Saotome Nadoka returned to her self imposed exile at the Saotome home. Since Ranma had disappeared six months prior, she had banned Genma from returning to the house without him, and his sole attempt had been met with... resistance. The doctors had taken 40 stitches to sew up the gash in his thigh.
"Next time I won't miss." Nadoka growled working off her shoes. While she was still the same traditional wife and mother, Ranma's absence had made her question if that traditionalism had turned him away from her. In consideration of this, her looks and attitudes had changed. Instead of her kimono, she now wore a sky blue sundress, and the Saotome honor blade was hung neatly on a nearby wall, it's silk wrapping folded carefully on the mantle below.
As she bent to pull on her house slippers, she was quite surprised to find four other pair of outdoor shoes lined up neatly in the foyer.
"That's odd... Two adults, one male and one female. Two children, male and female. But no one else has keys to the house." Pondering this she absently crosses to the wall and draws her most reliable weapon, the family blade. With it's comforting weight in her hands once more, the elder Saotome began to search the house. The downstairs was fairly normal, save for a few dirty dishes that hadn't been there when she left, but upon starting her ascent she noticed faint trails of blood on the banister. "Someone's been hurt. But why would they come here?" She mused.
Nadoka moved cautiously, following the trail up the stairs and into the bathroom where she was treated to the sight of a young man washing his hands, eyes still bleary from sleep. She stared at him in surprise as he started towards the door, only to watch some bloody rags fly from the floor to the waste can with a gesture of the young mans hand. Satisfied he continued forward until he bumped into Nadoka and took a hurried step back into a defensive stance.
The boy favors the sword. The elder Saotome observed, cautiously stepping aside and shifting into a nonagressive stance as the boy's sleep glazed eyes swept over her. And his face... it seems familiar.
"Gomen nasai." He mumbled with a bow as he slipped past her and shambled down the hall before vanishing into what used to be Ranma's room. Shaking off her shock, the Saotome matriarch followed her mysterious visitor through the door and was most surprised to find him curled up asleep in the bed with a teenaged girl, who's flaming red hair reminded her of another red haired girl that had been missing from her life. The odd thing, in Nadoka's eyes, was the position. The two were, if possible, closer than lovers, flowing together in such a way to make discerning the boy's end and the girl's beginning quite impossible.
Who are these people? And why are they here? The older woman wondered backing silently out of the room and turning towards the guest bedroom. The two she had seen were little more than children, and yet there were adult shoes in the foyer as well. Logically, there were only two places for an adult to sleep, her master bedroom and the guest bedroom. Cautiously she opened the door and gasped in surprise at the sight that met her eyes.
There in the guest bed was her son, and Soun's middle daughter, both looking exceptionally content in their sleep, despite the slowly reddening bandages wrapped around her arm just below the shoulder. Nabiki was tense, even in her sleep and a slim dagger was clenched between her fingers, ready to throw at the slightest provocation. Ranma held the older girl jealously close as small traces of electricity danced over his bare skin where Nadoka ran her hand across his scarred flesh.
No. Nadoka thought, realizing what she'd been seeing. Not a girl. She's a woman and a mother in her own right, just as my son is truly a man now, but what have they been through that they can't even let their guard down when they sleep? With a sad sigh she adjusted the sheets around them and gave them both as light a kiss on the forehead as she dared, before slipping away to ponder the facts over tea.
***
At a shrine known for odd happenings, an RAH Comanche helicopter touched down at the stairs of the shrine, allowed a young man to disembark before flying away.
Though it may be interesting to note that said chopper had no pilot.
Tenchi grimaced at the sight of the stairs and started jumping, clearing four of them at a time. Before long the exhausted young man reached the top of the stairs and extended his senses feeling the various ki levels of the house's residents.
"Welcome home, Tenchi." Katsuhito, also called Yosho of Jurai called as the young man in question focused on him.
"You don't seem surprised to see me, grandfather." Tenchi said taking an unsteady step away from the pillar he was leaning on.
"Tsunami told me, so of course Sasami knew. And Washuu. Her dimensional counterparts kept her appraised when you came in contact with one."
"I guess I should let everyone know I'm home, if it was kept such a secret."
"Perhaps you should start in the fields. There's someone there who took your disappearance.... rather poorly."
Tenchi stared dejectedly across the expanse and began using his ki to fly in short spurts, looking more like a traveler hopping along in a low gravity environment.
Much to his surprise, he came upon a figure in the field that was dressed in his old jeans and loose shirt. However even from this distance he could see the form was a cyan haired female, and the energy radiating from her confirmed this.
"Ryoko?"
The girl froze a moment and then continued her work. "You don't have to be here, you know."
"Huh?"
"I know that I drove Tenchi away with my behavior." Ryoko said softly. "Little miss princess won't let me forget that. So you see, I don't need any personal guilt manifestations to remind me of what I've lost. But if you insist on hanging around, I guess I wouldn't mind the company."
Tenchi drifts over to the older woman and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Not even if I was the real thing?"
"T-tenchi kun?" Ryoko gasped in surprise as she spun in his grip to face him. "You mean you're real?" She asked running an uncertain hand across his cheek as he nodded. "My god... you're back."
"Yeah, yeah I am." He answered. Much to his surprise Ryoko wrapped her arms around him, not in a sexual overture, but in the manner of someone glad to have her best friend back.
"God I missed you Tenchi." She whispered holding him in loose companionable hug. "When you disappeared, I thought I had lost my best friend." She trailed off as she began quietly sobbing, both of them quietly holding the other until Tenchi's arms fell away. Ryoko looked up to see Tenchi fast asleep in her arms. "Welcome back.... my friend." She whispered as the pair vanished in her trademark teleport.
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(Posted Tue, 24 Aug 2004 06:08)
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