All C&C offered as opinions and suggestions only.
Gary Kleppe wrote:
I DREAM OF RANMA
Ranma 1/2 Manga Fanfiction
by Gary Kleppe
The characters of Ranma 1/2 are the creation of and rightful
property of Rumiko Takahashi. They are used here without permission.
This story may be freely redistributed, but it should not be altered
substantially or used for profit in any way.
Thanks to Fido, Krista, and Keener for prereading this chapter.
Announcements on my status and the like follow in the end notes. All C&C
will be greatly appreciated, and on-list responses are preferred.
Episode 4:
My Dinner With Kasumi
On Thursday, Ranma was introduced to a weekly tradition at the
Tendo household.
"Leftover night?"
"That's right, Ranma." Nabiki crossed the Tendo living room,
sliding down onto the floor next to him. "Every other Thursday, Kasumi
takes the night off and goes out, leaving the rest of us to fend for
ourselves."
Ranma set down the Giant Killer Robots of Death manga he had
been reading. "Really? Where's she go?"
Suggest: "Really? Where does she go?" he asked, humming a few bars from the
Giant Robo refrain.
Seriously, the original version left me looking for a 'going'.
"We don't know." Her smirk told him that he'd just won the
Stupidest Question Of The Week award. "She always leaves plenty of food,
so no one will starve." She set a glass of water on the floor between
them. "Lucky for me, though, I'll be dining out tonight, thanks to a
certain genie who owes me a favor."
But this is Nabiki - surely she'd be interested in finding out?
"Sure it is! I'm giving it to you. It's a freebie, even. You
don't owe me anything for it."
"But I didn't *defeat* anybody for it!"
"You sure you don't want it?"
Ranma nodded.
"Oh well. You had your chance! I wish it was gone." She tapped
the trophy with her finger, and it popped out of existence like a
punctured balloon.
Ranma picked up his manga and tried to remember what page he'd
been on. No matter how hard he tried, there were some people he'd
*never* understand.
Nabiki hummed a few bars to "My IQ is higher than yours." and noted that
analogy did not work on Ranma.
Her foot stung a little as it hit the ground, the sensation
increasing with each step. Okay, so she had lied when she'd said it
didn't hurt anymore. But it was fairly minor -- at least compared to the
other pain she felt. The one that came when she thought about Dr. Tofu,
and Kasumi, and herself. A chronic ailment, it flared up when she
watched Tofu go into fits around Kasumi, knowing that little Akane Tendo
would never, ever be able to inspire the same reaction from him.
"Yeah," she muttered angrily, "Onee-chan attracts men, while I attract
_boys_."
"Nope. It means two men going out with two women on the same
date. In this case, the two men are my little patsy and a schoolmate of
his to whom he apparently owes a favor."
Uh oh. "Hi, this is my good friend, Mikado Sanzenin."
Nabiki nodded, and took her hand off the phone. "My cousin Ranko
will be happy to go with us," she said, returning to her airhead
schoolgirl voice. "Oh, I'm so excited! See you soon, Mr. Mendo."
Mendo? Does he have any guy friends?
Nabiki picked up the receiver. "Hello?" She paused to listen.
"Yes, he is." Her head turned towards Ranma. "Yes, he is. Want to talk
to him?" She held the reciever out toward him. "It's Akane."
receiver
"Hello?" Ranma said into the phone.
"Ranma, there's something written on a piece of paper in front
of me." Her voice sounded a little sheepish. "I wish it would happen the
way it says."
Wow. Implicit wish-granting. :)
Hanging up the pay phone, Akane glanced at the reflection in the
shiny metal panel by the coin return. The wish had worked. For the next
two hours, this was what she'd look like.
Her heart thundered in her chest. She couldn't believe she'd
actually done it. There was only one thing to say now.
"Oh my!"
Oh ho. "Parallel, parallel. Turn me into Big Sis!" -- from Hime-chan no
Ribon.
It wasn't the dress that bothered him. The first few times he'd
worn girls' clothes, they made him feel like throwing up; but now he
didn't mind at all. Now, he was able to think of "Ranko" as a different
person. Ranko was wearing the dress. Not him. And there was nothing
wrong with her doing that, because after all, Ranko was a girl.
And here Ranma takes the first step towards a split personality. :)
Mendo raised an eyebrow. "Must you be so crude, Moroboshi? You
treat fine delicacies as if they were instant ramen. Women like Nabiki
and Ranko should be admired as works of art."
"I *like* instant ramen,* Moroboshi grumbled.
"I *like* instant wome-- *ahem* -- I mean, instant ramen."
Maybe no one was home. Maybe Tofu was out, and no one would
answer her knock, and she could just leave. She'd go for a quick dinner
at some out-of-the-way cafe where no one would recogize her. The two
hour time limit she'd put on the wish would run out. She'd go back to
normal before anyone saw her and word got back to the real Kasumi that
she was somewhere tonight where she wasn't and she put two and two
together and realized what a rotten thing her little sister had been
doing.
But that'd make for a rather short fic. :)
Unsure of what he expected to see, he opened the bedroom door a
little hesitantly. The room looked the same as it always had. His bed
was still unmade from the after-work snooze he had taken. Sounds from
the kitchen penetrated the walls, the rapid-fire slamming of knife into
cutting board.
Tofu winced. Was Kasumi still upset about the other day? :)
Suggest: -- the rapid-fire beat of knife into cutting board.
Tofu slapped himself on the forehead. Of course. It was so
simple. When Kasumi had knocked on the door, he was still half-asleep
from his nap. So, obviously, he'd dreamed about walking downstairs and
letting her in before her second knock woke him up and he actually did
it. He exhaled a long, relieved breath. Kasumi wasn't teleporting
around, and he wasn't going crazy.
"Actually, I was born into the Kasuga family, then adopted by the Tendos,"
Kasumi said as she appeared suddenly.
Naaaah. Of course it couldn't. How did such a silly thought get
into his head? It was probably Lum, sending him messages from space.
Fortunately, she wouldn't be back to Earth for another couple of weeks.
Awww. No tiger-stripped bikinied oni girl showing up? How could you be so
cruel, Gary? :)
Still... maybe it would be better to take it a little slower,
Ranko was obviously a shy, delicate flower of a girl. Being too forward
might scare her off. Better to talk to her, say some really smooth
things.
"So," Ataru said, "do you have any hobbies? Come here often?
What do you want to do after high school? What's your favorite color?
What do you do for fun?"
"What are your measurements? Oh wait, I've already asked that one."
"AAAA!" Ranko picked up a plate and smashed it forcefully over
Ataru's head. The room spun a little around Ataru as he fell to the
floor.
Suggest: "AAAHHH!"
Moroboshi beamed a crooked smile at Nabiki. "I wish I could meet
your sister."
Hehe. Very nicely done.
"Because if she heard you, she'd probably say something like 'I
wish a frying pan would appear and strike you forcefully over the
head.'"
A loud clang resounded through the restaurant.
Heh. At least it wasn't a mallet. :)
A quick wish later, Akane was back in Tofu's bedroom, still
somewhat irritated at Ranma. Okay, so fooling him with her Kasumi
disguise may have been a dirty thing to do. But why did he have to be
so... immature? It was a simple question. Either he liked her, or he
didn't. Why couldn't he just stop acting like a jerk and tell her? Then
she could decide how she felt about him.
You know, a quick and easy way for her to have gotten out of the situation
would have been to wish herself elsewhere, rather than back to her original
location. Of course, this is Ranma 1/2, so logic tends to take a backstep in
such cases.
Maybe she should've just wished herself home, or at least
outside. But what would happen when Ranma went back to male form? She
wasn't quite sure how that worked. Popping back into Tofu's bedroom in
the middle of the night would be just a little difficult to explain,
especially when she wouldn't be disguised.
Hmm. She should have reappeared in the restaurant if anything.
"Of course not. I," Moroboshi proudly proclaimed, "would
*openly* date other girls. That's the kind of guy I am. What nature has
blessed me with is a natural resource that should be shared for the
benefit of as many as possible."
Hah. Eat that Tatewaki Kuno. :)
"Mr. Mendo?!" Nabiki gaped with a horrific expression that was
sure to win her Best Actress of the Year. "What kind of boy *is* this
that you've exposed my poor little cousin to?"
Yeah, just what kind of favour did Mendo owe Ataru, anyway?
He went back over what he knew so far. Fact: Akane had made a
wish before dinner, not telling him what it was. Fact: Akane had a crush
on Tofu, but Tofu only had eyes for Kasumi. Fact: Two wishes that
should've teleported Akane to the restaurant had both brought Kasumi
there instead. Fact: A wish to send Kasumi back had failed for no
apparent reason, but another -- one that hadn't referred to her by name
-- had worked.
Hmm. Shouldn't the wish have a 50-50 chance of bringing either Akane or
Kasumi? I must be missing something here.
Watching surreptitiously from the bedroom through the
cracked-open doorway, Akane shouted silently at her sister. Go, already!
The time limit she'd set on her wish was going to expire... any minute
now. According to the digital clock on Tofu's dresser, it was 7:27 PM.
She knew that she'd made her wish sometime around five-thrity, but when
precisely? "Sometime around" wasn't anywhere near good enough. Why
hadn't she checked and remembered the exact time? Idiot!
five-thirty
"Oh, don't worry." She chuckled. "I won't wish for anything
bad."
"I've learned my lesson." Ya right. :)
AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS: After a change of location and job, I'm
finally settled in enough to continue my ongoing series. Hope you all
enjoyed this chapter, but please let me hear from you whether you did or
not. For the near future, I'll be putting this series aside again to
work on HaM and some other projects. But it'll be back eventually.
Heh. A funny piece and very enjoyable.
Hope this helps.
Phil.
- GK, 1/17/00
Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics.html
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