RANMA 1/2
The Visitor

By Jeff Hosmer

                                   *****

     Kasumi hummed softly to herself as she cleaned the breakfast dishes.
It was another lovely day at the Tendo Dojo.  The sky was a lovely shade of
blue, the temperature was just right, and Akane had only thrown Ranma into
the pond once (so far.)  All was right in the world.

     Then someone knocked faintly on the front door.

     Kasumi paused in her dishwashing.  The knock was repeated, so she knew
that she hadn't just imagined it.  "Oh, I wonder who that could be," she
said to herself while putting the dish she was drying down and then wiping
her hands on her apron.  "Coming!" she called.

     She paused before opening the door, making sure she was presentable.
It wouldn't do to look bad in front of a guest, she knew.  Then she opened
the door, a smile on her face.

     "Kasumi-chan?" the visitor asked on seeing her.

     Kasumi's mouth dropped open in surprise, shock written all over her
face.  Then a truly uncharacteristic expression replaced it.  It expressed
all degrees of anger, hatred, and rage.

     "Get out of here!" she hissed.  "Leave us alone!"  She then slammed
the door shut in their visitor's face as hard as she could.  The house
trembled with the force of it.

     Footsteps came running through the house.  Kasumi raised trembling
hands to her face, tears running from her eyes.  She moaned wordlessly and
staggered back against the wall.  She was sobbing when Akane, Ranma, and
Nabiki arrived.

     "Kasumi-oneechan?" Akane asked.  "What's the matter?"

     Someone knocked at the door, even more hesitantly than the first time.

     "I'll get it," Nabiki said.

     "Nabiki!  No!" Kasumi said suddenly, between her sobs.  "They'll go
away.  Let them go away.  Please."

     "Why?  What happened?" Ranma asked.

     The knock came again.

     "Ranma, take Akane away," Kasumi said.  "Please."

     "Oneechan...?" Akane asked.

     "Akane, go get father... tell him, we have... a guest."  Kasumi tried
to straighten her apron, but her hands trembled too much to do a good job.

     "Kasumi-oneechan, I don't understand...."

     Nabiki, meanwhile, looked out the window.  Her eyes widened in shock
and then all emotion in her face vanished.  It wasn't the usual mask she
erected to hide her thoughts.  That face was vivacious and alive with a
mocking humor.  This face was dead, her emotions strip-mined away, leaving
only a barren wasteland.

     "Ranma, take Akane away and keep her away," Nabiki said.  Her voice
was a dull monotone, as lifeless as her face.  She looked over at the
martial artist.  "Please," she added, a touch of desperation shading her
voice.

     That was enough for Ranma.  Even for one as clueless as he usually
was, there were too many warning signs for him to ignore.  Grabbing Akane
by the waist, he tore off through the house, toward the Dojo, ignoring her
protests.

     "BAKA!" Akane screamed when he finally put her down.  Her mallet
appeared as usual and slammed Ranma into the ground.  "What did you think
you were doing?!"

     "Uncute... tomboy..." Ranma moaned.

     Things went downhill from there.  When they finally paused for breath,
they became aware of voices coming from the house.  The voices were loud
and strident, full of anger.

     "--CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D COME--"  That was Mr. Tendo, his voice filled
with a rage Ranma had never heard, not even on the occasions when Ranma and
Akane flat out denied their parent's wish that they married.

     "I WAS -ILL-!" screamed an unfamiliar female voice.  "YOU CAN'T HOLD
THAT--"

     "LEAVE!" Mr. Tendo roared.  There was a sound of dishes breaking.

     "R-Ranma?" Akane said in a quavering voice.  For some reason, the
sound of those voices raised in anger made her want to run and hide.  Her
hand reached out to Ranma.

     "It's okay, Akane," Ranma said, taking the hand gently.  He saw her
trembling there, true fear etched in every line of her face, even though
neither of them knew what she was afraid of so badly.  "I'm here."

     Akane threw herself at Ranma, hugging him as if to squeeze the life
out of him.

     At last the angry voices and the sound of broken dishes stopped.  They
heard the front door slam, and ten Mr. Tendo's voice could be heard,
sobbing loudly.

     "I-I think it's over..." Ranma said, finally.

     Akane nodded, but didn't let go of him.

     "We should go and see if everyone is alright," Ranma said.

     Akane nodded again.

     "Akane?"

     "Yes?"

     "I can't move unless you let go of me."

     Akane blushed bright red.  "Baka," she muttered as she finally let go,
though it was hard to tell if she meant him or herself.

     They went around to the back door and entered the kitchen.  It was a
mess, with the shattered remains of dishes and glasses covering the floor.
Kasumi was calmly standing by the sink and bandaging her hands.  The
bandages were already turning bright red with blood.

     "Oh my," she said, as she saw Ranma and Akane.  "I think... I think
I'll have to go to Dr. Tofu's," she said, a bit unsteadily.

     "Kasumi-oneechan, what happened?" Akane asked, looking around.  Almost
all the dishes and glasses on the floor, she noted, had bloodstains on
them.

     "I-I broke a dish," Kasumi said, falteringly.  "I was a bad girl," she
added in a childlike voice.  "I haven't done that since I was--"  She broke
off and tried to smile at Akane.  "Really, Akane, don't worry.  I won't get
in trouble for it.  It won't happen again.  I better get to Dr. Tofu's."
With that, she hurried out the door, not looking back at the disaster area
her pristine kitchen had become.

     "Ranma, what happened?"

     "I don't know," Ranma said.  He looked at the debris-strewn floor,
noting that someone had been intent on reducing every dish to time shards.

     "Don't ask," came Nabiki's voice.  She stood in the doorway, her face
still a tight, expressionless mask.  "Trust me, you're both better off not
knowing."  The middle Tendo sister closed her eyes and sighed.  "Look,
Akane, I'd stay away from Daddy for a bit.  He's really upset."

     "Nabiki-oneechan, what happened?  Please, tell me."

     "No.  Look, I've got business to attend to.  I need to make some
money, get to work."

     "But, Nabiki-oneechan--?"

     "DON'T ASK!" Nabiki screamed.  "You don't remember.  That's for the
best.  All you need to know is that we had a visitor.  That's all."  With
that, Nabiki turned and practically ran out the door.

     Dinner was very quiet that night.

     Akane tossed and turned for hours before she finally settled into a
troubled sleep that night.  She wouldn't remember most of her dreams in the
morning, save that they had been horrible.  All she did remember was a
loud, female voice, screaming.

     "KASUMI, YOU BAD, BAD GIRL.  YOU BROKE A DISH!"  Then there was a
splintering crack and the high-pitched wail of a little girl in pain.

     "SLACKING OFF NABIKI?  YOU NEED TO WORK, WORK, WORK TO GET AHEAD IN
LIFE!"  Slapping sounds this time, and the ripping of cloth, followed by
sobbing, pleading cries.

     "SOUN NO BAKA!"

     And worst of all:  "AKANE, CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT?  YOU UGLY,
HORRID LITTLE GIRL!"

     Akane woke up screaming.

                                   *****

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

     Make of this what you will.  I'm not answering questions on this one.

     Rumiko Takahashi made up Ranma 1/2 and I doubt she had anything like
in mind when she wrote it.

Jeff Hosmer
10 February 1998