The smallest of actions R
Niklas "Hawk" Jonsson

Summary: One small event drastically changes things for our young sex-changing Martial Artist. Ever since that event, things have been upside down in the Tendo residence and once things come to a head, Ranma decides to leave. But, he doesn't do so alone. Kasumi decides to come along with him! Just what caused this most dutiful of daughters to abandon her home and family to follow Ranma?

Disclaimer: Ranma ½, the characters and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were! Azumanga Daioh 'aint mine either! The story is mine though, all mine. This series deals with mature subject matters and violence. If this disturbs you, don't read. But if it does, then why the heck are you watching the show/reading the manga in the first place?

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)
I can be found on ICQ as 21771860 or through e-mail as iamhawk at yahoo dot com, more stories are available at my nifty lil' site at hawksgalaxy dot com or by clicking on my handle up above if you're reading this on fanfiction dot net.

"speech"
emphasis/shouts/Kindred Domination/post-hypnotic triggers
/thoughts/
/telepathy/
translation
+soundeffect/radio/telephone conversation/TV+

Previously, on 'The smallest of actions!'

/Mmm, that feels nice./ Kasumi mused, feeling the waves of warmth caress her body, both inside and outside. At first, she thought that she'd been merely imagining it, but after she'd happened to glance down the hairs on her arms slowly rise and fall along with the sensations she felt, she couldn't pass it off as merely imagination any longer. It was probably something Ranma did, though she couldn't quite figure out what that might be.

But she trusted him and decided to enjoy it while it lasted. She couldn't deny that it felt somewhat odd, but it was incredibly nice at the same time. It was as if something was warming her from the inside out, caressing her body from the inside while she was resting in a pool of warm water. She smiled at the antics on the screen, then frowned as Ranma's arm got into the way again. She lifted her head and moved his arm until it was slung across her own shoulders as she rested her head on his. /Ah, yes. Perfect.../ she reasoned and glanced aside, spotting Ukyo on Ranmas other side, cradling his other arm in her own. She caught Ukyo's gaze and the two of them shared a faint smile, before they redirected their attention to the screen.

All three of them knew that the peace they currently enjoyed wouldn't last.

But that was all the more reason to enjoy it while they had the chance.

Roll credits

Chapter Nine:

/Oh oh/

Ranma woke up between one heart-beat and the next, completely and fully awake. He wasn't sure what had awakened him, but the moment he woke up, he knew that he was in danger. His eyelids opened up at just below the speed of sound and his gaze instantly locked onto Konatsu, who was standing just two meters away, glaring at him.

Ranma absently noticed that Konatsu at least wore male underwear when he slept, as the boy-who-wanted-to-be-a-girl stood before him dressed only in a pair of black boxer shorts.

Silk, by the looks of them.

The clothes apparently meant for the day Konatsu held in his arms, along with a small basket filled with toiletries. Lots and lots of toiletries. More so then Akane or indeed any real girl he knew used.

That oddly feminine face, the long hair, the athletic body and incredibly amazingly well-toned legs, wasn't what had woken him up though, he was sure.

Even despite Konatsu's annoyed expression.

No, he now knew what had made his danger sense so brutally awaken him.

And it was not the fact that his gaze had actually remained locked at Konatsu's legs for a couple of seconds too long in a manner that nearly made him feel as perverted as Happosai!

He glanced down at Kasumi, who had shifted in her sleep and scooted somewhat away from him. Her head was resting on his lap, while the rest of her was curled up to his side. She was hugging herself, obviously feeling a bit cold. His arm was resting across her and his hand was tilted down so that it almost looked as if he was holding it against her stomach, waiting for a baby inside to kick and allowing him to feel it.

That wasn't it either, despite the fact that the back of her head rested just above his groin, so that he'd poke her head if he got an erection.

Ukyo had scooted over closer to him in her sleep and her arms were wrapped around his waist. Her head was still resting on his shoulder and he could feel strands of her hair tickling his face.

That wasn't it either.

No, what had awoken him, and what was probably the main reason why Konatsu looked so upset, was that his hand wasn't resting quite as innocently on Ukyo as his other did on Kasumi.

His arm was still held between her unbound breasts, but his hand was now very inconveniently located between her thighs and he was extremely disturbed to note that it was cupping her groin.

That was what had woken him.

Somehow, his subconscious mind had realized what was going on and that realization had caused him to wake up covered in cold sweat.

The scared/shocked/confused-expression on his face could have caused just about anyone to crack a smile, but it only made Konatsu glare even harder at him for a few moments.

The shemale ninja then snorted, shook his head and walked downstairs without saying a word, still shaking his head.

Ranma swallowed. While he did hope that he wouldn't ever have to hear about this again, he wasn't naive enough to actually believe that.

He and Konatsu would be talking about this at some point.

Oh yes, the expression on the shemales face had told him that beyond any shadow of a doubt. As surely as the sun would continue to rise for quite a while yet, just as surely would Konatsu be talking to him about what the shemale had seen.

And the fact that Ranma had been staring at his legs while doing it!

Ranma hoped that he would come out of that discussion alive and with all important bits still attached to his body.

But for now, there was a more pressing matter to deal with.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he uncupped Ukyo's groin and straightened out his fingers. Just as cautiously, he started pulling his hand away from the dangerous area, holding his breath as he did so.

Which proved to be a mistake as he nearly choked on empty air when Ukyo growled in her sleep, then captured his hand by slamming her thighs together.

He felt cold sweat trickling down his forehead and shivers creeping down his spine as he glanced down at how his wrist vanished between Ukyo's legs. He rolled his eyes and briefly contemplated just waking her up, but decided against it. She wouldn't react like Akane, but she'd still be embarrassed. However, the real concern for Ranma was that Ukyo wasn't above using something like this for her own benefit, perhaps managing to guilt him into taking her out on a date or something of the sort.

He took a deep slow breath and focused on his internal energies, pushing and prodding an increasing amount of Ki into his arm and down to his wrist. When he'd gathered a sufficient amount there, he sent out a brief pulse to scout the lay of the land, providing him with a mental map to Ukyo's legs. After identifying his targets, he let the collected Ki surge out of him and into Ukyo, causing her muscles to contract and release, resulting in the liberation of his hand. He quickly snatched it away and watched with bemusement as Ukyo moved her legs in her sleep, attempting to recapture his hand, muttering under her breath as she failed to do so.

"P-hew. Safe..." Ranma mumbled to himself.

"Indeed, Ranma-kun." Kasumi calmly commented from his lap, nearly causing his heart to stop from the shock. He stared down at her in horror as she slowly turned her head around and looked up at his terrified expression. "Good morning, Ranma-kun."

"Gack!" he gulped.

"You can calm down, Ranma-kun. I'm not going to tell her. You were asleep when you moved your hand there." Kasumi whispered to him, before she slowly rose into a sitting position, turning around to face him. "Now stay there and keep your hands to yourself, my little human pillow. I'll just go freshen up a bit, then I'll make breakfast for all of us." Kasumi continued in a teasing whisper, causing Ranma to blush furiously. "And thank you for last night." she finished, then bent forward and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, before she stood up and made her way over to Ukyo's room where she picked up some fresh clothes for the day, before she slipped into the upstairs bathroom.

"Why couldn't pops have raised me to be the world's best monk instead?" Ranma muttered to himself, as he tried to imagine how much easier life would be if he lived at some isolated temple surrounded by other monks and not a woman in sight.

Though he couldn't prevent his right hand from slowly rising to his cheek, gently rubbing the area where he had been kissed with his index finger.

"How did you get Shampoo to start using the door?" Ranma asked Ukyo as he set the table for breakfast, recalling a question that had bothered him yesterday.

And that question popping up now had nothing at all to do with the fact that he hadn't been able to look Ukyo in the eyes since she woke up and he was desperately trying to keep the conversation going in order and his body constantly in motion to hide this fact from her.

"I warned her after the third time I had to shut down the restaurant for repairs and send the Nekohanten a bill for it. I told her then that if she did it again, I'd still send the bill for repairs to the Nekohanten but that I'd also booby-trap her bike." Ukyo replied with a faint smile as she stirred the Miso.

"And that worked? Cool!" Ranma said, committing the fact that threats against her bike might work out to memory for future reference.

"Naw. Remember that week Shampoo never sat down and walked kinda oddly for a couple of days? That was because I had switched her saddle for one stuffed with gunpowder that exploded once she sat down on it." Ukyo explained, then chuckled in satisfaction as she recalled that particular incident.

"Oh my!" Kasumi exclaimed with a shocked expression and fumbled with the wok for a few moments, nearly dropping it to the ground. "That wasn't very nice of you." she commented, then suddenly let out a giggle. "Not very nice at all." she laughed and wiped a few tears from her eyes.

"Ouch!" Ranma commented, absently rubbing his own butt as he thought about how much that had to have hurt.

"I still have a picture of it." Ukyo mused and chuckled. "I'll show it to you sometime, Kasumi." she offered.

"Hey! What about me! I want to see it too!" Ranma demanded.

"Her panties and the lower part of her dress were shredded." Ukyo stated and Ranma instantly nodded, making warding gestures as he instantly dropped the subject. "Singed her muff too... She smelled like burned hair for days after that. She shaves now." Ukyo mumbled under her breath to Kasumi a few moments later when Ranma had gotten back to setting the table, which nearly caused Kasumi to drop the wok again and a furious blush to creep onto her face.

"Good morning, everyone." Konatsu greeted the room as he entered the restaurant, bearing the morning newspaper and a broom he'd used to clean up in front of the restaurant.

"Morning, Konatsu." Ukyo cheerfully greeted her fellow crossdresser.

"Good morning, Konatsu-san." Kasumi added.

"Yo." Ranma simply said, glancing nervously at Konatsu who responded with a side-ways glare in return, before he put the paper down at the table and headed for one of the two downstairs toilettes.

"What's with the two of you today, Ranchan?" Ukyo asked, looking over at the door Konatsu had entered, one of her eyebrows slightly raised in curiosity.

"Nuthin'." Ranma instantly replied and hastily adjusted one of the rice bowls a little bit, pushing it a millimetre to the right.

"Hm, really?" Ukyo responded, looking suspiciously at Ranma for a few moments before she returned focus to her cooking. "Whatever, Ranchan. You tell me when you're ready." she sighed.

/Oh-uh, she suspects something... Diversion... Diversion... Diversion.../ Ranma thought, struggling to find something to prevent her from looking too deeply into it all.

"I wasn't starin' at Konatsu's legs this mornin' or nuthin'!" Ranma blurted out, cursing himself for not being able to come up with something less embarrassing then that particular tidbit of information.

"Oh, yeah. Gorgeous, aren't they? I nearly threw him out of here the first time I saw them and realized that they were better looking then mine." Ukyo absently replied, then blinked and looked over at Ranma. "You... Were looking at... Konatsu's legs?" she suddenly demanded to know with a raised eyebrow and the corners of her mouth twitching in amusement.

"Nuh-uh, I wasn't!" Ranma protested.

"Oh my, you were!" Ukyo exclaimed and started chuckling.

"They are striking, I must confess." Kasumi said, absently rubbing the fingers on her right hand onto her own right leg through her skirt. "He waxes, doesn't he?"

"Wax, moisturizers, hours on a thigh-master, anti-wrinkle-cream and Kami knows what else." Ukyo sighed. "Whatever he can do to improve on them, he does. They're smoother then a baby's bottom, firmer then a solid metal plate, completely blemish-free and so shapely that it boggles the mind! I could kill to have legs like that."

"You've touched them?" Kasumi asked.

"Ya've touched them!" Ranma parroted.

"We massage each other when we're hurt or have overworked ourselves training..." Ukyo mumbled, looking down at the floor.

"Isn't it great that the two of them are such great friends, Ranma?" Kasumi asked as she spotted that Ranma looked a bit angry at that particular revelation and she wanted to dissuade that before he did or said something he really shouldn't.

"... Yeah." Ranma managed to grit out after a hasty glance at Kasumi, before his gaze dropped. Ukyo wasn't the only one he hadn't been able to face this morning.

"So, what's up with you?" Daisuke asked as lunch came about and he'd dragged Ranma along to the roof, accompanied by Hiroshi who ensured that they weren't followed there.

"Yeah. You were completely out of it yesterday. Didn't even try to change back before you left at lunch." Hiroshi added as he moved on over from the door to a corner of the roof where the three of them seated themselves.

"And Akane was all over you, trying to apologise of all things!" Daisuke added with an incredulous tone of voice and disbelieving expression.

"Your engagement broken off again?" Hiroshi inquired.

"You could say that. It's permanent this time, however." Ranma replied.

"P-permanent!" Daisuke exclaimed, his eyes widening. "What happened?"

"So that's why Nabiki hasn't been taking bets on how long it'd last this time." Hiroshi mused speculatively.

"Yeah. Another fight, only worse then ever this time though." Ranma sighed in a tired tone of voice, as he opened his bento and grabbed his chopsticks.

"So, Nabiki's become your Tendo fiancée again?" Hiroshi asked.

"Naw. 'aint got one of those at the moment." Ranma replied, then his forehead scrounged up. "At least not as far as I know. The Kami only knows what sort of foolishment pops and Tendo-san has been up to since I left." he snarled angrily.

"You've... Left the Tendo's?" Daisuke blurted out in shock.

"Yeah. Couldn't stay there any longer. That's how bad it is." Ranma answered.

"Wow... You must have really messed up this time." Hiroshi commented, only to gulp and swallow nervously as Ranma glared at him. "Or your dad must have really messed up this time?" he tried, but the glare was still as fierce as before. "Uh, Tendo-san?" he attempted and Ranma tilted his head. "Not Tendo-san, but one of the Tendo's?" he tried and Ranma offered a tiny nod. "It's Akane's fault this time?" he asked incredulously.

"Yep." Ranma replied but refused to elaborate.

"Wow... You need a place to stay or something?" Daisuke asked.

"Naw, we're staying at Ucchans." Ranma replied, then cursed himself for his slip.

"'We'?" Daisuke pounced upon him in the blink of an eye.

"Yes. Who are 'we'?" Hiroshi curiously added.

"Kasumi was involved. She decided to tag along. Don't ask me why, because I don't really know why." Ranma replied with a tired sigh.

"Kasumi? Sweet gentle Kasumi? The eldest sister? That Kasumi!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

"Holy crap! If even she decided to leave, it had to have been really bad. What did she do, mallet Kasumi or something?" Daisuke blurted out.

"I 'aint telling." Ranma responded firmly. "It's a private matter." he added with a note of finality.

"S'okay. But Kasumi? Man, that was unexpected." Daisuke commented.

"And Ukyo's of all places. So she's the main fiancée now?" Hiroshi asked.

"She's a friend. A good one." Ranma countered.

"Who just happens to be your fiancée. Who you just happen to live with." Daisuke argued.

"Along with Kasumi and Konatsu." Ranma responded.

"Almost forgot about those two. Must be cramped over there. You sure that you don't need a place to stay?" Hiroshi asked.

"If Kasumi hadn't tagged along, I'd probably take you guys up on that." Ranma sighed. "But I need to keep an eye on her. I won't let anything happen to her."

"Of course not." Daisuke responded. "So, the four of you. In Ucchans. The top floor can't be all that large, I'm guessing. How does the sleeping arrangements work out?" he asked with a leer.

"Ucchan and Kasumi stay in Ucchans room, Konatsu in his and I take the couch." Ranma replied quickly to avoid any misunderstandings. "So get the filth out of your tiny little brains!"

"S'cool." Daisuke replied defensively. "It's more fun imagining what Ukyo and Kasumi might be up to at night anyway." he admitted with a wide grin.

"Ooohhh, the hot tomboy crossdresser type and the sexy older sister type. All alone, hot'n bothered under the sheets. ... Yeah..." Hiroshi drawled and wiped a trickle of drool away from the corner of his mouth.

"You guys are completely hopeless." Ranma sighed and started to make short work of his bento.

Though he had to admit that even the normalcy of his two friend's rampant perverseness felt comforting at the moment and he couldn't prevent a small smile from playing around the corners of his lips as he devoured the delicious Bento Ucchan and Kasumi had prepared together.

"What if Ranma joined them in his cursed form?" Daisuke suggested.

"Oooohyeah..." Hiroshi mumbled. "I can see it now and it is glorious! ... Hey, does Konatsu have a dick or not?" he suddenly asked and Ranma groaned.

Then again, perhaps they weren't all that comforting after all!

The End! ( For now... )