Looking over at the sight of Ranma and Rei chatting while Makoto tried to give the other girls some encouragement during their hike.
From the start, it had been clear that he wouldn't get to have his plans go through as he wanted... again. A single crack had been all that was needed, and when Ami had pointed out that she could translate enough Chinese to be a big help, that crack showed up. Then Makoto was reminding him that she could help with the supplies and cooking, Rei was informing him that she couldn't let Ranma to go without her, and Minako had brought up the fact that as they were meant to be with his son, it wasn't exactly right for them to be sent away. Usagi had just gazed at him with the sort of look in her eyes that had him shifting unconsciously, and feeling vaguely guilty.
But he had tried to argue with them. He'd mentioned that he and his son would have to go on a hard quest, and they reminded him that they had not only carried their own weight, but had actually brought in some extra income. From there, he'd argued about the trouble of getting so many individuals over such a distance, and they told him that they could help when needed, rather than having him do all the work. Looking for something to help him to make them go to back to Nodoka, he told them that his son would have to concentrate on nothing save for the Art, and was quickly informed that when Ranma was there with him, he was actually getting opportunities to see different aspects of the Art.
It wasn't until he was travelling that he'd had a chance to think about he, a grown man, had been out debated by a group of girls. That was rather embarrassing, and even his attempt to get away before they could catch up to him and his son didn't get very far, when Makoto had a wonderful breakfast cooking on the fire as soon as he got up. And that was only the beginning of his troubles.
When he'd been pulling his son along to finally get on this trip, someone else had seen. That wasn't too much of a problem, but it turned out that the observer had followed. After asking who the individual in question was, he was informed that the person was his son's rival. Now, this would normally be good, but having someone else join in the journey was not something that he had wanted.
Things went from 'bad' to 'worse' when he'd been at a harbor, looking for a way to get them over to China. His hope at keeping the neogirls out of the whole thing might have been tossed, but he had thought that he could at least minimize the effect of any disruptions they might cause. However, when he was there, he wound up discovering a group of people who could be his ticket into China. Unfortunately, even though he got their help, it turned out that they wanted to go with him. So, he wound up getting these guys from National Geographic travelling with him since they had the name, money and connections... though part of the reason that he let them come along was simply because they were so eager to do so that they wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.
Travelling over an ocean, and slipping into the country were simple enough, and he was hoping that he could salvage the situation as best he could. Fate decided to be mean to him again, as his little group came across a small tour group whose guide had gone missing. As the reason for a guide was to show them where to go without getting lost, this was a major problem with that. The neogirls were sympathetic when they'd heard, and he'd hoped that they'd leave it at that. Yet, it happened again, as the girls just seemed to make these sorts of things happen. Usagi had wondered out loud about wanting to do something for them, Minako had commented on how Genma had the skills to make the best of what they might have, Ranma had agreed, and the resulting trailing by the tourists had made for an even bigger group. Had he had any hair on his head, he would have ripped it out. He had pointed out that he wasn't someone who had been constantly shifting between nations, but they had simply informed him that he still could do a lot to help.
And then there were the 'strays'. Sometimes, when an owner died, abandoned a neogirl, lost a neogirl, or was otherwise not around, neogirls could wind up left to fend for themselves. This was severely frowned upon, but it did happen. But, for reasons that he had yet to fathom, Ranma and his neogirls had managed to get these neogirl strays to trust them enough to want to go with the group. He wasn't certain when the first ones had shown up, as he was sure that it happened in both Japan and China, but by the apparent 'adoption' that the girls and his boy had done, they were apparently brought into the group as well.
That was why he was walking along the foothills with his shoulders hunched, his head lowered and his hands in fists. But since he couldn't hit anyone, he was forced to stick with merely grumbling. Fortunately, he was rather good with that.
"Silly girls.... messing up the trip.... Not that anyone is actually letting it be how it's supposed to be," he practically snarled as he stomped his way down the road. "Argh! How did things get to be like this?!"
"Life happens?" Ranma offered.
His father merely snorted.
Ami blinked at the elder Saotome. "You seem to be mad."
"'Mad'?"
"Angry, perturbed, annoyed...."
"Yeah," Minako put in. "Who's got a bee in his bottom?"
"That's 'bee in a bonnet'."
"Oh...."
"Still, the idea still holds."
"I am not angry!" Genma protested.
"Oh?"
"I am perfectly in control, and know how to handle emotions!"
"You do sound... off."
"This whole trip is not going right! Why would I be okay with that?!"
"Because there's no reason to complain about what has already happened?" Rei said offhandedly.
Genma gave her a single glare, and then turned to continue on the path that they had been going on before. Behind him came his son, the boy's five neogirls, the boy's rival, a camera crew from National Geographic, a couple of adopted strays, and a small tour group that misplaced their guide. Whether or not they had been planning to go to the mountains was not the point. He had gone back to his grumbling, with both his hands curling into a desire to a hurt those who were with him. In fact, it seemed like there were points where he was arguing with himself.
All of them followed after him, and he continued to lead them to:
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(Posted Wed, 14 Dec 2005 07:29)
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