The most feared demon in all of Hell, the only being who could approach Kami-Sama in pure power, Hild was not a force to be reckoned with. She feared no one other than Kami-Sama himself, and even that was more respect than fear. No mortal would stand a chance in her presence; no mortal had any hopes of getting Hild to do anything other than what she wanted. There was no force nor entity that could easily challenge her will.
For all of her powers, Hild’s willpower survived first contact with Ranma like a snowflake surviving the fire and brimstone of Hell, though it did put up a valiant struggle. Upon looking into his eyes full of childhood innocence and love for his mother, she crumbled faster than week old, stale crackers. Hild couldn’t help but remember how Urd, her own daughter, would refuse to acknowledge any love for her. Yet, here was a simple, plain, weak, lowly mortal who just wanted to give her a hug because he hadn’t filled his daily quota. Hild wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but she suddenly found that she had just vowed to herself to give nurturing Ranma an honest attempt. She should of known. After all, second chances was Kami-Sama’s favorite game.
Taking one of Ranma’s hand in her own as Kami-Sama held onto Ranma’s other hand, the family began their journey as Hild and Kami-Sama became Nodoka and Genma Saotome for the next fifteen years.
“Where are we going, Genma?” Nodoka asked, placing extra emphasis on the name.
Genma didn’t seem to catch the tone of her voice. Smiling, he replied, “I know of a temple not to far from here from which we shall begin Ranma’s training.”
Nodoka grimaced. “You’re not going to turn my son into some weak, pansy, do-gooder priest. He wouldn’t be Ranma if he didn’t excel at the fighting arts.”
“Don’t worry,” Genma reassured the woman. “I fully intend to train the two of us into fine physical specimens. Strong in mind and body is one of the things I value. But, as you might not know, spirituality is a strong basis for much of the martial studies in this region of the mortal world. A good underpinning in not only Zen, and the local Shinto, but many different religions such as Hindu, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and a handful of others would service Ranma well.”
Nodoka snorted in annoyance. “Do-gooder!”
Genma chuckled at the lady. “You have to know how to build a bridge to be good at tearing one down. You have to know how to treat wounds before you learn how to make them. You have to know how to heal before you can kill. You have to ...” Genma trailed off at the expression on Nodoka’s face and sighed. “Fine, you don’t have to, but you’ll be all the better for it if you do those things first. You should learn how the body works if you want to be the best at disrupting it. You should learn what is possible to do, if you want to push you’re own envelope. Clarke said it best when he mentioned that the limits of the possible is found by striving a little into the impossible.”
“So,” Nodoka responded with a raised eyebrow, “you think some temple will make Ranma a better fighter?”
“No, just teach him what it is he will be fighting for. As long as he is my, sorry our, son, I have to be responsible for his upbringing.” Genma looked at Nodoka from the corner of his eye. “You seem to also think that as Nodoka, her existing responsibilities to her son become yours now.”
Nodoka was going to give some brazen retort when what he said made her think of something. A potential slip of the tongue that she can use against her eternal foe. “Does this mean you intend to meet the Tendos?”
Genma gave a quizzical look to Nodoka. “How do you figure that? Certainly I wouldn’t want to expose my darling son to that nest of insanity.” He did so enjoy these word games, even the ones he planned on losing.
“Genma promised, and as Genma now, you are responsible for his debts and promises. I would think that you, of all beings, would be the least likely to break a given promise. It’s not honorable, in any society, to go back on your word.” Nodoka smirked in triumph, knowing that there was no way for Genma to argue out of this one.
Genma sighed loudly. “Very well, when the time comes, we can meet the Tendos. It is, after all, an agreement between the families. Even a demon like you understands the importance of contracts.”
“Yes, you got that right.” Nodoka felt like doing her happy dance.
Genma suddenly smirked an evil looking smile. While it looked right on that face, it went poorly with the person wearing the face. “So, you intend to uphold all of Nodoka’s promises, debts, and contracts then.” It wasn’t a question but just a statement of fact.
Nodoka looked puzzled. “But you didn’t sign that man among men contract.”
“I meant her marriage vows.”
Genma laughed as he walked on, breaking into whistling a jaunty tune. Meanwhile, Nodoka stumbled and came to a stop.
“WHAT?” She screeched.
Genma stopped whistling to laugh again. It was almost too easy to trick her into that trap.
“You can not be serious,” Nodoka raged as she caught back up to Genma and Ranma.
Genma shrugged and smiled like the cat who caught the canary. “Don’t flatter yourself. It’s just business, you know. Not unlike that time you needed another demon and wanted a kid, and we made Urd.”
Nodoka just grumbled and fantasized about what she’d like to do to her ‘husband’.
Genma smirked again. “Oi, what kind of home life would Ranma have if his parents can’t even get along.”
Nodoka looked down at Ranma, taking his hands again, and sighed. She’ll just have to wait for the kid to be sleeping before she finds way to torment the man next to her. Strife and misery were the tools of her trade, and suffering was her game. Well, maybe there might be some way to torture Genma when it came time for Ukyo and Ryouga. The Amazons might be fun as well. ‘I’ll have to plan carefully, be subtle, he would be careful about how Ranma is raised and whom we meet.’
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(Posted Wed, 28 May 2008 21:14)
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