Stepping in alongside Ranma, Kasumi glanced at him shyly. "Ano, Ranma-kun, do you remember me?"
Staring at her for a moment as they walked, he tried to place her. Unfortunately he was drawing a confused blank on the entire dojo scene, with her included. Over the years he had visited a lot of dojos and training grounds, and he had a feeling he hadn't stayed at this one for very long if he didn't remember it. If it had been important he would have at least remembered their martial arts style. "Uhm, not really. Sorry."
Smiling a little bit less, Kasumi didn't blame him as she had remembered Genma first. Remembering his appetite had brought her to the fairly happier memories of Ranma, which were fairly dim as they'd never visited much. "Oh, well that's okay. I'm Kasumi."
After they had stepped into the house, Kasumi made sure everyone was seated and served snacks before going to get her sisters.
Poking her head into Nabiki's room, she found Akane helping Nabiki with her latest costume, a replica of Setsuka's kimono and umbrella from Soul Calibur III. "Ah, Akane-chan, Nabiki-chan, Ranma-kun and his father are here. Father wants us all downstairs."
Staring back blankly as she tried to get Nabiki's kimono adjusted so that it was showing off the right amount of skin, Akane replied unintelligently, "Huh? Ranma?"
Smiling as if it were nothing, Kasumi blithely answered her, "The wandering martial artist boy that came with his father from another world where they knew our father? The one that taught us some martial arts and one of us is supposed to marry to unite the schools?"
Still staring at Kasumi, Akane had to wonder how gullible her big sister was to believe that load of bull. Obviously if she was to be engaged to an other-worldly wandering martial artist, she'd have remembered him. Still, father did apparently want them downstairs and they did probably have guests as she doubted Kasumi had just imagined the whole thing completely. "Uhm, sure sis, let me get Nabiki here straightened up and we'll be down."
Pausing from applying her make-up, Nabiki looked up at her older sister. "So, is he cute at least?"
Giggling, Kasumi left the girls to get finished dressing.
Stepping down the stairs, Akane caught sight of their guests. The bandanna wearing old man in the white gi she actually remembered because his training techniques were stupid. He also didn't have very good manners if she remembered right.
Sitting next to him was a young man with braided black hair wearing an expensive looking silk Chinese pants and shirt outfit in black with gold embroidery. Despite the fact she had kinda recalled the fat old man, the boy wasn't ringing any bells just yet.
More curious were the four girls seated behind the boy like servants, three of them wearing the Mahoro junior high school uniforms and the other was a petite dusky skinned blond girl in Chinese clothes. As Mahoro Academy was one of the most popular school girl outfits among cosplayers and a blond Chinese girl was ridiculous, it was easy to figure out they were cosplayers like her, perhaps even decent martial artists to boot. With the boy's outfit being so fancy, he was obviously playing up the part of being a high and mighty 'Master' with the girls behind him.
Looking up, Ranma was surprised by the odd sight of the two girls coming down stairs.
One was a frowning girl with a short cute haircut wearing a casual sweater dress with a pocket watch design splashed across the front.
The second was wearing what he had to call an ornamental geisha outfit, complete with four-inch platform sandals of carved wood and a painted parasol. The kimono was nice enough, a mainly red design with golden fu lions on it, though the top was much lower, split apart all the way to the obi in a way that barely covered her breasts. The way the kimono was worn also showed off her bare shoulders with the lower portion parting easily to show off her legs.
Getting to the bottom of the stairs, Akane looked around for a moment for Kasumi. After a moment of waiting at the table, she heard noise at the stairs, allowing her to turn around and spot her eldest sister.
To her surprise, Kasumi was wearing one of her original costumes, which was quite the surprise as Kasumi had stopped wearing costumes almost a year ago after she finished high school.
Following her gaze, Ranma spotted an increasingly familiar sight descending the stairs.
Pausing for a moment on the stairs to pose for Ranma as he spotted her was a lovely young woman with her brown hair loosely bound into an over the shoulder ponytail with ribbons and white flowers. Gracing her form was a blue and white dress, tastefully created with multiple layers of cloth and a light smattering of ruffles which kept it tastefully simple while still being feminine and pretty. The crowning piece of the look however were the pair of small white decorative angel wings framing her shoulders from behind.
Slapping hand to palm, Ranma lit up in recognition. "Ah! Kasumi-nechan! I didn't recognize you before."
Giggling in response, Kasumi started descending the stairs once again. "I thought you might remember me better if I was wearing what I used to wear."
Of course that was true on many levels. On the simplest level, it was one of the outfits she had worn often around Ranma the last time he had visited. On a more personal level, Ranma was the reason she had started dressing up for many reasons. For one, he had simply encouraged her to enjoy herself and dress-up and wear her outfits around the house and even outside of it. More importantly however, his life was like a fairy-tale to her, and it was that 'magic' that inspired her to be brave and do something special.
Why, she could even blame the little martial arts skill she had on him.
It wasn't too surprising that Akane and Nabiki didn't seem to recall him yet. Back then, Akane had been in her petulant tomboy phase, while Nabiki had been obsessed with being a trendy modern girl and hanging out with her friends to be popular. Ranma had spent most of his time with her, something that had always rubbed Uncle Genma the wrong way for some reason, almost as if he didn't like seeing his son happy.
Putting such thoughts aside, she took her place by her sisters while beaming a warm smile towards Ranma.
Coughing more to clear his throat than to get everyone's attention, Soun began introductions. "This girls, is my friend, Genma Saotome. He comes from a world like ours, except there slavery is illegal. There, he and his world's version of myself trained under a man named Happousai, and after their training, promised their children to marry to unite their schools. On our world however, there is no one I know of named Genma or Happousai."
Pausing for a moment, the Tendou patriarch continued. "When he arrived to our world, he sought me out in hopes of finding a friend, and indeed I was most impressed by his martial arts skill. That is why over the years he and his son have visited us, though you may not remember as it has been several years since the last visit. It is my intention for one of you girls to marry his son Ranma, giving us a powerful martial arts school to add to ours, and in turn giving them a family."
Switching sides, Soun turned to his guests, particularly Ranma. "These are my three daughters: Kasumi, nineteen; Nabiki, seventeen; and Akane, sixteen. As you will be staying with us until you choose a girl to marry, I think perhaps it best to leave the rest to you."
As Ranma stared quietly at the girls with a touch of confusion, Akane piped up in a huff, effectively breaking the silence. "Hmph, Well, I'm not just up and marrying some boy I don't know from off of the street."
Frowning at her, Ranma soon brightened up as he caught a look from Kasumi before nodding in reply.
That exchange of looks startled Akane out of her indignant pose as Kasumi started to rise from the table. "If you'll excuse us father."
Nodding quietly, Soun held his peace as both Kasumi and Ranma stood to leave.
As the two exited out the sliding doors to the veranda and garden beyond, the four girls that were sitting behind Ranma stood to follow after him.
Trying to share a steamed look with Nabiki yet only getting a smirk from her sly sister, Akane stood abruptly. After a moment of indecisiveness, she followed after her eldest sister, Nabiki trailing not far behind her.
Seeing all the young ones gone, Soun pointed to the corner with the go table. "Well then old friend, how about some more of that 'Anything Goes Go'?"
Smiling himself, Genma happily moved over to the table, bringing his drink with him. "Of course, I'm always up for a good game."
Stepping outside, Akane found them all sitting under a tree, with Kasumi apparently chatting Ranma up. "So, who are your friends Ranma-kun?"
Thinking for a moment, Ranma tried to figure out how to best introduce what were technically his slave girls. "Uhm, well this is Kaede Nagase, Asuna Kagurazaka, and Nodoka Miyazaki, they're classmates of mine from school. Then there's Fei Ku, who I kinda picked up while I was training in China."
Always happy to meet new people, Kasumi smiled happily at them. "Ah, how nice to meet you all."
Unfazed by Kasumi's pleasant nature, Asuna crossed her arms in a huff. "Jeeze, does this mean we have to go to school here? I was hoping we'd head back home."
Seeing Kasumi's puzzled expression and noticing no one else was moving to explain, Kaede quietly spoke up. "We are also Lord Ranma's slaves, so if he must stay here, we must stay here Tendou-san."
Quirking her head in surprise, Kasumi moved on blithely. "Ah, how nice for you to have such good friends Ranma-kun."
Tuning them out partially, Akane finally confirmed her suspicions about the boy. Not only did he have four pretty girls as sex-slaves, but he obviously had a bit of a schoolgirl fetish with the way he made them dress. Worse, he was even making that poor little blond girl pretend to be Chinese just so he could sell Kasumi on his adventures in China.
Nabiki got her attention however, tugging on her dress and derailing her suspicious thoughts. "Hey sis, you remember him yet?"
Frowning, Akane turned to her sister but likewise kept her voice low. "No, what about you?"
Nodding in thought, the Setsuka cos-player replied, "Yeah, remember back before Kasumi went to high school? When she started making and wearing her costumes? She was always doting on him and calling him Ranma-kun."
Blinking in surprise, Akane suddenly remembered who Nabiki was talking about. "That brat? He's that playboy over there?"
Smirking at her little sister, Nabiki took a verbal poke at her little sister as Akane often needed one to stay in line. "Hah, you were a little brat back then too. 'Course what you should really be worrying about is that if he sees Kasumi as a big sister, then that leaves us for potential fiancées."
Thinking quietly but fuming none-the-less, Akane continued keeping an eye on the playboy as he chatted up her naive older sister.
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(Posted Fri, 11 Aug 2006 20:16)
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