[Ranma][FanFic] Quiet Time

Quiet Time

A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by June "KaraOhki" Geraci
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
August 24, 2003

Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, and I'm temporarily borrowing them.
This story was written for entertainment purposes only, and is not to be
used commercially.  Enjoy!

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DING-DONG!

"Would someone answer that, please?  My hands are full!"

"Okay, Kasumi!"  Akane ran to the door and opened it.  "Oh, hello!  Yes,
thank you.  I'll bring it to her right away."  A few seconds later she was
in the kitchen, holding a thick manila envelope.  "That was the mailman.
Where do you want me to put this?"

Kasumi glanced at the return address on the envelope and beamed.  "Up on
the shelf with my cookbooks, dear.  This way it won't get dirty."

"What is it?"

"Just a little project I'm going to try."

Akane wanted to ask for more information, but Kasumi had returned to her
cooking.

*****

Breakfast, the next day:

"I would like to ask all of you a favor."

That simple sentence was enough to stop all breakfast conversation.  It
even stopped the morning battle for food between the Saotome men, as the
eyes of all locked onto Kasumi.

"What would that be, Daughter?" asked Soun.

"I need some quiet time here at the house, for a project I'm working on.
That means that there is to be no fighting, no yelling, no loud noises of
any kind, for at least two hours this morning and tomorrow morning.  Can I
have everyone's cooperation?"

Ranma shrugged.  "Today's no problem for me.  I'll be at school, and--" he
gestured at Akane--"she'll be with me, so if she hits me you won't be able
to hear it."  His little speech was concluded with a grunt, as Akane's
elbow hit his ribs.

"Fine by me," said Nabiki, "but what about tomorrow?  Do you want us to
all make plans to leave or something?"

Kasumi blushed.  "No, that wouldn't be fair.  This is your home, too.
Just try to be quiet for me."

Soun and Genma readily agreed to remain quiet that morning, after all,
board games weren't noisy, and Kasumi relaxed.  All she had to do was set
up her equipment and find a comfortable place to sit and take notes.

*****

"Miss Hinako wouldn't have drained you if you hadn't been rude!"

"Well I wouldn't have been rude if you'd minded your business!"

"Would you two be quiet?  We're nearly home."

Akane glared at Ranma one more time before turning to her sister.  "It's
not morning any more, Nabiki.  Maybe Kasumi's done with whatever it is
she's working on today."

The three young people walked up to the gate, entered the house, and took
off their shoes.  The house seemed quiet enough, but something about it
wasn't right.  Moments later they discovered a new hole in the wall.  The
grass beside the pond looked rather trampled, and there was a small round
hole that hadn't been there the day before.  The grass was also littered
with feathers.

Nabiki found Kasumi in the kitchen, working on dinner.  She looked rather
worn out.  "What happened, Sis?"

"Happosai.  He came running through with most of the women in the
neighborhood chasing him.  They ran right over my project."

"That's too bad," came a voice from the doorway.  Ranma stood there.  "Are
you gonna try again tomorrow?  I'll try to keep any trouble away from
you."

Kasumi nodded determinedly.  "Absolutely."

*****

Kasumi set up her equipment upstairs the next day.  Perhaps next to the
pond had been asking for trouble.  Unfortunately, despite the family's
best efforts to keep things quiet, the rest of the world refused to
cooperate.

"Airen, Shampoo bring too too delicious breakfast for you!"

"Genma Saotome!  I demand that you pay your bar bill.  NOW!"

"Akane, what are those ninjas doing on the wall?"

"Hello, this is Nabiki Tendo.  We need our wall repaired.  Again."

*****

"I can't believe how patient Kasumi is being," remarked Akane.  "If it was
me, I'd have clobbered everybody by now."

"Yeah, I know."

"RANMA!!!"

"Owwwww."

*****

"Two hours a day, two days a week.  Is that too much to ask?"

The assembled members of the Tendo and Saotome families stood before
Kasumi, who seemed to have developed a permanent twitch.

"No," murmured Akane.  "I'm sorry."

"It's not my fault they won't go away!" exclaimed Ranma.

"The master does have poor timing.  I tried to explain to him, but--"

"I know, Father."  Kasumi turned away, and twisted her hands.  "I only
have two more weeks before the program ends.  I feel like such a failure."
She slowly walked upstairs, and everyone heard her bedroom door slam shut.

"Sis never slams doors," remarked Nabiki.  "She's upset," she added
unnecessarily.  "Very upset."

"I wish I knew what she was doing," said Akane.  "Maybe we could help."

"I tried to ask," said Ranma.  "The only thing Kasumi said was that this
was her project, and it was her responsibility to do it herself."


*****

Everyone was acutely aware that Kasumi had two days left to do her
"project".  They didn't realize how serious it had become until she
packed their suitcases and booked them into an inn, where she told them to
stay until the evening of the second day.  This order was given with such
a glare that no one dared argue.

The house looked quiet when they returned.  Soun cautiously pushed the
door open, and everyone filed inside.

Kasumi sat in the center of the room, surrounded by the remains of a book,
and tons of shredded paper.  Her eyes were red, and she was sniffling.
When she saw everyone looking at her, she got to her feet and began
shouting.

"Are all of you trouble magnets?  You weren't gone FIVE minutes before it
began!  Kuno ran in here, demanding to know where Ranma had taken Akane.
He was sure you'd kidnapped her!  It took me fifteen minutes to get rid of
him, and then his sister showed up!  She insisted that Akane had spirited
'her' Ranma away somewhere.  I told her you were in Hokkaido.  It was the
only way to get rid of her!"

"Kasumi," began Soun.

"BE QUIET!!!  I'm not done!  I got everything set up, and Shampoo burst
through the wall," Kasumi pointed, "and it fell on my equipment!  When she
realized I was alone she just left, without even saying she was sorry!
Then Ukyo used the hole in the wall to come in and messed everything up
again!"

"Once she was gone, I was sure it was over.  There wasn't anyone else left
who could bother me.  I set everything up at the other end of the garden,
where it was quiet, and then--" Kasumi sobbed.  "There was a huge
explosion, and Ryoga came through THAT wall.  He said it was all Ranma's
fault that my things got broken, and then--"

"Then what?" asked Akane.

"I lost my temper.  Ryoga probably came down in the harbor somewhere."

"The harbor?" asked Genma.  "What did you do to him?"

Kasumi reached behind her back, and produced a huge mallet.  "I used
this."

"But what were you trying to do that was so important?" persisted Genma.
"You never told us."

"I volunteered for Project FeederWatch," responded Kasumi.  "People all
over Japan set up birdfeeders, and for two days every week they make note
of what birds come, and how many of them.  Then everyone sends their
results to Tokyo University, and they compile them.  They use this
information to keep track of the types of birds living here in Japan, the
migratory patterns, and the bird population in general.  Do you now how
much money I spent on feeders that kept getting destroyed?"

Genma began to laugh.  "And you're upset about that?  Why, if it was
something important, such as--"

WHAM!!!  Kasumi was out of the room and upstairs in a flash.

Ranma shaded his eyes as his father became a dim spot on the horizon.
"Looks like he'll be joining Ryoga in the harbor.  Nice hang time."  He
turned to Akane.  "Serves the old man right.  If it was important to
Kasumi, then it was important.  When'd you teach her to use the mallet?"

Akane grinned.  "I didn't teach her.  She taught me."

Her fiance gulped.  "Remind me never to make her mad."

-----------------------


I don't know if any of the universities in Japan have a feeder watch
program, but I'm part of Project FeederWatch for Cornell University's
Department of Ornithology.  Two consecutive days a week, between fall and
spring, we count the birds at our feeders, and send the information to the
university.  I felt this was something Kasumi might enjoy doing, if she
ever had the peace and quiet to get it done.





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way, I'm also lonely this autumn evening Basho