Though Kimiko had been physically closer to the entrance of the Tendo home when the doorbell rang, it was Soun who rushed to the door to answer it — and he wasn’t disappointed: when he opened his door, he saw a large-framed man with a very familiar pair of glasses standing before him. Still, confirmation was necessary before he could proceed. “Saotome?”
The visitor raised an eyebrow as he made his reply: “Tendo?”
There was the briefest of pauses before both men simultaneously cried out, “Brother!” and proceeded to embrace using the standard Platonic Heterosexual Man-Hug™ (which, for those readers who may be uninformed, is essentially the same as an extremely tight bear hug, except in this case both participants use one of their hands to lightly thump the back of the other participant [forming a fist is optional], signifying that, while each may care for the other deeply, each will not hesitate to kick the other’s ass if the other tries anything that could be even remotely considered a sexual advance). After a second or two of this, Soun began the conversation proper. “It’s so good to see you after so long, my friend.”
“Likewise.”
“I trust things have been going well?”
“As well as could be expected, given the circumstances.”
“‘Given the circumstances’? Whatever do you mean, Genma?”
At this point, however, Kimiko felt the need to interrupt the proceedings “Ah, Soun…”
It was then that Soun realized his faux pas, as all of the ladies of his household had gathered near the front door. “Oh, I’m sorry. Genma, I’d like you to meet my wife, Kimiko, and my daughters, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you all.”
After a chorus of hellos in response, Akane noticed something unusual: Genma was apparently alone.
“Um, excuse me, but is Ranma here with you?”
Soun echoed his daughter’s question: “Yes, where is Ranma? I’d like to meet my future son-in-law, after all.”
“Uh, yes, about that….”
It was then that Kasumi noticed the white cat with the unusual moon-shaped marking on its forehead at Genma’s feet. She reached down to pet the feline, getting a satisfied purr for her efforts. “Oh, how cute! Is he yours?”
“Ah, well, he’s not mine per se….”
“Ranma’s, then?”
“In a sense… look, this may sound odd, could I trouble you for some hot water? It will help me to explain Ranma’s whereabouts.”
“What? How?”
“Trust me.”
Ten minutes later, all five Tendos were staring at Ranma with their jaws agape, hardly able to comprehend what they’d just seen: a cat who turned into a boy — or rather, a boy who turned into a cat with the application of cold water. Ranma had already explained how Jusenkyo curses worked twice, and was about to try again, when Akane interrupted him with a rather insensitive outburst: “You expect one of us to marry that?”
“Hey, I’m no ‘that,’ I’m a person!”
“You’re a freak!”
“Akane!” Kimiko shouted at her youngest daughter. “You should show Ranma some more respect in the light of this personal tragedy—”
“What tragedy? He doesn’t seem to be too upset over it.”
Ranma started blushing a little bit, because in truth, he really wasn’t very upset at all about his so-called ‘curse,’ as he had absolutely no regrets about restoring Artemis’ body. Fortunately, the others in the room seemed preoccupied with Kimiko’s argument with her youngest daughter. “You haven’t even known him for fifteen minutes! How can you be any authority on what he’s feeling?”
“I… um… well, it’s still weird, and I don’t want anything to do with him!” The youngest Tendo then got up and rushed out of the room.
“Akane!” Kimiko was about to get up to pursue her daughter, when Soun stopped her.
“It’s alright, Kimiko. She’s just stressed out — perhaps you should just let her cool off a bit, dear.”
Kimiko sighed. “Perhaps you’re right — and she is stressed out, no thanks to you.”
“Um, sorry if I’m interruptin’, but why is she so stressed?”
Nabiki decided to field this particular question. “Well, for some reason, our father decided not to tell us about this prearranged marriage until about thirty minutes ago.”
This caused Ranma to smirk. “Really? What a coincidence — my Pops just told me about this whole marriage business about an hour ago.”
All eyes turned to the two fathers in question. “Um…”
“Well…”
“You see…”
Kimiko sighed. “Let me guess, both of you agreed not to tell your children about this, and now neither of can really remember why.”
“Um, well, when you put it that way, yes,” Genma admitted. “But I assure you, our reasoning was perfectly valid when we came up with this idea.”
Kimiko let out yet another sigh. “Perhaps this can wait until after dinner — Kasumi, would you mind giving me a hand?”
It was around this time that Ranma noticed something odd: his passenger had been oddly silent throughout these proceedings. Hey, Artemis, you okay?
What? Oh, sorry, Ranma. I was just a little distracted, that’s all.
Look, I know they’re pretty girls, but I don’t think they’re your type — or rather, I don’t think they’re your species.
Hardy har har, the mooncat replied sarcastically. You’re a regular laugh riot. No, I was distracted by Mrs. Tendo.
Hate ta break it ta ya, White, but she’s taken. That’s what “Mrs.” means, after all.
That’s not what I meant, and you know it. Look, could you try and get some time alone with Mrs. Tendo?
Why?
I’m not sure… it’s just… something about her….
Ya thinkin’ she might have a lead on Sailor Venus?
Perhaps… though my instincts are telling me that we’re much closer to Venus than a mere lead….
So, one of the Tendo girls, then?
Like I said, Ranma, I don’t know. That’s why I want some time to really get a good sense of who Mrs. Tendo is.
Ranma wasn’t quite following his friend’s logic, but he figured that Artemis had to know what he was doing. Alright. Maybe I can talk ta her after dinner.
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(Posted Sun, 05 Nov 2006 22:44)
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