Morning, Seers Hamlet
On a simple house on the outskirts of the city, a pair of light golden brown
eyes opened. Looking around morosely, their owner, the sole inhabitant, stepped
out of the bed and went for her morning ablutions.
Looking at herself in the mirror, Kino Nodoka, formerly Saotome, watched sadly
at her reflection and pondered on her life in those last few years. The Purification
may have granted her something of a renewed youth when it changed her into a
werelioness (something her few acquaintances here seemed keen in joking, pointing
at her similarity with Serenity-hime’s breed.), but her face and usual
demeanor showed quite clearly for anyone her true age. Not the one on her ID
either, but the one in her heart.
Old.
Ancient even.
But what truly sapped her will, making life barely more than the morose space
between sleeps, were not the age she felt seeping deep into her bones, but the
utter… uselessness of her life. If she didn’t know it would be pointless
as well, she would have willingly joined her ancestors a long time ago. Also,
she felt herself too dishonored to face them.
After the fight against Claudius were won and the world Purified, she stopped
to look really hard at her life so far. And what she saw shamed her deeply:
she had let her outdated and skewed conceptions of duty, honor, manliness and
‘proper’ behavior to all but alienate her only child, who to this
day couldn’t stay near her without cringing some
.
Genma and Soun had not only dishonored the Saotome and Tendo name, but willingly
and willfully betrayed the whole human race. Only the fact that Ranma was a
war hero and the Tendo girls had steadfastly sided with the senshi prevented
the new global tribunal sentencing them to death. Instead, both were declared
ronin, preserving their family names from the deep shame, and sentenced to live
without parole, alongside the Kuno males, who were judged sane enough to stand
trial (On a happy note about it, the Kuno state was turned to the, now saner,
Kodachi, where she lives nowadays with her wife Ukyo, her husband Sander, and
their children: a boy by Ukyo and Twin girls by her, making it one of the werewolf
clan ‘unofficial embassies’ in Japan.). A few others, who were more
or less duped into serving him, were sentenced to lighter punishments, some
even being sent to Jade to serve their times under the Mages Council, who were
equipped to deal with such, helping those found deserving of having a change
to heal and eventually return to society, like Dr. tofu and Konatsu. As a matter
of fact, last she heard of the kitsune kunoichi, ‘she’ had finally
acclimated to her now permanent female gender, and would soon be released under
her former employer family responsibility as ‘parole officers’ of
a sort.
She herself sometimes liked to take Dr. Tofu to tea, when he wasn’t working
in the healer Nali’s Clinic as part of his sentence. She felt the two
of them had some things in common, as both had left their skewed perceptions
blind them for far too long, only to realize what they lost too late…
Lost to the war… Lost to themselves… The wereowl’s doctor
friendship had become one of her few still standing links to the outside world.
Also, discovering that Genma and Soun had become lovers was a deep shock to
her. It may have been brought by the Lust Dust, but they kept on and made it
a full reality. It had brought the weight of the rest of her misconceptions
even deeper on her, spearing her heart and soul cold with the knowledge of her
foolishness.
Her divorce was fast and swift, allowing her to reclaim her maiden name. But the pain and sorrow in her heart could not be erased that easily.
She had failed. Failed as a woman. Failed as samurai. Failed as a mother. Failed as a human being. Failed. As completely and utterly as one could.
Which was what brought her to Jade.
She told everyone that she was looking for new start, but the few who knew her, and herself, actually knew better.
She had exiled herself. Sought out to divest herself from her child’s
life, too ashamed to face him. Her pride at his accomplishments only served
to drive the spear of how little she had done for him but many heartaches, in
deeper.
“Oh my! Hello Auntie!” came the sweet voice of Kasumi to her left.
The young weretigress visited often as her house was just a few blocks down
the road she lived.
“Hello Kasumi-chan.” Replied Nodoka with the slow, tired voice that
had become her usual. “What brings you around today?” she asked.
The eldest Tendo (She had asked Tirga to keep her family name after her father’s
trial, so to prevent the Tendo name from disappearing in shame and, much to
her delight, he had agreed...) once again had to force herself not to break
down and cry over seeing the older woman, once so lively, reduced to this. It
only strengthened her resolve to help her through her hard times as best as
she could. Maybe she could ask Nali’s help to set her up with Tofu…
Both would be good for the other, in her opinion. “Well, I’ll be
down to the Earth realm later with the kids. I have an appointment with my editor
and have arranged for the pups to stay overnight with Ranma.” She answered,
ignoring the sudden cringe of Nodoka. “Do you wish me to give them any
message?” she asked, knowing full well that trying to convince her to
join her into a visit was, at the moment, and probably so some time more, a
waste of effort.
I’ll _will_ help you, Auntie! She thought fiercely to herself. You helped me too many times for me to turn on you like this! Besides…
she grinned internally. I seriously doubt you took into account the Saotome
stubbornness. Ranma would NEVER let his mother slip by like this! She giggled.
Nodoka didn’t know, but trough her, and a few others, Ranma’s family
kept their ‘exiled’ matriarch under a close eye. Ranma often asked
of his mother’s days to her, knowing that she would be the best to be
their ‘close hands’.
As the young weretigress pried into the virtual shell of her depressed auntie,
she couldn’t help but hope for the kami to help her heal the one who was,
for all but blood and name, her second mother…
See other episodes by Philodox
(Posted Sat, 11 Nov 2006 16:22)
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