Exams have just ended and I'm feeling a bit euphoric so I'm releasing
something I quickly wrote up on orders from my muse. I have no intention
of following up on it as I already have too much work (RL and FFML-based)
on my hands. Hope you enjoy it.
Witchlight
A Ranma shortfic
Disclaimers: Ranma 1/2 is the creation of Rumiko Takahashi.
Now on with the fic.
Kasumi hummed softly as she started to clean up the mess in the
dojo. The wedding attempt ended in complete chaos. That meant that
Ranma was still 'available'. As long as that remained true, Chaos
would continue to rule over Nerima.
Kuno showing up with a real katana was a bit too much though,
Kasumi frowned briefly as she gathered everything that had been broken
in the aborted wedding attempt. Someone could have really gotten hurt.
She must have a 'talk' to him soon.
That aside, everything had gone according to plan. Well, her
plan for the Nannichuan water anyway. Bringing the barrel out into the
open had practically guaranteed that a fight would break out. It was
then a simple matter for Happosai to dispose of Ranma's cure. That in
itself would have been sufficient to disrupt the wedding.
She had not considered that Nabiki would send invitations to the
other fiancees though. Their interference now meant that she had more
work to do to repair the damage they caused.
Now that all the broken pieces were in a pile, Kasumi reached for
the power. Immediately, all the fragments came to life. Rising into
the air, they began fusing themselves back into their original forms.
She had cast Mending spells to repair things so often she could do
them in her sleep.
It was always satisfying to use her skills this way. Her smile
grew a bit wider as she thought about how the others saw her. Everyone
around her thought that she was just a simple housewife who was
oblivious to her surroundings. Maybe she DID act that way. It was
really hard to become concerned by the antics of the children when you
knew that you could stop them all with a simple wave of her hand. She
WAS a witch of no small power after all.
Almost no one knew of her secret. Not even Nabiki. In the whole
neighbourhood, only Elder Cologne and Happosai knew of her secret and
then only because they had known what to look out for. They would never
betray her secret of course. Happosai feared her too much to even cop a
feel. Cologne, on the other hand, wanted her to join the Amazons and
would never do anything that might alienate her. This also meant that
she would never help Shampoo kidnap Ranma by force. Besides, even though
she had never admitted it, she and Happosai were amused by the results
of her spellcasting when she decided to be mischievious.
As the eldest daughter in the family, she was aware of her duties
to the family. She used her magic to serve and protect her family, and
occasionally the neighbourhood when she saw fit and without their
knowledge naturally.
For normal things though, she limited herself to normal means. The
life of a housewife,however, was sometimes just so ROUTINE. If she had
not had her magic to spice up her life every once in a while, she would
have died of boredom long ago.
Setting all the now whole chairs and other various objects to the
side, Kasumi reached for her broom. Just as she was about to start
sweeping, she stopped. The bombs Ukyo and Shampoo had used had left
quite a mess. It would take her forever to clean the dojo if she did
it by hand. Ah well, she'd have to fix the walls using her spells
later anyway, might as well go all the way.
Ranma may be an expert at using the Water and Wind forms, but she
was an expert at using Water and Wind period. Chanting with a musical
lilt, she summoned her friends. Why bother using brooms, mops and rags
to clean when you can use elementals?
So what if she abused her powers every once in a while just to
entertain herself. She has never been responsible for any injuries.
Directly anyway.
The first time had been a accident. She had been really sick of
housework that day. Against her better judgement, she had decided to
try out a new spell.
To her surprise, it had worked. In a way. She had been studying
medicine and had decided to use the local chiropracticor as the test
subject of her love spell. Doctor Tofu HAD fallen in love with her.
The down side was, he had the tendency to take leave of his senses
whenever she was around.
She was a little disappointed that it had not worked out the way
it should have, but that had worked out even better. She never really
wanted him. His antics however, proved to be perfect for her when she
wanted a distraction from her otherwise mundane existence. Just add
one Kasumi and presto, instant clown.
The second time was intentional and somewhat more successful. Her
little sister Akane had been bemoaning how nobody ever noticed her at
school. Loudly and all day long. She decided to teach her a little
lesson in making wishes.
She enspelled the leader of the student body, one Tatewaki Kuno
to fall in love with Akane. She had by then learned, of course, that
love spells never work out. Which was exactly why she had done it.
Just as she expected, Kuno's attention fell on Akane and began to
pursue her. This was done in a manner that one, drew the notice of the
entire school, and two, made him completely detestable to her little
sister. Whomsoever wishes to date her must defeat her in combat
indeed. She had had a difficult time preventing herself from bursting
into laughter right there and then when she first heard of it. As it
was, she just smiled to Akane and commented how her wish to be noticed
had come true.
Bidding farewell to her elemental friends, Kasumi now turned her
attention to the walls of the dojo. It would not do for the dojo to be
so drafty. People could catch colds training here in winter. Chanting,
she began to reshape the wood in the dojo. Drawing upon the spare wood
she had laid in the corner, she cover the holes caused by the blows of
super martial artists. When she was done, nobody would ever know that
the planks and beams had ever been broken.
Then there was Ranma. Her masterpiece. Probably the best martial
artist in her generation and engaged to Akane.
She had to admit. When she first learned of his curse, she had
been terrified. If the unstable magics of the Jusenkyo were to come
into contact with her carefully crafted wards and enchantments
literally anything could happen.
It had not been difficult to counter that though. Once she had
calmed down and examined the problem, it was practically child's play.
Only little bits of chaos magic leaked from their curses when changing
forms. All she had to do was strengthen the existing spell matrixes a
little.
As it was, his curse did manage to screw up one of her spells.
Kuno had ended up besotted with his girl form as well. That had forced
her to blind him to the curse. If not, he might have realized that his
emotions had been manipulated. This, of course, resulted in Kuno
thinking that Ranma and the pig-tailed girl were two separate persons.
She had no intention of fixing that error anytime soon. It was just so
much watching Kuno pursue his pig-tailed girl and try to kill Ranma
respectively.
Once she had dealt with that, she had just sat back and watched
him get into trouble. His talent for getting trouble was simply
incredible. It was so great that she did not even have to do anything
most of the time. She did give a little nudge every now and then to
make things a bit more interesting, but she usually did not have to
start anything.
He also gave her the means to practice her skills with more
freedom. By tapping into the mana released by all the Jusenkyo victims
she was able to cast more spells than she normally could. Some of it
had to be expended to repair the damage he and his destructive friends
did, of course, but there was still enough left over to make it worth
her while.
Further, it gave the impetus to devise new spells to keep up with
the challenges. She now had a healthy array of spells she could use to
manage anyone daring enough to disturb the peace of her home.
The spell she was most proud of was the Freeze for Mallet spell
she had devised. Not exactly a combat spell, she found it very useful
nevertheless. She had needed a way to let Akane keep him under control.
His level of skill was simply too high above Akane's. In a fight, he
could easily beat her.
This spell not only gave her the ability to hit him, it also kept
him in fear of her.
He, on the other hand, would need to get past her Forbid spell to
hit her. An almost impossible feat considering the level of spells she
had laid on him.
But the best thing about him was, as Akane's fiancee, he was also
the protector of the house. In the event of an emergency, he would
willingly defend them. And if he was involved, his friends could be
counted upon to help as well. Her own safety was therefore guaranteed.
Finishing the repairs, Kasumi stood back for a moment to admire
her work. A splash from the koi pond, however, drew her attention.
Chuckling to herself, she conjured up a kettle of hot water and headed
for the house.
Oh well, time to watch the fun, er.. see what Ranma has done
wrong again.
Fin
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Author's notes:
Ok, this was inspired by all those Kasumi with a secret fics out
there. I hope this is an original idea.
All C&C is welcome.
Stardragon