The characters of Ranma 1/2 Universe is the sole creation of Rumiko Takahashi and various companies. I am using them without prior permission from the creator. Hopefully I will not be sued.
Special thanks to Octavian for helping this poor story teller with his grammar
Also special thanks to Thomas Scroggs for the helpful C&C.
Ranma 1/2 : Kasumi's Wish Chapter Three Created by Long Ngo Started March 25, 1998 Finished March 31, 1998
It was a rainy day in Nerima Ward, Tokyo. The sound of raindrops beating against the roof was almost mesmerizing. Looking down from Asgard, Skuld could finally complete her contract.
Tears of joy were rolling down Soun's face. *Today is the day that Ranma would arrive,* Soun thought happily. "Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane come here," a very joyous Soun shouted out to his daughters. Soun had received a postcard from a long time friend. On one side of the card was a panda bear and on the other side was a single sentence. "Bringing Ranma in two weeks." The postcard was signed Saotome.
Moments later, all three of Tendou's daughters were sitting opposite him on the dinner table. Unknown to the three occupants, Kasumi had started to glow after sitting down. Kasumi was in a simply dress, Nabiki was in a light blue kimono while Akane was wearing a white gi. " The son of a very good friend of mine would be arriving soon. His name is Saotome Ranma. If one of you three girls were to marry him and carry on this training hall, then our family legacy would be secure." Soun announced to his three daughters.
"Hey, wait a minute! You can't just decide something like that! Count me out!" Akane shouted with rage.
"Maybe you should wait til you see him. You never know, he might be more handsome than you think." Nabiki happily teased Akane. Which caused Akane to look the other way. Turning back to Soun, "Right Tousan?" asked Nabiki.
Nabiki's question caused Soun to laugh a little. "He'll be here soon," was the reply Soun used to evade the question. Standing up, "Ranma and his father have been on a training trip. Recently they have crossed into China." Soun was now looking at the koi pond.
"Ooh, China!!" Nabiki commented with a awed expression.
"So they trained in China. That does not automatically make them good." Akane grumbled.
"Is he handsome? What is he like?" Nabiki asked. In part she was very interested and she also wanted to find out more about this so called martial artist their father have engaged them to.
Laughing again, Soun turned his attention back to his three daughters. "I don't know."
The happy demure of Nabiki was now an angry scowl. "You don't know?"
"I've never met the young man," was all Soun could reply.
Kasumi was suddenly covered in a blinding light as the glowed intensified.
As Soun searched the faces of his daughters to gauge their reactions, he suddenly noticed Kasumi's red cheeks and stargazed expression. "Is something wrong Kasumi?" Soun asked his eldest daughter. Over the years, Soun had become overly protective of Kasumi. This did not mean he cared any less for his other two daughters. It is just that Kasumi gave up her childhood for the family. She sacrificed more than any person should have to. To this end, he was more protective of Kasumi than Akane or Nabiki.
It was strange that Kasumi had not uttered a word after his announcement. She would usually tell him politely if one of his ideas were unacceptable and he would understand and give in for fear of offending his eldest. Yet today he had told each of his daughters something that would forever change their lives and Kasumi had not spoken a single word. He was also a little worried that Kasumi's cheeks were a bit red as well.
Nabiki was not really surprised. She knew something like this would happen for some time now. The Tendou family was a traditional family in a modern world. Arranged marriages were common back then, especially among the middle and upper classes. She was amazed that it had not happened sooner. Kasumi was already 19, she was 17 and her little sister was 16, all were well within the acceptable age for marriage. Nabiki was just wondering what kind of man her father had engaged one of them to. Her thoughts were suddenly broken by her father's question. Looking up, Nabiki noticed the light reddish tone to Kasumi's cheeks. To some, Nabiki was not an emotional person. She always had this look of a predator stalking her prey on her face that earned her a reputation for being cold hearted. To those that truly understood her, knew that this was not true. She had learned to hide her emotions really well after her mother died. There were only few times when Nabiki wasn't wearing her facial mask of uncaring. This was one of those times. One of the people Nabiki worried about the most was Kasumi. Kasumi was her older sister, but she was also her mother and friend at times. She was what kept the family together when the outside world threaten to tear the family apart. To see the sister-mother of the Tendou Clan unhealthy worried her.
Akane could not believe what her father was saying. She hated boys, they were so immature. She did not know which was worse, Tatewaki Kunou thinking he could become her boyfriend by trying to beat her up or the boys that followed him. Now her Tousan wants one of his daughters to marry a boy he hardly knew. Why couldn't the boys at her school be more like Tofu-sensei? He was so mature but was in love with her older sister. Looking up at Kasumi, Akane finally noticed the reddish hue to Kasumi's cheeks having missed her Tousan's comment before because she was busy being angry at him. Akane was instantly worried about Kasumi. Kasumi was more like a mother than a sister to Akane.
Kasumi could not believe how much she had enjoyed that kiss. Part of her, the part that was the mother and sister, told her she was betraying Akane, but the other part, the part that was the suppressed female, rejoiced at the experience. It had been far too long since she had genuinely laughed and enjoyed herself this much. She had given up all hopes of ever experiencing these kinds of feelings since Okaasan died. This New Year was one in which she would cherish for a long time. She knew she was blushing and hoped that Ranma did not see it. It would embarrass both of them. After Ranma had whispered that he felt the same, made her even blush some more. Lifting her head to see if Ranma was blushing as well, she final noticed that she was not on the roof anymore. She also felt three pairs of eyes focused on her. Looking toward the sources, she noticed that she was at the table and was the attention of both her sisters and Tousan. Numerous questions started to come to mind : Why wasn't she on the rooftop with Ranma? How did she get to be where she was? Why was everyone staring at her with worried expressions? The last question was why Nabiki wearing a kimono? She had not worn one ever since Ranma first arrived. Knowing the easiest way to get an answer was to ask, Kasumi did just that. " Is something wrong?" Kasumi asked also missing Soun's question.
Finally getting a reaction from his eldest daughter. Soun nodded, "Are you feeling well Kasumi?"
"I'm feeling fine. Why do you ask?" replied Kasumi.
"Tousan is just worried about you Kasumi. Your face is a bit red and you been staring out into space for the past few minutes." A worried Nabiki answered. Akane only noticing Kasumi's condition a few moments ago nodded as well.
"Thank you Tousan, Nabiki, Akane, but I feel fine. Was there anything else you needed Tousan?" Kasumi asked.
"I was just saying that a long time friend of mine would be arriving soon and he was bringing his son. If one of you were to marry him and take over the dojo, the Tendou Legacy would be secured."
Looking at Nabiki in her kimono and then outside at the weather, everything finally made sense to Kasumi. This was the day that the three Tendou daughters first meet Saotome Ranma and his father Saotome Genma. She did not know how she got here but living with Ranma for the past year had help her adjust to the hectic events surrounding the young martial artist. Remembering that Ranma might need some hot water, Kasumi stood up. "Please excuse me father, I need to prepare something." Walking into the kitchen, Kasumi started preparing some hot water for her two newly arriving guest, unaware of the stares she was getting from her family.
Up in Asgard, two sisters were bickering. "It's not fair," a woman with white hair complained. "I'm the goddess of love. I should have gotten this job." Urd looking over at Skuld. "I bet you don't know the first thing about love, seeing you never had a boyfriend." In Urd's mind, a game was being played and to Urd, it was game, set and match. She could not believe Skuld's luck. Here was the biggest love web she had ever seen in all her existance. A boy by the name of Ranma was picking up fiancees left and right. Asside from the fact that most of them were being forced upon him by his Oyaji and honor, the fact still remains that the girls didn't mind having a fiancee like Ranma. He was handsome, strong, and had a sense of honor unparalleled except maybe Thor's. It did not help the situation any when Ranma did not possess the knowledge or ability to handle the opposite gender. Now here was Skuld, who had been lucky enough to not only find a useful bug, but was on her way to making a big impression on her first assignment. Because of the bug, Kasumi now knew that beneath the curse, Ranma was indeed everything she had wished for. He was kind-hearted, who else would put up with all this fiancee business, other than a hentai, which Ranma was not due to his social skills, because he did not want to hurt one of their feelings. Calling Ranma's life exciting was an understatement. Ranma's life could be considered the penticle of adventure and excitement. Last, if someone even considered Ranma not being handsome would be attacked by numerous raged filled women. Now due to the bug, Kasumi found that she could in fact love and respect him and her father was giving her a chance at marriage. All this was due to a computer glitch which made Akane, Ranma's fiancee, instead of Kasumi in the first place. With the Yggdrasil system back online, it transferred Kasumi back in time so that now she could become Ranma's fiancee instead of Akane.
Skuld was fuming. This was her first real assignment and here was Urd telling her how unfair it was. On top of that, her older sister made fun of her by saying how she didn't know a thing about love because she never went out with a guy. Urd was the last person to be lecturing about this. Urd made Ranma's problems look like child's play. Then again, looking back at Ranma's file, if a person just went by Ranma's and Urd's problems with the opposite gender, they might consider the two related by blood or something. After living with Keiichi and Belldandy for the past two years, though she still thought Belldandy was too good for Keiichi, Skuld finally understood something about love. What was startling was that if she was successful, the similarity between the two couples were astronomical. Maybe in a way, her father, Kami-sama, was giving her a chance to redeem herself after the way she had acted when she first heard about Keiichi's wish. Looking back at Urd, who was still raving, she finally understood why Urd was mad. First, Skuld had stumbled upon the worse web of love the Fates had ever known. Second, Urd was mad that she had nothing to do with the relationship between Belldandy's and Keiichi that she saw this as a second chance due to the staggering similarity between the two or actually the female half.
Urd stopped raving as a look of understanding appeared upon Skuld's face. Maybe her younger sister had finally seen the light was going to give her the chance at this contract. Her hopes died as Skuld stuck her tongue out at her. "Arggggggggg," was the only thing Urd could think of at the moment.
Seeing Urd mad, Skuld skipped happily away looking for some warm water so that she could visit Belldandy then Kasumi. She had to tell Belldandy about Kasumi.
To be Continued