Kasumi watched Tofu-sensei as he blundered around his 
clinic, dancing with Betty-chan and humming a waltz, the 
lenses of his glasses fogged up enough that he tripped over 
the examination table, ending up giggling nervously on the 
floor.  She sighed heavily to herself and made her way out of 
the clinic without saying sayonara to any of its occupants. 
She stared at her feet, not looking where she was going as she 
began to walk aimlessly through the streets of Nerima.
 For a number of years Kasumi had hoped that Tofu-sensei 
would finally overcome his difficulty around her and go back 
to being the kind young man he had been before he had noticed 
her.  As soon as he had he had gone off the deep end. 
 But now it was time to give up on him.  She had already 
waited long enough for him and she refused to wait longer.  
She quietly wiped the tears from her eyes and sat down next to 
the canal in front of her staring at the colours of the sunset 
reflected in the dark water. 

 Ranma watched Kasumi as she sat on the bank of the 
canal, carefully arranging her skirt beneath her.  He frowned 
and wondered what was wrong; she seemed to be crying and he 
hated seeing women crying.  And even more, there was something 
about the ever-cheerful, ever-helpful Kasumi crying that 
struck him hard.  
 When she had first walked into the clinic where he had 
been receiving treatment for another of his Akane-related 
injuries his only thought had been to get out.  Unfortunately 
Kasumi had been blocking the door so he had dived under the 
table.  Tofu-sensei had begun his usual maniacal song and 
dance.
 But then something strange had happened.  While watching 
Tofu for the possibility of him stumbling across him Ranma's 
eyes had fallen on Kasumi.  He had watched in shock as a small 
light in her eyes slowly extinguished, a small light he had 
never noticed before.  Then Kasumi had left without a 
sayonara, something he was sure she had never done before, and 
headed off, her head bent.
 Without thinking Ranma had followed her, keeping an eye 
on her.  He hadn't noticed the passing of time until she had 
finally stopped and he noticed the blazing sunset echoing 
across the sky.

 Coming to a decision, Ranma leapt over the fence and sat 
next to Kasumi, letting her know he was there, but not saying 
anything.  He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.  
Her face was still solemn and he could still see the evidence 
of tears on her face.  He turned and looked down at the water.
 Kasumi shifted slightly.  "Ranma-kun, why do you think 
Tofu-sensei acts like that?"
 Ranma blinked and snuck another look at her.  "Um, well 
because he, um, well, he l-loves you, Kasumi."
 "Yes.  But why can't he act like...like...like you do 
with Akane-chan?  Why does he have to...to..."
 "To go insane?"  
 Kasumi winced, "Yeah."
 "We didn't think you knew how he felt."
 "I know, but I'm not blind and you have to admit, it 
*is* kind of obvious."
 "Well, yeah."
 "I was really hoping he would get over it, you know?  He 
used to be such a wonderful guy, but now...well...  You've 
seen him.  He just goes crazy, and there's no way I could 
ever, ever think about marrying him when he's like that."
 Ranma remained silent and Kasumi looked up and smiled 
wryly into his blue eyes.  The smile died when she saw the 
look of understanding and sympathy in his eyes.  Sympathy, but 
no pity.  She smiled again, more genuinely this time.
 "You're a nice guy, Ranma-kun."
 "Uh..." Ranma's face began to heat up.
 Kasumi laughed a little before going back to her 
contemplation of the scene in front of her, not that she 
really saw it.  Her mind was still on Tofu-sensei and the 
release of her hopes regarding him.  Then her thoughts turned 
to her sister's fiancee and as she thought she realised that 
of everyone he probably would be the only one to truly 
understand.
 "Ranma?"
 "Yeah?"
 "Do you ever feel the same way?  I mean about Akane?  
That she'll never stop blaming you for everything?"
 Ranma didn't say anything for long moments and Kasumi 
had just decided he wasn't going to when he opened his mouth.
 "Yeah, sometimes."  His voice was as quiet as hers had 
been.  "She can be really nice sometimes, y'know?  But she 
always blames me, no matter what happens."  Ranma laughed 
briefly, "Not that the others don't also.  Sometimes I think 
it's one of Nerima City by-laws or something.  'Saotome Ranma 
is always to blame.'"
 "I do seem to remember reading something of the sort."  
Kasumi giggled and Ranma snorted, unable to resist that sound.  
 "I knew it!"  Ranma was smiling.
 "And of course, there's the other by-law."  Kasumi was 
also smiling.
 "Oh?  Which one is that?"
 "The one that says 'Tendo Kasumi must never be told 
anything.'"  
 Ranma looked across at Kasumi, startled at the 
bitterness in her voice.
 "Kasumi?"
 Kasumi sighed, "I'm sorry Ranma, it's just that ever 
since I took over mother's position in the household, people 
have been ignoring me.  I suppose me realising that Tofu-
sensei's not about to change is hitting me harder than I 
thought and everything seems to be worse than it really is."
 Ranma hung his head, guilty.  It was true, he thought to 
himself, they did all take Kasumi for granted, ignoring her, 
knowing she would always be there, an area of peace in a 
chaotic world, always willing to make tea for someone.  Yet no 
one ever really noticed her, not even Tofu-sensei, with his 
glasses fogged over.   And there was no one she could talk 
to, at least no one who made themselves available for her.  
She had to be lonely.
 Ranma's guilt crystallised a resolution within him.  
He'd try to talk to Akane about it, and if neither she nor 
anyone else was willing to be there for Kasumi, then he would 
be.
 "Ranma-kun, it's alright.  There's nothing for you to 
worry about, I'll be fine."
 Ranma nodded slowly.
 "Kasumi?"
 "Yes?"
 "If you ever, um, if you ever want to talk, well, I'm 
here, okay?"  
 Kasumi looked at him blankly for a few seconds and 
smiled, humouring him.  "Thank you, Ranma.  But I will be 
fine."  
 "Kasumi!  I know what it's like to be lonely, even if 
you've got lots of fiancees." He grimaced a little. "Besides, 
I think I'd like to have someone to talk to as well."
 At that Kasumi actually looked at Ranma for the first 
time ever.  He was, she realised, both more mature and more 
sensitive than she had given him credit for.  He had 
recognised that she was lonely, something she had only 
recently discovered herself, in the past few hours, in fact.  
Kasumi saw a similar emptiness within her soon-to-be brother-
in-law and felt compassion welling up within her.  Ranma was, 
in a way, ignored as much as she was.  Kasumi almost laughed 
out loud, she hadn't known that they had anything in common at 
all and now she was finding out that underneath everything, 
they had a lot in common.
 "Thank you, Ranma," And this time when she said it, she 
truly meant it, "I'd like that."
 He flashed her a white smile, which she returned.
 Standing, Ranma held out his hand towards Kasumi and 
pulled her gently up.
 "Let's go home, 'kay?  Everyone's probably really 
worried by now, not to mention the fact that they'll be 
wanting their dinner."
 Kasumi finally noticed the fact that it was dark.  "I 
forgot entirely about it."
 Ranma titled his head to one side for a second.
 "Tell you what?  Why don't we pick up some takeout on 
the way back?"
 They smiled at each other and headed back towards the 
dojo.