He just wished that they were not as traditional as they were sometimes. From their mother's consideration of such things, they'd become rather attached to their Japanese heritage, and were utterly focused on adapting what they really liked to modern situations. However, in the manner of tribals, they had taken it in ways that still left him scratching his head.
"OOOH! Mail!"
"AAHHH!" Or he might screech like a little girl when he got surprised. "How many times have I told you not to do that?"
Nabiki gave an amused smirk back at her father. "That's what ninjas do Dad. We sneak up and make certain to find the perfect moment to strike!"
"Daughter, this is our home, and you do not have to sneak around."
"I want to..."
"Fine. Just stop leaping out at me like that, please?" her father asked in a near whimper.
"I'll try... My tape!"
"Huh?"
"It's come! Now I can continue on to the next part."
"You wanted to check the mail?"
"Of course. I've been waiting for this tape of 'Kage no Gundan' for a week now, and Hattori Hanzo waits for no girl!" the girl said with a satisfied look.
"Really."
"Uh-huh..."
"Don't you have the series already?"
"It's Hattori Hanzo, and I'm getting to see it exactly as it was first broadcast!"
"Oh, how interesting."
"I knew that you'd understand Daddy," she said, and gave him a peck on the cheek before she slipped away.
'I don't understand their thoughts some times...'
"Father?" came a calm voice, and he turned to see Kasumi in another of her robes. She seemed to wear so many miko outfits that he tended to wonder how many of them she had. However, they were much better to his sensibilities than the skimpy or sleek outfits that Nabiki favored. And he had to admit, there really was something rather... soothing about his daughter's manner. Of course, it was still a bit of a concern when one considered the fact that out of his three daughters, she was the most traditional, and sometimes he wondered if she would really do anything that she was 'supposed to'. But still, she was a lovely young lady, and he couldn't hope for a better elder daughter as far as he was concerned. "What is it?"
"Did something happen? I heard you yell, and then there were raised voices..."
"Oh, it was just your sister. She popped up again."
"Ah... Nabiki so likes doing that," Kasumi murmured with a smile.
"Yes, but she got something in the mail..."
"She got her tape, didn't she? I'm glad for her."
"Ah... yes. It made her happy. But what about you?"
"I'm happy..."
"I'm pleased to hear that," Soun sighed in relief.
"But I was going to come here anyway to tell you that dinner will be at the usual time. Hopefully, Akane will be home before then."
"Where is she, anyway?"
"She said that she'd be out dealing with something at school. As far as she was concerned, it wouldn't take long."
There were things that could change the entire world within moments. Natural disasters, magical confrontations and continent wide wars would do that easily. Some had already happened, others would never occur. But in this case, a change had come in the form of an alien arrival and subsequent immigration to Earth. They had advanced technology, sentience, and abilities beyond the current man. Some of them had even managed to continue the changes to Earth things even after they'd integrated into society.
But Tatewaki Kuno was still an idiot.
"Come, my fair flower. Put down that proud weapon and take yourself into the position that fate has declared shall be yours," he intoned, "Become my pet, and know the place that you belong in, where the hand of a true samurai shall guide you."
"Pheh. As if. I do not need you to guide me, or tell me what to do. I am perfectly capable of doing it myself," Akane scoffed.
"You may think that is so, but you do not realise that you are not in the proper path. That is a man's weapon, and like you, needs a man to guide it. But do not fret, for your attempts to mimic my own, most glorious, techniques so that you may impress me have worked as you knew they would."
"I didn't know anything, and you can't force me to even consider that. Now, you will stop treating me this way, or I will have to force you to."
"Then let us see you try, and when you fail, you shall finally understand that you are mine. Have at you!"
Kuno was confident at that moment, as he was certain that skill, fate, and Akane's heart were on his side. It was clear to him that once he had defeated her, she would forgo this silly nonsense, and act like the simple maiden that she was. So he charged forward with the full intent of using his superior ability to complete the overhead swing that he planned.
Akane simply sidestepped it, and in a nasty upward swing, she caught him under the jaw, sending him flying to land in a heap on the ground nearby.
The only sound that he made then was to groan unconsciously.
Satisfied that the fool wasn't about to get up again, she placed her own bokuto in its case and turned purposefully away from him before she left. She didn't understand how the pompous idiot could think that a true samurai would be a blowhard, but he refused to think of it any other way. But she knew that a samurai held her dignity and acted with the upmost honor. One could be as one passionate as they wanted to be, but a samurai was not someone who prattled on about how he was great when that person was full of hot air.
Fortunately for her, she didn't have to worry about him, not that her parents would let him try to force even a date upon her. Besides, they had already set up a possible fiance for her and her sisters, and she was pretty sure that he would not be the idiot that Kuno was. She couldn't know what he would be like until he arrived, but she was certain that her assessment was right. Hopefully he'd be someone who was not arrogant, self righteous and lacking anything approaching accepting reality. Then maybe she would have the chance to have someone she would like to cuddle with.
Until then, she could only act as best as a proper samurai would, and walked home with great dignity while:
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(Posted Thu, 14 Apr 2005 08:35)
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