Chapter 21 - It’s all in the ki
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“Uh uh. No way,” Ranma said. Her jaw was set firmly, her arms crossed over her breasts, and her eyes were narrowed. “Ain’t gonna happen, Kasumi.”
The eldest Tendo daughter blew out a long-suffering sigh in response. “Ranma, this is for your own good.” The two were in her tent, where she had just brought Ranma for a little talk.
“Look,” Ranma replied, her body tensing like a coiled spring, “I understand that ya mean well and all. But there just ain’t no way.”
Kasumi looked down at the item in her hands that was causing this unbelievable stubborn streak in Ranma and shook her head. ‘I know he’s had some bad experiences before,’ she mused, ‘especially because of Happosai, but does he have to be so obstinate?’
“Let me explain it again for you,” she said, her tone leaking exasperation. “Your lower back is hurting because-”
“I remember everything ya already said, Kasumi,” the redhead interrupted, “but that still ain’t gonna change my mind. I’ll just deal with the pain. It ain’t like I haven’t had to before.”
The words ‘pig-headed’ and ‘mulish’ were on the tip of Kasumi’s tongue, but she held them back by clamping her mouth closed with an audible click. She took in her fiancé’s countenance fully and asked herself rhetorically, ‘I’m not going to change his mind, am I?’
“Fine,” she said after contemplating for a few moments. “How about a compromise?”
“Compromise?” Ranma asked hesitantly. Her body loosened up a bit, as did her jaw, and Kasumi fought to keep a small smile from slipping onto her face.
“Since you won’t wear this...” Kasumi held the bra up closer towards Ranma’s face, causing the younger girl’s face to redden a bit. “How about we just bind your chest instead?”
“Uh... what’s that mean?” the redhead wondered aloud. Her face reddened further and she took a half step backwards.
‘Probably because the bra I’m holding in front of her is one of mine.’ It was an item they had not bothered to shop for, and since their cup size was roughly comparable, Kasumi figured that using one of hers would be adequate until their next trip into town. ‘Even though that’s not the reason why he won’t wear it, it’s still kind of cute to watch him squirm when looking at one of mine.’ A small smirk vanished almost as fast as it appeared as she focused on the question her fiancé had asked.
“It means we use the elastic bandages that I brought along to secure your breasts into place. This will have a similar effect as a bra in that your back will hurt less, and they won’t cause you as many balance problems.”
“I dunno Kasumi,” Ranma replied doubtfully. “I mean, Shampoo’s boobs are almost as big as mine, and she don’t wear a bra or nothin'.”
“Oh?” Kasumi replied. Her voice was even, but the half-lidded stare she was giving Ranma was indicative of her developing mood. “How would you know that?”
Not at all grasping the dangerous ground she was treading, Ranma’s mouth ventured forth. “Well, I’ve seen her fight enough times. And it’s really easy ta tell with the way those things bounce all over the place. Plus, when she glomps on ta me and rubs 'em all over, you... can...”
Kasumi wasn’t sure why Ranma finally stopped, but she figured it had something to do with the amount of anger she was generating. This was confirmed a moment later when Ranma’s eyes doubled in size, she backed away a step, and started waving her arms in front of her frantically.
“I didn’t mean nothin' by that. I swear. It’s just kinda hard not ta notice 'em. I mean... That is... Crap. I’m... I’m just gonna shut up now.”
“That would be a wise idea Ranma,” Kasumi hissed between clenched teeth. The older girl mentally counted to ten and took several deep breaths. “I would also suggest that you don’t talk to me about Shampoo’s breasts anymore. Or anyone else’s for that matter. Do we understand one another?”
If Ranma wasn’t better trained, she might have gotten whiplash by the way she nodded her head so quickly. For now, since Ranma really needed to get to her training, Kasumi decided to let it go. ‘But I’ll be giving him a stern talking to later.’
“Now,” she said, taking advantage of the fact that Ranma was going to be putty in her hands for a while, “you are going to let me bind your chest. Right?”
Ranma almost looked hesitant again, but a mild glare from Kasumi stopped that in its tracks. “S-Sure, Kasumi,” she answered quickly. “Whatever you say.”
“Good. Now I want you to face away from me, take your shirt off, and I’ll get the bandages.”
Once again, Ranma seemed uncertain, and once again, Kasumi merely had to narrow her eyes a bit to nip the reaction in the bud. She heard the redhead sigh as she turned away and took off her shirt.
As she grabbed the bandages, Kasumi decided that the next time they were in town they would need to pick up a few sports bras for Ranma. ‘They don’t look like real bras, and as long as they’re plain enough, he shouldn’t balk.’ She tapped one finger against the side of her mouth and grinned. ‘Of course, I’ll make sure that I don’t use the word 'bra' in conjunction with them. Hmm, athletic support. That sounds much less feminine.’
Kasumi chuckled as she bound her fiancé’s breasts. The giggling only grew louder as Ranma squirmed under the contact.
| ‘The eye of the hurricane.’ Nabiki, in talking to one of her factors, had once called herself that. “Nerima is like a giant hurricane,” she’d said. “Ranma-baby is the wind that fuels the chaos, while my sister, the Amazon’s, Ukyo, Ryoga, the Kuno’s and the rest are the rain that batter everything around them. The ordinary citizens and property are the land that gets caught up in storm. Me, I’m the eye. Undeniably part of the hurricane, but a center of controlled calm that is unaffected by the all the other components.” Of course, if that were completely true, then she would have a hard time explaining her actions over the past several weeks. The manner in which she tried to assist Ranma with his female problems without milking him for all he was worth, her maneuvering to get Kasumi to go with Ranma on his trip, and her attempts at comforting Akane; none of these events lined up with the carefully created image that she’d enacted over the years. However, knowing herself as well as she did, it only took Nabiki a moment of contemplation to understand why. |
 |
Thus it was, she found herself standing in front of the gates of Furinkan High ten minutes earlier than her norm, speaking with Akane’s friends Sayuri and Yuka.
“Is everything all set on your end?” Nabiki asked the girls.
“Yes,” Yuka replied. “We invited everyone on the list.”
“We also made sure to tell them to keep it a secret,” Sayuri interjected.
“Excellent,” Nabiki said. “I’ve arranged for all the food and made sure to get my father and Mr. Saotome out of the house for the night.”
“Do we even want to know?” Yuka asked with a small smile.
“Nothing sinister,” Nabiki said with a smirk. “I just arranged a night at a hot spring with a lot of drinking.”
“Ouch,” Sayuri said. “With the way Akane describes their drinking, it sounds like it’ll cost a fortune.”
“Nah,” Nabiki said, waving her hand in dismissal. “We already budget about two weekly drinking binges for those two. They usually revolve around Akane and Ranma. Either because they thought the schools would be joined, or the opposite.”
Both of the younger girls scrunched up their faces. “Speaking of Ranma, have you heard from them at all?” Yuka asked.
“Yes. Every Saturday, Ranma and Kasumi go into town for supplies. I’ve received two postcards from Kasumi so far.”
“And?” Sayuri prompted.
“Well, let’s just say that Akane’s chances of getting back together with Ranma aren’t looking very good.”
“Even though I feel sorry for Akane,” Yuka replied, “I’m almost relieved. I know she really cares for Ranma, but I really don’t know if those two would’ve ever been able to work out their problems.”
“True,” Sayuri said. “Before this whole thing blew up, we always kinda figured that everything would end up okay. But since then, with things finally quiet, it’s easy to look back and see just how messed up their relationship was.”
“I know.” Nabiki sighed. “That American saying about hindsight being 20-20 certainly applies here. Anyhow, I did have one other question for you both. What do you think about me inviting Ukyo to the party?”
“Why?” both girls asked at the same time.
Nabiki explained how Ukyo had agreed to help out with Kodachi. “Also, even though she would remind Akane of Ranma, Ukyo and her have always been friendly rivals. Nothing like Shampoo or Kodachi. Besides, even though Akane might not stand much of a chance now because of Kasumi, Ranma made it clear that Ukyo has exactly a zero percent chance.”
“With the pressure off,” Sayuri said after a moment of contemplation, “I think that those two probably could become great friends. It’s certainly worth a shot.” Yuka nodded in agreement.
“Okay then, I’ll ask her today.” Nabiki looked around. “Uh oh, Akane’s probably going to be here any second. We better break this up before she sees us and gets suspicious.”
With a wink, Nabiki left the younger girls to wait for Akane, while she moved off to talk with her factors.
Ryoga sat at the campfire, slowly eating his lunch. Well, slow in comparison to his pigtailed nemesis, who still made the habit of inhaling her food at light-speed.
“Ranma!” Kasumi admonished. “How many times do I need to tell you to slow down?”
“Sorry Kasumi,” the redhead replied with a sheepish grin. “But I gotta finish fast so I can get back to training.”
Despite everything that had happened between them, Ryoga couldn’t help but be impressed with Ranma’s eagerness when it came to training. ‘It’s amazing. Mousse and I get to tag-team him, and neither one of us do all the exercises that he’s doing before breakfast and after lunch, but while we’re worn-out, he’s still raring to go. I mean, I know Mousse and I like to train too, but Ranma is insane.’
“I think,” Mousse responded before Kasumi could, “that you can afford an extra minute or two and eat like a civilized person.”
“Nobody asked yer opinion, duck boy,” Ranma snapped.
Kasumi frowned at her fiancé. “I happen to agree with him. Are you saying you don’t want my opinion?”
After swallowing her current helping, Ranma responded moodily, “I didn’t say that.”
“Also,” the eldest Tendo girl continued, “what have I told you about insulting people?”
“Ah, c’mon Kasumi. You know it’s part of my fighting style.”
“But you’re not fighting right now,” she pointed out.
“I gotta keep in practice though,” Ranma replied with her cocky grin.
“Ranma.” Kasumi’s voice was teetering somewhere between frustration and exasperation.
“Fine,” the redhead replied with a “hmph”. “I’ll just save it for when we spar.”
Everyone ate in silence for another minute, with Ranma eating at a decidedly slower pace, before Ryoga spoke again.
“Ranma. I know you have your new chestnut kick attack, and your speed, strength and stamina have all improved a lot, but have you thought about any other kinds of attacks? We have less than two weeks left.”
“Well,” she replied, after finishing off the rest of her stew and handing the bowl to Kasumi for another helping. “Up till now, I wanted to accomplish several things. You already mentioned some of them. I also have been working with Mousse to develop counters to the most dangerous of the Amazon Wu Shu moves. I also had him fighting mainly with maces, since that’s Shampoo’s best weapon. With that, and fighting you unarmed, I think I’ve had a lot of time to prepare.”
“True,” Mousse agreed. “But you’re going to need to come up with some tricks of your own.”
“I’ve got my new chestnut kick,” Ranma countered. “Plus, even as a male I was faster than Shampoo. My female form was already way past her, and now the difference is even greater.”
“I’m sure she’s going to be faster from her training as well,” Ryoga said. Ranma looked ready to argue the point, but after thinking about it, she merely nodded. “Actually, I was wondering if you should develop a new ki attack to go along with everything else.”
“Why?” Ranma asked. “What’s wrong with the Mouko Takabisha?”
“Several things actually,” Ryoga replied. “First, I think you need an attack that’s at least as powerful as a Perfect Shi Shi Hokodan to counter anything Cologne thinks up. Second, they are already familiar with the attack, so giving Shampoo something new would keep her off balance. Lastly, your Mouko Takabisha is based on confidence. What happens if they pull out something that shakes your confidence? Your attack would just be weaker.”
Ranma snorted and was about to rebut, however Kasumi spoke first. “I agree with him Ranma. All of his points are quite valid.”
Ryoga watched as Ranma looked at Mousse, who nodded as well. The pigtailed girl rolled her eyes for a moment, before scrunching up her face in concentration. About a minute later, she spoke.
“Not that I’m agreeing with ya,” she said, “but I guess it couldn’t hurt to have another ki attack.”
This time it was everyone else’s turn to roll their eyes, but since Ranma agreed nobody said anything. After Ranma finished, Ryoga watched as she went and strapped on her barrel, which by this point was nearly full of water, and took off for her afternoon jog.
 |
Ranma stood bent over, with her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. She, Mousse, and Ryoga had spent half the morning performing their standard routine. She was now at the point where she could keep up with the two of them tag-teaming her constantly. They normally began by her merely dodging for the first hour, with the two guys changing spots every fifteen minutes. The second hour was almost the same, except she would be able to perform normal attacks in return. The third hour consisted of a free-for-all with both guys attacking Ranma at once, with her being able to retaliate in any way she could. Then they would break for lunch, after which Ranma would perform her hour-long run with the barrel on her back, while Ryoga and Mousse would rest. Then they would go back to another rigorous schedule of training in the afternoon, until it was time for Ranma to cool down and train Kasumi, and finally dinner and studying. Today, however, they reduced the morning hour-long segments by half so they could spend the rest of the morning working on Ranma’s new ki attack. Fortunately, |
“Okay,” Ryoga said, after he took the necessary time to catch his own breath. “Have you decided what emotion you want to try?”
“Well,” Ranma said as she stood straight and massaged the back of her neck, “no matter how hard I try, I know that I’ll never be able to get as depressed as you, porky.”
“Too bad stupidity isn’t an emotion,” Ryoga scowled, “otherwise you’d have the most powerful attack in the world.” He looked ready to start pounding on the redhead, but managed to hold himself in check.
Ranma was about to retort, but Mousse interrupted. “We don’t have time for your petty squabbling. We need to work on this.”
As she saw Ryoga back down, Ranma couldn’t help but shrug off his comment and grin internally. ‘Since I can’t insult them with Kasumi around, I gotta take the chances where I can get them.’
“Anyhow, what about anger?” Mousse asked.
“Hmm,” Ranma said. “I dunno. Gettin' angry in a fight is usually a really bad idea. But, I guess it’s worth a shot. Let’s give it a try.”
Mousse and Ryoga moved away from the direction Ranma was facing in order to avoid getting hit by the attack. Once the pigtailed martial artist was also sure she wasn’t facing towards the camp, she closed her eyes and began to focus.
‘Angry,’ she thought to herself. ‘What makes me angry? Well, Shampoo and Cologne and those stupid Amazon laws. Kodachi always trying to drug me. Akane and that stupid mallet, and how she never listens to me and always assumes the worst.’
Her thoughts then turned to the one person who angered her more than any other. ‘Pops. That stupid bastard. Taking me away from Mom. Jusenkyo! The Amazons! All that damn torture he put me through. The stupid contract with Mom! The C-Cat Fist!’ That final thought conjured up other emotions, but she forced them down.
As these memories flashed through her mind, Ranma’s anger percolated towards the top of her consciousness and began to spread throughout her body. It was a hot, uncontrolled rush that continued to build upon itself until Ranma felt that she would be totally consumed. Once she was sure it had reached its peak, she placed her hands forward and tried to focus all that wild energy between her hands.
It wasn’t easy. Ranma had never been one to remain angry. This was a good thing for those around him. If she had allowed himself to focus on anger, it’s likely that people like Genma, Akane, Ryoga, Mousse and others would have been on the receiving end of a wrath the likes of which they might not have survived. Now, she was purposefully trying to cultivate that anger.
‘Concentrate,’ she demanded of herself. ‘Don’t let it go outta control. Pull it all together and compress it.’ Once she felt she couldn’t control it any longer, Ranma opened her eyes, got into a loose stance, and gave the collected energy a strong push.
“Tengoku Doki!” she screamed, as the discharge of hot ki shot forth from her hands.
The blast was impressive, or at least it would have been to the uniformed. However, to Ranma’s eyes, its level of power was slightly below that of his Mouko Takabisha attack. Formidable to be sure, but not really what they were looking for.
Ranma turned to look at the others. Mousse regarded her with a raised eyebrow. “Heaven’s wrath?” he snorted. “That’s a little presumptuous, even for you.”
Ryoga, however, took a less tactful stance. He dropped to the ground and was rolling around in uncontrolled laughter. “That... that sounds... like something... Kuno would come up with.”
“Pfft, whatever,” Ranma responded indignantly. “It’s the best I could come up with on the spot.”
After a few minutes, Ryoga finally managed to contain himself and stand up, wiping tears from his eyes after that healthy chuckle. Then he began his critique. “I could certainly feel the anger behind it, but it was too unfocused. The result wasn’t bad, but it would never stand up to a regular Shi Shi Hokodan, let alone a perfect one.”
“Yeah, I kinda figured that. I just have a hard time holding onto anger. Always have.” She merely shrugged.
“Well,” Mousse said, “knowing you, I can’t think of any emotion that you might feel more than the confidence you use for your Mouko Takabisha. Anger was the only likely candidate that seemed reasonable.”
Both Ranma and Ryoga nodded in agreement. For the next ten minutes, the three just stood there lost in thought, trying to come up with a potential solution. Ranma tried a few time to focus on other emotions, but nothing seemed to work well.
‘Happiness didn’t work,’ she thought to herself. ‘I’ve never had much of it during my life. And even though I’ve been happy with Kasumi recently, it’s not enough to base a ki attack off of. L-Love,’ she gulped a bit, ‘is the same way. I know I-I’m heading in that direction with Kasumi, but it’s nowhere near powerful enough yet. What else is there?’
One emotion did make its way to the fore, but Ranma tried to immediate dismiss it. ‘No way! I ain’t afraid of nothin'.’ Try as she might though, while honestly evaluating her thoughts, she couldn’t deny it for long.
‘Okay,’ she admitted reluctantly, as she closed her eyes once again to concentrate. ‘I am afraid that something might happen to Kasumi. And I guess I’m a little anxious that I’ll get stuck in that stupid Amazon village for the rest of my life. Of course, the worst thing of all is those little slit-eyed, furry demons that were created in the bowels of Hell!’
Slowly, almost against her will, thoughts of being repeatedly thrown into the pit of starving cats began to flood into Ranma’s mind. The pain of the claws, the hissing and howling as they attacked, the panic that his father might leave him there; all these came out in a rush.
Since Ranma was focusing on it in an effort to harvest the emotion, she found that she had to fight to keep herself from actually falling into the Neko-Ken. It wasn’t too difficult since there were no cats around, but it wasn’t easy either. As she allowed the terror of that time to coalesce throughout her being, Ranma could feel the emotion like an inky, black oil all over her skin. Using every ounce of concentration she possessed, Ranma let it nearly boil over before thrusting her arms forward and condensing the fear between her hands. Once she was certain that she could contain it no longer, she let it tear loose.
“Neko-Ken Bakufuu!” she roared, as a huge discharge of ki shot forth. After a good ten seconds, the blast was gone and she turned to look at the others. Both were gaping at her.
“How’s that?” Ranma asked in a subdued tone. The blast had left her feeling... well, dirty would be the best description.
“That was... uh, good,” Mousse said lamely.
“Uh, yeah,” Ryoga agreed, before shaking his head as if to clear it. “That was nearly as powerful as the perfect Shi Shi Hokodan.”
“Yeah, right,” Ranma grunted, starting to feel a little better as her confidence and other more normal emotions resumed control. “I’d say it was at least as powerful, if not more so.”
Ryoga looked like he was ready to retort, but Mousse cut him off. “The Cat Fist Blast huh? I take it you somehow managed to harness the power of the Neko-Ken and project it into a ki attack.”
“Uh, yeah,” Ranma said nervously. ‘No way in hell I’m telling these two that it was based on the fear that drives me into the Neko-Ken.’
“Fine, whatever,” Ryoga said in dismissal. “Now that you have another ki attack to work with, let’s get back to practicing. I say we should return to our normal schedule, except you should take the final hour of practice in the afternoon to focus and control the blast. You should do that everyday that we have left.”
Ranma thought about it for a moment, and finally agreed the idea was sound. She was, however, not looking forward to revisiting these emotions everyday. ‘But if it’ll help win this fight...’ her thoughts trailed off as she contemplated what it would mean to lose. ‘I ain’t gonna lose!’
With that, the three returned to their normal routine.
Kodachi tried to suppress a shiver as she felt the hands roam over her body, but she wasn’t as successful as she’d hoped. It was obvious that it had been noticed despite the fact she was bound to her bed.
“Getting excited, huh?” a male voice inquired from beside her.
‘More like trying to keep myself from retching,’ she thought disgustedly. However, for her plan to work, she had to continue to appease the orderly who was currently groping her.
“Yes, Karou-sama,” she replied with a throaty moan.
“Good girl,” he replied. A very small amount of light filtered into her room through the shatterproof plastic windows that overlooked the courtyard. She examined the man whose gaunt looks reminded her of that peasant Gosunkugi Hikaru, except that Karou was taller and had lighter hair.
He was sitting next to her bed, using his cold, clammy hands all over her lithe form, while he watched out the window. The building had an angular C-shape and he was watching the same floor across the court.
After a minute or so, his hands were underneath her clothing and Kodachi wanted to scream. She wanted to strangle this man who was violating her in a way that only Ranma should. But she bit back any promises of vengeance, closed her eyes, and pretended to enjoy it.
“Damn,” she heard him say shortly thereafter. Kodachi opened her eyes and then followed his gaze out the window. There she saw the head of security walking on the same floor, heading in the direction that would lead him back to this ward.
“Stupid prick,” Karou muttered, “can’t even take his time when on break.” The orderly withdrew his hands and sighed. Then he turned a toothy grin to Kodachi. “Don’t worry, love. Tomorrow night he won’t be on duty, and the other guy takes hour-long breaks. That will give us plenty of time to do what we want.”
‘Finally,’ Kodachi thought, struggling to maintain her glee, ‘I’ll be able to get out of here. Now, how to handle this?’ She took a few moments to collect her thoughts before speaking.
“I can’t wait, Karou-sama,” she said in a breathless whisper. “I look forward to being able to having enough time to treat you properly.”
Karou, obviously not understanding what was really in store for him, simply grinned even more. “Yes, Daichi-chan, tomorrow we can finally be one.” With that, he leaned forward and placed a kiss on her mouth.
She purposefully contained her displeasure and tried to respond as enthusiastically as she could. To do so, she focused her thoughts on two things. ‘Tomorrow I will free my darling Ranma, and at the same time I will rid the world of that trollop who has ensnared him.’
| Kasumi lay inside her sleeping bag, staring at the roof of her tent. She was desperately trying to get to sleep, but thoughts of Ranma kept invading her mind. From the time they had practiced together, until they said goodnight, she had felt there was something wrong with him. He felt so... distant. So sad. But no matter what she tried, he wouldn’t open up to her. ‘What could it possibly be?’ she wondered. ‘He wasn’t like that this morning, so something must’ve happened while he was training with Ryoga and Mousse. Was there an argument or something? He said he was able to develop a new ki attack. Does that have anything to do with it?’ As she pondered the different possibilities, Kasumi suddenly heard a strange sound. At first, it was nearly too low to make out, but as the seconds ticked by, she began to make out the sounds of someone whimpering. |
 |
“No,” she heard. “No papa. Don’t throw me in again. Please, no!”
As Ranma continued, his voice began to get steadily louder. ‘It sounds like the Neko-Ken dream,’ she thought angrily. There wasn’t much that could upset the eldest Tendo daughter, but thoughts of how Genma had treated Ranma while growing up, and especially the Neko-Ken, left her fuming.
A small cry from Ranma ripped into the night air, and Kasumi bolted out of her tent as fast as she could. ‘I have to stop him before the others wake up, or he’ll be terribly embarrassed.’ As she rushed to his tent, Kasumi’s hands absently ran over herself in an effort to ensure that her pajamas were covering everything properly, before finally reaching her destination and unzipping the opening.
Swiftly ducking in, she zipped it up behind her and knelt next to Ranma. He was thrashing around and was completely entangled in his bedroll. His moans were rapidly getting louder, but she knew better than to try and just abruptly wake him up.
Leaning down, she softly said his name. It didn’t seem to have an effect, so she tried again, this time a little louder. His body seemed to relax a small bit, but the cries continued. She gently placed her hand on his face and began to caress his cheek. This had a more positive impact and he was reduced to whimpering once again.
‘Poor dear,’ Kasumi thought. She shifted her position so that she was sitting behind his head. She lifted carefully lifted his head and the scooted forward, allowing it to rest in her lap. She than began to softly sing a lullaby that she remembered having sung to Akane shortly after their mother had died. All the while, she was stroking his face, or running her hands through his hair.
After ten minutes or so, Ranma finally quieted down and stopped struggling. Kasumi continued her ministrations for several more minutes beyond, just to be safe. Once she felt he was okay, she gradually removed herself from underneath him as gently as she could. However, she didn’t quite succeed and Ranma’s eyes blinked open. They took a moment to focus, but they finally settled on her.
“Kasumi?” he asked, his tone one of bewilderment. “Wha... what’s goin' on?”
“I didn’t mean to wake you Ranma,” she said quietly. “You were having a nightmare and I came in to calm you down.” She almost expected him to deny having the nightmare; they weren’t manly after all. She was pleasantly surprised when he just nodded.
“Yeah,” he said thoughtfully, before he sat up and turned to face her. “I was in the pit again, and it was as terrible as always. But then I heard you singin' and all, and once I started focusin' on yer voice, the rest of the dream faded away.”
Kasumi nodded, and her expression became contemplative. “By any chance does this have to do with why you were so distant tonight?”
“No!” Ranma growled vehemently. “I ain’t afraid of nothin'”
‘Now we’re getting somewhere,’ Kasumi thought. “I never implied that you were Ranma.”
The pigtailed youth had the grace to look sheepish after realizing the error he’d made. “Uh... I meant I wasn’t distant tonight or nothin'.”
“Ranma,” Kasumi said with a hint of disapproval in her voice. “You’re not being honest with me or yourself. And that hurts.”
Her fiancé cringed at her words, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he lowered his head and stared at the floor of the tent.
Kasumi reached forth both hands and placed them on his cheeks, tenderly lifting his face to meet hers. Once she was able to look into his eyes, she spoke. “Ranma, please don’t shut me out. We talked about how important it is to communicate in a relationship. If you don’t tell me what’s bothering you, not only can’t I help you, but your actions begin to bother me as well. Is that what you want?”
The two stared at each other for a few minutes. Kasumi decided she’d said her peace. If Ranma didn’t respond tonight, she would approach him again in the morning. This was too important to just let go.
‘I care about him so much,’ she thought. ‘I need him to let me in if things are going to work out between us.’
Finally, Ranma let out a deep sigh. “I... I’m sorry, Kasumi,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean to hurt ya. Yeah, it’s the Neko-Ken that’s been bothering me. I used it today to form a ki attack. It’s at least as powerful as Ryoga’s Perfect Shi Shi Hokodan, but I had to place myself back in the p-pit to make it work. A few times while practicing, I thought I was going to slip into the Neko-Ken. So I guess I’m... well, anxious would be the best word.”
“Thank you for telling me Ranma,” she said as she moved forward and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. She felt him shiver a bit. “Do you have to use it? Isn’t there something else you can use to create a ki attack?”
“Nothin' powerful enough,” he responded, and she felt him shrug slightly “At least nothing that would be powerful enough by the time of the fight. I need this as one of the aces up my sleeve to pull out on Shampoo.”
“I see,” Kasumi responded. She tightened her hold for a minute before pulling back. However, she left her hands on his shoulders and caught his gaze again. “Then tell me what I can do to help. Do you want me to sing to you at night when you’re trying to get to sleep? Do you want to take some time in the evening to talk through it? So that I can reassure you that you’re safe.”
“I...” Ranma began, then halted and looked at her searchingly. “Why, Kasumi? Why would you do that?” His voice was choking a bit, seemingly on the emotions that were welling up inside him.
The question surprised her somewhat, but not as much as she would have expected. ‘The poor dear probably hasn’t had a single healthy relationship in his life.’
“Because when you care for someone, you try to help them,” she replied, as if it were the most basic concept in the world. “And I care about you quite a bit Ranma. More and more each day I’m finding. I want to help you. It’s that simple.”
Something that looked suspiciously like tears were beginning to form in his eyes, but he steadfastly held them back. Finally, he just blinked his eyes a few times and nodded.
“I’d like that Kasumi. All of it. Thanks. I...” He didn’t bother with any more words, and swiftly moved forward and claimed her lips with his own. The boldness of the action surprised her greatly, but she immediately allowed herself to begin enjoying it.
The two stayed that way for some time, enjoying one another’s company in as intimate a fashion as their current level of relationship would allow. Finally they, in one of the moments while taking a break for air, yawned at nearly the same moment, which caused them each to break out into giggles.
“I think that’s our cue,” Kasumi said. “Did you want me to stay here until you get to sleep?”
“Nah,” Ranma responded. “I think I’m okay for tonight. Thanks a lot, Kasumi.”
“You’re welcome,” she said happily. She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the nose, before standing and moving to the opening of the tent. After she had unzipped it and stepped through, she leaned her head back in for a moment.
“Goodnight, Ranma,” she said comfortingly. “I hope you have more pleasant dreams.”
“Thanks Kasumi. After you cheering me up just now, I think I will.” He gave her a cheeky grin, which caused her to blush slightly. “Goodnight.”
She nodded, zipped up the tent, and slowly made her way back to her own.
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.
