[Ranma 1/2: Kasumi Tendo Drabbles 6-10 | Living]
Confidense
If Kasumi were good, mother would get better. If she visits her everyday, mother will be able to breath again. If mother can breath, she can talk. Then Kasumi can chat with her and learn from her and have a mommy that's like everyone else's.
I'm sorry, Kasumi-chan. Your mother, she...
No, mommy wouldn't leave. She's over there, right daddy? Mommy's right...over...
There is a body, covered in white. White like snow and mommy's smiles and the rice balls they used to make.
If she smiled, everyone would like her. If she cooked, they would like her better still. Then the ladies next door wouldn't whisper and the children wouldn't stare.
...heard that her mother passed. Tendou-san is left with three daughters.
Not even a son...?
She doesn't like the way they look at her. It feels like she isn't even there.
If she did well in her studies, father would be pleased. If father were happy, he would smile again. If he smiled, Akane-chan wouldn't cry. And if Akane-chan stopped crying everything would be better.
Daddy, daddy, I got a good score!
Ah...That is good, Kasumi-chan.
But that wasn't a smile. Words didn't matter when daddy made that face.
If she is herself, what everyone else says does not matter.
Hello there. My name is Tendou Kasumi. It's a pleasure to meet you!
Misdemeanor
"I hate you." She never expected to hear those words from anyone; never at all from her sister.
"Nabiki..."
"Go away!"
What could she do but obey?
Youth
Kasumi has never learned to say 'no'. She's always been nice, since she was a little girl and learned to share. If her friend wanted what she had, Kasumi would offer it and say, "here you are". Her friend would be happy; anything it was worth it, for that smile.
But not always.
There was a love note in her locker the last day of middle school; it said 'meet me behind the school, please, I have something to tell you'. They would graduate tomorrow; she couldn't decline. It wouldn't be right, to leave them there. She doesn't know this Souji-san. An underclassman? A first year? Whoever it was, she would say, "Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm sorry, I can't, but thank you."
So she did. So it went. He was two years younger and very nervous, even under her most reassuring smile. "I-I like you very much!" he told her. "Please go out with me!"
"I'm sorry," she said as she'd planned. "I cannot-"
He was closer than she'd thought, more insistent. Taller than her, broader, and then there were hands clenching on her shoulders and a mouth over hers.
"Please," he said again, pulling away. Blushing.
Kasumi can't answer. Her first kiss, like this?
His hands fall away. He looks devastated.
"Souji-san." Somehow, she manages to smile, bowing. "I cannot. I..." No, no, she will not cry. Not in front of this little boy.
All she can do it walk away.
Fullfilment
Kasumi's never been very good at crying. There is nothing graceful about the way her sobs heave her shoulders, or the tears running down her face and the stuffy, snotty nose, or how her voice never sounds quite right for hours after. And the hiccups, well, they do not go away even when she holds her breath and counts to thirty.
But when he gazes into her eyes and asks, "Will you marry me?", she doesn't really care. The tears are only to show just how happy she is.
OMAKE: Frankly, My Dear, This is Absurd
When Kasumi came home from visiting Tofu-sensei one afternoon, Nabiki was waiting for her at the gate. Smiling, not smirking. How rare. "Hey sis, I got you something."
Oh my. She hiked her purse higher onto her shoulder. "Thank you, dear." She certainly hoped it wasn't another of those American romance novels. They were lovely reads, and a good way to practice her English, but she was still in the middle of the last one. Which she did hope to finish sometime soon; Reginald-san was rushing off to save his damsel, and she just had to know how it was to end.
Nabiki gestured towards the house. "Come on."
Obliging her, Kasumi followed. Into the house, up the stairs (changing shoes, of course), and to the door of her very room. "Close your eyes, Kasumi~" a light, teasing voice, and once again she did as she was told. Her younger sister wouldn't tease without more warning; and she was too excited to be playing a trick.
Taking her hand, Nabiki led Kasumi into the room and to her desk, A surprise awaited there.
"Now open them." The younger girl smirked.
Kasumi looked and saw a box on her desk, and one on the floor. A mirror? "It's lovely."
A frown. "...it's a computer."
Oh. She'd heard of those. "Thank you very much, Nabiki-chan."
"You'll like it, sis. Give it a try." She was forced to sit in the chair without much trouble and muddle through a complicated set of instruction that told her what to do. Alone, of course; her sister had better things to do.
And that is how Kasumi discovered the joys of the internet.
If Kasumi were good, mother would get better. If she visits her everyday, mother will be able to breath again. If mother can breath, she can talk. Then Kasumi can chat with her and learn from her and have a mommy that's like everyone else's.
I'm sorry, Kasumi-chan. Your mother, she...
No, mommy wouldn't leave. She's over there, right daddy? Mommy's right...over...
There is a body, covered in white. White like snow and mommy's smiles and the rice balls they used to make.
If she smiled, everyone would like her. If she cooked, they would like her better still. Then the ladies next door wouldn't whisper and the children wouldn't stare.
...heard that her mother passed. Tendou-san is left with three daughters.
Not even a son...?
She doesn't like the way they look at her. It feels like she isn't even there.
If she did well in her studies, father would be pleased. If father were happy, he would smile again. If he smiled, Akane-chan wouldn't cry. And if Akane-chan stopped crying everything would be better.
Daddy, daddy, I got a good score!
Ah...That is good, Kasumi-chan.
But that wasn't a smile. Words didn't matter when daddy made that face.
If she is herself, what everyone else says does not matter.
Hello there. My name is Tendou Kasumi. It's a pleasure to meet you!
Misdemeanor
"I hate you." She never expected to hear those words from anyone; never at all from her sister.
"Nabiki..."
"Go away!"
What could she do but obey?
Youth
Kasumi has never learned to say 'no'. She's always been nice, since she was a little girl and learned to share. If her friend wanted what she had, Kasumi would offer it and say, "here you are". Her friend would be happy; anything it was worth it, for that smile.
But not always.
There was a love note in her locker the last day of middle school; it said 'meet me behind the school, please, I have something to tell you'. They would graduate tomorrow; she couldn't decline. It wouldn't be right, to leave them there. She doesn't know this Souji-san. An underclassman? A first year? Whoever it was, she would say, "Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm sorry, I can't, but thank you."
So she did. So it went. He was two years younger and very nervous, even under her most reassuring smile. "I-I like you very much!" he told her. "Please go out with me!"
"I'm sorry," she said as she'd planned. "I cannot-"
He was closer than she'd thought, more insistent. Taller than her, broader, and then there were hands clenching on her shoulders and a mouth over hers.
"Please," he said again, pulling away. Blushing.
Kasumi can't answer. Her first kiss, like this?
His hands fall away. He looks devastated.
"Souji-san." Somehow, she manages to smile, bowing. "I cannot. I..." No, no, she will not cry. Not in front of this little boy.
All she can do it walk away.
Fullfilment
Kasumi's never been very good at crying. There is nothing graceful about the way her sobs heave her shoulders, or the tears running down her face and the stuffy, snotty nose, or how her voice never sounds quite right for hours after. And the hiccups, well, they do not go away even when she holds her breath and counts to thirty.
But when he gazes into her eyes and asks, "Will you marry me?", she doesn't really care. The tears are only to show just how happy she is.
OMAKE: Frankly, My Dear, This is Absurd
When Kasumi came home from visiting Tofu-sensei one afternoon, Nabiki was waiting for her at the gate. Smiling, not smirking. How rare. "Hey sis, I got you something."
Oh my. She hiked her purse higher onto her shoulder. "Thank you, dear." She certainly hoped it wasn't another of those American romance novels. They were lovely reads, and a good way to practice her English, but she was still in the middle of the last one. Which she did hope to finish sometime soon; Reginald-san was rushing off to save his damsel, and she just had to know how it was to end.
Nabiki gestured towards the house. "Come on."
Obliging her, Kasumi followed. Into the house, up the stairs (changing shoes, of course), and to the door of her very room. "Close your eyes, Kasumi~" a light, teasing voice, and once again she did as she was told. Her younger sister wouldn't tease without more warning; and she was too excited to be playing a trick.
Taking her hand, Nabiki led Kasumi into the room and to her desk, A surprise awaited there.
"Now open them." The younger girl smirked.
Kasumi looked and saw a box on her desk, and one on the floor. A mirror? "It's lovely."
A frown. "...it's a computer."
Oh. She'd heard of those. "Thank you very much, Nabiki-chan."
"You'll like it, sis. Give it a try." She was forced to sit in the chair without much trouble and muddle through a complicated set of instruction that told her what to do. Alone, of course; her sister had better things to do.
And that is how Kasumi discovered the joys of the internet.