Even as he knelt down in front of the cabinet as he pulled out items in search of what he was looking for, he couldn't help but feel like he shouldn't be doing this. The idea of having grandchildren, like a grandson bringing a frog to show him, or a granddaughter who would look so pretty in her kimono that he'd tear up, was just giving him all sorts of warm feelings.
Yet, momentum and his best friend's insistence had pushed him into this direction, and he couldn't stop himself. He'd already gone through two thirds of the cabinets, and was still going, even if he'd already pulled out what he'd found from her spice rack. All that he could do was finish up, and hope that this was going to go as best it could.
"Father?" asked a rather familiar feminine voice. "What are you doing?"
He whipped around and stared as he faced the last person that he wanted to see him at the moment. "K... ka.... Kasumi?!"
"What is all this?"
"I.... We.... That is...."
"Pardon me? I don't understand...."
"I'm sorry.... I don't know why...." he replied, trying to find the words to explain his actions.
"You are not making sense...."
"I was looking for...."
Her brows raised up in mild surprise. "If you wanted to make something, then you should have just waited for me."
"I couldn't! Well, that is...."
"Yes...."
"You see...."
"Good news, Tendo. I didn't find any condoms, sponges, or some such in Kasumi's room, so it looks like we're safe in that regard. Though I did find some pills that may act as birth control. We'll have to... check...." an entering Genma commented cheerfully... until he saw who was standing there. "Oh, hell."
Kasumi put her shopping bags on the counter, and obviously took a moment to collect herself. But even as she turned to look at them, her disappointment and hurt shone through, via the sheen of unshed tears. "How could you?"
"We didn't mean any trouble...."
"You invaded the places that were most privately mine."
"Ummm...."
"Don't you realize what you've done? This is so very wrong...."
The bulkier of the two fathers tried to swallow past the lump in his throat. "We were attempting to make things go how they should."
"And do you call this 'how things should go'?"
"Well.... No...."
"I hope not, as I can not see what this would give you," she murmured.
"Grandchildren. We just wanted grandchildren."
"Saotome had a list of things...." her father put in.
"It doesn't matter, Father. Don't you realize what this place means to me? This kitchen is where I cook, which I've always loved to do. On that stove, I've worked on meals just so that I could see the enjoyment that my family have gotten on it. This is where I've been most at peace. It was where my mother taught me to cook, and where I've felt most connected to her."
"I didn't realize...."
There was a tremble to Kasumi's lip as she looked straight at the man who'd fathered her. "You didn't think of it, did you. Instead, you invaded my kitchen, and tore it apart in an attempt to find what isn't there."
"What?"
"You didn't need to check on anything, as Ranma and I agreed to take things slowly. It was our choice, and we didn't want to rush into something that would be precious to the both of us. I.... I've always wanted to be a mother, and know that once the time came, I'd bear Ranma's children. We'd come to it when the moment was right, having a baby when we were meant to. Instead, you rushed in, trying to push things along, didn't you?"
"We thought that it would be for the best," Genma simply stated.
"You thought that invading my privacy, tarnishing the room where I had been able to be with the man that I love for the first time as his wife without any reservations was 'for the best'?"
"I.... That's what I assumed...."
"And now how can I recapture the feeling of it being a part of me that I could share with him?"
"I.... It wasn't what I thought...."
"No, it wasn't," his daughter-in-law agreed softly and sadly. "It wasn't."
"Kasumi? I'm sorry...." her father began.
"I'm sure that you are."
"Then you...."
"I need some time alone," she told them, tipping her head back in what suspiciously like an attempt to hold back tears.
"But...."
"Just go. Please."
"We'll be in the dojo," Genma answered.
The young woman who would have always been polite to any one that she came across didn't say a word.
But she didn't need to say anything, as the fathers knew enough to slink out of the room, leaving behind the damage of what they'd done.
After the fifth tree branch smacked him in the face, Ryoga Hibiki wanted to yank the damn limb off the plant. He'd been unable to find a way out of the forest, and had been forced to make his own path through the wooded area. Not that such a thing was working for him, and he had the added problem of having to deal with trees whapping him in the nose and eyes.
Yet, as he got ready to pull on the branch, he heard a noise that made him look up. Right there before him was a mother bird hovering anxiously over the nest that held her babies. He could tell that she was desperately trying to protect them, and in her eyes, he could have sworn that she was begging him not to hurt those who were most precious to him.
The idea of doing any damage to them left him feeling ill, and he let go of the tree, and headed back on his way. A sweet sounding 'tweet' followed him, and he smiled to himself. He might not have been able to find his way back to Tokyo so easily, but at least he could keep the lives of innocent creatures like that mother bird and her chicks from gaining any more dangers.
"Ouch!" Even if he was going to get hit by more branches.
"Hello! We're home!" Akane called out as she led the way into the house... and frowned when she got no answer.
Nabiki pursed her lips and hurried to kick off her shoes and head inside. "You're telling me. Something seems... off."
"What do you think it is?"
"I'm not sure, but this isn't what should have happened."
"Huh?" Ranma asked, looking rather worried. "What d'ya guys mean?"
"Think about it. Kasumi always greets us when we come home from school, and to have her not do it when the one guy in all the world that she'd want to welcome is arriving after a day of being without her...."
"But what makes ya think that somethin' happened?"
"Aren't you going to be concerned about what happened to my sister?" the elder of the two unmarried sisters asked.
"Sure I am. But I'd much rather it be somethin' like her not hearin', rather than anythin'... dangerous."
"Ah...."
"We won't get anywhere like this," the youngest Tendo daughter grumbled. "The only way to be sure is to head in."
"That's right. We'd haveta."
"Too true," Nabiki agreed.
"Then you want to...." her younger sister began.
"Of course. I'd like to believe that this is okay, but...."
"You don't think...."
"I hope as hell not."
"Only way to know."
"You're right," the elder girl agreed, and led the way towards the one room that she knew her other sister would spend her time in. "Kasumi, you enjoying some.... What happened here?"
Kasumi looked up from the mess that her kitchen had become and looked beaten down. "Father."
"What do you mean?"
"Father and Ranma's father.... They decided to look for things that would keep me.... They wanted me to be a mother...."
"Huh? That doesn't make sense," Akane muttered.
For a moment, Nabiki's brows were pinched in confusion, but then a sudden show of understanding slid onto her face. "You don't mean...."
"They just assumed that I would have them. Here or in my room...." the married sister whispered.
"Damned idiots."
"I still don't get it," the youngest of the sisters growled. "What were they looking for that would make them just pull things out of the cabinets?"
"Contraceptives."
"HUH?!"
"It looks like the dense dads decided that they were going to be trying to force them to have a kid. The next step would have been for them to put you two together in a situation where they'd be wanting to get 'intimate'," Nabiki murmured, sliding a look over to her brother-in-law.
Ranma's teeth ground together, and his hands tightened into fists. "Those jerks...."
"More like idiots."
"I don't care what they are. They messed things up for Kasumi, and now I'm gonna...." he trailed off, feeling someone grasp his arm. Looking over to see who it was, he saw his wife giving him a look so vulnerable that he was lost as to what he should do.
"Ranma?" the young woman that he loved told him in a tone just above silence. "Leave them."
"But they...."
"Please?"
It was that single word, said in a trembling voice, that broke him. But he stood solidly there as he took in the wobble of her control, and knew that she needed him more than he needed to bash his father. So, he reached out and pulled his wife into his arms, knowing that was what was best for her.
Kasumi leaned her head against his shoulder, and gave off a few quiet sobs as they stood there in the middle of her chaotic, disorganized, and messy kitchen.
That sound, once it reached that far, made a certain face in the dojo fall even more than it already had.
And so it stayed until,:
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(Posted Thu, 29 Jun 2006 09:39)
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