Soun puts down a postcard with a picture of a panda on it. The message on the back of it reads "Bringing Ranma. You'd better prepare for the worst." Soun turns to his three daughters and says "An old friend and his son are coming to stay with us for a while. Maybe for a year or more."
Akane humphs "Now I'll have to put up with boys in school and at home!"
Nabiki chides Akane, "Hey, you never know what he's like. This might be fun."
Kasumi asks father, "What are they like?"
Soun turns towards them. "I've never met Ranma, but I've received messages from his father over the last ten years. Apparently he's an excellent martial artist, having trained all over Asia. They'll be returning from China soon."
Akane grumps "Big deal, China."
Soun turns serious. "There is one problem. According to Genma, his son is considered handsome by the girls in the towns they've visited. Also each of you is beautiful in different ways. While I'm sure Genma's son is a gentleman, and I know all three of you are excellent daughters, there's one thing I can't stress strongly enough. None of you are to marry him!"
Akane shouts "Who'd want to marry the jerk!"
Kasumi comments, "Akane's right. Why would we want to marry him?"
Soun answers "From what I can tell from Genma's letters there are things about Ranma, aside from his appearance, that would appeal to each of you. You're going to be spending alot of time around him, making it possible for you to get to know him well, and possibly develop feelings for him. And while under ordinary circumstances if you were to bring home a young man as good as Genma describes Ranma then I'd cheerfully wish you the happiest lives, In this case I absolutely forbid you to marry him!"
Nabiki says "I'm more interested in knowing why you're forbidding it in that case. It sounds to me like some weak ploy involving reverse psychology to me."
"I'm not going to give my reasons. If you think I'm trying to trick you into marrying him, please don't let me trick you. None of my daughters are marrying Ranma, and that's final!"
Kasumi says "Poor Father. He must have been shocked."
Nabiki answers "He's shocked? We just got done hearing a lecture from our father about how we're all forbidden to marry a particular girl! What does he think I am? I can't speak for Akane, but when I marry I intend to have a male groom!"
Akane shouts "I'm not like that! I'm just happy to meet another girl who knows martial arts! My only decent opponent is that moron Kuno, for gods' sake." Akane turns to Ranma. "Would you like to see our Dojo?"
Nabiki smirks at such an easy straight-line "Now that's an original line. It's better than ``Come up and see my etchings.'' Make sure you keep it down to beating each other up."
"Nabiki!"
As Ranma walks into the dojo with Akane, Akane says "I apologize for all of that. It's been an odd day for all of us. I just want to make one thing clear. In spite of my sister's jokes, I have no intention of ever marrying a woman. She's just saying it to annoy me. Do you want to be friends?"
"Sure."
"Do you want to spar? I really don't have a decent partner."
"Ok"
"Don't worry; I'll go easy on you."
Soun says "Now, now. Your problems aren't so bad. You've met my daughters. In time I'm sure you'll all become good friends, but I'm warning you. I'll never allow you to marry any of them."
Ten years ago, as Soun and Genma finished tying the ofuda to the prayer ropes wrapped around the boulder blocking the cave containing their sensei; Genma said "At last we're free."
Soun's pensive expression clouded. "I'm not sure. I've got a bad feeling. Before we go back to our wives, let's be extra sure. There's a sooth sayer whose predictions have always come true. Let's consult her and ask if there's anything more we can do to safeguard ourselves."
Genma pales a bit and says "You think he might survive all of this?"
Soun answers "I don't think so. But I'll sleep better knowing we did everything right, than if I'm worrying we might have overlooked something."
Genma sighs. "You're right. Better safe, than sorry. Let's make sure we're rid of him for good this time."
After Soun and Genma explain all they did about the master to the sooth sayer, they look at her in an expectant manner. After an awkward pause, the sooth sayer said "That's an interesting story, but what are your questions? I can answer three questions."
Genma blurts out "What can we do to prevent the master from ever entering our lives again?"
The sooth sayer lighted some incense, and stared into the smoke for a while. Her eyes went wide with surprise. She mumbled "That can't be right." She crossed the room and took down an ornate bowl, and filled it with water from a pitcher, and proceeded to stare at the ripples on the water's surface. After a minute or so, her shoulders slump slightly, and she turns to the two men and said "It is inevitable that he'll torture the next two generations of your families. He can not be stopped by this generation. The only thing you can do is to trap him to keep him out of the way until he can finally be defeated by your descendants, which you've already accomplished."
Both men turned white with fear. Finally Soun asks "What can we do to make sure our descendants can defeat him for good?"
The sooth sayer returned to her incense. After a while she said "You're children will fail, unless they become friends after their adolescence. If they are friends, they'll have a chance."
Soun turns to Genma. "Do you remember the night after Kasumi was born? We talked about possibly uniting our families? One of my three daughters can marry your son. That ought to be enough."
Genma turns to the sooth sayer. "Will this work? If Ranma marries a Tendo, can they stop the master?"
A couple of minutes of staring into the incense prompted the sooth sayer to shudder violently, before she pronounced the doom sentence on all of the men's plans of linking the houses through marriage. "If a Tendo marries a Saotome, the child of the union may be trained by Happosai to be an even worse pervert of even greater strength in arms. The child might be so vile and strong as to make the master as appalled as you are appalled by the master. May the kami forgive you if you help to create a scourge even worse than Happosai? You have had your three answers, now I must insist you leave. I feel the need to wash thoroughly after seeing that future."
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(Posted Thu, 11 Nov 2004 06:45)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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