Nodoka was having a lovely day, a simply wonderful experience. From the morning meal to the afternoon lunch with the Senshi in her and her daughter-in-law's apartment, the day was bright and heartwarming. Even now, walking along with Michiru towards the train station, her only mission was to pick up her little boy. If she was lucky, tonight might see the spark of life for her first of many grandchildren. (Her son was so manly.)
As they approached the train station in the dancing reds and oranges of the afternoon sun, Nodoka turned to her son's wife and smiled brightly.
"Michiru dear," Nodoka spoke sweetly, "we should slow down."
"Eh? Weren't you the one who tried to run over me," came the response as a question.
"Yes dear, but I'm also the one who did not forget upper support," Nodoka stated with a smirk. The poor girl turned as red as the sunset, so the elder Senshi of Uranus comforted her, "Doing so much to make Ranma happy; you do a mother proud."
"Ack!"
Nodoka felt the tightness in her cheeks as the smile formed. Nodoka didn't just fly out the door without purpose, and was quite proud of her powers of observation. Michiru had been in a rush, wasn't expecting any male guests, and had to prepare for the Senshi meeting. If there was anything a mother had a natural knack for, it was the ability to twist any momentary lapse in judgment into something that worked towards her own means.
"Relax," Nodoka consoled Michiru, who had not only began to carry herself differently, but her eyes almost shown fear. "I'll be with you the whole way, so I'll stand between you and any unwanted onlookers," she smiled. "Yes," she thought, "this will work out wonderfully."
Eventually, the pair boarded the train, Nodoka noticing that Michiru took extra special care in her steps, "It will be okay dear, it is proper to do everything you can for your husband. My manly son will be so pleased with your enthusiasm!"
Ignoring the cross look from her daughter that read like a billboard, "No, this is most certainly not proper," Nodoka found a pair of seats for the ride towards the Nerima district.
With a whistle, and the shriek of metal wheels beginning to turn, the two were on their way across Tokyo. The trees and buildings soon were a blur through the window, inviting a moment of solace for the two Saotome women.
"How long has it been," the elder Saotome thought, "seventeen years, or was it eighteen..."
Birds were dancing between the trees of a small park, as a younger Nodoka was slowly meandering her way towards her part time job. A scene that should have been surreal in its serenity was nothing short of the silence before the storm. Of course, even a future Saotome would only be allowed brief moments of such peacefulness.
About the time Nodoka had passed two older trees, she noticed something a bit strange. A young man who had been wearing some kind of inflatable ketchup bottle as an advertisement began screaming. So token aback by the odd sight of a ketchup bottle bending in half with its cartoon-like hands gripping the "cap" of the bottle, she became frozen with amusement.
The amusement did not last long, however, as the young man was able to remove the silly costume, revealing a person with white hair, gray skin, and red eyes. Of the features, it was the eyes that were the most unnerving; those eyes had no pupil, iris, or even white in them. Those eyes were all red, and they glowed an eerie crimson. Then, he smiled. Nodoka remembered that she kept telling herself that a lady does not scream like the girls in budget films. While she was certain that she had only stood there for a few seconds, the memory was almost a still shot. A moment froze in time, as that thing began to approach her...
It was at that time that she met her husband to be, as a much less portly Genma dropped from a tree to protect an innocent from this twisted soul... In the end, she was saved, though the battle was ongoing, by the actions of that manly warrior! That fight to her was mostly a blur, but a blur to remember. It must have been fate that when a second abhorrent soul joined into the fray that the Senshi of Uranus awoke.
Those were happy times. When her hero wasn't doing manly things with his master, they would often team up to defeat other such afflicted souls. Her warrior's master was not pleased when his student defended her trophies; only to see Genma rewarded with those very same unmentionables. Still, even the old master had joined into a couple of the fights with those lost souls, as she would eventually call them. The heated battles quickly gave way to heated meetings between the pair. Genma would sneak into her bath. She would accidentally leave her bedroom window open while changing. It was Nodoka's own golden age.
At the time, she didn't really consider what they were, just that they were monsters. Then, as suddenly as they began to appear, the appearances ceased. Nodoka was married by this time, the master had vanished, and she was soon heavy with Ranma.
After meeting Setsuna and the other Senshi much later on in life, she learned about the Silver Millinium, the various criminals of the past, and how a threat began to awaken earlier than expected through some hiccup in the fabric of space-time.
How ironic was it that she had met Michiru just a year before the other Senshi, through that thoughtful young Tendo girl? After meeting Nabiki, and learning how taken Michiru was with her son, it was her solemn duty to help that most proper young lady with her quest of the heart.
Michiru's voice brought her thoughts back to the present, "What are you doing, Mom?"
"Oh, I was lost in thought and got carried away," Nodoka replied as she stopped twirling her daughter-in-law's hair with her fingers.
With bright eyes and a sideways grin, the green haired girl scolded, "If you dream too much about grandchildren, you'll forget that your husband will be coming home with Ranma."
"Grandchildren are important dear," Nodoka smiled, "besides, we're here."
The look of excitement on Michiru's face reassured her that work would begin on making those grandchildren very soon. The eyes gave the darling child's intentions away; that young lady was going to make sure that her son would be very manly tonight!
(---)
The girl with odangos was beside herself, "When were you planning to tell us about Michiru's marriage? Have you met the guy? Is he cute?"
Setsuna raised her finger to pause the future queen, but was cut off by Minako.
"Forget that Usagi, what's important here is if he has a brother!"
The Senshi of Pluto didn't need the Gates of time to tell that she was going to be in for a long night...
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(Posted Mon, 19 Dec 2005 07:33)
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