The communal act of eating seemed to calm things down—if one overlooked the frenzied way that Genma and his once-again-male son dueled over every single morsel on their plates (and occasionally, the Tendos’ plates). Still, good food always has a way of making any atmosphere more cheerful, and Kasumi’s culinary skills were some of the best in Nerima. Despite the disagreements that had taken place less than an hour previously, everyone was able to agree on the excellence of her cooking.
Afterwards, Soun and Genma adjourned themselves to a corner of the room, where they engaged in their favorite pastime: shogi. Of course, the two of them cheated in every conceivable way, but neither really minded—after all, to them, shogi had little to do with skill in gameplay and everything to do with skill in cheating. It made sense; one of the basic precepts of Anything Goes was to use every advantage that you could, and if you didn’t have any advantages, you made them. Granted, the combination of Kasumi’s food and several cups of sake had put them in a jovial mood, which is why they let each other get away with some of the most blatantly obvious cheating their children had ever seen.
After a few minutes, Ranma and the Tendo sisters tired of their fathers’ “creative use of unconventional tactics,” and drifted off to more interesting activities. For Akane, this involved getting in the practice time that she’d missed due to the ruckus of the days’ events. For Nabiki, this meant going over her ledgers to check for inaccuracies. And for Ranma and Kasumi Saotome, this meant finally getting to spend some time alone together.
“And this is where you and your father will be staying, Ranma.” Kasumi shut the door behind her. “And now, maybe the two of us can finally be alone for a while.”
“Uh… alone?” Ranma cheeks suddenly became very red.
Kasumi responded with a sweet smile and a slight shake of her head. “I didn’t mean that—not yet anyway. Right now I just want to talk. Besides, there’s nothing stopping your father from coming in here.”
“Well, then why not your room?”
“Because then my father is likely to burst in there in a fit of paranoia. Ranma, I know that you’re anxious to be ‘intimate,’ and quite frankly, I am too, but I don’t really think we’ll be able to do that for a while—not until our fathers know we’re married.”
“Well, why don’t we tell ’em?”
Kasumi’s ever-present smile seemed to take on a wearied quality. “Ranma, you saw the way my father reacted to your curse—if he learns we’d already married, there’s no telling how he’d take it. He means well, but sometimes I think the way he isolated himself after Mother’s death left him a little out of touch with the real world. Though, for what it’s worth, I’m not worried about your father—from what I’ve seen of him, he seems pragmatic to a fault.”
“So yer pop was just exaggeratin’ about the whole lesbian thing.”
Kasumi sighed and answered, “Unfortunately, while he probably is overstating the damage it would do to my reputation, the rumor mill around here is such that that kind of gossip will almost certainly be spread. Maybe all of the competing martial arts schools in this part of Nerima have something to do with it, but it seems far too easy to make enemies around here without even trying—a single offense can create a lifelong nemesis.”
Ranma boggled at that. “Hold up… yer sayin’ ya got some sorta rival or somethin’?”
“Not that I know of, but you can never be too sure. Anyway, I do know that Akane’s had a few rivals over the years, and Nabiki has about a dozen financial adversaries at any given time, so one of the more vindictive ones may try to use gossip about me to get at one of them. But this isn’t that important—I’m sure that we’ll be able to handle it together.”
Ranma stared at the floor. “Yeah… together.”
Kasumi’s response was full of concern. “What is it, Ranma?”
The martial artist sighed heavily before replying. “It’s just—are ya really sure ya wanna go through with this? I mean, look at me! I’m a freak! You deserve someone better than me, someone who can give you a normal life.”
“Ranma, how can you say that?! I love you, and I promised that I’d always be there for you. Even when you’re physically female, you’re still the man I fell in love with, and you always will be.”
“But what if it gets locked?”
“Locked?”
“Yeah. I was talkin’ ta some folks from a nearby village, an’ they said that there’s a bunch of artifacts an’ stuff that can lock someone in their cursed form. What if that happened? Then ya’d be stuck with a female ‘husband’ for who knows how long.”
Kasumi stopped and thought about this. “Are you saying that there wouldn’t be a way to unlock your curse if it got locked?”
“Um, I don’t think so—I think they said there were supposed ta be other ways ta unlock it…”
“Well, then I’d stay by your side and support you until it was unlocked—in fact, even if you really were stuck as a girl for the rest of your life.”
“Wh— What? But I thought ya weren’t—”
“And I’m not,” interrupted Kasumi. “But I didn’t marry you simply because you were a man, and I didn’t fall in love with you just because I found you attractive.” The Tendo family’s maternal figure paused again, trying to figure out the best way to express how she felt. “Ranma,” she began cautiously, “I’m not in love with what you are, but who you are. Our marriage was a promise that we would always be there to support each other, no matter how difficult the circumstances might be.” She moved towards her husband and embraced him tightly. “If it means that we have to give up physical intimacy because you’re forced to spend the rest of your life as a woman, so be it. If I were to leave you over something as petty as sex, I’d just prove myself unworthy of your love and affection.”
“K-Kasumi, I— I don’t know what ta say…”
“Don’t say anything. I know that you would do anything you could for me, and I will do anything I can for you.” She gave her husband another of her warm, comforting smiles. “Besides, there’s no guarantee that that will happen. You said that there were only a few ways to get ‘locked,’ and there’s no reason to think that you’ll ever have to deal with them.”
Ranma exhaled slowly before answering, “Thanks, Kasumi. I really needed ta hear that.” As he released his grip on his wife, he finally allowed himself to return her smile. “But I’m still going ta do everythin’ I can ta get rid of this curse—ya can’t lock it if there ain’t nuthin’ ta lock, after all.”
“Of course. I’d much prefer it if you didn’t have this hanging over your head as well—for several reasons.” Kasumi almost indulged herself in a wink—but decided that would be a little much.
“Um… are you doin’ that ‘subtle’ thing again?”
Kasumi allowed herself a light laugh. “Yes Ranma, I am. Don’t worry about it; I know you still have problems interpreting it, and I wouldn’t use it if it were really important. Look at it this way—when we met, almost every kind of subtlety went right over your head. Now, you can at least recognize it when you see it.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s somethin’, right?”
“Right. Now, let’s get downstairs before my father’s paranoia acts up again.”
“Alright.”
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(Posted Tue, 27 Dec 2005 12:10)
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