Kasumi was overjoyed. Soon, the boy she loved, the one that made each day worth living, would be brought to her. Kasumi was convinced that if it wasn’t for Ranma, she would of succumbed to the drudgery of her life by now. No one else knew about Ranma, it was her secret. The only person she had ever confided in was her mother, and her mother took that secret to the grave. With a growing sense of relief, joy, and excitement, Kasumi listened to what her father had to say about Ranma.
“If one of you three girls were to marry him... and carry on this training center... then the Tendo family legacy would be secured.”
Kasumi wasn’t interested in the family’s legacy so much as finally laying her eyes upon the boy she has never seen but knew better then herself. In a way, Ranma was like a pen-pal, one she always hoped to meet in person.
“Wait a minute!” Akane raised a valid objection. “Don’t we have some say in who we marry?”
‘Don’t worry, dear, little sister. You will get a choice on whom you marry. Ranma is all mine,” Kasumi thought wickedly to herself. ‘I mustn’t give away that I know Ranma, already. That secret is ours alone, and I do not wish anyone to know of the special bond I share with him. But I won’t leave the choice of wife up to daddy’s whims.’
“Daddy, as eldest, shouldn’t I be the one to marry before my sisters?”
“Huh?” Akane said with Nabiki echoing her.
“Oh Kasumi, you make your father proud,” Soun said to Kasumi as he hugged her close and began to cry copious amounts of tears.
“You want to get married, Kasumi?” Nabiki looked at her older sister like she grew an extra head.
“Well,” Kasumi murmured as she blushed, fidgeted, and played with her dress, “I don’t really have any prospects, now do I? Plus, it’s the son of Daddy’s friend. I am sure he wouldn’t have agreed to the engagement if he was the bad sort.”
Nabiki addressed her father next. “Kasumi has a point. What is this Ranma like? Is he cute? What sort of man is he?”
Akane added her two cents. “A pervert, most likely.”
Soun chuckled uncomfortably. “No idea. I never met him. But that’s easily fixed. Ranma will be by later today, we can meet him then.”
Akane and Nabiki couldn’t help feeling scandalized.
“What do you mean you never met him?” Akane’s blood began to boil.
“You were going to marry one of us off to a boy you never met?” Nabiki asked in shock. However, she soon shrugged her shoulders, “Oh well. As long as he’s cute, I’m interested.”
Kasumi tried not to look smug, but she didn’t think Ranma would be interested in either of her sisters. But she knew she had to play along. “How come you never met Ranma, Daddy? If he’s the son of a friend, wouldn’t you have met him?”
“Yes, well ... Genma took his son on a training journey when Ranma was small. Recently, it seems they crossed into China.”
That got Nabiki’s attention. “Wow, China!”
‘Down Girl,’ Kasumi possessively thought to herself.
“So? What’s so great about walking to China?” Akane seemed less than impressed.
Nabiki snorted. “Have you tried walking to China lately? When you do, let me know how it goes.”
Kasumi decided she ought to make sure her family remembers that she already agreed to the wedding. “So, when do I get to marry this Ranma, Daddy?”
Soun would of answered, except he was too busy celebrating the union of the schools.
“You still want to marry him, Kasumi?” Nabiki gave Kasumi a suspicious glance.
Akane, though, was confounded. She couldn’t understand why Kasumi would want to marry some bum off the streets. Especially when there was someone great she could have instead. “What about Dr. Tofu?”
“Huh?” Kasumi was confused about what Akane was talking about. “What about Dr. Tofu?”
“You could marry him, instead,” Akane retorted.
“Why would I want to marry an old man?”
A thoughtful look crossed Nabiki’s face. “How old is-” However, she did not get to finish. A loud knocking at the door interrupted her.
“It must be Saotome,” Soun shot up in glee.
Kasumi started to feel Ranma slowly awaken over the link. Realizing how plain she must look, and how bare the table was, she jumped up and quickly fled to the kitchen to prepare the formal tea set and set a plate of snacks. Now that she finally got to meet Ranma, she was nervous and distressed.
‘Oh my! I been waiting for this day for so long and it’s nothing like I thought it be. I should of worn a formal kimono. Oh dear! Akane is still in her sweaty gi and Nabiki is wearing shorts and a tank top. Even Daddy is dressed all casual. What a dreadful state to be receiving guests in. Aww, I wanted this day to be perfect.’ Kasumi fretted as she went about getting refreshments ready for the guests.
“Don’t worry so much,” Ranma sent to her. “I don’t care about any of that. Come on out, you’re missing all the fun.”
Kasumi lifted the tea tray and the plate of sweets and hesitantly returned to the table. When she entered the room, her father was passed out on the floor and her sister had a cross look on her face. However, when Kasumi’s eyes met Ranma’s, suddenly nothing else in the world mattered and it was as if the oxygen suddenly left her head. She couldn’t breath, her heart was pounding madly, her knees began to buckle, and somehow she would need to explain why she wanted to marry a boy that turned into...
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(Posted Sat, 17 May 2008 05:27)
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