Chapter 7: After Effects and the Second Binding

Kasumi stopped her narration at this point and lost herself in melancholy thought. The spirit on her right commented, "Well, it doesn't sound that bad. You know he was interested at least…"

"True, but it didn't make things easier. Our time together became very limited. We were lucky to visit twice a month. My duties kept me busy in the evenings, and now I had to avoid showing up during his office hours when people were likely to be there. If I did show up unannounced, my presence caused violent tics and spasms to occur within his muscles. Also, his perceptions were thrown as he strove to maintain control. If I could get a blindfold on him, things settled down immediately. That wasn't practical in front of other people. It would lead to awkward questions that shouldn't be answered. Sometimes, we would have to tough it out. He came up with an act that anyone in his presence could be hurt if I was there. That always cleared out the waiting room. Unfortunately, it wasn't always an act. If he was actually in the middle of a procedure when I showed up, the tics could really cause some real damage as Ranma once found out. Fortunately, Ranma could take it. Tofu worked to spread the rumors that if he and I were together, everyone should leave us alone." She paused for a moment, looking slightly miffed. "Bind or not, I do need to get even with him about Betty though."

"Who's Betty?" ask the spirit in her lap.

"Betty is the life size model skeleton he kept in his office. He claimed to me that she was the "other woman" in his life, and if he couldn't have me, Betty would have to do."

"Huh?"

"Oh, Tofu claimed he liked to dance. Since he couldn't take me dancing, he'd take Betty – usually after the two of us had been seen inadvertently. He'd sweep her around the office pretending to dance."

"Why would you say pretending?" asked the presence on her left.

"Because it was pretty obvious he hadn't a clue. How he managed to live that long and not know how to dance, I don't know. When I pressed him about it, he became mock injured that I didn't appreciate his dancing style. I told him that he had no dancing style, that he looked ridiculous, and should stop it. He agreed a little too readily." She fumed a little more.

"Didn't he listen?"

"Oh, he listened all right. From then on, after an accidental encounter, he took to running through the park with Betty on his back. If anyone was foolish enough to stop him, he claimed that he wanted to have a private conversation with me, but that Betty was always getting in the way. If that someone pointed out that it was Betty on his back and not me, he'd just exclaim his shock that Betty had managed to push me out of the way again. Or, if he was feeling really childish, he'd ask if they blamed him - He always preferred fat women to skinny women and that I should put on a little more weight if I wanted to be taken seriously." She snorted peevishly upon finishing that.

The spirit in her lap clamped its jaw shut and wrapped its arms about its chest in silent laughter. The other two studied the ground, not daring to raise their faces. The occasional restrained chuckles escaping from their lips indicated that they were losing their own silent battle. Kasumi glared at them which tipped the scales and let the laughter loose. "I'm not that thin," she scolded. "and it's not that funny."

"No, it's not," giggled the child on her right. "What's funny is your reaction to it. You appear so calm and collected, but he knows your sore spots and can push you off balance so easily using the dumbest things. Can your sisters do that?"

"No, they can't."

"But he can – I bet he can make you laugh too – a real honest laugh, not just a giggle."

Kasumi stopped scowling and let a small smile creep on her lips. "Yes, he can."

"Where is he now?" asked the spirit on the left softly.

"He's in a place called Ryugenzawa. He left about seven months ago in the middle of the night."

"He left without telling you?"

"No, he visited me by sneaking into my room and waking me up quietly. He had a full backpack with him ready to go. He also let me know that the clinic would have a temporary doctor and he asked if I could make sure everything was set for him." Kasumi's face became bright red though.

"You're blushing again" one of the spirits sing-songed at her.

"…"

"Oh my!" another mimicked her. "Did something happen? Maybe something that shouldn't have?"

"That's none of your business" she said in a sharp tone. Her blush deepened though.

"Kasumi and Tofu sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g" sang the two able to just step out of reach.

She tried to hide her face, but of course the smallest was still in her lap.

"Oh please," that one giggled to her, "Granted you're not as innocent as you pretend, but you're not that guilty either." The spirit leaned in and hugged her. The other two stopped their teasing and also came in to hug her. After a little bit, Kasumi's flush cleared and she lifted her face again. The spirit in her lap continued "Do you know why Tofu went to Ryugenzawa?"

"He left to look for something. That was all he told me."

"So, you haven't seen him since?"

Kasumi smiled again. "Actually, I saw him four months ago. He asked me to join him in Nagoya for a week. When he met me at the train station he was wearing a crisp suit and the blackest glasses you could imaging. He was also carrying a white cane."

"What for?"

"Blind people are sometimes trained to use canes to 'feel' there way through places. The canes are often traditionally marked white."

"That was clever."

"I thought so too. We had a wonderful time. Since we were away from friends and family, we could just drop everything and relax. Neither of us had to worry about tasks or chores. He had booked a couple of rooms at a really fancy hotel. We played tourist, and squeezed in as many 'dates' as we could. He also took me dancing to show me that he really could," she laughed. "It was too bad he had to keep the glasses on for the most part – there were only a couple of times he had 'saved up enough' to drop the act, but it was still wonderful."

"You just changed into a love struck young girl…" teased the child in her lap.

"Hush" She lightly bopped the spirit on the forehead with her fingertips. "Leave me my illusions. I think the best part was the present he had for me…"

"A ring?" one of them asked.

"Stop that – and how would you know that tradition anyway?" she questioned. As her audience made a point of looking remarkably innocent, she moved on. "He gave me the address of a local store near Ryugenzawa that I could send letters to him in care of. He didn't know how long more his task would go on, and he wanted us to stay in better contact. We could also arrange for phone calls through the store and his clinic as well.

"But he never told you what he was doing?"

"No, he just made me swear not to go near Ryugenzawa. So long as I stayed put, he promised to contact me at least once a week. Sometimes we got more in, but we always made it at least once. He also promised that if things went longer than six more months, he'd make another trip to Nagoya. But he was hopeful it won't go longer."

Kasumi sighed and looked at the spirits, "All right you three. Up. I want to stretch my legs. Let's go for a walk and think. As much as I enjoy your company, I still need to figure a way home. You have yours, now I need mine."

"Fair enough," answered the tallest.

As they walked, the spirits would wander away from Kasumi and then run back to her. They would climb the cherry trees and skip stones across the small ponds in Kasumi's park. They also took delight in running at the outer walls, something they could near but never touch – by whatever logic Kasumi had built the park, once you got within a certain distance, further efforts were not as effective. Kasumi remembered watching an American football game once where the penalty flags had been flying fast and furious. Eventually, the penalties stopped being 5 or 10 yards, but half the distance to the goal line – here, the walls were the goal line.

They also continued to ask her questions about her life and family. Nothing astounding or private, but about what she did during the course of her day. They asked her about preparing food, about Nerima, and about her friends. They asked about her siblings and laughed at Akane's and Ranma's antics. They also asked about her Tai Chi, about her schooling, what it was like to repair a wall after it had been knocked down for the sixth time, and adventures in babysitting. When she described the efforts involved in trying to wrestle a reluctant toddler into bed, they came down with an acute case of the giggles.

She marveled at their impromptu game of tag, not complaining when they made her the base. There was nothing supernatural in the way they ran, so long as you made allowances for the fact that they looked like backlit ice sculptures. Their hugs felt warm enough though. "They really are just children," she thought to herself. "I'm glad they can go back Home." She watched with alarm though as the tall spirit threw itself at one of the ponds. Kasumi has no idea if it could swim (or even if it would need to). The spirit hit the top of the water and the rolled as if it hit solid earth instead. Once it stopped rolling, it sat up and sighed.

"Are you all right?" Kasumi asked after running to the edge of the pond.

It looked up sadly, and stood up. Then it walked on the water toward Kasumi. "Almost. I almost felt real there."

"Drowning is not much fun though. You can ask my sister Akane," Kasumi replied. "Besides, you seem pretty real to me."

"But I'm not. I've never been alive, even though I'd like to be, very much. You are alive, Kasumi, and even when you die, after a short rest in Heaven, you'll be re-born. By some draw of the straws, I'm outside of the cycle of life and death," it said sadly.

She knelt down and placed her hands on the child's shoulder. "I understand (well, as well as I can anyway). But you are still real. You and your cohorts rescued me and healed me. You comforted me, teased me, and laughed with me – I'm not sure how you could be anymore real. Wasn't Kami-Sama's Blessing proof?"

The spirit smiled at her. "Kasumi, let me say this. I would certainly want you to be in my life if I was ever mortal."

Kasumi froze. She felt the *tiniest* twinge in her soul. *Naming*, *Calling*, *Binding* But it was *not* a Binding. The wording was so weak, and this was a spirit addressing a mortal – it could not Bind, not even if it had used stronger wording. Even if the child was mortal, no attempt could be forced on her. And the child never had any intention what so ever. But deep in her heart, Kasumi felt Sunshine pour down around her spirit. Humans couldn't be forced into a Bind, but there was another possibility.

She looked into the spirit's translucent eyes and made her decision: "I accept."

With a start, Kasumi felt her Chi flowing into the spirit, but she also felt the Blessing rising into herself. And with the Blessing, came Instructions. Following them, with her mind, she reached into the clean Chaos, pulled it in, and created more Chi for herself. She pulled the child closer. As the three way infusion of Blessing, Chaos, and Chi continued, blazing light surrounded them both. Then Kasumi seemed to hear a bell chime in her mind and the light faded. She loosened her hold to look at the child.

Her hands clasped the shoulder of a young girl. She had pale skin, sharp brown eyes and auburn hair that reached halfway down her back. She looked to be about six years old, and seemed to be perfect in every way, except that she sported a fox's tail attached to her back side. "Oh my! Looks like you have a touch of Kitsune in your soul."

"What's that?"

"Kitsune are fox spirits."

"Am I still just a spirit then?"

"Some Kitsune types could also be classified as souls. A soul is a spirit bound to the cycle of life and death that has self awareness. So, yes, you're still a spirit, but you're also a soul. You seem to be missing the fox ears, feet, and fur, so I'd say you are mostly human. You're not mortal yet, but I have a feeling 'after a short rest in Heaven', you'll be born for the first time."

The young girl brought her tail around to her stomach and then hugged it tight. "This is so cool," she said, her voice tinged with awe.

Kasumi turned to the two remaining shining spirits who had joined them. She held out her hands. "Do you think you might like a turn?"

"YES MA'AM!" they shouted grabbing her hands.

Kasumi smiled and then said "Repeat after me…"


A short time later, Kasumi rested under one of the cherry trees as she watched three children race around the park. There were two girls and a boy, all sporting fox tails. She had conjured children's robes from the Chaos in order to avoid certain questions that she just wasn't feeling up to right now. The Chi she had manufactured was a little rough around the edges, and it took her body some time to adjust it properly. As a result, she was bone tired. But she was also very happy. "At least my rescuers have been properly rewarded," she thought before drifting off to sleep.