Story: Double Trouble

It felt good to help people. Doctor Tofu enjoyed his work at the clinic. Working here gave him the opportunity to really make his mark. Sure, he wouldn't go down in history or anything like that, but who cared about that? What really mattered was helping ordinary people overcome everyday maladies, to help them live their lives, to help them make their own impact on the world around them. He was as the stone cast into the pond, and the people he healed the ripples spread across the surface. That was reward enough.

He looked outside at the Furinkan streets. There was an odd kind of beauty to this landscape. Something about knowing there were people out there living their lives, getting on with their own affairs had a strangely pleasing aesthetic. The light sparkling on the river, the clouds gently moving across the brilliantly blue sky. A truly radiant day!

"Good afternoon Doctor Tofu!"

Though not half as radiant as the angel to stride through his front door. In some popular American horror stories there are beings whose mere visage could drive a man to madness. Their dimensions wrought with non-euclidean geometry that the human mind could ill comprehend, occupying space in ways that did not fit a deeply ingrained understanding of reality so obvious and blatant that humans had yet to develop the language to properly explain it.

So bear in mind, dear reader, that if one of those beings were to stroll through the room at this very moment and stand between Doctor Tofu and Kasumi Tendo, then the good doctor would have merely grinned vacantly, broken a few multi-pronged tendrils and then resumed staring blissfully at Kasumi's radiant face. For his mind was currently too far gone for madness to reach. Unfortunately he was the same distance from reason as well.

"Good afternoon Kasumi!" Tofu cheerfully replied. His glasses fogged over, and all of a sudden his skeleton Betsy was sitting on his head like a hat. Oh dear how did that get there, he didn't remember moving her? Of course he's using 'I don't remember' in the same way a politician generally does: He actually did do it. To the point: The good Doctor shifted his head to the side, causing the inanimate skeleton to shift off his head and snake down his body. "Oh, Betsy! Getting on my head like that was quite the rib!"

Kasumi chuckled at his antics, and the world seemed to shine so, so much brighter. Tofu danced around with the skeleton, leading it around in a world class level waltz.

"Oh Doctor, you're so humorous."

"What does my upper arm have to do with anything?"

Meanwhile, unknown to either of them, patients were very hurriedly evacuating the building. They knew better than to be within arm's length of Doctor Tofu when he'd seen Kasumi Tendo in the last hour. He was usually such a good Doctor. A simple touch from him could heal all ills. But when that girl was around, his head went elsewhere and those angelic fingers turned absolutely devilish.

"What can I do for you today?" he asked, shifting from waltz to tango in the blink of an eye.

"I'm sorry to say this isn't a social visit," Kasumi said, beaming brighter than the sun, brighter even than she had ever before in the good Doctor's mind. "You see, I was wondering if you could lend me some maternity books."

Though neither madness or reason could reach the far off place that Tofu's mind had ventured off to, those words certainly reached. "Maternity books?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly.

"Yes," she nodded. That happiness took on an entirely different context all of a sudden. "You see... Father has established an arranged marriage involving the son of a friend of his. A most charming young man named Ranma, and..."

And his mind automatically filled in the rest of the blanks. Normally the eldest would be the first considered for such a proposal. And of course who would ever decline the opportunity to be married to such a perfect woman as Kasumi? A fool, that's who. She was pretty, she was kind and thoughtful in her every action, she was an ideal housewife, and of course she was a goddess walking the earth in human form...

Unfortunately for all involved, he was so thoroughly lost in despair that he missed Kasumi saying the vital words "He's hitting it off quite well with Akane."

"Uh huh..." Tofu sighed in absolute despair. Oh, how dark and miserable the world suddenly seemed! The colours were more faded, life lost its lustre. Could anyone possibly be suffering so much as he right now?

<hr>
In his time, Ranma Saotome had seen many scary things. Perils of martial arts training and all that. He'd fought guys built like mountains juggling swords the size of a human child and he'd fled from rampaging bulls the size of trains. Why, even this morning he had glimpsed the most terrifying sight of them all: A little orange tabby in someone's window staring out at the world and plotting its downfall.

But even with all of those hairy experiences Ranma had never in his life felt mortal terror like this. It was bizarre. He should be feeling a flight or fight reaction, yet both were muted to the point of uselessness. He couldn't move. He couldn't look away. Not because he was paralysed with fear: If anything that was the scariest part of all. He was stuck staring at it because he <i>wanted to look at it</i> and <i>wanted to be near it</i> even though his instincts were telling him, screaming at him, that he was in absolute mortal peril.

That visage that was making him feel so? None other than the smiling face of his new fiancee (present day form) Akane Tendo.

"Hello dear!" she said, sounding sweet as sugar. "It's lunchtime. Shall we eat our lunch together today?"

What could he do but nod silently, while being keenly aware of the jealous glares being shot at his back by literally every other student. Going with Akane right now was a bad idea. The worst idea. Something terrible was going to happen to him. Yet he couldn't resist, couldn't muster the will to fight back when she took him by the arm and led him off through the school. Gosh she smelled nice.

No, wait! Stop that, cut it out! This is what you were afraid of, right? Girls distracting you from what really mattered. Training. Finding a cure. I mean, sure enough in a couple years time the two of you were apparently set to get hitched, but - But he wasn't ready for being walked through a school corridor with a pretty girl on his arm! Never even mind the fact that the girl in question was normally really bad tempered.

"Uh, what's this about?" he asked.

"I've been thinking," Akane said. Cue easy joke here. "If we're going to make this thing work, we need to spend more time together. Get to know each other a little more. You've seen how our future..." She trailed off and blushed for some reason. "You've seen how the future us are around each other, right? Doesn't that sound like something worth trying for?"

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense?" Ranma mused. "If it helps me get as strong as him then - Ow! What was that for?"

"Oh, sorry! Just swatting a fly on your back!" Akane lied. "Here we are! This will do nicely. Please sit down under this tree and we'll have our lunch together."

Okay. Ranma leaned casually back against the tree. This whole thing was so confusing, and Akane didn't make it much better when she sat down next to him. Their shoulders touched, and then all of a sudden she shot away from him like he was on fire or something. Weird girl.

"Here," she said. "Kasumi made this for you. Um... As your fiancee, I think I'm supposed to feed you?"

Well, wasn't this a distinct alteration from 'I am a martial artist too, I can take care of myself!' Ranma could only watch in total disbelief as this same girl took the chopsticks, split them cleanly and picked up - Were those sushi cakes? With rice balls, and a little container with some kind of sauce in it that Ranma didn't recognise by sight or smell, but it sure smelled delicious! His mouth was already watering by the time Akane scooped up one of the rice balls in her chopsticks, dipped it in that sauce and carefully lifted it towards Ranma's gaping maw.

Divine! He didn't know his tastebuds could have this kind of reaction!

"Good, huh?" Akane asked. His nodding answer was so enthusiastic it made his pigtail flop over his head and hit him right between the eyes.  "Kasumi's the best chef in Furinkan. You're going to be eating quite well from now on. Aren't you lucky? You get this food, a chance to see how your life will turn out, and a cute fiancee you can train with."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about training," Ranma said around his food. "I'll take care of that."

Akane smiled sweetly up at him. Funny. His danger sense was going again... But nah, it was probably nothing. He must be misreading her. Look at that smile! It was the same as in the classroom. Aha! Of course, that made perfect sense! What he was actually feeling was the longing in her heart, aimed directly at him. Well, he was pretty hunky and cool. Was it any wonder she'd fall so hard for him? She lifted up another ball of rice from his bento, took it towards his mouth -

Then at the last moment turned it away and ate it herself. Worse yet, she used the other end of her chopsticks to pinch Ranma's nose! Really hard! Ow!

"And you were doing so well!" Akane scowled at him. "Talking with your mouth full and belittling my martial arts ability. That's terribly immature of you."

"Leggo by dose!" Ranma pleaded. Actually, the pain didn't bother him that much and what he really wanted was the rest of the food in that bento, but she was keeping his face at arm's length away from the food. Oh! After that one taste being kept away was absolute torture!

"You want this?" Akane asked, gesturing to the food. "Tough. Only mature men and cute girls get this treat. Maybe if you grow up a little and start acting more like your older self, maybe then you'll get to fill your belly."

Why that uncute little... "Lesson one," Ranma yelled, rising to his feet. "Never get between a Saotome and their food!"

He dove for it, but only wound up tasting dirt. "Lesson two!" Akane yelled back, grinding her heel into the back of his head. "Never try to steal from a Tendo! I'm going to teach you how to be a mature man before you even know it, buster!"

Oh. Ohohoho! Now she'd done it. Now she'd gone and done it! "Lesson three," Ranma hissed. "Never... Call up... What you can't put down!"

<hr>
Do you know, Soun Tendo was quite content. Very much content with the way things were proceeding. With a mere glimpse into a possible future, he was already certain that things would go well. The two of them may have had a bit of a rocky start, but it was obvious to look at them. His youngest and Genma's son were quite smitten with each other. Not young lust drawn up from them both being attractive and of the same general age group, but rather a deeper affection that he felt sure would leave them both happy, mutually, within each other's company.

It cleared up his mind. Let him see the wonder and splendour of the world around him. Knowing that the school, that his home was in good hands. It let him worry about other things now: What of his other two daughters? Nabiki was quite troubling to consider, but she would probably start her own business and make her fortune quickly. As for Kasumi...

She was skipping in through the front gate just now clutching a book to her chest. "I'm home!" she called. Ah, that happiness, that lilting cheerfulness. The smile on her face was positively infectious.

"Welcome home Kasumi," he said. Goodness, that happiness. Could it be? "Let me guess, you were just visiting Doctor Tofu. Yes?"

"Well, yes father. How did you know?"

Aha! At last. Ono Tofu was a good man. A pillar of the community. Soun felt himself puff up with pride. Yes, there certainly was hope for his daughters and their future contentment. For her to be this happy after visiting Doctor Tofu, it could only mean he has finally taken up the nerve to ask her out. Oh, a father could tell she was pining for him, but Kasumi was a little old fashioned. Just like her father. Where Nabiki was a little rebellious and would definitely ask a boy out if she thought him interested, Kasumi would wait for the man to make the first move. And finally, it seemed as though he must have!

"A father's intuition," he answered. Ah. How pleasant! He really should track down Genma, and get him to play a game of shogi... Or better still, perhaps he should resume his training? With so few things to worry about all of a sudden, Soun Tendo was left with a bit of a spring in his step.

1. Akane and Ranma's argument winds up with Ranma needing to visit Doctor Tofu... Who still thinks he's engaged to Kasumi.
2. Kuno intrudes on the argument between Akane and Ranma.
3. Future Ranma and Akane continue their planning and fooling around.
4. Something else