Kasumi hummed merrily to herself as she bent down, holding up her pink skirt with one hand as she ran her mop under the dining room table. I think Thursdays will be my mop days, she noted to herself. For several weeks now, she had been planning a schedule whereby she could visit her father's home a few times a week and do chores for him despite the fact that, sometime in the next year, she would be moving out to live with her soon-to-be-husband, Dr. Tofu Ono. She knew that Soun was ill-prepared to care for the house himself, having not done so in any meaningful way since he met Kasumi’s mother Rumiko decades ago, and Nabiki…
Kasumi giggled at the thought of Nabiki taking over the household duties. Her younger sister was a girl of many talents, but when it came to the domestic arts, she was even more helpless than Akane in all but cooking, and that was saying something. Given the choice, Nabiki would almost certainly hire a maid to help around the house rather than do so herself, regardless of the cost. I should have encouraged both of the girls to help more while they were growing up and gotten them used to it, she thought with a twinge of regret. She smiled at the irony that after herself, the most domestically capable of her three sisters was the one who had not even been raised as a woman. She was so proud of Ranko, though, for her willingness to do the unglamorous work of keeping a home because it brought Akane comfort. As a proper wife should, she mused with an easy smile.
“Good morning, Kasumi,” came a call from the open sliding door to the side yard. It was accompanied by the merry chirping of a few birds and the sound of the garbage collection truck moving down the street outside.
Kasumi looked up with a wave, her humming stopping as she straightened her back and leaned on her mop. “Oh! Good morning, Father! I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were already awake! I'll get breakfast started right away.”
Soun grinned, putting up a hand in reassurance. “No need to apologize, Kasumi. Or to rush, for that matter.” He walked over to her, putting his arm around his eldest daughter’s shoulder and giving her a kiss on her cheek, his mustache tickling her skin slightly. “I love you, you know.”
Kasumi blushed, beaming brightly at her father. “I love you, too, Father! You seem to be in a wonderful mood today!”
Her father nodded, emitting a merry belly laugh. “I am! It's a beautiful day! I’ve just had a great workout, my girls are all doing well, we got the city ordinance passed to increase funding for the park renovations… everything is exactly as it should be.” He motioned to the knee-high wooden table sitting on the porch just outside the sliding door. “And I look forward to continuing my winning streak!”
Kasumi blushed more deeply with a slow nod. Since Ranko’s biological father had left their home, Kasumi had been learning to play shogi in an effort to stave off her father's loneliness, but years of playing competitively against someone who had no qualms about cheating had honed his skill at the game impressively. “One day, Father, I will catch you when you least expect it. I should be finished with my chores no later than lunchtime, and afterward, we can play if you’d like.”
“You might want to wait until after dinner, and pump some sake into him first. You’d probably stand a better chance.”
Kasumi laughed, turning her eyes to the staircase at the sound of the new voice as she shook her head. “Good morning to you too, Nabiki.”
“Hey, Kasumi.” Nabiki approached the pair, leaning in and giving her father a peck on the cheek. “Morning, Daddy.”
Soun smiled, hugging her. “Good morning to you too, Nabiki. Any big plans for today?”
The brunette glanced over the empty table, frowning slightly at the notable absence of food on it. “Still working with the Yokai people to deal with the fallout from Ranko’s canceled show in Australia. We’re starting to put together a plan for a third album contract, too. I gotta tell you, Daddy, part of me wishes Ranko would let me find her a new label. These guys are clueless sometimes, but, at least it means I can rake ‘em across the coals when it comes to contract negotiations.”
Soun flashed his daughter a prideful grin. “I'm sure you're doing a wonderful job, sweetheart. Your sister is lucky to have your help.”
Nabiki shrugged with a confident smirk. “Yeah, I guess she is. But, I mean, she's gotta work over tens of thousands of people a night. I think I can handle a boardroom full. Oh, and speaking of helping, I finished up the updates to the city budget proposal for you. Everything's in your briefcase.”
Soun laughed, looking over his daughters. “I don't know what this old man would do without you two.”
“Probably starve,” Nabiki said with a playful sneer, glancing back at the table. “And speaking of starving…”
Kasumi laughed, shaking her head again. “I suppose that's my cue. If you'll excuse me, Father…”
“Yes, some breakfast would be lovely, Kasumi.”
The girls both gasped at the new voice that had entered the conversation, and Soun whirled to find a diminutive figure standing in the entryway. He immediately dropped to his knees, prostrating himself on the still-damp wooden floor. “Master! You're… you're back?!”
Happosai laughed, resting his fists on his hips. “You bet! Did you miss me?”
Not remotely, Nabiki thought with an icy glare.
“Grandfather Happosai, welcome!” Kasumi smiled at him, much though Nabiki could easily see the disingenuity of her sister’s outward happiness. Kasumi, honey, you’re a sweetheart, but you’re an absolutely shit liar.
“What brings you back after all this time,” Soun asked, swallowing hard. “... Master?”
Happosai laughed heartily. “Soun, my boy, I’ve been gone for nearly three years! I had to come and check on you! So tell me, what have I missed? The place seems… a bit emptier than I remember.”
Nabiki’s head drooped forward into her palm. “Hoo boy, here we go,” she murmured under her breath into her hand.
“Well, Master, you see…” Soun scrambled to his feet. “I, um, well…”
Nabiki grabbed her sister’s left wrist, holding up Kasumi’s hand. “Dr. Tofu finally popped the question!” At least that’s one of us off limits to you, asshole.
Happosai chuckled, nodding to himself. “That’s wonderful, dear. And you? What are you up to these days?” He eyed her tight denim jumper ravenously, and it sent a shiver of disgust up Nabiki’s spine.
“...Daddy got elected mayor! Can you believe it?!” Nabiki waved her hands defensively, though she knew she would quickly run out of other things to talk about – she had a guess which of the Tendo girls the old pervert was really asking after, and it was likely not one of the two in the room, but the one whose face was plastered on billboards in a dozen countries at the moment.
With a grin, Happosai hopped off the floor, jumping high enough to slap Soun hard on the back. Soun stumbled forward, almost collapsing onto the tabletop. “Well, congratulations! I knew you had it in you, Soun!” The ancient sensei landed on his feet atop the dining room table. “I notice Genma’s not here. Where did he get off to?” He knew full well where, as he’d left his other disciple back at Master Chingensai’s dojo, but he wanted to hear the Tendos’ side of the story. “Still sleeping off a bottle upstairs, I’d guess?”
“Mr. Saotome doesn’t live here anymore,” Kasumi said, an uncharacteristic edge in her voice. “Not ever since he…” She trailed off as Nabiki squeezed her wrist hard.
Soun stepped forward, a quiet resignation in his voice. Nabiki shook her head at him, but he winced and gave her a little shrug. “Master, you remember what happened to… Ranma, right before you left, right? With the Full-Body Cat’s Tongue?”
“Well, fuck. Here we go,” Nabiki exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air and letting them clap loudly to her sides. “Just couldn’t keep your mouth shut, Daddy.”
“It… rings a bell.” Happosai sneered unsettlingly, as if he were about to tear into his favorite dessert. The hungry look in his eyes turned Nabiki’s stomach. “Why, what happened?”
Nabiki glared, shaking her head vehemently. “Don’t worry about it. She’s moved on. Far away from here.”
“She?” Happosai turned back up to Soun, still standing on his dining room table. He stroked his chin in mock curiosity. “Soun, what aren’t you telling me? What’s happened to dear Ranma?” He affected a grandfatherly tone of concern that Nabiki immediately recognized as fake.
“Don’t do it,” Nabiki mouthed silently behind him, flailing her hands frantically at her father over the old man’s shoulder.
“Oh, Grandfather, if you please,” Kasumi implored, returning to the room after depositing her mop back in the broom closet in the hallway. “We don’t call her that anymore. She goes by Ranko now.”
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Nabiki groaned, whirling to glare openly at her sister. “Kasumi? Big sister?” She stepped closer to Kasumi, growling through her gritted teeth. ”Shut. Up. We don’t need to talk about that.”
“Nabiki Tendo! I can’t believe you!” Kasumi gasped, putting her hands on her hips admonishingly. “Ranko is proud of the woman she is now, and we should be proud of her, too. I won’t have our sister treated like something we should be ashamed of in this house.”
I’m not ashamed of her, Kasumi. I just don’t want to give the king of the lechers a map to her fucking doorstep, Nabiki thought with a heavy sigh.
“Woman? Sister?” Happosai’s voice rose an octave in curiosity, turning to Kasumi. “How did…”
Kasumi smiled proudly. “Ranko lives full-time as a young woman now. In fact, she’s no longer able to take her old male form at all, not even if she tries. She and Akane were married last November, and Father formally added Ranko to our family registry as his daughter, meaning Ranko Tendo is our little sister now. And she’s just incredible, Grandfather.”
Nabiki growled lowly, shaking her head in dismay with a loud sigh. Might as well have stuck an apple in her mouth and put her on a fucking silver platter, Kasumi. I love you, sis, but fuck me, you don’t think shit through before you speak sometimes. Thank the gods I don’t ever have to take you with me into a boardroom. You’d get eaten alive.
“She… married… girl…” Genma didn’t mention that… Happosai’s eyes were wider than rice bowls, and a grin crossed his face, filled with so much dark joy and wonder that it seemed as if he’d found Aladdin’s magic lamp buried in a pile of satin unmentionables.
Nabiki thought she saw his body physically quivering. She was glad Kasumi hadn’t started breakfast; she’d long since lost her appetite. “Honestly, Daddy. Do we have to put up with this? I mean, look at him. That’s your youngest daughter he’s thinking about with that disgusting look on his face.”
“Soun, my boy?” Happosai turned back to his disciple, a toxic brew of excitement and authority in his eyes. “Where can I find dear Ranko now, exactly?”
“She’s on tour,” Nabiki blurted forcefully. “Out of the country. Will be until Christmas. She’s a singer, and she’s traveling all over hell, with a security detail and everything. So, I’m afraid she’s quite unavailable. Sorry.” She shot Kasumi a don’t you dare contradict me glare as she spoke, crossing her arms over her chest.
Happosai’s spine seemed to melt, and the diminutive old man slumped in disappointment. “I see. Well, that’s unfortunate.” He turned to Nabiki. “If memory serves, you’re pretty handy with a camera, Nabiki. I don’t suppose you have any… pictures?”
Nabiki shook her head. “Nope, sorry! I don’t really do much photography anym…”
“Nabiki,” her father interrupted. “Surely there’d be no harm in letting the master see the family photo album, now, would there? There’s nothing untoward in there. Be a dear and get it for us, would you, please?”
I don’t know why I bother. I’m over here trying to look out for Ranko and Akane, and I’ve got Tweedle-dad and Tweedle-dumbass coming up behind me and serving them up to Uncle Gropey. I swear, nobody thinks this shit through, especially not where that old pervert is concerned. Nabiki seethed as she stormed into Soun’s bedroom, retrieving a large square binder bound in a green leather reminiscent of Komodo dragon skin, stuffed six centimeters thick with celluloid pages that crinkled loudly each time her arm moved while carrying it. I’m sorry, girls. I tried to protect you. She thrust the book forcefully into her father’s hands without making eye contact with him.
“Do you not want to show the master the pictures, Nabiki?” Soun frowned in disappointment at the young brunette as she stepped away from him.
Nabiki shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly again. “No. I do not.” She sighed heavily. Sure, I used to sell photos to Kuno, but he at least liked Ranko and Akane. He’d have married either of them if he’d gotten the chance. This old pervert just wants to… She shuddered, refusing to even complete the thought in the silence of her own mind.
“I will, Father,” Kasumi said, reaching out for the photo album. Soun handed it to her, and she walked to the table, sitting cross-legged at her usual place on the floor next to it. Happosai hopped down from the tabletop to join her, stretching his body upward to peer over the book despite his impossibly short frame.
“So this is Ranko now, Grandfather. Our little sister,” Kasumi said with no small measure of pride, opening the book and flipping to one of the last pages first. “Ever since her wedding.”
The aged martial artist peered over the photo album, his eyes bulging as he took in a photo of Ranko in a stunning, pearl-encrusted wedding gown, clutching the arm of a woman in a white kimono as she ascended a ramp to join another bride. Akane was radiant as well, and while Ranko’s face could not be seen from the angle the photo was taken from, Akane’s eyes looked as if she was seeing the sun for the first time. “... Amazing. And Nodoka was there?! I… did not expect that.”
“She’s won over a great many people, Master. Quite impressive, that girl.” Soun nodded sagely.
“Oh, yes. Quite impressive indeed,” Happosai said with a grin.
Nabiki rolled her eyes as Happosai responded, leaning her back on the wall standoffishly. “He didn’t mean her tits, jerk.”
Kasumi clicked her tongue in disapproval. “Be polite, Nabiki.” She flipped to another page in the book. “Ah, here’s Ranko with her other adopted family.” She motioned to a photo of Ranko in a red dress, surrounded by Akane and five women Happosai did not recognize. They were leaning on what appeared to be some sort of temporary raised platform in the middle of a city street. “This is her adopted mother Hana, and her sisters: Izumi, Mei, Yui, and Ayako,” Kasumi called out as she pointed to each of the women in the photo in turn. “She met them at the bar she works at.”
“Four… more… sisters?” Happosai’s face seemed to flush, less like an embarrassed blush, and more like a dumpling that was slowly steaming.
Kasumi nodded softly. “They’re all lovely people, Grandfather. They’ve been so wonderful and helpful to her.” She flipped to another page, beaming down at the Polaroid photo of her youngest sister on the stage at the Phoenix. She wore a black leather half-jacket over a red tee shirt with a black firebird printed on it and a black pleated skirt, and she held her right fist in the air as her left held a microphone close to her lips. Her hair was tied back in a simple, unbraided ponytail. Four male musicians Happosai had never seen dotted the back of the stage, behind which the word RISE was projected on the wall in white light.
Happosai grinned wolfishly. “She really does perform, huh?”
With a bright smile, Kasumi nodded emphatically. “Oh, yes! She has concerts for thousands - tens of thousands - of people now. I’ll play some of her music for you in a moment if you like. She’s really something, Grandfather! And her band has grown even more since this photo was taken.”
She flipped to another page, featuring Ranko and Akane sitting on a Hawaiian beach holding hands. Ranko wore a black one-piece bathing suit printed with pink hibiscus flowers and a white straw hat adorned with a pink bow, and Akane wore a yellow bikini top with a blue bottom. Behind them, a short brunette girl in a pink sports bra and black bikini bottom was being held in the air by a taller blonde in a white bikini, ankle deep in the cerulean waters of the Pacific Ocean. The two girls were locked in a kiss.
“That’s Hitomi, and this is Emi. They’re Ranko’s good friends, and her backup dancers,” Kasumi said, tapping the girls in the photo with her finger as she named them.
Happosai needed no help to draw his attention to them. His face reddened further, swallowing hard as he stared at the photo as if trying to memorize it. His breathing quickened, becoming somewhat labored, as if he was physically exerted.
“She’s even gotten to perform outside of her normal band stuff,” Kasumi said, flipping to a new spread of pages. On the left, Ranko stood on stage in an amphitheater somewhere in a teal dress under a black corset with a large matching bow in her hair. She was beaming and giving the crowd a soft wave with her fingers pressed together, as if she were in a beauty pageant. On the right side, she was clad in what seemed to be a vintage wedding dress, and she was bent over a boy in a tuxedo as if kissing him.
“Here she is performing Phantom of the Opera for her school musical, and over here… she actually got to be a Disney princess for a day! On Akane’s birthday, too! She was so adorable; you should have seen her!”
Happosai nodded, his face a brighter red than his gi. “Yes… I… sh…” His words came out almost as a wheeze as his eyes darted back and forth between the pictures. Nabiki was shocked to note that he wasn’t drooling on himself. Yet, she thought darkly.
Kasumi turned the page again, landing on a photo of Ranko from her first day at Yusue High, wearing her red-and-white school pinafore, with a red ribbon tied in her hair with a large bow. She held a giant pink teddy bear in her arms, hugging it around the waist and smiling over its shoulder at the camera.
Happosai’s eyes widened further as he placed his palms on the table to support his weight and leaned over the book. “She… went to school… as a… g… girl?” His voice was low and raspy, as if he could barely catch his breath.
Kasumi nodded. “Just graduated, too! She had her first day of college a few days ago! Can you believe it? She couldn’t really afford it, but she earned a scholarship for athletics.” Flipping to another page, Kasumi indicated a photo of Ranko standing at the head of a group of thirteen other girls, all wearing identical red, white and silver cheerleading uniforms emblazoned with silver silhouettes of lions. Ranko was all smiles, a large silver bow in her hair as she thrust her fist skyward. On either side of her were pyramids of three cheerleaders, and another pair were twisting in mid-air flanking her.
“She… I…” Happosai sputtered, seeming to wobble a bit on his backside as he stared at the fourteen girls in their barely-there pleated skirts. Nabiki could swear she saw the individual veins in his forehead bulging.
“Ugh. This is so gross. I can’t watch this shit anymore; it’s making my skin crawl,” Nabiki spat disgustedly, popping her weight off the wall with her shoulders. “I’m going upst…” Her voice was cut off at the sound of a loud thud coming from the direction of the table. Nabiki whipped her head around to take in its source as the sound of rattling ceramic from the shaken tea cups echoed through the dining room.
The elderly man’s head lay face-down atop the celluloid page. He was not moving, his entire form propped limply against the edge of the table.
“Grandfather, are you…” Kasumi rested her hand gently on Happosai’s back, giving his shoulder a firm shake and receiving no response. “Oh, dear! Grandfather?!”