The other man grinned and returned the gesture with an added bit of patting on the back. "Soun! It's good to see you!"
"How long has it been?"
"Too long, my friend."
"How right you are...." the Tendo patriarch agreed, and pulled away from the 'manly' hug to face the younger Saotome. "And I take it that this is your son."
"That he is. My son and Heir."
"And how are you son?"
Ranma shrugged back. "Fine."
"Nothing more to say?"
"Just waitin' ta see if ya two are really gonna remember that I'm here, or are you going to keep on huggin' each other like that."
Both fathers frowned at that, while Nabiki gave off a little giggle of amusement. She didn't know how her husband thought that his words were to be taken, but an odd bit of pride hit her then. He had sounded like he was making fun of them without them realizing it, and if he'd meant to do it like that, then he'd have learned some skill with words. But that same amusement apparently had drawn attention to her, by the way that she was getting regarded.
"I take it that this is your daughter," Genma observed as he looked her over.
Her father gave a nod. "One of my prides and joy. This is Nabiki, my middle daughter."
"Hm...."
"Anyway, why do this here. Let us go inside, and introduce my other daughters."
"Oh, of course. Let's go boy."
"He invited us in," the pigtailed boy groused. "Ya don't have ta tell me ta go."
"Stupid boy."
"Yeah, yeah."
Seeming to ignore the discord between the father and son, Soun led the way into the house. He fairly strutted down the hallway, looking every inch the proud father. It was clear that this was a happy moment for him, and he was going to enjoy it as completely as he could.
Neither father noticed as Ranma leaned over to his wife and whispered, "Nice outfit."
"Thanks," she replied, giving off a faint blush that she couldn't brush away.
"Now, here we are. My other two daughters," the Tendo patriarch said as they came into the family room. "Kasumi, who is nineteen, and Akane who is sixteen. And you have already met Nabiki, who is seventeen."
"Ya got that right," the sole male teen replied.
"Ah... yes. Well, this is an important day for us. After all these years, our promise is finally about to be fulfilled."
"You see, boy, back when we were younger, we trained under a horrible Master," Genma intoned.
"Sorta like you," his son replied.
"Stupid boy! I led you better than I could have ever dreamed under the dread Master."
"Those were totally dark times," Soun commiserated.
"And during those terrible days, we made a pact of honor."
"Which is about to be completed today."
"This must be done."
The teenaged boy looked between the men and sighed. "Might help if ya actually told me what you're talkin' 'bout here."
"Marriage, boy."
Looking rather paternal, the tall man in the gi looked down at the boy. "Pick one of my daughters, and she'll be your fiancee."
"Is that all?" Ranma asked.
"'All'?! How can you put it like that?!"
"I already knew 'bout that promise. Pop told me 'bout it when we were comin'. I thought that ya were gonna bring somethin' else up."
"Um.... Well, it still holds. You choose any one of them that you want."
"Oh, he wants Nabiki," Kasumi put forth, sharing a glance with her youngest sister.
"Eh?"
Akane tried to look rather stern, but the small grin straining to break out made her look happy instead. "Nabiki would be the better choice."
"What?"
"It's simple. She's the one who's been really wanting to have a real relationship."
Looking rather serene, the eldest of the sisters nodded. "And it would be good for them. She's smart, and he's strong. That would mean that they'd level each other out."
"They'd be right for each other."
"Truly."
Soun looked over his daughters, and couldn't figure out how they'd come to this conclusion, but it did seem to be a good choice. "Ranma? I know that it is your choice, but...."
"It ain't a problem for me," Ranma replied, looking like he was trying to reign himself in. "She looks smart and cool. And she's really pretty...."
"I see.... But what about you Nabiki? You haven't said anything. Don't you have an opinion? Do you want to go along with this?"
Trying to hide a faint blush, Nabiki looked down at her feet and nodded.
"Really?"
"He's a hunk, Dad," the middle daughter replied, and gave a smile after saying that.
"Well then," Soun replied simply, looking at his friend, as the two of them:
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Thu, 27 Oct 2005 06:03)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.