Then it briefly appeared they had been victorious after all, as soldiers had begun pulling back from several areas. That was when the divergent paths of history had briefly come together before diverging again, with explosions at Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The unthinkable happened, and surrender of the undefeatable Japan occurred. Followed by reduction to a territory, then eventually statehood.
The set of four buildings were old and weatherbeaten, built in the '60s and frequently repaired after the house that had occupied this area had been heavily damaged during a typhoon and then torn down. One building was the owner's set, the other three buildings were the apartments themselves.
Each of the apartment buildings was segmented off into six sets of apartments, three apartments upstairs and three downstairs. A kitchen, living/family/dining area, and a bathroom comprised each apartment. Not exactly luxury apartments, even for the outskirts of Tokyo, and what they mainly rented out to were students.
These were not complete strangers though, it was owned by the Saotome family of this world whom Genma had tentatively been identified as a lost relative. Not that he had been at all inclined to correct this, as it was true in a sense. Especially as it turned out that their benefactor was actually Genma. Sort of.
James Earl Saotome was a big guy who liked a lot of things in this life, but work was not one of them. Not particularly. He was fond of hiking and camping, and he had some peculiar fascination with mountainclimbing. He was big and heavy-set and had a booming laugh that frequently echoed through the neighborhood. He also drank frequently when he was here, though he usually left the bottle behind when he could climb. He was not a particularly smooth charmer, nor was he a martial artist beyond the simple basics. His daughter Kasumi and wife Nodoka maintained the apartments in his frequent absence.
James E. resembled Genma in some ways, enough that there was a family resemblence.
"GENMA! YOU OLD REPROBATE! HOW'S IT HANGING?!" yelled James E as he grabbed and actually hefted up his supposed relative before dropping him back down.
"Low and heavy," replied Genma with a wink, understanding this other self of him was fairly crude in some respects.
"HAH! Got that right I 'spect. Whooo! This here Ranma! Tadpole's done some sprouting," James E said, looking over the boy.
"I need to get him enrolled in school," said Genma.
"Say no more, I'll have Nodoka do the paperwork," said James E. "Hey, there's a new Irish-style pub they've opened outside the Crossroad Mall. Want to check it out?"
Ranma sighed as the two old men started comparing bars and taverns and drinking holes. This could take awhile.
"Welcome to Kasumi House," said a young college-age girl from the balcony of the second floor.
"Hey," replied Ranma up at her. "Can I get some water? They're likely to be at this for awhile."
"Sure," said the girl, vanishing within.
She was:
(Posted Sat, 14 Aug 2004 09:47)
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