Akane sighed as she sank into the furo’s warm water. Sometimes her father could be so… irrational. Sure, she knew that he meant well—he always meant well. But she wished that her father would try to look at things from his daughters’ perspective when he did things like this. Not that that would have necessarily stopped Soun from arranging this marriage, but at least he might have been able to tell them in a way that would have been so blunt. As it was, the announcement had left Akane feeling tense, and that it was only with this wonderful bath that that tenseness was beginning to fade.
Minako, on the other hand, was just glad that she didn’t smell like a gym sock anymore. She wasn’t quite sure what to think about this unknown boy; she was interested, of course, but lately, she’d been just about any half-decent specimen of the male gender “interesting.” She really hoped that her sisters would explain why everything seemed so mixed-up to her—there wasn’t much funding for a sex education program at her school, and when she’d asked her father, he’d just told her to wait until her sister gave her “the talk,” adding that most of her questions would likely be explained then. Unfortunately, Minako was getting rather impatient. It seemed like her siblings were giving her all of the relevant information in spurts: Kasumi had (briefly) explained menstruation and pregnancy after her first period, but beyond that, nothing much else.
“I still can’t believe Dad would do something like this,” Akane groused.
“C’mon, Akane, you know he’s trying to do the best that he can.”
“Humph. If that were the case, why didn’t he let us know about this earlier?”
“Maybe he didn’t think we’d have any problems with it—‘familiarity breeds attempt,’ after all.”
That particular malapropism threw Akane for a loop. “Okay, first of all, it’s ‘familiarity breed contempt, not attempt. Second, even if you’d have gotten it right, that particular saying doesn’t exactly make a lot of sense in this context. And third, that’s exactly my point—by now, Dad should have figured out that we don’t necessarily react to situations the same way he does.”
“Yeah, well, he’s still doing what he can, and personally, I think that counts for a lot, especially since he hasn’t had help from Mom…”
The mention of the late matriarch of the Tendo family sobered up the atmosphere rather quickly. Eventually, Akane admitted, “Yeah… I guess you’re right.”
Just then, there was a knock at the door. “Akane? Minako? Are you two still in there?”
“Yeah, we are,” Minako called back. “What is it, Nabiki?”
“He’s here.”
“Who’s here?”
“Ranma, apparently. The boy Daddy was talking about. You two should probably finish up so you can meet him; I brought both of you clean changes of clothes so you won’t have to get acquainted in your bathrobes.”
“Thanks, sis,” chirped Minako.
“No problem. We’ll be in the family room.”
Akane was not quite as receptive to this news. “Aw, man. And I was just starting to get comfortable, too.”
“Jeez, Akane,” Minako replied, “you make it sound like this is a chore.”
Akane responded by arching her eyebrow and allowing a slight sneer to appear on her lips. “Yeah, well you aren’t the one who’s going to be pressured into this marriage. After all, the whole point of this is to unite the schools, and since I’m the most advanced in the Art, I’m probably the most logical choice.”
“Maybe, but you haven’t even met him yet! For all we know, he’s just as annoyed about this as we are.”
“I suppose you have a point… but we’re not getting anything accomplished by just sitting here. We’d better get ready.”
“Right.”
The newcomer was making small talk (or rather, he was trying to make small talk—Ranma still had some difficulties with the subtleties of social interaction, mostly for want of practice) with the two elder Tendo sisters when Akane and Minako entered the family room, eliciting a warm smile from Kasumi, who turned to the martial artist and said, “Well, now that we’re all here, perhaps we should introduce ourselves. My name is Kasumi Tendo.”
“Nabiki,” said a slightly younger woman with a helmet-shaped haircut.
“I’m Akane,” said a girl who looked about Ranma’s age, without very much enthusiasm.
That left the young blonde girl, who was staring at the extremely good looking teenaged boy whom fate had decided to drop into her life with a rather star-struck expression on her face. “Wow, you’re cute.”
Ranma wasn’t exactly expecting a response like that. “Huh?”
The girl apparently realized what she’d just said and began blushing furiously. “Um, I mean, I’m Minako.”
The martial artist just scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously. “Uh, alright.” This wasn’t quite what he thought he’d have in store for this conversation.
However, his attention was momentarily diverted by a sudden mental burst from his feline passenger.
That’s her!
Huh? Whaddya mean?
It’s her! Venus! She’s right here!
What? Ya mean one of the Tendos is Sailor Venus?
I believe I just said that.
No ya didn’t. Ya just sorta thought it.
Oh, quit being so picky. You know what I meant. This isn’t the time for debates about semantics anyway; the point is we’ve found Venus!
Awesome! So, which one is it?
The blonde… I think…
What? Ya ain’t sure? Somehow, the blonde didn’t exactly seem much like “heroine” material to Ranma—but that was just his admittedly uninformed opinion.
Artemis could tell his host was doubtful. Well, I’m mostly going on instinct, but seeing this girl is starting to rekindle a few memories. In any case, there’s something… unique about her, I’m sure of it.
Yeah, it’s called her hair color.
I meant besides that. Trust me, Ranma. I’m almost certain she’s Venus.
Ranma decided to let the issue drop; Artemis was the expert here, after all. Okay, okay. Just as long as yer sure. I guess we should talk ta her later, then, huh?
We’d have to do it eventually, if only to wake up some basic latent knowledge that will allow her to perform her duties.
And if that knowledge ain’t there?
Artemis paused as he considered this possibility (remote though it might have been). We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, you need to introduce yourself before the Tendos start thinking there’s something wrong with you.
It was then that Ranma noticed the rather curious stares on the faces of the siblings. Oh. Right. “Uh, hi. I’m Ranma Saotome.”
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(Posted Tue, 23 May 2006 06:40)
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