Setsuna had to admit that Nabiki’s solution was pretty good—not only did it give Chibi-Usa a place to stay, it also solved the problem of a Senshi presence in Nerima. Quite simply, since the Tendo compound had plenty of room for guests (and since one planned “guest” wasn’t going to be staying there no matter how loudly his father complained) Chibi-Usa could stay at the Tendos.
Sure, it had its problems: Nerima was some distance away from Azabu Juuban, which meant that if Hotaru was to meet with her best friend on a regular basis, it would be quite a commute across Tokyo. Still, it couldn’t be denied that from a purely strategic view, this was their best option by far—at the very least, it meant that they wouldn’t have to rely solely on Nabiki for all of their information about the area (and anyway, Chibi-Usa implied that this would work out better for her mysterious “observations”).
But as far as Usagi was concerned, the best part of the plan was that it didn’t involve her family being hypnotized into believing that her daughter from a thousand years in the future was her cousin—it always made her uneasy seeing how easily her parents succumbed to that, especially since both of them were only children.
Thus, Chibi-Usa returned to Nerima that night with Nabiki. Fortunately, she didn’t have much luggage—or rather, most of her luggage was in a subspace pocket, and so moving in hadn’t been a problem… logistically speaking, anyway. Gaining the approval of her father was another story.
“C’mon Daddy, she really needs a place to stay, and we’ve got a guest room upstairs!” Being the youngest, Akane had always been the most effective when it came to childlike pleading, since it tugged at her father’s considerable sentimentality.
Unfortunately, Soun wasn’t taking the bait. “That is where Genma and Ranma are staying.”
“Uh, no, Ranma is staying with his wife, and by his own admission Genma has his own house nearby—though why he didn’t stay there when Ranma was attending Furinkan is beyond me,” Nabiki pointed out while glaring at the current houseguest.
“I have my reasons,” said Genma, who was clearly unwilling to approach the topic.
“Well, then what about the room downstairs? Surely you can’t object to her staying there,” Kasumi helpfully suggested.
“I’m sorry, but I won’t allow someone around who could remind Ranma of that woman once he comes to his senses and decides to marry Akane.”
Nabiki sighed… would her father ever end this obsession with Ranma and Akane getting married? “In case you weren’t listening the first time we told you, we’re Setsuna’s friends, too. I don’t think there’s any way Ranma would be able to forget her no matter what happens in their relationship. Besides, what will the neighbors think when they hear that you turned away a poor, defenseless girl who needs a place to stay just because you don’t like someone she knows?”
“Well… I suppose she can stay… but only until she finds someplace else, understand?”
At this, Chibi-Usa turned up the volume on her “kawaii” setting (a skill that she’d managed to hold over from her childhood) and hugged the tall, mustachioed man tightly. “Thank you so much, Mr. Tendo! I promise, you won’t regret this.”
“Yes, well, never let it be said that Soun Tendo would put personal animosity over human decency.”
“After all,” drawled Nabiki, “we can’t have people knowing that you’re actively trying to break up a happy marriage.”
Sound sighed. “It’s not that I want to be a nuisance by meddling around in your private lives; it’s just really important that Akane and Ranma unite the schools.”
“Agreed,” said Genma. “There’s no reason for the two of you to be so stubborn about this—after all, the honor of the schools will last a lot longer than any ‘love’ that Ranma and that green-haired strumpet think they share, and is, therefore, more important.”
Nabiki simply groaned while Akane decided that now would be a good time to introduce the alternate plan. “Um, Daddy, about that ‘uniting the school’ thing… Ranma and I were talking, and we think that Nabiki has a pretty good idea…”
It wasn’t hard for Tissue to decide where to begin looking for information about Genma and Ranma. She’d heard the rumors about the Japanese—how they were racists who looked down their noses at gaijin like her. Of course, she knew that this belief in the bigotry of all Japanese was itself nothing more than a racial stereotype, but she also knew that stereotype usually have some basis in reality—albeit a distorted reality. In any case, she decided that the best way to go about her search was to ask around the martial arts circles in the Tokyo area—racists or not, she knew that she could earn the respect of a martial artist.
Her strategy had moderate success. Even though she quickly found the rumors of Japanese racism to be a bit exaggerated (as she expected), she still didn’t know the whereabouts of her husband and stepson—it seemed that Genma was a bit of a wanderer, and had taken his son all over Japan in order to improve Ranma’s martial arts prowess. But she did learn that Genma did have a “permanent” address in the Nerima ward, and it was to this address that the Amazon was headed today. Sure, it would more than likely be empty, but it was the best lead she had.
As she approached the home, Tissue checked her appearance in a window, making sure that every chartreuse strand of hair was in its proper place. After all, if somebody was home, she didn’t want to look like something the cat dragged in.
That done, she readjusted her backpack (being careful not to break any of the containers of cursed water within), strode up to the building’s front door, and knocked.
When the door opened, Tissue was surprised, for two reasons. First, as has been mentioned, she didn’t expect that anyone would be there to open the door. Second, the person behind the door was neither her husband nor her stepson—though she did bear a remarkable resemblance to Ranma’s female form. The woman looked at the newcomer with a small amount of curiosity, and asked “May I help you?”
Tissue swallowed hard and asked. “Is… is this Saotome home?”
The woman cocked her eyebrow as she answered. “Yes…”
“Genma Saotome?”
“Yes… I’m his wife, Nodoka. If you’re looking for him, he’s not here right now; he’s been on a training trip with my son for the last ten years.”
Wife?! “Oh dear…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Things just get too, too messy… my name Ti Xiu of Joketsuzoku… and also wife of Genma Saotome.”
“What?!”
“Well, according to tribal laws…”
“My dear, perhaps you’d better come inside—something tells me that this is going to be a very long conversation.”
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(Posted Wed, 15 Mar 2006 19:21)
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