/**
 * Hi Vince!
 *
 * Sorry this is so late. I haven't read the other C&C, so things
 * may be duplicated.
**/

     "At least it wasn't a ca-cat," Ranma muttered as they passed
the woman walking her dog.

     "Nobody walks cats, silly."

/**
 * Akane: Then again... [sidelong look at Ranma]
 *
 * Ranma: Hey! What's with that sneaky Nabiki-type look?
 *
 * Akane: Oh, just wondering how you'd look in a collar.
 **/

     "Hmm... we could go on a training trip, just the two of
us...."  Akane glanced sidelong at Ranma just as he glanced back
at her.  Imagination took over.

          Akane faced off                 Ranma lounged in the
     against Ranma in a forest       shade, watching as Akane
     clearing.  Suddenly she         wore herself out attacking
     attacked, a whirlwind of        a waterfall.  "Right, just
     punches and kicks blocked       like that," he called, then
     expertly by her sparring        took a sip from his drink.
     partner, faster and faster.
                                          The yatai by the side
          Curry bubbled in the       of the road displayed a
     pot over the campfire.          tempting array of grilled
     Akane stirred it, then          delicacies.  Ranma handed
     ladled out a generous           over coins and accepted
     portion and handed it           laden skewers from the
     across to Ranma, who licked     proprietor, passing Akane
     his chops in anticipation.      her share.

          Nestled under the               The small dome tent
     trees, the little dome tent     rested in the forest.  The
     shook rhythmically.  A cry      peaceful spring night was
     pierced the stillness of        serenaded by the soft sound
     the night: "KYAAAAA!"           of snoring from within.

// Neat use of parallelism.

     "Yeah, right.  Good save, though-- hey!  You coulda kept her
from changing me all along!  How come you never warned me before,
huh?"

     "Good morning, Akane-chan, Ranma-kun!"

     "Mornin', Tofu-sensei."

     "Good morning, Tofu-sensei.  I suppose I could have... but
you never asked me to, Ranma!"

     "Well, I didn't ask you to THIS time, either, but you did!"

     "Honestly, Ranma!  Why do you always--"  Akane suddenly
stopped both walking and talking and stared at Ranma.  Ranma
stared back.  "'Tofu-sensei'?!" they said together.  They turned
as one.  Four eyes widened and two jaws dropped at the sight of
the familiar figure standing on the walk outside the little
corner clinic.

/**
 * Hmm, did they turn a corner somewhere? Tofu's clinic isn't next
 * door to the old lady's house, to my recollection. Perhaps a
 * mention of continued walking earlier in the scene after Ranma
 * almost gets splashed might be a good idea.
**/

     "It should," Tofu said.  "There wasn't any reason for me to
change anything.  I just gave the tenant notice and moved
everything back in."

     "And when was this?" Akane accused him.  "Why didn't you
call, or write, or something, to tell us you were back?  Come to
that, why didn't you tell us you were leaving?  No warning, no
forwarding address-- for all we knew, you'd fallen down a manhole
or something!"

     "Nothing so dramatic," Tofu said, looking ashamed.  "I took
a position at a hospital in Okayama for a while, that's all.  I
just reopened the clinic yesterday."

// Oh ho! Tofu's been on the classic Kasumi-resistance training trip?

     "Is Kasumi-san married?" Tofu burst out.

     "Aaaah," Ranma and Akane said together as the light dawned.
"No," Akane continued, "she's still single."

     "Is she, you know, seeing anyone?" Tofu asked anxiously.

/**
 * Step right up! Dr. Tofu vs. Pantyhose Taro Fight of the Week -
 * Round 1!
**/

     "Dunno if I'll be quite as good a customer, though," Ranma
remarked.  "Akane's not clobbering me so much these days."

// What, no Akane response to this insult? :)

     Akane, still looking ahead where she was running,

// That's a bit awkward. How about:
// Akane, still looking at the path ahead, grimaced...

     grimaced
in frustration.  "I don't know yet.  If only Tofu wouldn't go all
goofy when Kasumi-oneechan was around, she'd see what a nice guy
he is."

---

     Kasumi finished putting the bowls away and turned to face
them.  "Well, then.  I'm just saying that it's not as reasonable
as that one man is nicer than another, or has more money... not
for her, and not for me.  I know a doctor with his own practice
is a better catch than a wandering martial artist, but...."

     "I just don't want him as a brother-in-law," Ranma muttered.

/**
 * A bit confusing, does Ranma mean Tofu or Taro here? Yes, it's
 * obvious, but... "I just don't want _Taro_ as a..."
**/

     Kasumi laughed a little behind her hand.  "Well, that's
honest, I must say.  But-- I'm sorry, but I can't let that stop
me."

     "Kasumi," Akane managed finally, "why?  Why would you even
consider Taro-kun?"

     Kasumi thought about that for a moment.  "I think perhaps he
needs me," she said slowly.  "I'm sure you have some idea of how
important that is to me.  But even so, he treats me like a
person, not a china doll-- or a domestic."  Both Akane and Ranma
flinched a little at that.  "Most of all, he makes me feel...
like there are possibilities."

/**
 * Akane: Uh, possibilities?
 * Nabiki [popping up from the side character waiting room and
 *    waving a bunch of video tapes]: Hah! I always knew I
 *    shouldn't have lent you these anime tapes. [looks
 *    sorrowful and cries] My poor sister - what ideas have
 *    they given you?
 * Akane: Nabiki, what are you doing?
 * Nabiki [back to normal]: Hmm? De-claiming responsibility
 *    against a future lawsuit of reckless endangerment.
**/

     "Look, I don't exactly want Pantyhose-Taro in the family
either, but I think Kasumi's gonna do just what she wants no
matter what we do.  Push her hard enough and she might do
something stupid just because we're pushing.  She's just about as
stubborn as you are, you know."

     "I-- I am not stubborn!"

     "Are too!  Bii-da!"  Ranma bounded away, laughing.

     Akane dashed after him.  "RANMA!  Take that back!"

// Ranma: Okay, how about hard-headed? Yikes! No? Obstinate?
//    Perversely persistent? Violently determined? Ouch!

     "Nothin' to it."  Smiling, Ranma buffed his nails on his
shirt.

     "Anyway, tomorrow at one, Tai Park.  Can you make it?" Akane
asked.

// Tai Park? Is that in Nerima?

     "Er--"  Tofu capitulated.  "It's not that, I was just
surprised," he said weakly.  Ranma nudged Akane and raised a
meaningful eyebrow, and was met with a fierce glare.

     Cheerful again, Gertrude straightened to attention.  "I'm
here to assist you, Herr Doktor Tofu," she announced, clicking
her heels.  "A nice little clinic like this, you need a nurse,
nicht wahr?"

/**
 * Ranma: Aha! A rival! That could be the very thing...
 * Akane: Ranma, what are you thinking?
 * Ranma: Well, hey, we'd never have gotten together, if you'd
 *    hadn't been so jealous about Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi.
 *    Ouch! Stop that! Now if we could just get Tofu-sensei
 *    another couple of girlfriends, and Kasumi gets stubborn
 *    about it...
**/

     "Well, Akane went through something very much like that
before you came, with those boys who were attacking her every
morning.  It happened all at once.  Before then, she was just
another girl at school.  My books talk about group behavior and
reinforced hormones...."

     "Over-reinforced skulls, more like," Ranma muttered darkly.

// Akane: Boys! Pound them and they keep coming back for more.

     "Pleased to meet you, Tendo-san," Gertrude said, bowing
correctly.  In the place of the jealous hostility she had shown
Akane and onna-Ranma at the clinic the previous day, the red-
headed nurse displayed wary respect.  Akane frowned a little at
the implied slight.

     Kasumi smiled.  "Guten Tag, Fraulein Nadelmann," she said
carefully.

     Gertrude's eyes lit up.  "Ach, was fur eine angenehme
Uberraschung!  Seit lange--"  She broke off; Kasumi was blushing
and shaking her head, with a slightly-flustered smile.

     "No, I'm afraid I don't actually speak German," Kasumi
admitted.  "Certainly not nearly as well as you speak Japanese!"

     "Ah, well," Gertrude said regretfully.  "Still, your
greeting was a welcome thing to hear, Kasumi-san."  She
straightened a little.  "I apologize for intruding, but Doktor
Tofu's condition... well...."

/**
 * Wait a minute. Gertrude goes from Tendo-san to Kasumi-san
 * without Kasumi inviting her to use the more intimate first
 * name. Surely she's been in Japan long enough to know
 * better?
 *
 * Maybe Kasumi should invite her to do so somewhere in the
 * above passage?
**/

     "Oh, I've gotten used to raw fish," Gertrude replied.  She
leaned forward confidentially.  "Actually, it's one of the cooked
ones I don't like.  I can't stand sushi with octopus.  Those
nasty purple tentacles, and those awful suckers... ugh!"

// Hmm, Gertrude's secret weakness is octopi? Oh, Happosai...

     Tofu blinked rapidly behind his glasses.  "Omiai?  Not
engaged... yet?" he said weakly.  He looked at Taro.

          "My daughter is of marriageable age," Soun said,
     gesturing to the young woman clad in a fine kimono who knelt
     at his side.  "There was someone else who might have been
     interested, but for some reason he never approached us...
     ah, well, that's in the past."  He tucked his hands into his
     haori coat and assumed a benevolent look.  "I'm sure she'll
     make you a fine wife, lad."

          Lounging unaccompanied on the other side of the low
     table, Taro leered sociably at Kasumi.  "Whatever you say,
     Pops.  You won't mind if I try her out first, though...?"

          Kasumi blushed, lowered her head, and nodded shyly.

     "Family doctor?  Couple?"  Taro eyed Tofu with sudden
suspicion.

          Tofu came into the clinic room and set down his
     clipboard.  "Now, Kasumi-chan, be a good girl and take off
     your clothes so I can, ah, examine you."  His fingers
     wiggled suggestively.

          Seated on the examination couch in the middle of the
     room, Kasumi giggled.  "Whatever you say, Sensei."   She
     reached for the top button on her blouse.

// LOL! Classic pair of imaginative scenes! Kudos to you, Vince.

     "Back off, girly-boy," Taro warned Ranma.  "I don't need
your help, and I don't need you helping Doctor Strange there,
either."

// Taro is a Marvel comics fan?

     "So we'll just see how this goes, shall we?  Who knows,
maybe I'll even have some fun.  I'd like that.  I think I deserve
some, don't you?"  Kasumi smiled beatifically.

// beautifically? Actually I think you have it correct, but I'll
// point it out JIC.

     "That's it!"  Gertrude snapped her fingers suddenly.  "At
first I thought you were the boy from the picnic, Akane-san's
man, but you're that candy-stripper!"  She glared at Kasumi.  "We
agreed that you would leave Doktor Tofu alone if you lost, and
now I find you hanging around outside!  Shame on you!"  She
turned to Taro.  "And you're here to see Doktor Tofu, nicht wahr?
We will go inside while this person goes home; she's not allowed
in the clinic."  Gertrude took Taro's arm and escorted him to the
door while his mouth was still opening and closing.  "Strange,
she looks taller in the dark," she muttered.

// Almost twice as tall, I'd say. Unless Ranma's girl form has grown
// in this series. :)

     ZZZAAAPPP!!!

     "ow...." said Ranma, smoking lightly.

     "RANMA!  Are you all right?!"

     "yeah, i think so...."

     "Whew.  But why aren't the lights back on, then?"

     "i said, i'm a martial artist--"

// Any reason why he's speaking in lower case?

     Gertrude hurried out the clinic's front door and stopped
short.  Tofu was dancing around a fallen hulk, monstrous, shaggy,
and contorted, its tentacles waving feebly in the air or locked
into excruciating shapes.

     Gertrude's horrified eyes fastened on its tentacles.

     Its huge, wriggling, slimy, sucker-studded tentacles....

     Gertrude drew in a mighty breath, put her hands to her
cheeks, screwed her eyes shut, and let out a scream worthy of a
Valkyrie, a scream which caused people for six blocks around to
drop whatever they were doing and dive under their tables,
chairs, and kotatsu.

// Heh, Taro and not Happosai. Should have made the connection.
// Must be all the chocolate in my system, slowing me down.

     Standing on the doorstep, a tall woman gave him a cool, foxy
smile.  Her straight black hair was cut into bangs in front and
fell to her waist at her back; an expensive-looking dress peeked
out from under her white lab-coat.  Two sleek suitcases rested
beside her.  "Good evening," she said.  "I'm Kouka Megumi.  I'm
looking for Ono Tofu-sensei... my fiance."

     "Glah," Ranma managed.

     "Oh, Megumi-sensei!" Tofu burbled, shambling into the room,
his glasses misty.  "What a remarkable coincidence to meet you
here, of all places!"

     "My goodness, isn't this... interesting," said Kasumi
brightly, appearing at the other door and smiling at the newcomer
with eyes like little arches.

/**
 * LOL! The fiancee... it had to happen. :)
 *
 * What can I say, Vince? Another perfect chapter of Nerima
 * madness. Characterization is good, Ranma is maturing (as the
 * title of the series suggests), scenes were fluid and funny,
 * and the chaos devolves to yet another group of people.
 * Nabiki: And you wonder why I'm so keen to get to Uni?
 *
 * Is Centaur going to end with Kasumi's engagement?
 *
 * Phil.
**/



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