[FFML] [spamfic] [WAFF] The Courtship of Tendou Kasumi

[Ignacio Moreno]

It is a good piece of WAFF and romance and worth all the kilobytes.

Well done!!

Kinai.


2008/3/7, Ambulatory Kettle <ambket at inbox.com>:
>
> Disclaimer: Not for commercial use.  The characters in this fan fiction
> work are used without permission, as I do not own the rights to Ranma
> 1/2.  But I do own quite a few Ranma DVDs and manga... does that count?
>
> "The Courtship of Tendou Kasumi"
> A Ranma 1/2 shortfic
> written by Ambulatory Kettle
>
>        Kasumi watched the steam rise from her cup of tea.  After a
> moment, her eye refocused on the face reflected there, green cast in the
> hot liquid.  Even accounting for the unflattering coloration, the face
> looked entirely unremarkable to her.
>        Mother had been beautiful.  People frequently told Kasumi that she
> was beautiful, that she resembled her mother, but it was mostly old
> women and friends of the family.  Besides her father and a few doting
> grandfatherly-types, only one man had ever told her she was beautiful.
>        Kasumi looked up to meet his anxious gaze, and smiled at him.
> Toufuu smiled back, somewhat crookedly.  Uncle Saotome had grabbed a
> broom and excused himself with a polite panda-grunt some time ago, and
> Ranma and Akane were long since gone, but Toufuu still glanced nervously
> at the door as he sat stiff-backed in a chair across from her.  Overall
> though, he had largely calmed down.
>        She often wished for the day when he would finally be able to feel
> comfortable being in the same room with other people when she was
> around.  Just before she and Ranma left, Akane had confided that Toufuu
> didn't act nearly so ridiculous when Kasumi herself wasn't around, as if
> trying to let slip a hint.  Kasumi hadn't bothered to correct her
> sister's misunderstanding of the situation.
>        Perhaps there was some part of Toufuu that still thought of Kasumi
> as the seventeen-year-old girl he had started shyly courting two years
> before.  He was almost ten years older than her, and a doctor; he
> couldn't afford to have people think he was chasing after high school
> girls.  He had never mentioned this, but Kasumi had understood all the
> same.
>        But there must have been some part of him that realized she wasn't
> a school-girl any longer.  Otherwise....
>        "Sensei... I've been thinking about... what you asked me last time
> I visited you," she said.  She realized that he wasn't the only one
> whose view had been slow to change; even now, she still called him
> "sensei."
>        Toufuu's muscles slackened visibly into what definitely wasn't a
> posture of relaxation.  "Y-... yes...?"
>        "I..." Kasumi began, but then stopped.  She looked down again at
> her rapidly cooling tea, gathering her thoughts.  "I... can't."
>        Toufuu slumped down further into his chair.  "Oh."  His response
> was small, far away.
>        "I'm not saying no," Kasumi was quick to add.  She glanced away,
> fixing her gaze on the wall.  "I'm just saying... I can't right now.  My
> family needs me too much.  You... understand, right?"
>        Toufuu straightened up.  "So... you're saying... what are you
> saying?"
>        Kasumi took a sip of her tea.  "I suppose I'm saying... not right
> now."
>        "But... later?" Toufuu leaned forward slightly in his seat.  "What
> about later?"
>        His eagerness made Kasumi want to laugh and cry at the same time.
> "I... don't know.  These new guests make even more work around the
> house.  There's... no way I could leave my family.  Not now."
>        "Not now," Toufuu repeated, downcast.  "But...  maybe someday?"
> he asked, his voice turning hopeful.  He would not be easily
> discouraged, she could see by the look in his eyes.  It lifted her heart
> to know she meant that much to him, but it saddened her to know she had
> to disappoint him.
>        "Not... any time soon.  It could be years, but... maybe someday.
> Yes."
>        Toufuu sat up, a glow of elation filling his eyes.  "So... so it's
> a 'yes' then?"
>        Kasumi smiled shyly, and felt that she must be blushing.  "It's
> a... 'yes-but-not-right-now'...."
>        Toufuu's face lit up.  He looked at his skeleton, Betty-chan.
> "She said yes!"
>        Jumping to his feet he whisked the skeleton from its stand and
> danced it around the room.  "She said yes, she said yes, she said yes!"
>        Unable to help herself, Kasumi laughed.  She was as delighted by
> his reaction as he obviously was by her answer.
>        "She said YES!" Toufuu sang, hitching Betty-chan up on his back
> and loping for the door.  Kasumi dashed after him, her face burning in a
> strange and wonderful mix of joy and embarrassment at her joy.
>        She watched as Toufuu jogged off down the road with the skeleton
> riding on his back, and realized that time was no object to Toufuu.  He
> would wait for her for as long as was needed.
>        As Betty-chan's flapping arms waved farewell, Kasumi smiled,
> blinking away moister from her eyes.
>        "We'll meet again soon," she whispered into the empty street.
>
> Fin.
>
> _____________________________________
>
> I wrote this awhile back, but wasn't sure what to make of it, so I shelved
> it.  I've always thought it would be fun to write the sort of story that
> focuses on the supporting characters of a pre-existing story (in this case
> Ranma), in a narrative that parallels the goings on of the main, familiar
> storyline, but possibly turns common assumptions about the supporting
> characters on their heads, or at leasts illucidates aspects of their
> existence that were completely unseen through the lens of the original
> story.  It actually just turned out as a somewhat WAFFy little spamfic,
> dissimilar from the usual tone of my writing.  Let me know if you think it's
> worth the kilobytes it's written on.
>
> - The Kettle
>
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