"Just what is it that I don't understand?" the old guy asked.
For once, Genma's excuse making had hit a snag.
"I'm waiting...."
The Saotome patriarch wondered just how he could explain his latest actions away in a 'believable' manner. It had peaked the sort of interest that he hadn't wanted, and that made it rather troublesome to deal with. Not that he was particularly bothered by what these people would think of him, but he was already in hot water with them, and they had proven to be the sort of people that he didn't want annoyed with him. Since they could cause him all sorts of problems, he wanted to keep their distrust of him down to a minimum.
But how did he explain that he wanted to continue his son's training? True, he had found that looking at travel brochures, like the one that he'd found his latest planned training ground in, to be just as useful as the old manuscripts that told the tales of such places. Sure, the latter was the 'official' sort of thing that one got the information from, but it was so much easier and more exciting sounding when he'd looking that sort of direction.
The problem for the moment was that he already had these folks mad with him, and they'd shown that they were not quite that convinced that his ideas were the best. Telling them the truth would simply overly worry them, and cause him issues that he simply didn't need. If he could, he wanted to avoid all difficulties, since he'd already seen how easy it was to get onto the edge of real trouble.
Besides, he already had enough to deal with. As it was, he needed to get back to making his son the best martial artist of his generation. Even if the old promise couldn't be kept up, he did need to plan for the future of the family line. Leaving his son to be untrained in the Art simply wouldn't do, as it was the boy's responsibility to learn how to be a proper heir. He had to be sure that his son would be the sort of fighter that he'd always planned for his son to be.
In fact, he was so concerned about this that he couldn't help blurt it out. "The boy needs to know how to fight!"
"Eh?" went the old man.
"Uhh.... Well, it's true. My boy needs to learn how to be a true martial artist."
"Is that all...."
"Excuse me?"
"Did you think that we were unaware of the fighting arts off of this world? Your son is going to have the chance to learn how to fight in all sorts of different ways."
"But...." the Saotome Patriarch started to protest, and then let his mouth shut with an audible click. "He is?"
"Why, yes. In fact, I'm sure that he can enjoy all sorts of opportunities to see new styles, use various bits of equipment, and meet various wise and influential teachers."
Despite being not so certain that the very last bit was what he wanted, Genma found himself finding what he was hearing to be not as bad as he'd feared. Sure, his son had been allowed to leave without letting him know, which was still annoyed about, but the truth is that he wasn't all that put out by the idea of his son getting the chance to add new techniques, skills, and strengths to his abilities as a martial artist. It was fairly galling to think that he wasn't there to oversee his son's training, but the fact that the boy was having this chance gave him something to lessen the difficulty that he had with it.
Besides, even if it was only for a little while, it gave him a chance to wonder about what he should do about those 'Zardon' people who kept on pestering him for a meeting, while:
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(Posted Sun, 13 May 2007 06:06)
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