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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