This is just the beginning of a story that the spring inspired in me.
I hope you enjoy it. I'm not certain when I'll get the chance to
continue it, but I may someday.
Comments and criticism are always welcome, to the list or private.
Ranma 1/2 is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, etc.
Ranma 1/2: Song of Spring
"In spring, it is the dawn that is most beautiful..."
-- The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon
The turning of the seasons was something that had always fascinated
Kasumi, a fact that made her feel a secret kinship with the poets of old.
Yet where the great poets had relied on the flowers, the birds and the
rain and the stars in the sky as their muses, Kasumi found her sense of
seasonal beauty in the mundane, the everyday sights of the city as its
people adapted to nature's changes. Autumn, to her, was the roughly
cheerful scraping of whisk brooms on the sidewalk, the rattle of dry
leaves as they fled before them. Winter too was brooms, but a softer
sound, the muted dampness of snow. She knew when summer had arrived
because of the bottles of water that sat shining in the sun, heating to
make tea, and the proliferation of fresh vegetables in the street market.
And spring... spring was the most beautiful in its development, the most
anticipated. Spring she saw in the blessed clouds of white that began
to spring up on every balcony and porch, in every back yard - sheets and
towels flapping in the fresh breeze and basking in the reawakened sunlight.
The resilient snap of fabric in the wind filled her heart with peace
-the warm peace she imagined a phoenix would feel as it shook off the
scraps of its shell and raised its new face to the sky as it had time
without end.
The brilliant clouds of white were on all sides of her today, as
she walked slowly along the narrow streets towards Dr. Tofu's Clinic.
Her _geta_ clacked brightly on the uneven cement, and she hummed as she
walked, feeling the buzz in her head in counterpoint to her footsteps.
It felt strange to be walking with her arms empty - she always had
something with her, a book, her grocery basket, a dish of food for some
neighbor or another. Her empty arms felt extraneous, ungainly under
the weight of her kimono sleeves, and she found herself swinging them
idly back and forth just for the sake of something to do with them.
Well, and perhaps because she was a little bit nervous, just a little,
and swinging her arms was the only way she could show it.
The clinic came into view, and she unconsciously closed her eyes
and slowed her steps, imagining that in the hazy distance she saw a
figure, a woman with long dark hair and a softly frilled apron, humming
as she splashed water on the sidewalk to cleanse it for the day's
business. Herself - and yet not herself, because it was not Kasumi
Tendo she saw, but Kasumi Ono, Dr. Tofu's young wife, his helpmate in
all ways. The vision pierced her with its clarity, its nearness, and
she comforted herself. *Soon,* she whispered to her innermost heart.
*Soon it will be so.* And she opened her eyes again to the spring.
Yet it seemed to her, as she continued on her way, that today would
truly make that vision a reality, if not complete. Today their engagement
would be formally recognized, the symbolic _yuino-hin_, engagement gifts,
presented by the Ono family representative to the Tendo family, the
engagement ring placed tenderly on her finger. Indeed, the ceremony was
most likely already concluded, for everyone else had gone on ahead of
her, an hour ago at least. Kasumi's presence was not needed for the
ceremony, and she had somehow wanted to linger a while in the Tendo home,
running her fingers over the furnishings, letting it bid her youthful
self farewell with its silences, its familiar creaks and groans. Then
as a fledgling leaving the nest, she had flown, or so it had felt as she
stepped through the door into a sea of clouds.
They would all be there - her sisters and father representing her
family; the Saotomes, Nodoka serene in her honorary role as _nakodo_,
the go-between, and Genma and Ranma along for the celebration; Tofu
himself, looking handsome in his ceremonial clothing; and, of course, his
family representative.
There was the source of her nervousness, for she had never met Tofu's
older cousin, and she feared somewhere deep down, with the mild paranoia
of the unmarried woman, that she might prove inadequate. But Tofu's mother
had passed away nearly a year before, and he had no other relatives to do
the honors in the ceremony.
The door to the clinic was before her, and she paused, inhaling the
last spring breeze of her youth before she shed her past and stepped
within.
They were seated around a table drinking tea, and in the moment
before they noticed her, she lovingly scanned their faces - Ranma, Akane,
and Nabiki, looking uncomfortable (perhaps because of another unfulfilled
engagement?); Soun and Genma, already having consumed much of the
celebratory sake by their red faces; Tofu, looking even more nervous
than she was herself; and Nodoka, politely listening to Tofu's cousin,
a middle-aged woman with lank black hair hanging straight down her back
and round glasses much like Tofu's own. She bid them all a fond farewell
in her mind, for she was ready to be reborn as Kasumi Ono.
Tofu looked up with a splash of panic in his eyes, and she smiled
but did not speak, not wanting to interrupt the conversation. She gently
closed the door behind her and listened.
"...And so," Tofu's cousin was saying with an intense yet vague look
in her eyes, "When John and I posed naked in bed, we were trying to express
the naturalness, the beauty of nudity. How into each other we were. How
free we were. It was really a statement of our essence, of the essence
of our era. All my art is, and my music as well. A statement of the
essence of peace."
"That's very interesting," Nodoka said politely. Her eyes lit up.
"Oh, Kasumi! I didn't hear you come in. Please, come sit here." She
indicated the seat beside her with a graceful hand, obviously enjoying her
role as go-between. "Kasumi, this is Tofu's cousin, who agreed to represent
the Ono family on his behalf. Her name is Yoko."
"How do you do?" Kasumi smiled.
Yoko declined to answer, leaning forward to grip Kasumi's arm.
"You know, I can just feel the love between you, the peace. Just like
John and I were... Tofu has always been my favorite little cousin, with
his groovy round glasses - why, if he grew his hair longer, he'd look just
like my John." She stood up, going to a karaoke box that had stood
unnoticed in the corner. "It's so amazing, it makes me want to sing!"
"NO!!!" the gathering shouted. But it was too late.
As Kasumi's family writhed on the floor around her, she delicately
put one hand to her mouth and said, "Oh, my!"
Owari
April Fools!
Bridget
(Also coming soon: Devil Hunter Yoko Ono!)