Sunday

                             By Richard Lawson

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Ranma groggily opened one eye. Nothing bad happened, so he opened the other
one.

Nothing good happened, so he closed them again.

The image of the sunlight streaming though the window wound its way down
his neural pathways. It flitted here and there, touching on his memories. A
time as a child when he lived at home, his *real* home, before his father
had taken him on his training mission. He had been very young, and he was
running around, laughing happily, chasing bubbles as they floated in and
out of the sunbeams. Someone was sitting in a chair, blowing the bubbles
into the air of a room of some sort. Ranma was chasing after them madly,
sometimes smacking them with his fist, sometimes kicking them with his
feet, sometimes doing his best to catch them gently in his hands. It was a
very old, very pleasant memory, one he hadn't realized he'd had.

The sunlight played with his mind some more, and now he was dreaming. He
was sitting on a porch, and Akane - his wife, although he couldn't remember
marrying her - was sitting next to him, and they were watching their son
playing in the yard, the sunlight reflecting off the pool. He reached over
and put his arm around Akane's shoulders, Akane turned to him and smiled,
and it felt very good.

The sunlight finally reached a portion of his brain where rational analysis
occurred. He sat bolt upright in a panic. The sun was up. He had to go to
school, he was late.

He jumped up, stumbled over the panda sleeping next to him, and fumbled
into his clothes. No time to wash, he was going to be late. Akane would
kill him. He grabbed his bookbag with a vague sense of dread, a feeling
that he hadn't finished his homework.

Ranma flew down the stairs. He was about to fling open the front door when
he remembered his lunch. He ran down the hallway, past the dining room
which he peripherally noticed was empty, and to the kitchen. He stood in
the doorway and blinked. Not only was the kitchen empty, but his lunch
wasn't sitting out waiting for him.

Kasumi. He needed to find Kasumi. She probably had his lunch. He whirled
around and ran down the hallway. He screeched to a halt at the door leading
to the back yard. Kasumi was sitting on the steps of the porch, idly
sipping some tea.

Ranma jumped down the steps and turned to face her. "Kasumi, where's my
lunch? I am *so* late."

Kasumi had been staring at the pond. She turned her gaze to Ranma. He was
immediately struck by the calm, thoughtful, serene look on her face. Not
that she didn't almost always look like that, but usually she was smiling
too. Now her face was calm, almost serious. Which, for Kasumi, was quite
rare.

"Ranma-kun." Her voice was also somber, but still pleasant. "It's Sunday."

Ranma closed his eyes and growled to himself. The one day a week he didn't
have to go to school, and his mind had tricked him into getting up early.

He opened his eyes again, grimacing. "Sorry, Kasumi. I forgot."

"That's okay, Ranma. I'll go fix breakfast in a moment." She turned her
gaze back out into the yard.

Ranma studied her some more. She still wasn't smiling. She was just sitting
there, evidently lost in thought. Ranma didn't know her well enough to know
if something was bothering her.

Ranma frowned at the thought. A year he'd been here, and he hardly knew
Kasumi. He just *knew* that she would always be there, doing the housework,
preparing the meals, doing her best to keep the sometimes volatile tempers
under control. She was just a presence, as much a part of the household as
the doors or windows.

That bothered Ranma. He wondered if the life Kasumi led was fulfilling. She
had never spoken of her own ambitions, had never expressed a desire to be a
part of anything. Ranma tried to imagine leading the life Kasumi led and
involuntarily shuddered. He simply wouldn't be able to, he'd go crazy in a
very short while.

He came to a decision. He sat on the porch next to Kasumi, setting his bag
on the steps next to him. "Whatcha thinking about, Kasumi?"

Kasumi didn't answer at first, just sipped her tea. Ranma was about to
apologize for disturbing her when she finally spoke. "My mother."

Ranma immediately realized he was in over his head. Again. He'd asked for
her thoughts and gotten them, and now he had no idea what to do.

He did what he did best, which was to say the first thing that came to his
mind. "Why?"

Kasumi had her cup in front of her mouth, but she wasn't sipping from it.
She was still staring out into the yard. As Ranma watched, traces of pain
and sadness crept into her expression. He swallowed, regretting the
questions and wishing he could take them back.

"I was twelve years old when Mother first started getting back pains."
Kasumi's voice was soft. She sounded almost like she was telling a bedtime
story. "She went to the chiropractor often, but he couldn't do anything for
her. Finally, after three months, she went to a medical doctor who
diagnosed her with cancer of the spine. She immediately underwent
chemotherapy, but the cancer was too widespread."

Ranma flinched inside. This was definitely too deep for him. He didn't have
a choice, however. He braced himself and prepared to listen seriously to
Kasumi.

Kasumi didn't appear to be paying any attention to him anyway. "Father was
devastated. He loved her so much. He stopped functioning. He'd sit with her
for hours, trying to be strong but mostly crying.

"Mother was very brave. She knew she was dying but she refused to let it
depress her. Instead, she worked with Father, trying to bolster his spirit,
preparing him for the day when she would be gone."

Kasumi paused to take another sip. "Father didn't get better. As Mother
became worse and started wasting away, Father began to withdraw from us.
The times he wasn't sobbing he spent in a state of shock, unable to cope
with the outside world.

"One day, Mother sent him home with my sisters, asking me to stay behind so
she could give me a recipe to prepare for dinner. After they were gone,
Mother had me sit next to her. Her eyes were yellow, and she had a turban
on to hide the fact that her hair was gone. She wasn't eating well and had
lost a lot of weight. She couldn't hold her head up by herself, and was
propped up in a lot of pillows. I could see the pain in her eyes. Sometimes
the medication made her mind drift; it was when the medication had begun to
wear off and the pain was at its greatest that she could speak the most
lucidly. I think she'd been waiting for exactly that moment, and had sent
everyone away when it arrived.

"Mother spoke to me for a long time. She told me that Father was not going
to be able to run the household after she died. She needed me to do it for
her. She apologized for putting the burden on me, but also told me that I
was the most uniquely qualified to do it. Not just because I was the
oldest, but because I had the ability to lead. To guide people, to get them
to do what I wanted them to do. She said she'd seen me with Nabiki and
Akane, and that I could always get my way with them without having to
resort to force. She said that was important, and that the family needed
that quality of mine. That I was going to have to use it not only with
Nabiki and Akane, but with Father as well.

"I didn't like that. I couldn't think of bossing Father around. Mother told
me that there were other ways to guide people without ordering them. She
told me of the methods she used to guide the family. How I could adapt the
methods I used with Akane and Nabiki to work on Father."

Kasumi sipped her tea again. Her forehead wrinkled slightly as she looked
down at it; Ranma imagined that it had become cold. She set the cup down on
the porch, following it with her eyes. "Mother told me that I was about to
enter the most difficult part of a woman's life. Adolesence was never a fun
time, she said, and I was going to feel very insecure and unsure of myself.
She asked me to try and stay strong and confident. The rest of the family
was going to lean on me, including Father.

"I had no idea how I was going to do that. It frightened me. I cried and
told her that I couldn't do it, not without her. I begged her not to die.

"Mother apologized. She told me she was going to die and that there was
nothing anyone could do about it. She reminded me, however, that a body was
just flesh, a container for the spirit. She said that her spirit would live
on after the body failed."

Kasumi lifted her eyes and stared out into the yard again. "She asked me to
close my eyes and visualize the pond. I did. She asked if I could see the
big rock at one side of the pond. I told her I saw it; Akane, Nabiki and I
were always playing on it. Mother told me that when her body died, part of
her spirit would always be in the rock. From there, she could watch over
the family. She told me that if I ever felt scared, or unsure, or if I
needed strength, that I could always talk to her in the rock. She would be
there to listen."

Ranma looked at the rock. It was big; he'd sat on it or tripped on it or
been thrown against it so many times he'd lost count. It was smooth, large,
and solid. It had been firmly set into the ground by the pond and was as
much a fixture of the Tendo home as anything else was. Ranma had never
given it more than a glance. He stared at it now, trying to figure out if
it was anything more than a stone.

Kasumi continued her story, her voice still even, soft, and sad. "Mother
died a few days later. We were all at her side. She'd been in a coma for a
day, and waiting for her to die was very, very painful. When it was over, I
wept as hard as Father did. I didn't feel strong or confident. I wasn't a
leader. I was just a little girl who'd lost her mother, and I wanted her
back so badly. What's worse, I was feeling ashamed. She'd asked me to take
her place and I was letting her down.

"We eventually went home. It was very late at night and we were all
exhausted. I helped put my sisters to bed. Father went into his room, and I
heard him crying. I wanted to help him but I didn't know what I could do.

"I tried to go to sleep, but even as tired as I was, the hurt and shame
were too great. I got up and checked on Akane and Nabiki. They were asleep.
I listened at Father's door and he was still crying. I went downstairs and
sat on the porch - it was cold but I didn't care - and stared into the
darkness.

"I don't know how long I sat there, shivering, when dawn finally came. The
yard began to grow lighter and lighter, and I found that I was staring at
the stone. I couldn't feel Mother at all. I just felt cold and lonely and
ashamed."

Ranma was doing his best not to breathe. He had no idea how to respond. He
wanted to help her, but anything he could think of to do seemed stupid and
juvenille. He swallowed and watched Kasumi carefully, hoping she would tell
him what she expected.

"Then, when the sun rose above the wall, a funny thing happened." Kasumi's
voice became awed, breathless. "The first bit of sunlight to break into the
yard hit the rock. For a moment, it seemed as if the rock was glowing,
lighting up the rest of the yard. After a minute, more of the sunshine
appeared and the rest of the yard began to receive daylight. But I'll never
forget that one moment, the instant when Mother's spirit entered the rock
and first gave me strength.

"After a moment, I got up and went to Father's room. I didn't knock, I just
opened the door and entered, something I'd never done before. Father was
kneeling on the floor, his head and arms sprawled on the bed. He was still
crying. I went up to him and hugged him. He hugged me back and began
sobbing even harder. I knew that I shouldn't cry just then. He needed me to
be strong at that particular moment. After a while, I gently forced him to
stand up - he didn't resist - and lie down in the bed. I covered him with
the blanket and quietly told him to close his eyes and get some rest. He
looked at me for a moment, then did as he was told. As I was about to
leave, he asked me if I was going to stay home from school today. He was
already half-asleep. I gently told him, 'It's Sunday.' After that, he fell
asleep. I went back to my bedroom, looked out into the yard from my window,
looked at the stone, and thanked my mother for her help. Then I went to bed
and fell asleep."

Kasumi sighed, and a small smile appeared. "Since then, I always make it a
point to get up with the dawn on Sunday and commune with Mother's spirit.
She helped me through all the bad times, always lending me her strength and
serenity whenever I needed it. Sunday morning is my special, sacred time,
when I can come and lean on someone just like everyone leans on me."

Ranma gulped. "I'm so sorry, Kasumi, for disturbing you."

Kasumi finally looked at him. Her smile grew wide, and love and affection
were written on her face. "You have not disturbed me, Ranma-kun. I've kept
the knowledge of my mother's spirit to myself for far too long. I needed to
have something secret and special, something only my mother and I knew. But
I've come to realize that there will be a time when I will no longer be
living in this house. Soon, very soon I think, I'm going to start making
plans that will end with me moving out of the house forever."

She reached over and took Ranma's hands into her own. "You'll be living
here after I move out. You and Akane will be the ones to inherit the house
and dojo. You'll be raising your own family here. I'd like to ask you,
Ranma-kun, to remember that the spirit of my mother watches over you. I'd
appreciate it if you would think of her once in a while, maybe even talk to
her. I'll come as often as I can, but I think Mother will be lonely if she
has no one to talk to any more."

Ranma looked into Kasumi's eyes. Her expression was serious, earnest, even
somewhat pleading. Kasumi had never asked anything from him, not like this.
He simply couldn't refuse her. She had done too much for him. She had
accepted him into the house and instantly made him feel like a part of the
family. She had managed to keep the conflicts inside the house to a minimum
- well, as minimum as was possible considering Akane's temper, Ranma's
curse, and the rest of civilation intent on killing or marrying him or
Akane. Ranma had never realized, until this moment, how much like a mother
Kasumi felt to him. He had his own mother, and he loved her, but Kasumi had
been the one taking care of him and watching over him for the past year. If
this was important to her, he had to do it.

He nodded solemly. "I promise, Kasumi. I won't forget your mother." The
implications of that promise bothered him a little; it assumed that certain
other things were going to happen. For the briefest of moments, he wondered
if that was part of Kasumi's plan. He decided he didn't want to think about
that.

The relief and warmth that radiated from Kasumi was certainly indication
enough about how much this meant to her. "Thank you, Ranma-kun. From the
bottom of my heart." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

Ranma flushed, panicking a little, trying to figure out if he should hug
her or something. Again, he had no idea.

Kasumi saved him by picking up her tea cup and getting to her feet. "I'm
going to start breakfast now, Ranma-kun. If you want, you can go back to
bed and I'll wake you when it's ready."

Ranma considered, then shook his head. "Naw, I think I'll just sit here for
a moment."

Kasumi smiled, a deep and loving smile that made him feel warm at the same
time it made him feel uncomfortable. She walked into the house.

Ranma sat for a while and stared at the rock by the pool, trying to bring
some order to his thoughts. He wasn't sure what to make of Kasumi's story
or her request. He tried to imagine his mother dying and his mind recoiled.
That was something he didn't want to face, and could only imagine what it
must have felt like to a tight-knit, loving family like the Tendos.

Instead, he sat for a moment imagining spending the rest of his life in the
Tendo home. He found that although his mind recoiled at this thought as
well, at the same time it held a strange attraction. He just had a feeling
that living here forever wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Ranma stood up and went over to the stone. He examined it for a long while,
noticing things in it he'd never seen before.

Ranma smiled. "Don't worry, Mrs. Tendo, I won't forget you." He reached
over and touched the rock. "I think I'll respect Kasumi's privacy next
week. But when she moves out, I'll be here each Sunday at dawn, and we can
talk for a while. I have a feeling I'll also be needing your help."

The sun had been shining on the rock all along, and Ranma was pretty sure
that he just imagined that it glowed for a moment. Still, it was nice to
think that there was more than sunlight warming the heart of the stone.

Ranma bowed to the stone, then went inside to see if Akane was awake and to
see if she would tell him some more about her mother.

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