"My handsome, manwy widdle man. Daddy's last note never said my baby would be coming home. I missed 'ou bewwy much. Bewwy, bewwy much."
Nabiki stifled her laughter. Well, she did her best. She couldn't hide the shaking, though her hand over her mouth covered up most of the noise. Nodoka was the same as she had been in the past/ future. Strange.
Ranma, on the other hand, was desperately trying to find a way to get his mother to release her grip. Or, at least, to let him stand on his own. Without striking her, that is. So embarassing. His younger body was shorter and, more importantly, weaker than he was accustomed to being. The body-lock his mother had him in, was proving to him that he had to build himself up a great deal to regain his former strength. He resolved to do it as soon as he could possibly manage.
"Mom... mom...MOM!"
"Yes, dear?"
"If you would, please, put me down? I'm not five years old, anymore."
"I'm sorry, dear," she said, as she placed him back on his feet. "It's just that you have been gone so long and I missed you."
"Besides the fact, I brought a guest."
Directing her gaze to the girl, she said, "I beg your pardon, young lady, but I haven't seen my son in ages." Looking her over, she asked, "And who do we have here?"
"Mom, this is Nabiki Tendo. Nabiki, if you haven't guessed already, this is my mom."
Nabiki was about to smack him in the back of the head. Of course she knew it was his mother! Then, she remembered she hadn't met her before she was seventeen and Ranma was acting as if the two had not met previously, just as he should have. "A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Saotome," she said, happy that he hadn't screwed the first thing up.
"Such a pleasant and respectful girl! And pretty, too," she said to Ranma, who just rolled his eyes. "You surname is Tendo? You wouldn't be one of Soun's daughters, would you? Oh, but where are my manners! Please come inside, won't you?"
Some things are inevitable. Having an invited guest to a Japanese home, it is inevitable that tea will be served. It is just the way things are.
Another is introducing a mother to a child's friend who happens to be of the opposite gender from said child. For some reason, it is a universal truth; a mother always infers that this new person is the child's boy/girlfriend and proceeds to find ways to embarass that child. It matters little if the child states the implication is unfounded. The mother is quite sure to reason that the harder the child denies it, the more true it is. Good old catch-22.
Furthermore, should two females of any age engage in conversation, it is inevitable any male in the area shall be ignored. Unless, of course, the topic of conversation is extremely embarassing to such person.
Therefore, Ranma had two strikes against him before their tea was even poured. The final strike was not mentioned by any of the three parties. But, Nodoka knew of the Saotome/Tendo engagement pact, a fact which had slipped the minds of both children. And Nodoka decided that Nabiki was a very nice responsible girl. She would help her future daughter in law with her plans to preserve her family's finances and, also without mentioning it, keep her son in the vicinity to be able to let them see each other whenever possible.
*Swing...swish...yer out!*
(Posted Mon, 14 Apr 2003 05:38)
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.