Nodoka popped some joints as she stretched out. It has been a few, hard years on the road and it annoyed her that Genma was doing better than she hoped as a mortal. Ranma was coming along nicely. Genma did help train him in marital arts, even though he kept insisting on teaching the boy values and philosophy. Ranma was also learning wilderness survival, cooking, knitting, games, flower arranging, painting, crafts, and allowed to make many friends.
‘That won’t do at all. At this rate my son will be another Belldandy.’ Nodoka wasn’t sure what to try. She had tried to manipulate things a few times so some toughs would harass Genma. Not just to cause him some strife and stress, but also so Ranma could pick up some seedier fighting styles. But the last attempt had put Ranma under too much risk and made him upset to see his father treated so. ‘No one makes my baby cry!’ Nodoka thought to herself. ‘I’ll just have to wait for Ranma to be able to defend himself better before trying things like that again.’
Unable to think of any good ways to bother the man she found herself married to, she noticed she hadn’t seen the two men of her life for a while. Curious to what they could be up to, she started to look for them.
She found them out back behind the house they were renting. Ranma was sitting, ringed by five bowls of goldfish while Genma was squatting in a pit dug in the yard. He held his two hands up over the edge, each with a cat puppet on.
“What are you doing?” Nodoka asked in confusion.
“Hey mom! Dad is telling me some stories.”
“Hey, honey.” Genma winked at Nodoka conspiratorially.
Nodoka huffed. “Don’t you honey me. What the Heaven is all of this?”
“Don’t you recognize it? Fish surrounding our son, a pit, and a couple cat puppets.”
Nodoka rolled her eyes. “That’s not how you teach the cat-fist, you moron.”
Genma sighed. “You don’t think I would do it any other way do you? Plus, you’d skin me alive if I did it the other way.”
“You got that right,” Nodoka retorted angrily. She didn’t like the concept of someone trying to train her Ranma in that flawed technique. “Wager or not, I’d kill you. Then, since we both be returned to our proper thrones posthaste, I would make sure Genma Saotome lived a really long time so I could enjoy making him suffer every second of every day of his pitiable life. Then I would make sure he reincarnated as a goat but with all of his memories, and make him my personal scapegoat. Then, he’d return as cat, and be made to live with Elmyra Duff for decades, before finally escaping just to find himself in a back alley behind a Korean restaurant. After ninety nine such lives, he’ll finally be allowed to die and be chained to my throne as my personal footstool.”
Genma and Ranma looked at Nodoka like she was crazy. “Yes, well ... I didn’t so you don’t have to.”
“What are you doing, anyways?” Nodoka asked, calming down somewhat.
“Dad is telling me stories. Like The Tale of Three Brothers, Babbity Rabbit and her Cackling Stump, The Quest of the Queen’s Tears, and Jack and the Beanstalk.”
Nodoka looked at the fish bowls. “And the fish?”
“We’ll be releasing them into a river later,” Genma told her. “So he can learn to let animals run free, but if they return to him then that is okay too.”
Nodoka looked at him like he was crazy. “I doubt goldfish would return to him.”
“Well, no. But we can’t really bring them with us as we travel. He may, in time, nurse a sick animal back to health and it might choose to stay with him. But he has to learn to give it the offer of freedom first. It’s a lesson in free will.”
Nodoka sighed. “Whatever.” She than sat down. “Go on, I want to hear these stories you’re telling to our kid with hand puppets.”
Nodoka read to Ranma from a children’s book. She didn’t want all of Ranma’s time to be spent training with his father. She wanted some quality time with her son too. So, while she read to Ranma, Genma was in the backyard practicing his katas. Soon, he would have to go to his job as a night watchman and she would be tucking Ranma in to sleep. Nodoka was loathed to admit it, but Genma did decently well at providing for the family and training Ranma. He even postponed a trip to another temple so Ranma could finish the school year.
As Ranma started to drift to sleep in her lap, Nodoka put down the book and carried him towards his room.
“A little longer, Momma?” Ranma pleaded.
Nodoka smiled down gently to her son. “Not tonight little one. Time to get some sleep. You’re practically sleeping as it is.”
Ranma shook his head in disagreement. “Nope. See, I’m still awake.” Ranma then used his fingers to try to open his eyes as wide as they would go.
Nodoka chuckled softly. “It’s still bedtime for you, little one. Sooner you sleep, the sooner you wake up and get to learn something new.” Nodoka then tucked Ranma into his bed. “Night night, little one.” She kissed his forehead before leaving the room.
“Night night, Momma.” His voice drifted out to her.
As she entered the kitchen, a sweaty Genma walked into the room. “What I got for lunch?”
Nodoka rolled her eyes. “Make your own lunch.”
Genma laughed; they had the same discussion every night. “Maybe after I shower, then.” Actually, Genma wouldn’t trust anything Nodoka made for him. She wouldn’t kill him, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t make him sick.
As Genma began to leave the room, Nodoka called out to him. “I’ve noticed you been avoiding going to a particular town. You wouldn’t deny Ranma his friendship with Ukyo?”
Genma chuckled. “Of course not. But I don’t think it will turn into a healthy friendship if you and her father get to talking.”
Nodoka sniffed in annoyance. She had an idea to try. “But if there is no Ukyo, then who would save poor Konatsu from his horrid life?” Not that she thought anyone needed saving, as she preferred mortals to have horrid lives. Konatsu’s step-family was her kind of people. But if the argument got her what she wanted, she was all for it.
Genma laughed out loud. “I have an idea for that. It’ll have to wait a few more years yet, but then we go visit Ukyo and I drop hints to her father of a boy in need of a good male role model. Ranma gets his friend, Konatsu gets saved early, and Ukyo gets her fiancé.”
“Sounds like everyone wins,” Nodoka said in a grumpy voice.
“Yep, just the way I like it.” Genma smirked.
Nodoka frowned. “Well, I hate it.”
Genma shrugged. “I better go get ready for work. Remember to keep the doors locked. And if you hear anything suspicious, call the police.”
Nodoka glared at Genma’s retreating back as he left to bathe himself. ‘I’ll find a way yet to get people to chase after you in a mob of torches and pitchforks. Just you wait.’
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Errol Peregrinus
(Posted Thu, 29 May 2008 06:26)
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.