Even as there was levity to the situation, in the back of the minds of those present, one very important fact stood out.
Genma Saotome was dead.
When it happened, it caught everyone by surprise. Every single person in Nerima that knew of Genma Saotome always thought the weasely martial artist would’ve died from a backfired hair-brained scheme, losing in a match against a martial artist that would’ve outclassed him, or someone who he’d wronged in one way or another came back for vengeance upon the portly martial artist.
It had been a calm spring afternoon. Genma and Soun had been playing shogi out on the veranda, reminiscing about the ‘good ol’ days’ and eating snacks and drinking tea which Kasumi had happily provided for the two patriarchs.
And then Genma started complaining about a sudden heaviness in his chest and shortness of breath. Of course, Soun had considered it a ploy by his old friend to try and cheat at the game again, and paid no attention to it.
But it soon became apparent something was wrong when Genma’s skin was turning slate-gray and he began clutching at his left arm, complaining about the intense pain he felt. There hadn’t even been time enough to make an emergency call before the middle-aged martial artist fell over, dead.
Genma died of a heart-attack.
Soun and Happosai who had been around had been in a state of complete denial even as it was happening. The old man had just returned from one of his panty-raids just in time to see his student fall to the ground, twitching in pain for those few moments. It was a good think Kasumi had the hospital on the line. They needed that ambulance for Soun. The shock of seeing his best friend died was too much for the Tendo Patriarch and he had been admitted to the hospital. At least they were able to help him recover.
Funeral arrangements were made and taken care of quickly enough. It had been a quiet family affair when Genma’s ashes were laid to rest, only the Saotomes, the Tendos, and the grandmaster of the Anything Goes School were present, (as Ranma was certain they were the only ones who really gave a rip about his old man).
Happosai’s reaction after the funeral had been completely unexpected to those who didn’t truly know the pervert. He took off, as the old gnome told them, he needed to ‘clear his mind’. He still had yet to come back, and no one had an idea when he would. Of course, for most in Nerima, that was actually a nice relief... But the reason for him taking off was more than enough to tug at a person’s conscience, no matter how much of a little son of a bitch the old freak could be at times.
That had been three months ago. And three months of reflection really allowed Ranma to consider his situation.
Thanks to nobody showing up for the funeral of Genma, Ranma was off the hook with a lot of his so-called fiancées. No matter how loyal Ucchan could be, no matter how beautiful Shampoo was, no matter the rich heritage Kodachi had come from... None of them had given much care for the death of Genma, and if Ranma was honest with himself, he would have realized they were in fact were pretty darn happy about it.
Not the best thing to do if one wanted to get in well with Ranma’s mother, his only living parent. Not being around the funeral proceedings and showing no care at all about her deceased husband when the grieving process was starting was a big no-no.
Ranma had to take a moment to wince as he thought about Ukyou. Of all the other girls, she had taken his mother’s attorney’s restraining order the very worst. Even worse than Shampoo, who practically went off the deep-end because Cologne wanted to respect his mother’s wishes. It was nice that the Amazon’s stupid matriarchy and female superiority worked in his favor for onc.e
Yeah, Ranma knew his mother was going a bit too far by taking such a step, but he knew she was hurting at first, and his fiancée brigade had unintentionally given her an outlet to release her pent up mix of emotions and pain.
And besides, it really did make his life easier as well. He didn’t get to go out to the Nekohanten or Ucchan’s for a free meal anymore, but his mother was a far better cook. And he really did enjoy getting to spend more time with his mother and get to really know her.
And because of that time getting to know her, it wasn’t any surprise his mother wanted to start dating now. Though it wasn’t intentional, Nodoka had already started moving past her feelings for Genma. Yes, she had still cared for Ranma’s father, but the actual love she felt had waned into seeing him more as a friend than the love of her life.
So as far as Ranma saw it, three months was more than enough time for her to mourn the loss of her husband.
She’d already been mourning him for a decade.
That was why Ranma wasn’t really protesting when it came to his mother wanting to go out and enjoy her life. She’d been forced to live chaste when Ranma was taken away on the training journey by his dad. His mother wanted to live her life for once.
Still... Dating so soon, and thinking of what could result from dating didn’t settle well with Ranma. Yet he had to admit, is mother seemed pretty lively and happy when around...
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(Posted Sat, 22 Apr 2006 02:31)
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