Kasumi on the other hand, was the only person who remembered anything prior to the wish. Well, actually that wasn’t true, Kasumi remembered the wish twice. She remembered the wish made over a month ago that caused these events to happen, and she remembered the wish made about ten minutes ago. She was at ease with both sets of memories, but Ranma seemed to be having trouble remembering the ‘new’ past.
Before she could think of a way to help Ranma with the change, he came up with something. “Wait, what happened to your family then? That place turns into a madhouse without you.”
The sweet brunette smiled at him, even though she was experiencing some conflicting emotions. For Ranma, he was showing quite a bit of thoughtful concern, which was nice. It also reminded her of her role at the Tendou house and her slight disappointment with that now. “It’s alright Ranma-kun. Aunty Nodoka insisted on doing the cooking”, especially when she realized that was the only thing holding Kasumi back from moving in with Ranma, she mentally added. Oh yes, Aunty had been most eager.
Seeing Ranma still looked confused but couldn’t remember enough to ask the right questions, Kasumi decided to give a little summary of her role. “You see Ranma-kun, Nabiki hasn’t been able to make money like she used to because of the police, but now she has a part-time job where she puts her skills to a good use. Nabiki-chan insisted on paying you back however, so the family was a bit short of money.”
Ranma stared back at her blankly, not quite getting it. “but, what does that have to do with you Kasumi?”
Kasumi twisted her apron in nervous embarrassment, the image of maids serving young handsome men in the media being a bit naughty. “Well, you see Ranma-kun, the girls were sort of ignoring the various efforts to keep them away from you for a time. I mean without the engagements, they didn’t have an official excuse, but they dropped in on you claiming to be taking care of you and caused all kinds of trouble. That’s when they decided to get you a live-in maid.”
Ranma blinked and absorbed that, getting brief flashes of Akane brining him ‘supper’, Shampoo popping into the bath to ‘wash his back’ and Ukyou taking his clothes to wash them and him missing a lot of boxers. Once the memories passed, it looked around in confusion. “Huh? Maid? Who, I don’t remember seeing her.”
Kasumi’s fretting with her apron picked up pace as she looked away, not wanting to embarrass herself in front of Ranma. Apparently, Ranma’s past memories didn’t think of her as his maid, which fit with what she remembered of him treating her just a bit more friendly than usual. “Ranma, I’m your maid.”
As the magnitude of that little change in his wish hit him, Ranma once again burst into panic, this time trying to placate Kasumi. “Ack, I’m sorry Kasumi! I didn’t mean to! You gotta believe me!”
Embarrassment gone, Kasumi turned to Ranma, smiling at his antics. “Ranma-kun, I told you it’s alright.”
The pig-tailed young man stared at her in shock. “Whaddya mean it’s alright? You don’t deserve that!”
The older girl gave a gentle sigh of exasperation. “It’s okay Ranma, because I like it. I have a job I enjoy, which is actually easier than what I did at home, and I still get to help my family. Also, you may not remember it, but I’ve enjoyed spending the last month with you.”
“Really?” The concept of getting something right and having people happy with him was a bit of a novel thing.
“Yes Ranma-kun, really.” Kasumi tried to suppress her titter at his boyishly hopeful look. “Now then, how about that picnic Ranma-kun?”
“Uh, yeah sure.” Ranma might have been confused, but food now, thinking later he could handle. He was sure the problem would present itself later.
Finishing packing up the food, Kasumi frowned thoughtfully since she was turned and Ranma wouldn’t be able to see. A month of work on him wasted, now she’d have to start over again, unless he ‘remembered’.
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(Posted Thu, 12 Jun 2003 00:55)
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