’m revising this fic a
little bit before I release the next part, as I feel that it could be better.
Bear with me please! And let me know if you like the revision!
