Chapter 5 - Awakenings
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Kasumi couldn’t begin to describe the feelings going through her as she hugged Ranma. Earlier that morning, she’d hugged him in an effort to comfort him. But this was something different. ‘When he worried about my safety, that felt so nice. And he was willing to give up his home, and his happiness, out of concern for me,’ she thought.
When the hug began, she felt Ranma tense, and Kasumi was afraid he’d pull away. Then he relaxed though and she found herself simply enjoying the feeling of holding him. When he tentatively put his arms around her, she couldn’t help but grip him even tighter. ‘It just feels so... so good.’
“Ranma! You pervert!” The scream came from the doorway and she instantly knew who it was. Both she and Ranma jerked back as Akane glared at the pig-tailed boy, murder in her eyes. Kasumi saw Ranma waving his arms and trying to explain, but Akane wasn’t listening.
“I can’t believe you’re taking advantage of my sister!” the youngest Tendo yelled, as she began stalking towards them. ‘Take advantage of me?’ Kasumi thought. ‘That’s crazy!’ Both she and Ranma scrambled to their feet and backpedaled a few steps.
“Akane, listen to me,” Kasumi tried calmly. When her sister didn’t even acknowledge her presence, Kasumi began to worry. She decided it was necessary to raise her voice if she had any chance to get through to Akane. “Please stop,” she desperately cried, “Ranma didn’t do anything wrong!”
It was clear that her sister was too far gone to listen to reason. Kasumi noted that Ranma wasn’t moving at all, and when Akane drew her fist back to strike, Kasumi panicked. ‘I will not let him get hurt for something I did,’ she thought with determination. ‘I will not!’
As Akane’s fist began to snap forward towards Ranma’s face, Kasumi did the only thing she could. She stepped in front of Akane. ‘This is going to really hurt,’ she thought, as she closed her eyes and felt the impact. Then there was nothing but darkness.
As Akane’s fist began it’s forward motion, Ranma began to spin out of the way. With a faster opponent, or one that he wasn’t familiar with, he would’ve just sidestepped. However, knowing Akane as well as he did, he knew she’d put everything into that punch and that she would still be recovering when he completed the spin. ‘Then maybe I can hold her down and let Kasumi talk some sense into her.’
Halfway through the spin though, Ranma was facing away from both girls and he heard the sound of someone taking a hit. He knew it wasn’t him, since he would’ve registered the pain immediately. ‘I wonder if Kasumi smacked her or something,’ he thought briefly, before pushing that thought aside. ‘Get real Ranma, as if that would ever happen.’ Then a more chilling thought occurred to him, one that caused him to stop halfway through his spin.
As he slowly turned around, Ranma heard the thud of someone hitting the floor. When he was finally facing the girls again, his eyes took in everything at once. He saw Akane on her knees, staring at her hands. She was beginning to cry. Then he saw Kasumi’s body crumpled on the floor and something inside of him snapped.
Ranma had never felt such burning rage before. It literally felt like his whole body was on fire. He felt his hands form into fists, and he suddenly put one foot in front of the other, making his way towards Akane. He saw the girl look away from her hands, and into his face. Akane uncharacteristically cringed, and actually began cowering in fear. For a brief moment, Ranma saw his own battle aura reflected in the girls eyes, and it was truly a terrible sight to behold. ‘What the hell am I doing?’ he demanded of himself.
His mind raced and finally he muttered one thing. “True martial artists don’t hurt the weak,” he said in a low growl. He then made his way towards Kasumi and knelt by her side. He felt for a pulse and was relieved to find it steady. Ranma then rolled her over and examined her face. ‘Akane must’ve pulled back at the last second,’ he thought. ‘If she’d hit Kasumi full on, she could’ve crushed her skull!’
With one final glare towards Akane, Ranma scooped Kasumi up in his arms and ran out of the dojo.
| When Akane looked up and saw Ranma starting to move towards her, she immediately looked into his eyes in an attempt to read his intent. What she saw shocked her to the core. She had never seen him this upset before, and whenever it was even close to this it was always directed at someone else, like Happosai or Cologne. But now she saw the hate in his eyes, and it was directed at her for what she’d done. For the first time she could remember, Akane felt true fear. ‘He’s gonna hit me,’ she thought in a panic. Then Ranma stopped and seemed to come to his senses. She could still see the fury there, but his aura had died down at least. And then he’d muttered those words. “True martial artists don’t hurt the weak.” |
 |
‘Was he saying that I was weak and that because of that he wouldn’t attack me? Or was he accusing me of not being a true marital artist because I accidentally hit Kasumi?’ Neither idea sat very well with Akane. ‘Stupid jerk! This is all his fault anyways. If he hadn’t been groping Kasumi this would’ve never happened.’
Then a stray thought hit Akane like a lightning bolt. “Ranma didn’t do anything wrong!” When Kasumi had yelled this at Akane, she was too far gone to register it. However, she clearly remembered her sister’s words now. ‘No, it’s not possible,’ she moaned internally. ‘This is all Ranma’s fault, it has to be. It can’t be mine! But why did Kasumi jump in like that? Why was she protecting him? Could I have been wrong?’
As the doubts began to gnaw away at her mind, she found her tears flowing all the more freely.
As Ranma rushed towards Dr. Tofu’s clinic with Kasumi in his arms, his own doubts gnawed away at him. ‘If I hadn’t spun away like that, I could’ve stopped Akane. I’m such an idiot! And I almost attacked her when I should’ve been more concerned with Kasumi.’ He continued to mentally browbeat himself until he found himself in front of the clinic.
After awkwardly hitting the buzzer a few times, Ranma finally grew impatient and kicked the door in. As Ranma made his way in, all of the lights came on as Dr. Tofu made his way downstairs. Ranma immediately took Kasumi to one of the examination areas and set Kasumi on the bed.
“What’s going on?” Dr. Tofu said angrily from behind him. Ranma spun around and saw the doctor there. The doctor, seeing it was him, suddenly relaxed and even smiled. “What brings you out tonight Ranma?”
“Well doc, it’s Kasumi-” Ranma halted and nearly smacked himself for being so careless. ‘Dammit,’ he thought, as he saw the doctor’s glasses fog over.
“K-K-Kasumi?” Dr Tofu said, making his way to his lab skeleton. “Did you hear that Betty?” He grabbed the skeleton and the two started dancing.
This was too serious for Ranma to even attempt any tact, not that he probably would have anyway. He walked up to the doctor and started shaking him by the shoulders. “Doc, she’s been hurt. You need ta snap out of it!” It didn’t seem to Ranma that he was getting anywhere, so he finally took his hand and gave the doctor a good firm slap across the face.
“W-what did you do that for?” the doctor asked in shock, apparently coming out of his dream world.
“Doc, Kasumi’s been hurt and ya need to focus dammit!”
“She’s h-hurt?” Dr. Tofu asked, dropping Betty to the ground.
“Yeah. Now can ya help her, or do I hafta smack you again?”
“I can help,” the doctor said in a very businesslike manner. He went over to where she was and started to examine her. “What happened?” he asked.
“Well,” Ranma said, not really wanting to get into all the details, especially the engagement. “Akane was gonna hit me, not listening to what happened as usual. But Kasumi jumped in the way and got hit instead.”
“I see. Well, it’s a good thing she used her left hand. And it appears she held back some.” The doctor rolled Kasumi on her side and began working on some different pressure points. After a few more minutes, the doctor moved away from the table. “It looks like she’s just unconscious. Thankfully, there doesn’t appear to be any sort of concussion. I was able to relieve the pressure buildup in her head, so she should come around in the next fifteen minutes or so.”
The doctor walked over to one of the cabinets in the room, took some medicine out, and handed it to Ranma. “She’ll need to take three of these when she wakes up. Then have her follow the normal directions on the bottle for the next few days. As long as she rests, tonight and all day tomorrow, I expect that tomorrow evening she should be mostly back to normal.”
“Thanks doc,” Ranma said quietly. “And I’m sorry I kicked your door in earlier. And that I hit you.” He looked down as he said it.
Dr. Tofu put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about the door. I can’t blame you for that. Besides, I know where to send the bill,” the doctor said with a laugh, before turning serious. “As far as hitting me, I... I deserved it.” Ranma looked up and was about to say something when the doctor cut him off. “Ranma, everyone knows how I get around K-Kasumi. If you hadn’t snapped me out of it, I wouldn’t have been able to treat her. What if her situation had been worse? I... I don’t think I could live with myself if something happened to her because of my problem.”
Making his way towards the door, Dr. Tofu paused and turned towards Ranma. “I don’t think I should be here when she wakes up. I don’t want to risk losing control again. Can you please stay with her until she wakes and carry her home afterwards?”
“Sure doc,” Ranma replied.
“Thanks,” the doctor replied. “Don’t worry about closing up, I’ll come down and do that later.” With that, the doctor headed out of the room.
Ranma pull up a stool and sat next to the examination table that Kasumi was resting on. Despite the large bruise that was developing on her cheek, Ranma couldn’t help but think about how peaceful she looked. ‘She looks like an angel.’ His thoughts drifted to the circumstances that had led to her present condition, and he continued to wonder what he might’ve done to prevent it.
‘I could’ve moved forward to stop Akane. Or if I hadn’t been so damn cocky and spun like that, I would’ve seen what was going to happen. But dammit, why couldn’t Akane just listen for once? Hell, even Kasumi was yellin’ at her, but she wouldn’t stop.’ Ranma blew out a sigh.
‘I should leave. Despite what Kasumi says and what she did for me, I don’t wanna see her get hurt. This just proves what would happen if Kodachi or Shampoo went after her. How can Kasumi say she doesn’t care about that? And why did she jump in front of Akane like that?’ No answers were forthcoming, and Ranma decided he would have to wait until Kasumi awoke to find them.
Because the day had been so mentally and physically draining, Ranma found that he was surprisingly tired. Looking at Kasumi’s face, and seeing that she was still out, he decided to lay his head down on the table where she lay. After a few moments, he was asleep.
 |
A young Kasumi felt the hot tears streaming down her cheeks as she made her way into the kitchen of her home. She found her mother there, preparing dinner as she always did. Her mother looked up and saw the tears in her daughter’s eyes. “What’s wrong Kasumi?” she asked worriedly. At the same time she stepped away from what she was doing and held her arms out. Running into them, Kasumi felt the same warmth and security that she always did. “Oh mama,” she cried into her mother’s bosom. “It’s Mr. Yamato...” “And what did he have to say today?” her mother asked in a frosty tone. Kasumi knew quite well that her mother didn’t approve of the man and what he taught at school. |
“Let me guess,” her mother said dryly, “he said you should stick to being a housewife?”
Kasumi nodded as best she could in the hug. “He said I could be a nurse if I didn’t want to ever get married.”
Mrs. Tendo sighed, let go of her daughter, and knelt down in front of her. “Listen to me Kasumi, Mr. Yamato is one of those traditional, narrow-minded, people that looks down on women. I don’t want you to listen to people like that. You’re a smart, kind and beautiful girl who can do anything she sets her mind to.”
“But father-”
“I know you’re father is somewhat traditional, but I think your sisters and I can wear him down.” She winked at Kasumi, which caused the girl to giggle a little through her tears.
“And as far as a husband goes, you go with your heart. I truly believe that you’ll find someone special who will not only let you follow your dreams, but encourage you to.”
“Yes mama,” Kasumi said, as visions of her prince danced before her eyes.
“Now let’s wipe those tears away and you can help me with dinner.”
Kasumi nodded and soon her and her mother were laughing together as they worked.
Kasumi’s eyes fluttered open as the dream/memory faded. Even through the incredible headache she was feeling, she still managed a smile. ‘Oh mama,’ she thought wistfully. She slowly become aware of her surroundings and then the events leading up to her being there crashed into her consciousness. ‘Poor Akane,’ she thought, ‘she’s sure to be upset that she hit me.’
A light snoring drew her attention to where Ranma was resting his head on the examination table. Kasumi watched the young man for a few moments, and then the memory of that time with her mother in the kitchen returned. ‘Someone who will encourage me to follow my dreams,’ she thought. Almost unconsciously, her hand came up and she began to lightly run it through Ranma’s hair.
Realization dawned on her, and Kasumi became aware of what she was doing. She nearly pulled her hand away, but decided against it. For the first time, Kasumi began to regret that she’d pushed Ranma onto Akane the day he’d first appeared. ‘I was afraid he’d be so boring.’ If it wasn’t for her headache, she would’ve snickered at the very idea. ‘Ranma Saotome may be many things, but boring isn’t one of them. And his curse was so strange and unexpected.’
Thoughts of the curse made her wonder about the future. ‘If, and that’s still a big if, Ranma and I do develop a relationship, I’ll have to go into it with the knowledge that he might never be cured. Can I live with that?’ She knew that when they’d first met, she wouldn’t have been able to. But the more she thought about it, the more it simply didn’t matter to her. ‘It doesn’t change who he is inside. That’s what really important.’
A slight moaning sound brought Kasumi’s attention back to the present. She realized that playing with Ranma’s hair had finally caused the young man to stir. She removed her hand and waited for him to become fully awake. When he did, he looked up into her eyes and she saw the concern there, making her nearly melt.
“How ya feeling?” Ranma asked quietly.
“I have a terrible headache, but okay otherwise.”
Ranma stood up. “The doc left some medicine for you. Let me get you some water.” In a moment, he was back with a glass of water and the pills. Kasumi was having a hard time sitting up, so Ranma helped by putting his hand behind her head to lift it gently. Kasumi was then able to put the sour tasting medicine into her mouth and swallowed the pills with a drink from the glass.
Afterwards, Ranma gently put her head back down and she felt a slight disappointment at the loss of the touch. She didn’t let it show though and instead smiled at him weakly. “Thank you,” she said.
Ranma grabbed the back of his neck with one of his hands in that nervous gesture that so many of the girls in Nerima found adorable. “No sweat. The doc said you should rest until you feel ready ta have me carry you home.”
Visions of herself being carried in his strong arms presented themselves to Kasumi, and with a blush she fought them down. “Did you carry me here?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he responded, his mood darkening. “After A... Ak... after she hit you, I nearly lost it.” Shame began to play across the young man’s features. “I finally snapped out of it and brought you here.”
Kasumi barely nodded, and the two sat in silence for nearly ten minutes, while they waited for the medication to take effect. Kasumi’s thoughts kept drifting to Akane, while Ranma’s face was unreadable. Once she started to feel better, Kasumi spoke up.
| “Ranma,” she said, “please forgive Akane.” “What?!” he nearly yelled. “I know she didn’t mean to hit me. I was the one who got in the way. I just wanted to protect you. I didn’t want you getting hurt for something that I did.” “But, but...” “Please Ranma, please do this for me. I think she’s going to be much more hurt by this than you can imagine.” “I... What...” Ranma stuttered. |
 |
Ranma snorted. “You’re assuming she doesn’t just blame me for the whole thing.” Then his expression turned somber. “And she might be right. I shoulda protected you. I shouldn’t have spun away like that...”
“No!” Kasumi said, raising her voice as much as she dared, lest she make her headache worse. “This is not your fault. I jumped in on my own accord. And if Akane tries to blame you, I will deal with that.” Ranma didn’t look too convinced, but at least he didn’t argue the point any further.
“Do you think you can forgive her?” Kasumi asked.
“I don’t know,” Ranma replied truthfully. “I mean, I’m used ta her hitting me, so that’s not a big deal. But she hurt you in the process... I guess it was only a matter of time before someone innocent got hurt.”
“Can you try though? For me?” Kasumi asked with a pleading look.
“I-I’ll try,” Ranma said. “It ain’t gonna be easy though.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly, favoring him with a smile that made him blush. “Anyway, I meant everything that I said earlier in the dojo Ranma. However, the one thing I guess I never realized before is just how easily Akane jumps to conclusions and how you might get hurt from them. I’ve seen it happen, but being in the middle of the situation has given me a new perspective.”
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Ranma said.
“I made the decision about becoming your fiancée in part because I hoped that you and Akane might reconcile. I’m beginning to think that’s more unlikely than I thought. Even though I think she does like you underneath everything, something is blocking it and I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to get past it. Like I said before, if you guys can’t work things out, I’d like to see if maybe you and I could...”
In the silence that followed, Kasumi could see that Ranma was waging an internal struggle with himself. “Maybe things will work out with you and Akane, or maybe you and I decide we like each other. No matter what happens though, I want it to be your decision.”
Ranma nodded and continued his internal debate. Kasumi decided to wait, to see what he would do. ‘I don’t want to try to force him into doing anything like the other girls do.’
As if reading her mind, Ranma spoke again. “What about the other girls? Especially after this I’m even more afraid of what might happen to you.”
Kasumi reached out and squeezed his hands gently. “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about Akane doing this again. And I think that if we keep this a secret for now, then maybe we can try to figure out some way to rectify your fiancée situation. That’s assuming you don’t want to marry one of the other girls.”
“No!” Ranma was so adamant with his answer, that it made Kasumi smile all the more. “I mean... I really don’t want to marry any of them, now or ever. Even if I did, I don’t want to marry anyone right now...”
“I know,” Kasumi said. “That’s why I told our fathers that if we did decide to get married, it wouldn’t happen until after school.”
Ranma nodded. “But do you really think we can keep this a secret? Nabiki...”
“Don’t worry,” Kasumi sighed. “I’ve already talked to her and she won’t tell anyone.” She saw the doubt on Ranma’s face and continued. “Do you really think that she’d sell the information, knowing that I might get physically hurt as a result?”
It didn’t take as long as she thought before Ranma shook his head. “No, you’re right. I know she can be a little money-crazy sometimes, but I know she would never hurt you.”
The two looked at each other for a little while, and then Kasumi spoke again. “So, will you at least give this a chance? You, and even your father to some degree, have become like family. Do you really want to leave?”
“No, not really. And yeah, I guess I’d like to... umm, that is...” he stammered, his face bright crimson red by this point.
“You’d like to try a relationship?” she prompted.
Ranma looked away and stared at the wall. “Y-Yeah, I would. I’m just worried about you.”
“And that’s one of the reasons why I’m willing to do this,” she said thoughtfully. “Because you care. Because you’d be willing to give up your home, your happiness, rather than have me forced into something you thought I wouldn’t want.”
“I... I...” Ranma stuttered again.
“Please,” Kasumi said simply.
With a sigh and a nod, Ranma agreed. “O-Okay Kasumi. But I plan to fix my fiancée problems fast. I can’t let you get hurt by this. I just can’t. And I don’t think this secret will keep forever. But anything I do will probably mean trouble.”
“I understand Ranma,” she said. “I’m willing to take the risk. But I need to be sure you’re willing to do this. I need to hear you say it.”
Ranma stopped studying the wall and looked back into her eyes. It was obvious that he knew what she wanted, and it made him nervous. ‘I need him to say it himself. I can’t force it out of him.’ With that, she just returned his gaze and put all the concern and caring into it that she could.
Finally, Ranma seemed to resolve something internally, and he suddenly straightened his back. Ranma took her hands into his own, cleared his throat and put on a small smile. It wasn’t the forced one that she sometimes saw him wear around others. It was one that, though tentative, was completely genuine.
“Kasumi,” Ranma said, still a little hesitant, “I’d like to be your fiancé. I’m still not sure this is the best idea, and I don’t know if we can make this work. But I’m willing to try.” He broke eye contact a little pensively. “That is, if you’re sure you want to.”
Without hesitation, Kasumi sat up as best she could manage. With a little effort, her legs were soon over the side of the examination table and she was facing him. She held out her arms and after a moment of uncertainty, Ranma stepped into the embrace. She held him for several minutes before answering, all the while replaying the memory of her mother in her head. Finally, she ended the embrace and looked into his eyes and spoke.
“Of course I do. And you’re right Ranma. Maybe this won’t work out. If you and Akane can’t make up, or you and I find we don’t want to be together, then you now have a way out. No matter what happens though, just remember that I want you to be happy. Okay?”
Ranma nodded and the two smiled together. Then Kasumi held out her arms again. “Ready to carry me home?”
“My lady’s carriage awaits,” Ranma said with a laugh. With that, he picked her up and the two began to head home.
Thank you for taking the time to read Aijou & Aitou. I hope you have enjoyed yourself. I would love to hear all feedback, positive or negative (as long as it’s constructive). Please take the time to leave a review on fanfiction.net or send me an email letting me know your opinion. Thanks.
