At least to the fathers, that was what was going on.
When Ranma looked at his friends, he recognized the same sort of amusement and absurdity that he held the situation in to be in their eyes. This wasn't something that they believed in, and their only concern was how to get out of this without causing too many problems. Other than that, it was only something to get through so that they could enjoy their reunion.
They just had to wait for the fathers to be willing to stop the 'solemn' tone of things, which didn't seem to be really in force in the first place, if Soun's attitude was any indication. "Oh, how wonderful this is! For this day to come is something that I've been waiting years for."
"I know what you mean, old friend!" Genma intoned. "This is the point that we planned for all that time ago."
"And now there is only one thing to do."
"Two, really."
"Oh? How can that be?"
"Pick one, and get the job done."
"That's true...."
Nabiki sighed and fought the urge to cover her face with her palm. "What is it that you want to do now?"
"I would think that would be clear."
"It should be," her father said.
"Then let's get down to it."
"You're right. Ranma, my boy. I have three lovely and wonderful daughters. All that you have to do is to pick one, and she will be your bride."
Oddly enough, Ranma didn't hem or haw when the attention came to him. "I can't."
"Really? Why not?"
"The boy is probably just too taken by your daughters to choose for himself. We can just do it for him."
"Nah, ya can't," his son responded.
"And why can't we, boy?"
"'Cause it ain't 'cause I couldn't see myself pickin' one, and I could try."
"Then just /do/ it!"
"But I can't! We just got here!"
"Eh?"
"Ya just told me ta pick a girl outta three like I was pickin' fruit at a stand. D'ya really think that I'd drop in, pick one, and go marry her?"
"Well...."
"I ain't 'bout ta just forget everythin' that's right ta do on a moment's notice. 'Sides, even if I didn't have anythin' ta hold me back, I wouldn't know enough ta not pick the wrong one, and make everyone's lives miserable."
"And this is like an omiai," Kasumi murmured. "There are certain rules to be followed in that sort of situation."
Nabiki passed her elder sister and friend pleased and impressed looks before she gave the fathers a carefully 'helpless' look. "There you have it. We haven't had the time to spend getting to know each other, and there are proper ways of doing things. You don't want to mess up your situation by skimping on proper behavior now."
"Well.... no...." Soun admitted.
"But what can we do?" Genma asked, sounding rather disgruntled. "I mean, there doesn't seem to be much of an issue about it to me. Just pick one, marry her, and continue the lines. simple."
"My sisters and I are /not/ broodmares, /Mister/ Saotome. You propose to do something that will affect our lives in a major way, and we simply want to make sure things go /right/," Nabiki told him.
Akane snorted, and reached out to grab Genma by the throat. "Besides, if you /don't/ stop acting like such a jerk, I'm going to get really mad. Understand?"
The Saotome patriarch, who was currently trying his hardest to breathe, and not succeeding very well, nodded very quickly.
"Good."
"Akane, you shouldn't abuse our guests...." Soun admonished, watching as his friend gasped to get air back in his lungs after he'd been let go.
"I won't give him what I don't think that he deserves. I promise."
"That's my girl."
"And that reminds me...." Ranma started.
"What?"
"Just so that ya know, there's someone who was followin' us from a village in China."
"Is there?"
"Yup, and she will probably wanna come here. Ya see, Pop and I were in her village, and Pop thought that he had ta get me outta there real quick. So he grabbed me, and took me away from that place, but she followed. I'd haveta say that she wasn't happy with that."
"Saotome? Is that true?"
Swallowing in a few last breaths, Genma nodded, and spoke in raspy tones. "That girl came after us, and she was from a village where they /kill/ people for certain 'misbehavior'. The boy must have done something, since she came after us, ready to do violence."
"Actually, Pop... She only wanted ta hurt ya," his son drawled.
"What? How do you know that?"
"'Cause I listened ta what I was told. And I knew what had her so annoyed with ya."
"What would that be?"
"Takin' me outta there like that. She was puttin' out all the stops for me, and ya took me outta there without even a 'goodbye'."
"You mean that she wants to hurt me for not acting on rules of /hospitality/?!"
The younger Saotome's smile grew wide. "That's what set it off."
"Oh, no...."
"There, there, old friend. I'm sure that all this will be well settled," Soun soothed, patting his friend sympathetically on the back.
All three sisters and Ranma passed looks of bemusement and understanding to each other, with the girls recognizing just the girl that he was talking about, and the four teens each finding something to enjoy about making their fathers be put out over the situation. But they weren't about to talk about it at the moment, as they weren't in private. For now, they just enjoyed the mistaken impressions that the fathers had, with Kasumi being the only one who really felt sorry for them, while:
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(Posted Fri, 14 Apr 2006 02:15)
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