* * * * *
Akane grumbled as she changed out of her school uniform and into some nice,
casual clothes. "Black skirt and red blouse," she thought aloud. Then she
turned to her pet pig who was sitting on the dresser at the head of her bed.
"What do you think, P-Chan?"
The little black animal, whose front hooves were covering over closed eyes,
took a quick peek at his owner. Seeing that she held the proffered clothing
in question in front of her scantily-clad body, he opened both eyes, then
gave her a grunt of approval. After that, he closed his eyes and put both
hooves over them again.
With a nod, she chose the outfit. What difference did it really make? It
wasn't as if she knew what her father was thinking as he rushed her upstairs
to change clothes as soon as she had gotten home, blubbering something about
a surprise.
=KNOCK KNOCK=
The Tendo daughter glanced to her room door as she slipped the blouse on and
buttoned it up. "Who is it?"
"Your charming older sister, who else?"
Nabiki. Akane sighed. "What is it?"
Taking that as a welcoming, the middle daughter pushed the door open and
closed it back, clicking the lock into place. Turning to face her younger
sister, Nabiki made a hand gesture for her to join her at the bed. Akane
perked an eyebrow in confusion, but did as indicated. Once seated, the
brunette spoke in a low whisper. "Akane, you'll never guess what I've
discovered."
Akane knew what that usually meant. "How much is this going to cost me?"
"Not a yen."
Both eyebrows shot up. "Free info?!"
"Shh! Keep your voice down."
She did as she was told. There was no sense in wasting this golden goose of
an opportunity. "Okay, okay. So, what is it?"
"Tell me. Have you noticed anything strange about Kasumi lately?"
Akane thought briefly. "Well, she was acting a bit funny this morning. She
looked tired and...a little sick, I think, before I took off on my morning
jog."
This time, both of Nabiki's brows shot up. "Sick?" She began to ponder on
something.
Akane nodded. "Think she's getting a cold?"
Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she replied, "No, not a cold, but we'll
get back to that later. Anyway, I want you to guess what I saw last night."
"Umm... 'What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?' Didn't you and that Akira guy
go see that movie last night?"
"That foreign movie? Please. Besides, we didn't go to the movies. I didn't
like him at all to begin with."
"Another extortion scheme?"
"Enough about that. We're getting off-subject."
"Okay, okay. So what did you see?"
"Kasumi and Tofu-sensei having sex."
The information overwhelmed Akane so much that she fell off her bed like a
stone. Her knee thumped into the dresser as she tipped over, which sent
P-Chan tumbling after her as well. The pig gave an indignant squeal of
protest as he landed on his head.
"What?!" she cried out after recovering.
"Quiet! I don't think Daddy knows at all."
"But... but... are you sure? Are you sure about that?"
"What's wrong? Still got the hots for Tofu-sensei?"
"No, it's not that, just..." Akane shrugged. "It's nothing important."
Nabiki gave her an "I don't buy that" look, but decided to not press the
issue now. "I'm sure it was the good old doc. It was pretty late at night,
and I discovered them in her room. A secret meeting."
The youngest's head was still swimming in a sea of disbelief. "Are you sure?"
"Of course. Who else could it be, Ranma?"
At that, Akane's pet pig growled.
She jumped. "NO! Don't be silly! Th-that's ridiculous!"
"I thought so, too."
=KNOCK KNOCK=
"Who is it?" Akane asked.
"It's Kasumi."
"Well, speak of the devil..." Nabiki commented in a whisper.
"Father wants you and Nabiki downstairs for a family meeting."
Akane sighed. "Okay, we'll be down in a minute." One hand unerringly
scooped up P-Chan and held him just below her breasts. "Any idea what's the
family meeting about, Nabiki?"
"No idea. None at all."
* * * * *
"Shampoo, I'll be out for a while. Take care of the restaurant."
The girl in question looked at her great-grandmother. "Is almost dinner
rush. Why go now?"
"Because," Cologne began. "I have a bad feeling. The omen of last night is
something to be concerned with."
"Shampoo think so, too. Going to see Airen?"
"That I will be doing, Great-Granddaughter. Make sure the restaurant is
cleaned up and running well in my absence."
"Shampoo do so. Bye-bye, Great-Grandmother. Take care."
"I will." With that, Cologne pogoed out of the Nekohanten using her gnarled,
wooden staff. Her destination: the Tendo Dojo.
* * * * *
"So what's up, oyaji?" Ranma asked casually. He, too, was made to change
into something nice, so he donned on his dark blue Chinese silk shirt with
the sleeves rolled up halfway up his forearm and another set of black pants
tied at the ankles with crimson ribbons. Absently, he tugged at his pigtail;
something did not feel right for some reason.
Writing off the odd feeling as nervousness for what he and Kasumi were going
to do before dinner tonight, he glanced around the family room, studying each
person briefly. Akane looked a little annoyed, while she held her pet in her
lap, though every now and then she would look to her right to Kasumi Nabiki
had boredom inscribed on her face as she sat cross-legged, wearing cutoff
jean shorts and a loose-fitting tee shirt. Kasumi did not have much of a
readable expression , as she intensely studies something on the floor by the
hem of her long, tan dress. The martial artist assumed that she must be
feeling the same thing as well. Willfully breaking off the engagement was
going to require all the strength they could muster.
Now the gleeful expressions that both Soun and his father concern him
greatly. Usually such a look only meant trouble for him. Ranma betted that
it was another "brilliant" idea of theirs
The stocky, bald man in a dingy white gi adjusted his glasses on his nose,
clearing his throat to address his offspring. "Son, you have made us proud."
Ranma blinked along with the girls. "Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Taking out Akane tonight, of course," Soun explained. "You truly are
becoming a real fiancé to her." The mustached man smiled broadly, though he
looked as though he was ready to break out into tears of joy.
The pigtailed boy looked as though he had swallowed poison. Akane had a
deer-in-headlights look, openly gaping at that statement. "He's doing
WHAT?!" shouted Akane in a higher-than-usual voice.
Nabiki chuckled. "Trying to weasel his way out of yet another date with my
sis..." she said to herself, shaking her head a little.
Kasumi, however, blinked at the fathers' declaration. After a moment's
hesitation, she opened her mouth. "Father, I don't think-"
"No way, Tendo-san. I ain't doin' it."
The older man nearly choked. "What? Why not?!"
"Because I can't do it." Ranma looked away to his side.
"What are you saying, boy?!" Genma turned to him, a mask of displeasure
adhered to his facial features. "Are you backing down from your obligations
to marry Akane?"
"I ain't marrying her!" he shouted at his father.
That snapped Akane out of her trance. She shifted gears to anger. "Like
who's stupid enough to want to marry you, you jerk?"
Kasumi sneezed.
"Bless you," Nabiki said offhandedly, handing her older sister a tissue.
"Ranma, my boy. You must marry Akane and carry on tradition!"
"That's right, boy. It is your duty to uphold giri."
Ranma snorted. "Like that ever mattered to you, oyaji. Look, I can't marry
Akane."
"Of course you can." To emphasize their point, the fathers slid Ranma and
Akane shoulder to shoulder. "See, now? you two are perfect for each other."
"Will you cut that out already?! I already said I ain't marrying her!"
"I feel the same way," Akane declared, backing up his decision. The blush
suffusing with the bridge of her nose was ruining the effect, though.
"Father, I really must say-"
"I think Ranma-kun wants to marry someone else." Kasumi gaped at Nabiki in
morbid horror as the smirking middle Tendo daughter threw more gasoline into
the flames of argument. As expected, the fires exploded into a raging
inferno.
"What?!" Soun towered over Ranma in anger. "You dare to throw away my
daughter for someone else?!"
Genma wailed. "Oh, what an ungrateful son I have raised! Being unfaithful
to his own fiancée already!"
The Saotome heir flinched as if physically struck. So did Kasumi, though no
one noticed it. "It ain't like that! I-"
"Ranma, you jerk!" Wildly, he spun around, coming face to face with Akane,
her sometimes cute face marred with hot anger. In her lap, P-Chan bristled
and growled at him, struggling to get free of Akane's firm grip so he could
bite his enemy.
The pigtailed boy started to back up at the sight. "A-Akane..."
He lost what thoughts he was having as Soun firmly placed his hands on
Ranma's shoulders. "Son, you will marry Akane. That is your duty. You
don't have a choice."
Angrily, Ranma slapped away Soun's hands, which threw everyone for a loop.
"Like hell I don't!" His fingers curled into a fist that shook visibly as he
sought for control over himself. "I can't marry Akane," he said through
tightly gritted teeth.
The older man recovered from his surprise and retorted. "You've been saying
that since I made the announcement, yet you haven't explained why. Why are
you being so stubborn?"
"Because... because..." The young man faltered, unable to get his brain
working properly. Being cornered without many options to work with wasn't
his style. He was also afraid. Seeing Akane brimming with anger nearly
sapped all of his artificial bravado. 'I don't know if I can do this...'
"Because he is going to marry me," came the quiet answer.
Immediately, the household fell into a deathly silence. All eyes pivoted
from Ranma to Kasumi's sitting position. Her eyes were averted, unable to
face anyone. "What was that, daughter?" Soun asked, unable to believe that
he heard correctly.
"I can't marry Akane anymore," Ranma spoke softly, the pressure drawn away
from him. "Because...I'm marryin' Kasumi."
Heads twisted about, bringing the Saotome heir back into focus. Wordlessly,
they studied him, then the eldest Tendo daughter and back again. Moments
passed by before someone decided to break the peace.
"Yeah, right."
Kasumi and Ranma blinked at Nabiki who had a cool, smug expression on her
face. "Nabiki..." Kasumi started to say, but was cut off by one hand from
the person in question.
"Look, Kasumi, I know you're kind of new to this, but let's not play any
jokes right now." She gave her older sister a hard look in the eye.
"Besides, there's a little matter of a certain Tofu-sensei you probably
should be bringing out about now before Daddy takes you seriously."
The virtual matriarch was confused. "What does Tofu-sensei have to do with
anything?"
"Would someone care to tell me what's going on?" Soun asked, having gotten
lost in the new conversation already.
"Time to come clean, sis. Tell Daddy about you and Tofu-sensei...and the
baby."
Kasumi paled significantly. "H-how...?" Had the household's attentions not
been riveted to the daughter's reaction, someone would have seen Ranma
mouthing the same question while twitching on his side.
"Well, it took a few minutes, but I put two and two together and got you to
answer it for me." Passing off a trademark smirk, she went on. "Akane
noticed that you looked sick this morning. Wouldn't have caused any great
alarm had I not seen you and Tofu-sensei having sex in your room last night.
Therefore, you would have to be carrying his child, right?"
"What the hell do you mean Kasumi and Tofu-sensei were having sex last
night?!"
Startled, Nabiki, as well as everyone else, spun around to face a glowering
Ranma. "That was me, you idiot! And that's my kid she got, okay?!" A
second after, his words registered with himself, and his face fell in abject
fear. "Oh, shit..." His head snapped around to face Akane. "Akane, I-" He
gasped when his blue eyes lighted upon her.
For an unyielding second, the whole surreal scene was frozen in time. Akane
sat stock still in place, not making a sound, but tears had began to stream
down her cheeks. Her hands clutched P-Chan to her chest tightly, though the
little black pig didn't notice because his own eyes were wide as saucers.
The reactions varied: Kasumi had her hand to her mouth, her stony eyes wide
with sad regret; Nabiki blinked, a look of ill comprehension noticeably drawn
over her features; Soun's face was blank as paper; Genma scratched his head,
looking at his son curiously; Ranma...he was frightened beyond anything else.
Time lost its grip on the moment, and everything resumed as normal.
"No..." Akane whispered, more tears running fast down her cheeks. "It...it
can't be...no..."
"A...Akane...I...I..." Ranma desperately fished for more words, but none
came forward. Very reluctantly, he settled back down, trying to disappear
into himself.
"I'm sorry, little sister," Kasumi whispered, letting loose her own set of
tears. "I'm so sorry..."
The gloomy, somber atmosphere was broken by the heavy sounds of two hands
clapping four times. As if on automatic, all eyes turned to face the person
clapping. In this instance, it was Genma.
Pushing his glassed up the bridge of his nose, the stocky man cleared his
throat. "Now, everyone, this is not the time for sadness. Rather, we should
be rejoicing." He clapped his son heartily on the back. "My son and Kasumi
are fulfilling giri. That's a wonderful thing to celebrate, right,
Tendo-kun?"
The Tendo father shook his head, the situation forgotten. Smiling a bit, he
responded. "Well, yes, it is."
"Wh-what...?" came Akane's choked reply. She looked as if she would break
into thousands of pieces at that moment. "Dad...no...that can't be..."
Genma ignored her. "So we should be celebrating the imminent union of our
houses, Tendo-kun, not cry about what's happened in the past." He put an arm
around his friend and gave his shoulders a brotherly squeeze. "Let's focus
on the future of our schools; that's the most important part."
Soun, caught up in the moment, grinned. "Yes, yes it is. The union of our
schools comes first."
Shock overcame Kasumi and Nabiki, even though the former was expecting such a
reaction. Ranma merely snorted. "It figures," he mumbled under his breath.
Akane's reaction was completely unlike the others. She felt numb all over,
her mind a total blank. Her father, her own father, had just effectively
said her feeling didn't matter, only giri and the continuation of the Tendo
Saotome schools. It was like a slap in the face, only it hurt far worse than
anything she could think of. The pain tore into the core of her being, and
it caused her blood to run cold.
"This isn't happening," the short-haired girl whispered, her voice slowly
rising. "This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't
happening--!" She shot up ramrod straight, killing the budding celebration
Genma was attempting to stir up.
Soun stared at his daughter. "Akane..."
"I don't believe you, dad!" she spat out. Ranma cringed from the force of
her outburst, a horrifying sense of deja vu embracing his thoughts. "What
about me? Don't I have some say in this?!"
The patriarch faltered for words. "A-Akane, listen-"
Hot tears spilled down her face as she violently shook all over. "I don't
care! It's not like your fiancé betrayed you and had gotten your own sister
pregnant!!"
The eldest daughter reeled back from the verbal blow. Her face now wet, she
stole a look to her enraged sister. "Akane, I-"
Akane whirled around on her so fast, Kasumi thought with a great amount of
certainty that she was going to be on the receiving end of her fist. "Why,
sister?" she whimpered. "Why?" The young girl's face was scrunched up in
agony as she forced out the question. "Why did you sleep with him?"
Her heart wrenched at the sight of her youngest sister suffering so much.
However, she couldn't bring herself to look at her directly in the eye and
speak, so she chose to gaze sightlessly at the floor. "I never meant to hurt
you, little sister. I didn't mean for things to go so far. I..." She
sighed heavily, letting teardrops splatter onto her skirt and soaking into
the fabric. "I have no excuse," she finally said, pressing her palms on the
floor and bowing down until her forehead touched the surface.
* * * * *
Akane's breath came in shuddering gasps as she looked down on her prostrated
oldest sister. Sister. Friend. Mother. Someone she could trust.
All of those images she had of Kasumi went up in a blaze of fire. She had
hurt her, did something so unthinkable, then tried to hide it. Mocking her.
Sleeping with him; last night, in fact. Hurting her beyond anything and
everything. The young girl wanted to strike back. She wanted to hurt her
sister like she had been hurt herself. Her anger and grief boiled up,
creating a haze that clouded her thinking, and her hand balled into a fist,
absently elevating over her head.
Hurt her. Hurt her. She isn't your sister. Hurt her! Hurt her! She
betrayed you. Hurt her!! Hurt her!! Hurt her!!
The hammer fell, racing down to its intended target. Suddenly it was jerked
away. Furious that revenge hadn't been sated, she snarled at whoever
interjected. A pair of intense, cool, blue eyes flashed back in anger.
"Cut it out, Akane! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
The voice shocked her completely out of her trance and plunged her into
something much more chaotic. "Ranma..." she breathed. Instantly, the fires
of her anger flared to roaring life.
How much she wanted to KILL him. Betraying her, lying to her, sleeping with
her sister, that jerk was going to die. Die! Die!! How dare he stand up
and defend Kasumi from her-!
It hit her just then. Ranma had just defended Kasumi. He just protected
her. He saved her.
'From me...' she unconsciously thought. 'Does that mean that he... that
he...'
Tears that wanted so much to flush down her face refused to come. What she
felt when she thought about what her sister had done to her paled in
comparison to what she felt once she really thought about what the pigtailed
martial artist had done to her. Her broken heart was numbed, as if she could
no longer feel pain. That, in itself was the worst sensation she never
wanted to experience.
"I hate you," she whispered in a broken sob, her mind and emotions taxed to
their limits. "I hate you..." Without looking back, she turn on her heels
and ran out of the family room as fast as her legs would take her.
* * * * *
"Ranma? Are you all right?"
Concerned, Kasumi reached up and shook the pigtailed youth lightly. At
first, he didn't respond in any form, only stared where Akane once was
standing. After two more insistent shakings, his eyes automatically opened
and closed painstakingly. Next was a minute tremor, so small one would have
to be looking for it very closely. Finally, his lips moved, though no sound
passed them. The Tendo daughter didn't need to hear his voice, however, as
she could guess what he was saying.
"She hates me..."
His legs suddenly gave out, and he slumped to the floor bonelessly.
Immediately, Kasumi looped both arms around his shoulders. "Ranma..."
* * * * *
Soun Tendo.
Some may think of him as a spineless wimp, a person that cries far too easily
at the most passive of situations. He would agree to a point. He did tend
to let him emotions get the better of him, but usually, it was only when his
daughters' welfare was concerned. After all, he was a father and he wanted
the best for them. By engaging one of them to the son of his best friend,
not only was he assuring the continuation of the Anything Goes School of
Martial Arts, but he was also going to be able to rest easier knowing that
girl would be in capable, safe hands.
Speaking of which, that brings about another opinion people have of Soun
Tendo. Many believe he doesn't give a damn about his daughters' feelings
when the arranged marriage was the subject matter. True, he does get
overzealous when giri is being mixed in, but he was still a father at heart.
If the arrangement was truly making the chosen one miserable, then steps
would have to be taken to correct that. He would even go so far as to break
the engagement off completely, though Soun would admit that such a powerful
measurement would be a last-ditch effort. Still, it was all for his precious
girls.
At the now, he was stuck with a definite problem. As it stood, Ranma and
Kasumi are going to get married, plus his firstborn was carrying the younger
Saotome's seed in her womb. He felt ecstatic at first. Before their
arrival, he had considered giving the engagement to the oldest daughter,
since it seemed that she would be the one that would need his strength the
most; after all, Akane could take care of herself quite handily, and Nabiki
could do well on her own, too, even if she was a bit flippant at times. Of
course, the marriage issue was thrust upon his youngest, and he did think
that maybe it would be better to engage the ones that would be carrying the
pride of Anything Goes into the next generation.
Of course, there was the obvious fact that what Kasumi and Ranma did hurt his
baby deeply. Soun felt a bit shamefaced as well. Was it not for Genma's
eagerness to celebrate the now-certain union of families, he wouldn't have
added to her already weighty baggage with his callous comment about giri
being more important. It was a lie, a plain, bold faced lie. Watching his
baby girl run upstairs and to her room in tears drove that point home and
hard.
Ranma, he broke her heart. That was unforgivable, giri be damned. As the
patriarch of the Tendo household, steps had to be taken against him. Ranma
must be punished. He must be-
"Tendo-kun, I've gotten out the special sake. Let's make a toast to the
future bride and groom."
Stiffly, the mustached man turned around ever so slowly until his eyes locked
with the heavyset man's.
Genma blinked, a sweatdrop forming at his temple. "Tendo-kun, you seem
troubled," he noted aloud. "Have a seat, my old friend. Let's have a drink;
it should clear up your mind."
The panda-cursed man never saw it coming. A right hook caught him
flatfooted, smashing into his jaw and pitching him out of the house through
the engawa slide door, The Saotome patriarch splashed down into the koi
pond, overflooding it with his mass, now doubled while as a panda..
Needless to say, everyone present was completely stunned by this. Even Ranma
snapped out of whatever stupor he was in.
"Tendo-san," he breathed.
Worry in her eyes, Kasumi held onto the Saotome youth tightly. "Father-"
"Move away, Daughter."
He saw her flinch involuntarily. That tone of voice, he hadn't employed
against any of the girls in well over ten years. Apparently, it was just as
frightening in the present as it was in the past,. Still, she didn't let go.
"Father, I-"
"I said move away. Now." His lips had drawn into a tight line, the rest of
his face impassive as stone.
Indecision was inscribed all over her face. For a moment, it looked as
though she wasn't going to leave the Saotome heir. Fortunately, the boy had
touched her arm and made a shooing motion, muttering something to her. Words
of reassurance, most likely.
"I take it you want me?" Ranma said, looking Soun in the eye.
He didn't have any real idea of what to say. Instead, he opened his mouth
and let loose the first thing that came to mind. "You've hurt my little
girl. You've gotten my firstborn pregnant out of wedlock, tarnishing her
honor." The words were coming out easier, now that the ball was rolling.
"You've broken a promise to watch out for my daughter while she was away
housesitting for a friend. You took advantage of her, of her sweet, innocent
nature, didn't you? Didn't you!?" He unconsciously snarled the last part
out.
Immediately, Kasumi spoke up. "Father, please-" He silenced her with an
outstretched hand, palm out.
The pigtailed one had a blank expression on his face, as if he had no idea
what to do. "Ah, Tendo-san-"
"Don't 'Tendo-san' me! I don't want to hear anymore lies!" With that he
lashed out, this time with a fist. It almost connected, though Ranma had
swayed away at the last possible second. Soun grunted and let fly several
more knuckles, which the boy had some trouble in avoiding them.
"Tendo-san, please! I don't wanna fight you!"
"Too late!" The elder man poured on more speed and added in kicks into his
attacks. However, the boy easily bobbed and weaved around the blows like
water, but never counterattacked. Soun's frustration grew as he went
scoreless for many minutes. "Fight me!" he bellowed, his temper near breaking
"I ain't gonna fight you!"
"Then have a taste of this!" He fired off an extremely fast and heavy
haymaker, one that was guaranteed to connect and put him down for a long
time. He'd suffer a concussion at best; at worst...
=CRACK=
Paydirt! His fist was following through with the contact, giving his target
every inch of his strength. That's when the unexpected happened.
Halfway through the motion, Soun's fist just...stopped, for lack of a better
description. Then it was pushed back on the line of trajectory it was
following with considerably more force than what he put into his attack.
Shocked, the Tendo patriarch stumbled back .
"What the..." Soun started to ask when his eyes made an important discovery
and promptly informed the brain. He gasped then. "Are you all right Ryouga?"
* * * * *
Minutes earlier.
Ryouga watched in great sadness as Akane absently chucked his porcine form
somewhere and threw herself onto her bed. That was when she chose to cry
without restriction. Her face was buried into her pillow, dampening the
sounds of her wailing; The cursed boy, however, could hear her cried as
clear as a bell.
'And it's all Ranma's fault, too!' he thought grimly. There was absolutely
no way for him to wiggle out of responsibility; in fact, he even said so
himself, he was the father of Kasumi's baby. Now Akane has been hurt in ways
that were very appalling indeed. And it was all Ranma's fault. Throwing
sweet Akane aside like a rag doll in trade for her oldest sister. What was
the world coming to?!
Well, it didn't matter. He was going to go downstairs, get changed and put
on some clothes, then beat the hell out of the pigtailed boy. It turned heel
and began to trot to the partially open door, an angry scowl dressing its
cute looks.
"And to think I might have loved you, you idiot--!" came the room's only
human's outburst.
Ryouga stopped in mid-stride feeling very chilled. 'Loved...him...? No, no
I didn't hear-'
"...have...loved you...Ranma..." Akane fell into incoherent blubbering after
that.
Unfortunately, it was already too late, for Ryouga heard her clearly.
'She...loved...him...?' Cold gripped his heart and squeezed it for all its
worth. 'She...loved him...' A sickly green glow encased the black piglet
as he wearily padded away from Akane's room.
'She loved him... She loved him...' The thought ran laps within the
pig-sized mind, unable to escape the depression boring down on it. Instead,
it started on a new track. 'He hurt her...'
That was enough to bring out another emotion within him. Anger welled up and
bloomed again. How dare he hurt sweet Akane like so! How dare he betray
her! How dare he break her heart-!
'She loved him...'
Depression set back in like an old friend. So she did, she really did...
'He hurt her...'
Anger came roaring back to life. Damn that Ranma! He's going to pay for
that transgression. He's going to pay!
'She loved him...'
Again depression set it.
'He hurt her...'
Anger raged deep in his heart once more.
'She loved him...'
'He hurt her...'
'She loved him...'
'He hurt her...'
Depression and anger warred for dominance. Each faction battled against the
other on the ego's battle field where there was only one winner allowed.
Then finally...
'She loved him...but he hurt her...'
A pact between his strongest emotions. Avenge her for the wrongs he had
dealt to her, and punish him totally, utterly, completely. He knew what he
was to do, what he had to do.
Ryouga had made it all the way down to the main hallway, then turned to the
bathroom. Once there, he dipped himself into a predrawn bath, undoing the
curse of Jusenkyou and becoming his former self. The fanged boy trudged out
of the bath, found his clothes and put them on while still wet, then headed
towards the family room. Amazingly, he never once lost his way all of this
time.
No one in the room paid him any regard, mainly because the were too fixated
on Ranma and Soun duking it out-or rather, Soun hitting nothing but air while
the younger dodged all attacks launched at him. It didn't matter to Ryouga,
though. All he cared about was Ranma. Walking up behind him, he was going
to get the pigtailed boy's attention; however. that did not go over well.
Ranma slipped out of the path of the Tendo patriarch's fist ripping through
the air. The lost boy caught the blow right on the jaw, which jarred his
head to one side. Instead of crumpling like a rag doll, though, he simply
turned his head back around, shoving Soun back hard enough to make him
stumble.
"Are you all right Ryouga?" the older man asked. "Are you hurt?"
"I did not feel that," he said in a flat monotone. Turning away from the
flabbergasted father, he addressed Ranma who was already wary of the lost boy.
"Ryouga, I ain't got time to play with you right now..." the youth started to
say.
"Don't worry, Ranma." Tendrils of black spiderwebbed about the lost boy, and
his enemy could only gasp quietly at the sight presented before him. Cold
eyes, mirthless and dead, seemingly bored holes into the Saotome heir's very
soul even as Ryouga's body began crackling and humming with obsidian power.
"Oh no..." Kasumi clasped one hand into the other and pressed them both to
her mouth.
"I don't believe it..." Nabiki said to herself. "I really don't believe this
is happening..."
"Believe it." His gaze never wavered in the slightest from his visibly
agitated foe. "Ranma dies tonight."
To be continued...
Wow, I finally got through this chapter. As promised, I'll explain a little
of why this story was delayed.
It wasn't exactly like Kasumi and Ranma's situation, different variances and
such, but I had something of the like happen to me in the last few months
between me and now ex-girlfriend of a couple of years. Those types of
breakups, I wish on no one.
You can imagine how much it rather pained me to keep on writing Kasumi 1/2
after that. Somehow, I pulled myself together, stopped moping around and
feeling sorry for myself, then slowly but surely brought forth that which is
now dubbed Chapter 5 of Kasumi 1/2. I'll admit it helped make for a better
story with firsthand experience, but that's something I would be only too
glad to live without.
Okay, away from my private-life soap opera now... ^_^
I'm really sorry about AOL being such a total jerk about losing a part of
Chapter 4 to the AOL monster. I'm sending all of the chapters over to Larry
F and having him post it on my little page of his site so you can read it
unnterrupted.
Thanks to all of my readers who have encouraged me and beared with me while I
was lagging behind on the workload. I appreciated it every step of the way.
Big thanks to all the pre-readers since I started out with this one little
idea.
Next chapter: Ranma and Ryouga rumble on Tendo property, but it seems that
Ryouga's a virtual juggernaut! How is Ranma going to win this one? More
importantly, can he win? Stay tuned; this is one fight you don't want to
miss!