He'd liked have the privacy though. It might have been nice to be able to get a chance to be by himself for once. That might have been a pipe dream, but he had a lot to process, and it was all important. After all that time that he'd only thought that he'd had his father, he'd discovered that he had not only a sister and a mother, but a brother-in-law, and three teenaged step-nieces. To a boy who'd been apart from the world in many ways for most of his life, that sort of connection was... strange and hard to handle.
And the cause of his not learning about this was turning from where he'd put his stuff down. "Boy?"
"What d'ya want, Pop?" the pigtailed boy grumbled as he worked on putting his own bedding together.
"It's about your sister."
"What about her?"
"I want to know if you understand your duties toward her."
"Huh?"
"She's your big sister, and she should care for you, but..."
"Yeah?"
"As a man of the family, it's your job to make certain that she's protected."
"You're sayin'...."
"That's she's still female, and part of our responsibility is to make certain that our women are properly cared for. As such, you should make her well being a concern of hers," Genma intoned with all the dignity of a great sage.
"What 'bout her husband? Shouldn't he be doin' that?"
"Well, of course he should. But she needs to be protected by any means neccessary."
"From what?" Ranma asked, his disdain clear in his voice. "Idiot fathers?"
"Stupid boy! Don't you know that I know what's best for both of you?!"
"How'd ya think of that? It ain't like ya really show it!"
"I show it all the time! And I'm doing so now!"
"Funny way of showin' it. Waitin' until everyone's gone ta bed."
"It's that I show it, not when!"
"Only 'cause it's easier for ya that way."
"Don't you disrespect me BOO... OOF!"
Lowing his fist from where he'd punched his father in the face, Ranma snorted. "Shut up, and go ta sleep already won't ya?"
"I might say the same for you, little brother," came a dry tone from the doorway.
"Huh? Ranko?"
"That's me," his sister replied from where she stood with her husband and step-daughters. "Or were you trying to wake us up?"
"Pop was bein' an idiot again."
"On your case about something stupid?"
"Treatin' it like you're in need of a guardian."
"Ah. Well then, get some rest, would you?"
"And keep it down," a pajama clad Nabiki yawned. "Some people like to sleep when they go to bed."
"Sorry," Ranma told them, and nodded at each one as they left the room. Once they were gone, he gave a sigh and shook his head at how much his father caused trouble. But he knew from experience that things would get into a manageable sort of routine soon enough. All he had to do was tough out the starting bit, and he'd know how to handle it as best they could.
But as he lay on the futon that Ranko had given him, he stared up at the ceiling and realized one important thing. He wanted to protect her. Sure, it wasn't in the way that his father would have liked, but he wanted to be around in case she needed him. His sister was the only other blood relative that he knew, and, unlike his father, it was completely clear to him that she actually cared about him. She was nice, loving, and protective, all traits that he could appreciate.
Of course, she did have a mean backswing with a frying pan, but then, he hadn't been the one on the receiving end of it.
Chuckling softly at the mental image of how his father had been cowering, he went to sleep, while:
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(Posted Tue, 02 Aug 2005 21:56)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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