Akane's New Task: Seeking Assistance [Episode 124151]

Akane rose early the next morning, she had not slept that well, thoughts of what she would need to do to fulfill her promise to Tan kept drifting into her dreams. She kept thinking of what could go wrong, how the other girls after Ranma would react to what she had planned, somehow she just didn't see them agreeing to become Ranma's mistresses without some effort to steal Ranma for themselves alone. Add to that the worry she felt for P-Chan, who had squirmed out of her grip and raced off without warning, vanishing into the night, well... the hallway at least. Akane let out a sigh, how did her pet manage to get out of sight so quickly? And why had he run off like that? It was almost like he had really understood her words.

Yawning widely, Akane headed to the bathroom. Being up this early at least meant she could take her time and have a long soak. Entering the changing area, Akane noted that the occupied sign was up and Kasumi's night-clothes were on top of the clothes hamper. Stepping over to the bathroom door, Akane knocked lightly:
"Kasumi-Oneechan, is it alright if I join you?"
For a long moment there was the silence of early morning, then Kasumi's voice came back with a faint overtone of surprise:
"Ah... you're up early Akane-chan... come in, come in."

At her sister's invitation, Akane stripped herself, tossing her clothing onto the hamper, then stepping into the bath area with her towel slung over her shoulder. Kasumi was already in the Furo itself and peered curiously at Akane as the younger girl entered:
"Is there something on this morning Imouto-chan?"
Akane sat on the bathstool, shook her head and start soaping herself:
"No. I just had a restless night and woke up really early. And I don't think I could get any real rest in the time left before school."
Kasumi smiled and nodded her understanding, Akane returned the smile and went on cleaning herself.

Rinsing the last of the soap off, Akane climbed into the Furo with Kasumi and relaxed into the hot water. A sigh of pleasure escaped Akane's lips as she felt the hot water drain away part of the stress she was feeling.
"My... you seem a little tense this morning Akane-chan. Do you want to talk about it?", Kasumi's voice cut into Akane's awareness and the younger Tendo focussed her attention on her older sister. For a long moment Akane eyed her sister, idly running her gaze over the older girls shapely form, thinking that Kasumi had a body that would drive any man wild and would be delightful for any girls that swung 'that way' as well.
"Akane?", queried Kasumi as the pause grew. Akane blushed suddenly as she realised what she was thinking, in a sudden panic she replied:
"It's just that I've got 3 weeks to get Ranma to marry me."

Kasumi's wide-eyed stare snapped Akane back to reality and the younger girl went crimson as her mind caught up with what she had just said. For a long moment the two sisters just stared at one another in silence, Akane slowly sinking under the bathwater as she tried to think of a way to explain things. Kasumi broke the silence before Akane could finish submerging herself, leaving Akane uncertain if she was grateful or not:
"Anoo... Akane-chan, I sort of know that you like Ranma, but why do you have to marry him in 3 weeks?"
For a moment Akane was tempted to tell Kasumi everything, then the likely reaction her sister would have to her claiming to be on a divine mission to procure girls for Ranma occured to her. If Kasumi sent her to a psychiatrist or, worse yet, to a mental hospital, her timetable would be irretreivably ruined - not to mention the other problems it would cause. Taking a deep breath, Akane sorted through her thoughts, then began to speak:
"Well... I sort of found out that something's going to happen on Ranma's 18th birthday, it's a bit of a secret and I can't tell you exactly what it is, but anyway, I need to be married to him before then, so I, ah, drew up a plan to try and deal with it... and the plan calls for me to get Ranma to agree to marry me in the next few weeks, so that there's enough time for the other things that need to happen."
Moving onto the offensive, Akane sat upright and wrung her hands together as she stared wide-eyed at her older sister:
"You'll help me won't you Kasumi-Oneechan? I'm not sure I can do it alone."

At the other end of the Furo, Kasumi looked at Akane, and tried to decide on a response.