Chapter 9: Home
Beyond a doubt, the bedroom alarm clock has to be the most hideous sound in creation. Kasumi pulled a pillow over her face and tried to ignore it. "Please," she thought, "that was such a good dream. My mother was in it. Just five more minutes." Unfortunately, years of habit were hard to break and she was irrevocably awake. Sighing, she turned the alarm clock off and got up. As her feet hit the floor, she noticed that she wore her slippers to bed. "Odd, I usually don't do that and I don't remember being *that* tired last night. When did I get pure white slippers anyway? Usually, they are blue."
Not quite fully aware yet, she stumbled to her closet and got out clothes for the day. When she tried to take off her night gown though, she hit a catch, literally. "What? I wore pants to bed? I wore a dress yesterday, where did the pants come from? Wait, they look like gi pants. It's Sunday morning, I don't spar with Shizuka on Saturday, ever." She glanced at her closet and saw her gi hanging up. Her eyes widen as the sleep was replaced with shock. She ran over to her bedroom mirror and stared. She was wearing the Chaos gi. It shown brightly, even in the dim room. Her hair was in a pony tail, just as she wore for sparring. "OH MY!" her thoughts screamed. She shoved her hands into the gi's pocket. Sure enough the cards were there, wrapped in a piece of Kasumi's former night gown. She checked the closet to make sure the night gown was indeed missing. Then, she made her way back to the bed and sat down.
"That wasn't a dream. I was kidnapped last night. I saw visions, mostly false. I was rescued by three spirits, and they were *not* the Christmas spirits. I issued and received Binds last night. Those three spirits stormed Heaven because I asked them to (Oh my, I have *got* to get to temple soon). I spun this gi from Chaos and incorporated my old night gown into it (is that why it's still here when the park fell apart?). I spoke to Mother last night. She told me she was proud of me and gave me a lot of advice." She looked at the gi again – It was all real!
She sat still for quite some time remembering everything until she heard the second Tendo dojo alarm go off – A large splash out in the koi pond.
"WAKE UP BOY! OR SHOULD I SAY GIRL!" bellowed Genma. That voice set Kasumi's teeth on edge.
"YOU'RE DEAD OLD MAN!" Ranko yelled back.
"I wish" Kasumi thought.
"O.K. girl," she said to herself. "Granted, there are some changes that have to be made, but showing up for breakfast in an obviously supernatural gi is not one of them. There's a late morning healing service at 10AM in the temple near Furinkan. Let's shoot for that. Just tell them that you are going, and clean up is on them." She ran to her closet and chose some decent clothes. "I need to get a few less decent ones though." Getting dressed quickly, she brushed out her hair. "Apparently swimming in water created from Chaos is a great conditioner." Letting her hair flow back down over her right side shoulder, she ran down the stairs toward the kitchen nearly colliding with Akane as she was preparing to go jogging.
"Wow, Kasumi. You look sharp. What's the occasion?"
"Excuse me Akane, but I'm running late and I'd like to make it to the temple today."
"Really? Oh. Do you want company?"
"Sure, but I have got to hurry right now."
Kasumi flew into the kitchen and decided on a Western breakfast for everyone. As she worked, she heard the others move about. Nodoka came in and looked at the hurrying girl. "Kasumi, do you need a hand?"
"Yes, Auntie. Two things: One, could you make some coffee? Two, could you leave the sword outside the kitchen this morning? I know it's an heirloom, but I find it really distracting right now."
"Oh, Sure. Ah. Yes, to both. Hold on." Nodoka put the sword in the broom closet and then moved over to the coffee machine.
Ranko stormed into the kitchen. Kasumi threw a paper cup of hot water at the red head causing Ranma to look back with surprise. "Ranma, Akane is going to go to Services with me at 10AM. I need you to stay out of her way, so she's ready on-time."
Ranma looked confused, and then he looked at the clock. "When did she leave to go jogging?"
"About twenty minutes ago."
He walked quickly to the kitchen door, "That leaves me twenty minutes. Don't sweat it, Kasumi." Then he was gone.
Fifteen minutes later, Ranma was back, helping to move food to the dining room. Kasumi heard him exchange a greeting with Akane, who was back early. Kasumi also heard the smack as Ranma slugged his father to keep him from the eggs. "Auntie, could you go guard the food please? I could use Ranma's help to serve." The older woman nodded her head, grabbing a platter of glasses on her way out.
Ranma swept back in and grabbed the fruit, taking it out. After a few more trays, he looked around. "We're almost there." he said. "It's just the meat and the coffee now. Nabiki just put in an appearance and the adults have drained the first pot. I'll put on another pot." He did that and then left to tease Nabiki. One of the few times he could win a war of words with Nabiki was when she was a couple of cups short.
Alone in the kitchen, Kasumi watched the meat carefully. She checked the time and saw it was only 8:30AM. "Not bad. I've actually got plenty of time." Her mind wandered back over the night's events and the conversations she shared with her mother and the children. Something was tugging at her, something that should be obvious, but she was overlooking it.
"a double-Bind with affection…"
"…could serve as the definition of marriage."
"But couldn't it also serve as the definition of 'family'?" Kasumi wondered.
"What spirit type is in your blood?"
"You'll have to guess."
"…he knows your sore spots and can push you off balance so easily using the dumbest things"
"…seems three Kitsune children managed to storm the Gates of Heaven…"
"Even with Kami-Sama's help, how do three children storm *anything* convincingly. The answer is they don't. They distract, they hide, they trick their way in. They just do it quickly," Kasumi thought.
Kasumi turned off the stove and move the meat to a platter.
"Kitsune. Fox-spirits. The great tricksters of the Japanese spirit world. They would give the Native American Coyote a run for his money." She was almost there.
She picked up the platter and started to the door.
"…which is very good considering that she's really 508."
"Japanese lore has a large collection of tales regarding Kitsune marrying mortals, especially Kitsune females." The mental block went down.
"What spirit type is in your blood?"
Kasumi froze, half way to the door. It was bloody obvious in retrospect.
Only one last leap to be made. The platter left her hands and fell to the floor. Ranma flew in at the noise, stopped, and stared. He seemed to be saying something, but Kasumi couldn't hear it.
"Maybe… Maybe even Grandmother!"
And once the children left, Kimiko came for her daughter.
"Oh my…"
Ranma had heard the crash in the kitchen and ran in. He saw Kasumi looking very white, just standing there. "Kasumi, are you all right?" He watched her eyes roll up into her head. "Kasumi!" He was at her side instantly and caught her as she fell.
Kasumi slowly rose out of the fog. Ranma was kneeling by her head looking very concerned, checking her pulse and feeling her forehead. Akane was at her feet elevating her legs at Ranma's instruction. Nabiki flew in and knelt opposite Ranma, covering Kasumi with a coat to keep her warm. Nodoka was looking on wringing her hands. Soun was in his usual crisis mode, bawling his eyes out. Genma was trying to keep Soun from drowning his daughter.
Nabiki looked up. "Why is it up to the children in this family to handle the situations?" she thought, and began snapping orders.
"Daddy! Please shut up."
"Uncle, please take Daddy outside."
"Ranma, why don't you carry Kasumi to the couch."
Ranma nodded his head and began to lift Kasumi.
"Akane, Ranma doesn't need any help. He could lift six Kasumi's. Please get some proper blankets and pillows for her."
Akane also nodded and ran off.
"Auntie, could you please salvage what you can of the bacon and sausage? I'll clean up the rest…"