And the only thing that he had going for him was that he could resort to the sole option left to him, babbling.
"Come now, don't you think that I would have a reason for staying here?" Genma asked, trying to give a reassuring smile to those around him.
A single brow raising was the only change to Nabiki's expression, but it did wonders for mocking her relative by marriage. "Other than the fact that you can't seem to actually say the reason, no, we don't."
"That...."
"Is basically the truth."
"No, it's not! I... can't keep on trying to contact the person...."
"You can't even give them a correction?" Akane scoffed.
"Well, I can't even be sure that they got the message in the first place!"
"Hold on. Lemme get this straight," Ranma growled, giving a thin eyed glare towards his father. "Ya wanna have us wait for someone who ya can't call ta reschedule, and don't even know is comin' in the first place."
"You don't have to put it that way...."
"Nah, I just have ta say that this is gotta be on the list of stupidest things that ya've ever thought up."
"HEY!"
"Ranma, he is still your father," Nodoka admonished her son.
"Thank you, dear."
"You should moderate your words when you're dealing with him, even if he has an idea that seems foolish and unintelligent."
With his face twisting into an expression of dismay, Genma looked towards his wife. "Nodoka...."
"Don't 'Nodoka' me, husband. You still have not explained yourself."
"I'd really like to find this one out myself," Ranko murmured, a mocking smile on her lips.
For a long moment, all Genma could do was sweat, as he recognized that he was in deep water. As it was, they were looking for the 'truth' in the situation, as he had to deal with multiple ways of looking at his actions. The problem was that, despite the fact that they all were suspicious of his motives, it was entirely likely that none of them were going to believe him if he actually admitted to what was going on.
So, he had little to no possibility of a reprieve at the moment, and that knowledge weighed heavily upon his shoulders.
At least, that was the case until there was a knock at the door.
"Oh, a guest!" Kasumi piped up, moving to head to the door.
"Who could it be?" Akane murmured, blinking slightly. "I haven't invited anyone."
"Neither have I. Could it be one of your admirers?" Nabiki asked her step-uncle.
"Unless someone's plannin' on surprisin' me, not at all," Ranma replied.
"You shouldn't underestimate girls...."
"Whomever it is, they really shouldn't stop by unannounced like this," the Saotome matriarch sighed. "Unless they have a specific reason for coming, such a visit is terribly impolite."
He had been working on his strategies, as he had known that to get the best results, he had to plan to get them. The fact that such matchmaking was normally not done by me, who simply arranged marriages, didn't exactly help in that regard. Not that he wasn't sure that his sister could appeal to the man that he had chosen for her, as she was attractive, wealthy, and a member of a noble clan. However, to get the best out of their pairing, he had to make certain that they reacted to each other how he wanted them to.
But Tatewaki Kuno couldn't keep himself from stopping and looking up for a moment, as a sense of impending difficulty passed over his shoulders.
For what seemed to be the thousandth time, Ukyo Kuonji wondered what the hell she was doing. It had been ten years since she'd seen the jackass who'd left her on the side of a road as he sped off with her best friend and her family's cart, and there she was, answering what seemed to be his ad in a newspaper. What made it worse was the fact that she wasn't even going to his house, as this place was the Tendo dojo, which made it so that, unless he'd kept the name from previous owners, she was bothering a whole other family in her search for one overweight jerk.
Of course, it didn't seem so bad when, rather than some angry giant of a man, the door was answered by a pretty girl no more than a few years older than she was.
"Hello?" said the young woman. "May I help you?"
"Well... I think so...." Ukyo murmured, and then winced as she realized how lame she sounded.
"You don't know?"
"Sort of. You see, I'm looking for someone who is supposed to be here."
The elder girl gave her a reassuring smile. "Perhaps they are."
"I don't know for certain, but this is where I was told to go. But I'm not sure that I should even be coming like this. The last time that I saw him was ten years ago, and it wasn't like he left in a good light."
"Then why look for him?"
"Because I've spent my life since then looking for that pudgy, big mouthed, pompous, over eating, self absorbed, idiotic jackass...."
"Oh!"
"Uh... I didn't mean to start ranting...."
"Grandfather! Your visitor is here!"
"Eh?!"
"Please, come this way," the other girl told her, and didn't seem to question whether she would follow her as she started walking.
That confused the hell out of Ukyo, who found herself moving before she realized what she was doing. Even though she instinctively trusted the girl, it was a sense of fate that drew her further into the house. There was almost a feeling that something major was coming, and she could almost let herself be sure of just what that was.
And when she came to where the girl was leading her, and saw Genma Saotome surrounded by a number of people, including a boy who had to be Ranma, there was only one thing that she could do.
"Genma Saotome! Prepare to face the child that you left behind!" Ukyo declared, whipping out her big spatula and pointing it at the man that she'd been after for ten long years.
"Okay, this is interesting. Care to explain this one, Pop?" the younger of the two redheaded women drawled, while:
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(Posted Wed, 05 Sep 2007 04:04)
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