Chapter 10

Ranma was sitting in the yard watching the pond as Kasumi finished up some dusting inside the house. They had been waiting at the Dojo for a week now. During this time, they had both fell into a somewhat general routine that started with waking up around seven. This proved to be an unexpected benefit for both of them.

Ranma couldn't remember when he had slept with such peace (and length!). Ever since he could remember, his father had forced him out of bed early to train (or flee angry villagers). It was funny how something as simple as waking up gently in the morning, rather than having a bucket of cold water thrown at you...thank you so very much Akane...could start you off in a better mood.

Of course waking up and seeing the happy and beautiful face of Kasumi each morning would have put the crankiest man on earth into a good mood. Kasumi had managed to convince Ranma to leave his futon in the corner of her room. He had tried to protest, but she had convinced him otherwise.

"Kasumi, are you sure about this?" he asked.

"Why yes, why not?" she couldn't understand why he was so reluctant to keep her company at night.

"But...but...in your room each night?"

"And that would be bad because?" she knew where this was going, but she wasn't going to let his fear get the best of both of them.

"What would people say? It wouldn't be right?"

"Well" she started, "first of all there isn't anybody to say anything, and most important, you are protecting me and keeping me company. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"No..."

Kasumi was grinning rather mischievously. "As far as being 'not right', are you planning to do anything ungentlemanly to me while we are in here?" She knew Ranma would rather eat Akane's cooking than even think of something like that.

"Of course not!"

"Then there is nothing wrong with it, is there?" she concluded.

"No, I guess not" he was quiet for a few moments and then looked up at her again. "Kasumi, why do you trust me so much? Nobody else that I've known has ever trusted me as much as you have?"

Kasumi blink-blinked at the question. It was actually a very good one. She only had to think about it for a little bit before she had a good answer, one that should please him greatly. "Simple, because you are an honorable man."

Ranma had expected many answers, but not that one. Nobody had ever seemed to appreciate his sense of honor before. Heck, Akane never gave me an ounce of credit, not once. She always believed the worse about me. He felt his face blush slightly with embarrassment. "You really think I'm honorable?"

"Ranma, we all have our own faults. I have them, you have them. But one of your strong points is definitely how honorable you are. I've never seen you take advantage of another persons goodness, so I don't expect you to do so of mine. I trust you."

"Trust me?" Ranma Saotome had never heard a female, or a male for that matter, ever use those words before. They filled him with a sense of pride he'd never experienced before. "Wow, thanks Kasumi. That means a lot to me. I promise I won't let you down."

She returned his smile. "I know you won't Ranma, that's why I do trust you."

So Ranma permanently moved his futon out of the guest room and into Kasumi's. This of course meant that instead of waking to his father yelling at him, as he had done so many times before, he got to wake to Kasumi's soft, musical "Good morning Ranma" instead.

Neither one of them talked about it, but their primary purpose each day was basically trying to patiently wait for someone to figure out how to get them back home. So each morning they woke together, with Ranma escorting Kasumi to the bathroom to change, and then her waiting for him to get cleaned up as well. Next came breakfast, followed by Ranma's morning workout while Kasumi did what little cleaning was required now that there was only two of them. The last few days they had kept busy during the daytime accumulating food and supplies. Turns out it was a good thing that he had listened to her, because since that day, power had been going out throughout the district, and they had lost theirs yesterday. Some camping stoves and fuel had at least given them access to some water, but gone were the days of long soaks in the furo. Evenings had been spent on making dinners and then just talking to each other.

The combined effects of not having lunatic fiancées, rivals or parents was beginning to show on Ranma. He was just starting to notice how much he was relaxing each day from the lack of stress. The immediate effect was that he actually started thinking about his actions more rather than just reacting. In his conversations with Kasumi this week, he had caught himself several times about to make some ridiculous (and usually insensitive) comment and thought against it. He was glad that Kasumi hadn't seemed to notice, and was proud that the Saotome foot-in-mouth disease had at least a hope of being manageable.

As much as the quiet atmosphere was helping him relax, the ability to actually talk with someone was having an even greater effect on him. Since there was no television or radio, each night he and Kasumi had sat out in the yard and talked. On the first night it had seemed a little awkward, but he remembered how much he used to enjoy talking around a campfire to his father and decided that even though it wasn't that cold, he made a small fire each night for them to sit around.

The effect had been somewhat magic. The life of the fire, the random pops and hisses, had made them both less lonely, and it seemed like they were on a camping trip instead of sitting in an empty house in an empty town. Each night they sat in the yard, alternating between looking at the night sky and the glowing embers. As the power had failed in the district, the stars had decided to show themselves more. Last night had been breathtaking. For the first time since some of his more out-of-the-way trips, he had seen the Milky Way up in the night sky. Kasumi had never really been out of the city before and had been amazed out how beautiful the evening view was. He remembered their conversation last night.

"So that's really the Milky Way up there?" she asked.

The two of them were laying on some cots they had found in a camping store that very day. Ranma knew the stars would really be out tonight and he thought it would be better than laying on the hard ground.

"Yup, that's it. Not many people really get to see the sky like this anymore. With all the lights going out, you can finally see the real night sky."

"It's beautiful. There is so much detail and depth. It almost seems alive..." she finished, her soft voice blending with the quiet evening around them.

He was surprised that she had made the same observation that he had many years ago. "It does seem alive, doesn't it. When Pops and I were on a trip, I could stare at this all night. Well, I could if I wasn't so darned tired. He usually wore me out each day, so I never really stayed up too late. I still never got tired of looking at it."

"Ranma" Kasumi began, although she paused and he could tell that she was unsure about something. "I never went camping before, do you think...we could sleep out here tonight. There aren't any more animals or bugs to bother us are there?"

She couldn't see it, but her request brought a big smile to Ranma's face. "Sure thing Kasumi, that'd be great!" True, part of him felt guilty in succumbing to such a childish pleasure, but it was one of the things he always used to enjoy with his father, and for as nice as the Tendo's had been, he always missed the outdoors. "I'll go get some stuff, I'll be right back."

"Oh, let me help you. You don't need to do everything yourself you know."

Fifteen minutes later, they were tucked beneath some light blankets and were listening to the fire make gentle noises off to the side.

"Ranma, could you talk to me for a bit before we go to sleep?" Thank goodness he can't see my face she thought. He'll probably just say no, but if I don't ask him I'll never know. "I know it sounds silly, but if I listen to your voice, I don't have other thoughts about...scarier things."

"Uh, OK, but what would you like me to talk about."

"Tell me about your childhood"

So Ranma started telling Kasumi about what it was like to be Ranma Saotome.

--

Akane Tendo was not a happy camper. Ranma had been gone a week now, and she had been forced to realize that she didn't dislike him quite as much as she had liked to think. If anybody had asked her, she would have sworn that she had no feelings at all about her fiancée, but his disappearance had also made her have to admit that she really did care for baka. Yes, his foot and mouth disease often drove her to new heights of anger, but she knew that in some way, Ranma really did care for her. The problem was, no matter how much she cared for him, she was just as frustrated by his actions and manners. She wasn't sure how she would ever resolve this conflict, but hopefully she'd sort it out eventually. Her sister had helped a bit, unfortunately she didn't have the way with people that Kasumi had.

She was torn because even though she missed the baka, she also was enjoying the return to normalcy that was occurring in Nerima. Yesterday those bizarre Amazons had actually left town. She was glad Shampoo was finally gone, but she also realized that the only reason that they had left, was that even they had given up on Ranma returning.

So as she sat eating her lunch at school, she thought that she liked the Attention the baka gave her, but the chaos that accompanied that attention bothered her just as much. She just wished he and Kasumi would come back. She couldn't win for losing, Ranma bugged her, but she still missed him, and if anyone could save her sister, it would be Ranma.

--

Ranma was looking for Kasumi. He had decided to try cutting back on the Ki flow to his surroundings to see what would happen. She was working in the yard when he shut off the flow and he wanted to be with her if anything strange happened. He walked out to the front yard to find her, but she wasn't there. He didn't like this gray, lifeless version of the world and it gave him the creeps.

As he walked around the house looking for her, he heard a noise in the distance. He stopped to see if he could see what was producing the muted crashing noise. At first he couldn't see anything, but eventually he noticed movement on the next hill over. He shaded his eyes with his hand as he watched the trees move, and finally fall as something appeared to be knocking them over. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew he needed to find Kasumi right away.

"Kasumi! Kasumi, where are you?" Where could she have gone, she was here just a moment ago? He broke into a run as he went to the dojo next door. "Kasumi!"

His feeling of panic continued to build as he was unable to find her. He went back into the yard and noticed the noise was noticeably louder. As he looked toward the hill, he saw more and more trees fall. Whatever was doing the damage was coming his way...quickly.

"Kasumi!" He couldn't find her! He jumped on top of the roof of the house so that he might be able see where she was. He looked around the property and saw no sign of her. As he heard more trees fall, he glanced back toward the noise and finally saw what was causing the turmoil. There were some kind of large balls careening through the woods. As they traveled, they left behind a black trail. He watched as they cut through trees and rocks alike. As they got closer, he could make out some type of eyes below the surface and a set of huge teeth where the mouth must be.

"Kasumi!" he called as he jumped into the backyard away from the advancing creatures. As he began to run, he saw them encircle him from all sides. They were incredibly fast and moving erratically.

One of the creatures seem to set its sights on him and it careened toward him. He tried to run, but all he could see was the huge mouth looming closer, closer...

"Kasumi!" he screamed as he shot out of his bed. His yell woke Kasumi sleeping next to him. She looked around wondering what was wrong, and saw Ranma standing next to his cot, shaking looking white as a ghost.

"Ranma, what's the matter?"

"A dream, it was just a dream, that's all" he panted.

"What was a dream?" she asked.

There was no way he was going to tell her about that nightmare. Hopefully it was just that, a nightmare. "Yeah, just a dream. Couldn't find you and just got worried."

She smiled at his innocence. He didn't even realize the compliment he gave her without thinking. She suspected there might be more, but she didn't force the issue. "Why thank you Ranma. I'm glad you're worried about me. Do you feel any better now?"

"Yeah, I do. It's nice to know it was just a bad dream. Don't know if I can get to sleep again though."

"...Because of the dream?" she completed for him.

"Yeah. Need to concentrate on something else."

"Well, you've helped me get to sleep by telling me about your childhood, how about I tell you about mine?"

"Really, that'd be great Kasumi!" he lay back down on his cot, and listened to the soft musical voice of Kasumi. Her voice is so beautiful. Even if I couldn't see her, I'd know she was wonderful. It wasn't long before Ranma dropped off, and Kasumi joined him soon after.