ClubCafé presents

The Widow :: Chapter 3

The next morning brought a sunny day full of chirping birds and the normal cacophony of sounds that accompanied a growing day in Nerima, sounds that slowly brought Kasumi out of her slumber. Sitting up in her bed, she gently tucked the muss of bed hair away from her face and gradually became aware of her surroundings. Noticing the absence of Ranma, she thought back to the night before.

Ranma had held her the entire night, and Kasumi then realized that it was the first night in almost two years that she had slept peacefully. Just the realization that she could now sleep soundly at night, as long as Ranma kept his promise, brought a glimmer of hope into Kasumi's darkened world. Turning to get up and out of her bed, she paused when her eyes caught on a small finch resting on the windowsill. It was looking at her, cocking its head from side to side in curiosity, letting out small chirps every now and then. Kasumi saw this and gave it a small smile, whispering out a soft good morning. The finch chirped again before alighting from the sill, casting its wings to catch an unseen breeze to carry it upward and away.

Lightly slapping her cheeks, Kasumi rose out of bed and drifted towards the bathroom. As she passed the door to the bedroom, she caught the scent of breakfast being prepared, causing her to salivate slightly. She hadn't eaten very well in a while now, and the smell of a large, hot breakfast was very appealing. Vowing to hurry through her morning bath in order to eat some delicious food, Kasumi quickly disrobed and began to wash.

Meanwhile Ranma was busy in the house's small kitchen working on preparing a quality breakfast for Kasumi and himself to enjoy. After waking up early and gently disentangling himself from Kasumi's embrace, he had changed back into a man during his morning bath. That was at about six o'clock, and it was now around nine o'clock. He had done some light exercises after he woke up, mainly focusing on technique, and was now almost done cooking. Pausing to sample the Miso soup, Ranma's keen hearing picked up Kasumi moving around upstairs. Smiling, he began humming to himself, and continued until Kasumi walked in wearing a house robe with her hair still damp from the bath.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning Ranma-kun."

"How did you sleep?" Ranma asked as he turned the gas on the stove off. Kasumi paused in her step and tilted her head down a bit, as if shy of something. Bringing one hand to her face she chewed nervously on the sleeve of her robe. Ranma nearly dropped the ladle he was holding at the utter cute-ness of her pose. A healthy blush rose to his cheeks.

"Ah…it was great. I haven't slept like that in so long…sorry I made you wait."

"No no! It's fine, really. I'm glad that you slept well. You definitely needed it."

"Yes, thank you Ranma-kun."

"Well that's great! Now, how bout we sit down for some nice hot breakfast!"

Kasumi nodded and took a chair at the small table near the corner of the kitchen, neatly tucking her feet under the chair and folding her hand in her lap as she waited for Ranma to serve her. As he began dishing out portions, her mind drifted back to the Promise that he had made the night before. The words he spoke then were like a searing beacon in that cold stormy night, casting out its everlasting light to all those who had lost their way. True words spoken from a pure heart, Kasumi began to regret, not for the first time, ever having passed off Ranma and the Tendo engagement. She began to sway into a nice fantasy of her life with Ranma, something she had done a few times before, to try and escape from the world she was currently suffering in. She always saw Ranma as some sort of modern Knight in Shining armour, casting away all fear and doubt to say any girl who would befall peril, but to have him actually come to her rescue, becoming the manifestation of something she held deep inside was a thing that brought such warmth and hope to her that she couldn't stop the tears as they fell from her eyes down to the table top.

Ranma looked up from setting down some rice to see Kasumi silently shedding tears. A part of his brain quickly analyzed the table and surrounding area to see if something he did wrong had caused Kasumi to cry. Another part went into spasmodic shock and told his body to get in gear and go comfort her and find out why she was crying. His body devoutly listened.

"Oh Kasumi, what's wrong? Was it something I did? Please tell me, I'll make it up to you I swear!" his version of placating words poured out of his mouth as he gathered Kasumi into a hug. She sniffle a bit and wiped her eye before responding softly.

"No Ranma, it's not anything you did, well actually it is, but it's not because you did something wrong…"

"And I'll even beat myself- wait. What? Something I did right?"

"Yes. I was just so happy…that I…well…" Kasumi trailed off into her sleeve again, blushing as she thought of trying to portray her feelings about his words the night before. Ranma saw her obvious discomfort with the words she was trying to get out and gave her a gentle squeeze before letting go and moving to sit down at the other side of the table.

"It's ok Kasumi, you don't have to say anything you don't wanna. Let's just eat." Ranma smiled at her, earning a small smile from her as well.

As they ate, Ranma was busy thinking of a battle plan on how help Kasumi get better. One thing he knew for sure was that it was going to take a lot of time and hard work on his part, but he was prepared enough for that. He had enough money that he wouldn't need to get more anytime soon, but he had his volunteer work coming up at the end of the week. As he thought of that, an idea sparked in his head. He could take Kasumi to his volunteer job at the Children's Hospital. Being with those kids would surely help with her recovery, and from what he'd seen in the past when he used to live with the Tendo's, he knew that she already had a soft spot for kids. Setting that idea aside as a good usable one, Ranma then moved to the next thought he had about helping Kasumi out; teaching her some martial arts. Now he knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to launch someone who was recovering from a long bout of physical and mental abuse into a world of voluntary violence and striking, so he had to pick the right style if he wanted to do any good. A small list of styles came to the front of his mind that he thought were good for a beginner, and easy on the striking aspect, Judo, Hapkido, some toned down Aikido, or maybe some softer styles of Jujutsu. After some deliberation, Ranma decided to save that for a bit later, and moved on to the next idea, something he had been dwelling on greatly as he lay in bed last night. Looking towards Kasumi, he set down his chopsticks and took a breath.

"Kasumi, you need to move out of this house."

Apologies are needed. Stuff gets in the way, and this story ahs been in my mind for a while. With both jobs, I tend to lose track of time and what I'm doing, but hopefully I can churn out the rest of this story. Again, sorry for the wait.