All the characters depicted in this story are from Ranma 1/2, who was created
by Rumiko Takahashi. This story is something that came straight from my own
mind, so anyone wants to get all huffy and try to sue me for any
infringement, chill; it was a strange coincidence that just happened
(besides, any attempts of gaining monetary compensation via suing will be met
with a furious scribbling of IOUs). Enjoy.
Kasumi 1/2
Prologue
Morning came to Nerima. Kasumi Tendo, normally the earlybird of the family,
was just beginning to stir out of her bed, groaning softly. She should have
been downstairs in the kitchen preparing breakfast for her family and the two
Saotome males living under their roof. Cooking, however, she was not feeling
well e time. Wave of nausea rippled through her with a vengeance then. That
event had been going on for the last two days. With a frown of disgust, she
fought down the rising bile before managing to slide out of bed. She stood
on bare feet with the hem of a V-neck lavender nightgown reaching down just
past her knees. Suddenly, they started to buckle, and Kasumi barely caught
herself upon the nearest wall. She leaned against it for a few minutes,
letting her world reorient itself. The morning had not even started, yet,
she felt incredibly drained of her strength. With some effort, she pushed
off the wall and stood erect, though a little shaky.
'I should see Tofu-sensei later today. I may be coming down with a cold, or
influenza,' Kasumi thought. 'Perhaps it's-'
Her thoughts were cut short by a new wave of nausea, one prompting her to
reach the bathroom as quickly as possible.
* * * * *
"Tofu-sensei?"
Several frantic sounds were made behind the office door a few seconds after
she spoke his name: many metallic items clanging to the floor, an elderly
sounding man crying out something before the voice turned into a full fledged
scream of pain, and a lot of shuffling about among others before Tofu said
through the door, "K-K-Kasumi....I wasn't...expecting you...to show up..."
His nervous laughter was heard, along with a few strained groans underlined
with choice curse words.
Kasumi blushed a little after making out a couple of the colorful words, then
smoothly composed herself before speaking. "Tofu-sensei, I think I may be
coming down with the flu or something. Could you examine me when you're
finished?"
>From behind the office door, Tofu paused in his excitement.
"Something's...wrong? With Kasumi?" he said to himself aloud. The thoughts
that ran through his head instantly sobered him up. Then he looked down on
the table before and blinked at an elderly man Bent at many an angle that
looked especially painful. "Mr. Yoshimura! you're nearly 90! You really
shouldn't be trying to live out your younger days now!"
Facefaulting would be bliss, though the elderly patient was quite literally
in no shape to do so.
* * * * *
Somehow, Tofu managed to keep himself under control for the duration of
Kasumi's visit, even after she took off her blouse and brassiere for the
examination (though he was hastily repeating a mantra "Kasumi could be ill"
under his breath). Once the examination was over (and Kasumi redressed, much
to his relief and chagrin in equal parts), he carefully labeled and stored
away the samples he obtained. Then he tried to escort her out of his office
without going to pieces every time he looked at her soft, warm smile.
"So tell me, Tofu-sensei, what is wrong with me?"
He bounced a little on the balls of his feet before he pushed his glasses up
the bridge of his nose. "Oh, so far, nothing really life-threatening. As
you said earlier, perhaps you attracted a flu or something of the like. But I
won't know exactly what kind of disease it is until after I run some tests."
"Oh, that's good. When will I get the results?"
"As soon as possible, Kasumi, perhaps by tomorrow afternoon."
"Oh good. Then I shall be expecting your call." She smiled at Tofu.
His legs started to turned into rubber and threatened to go on strike on the
spot. Quickly, he managed to scrape up what will he had left. "Go home and
take it easy for the day."
"All right. Goodbye, Tofu-sensei."
He smiled. "Goodbye, Kasumi."
She smiled back and turned to walk home. Tofu's smile slipped into a frown
upon her retreating back. A cloud of darkness passed over his features, but
vanished after a second. "Impossible, it couldn't be that," he muttered
under his breath. Sighing, he walked back into his clinic to have tests ran
on the samples he had taken earlier.
* * * * *
The next day, the Tendo residence was almost completely deserted, save for a
busy Kasumi. Genma and Soun had taken off for a training trip two days ago
and wouldn't be back for another three days. Ryouga had disappeared again
last night; he would not be back for a couple of weeks with his sense of
direction. Akane and Ranma were supposed to be heading over to Ucchan's
after school today. Nabiki had decided to tag along with the two, in case a
moneymaking opportunity should appear before her. "Wherever Ranma goes,
there's always the chance that something extraordinary with happen, or Akane
will wallop Ranma back to the house when he plants his foot in his mouth.
Either way, it won't be a boring trip."
The eldest Tendo daughter sighed as Nabiki's words decided to echo with her.
Akane had been getting more irritated over the course of the last month.
Ranma hadn't helped matters get any better with his careless words, either,
and it seemed to be a regular event where he would end up pushing her little
sister too far, and she would retaliate with physical force. Kasumi heaved
another sigh. Just once, she would like to have a day go by without Akane
sending Ranma into low orbit or thumping him over the head with a mallet or
table. Just once, a day to go off without her arguing with Ranma about
something or another. Just once, for her to admit that she...
She bit her lip hard, instantly killing the thought. There were some issues
she did not want to think about. Some matters, she rather not have to
discuss with anyone, herself included.
Just as she shook free of her reverie, the phone rang. Putting down her
cleaning items, she went to answer it. "Hello? Oh, Tofu-sensei!" She
smiled. "I take it you have the results of the test.... Is something wrong?"
Kasumi listened to Tofu on the other end for five minutes. The smile she
had earlier had drained away along with the color from her face. Her mouth
fell open in stunned silence, and her legs gave out. She fell to the floor,
stiffly erect.
She found her voice at the end of the conversation. "..oh...oh
my...I-I'm...pregnant...?"
To be continued...
You know, I hope life isn't one big joke because I don't get it. ^_^
Seriously. I've been having my ups and downs as of late (though right now,
my downs are skimming the bottom of the Marianis Trench, or however you spell
it). Classes resume again in the morning (though I thankfully have an 11 am
one for my first class Mondays). Sleep deprived (expected when you try to
not think about how bad things can get. That and working the really late
night shift).
Well, to say a few things... wow.... Ever since Chris (RanmaML@adelphia.net)
posted a fic search for Kasumi 1/2, chapter 5, Ive been getting all kinds of
e-mails and IMs from fans of the series. I must say that it really did spark
my fire for writing the story, despite everything that has been happening to
me. The last few days, I've been mad at work, fixing errors, making
revisions, writing more prose and such. I've also decided to make another
chapter out of one of the planned sections of Chapter five. That one will
pretty much take an entire chapter for itself. Doing that, and I shall have
Chpt 5 out to the public in two or three weeks. Meanwhile, I will be
revamping the older chapters as needed (especially the part about a bath on
the second tier of the Tendo home).
Thanks everybody that gave me much needed encouragement to continue on Kasumi
1/2.
Don't worry, I'm still working on my other fanfics, just Kasumi's completion
(for this chapter) is taking greater precedence for a short while.
Other news, I have yet another pre-reader, this one of the feminine
persuasion (hoo-hah! ^_^). Her name is Tabitha Knight (tknight@europa.com),
which brings the grand total of pre-readers to five (really, it's six, but I
haven't heard from my first pre-reader Maurice in nearly nine months now):
Thomas Hackwood (thackwood@mindspring.com) So far, I think I may have nipped
that one trouble spot that didn't look right (thanks for pointing that one
out, Tabby =^.^= Women are good), and I'm breezing through to the end.
I'll mail the latest copy (still incomplete) to you all after this message.
Harold Ancell (acm@hga.org) A good guy all around. Never mention hair
follicles sticking to somebody's forehead around him.
Larry Fortenot (lwf58@earthlink.net) who's so kind to host my fanfics for me
(BTW, I noticed that there are some errors in my sections that need some
fixing, but that's for another e-mail in the morning)
Ranma Dragon (ranmadragon@aol.com) who is going off into the services, if he
hadn't done so by now (I've really been out of touch with people lately)
Tabitha Knight (tknight@europa.com) Business is good. Women made business
good. Therefore, women are good. Can I get an "amen?" [quickly steps away
from the podium before he breaks out into a Sermon on the Mount]
One last order of business, my stories can be found at
<lwf58.tripod.com/fan_fiction/raemowse/index.html>
Again, thanks to all that wrote to me when I wasn't quite myself then,
especially people like Herman Burton, Fox the Wanderer, DB Sommer, Kenshir324
(apologies for messing up the numbers like I think I have), Annie McKenzie,
and one of my biggest (if not the biggest) fans, Hawk (Hawk49er@hotmail.com).
Your comments, questions, and insights gave me what I most needed to push
onwards.
Keep on reading everyone.
Rainman