Nodoka had officially absolved him from that particular promise, but it was still a sore point for Ranma who secretly feared that just because his mother had accepted his curse did not meant that he might still be found unmanly and in need of redeeming the family honor with a tanto if he screwed up something really big and important.
At least he had not been splashed by cold water on the way as it had happened during their last visit here. It was really hard to project an image of supreme manliness for your mother when construction workers were making cat calls and suggestive comments about the contents of your wet shirt.
Turning to his very serious looking mother Ranma decided to start on an easy subject to test the waters.
"The work is coming along nicely," he commented gamely.
"Yes," Nodoka agreed coldly. "Repairs were a bit slow for few months with us not being able to afford much. Thankfully, after I had that little talk with Nabiki, she remembered the money the Kunous' lawyers had given her for Kodachi's part in the incident. It was nice of the girl to keep it in trust all that time. The pace of the work has really picked up once we had more money to spend. Now that the walls are up again one can almost no longer tell where your girls tore through it."
"I am sorry, Mom," Ranma apologized again." They were chasing me and I needed a distraction to throw them of my trail. I never meant for the house to get damaged."
"And your father?" Nodoka wanted to know. "He got hurt quite a lot in the fracas."
"I knew pops would be fine. He was the one who taught me that technique after all. I guess 'Use-The-Partner-To-Throw-Of-The-Chasing-Wolves' is a bit more destructive with crazed-martial-artist-girls than with your normal angry mob or pack of wild animals. But I knew that it would not really be dangerous, since pops wouldn't just show a truly dangerous technique to a small child," Ranma explained.
Ranma had been taught from an early age that sometimes sacrifices had to be made. He was sure that his father had been very proud of him the first time young Ranma had managed to use the technique he had demonstrated again and again himself. And Genma would probably have said so himself if he had not been busy fending of the angry boar that had been chasing them at the time.
It was a lessons Ranma had taken to heart. You don't always had to outrun the predator chasing you, you only had to outrun the partner being chased with you. And sometimes you just had to trip him.
Nodoka looked at Ranma for a moment with a strange expression before continuing, "I think I will have to discuss that with Mr. Panda a bit when we get back but for now lets talk about your harem that caused all this destruction."
"Oh mom, they are not my..." Ranma tried to correct her nervously, but Nodoka continued as if he had not heard him.
"Now son you know that I think that it is very manly of you to have so many fine energetic young ladies vying for your affection," Nodoka began.
"Yes manly Ranma, the chick magnet that's me!" Ranma affirmed.
Being found manly was good. It meant that his mother approved of him. It meant that nobody would have to be found a disgrace after all and no bellies would have to be slit open to regain anyone's honor.
"However I don't think it is very manly the way you have allowed things to go out of control. A bit healthy competition is nice and well, but the way you let your girls fight over you is simply unacceptable. The property damage caused by them alone should tell you that much. It is positively unmanly how you almost encouraged them to run amok in the neighborhood."
"I don't really encouraged them," Ranma tried to explain but was again cut off.
"It is not just the three girls that who destroyed our home. Akane might not have been involved with that incident, but she cause plenty of havoc by herself. She is one actually the worst of them with her jealous streak. I swear that sometimes you encourage the girl to bash things with her hammer."
"But, mom," Ranma protested weakly.
"No, Ranma," She told him. "I don't want any excuses. I have given you enough time to solve this mess by yourself but you have just let things continue as they were. Something needs to be done and it needs to be done soon. I won't have our house be destroyed again as soon as it gets rebuilt because your girlfriends decide to visit you at the same time."
"And what am I supposed to do?" Ranma asked exasperatedly. "It is not like they will listen to me when I tell them to stop fighting."
"Don't worry Ranma," Nodoka said. "I will tell you how we can solve your problems."
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(Posted Fri, 09 Dec 2005 01:44)
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