I'm currently working on my contest entry for the Tokyopop Rising Stars of 
Manga.  Until that's done, I won't be working on much anything else, like 
renting/buying Def Jam's Fight For New York or penning out the last half of For 
Better or For Worst-Case Scenario Chpt. 3.

Till that's done, here's a sampling of what I'm working with.


Downstairs, the Kitchen
 
Kasumi selected a few nicely sized potatoes and carrots, setting the group 
beside the radishes, onions, a stout head of cabbage and a fair cut of pot roast 
beef on the kitchen counter.  Humming to herself, she moved over to the 
utensils, picking up the wooden cutting board, well marked from where countless 
blades bit into the surface, then a brown handled chef’s knife which she sat atop 
the last-mentioned object, tip and blade pointing away from her body.  She 
paused long enough to grab hold of two metal containers to place the food in 
once it was prepared.
 
After washing the food off, she was about to begin the meticulous work, when 
Nabiki, pushed open the kitchen shutters aside.  “Kasumi, let’s talk about a 
few things.”
 
“Can it wait?  I was about to begin cooking dinner.”  She grabbed the 
cabbage and brought it over to the cutting board.
 
The middle daughter fumed.  She didn’t even bother turning around to face 
her!  “It’s been waiting far too long… We talk.  Now.”
 
The older woman paused, knife poised over her produce victim.  Then slowly 
she set the cutting utensil down and looked as her younger, married sister.  “
Please hurry.  Dinner will be late.”
 
Nabiki blurted out.  “I don’t give a damn about dinner!  My life is more 
important!”
 
Understanding dawned on Kasumi.  “Oh, that…”
 
“Yes, that!”
 
She shrugged apologetically.  “I am sorry, but I’m afraid I am not very 
experienced in those matters.  I do hear some things, though so-“
 
The married one grew even more irate.  “Don’t you dare try to dodge the 
issue.  You know exactly what you’ve done, you manipulative little—“ Hastily she 
bit off the rest of the sentence and took a step back, upon seeing the look on 
her sister’s face.
 
It was very flat and neutral.  Like stone.
 
A minute passed, silence running amok in the kitchen.
 
“Well?”
 
Nabiki’s jaw worked up the nerve to reply.  “Well, what?”
 
“Do you wish to finish was you were going to say?”
 
A chill ripped down the married woman’s spine.  “F, forget about it.  It’s 
not important, anyway.”
 
“Oh?”
 
“Yeah.  Forget about it already.”
 
“All right.”  Kasumi’s face grew more expressive.  “Oh, my… dinner will be 
late if I don’t get started on it.”  She turned her back on her sister and 
began chopping into the innocent vegetable before her.
 
For a minute, the homemaker peeled off, rolled, and chopped up the cabbage 
leaves.  Nabiki remained rooted to where she stood, not speaking, not moving.  
Anger still warred inside of her, but it was tempered with restraint… not fear. 
 She went off the wrong end, and she was promptly admonished for her 
outburst.  Perfectly natural to happen, so she was restraining herself, that’s all.
 
Kasumi did not just scare the hell out of her with that look.
 
The above-mentioned wove her voice into the staccato sounds of slicing and 
dicing.  “If you’re wondering about the bet, the twenty-five thousand yen was 
not placed on a whim.”
 
Nabiki jerked out of her introspection.  “What did you say?”
 
“Really, I put up fifty thousand yen on the outcome of the wedding.”
 
The brunette frowned.  “But your winning bet was—“
 
“I know that.  I had two bets made.  One for, one against.”
 
“Really?  There was no mention of someone hedging their bets.”
 
“That’s because I had asked Akane to place the ‘Against’ bet.”
 
The married woman gaped at her older sister’s back.  “You did what?!”
 
Kasumi pushed the cabbage strips into a bowl, and grabbed the carrots, 
chopping them into coins.  “I wanted her to believe that this was just another plot 
to torment her and Ranma, as you have done so in the past.  I had intended for 
her to have hope.”
 
She pushed off one neatly chopped veggie into an awaiting bowl, and went for 
another.  “I had also hoped your bookies would have mentioned her placing the 
bet to you before the wedding.  In fact, I made sure she would let each one 
know that she was placing it.”  A quick shift, and more carrots filled the 
container their brethren occupied.  “I was hoping you would have come to your 
senses by that.”
 
Nabiki felt sickened.  “No one said anything about it.”
 
“Regardless, the money would have been made back if you two did not get 
married.  However, now that you have--”
 
=Ka-TUNK=
 
The younger of the two staggered back as the blade must have chopped through 
the potato’s flesh hard enough to leave a noticeable deep groove in the 
cutting board.
 
Kasumi paused.  “Oh, my.”  She turned to look at her sister.  “Could we talk 
another time?  With you distracting me, I forgot to peel the potatoes.”
 
“…Sure, sis.  Take your time.”
 
She smiled.  “Thank you.”  Turning back around, she began peeling the victim 
of its tough skin, humming to herself with every whittle.
 
Nabiki slid out of the kitchen, keeping the kitchen doors within her vision 
until she had to leave the living room.  Not because she was afraid of her 
sister, she would note to herself.  She was just looking to see if anyone else was 
listening in.
 
Kasumi did not just scare the hell out of her twice in one day.


Adrian Moten

"When officials pursue personal interest and thus oppress the common people, 
this above all is the beginning of the end for a nation."

-Yagyu Munenori, The Book of Family Traditions on the Art of War 

Art: http://goldenarms.deviantart.com/


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