Casa de no Kasa 1 - Part 2

Akane helped as her roommate unpacked her things, a little surprised 
at the giant okonomiyaki spatula that Ukyo Kuonji hung on her closet 
door.

Their room was arranged like all the other rooms, with the furniture 
located against the walls so that they had the middle of the room to 
sleep in.  Their desks were nestled below the windows so that they 
could feel the sunlight or look out the window while they worked, 
and they each had a cabinet and a dresser along the far wall.

Connecting their room and the neighboring room was a folding wall 
that was currently open, as it was for all room pairs.  Closing the wall 
gained a little more privacy between rooms, but it also seemed to 
dramatically shrink the size of the room.

As Ukyo finished putting away the last of her things, she took out the 
folding mattresses that she and Akane would be sleeping on, 
spreading them out to check out the spacing when left open.  Ukyo 
bounced onto her mattress.

Ukyo:  Akane?
Akane:  Yes?
Ukyo:  So what do you think?
Akane:  About what?
Ukyo:  About our mattresses.

Akane looked down and saw that Ukyo had the two mattresses 
touching each other along the length.  Akane laid down on her own 
mattress and both girls stared at the ceiling.

Akane:  I don't know... its okay.  There's definitely more room like 
this.
Ukyo:  I mean about us.  Together like this.
Akane:  Ukyo, are you asking about...
Ukyo:  Sleeping together.  And sex.

Akane turned her head and watched as Ukyo slowly moved her body 
closer to her own.  Ukyo rolled onto Akane's body and gave her a 
kiss.  Ukyo rolled off Akane and returned to her starting position, but 
they now held each others hand.

Akane:  Ukyo... I'm not a lesbian.
Ukyo:  I'm not either, Akane.  I never even thought about another 
	woman before.  But when we met I had a vision of the two of 
	us kissing.
 
Akane rolled up onto her side to look at Ukyo, a little startled at the 
admission.

Akane:  I saw the two of us kissing as we straddled a man below us. 
Ukyo:  One of us on his cock and the other on his face?

Both girls stared at each other.  The visions now seemed more like 
memories than fantasies.

Akane:  Or how about the two of us lying together, our legs spread as 
	he alternates between us...
Ukyo:  A guy with black hair and a... a pigtail...  Rrr...
Akane:  R...  Ran...

A loud banging came from the door below.

*******

Kuno thought he had banged on the door enough.  He had run all the 
way from his house to put the Tendo girls in their proper place as his 
concubines.

Kuno:  Kasumi Tendo!  Nabiki Tendo!  Akane Tendo!  I have had 
	enough of your impertinent and disrespectful behavior!  If 
	you come down now and beg I shall forgive you!

At that moment, Kasumi Tendo was still in Dr. Tofu's Clinic, helping 
him with a patient, so she didn't hear what Kuno was saying.  Akane 
Tendo became pissed because Kuno had interrupted her train of 
thought and she lost the idea she had been working on.  Nabiki, on 
the other hand, was in the lounge across from the goddess' room,  
putting away the snacks she had bought before going to the train 
station.

Nabiki took the balloons from her pocket (for the welcoming party) 
and smiled.

*******

Ranma and Ranko stood in front of Casa de no Kasa.  The building 
looked like a solid, two story concrete structure, at least from the 
outside.  It and the building next to it were surrounded by a concrete 
block wall topped by a fence that went up to the top of the first floor.

The only problem seemed to be an idiot that blocked the front door.  
A wet and dirty idiot, as girls lined the top floor windows and threw 
water balloons and small bombs at him while insulting him.

Ranma:  So how long has he been like this?
Keiichi:  About a half-hour.

Ranma kneel-sat [3] next to the short boy working on a motorcycle 
on the street just outside of the wall opening.  Ranko took off her 
backpack and jumped onto the fence to get a better look.  Ranma 
hoped that this wasn't normal for college life; he had enough of it in 
high school after he became cursed.

Kuno:  That's it!  Once I've taken you, you shall have no choice but to 
	become mine!

Ranma sighed.  He didn't want to become involved with someone 
else's problem, but the idiot took out a bokken and made like he was 
about to slice through the door with it.  Ranma stood and took out his 
favorite bat from its hanger on his backpack.  Ranko shrugged at 
him, letting him deal with the idiot.

Ranma walked up through the small garden that fronted the building 
and tapped the idiot on the shoulder with his bat.

Kuno:  Who dares?  Cur!
 
Kuno raised his bokken and started to bring it down on Ranma's 
head.  Ranma intercepted it with his bat, breaking it in two.  The 
girls above stopped throwing things to watch.

Kuno:  How dare you defile my noble blade?
Ranma:  Backpack fu!

Ranma quickly spun around and hit Kuno in the chest with his 
backpack, knocking the air out of him.  Ranma then sandwiched 
Kuno between himself and the door, letting the weight of the 
backpack not allow Kuno to expand his chest enough to breathe.  
Kuno soon started to see white sparks flying in the air.

When Kuno stopped struggling, Ranma stepped away from him.  As 
Kuno started to fall to the ground, Ranma used Happosai's "Direction 
Deflection" and his bat to fling Kuno high into the air.  As he started 
to fall back to the ground, Ranko jumped from the fence and kicked 
him back toward Ranma.  Ranma swung his bat and hit Kuno in the 
"sweet spot".

The splash from Kuno's landing in the drainage channel was visible 
even from the apartment.  The girls started to clap.  Ranma blushed.  
Ranko landed on his head.

The two siblings started to fight again.

*******

Belldandy gently knocked on the kitchen doorway and entered.  
Kasumi looked up from cutting vegetables for dinner.

Belldandy:  Excuse me, but do you need any help with dinner?
Kasumi:  Oh, no!  You're a tenant!  I couldn't make you help me 
	since you're paying for meals.
Belldandy:  That's okay.  I like to cook.

The two smiled at each other.  Kasumi returned to her cutting board.  
Belldandy started to tie the konbu into small knots.  Kasumi placed a 
large deep-dish pans on the stove and started to saute the chicken 
pieces in a little oil.

Belldandy:  Won't it be difficult cooking breakfast and dinner for so 
	many people?
Kasumi:  Its not that difficult.  I've cooked a number of times for 
	parties with the same number.  But its nice to have someone 
	to talk to.
Belldandy:  Isn't it?  What about your sisters?
Kasumi:  Nabiki's never been interested in learning how to cook.  
	And Akane... well, Akane can't.
Belldandy:  That sounds like my sisters.

Belldandy started to cut tofu into small cubes for the miso soup.  
Kasumi added the bamboo shoots, carrots, and araimo into the pot.

Belldandy:  Kasumi...
Kasumi:  Yes?
Belldandy:  How long did you know Dr. Tofu before... things went 
	further between you two?
Kasumi:  I guess... about three years.  That's how long the clinic's 
	been open.  Then after my sisters and I moved in it was a 
	month before I got the courage to tell him how I felt.
Belldandy:  Did you always know?
Kasumi:  I thought it was just a crush, at first.  He was so kind and 
	sweet, and even Akane felt the same way about him.  I only 
	realized that it was something deeper when Akane stopped 
	feeling the way I did.

Kasumi finished adding her ingredients for the umani, then covered 
the pot and set it on the back burner to simmer until dinner.  
Belldandy placed a pot onto one of the front burners for the miso 
soup.  Kasumi placed a pan on the remaining front burner to fry some 
small fish.

Kasumi:  After we had been staying in the clinic's ward for a month, 
	I think I realized that Tofu was too honorable to even 
	suggest starting a relationship, even though I believed he felt 
	attracted to me.  He was letting us stay with him and didn't 
	want to take advantage of us that way.
Belldandy:  So you went to him?
Kasumi:  I joined him while he was showering and told him how I 
	felt.  It was such a relief to have it out in the open!
Belldandy:  Your feelings or your bodies?
Kasumi:  Both!

*******

Nabiki sighed and sank deeper into the jacuzzi as the bubbles flittered 
across her skin.  Fixing up the apartment and adding the three 
jacuzzis at the far end of the pool had cost her nearly all of her favors 
that she had built up over her high school years, but it had been 
worth it.

Madoka:  Mind if we join you?
Nabiki:  No, of course not.

Madoka hung her towel on the handrail that ran along the basement 
walls.  Hikaru tied her long hair back as she sat on the tub edge.

Hikaru:  This is some place you have.  I can't believe this pool.
Nabiki:  It was originally made for physical therapy as part of the 
	clinic.  Dr. Tofu doesn't need it, and it would have been a 
	waste to leave it empty.  Why don't you get out of those 
	swimsuits?  The water's much better without it.

Hikaru looked at Madoka, who shrugged.  Both girls slipped out of 
their swimsuits and joined the nude Nabiki in the bubbles.

Madoka:  Aren't you afraid that one of the boys might come down 
here?
Nabiki:  All the better!

The three laughed.

Nabiki:  Actually, the columns limits the view from the doorways on 
	the other side of the building, and you can hear the doors 
	close from here.  And, after hearing from my sister Kasumi, 
	I don't think I'd mind a little intimate action for myself.
Madoka:  Speaking of intimate action, I think that your sister Akane 
	is going to make a play for Ranma.
Nabiki:  What?  Really?  I never would have guessed.
Hikaru:  Oh?  Why?
Nabiki:  Well, she always was a bit of a tomboy.  And there was that 
	trouble with Kuno, who was a little more infatuated with her 
	than with either Kasumi or me, which kind of soured her 
	view of men.
Hikaru:  Who?
Nabiki:  Kuno.  The guy that was here earlier that we were throwing 
	water balloons at.
Madoka:  What a jerk.  I hope the guys around here aren't all like 
	that.

Nabiki shrugged.

Nabiki:  Keiichi and Ranma seem okay.  There are two more guys in 
	the apartment who'll be arriving tomorrow.  Everyone 
	should be here by Wednesday night, so we're going to have a 
	small welcoming party at eight instead of dinner.
Madoka:  So, dinner's at 5:30 every night?

The three girls noticed that the clock indicated that it was almost 
dinner and stepped out of the jacuzzi.

Nabiki:  And breakfast is at 7:00.  The ramp next to the stairs will 
	take us up to the dining room.

*******