Little Orphan Kasumi by Gregg Sharp ===== part 1a: "Here's Kasumi, Kendo Cook!" by greggsharp, metroanime@aol.com http://members.aol.com/metroanime/main.html ------------------------------------- "Hmmph." Grey, reluctant incubus employed by the Rival Relief Office, looked over at one of the deities. "Little changes snowballing,eh? Some interesting developments, particularly where the changes occurred early on. 'The present is the fruit of the seeds of the past,' to quote someone famous." "So, go earlier," Toltiir sped the view backwards along the timeline. "What was this particular Alternate anyway? I don't want to invalidate a happy ending." "Don't worry," the black cat said without turning his eyes from the scrying pool. "Ranma loses the battle with Saffron, Shampoo remains Kiima's slave, Genma remains Shampoo's slave, Akane dies as a doll, Jusenkyo's destroyed, Ryouga and Mousse and the Jusenkyo Guide are killed for being on the losing side of a battle. Even Plum is killed... Soun dies wasting to death in his bed within a year. Nabiki and Kasumi finally get into a nasty argument and both part ways, Nabiki dies in a car accident three years later, Dr Tofu never gets over his problem with Kasumi, and accidently hits a 'Hokuto No Ken' shiatsu spot on her during one of his episodes." "Oh my." Grey blinked. "Well, then I won't feel that guilty about inserting a change right here." "Soun's making a decision? Oh, whether to use a rental car while visiting his wife in the hospital or to walk and use the train system..." Grey shrugged. "Now, let's see if I can generate a happier ending than this timeline originally had. I hope so." ------------------------------------- Nodoka had been called to the hospital to visit a sick friend when the news came in. Soun Tendo, her friend's husband, had been driving home when he went into one of his episodes of emotional overload. The resulting wreck had claimed his life. Which brought Kimiko's dying request to Nodoka. Soun had relatives in the United States who would take Nabiki in. Akane would go to her grandparents house in Nara, where she would be raised as a shrine maiden. Nodoka would have taken all three in, if she could. Relatives felt that the burden fell on family. As an old and dear friend, Kimiko had made a personal request to Nodoka to take in Kasumi at least. That she could do. Nodoka sighed. Her house had seemed so terribly empty since Genma had taken her son off on that training trip. Having someone else around gave her a sort of guilty joy. All this passed through Nodoka's mind as she watched the plane leave. Akane had already been picked up and was headed off to her new life in a Shinto shrine. Kasumi and Nodoka saw the plane take off, and in a little over a day Nabiki would be at her new home though a stranger in a strange land. "Come, Kasumi. It's time to go home." Nodoka held out her hand to the child. "Yes, auntie," said the little girl as she turned from the window. She'd see her sisters again. Auntie had promised. ----------------------------------- A fourteen year old girl on a stage moved through a series of intricate manuevers, a graceful dance with a long glittering metal blade wielded as naturally as if it were an extension of self. Kasumi let out a breath as she eased into the final stance of the sword kata. The faint click of the sword's tsubo hitting the wooden sheath echoed in the auditorium. The silence was broken as the applause began. The judges held off their judgement until they'd sampled the meal. "Saotome/Tendo School Of Martial Arts Special Cooking Technique: Sliced Thin, Piled High," Kasumi said as she bowed to the judges, then again to the audience. The other cooks were somewhat flabbergasted, as they should be. Sandwiches were such crude fare, hardly worthy of being in a Cook-off. Still, these events had become a LOT more popular with Kasumi combining martial arts and cooking techniques. And who really wanted to argue with someone who could do THAT sort of manuever? Kasumi turned her attention back to the side-dish. Salad. She selected a razor sharp tanto for this manuever. -------------------------------- A twelve year old girl, having outgrown lemonade stands and Girl Scout cookies, was doing what came as natural to her as walking. She was earning money. She was one of the few girls in the neighborhood with a paper route, but it was Money. Therefore it caught her interest and kept her attention. Nabiki smirked at the thought. I am Nabiki, hear me roar. All you bulls and bears, watch out, there's a new predator in town. "G'day, Nabiki," one of Nabiki's customers tipped his hat as she zipped past his apartment, bicycle practically flying over the cracked pavement. She liked him. None of this "Nabs" or "'Biki" or ridiculous other petnames that some adults seemed fated to stick her with. Even those were preferred to the "Nancy" her English teacher insisted on. The last paper in her route slapped into the door. Her tires left black trails as she slid into a turn, then began the trip home. Time enough for breakfast, a last run on the calculus homework, and a little work on her Junior Achievement project, then on to school. Nabiki was busy. Nabiki was making money. Nabiki was mostly happy. ----------------- An eleven year old girl in the typical garb of a Shinto priestess finished sweeping the step she was on and looked up at the hundreds of other steps she had to sweep clear. Akane made a sound deep in the back of her throat. Life sucked. She had to do chores. She had to do homework. She had to suffer unfairly in life. Everyone at school thought she was crude and graceless. They called her a tomboy. No matter how many times she beat them up, they always called her names like that. Akane heard a sigh behind her and saw her grandfather looking at her with a sad expression. "Akane, I've told you before, start at the top, and sweep down." "This is stupid." Akane threw the broom down. "We should get a leaf blower or something! And the stupid leaves will just fall down on it tomorrow anyway. I hate this!" "Akane, do you know why there are all these rituals? Because each of them is to teach us something as we perform them..." "I don't wanna be a shrine maiden! I wanna be a pro wrestler!" "You'll be a shrine maiden." Her grandpa used that no-nonsense, you better not argue with me tone of voice. "Or not. What you or I want is inconsequential." "Then I'll stop sweeping the steps."Akane smiled then realized what her grandpa was holding. "Uh oh." Grandpa was holding up a pack of cigarettes. Grandpa didn't smoke. Grandma didn't smoke. Neither felt it was Akane's place to smoke. Akane was busted, and she knew it. ---------------------------- Grey looked at the scrying pool with some satisfaction. "You see, it's going quite well. Well, Akane's in a sort of personal hell. Look at how happy Nabiki is, though! Kasumi's not doing too bad, either, and Ranma's mother is doing a lot better with someone around." Toltiir shook his head. "It gets worse. Observe." ---------------------------- Kasumi watched the lights of the city from the rooftop. She heard her "Auntie" slowly climb up the ladder after her but remained silent and contemplative. "Kasumi, this is an odd way to spend your eighteenth birthday." "Auntie Saotome, why?" "Why what, dear?" "Why am I alone? I win cooking contests. Bluebird's undefeated women's kendo champion. Yet, I am alone, with no suitors. No..." "Ah," Nodoka nodded. "Well, there is a solution to that." "Hmph." Kasumi rested her chin on her hand and stared out at the night. "I seem to intimidate the local men. Where is one with the heart of a samurai, to face mine own." "You must've run into that Kuno gentleman again. Did he challenge you again?" "Of course. He wanted me to 'return to a woman's rightful place' and put away my sword. It was a fairly even match...for the first few minutes." Nodoka hesitated for just a moment. "Kasumi, there is something you should know. My husband told me of it after your father's death. I think that brought home his own mortality, and he wanted to tell me of this in case something happened to him." "Yes, Auntie?" Kasumi wasn't even looking, so sunk in her funk that she was actually being impolite. "There is an old agreement between the Tendos and the Saotomes, that my son Ranma would marry a Tendo." There was a brief silence while this information penetrated Kasumi's mood. Then came the sound of someone sliding and falling off the roof. Nodoka hurried down, to find that Kasumi was physically uninjured, but in shock. "I...engaged? Marry? But I. Is he cute?" Kasumi's mouth clicked shut. Of course, Auntie Saotome didn't know what Ranma looked like. "How? I..." Nodoka smiled at Kasumi in the glow from the porchlight. "I have come to know you over these past years, Kasumi, and it would give me great pleasure if I could call you my daughter in truth." Kasumi felt tears spring up but controlled them. "Auntie, won't he be rather...uncultured? If Uncle Genma has been dragging him all across Japan on this sort of training mission, then what manner of man is he? Will he know anything other than how to fight?" "He will be a man among men, or he'll commit seppuku. Or at least, that was the deal I cut with Genma." Nodoka winced at her own pun. "As for the rest, if his father can take him on a ten year journey to learn martial arts, surely his wife merits the same chances?" Kasumi considered that. "I can hope, then, can't I?" Kasumi smiled, a brief image of herself being swept off her feet by a handsome samurai... ---------------------------- Nabiki Tendo, now at sixteen years of age, looked at her family of the past few years and vowed she would return. This was stupid, going back to Japan to attend the last year of school there as a transfer student. Still, it would be nice to see her sisters again. Vague memories of her sister Kasumi in an apron that was far too large for her, and Akane in her little gi... Well, big sis was eighteen now, so she'd have someone who could drive her to the mall, maybe buy beer for her. That would be cool. She hoped there were some decent boys there. Not that Derek wasn't ok. She'd just prefer running into someone who thought more with the head that was above the shoulders. She started planning, she still had another month. She had to get all of her investments into safe areas. Savings accounts and the like where they would nicely accrue interest and not require that she be around to manage the money. Her job at the Credit Union had been going so well too. She had a feeling things would not be nearly so easy in Japan. ------------------- Akane, a fifteen year old girl, had gone from being mainly miserable to completely miserable. Following Uncle Genma and that stuck-up boy, she had to admit, was not one of her better ideas. Still, she'd stick with them, learn some martial arts, and THEN go back to the Shrine. Best to get far away from the Shrine first, as she did not want to go back before she was ready. She blinked. They'd just walked out into the ocean and were getting ready to swim? Akane glanced over at the rental boats. No way she was going to swim! She'd return the boat, eventually... ----------------------------- Grey held his head in his hands. "Oh no. She doesn't..." "Yup." ----------------------------- "" Akane glared at the woman. who had just addressed her. "Why can't anyone around here speak Japanese?" "Because you in China." A woman carrying twin shortswords looked over Akane as if trying to decide if she would taste like chicken. "Look," Akane noted how many of the women had drawn weapons. "I'm just lost. I was chasing Ranma and his father around for knocking me into some damn pool..." "Well, if that true, then come this way..." <"What are you doing, Sash? Taking her to the Challenge Log?"> <"Well, you know my brother Razor? I'll get him to challenge her. If she loses, he finally gets a wife, then I can have his room when he moves out! If she wins, then we let her escape so we can track her down and at least get some time out of this damn village."> <"Sash? When did you get so clever?"> <"I've been watching American TV. Very educational. 'Gilligan's Island.' I feel that trapped here we share the same basic problem. Except, of course, that there are no Elders on the island."> <"Ah. So which one are you?" <"Mary Ann,"said Sash. <"Because I spend so damn much time helping my brother farm. Another reason I want him to find a wife."> --------------------------------- "Run, that girl's about to give you the Kiss of Death!" Akane ran past Ranma and his father, heading for the Village Gate, as there was currently nobody guarding it in all the confusion. Escape beckoned after a really crazy day. "What?" Ranma managed before the Jusenkyo Guide grabbed him and started running, leaving a startled Shampoo wondering why new village girl interrupting her First Death Challenge. "" Cologne said, before a thought occurred to her. "" "" "" Sash blinked and elbowed Shu Ga. "" Sugar (Shu Ga) winked and said in a stage whisper. " Ginger clapped her hands and picked up on the plan. <"That means..."She was sure to pitch her voice loud enough to carry over the entire assembly. Showing the cute little fangs that were a result of her having a grandfather who had been a Jusenkyo-cursed wolf, Lupine finished the thought. "" "" Two dozen teenage amazons proclaimed as they went into weapon poses. Thunder crackled in the distance. Razor shrugged. He would follow. After all he had to follow his wife, Akane. He just wished he knew who had put the grease on his side of the Challenge Log. ------------------------------- Grey blinked. "It's not my fault." He turned to a set of disgusted looking onlookers. "It's not my fault, dammit." Toltiir, elder god of mischief and chaos, merely grinned. It may not have been his intention, but Grey was an incubus now and that nature tended to "flavor" any endeavor he turned his hand to. It was one of those Laws of Nature... Especially when Toltiir was around. ------------------------------ "Ah, my husband is returning from China!" Nodoka smiled. "At last!" "Really?" Kasumi went into cute pose #3, eyes sparkling and with her hands to one side of her face. "Ah, I finally get to meet my new fiancee!" A grumbling noise came from Nabiki as her American boyfriend had dumped her after the first month she had been here. She was still planning on a cruel, nasty, vindictive revenge upon the honorless wretch, preferably something that involved silverfish, jabanero peppers, and lots of duct tape. Even better, with slashing his credit line to zero and her own bank account fattening considerably. As for Japanese boys, they just seemed so...bland and unappetizing. Nabiki wanted something a little different. "Squeeal? Squeal!" "Oh look, a vermin!" Nabiki looked at the little black piglet that had shown up. At the gate was a boy and an older man? "I'm sorry, you are?" The boy sighed. "I'm Ranma Saotome...HEY LET GO!" The older man had noticed his wife coming out and she was carrying the sword. He made a quick mathematical equation. (Ranma+Curse=girl=not man= dead Genma.) "Well, you'veseenyour mothernow,gottagobye." Genma was abruptly gone, still holding a scrap of cloth that was a piece of his son's shirt. "RANMA!" Kasumi glomped the boy. "Auntie Saotome, he IS cute! I'll take him." Nabiki smirked. "I'd say wrap up the purchase, but you've got that handled already, eh, sis?" "Huh? What?" Something about the hug was causing Ranma considerable confusion. Of course, that his father still hadn't told him about the arranged marriage didn't help any. ========================= where could i go from here? well, there's Ranma's curse, though Kasumi (wanting to marry Ranma) and Nabiki (wanting her sister to have a decent relationship) will also try to convince Nodoka that Ranma can still be a man, even when he's not. There's P-chan (Akane) who's married to Razor, at least by Chinese Amazon law. There's two dozen teenage amazons (a sailor on shore leave kind of thing) chasing after Ranma hoping that he'll lead them to strong potential husbands. There's Shampoo, who knows that Ranma's a guy and will view him as being already married to her. There's Ryouga who did NOT fall into "Spring Of Drowned Piglet" since Akane was the one who got knocked into it, Ryouga fell in a completely different pool. There's Razor, who regards himself as being married to Akane/P-chan. There's Cologne, who is following this crowd to run damage control... sufficiently divergent? hey, has anybody tried this? Akane gets splashed by Tarou, who has the "Spring Of Drowned Twins" water. She splits into the "Saint Akane" (the compassionate, forgiving, gentle, sweet girl depicted in all the C&C from the Akane lovers) and the "Psycho Bitch Akane" as depicted in the anime and numerous fanfics. Saint Akane (straight, honest, loving, cute, intelligent) likes Ranma. PB Akane (lesbian, hates boys, jumps to conclusions, violent) loathes Ranma. How does the rest of the family handle having two Akanes? For that matter, how about the rest of Nerima? ================================= NOT a knight of the True Fiancee (Akane) NOT a knight of the Smart Fiancee (Nabiki) NOT a knight of the Nice Fiancee (Kasumi) NOT a knight of the Cute Fiancee (Ukyou) NOT a knight of the Affectionate Fiancee (Shampoo) NOT a knight of the Kinky Fiancee (Kodachi) DEFINITELY NOT a knight of the Weird Fiance (Happosai/Ranko) and yes, i am still looking for a good tagline. ja ne, gregg