“What do you make of this, husband?” Nodoka asked as she looked towards the backyard of the Saotome Estate. The area was torn up, the rock garden rubble, the koi pond evaporated, the fish incinerated, little patches of fire where sparse bits of grass and topiary trees remained around the large crater.
“...Something I’m not going to pay for,” Genma said seriously. Thank Kami! He was hoping something beyond his control and blame would get rid of all that cheesy traditional samurai stuff his wife was so gaga over that littered and crowded the backyard. Perhaps now that the enclosed area behind their house was cleansed, he could try to talk Nodoka into getting a dojo constructed.
Whapping her husband on the back of the head with her hand, Nodoka told Genma, “Please! I pay for everything anyway. And besides, I wasn’t referring to that.”
Raising a hand to rub the back of his head with his hand, Genma turned to his wife curiously. “And what were you referring to then?”
Pointing her hand out to the center of the rubble, Nodoka said, “That.”
His eyes following where his wife was pointing, Genma Saotome turned the rest of his head, jaw dropping as he stared in awe. “What in the world...”
“I don’t think it’s of this world...” Nodoka said slowly as she took a few careful steps towards the crater.
Genma gulped at those words. Though he was never an avid movie-goer, he had seen a few science fiction films during his youth. He sincerely hoped this wasn’t going to be some alien menace intent on enslaving humanity and raising them as cattle to eat their brains, if not something worse. “Nochan! You should stay back!”
Looking over her shoulder, the traditional Japanese woman took a moment to set her robe properly as she asked, “Husband? Aren’t you curious?”
“Yes,” Genma admitted. “But maybe we should alert the proper authorities?” Seeing his wife carefully walk down into the carter, the Saotome Patriarch shook his head. Impulsive woman was going to get them killed! He just knew it!
So taking a deep breathe, (and turning away to take a quick shot of sake from a flask he had in the pocket of his pajama pants) Genma made his way to the crater as well. Seeing his wife standing right next to the metallic pod-shaped thing with what looked like a rocket engine at the back, he told her, “Wait, Nochan.”
Raising an eyebrow, Nodoka couldn’t help but smile a little. “So my husband is going to see me through with this?”
“Of course!” Genma proclaimed haughtily, “It is a martial artist’s dutiiIIIEEEEE!”
Nodoka shook her head as her husband lost his footing and slid down into the crater, crashing right up against the alien aircrafts.
Laying on his right side with his back to the rocket, Genma groaned for a moment. “I meant to do that.”
“I’m sure,” Nodoka said as she placed her hand on top of the rocket. She then quickly retracted her hand as lifts started to shine along the seams of the ship’s metal surface.
Genma, feeling the ship warming up and hear it as it started to make a humming noise, was quick to scramble away from it on his hands and knees.
And then the portion of the rocket’s top half slid back, opening to reveal...
“A baby?” Nodoka asked, quickly moving back towards the pod. She looked down into it to see a cushioned storage area housing a precious wrapped bundle.
“What?” Genma asked in surprise as he started to get back up to his feet. “A baby?”
Smiling, Nodoka leaned over and picked up the quickly waking babe with black hair done back in a pigtail. Turning to her husband as she cradled the little thing, she again told her husband, “A baby.”
Blinking his eyes once, twice, Genma looked over the little boy. “A human baby did all this?” Looking down he wondered if it were possible for a baby to have flight insurance or something.
“I guess...” Nodoka said as she held the baby protectively, his blue eyes looking up at her with wonder and delight, bringing the woman a sense of inner-peace and happiness. Turning to her husband, Nodoka started, “Husband...”
His eyes widening as he recognized that tone, Genma was quick to say, “No, Nochan! We are not going to keep this baby.”
Frowing, Nodoka used a harsher tone. “Genma...”
“Nochan,” Genma pleaded back. “He’s not ours. We can’t keep him.”
Looking right at her husband, Nodoka told him, “But you know how much trouble we’ve been having. The doctors said with your narrow urethra, and worse, that I have a narrow uterus, it might be near-impossible for us to conceive.” She looked down at the baby in her arms. “Obviously, this child is a gift from the heavens. A baby for us to keep and raise as our own.”
“So?” Genma asked. “It’s not completely impossible. We’ll just have to keep going at it and try harder. We’ll have a child of our own eventually.”
“But husband...” Nodoka tried to reason with him.
“No!” Genma said firmly. “Ain’t no way, ain’t no how. We need to call child services and-”
Grinning, Nodoka pointed out, “It’s a boy.”
Blinking his eyes once, twice, Genma was quick to say, “Ask them advice on raising children!” He held out his arms. “Welcome to the family, little Ranma!”
Raising an eyebrow, Nodoka asked, “Oh? Ranma now, is he?”
Nodding his head, Genma said, “He came down crashing through like a wild horse. So why not?”
Grinning as she had gotten her way, Nodoka asked, “Why not indeed?”
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(Posted Tue, 05 Sep 2006 18:16)
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