So, it was no wonder that Genma and Soun sat on the walkway and looked out at the yard with a bottle of sake between them, letting the rustle of leaves blown by the wind setting the volume of their situation.
"Such beauty, Tendo," Genma commented, swirling his drink in his cup as he let his eyes flick over the ripples in the water of the pond. "You must be very proud to have such a property in this day and age."
Soun drew himself up and had a contented look on his face. "You're right in that, old friend. A man knows that he's at home in a place like this, and I'm happy to know that I've managed to raise a family in this home."
"Speaking of which, that daughter of yours does seem to have a gift for this sort of thing. She's taken care of this as well as she keeps house, and cooks."
"I agree with you, Saotome. But don't tell her too often. It embarrasses her. A kind word here and there, and a compliment does well."
"Modesty always was appealing in a woman, and she'll certainly make for a good bride when the time comes," the Saotome patriarch drawled with a grin right before drinking his sake.
His friend poured out a serving for himself. "You're too kind, Saotome. I do worry about her, of course, but I do have to agree with you. Perhaps now that the promise is so close to being completed, I can focus on settling my other daughters down."
"It is so wonderful to see our dream being so close to coming true."
"I know what you mean. Still, I'm surprised."
"What? You are?"
"Of course. If I had to say, I'd have put Nabiki down as the most modern of my girls. She is so independent and focused that I worried about how things would turn out for her. Luckily, I knew that she could take care of herself if it came down to it," Soun sighed, smiling slightly.
"But now she doesn't have to be alone. My boy can take care of her."
"That he can, Saotome. It'll be so nice to see them safely married."
Genma blew out a breath and leaned back a bit. "Our work won't be done until then. At least we can be sure that they'll want to do it, but we'll need to guide them properly."
"What do you mean?"
"It's clear, isn't it? They still need to be shown the way to do what is expected of them. Fortunately, your daughter is quite pretty, and my son has the Saotome charm, so we don't have to worry about teenaged desires getting in the way."
"I'd be... annoyed if your son cheated on my girl, Saotome," the Tendo patriarch warned as he glanced over at his friend.
"Not to worry, Tendo. The boy knows what's at stake here, and he seems to be ready to do his duty. But why leave it at that?"
"Oh?"
"Remember, they're just kids," Genma pointed out.
"Well, I suppose that they would be a bit more... unaware when it comes to how to go about being in a marriage."
"Exactly. And that's where we come in."
"Guidance really should come in from one's parents, and that means that we'll have to help them get over any reluctance on their parts."
"After all, we know what we're doing," the man in the white gi stated.
The man with the mustache nodded. "And I'm sure that if we just explain matters to them, we'll have them understanding that we have more experience in such things than they do."
"We'll make them be as one," chorused both men.
The sound of the bell at Mrs. Tendo's shrine sounded through the stillness, and Kasumi cocked her head to the side as she put its small hammer down. "It just seemed to be appropriate."
Akane had never been all that troubled by the idea of being in school, so she didn't mind the idea of waiting around as classes ended for the day. She'd done it before, and was pretty sure that she'd do it again. As it was, she rather liked the chance to see all the people who were sharing the same sort of experience with her, and it made her feel... welcomed, despite the sight of everyone not in clubs leaving.
This was the first time that she'd waited with a boy though, and she'd have to admit that if he had been someone else, there might have been something more to it. However, given that he was her brother in law, she rather doubted that there was any chance that anything... untoward would happen between them. To her, he was just a friend, and she had some trouble seeing him as anything else.
Fortunately, her sister didn't have the same problem, as Nabiki hurried over with a pleased look on her face. "Hi, sorry to keep you waiting."
"It's not like we were going to leave without you," Akane mock scoffed, and crossed her arms over her chest. "I mean, what's the hurry?"
"Well, I just wanna be with you again," Ranma admitted, sniffing just a bit.
"Oh, you just wanted to see little old me?" his wife asked.
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"
"Plenty of reasons, but I really doubt that anything like that could come up."
"So, ya ready to leave?"
"I said 'bye' to my friends already, so we can go any time," Nabiki answered, grasping his arm with both of her hands, and pressing her torso against that side of his body. "I'm going to enjoy this walk as much as I can."
"I can see that," her sister murmured.
"Really. Is there a problem with it?"
"Not so much...."
The elder girl smiled. "Ah, you're envious. Don't like that you don't have a guy of your own?"
"Oh, yeah, like I'd really want to go out with any of the idiot boys around here!"
Those 'idiot boys' within hearing distances moaned in dismay and hung their heads as their realization that she wouldn't want to go out with her attackers was reinforced by what she was saying.
"I was just seeing that you're obviously looking forward to what's coming."
"I certainly am. I have plans. Plans!" a bemused looking Nabiki admitted.
Both her husband and little sister blinked at that as they realized that she had some new scheme up her sleeve.
Not that they had time to dwell on it as she started guiding Ranma away from the school, with Akane trailing after them, while:
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:53)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.