“You raised a good son, Saotome. My middle daughter seems to have taken a shine to him. I never expected anything of that sort to happen. Nabiki has been rather”, he paused, “standoffish”, he paused again, “for several years.”
His friend looked up from the board. He adjusted his glasses and looked into the eyes of his opponent and old training partner. “Indeed, Tendou? Well, I am glad she seems to like Ranma. It bodes well for the joining of our families.”
Tendou’s eyebrows lifted. “Don’t you mean schools?”
Genma Saotome shook his head. “Nabiki isn’t a martial artist, is she?”
Tendou sighed. “No. She is not, at that. She didn’t show much interest even before Kimiko’s death.” His eyes watered a tiny bit. “And less now. I know that she works out quite often, to stay healthy, but she does not train. Not as we did.”
Genma shuddered, “Would that **nobody** trains as we did, Tendou.” His face was suddenly expressionless.
Soun Tendou understood instantly. “Indeed, Saotome. Indeed.”
Quite a lot of time passed before one of them spoke again. This time it was Genma who broke the silence.
“He is a good son. Ranma is a good son. Ranma is a good son.” He repeated it several more times.
Soun chuckled. “Who are you trying to reassure, Saotome? There is no one here but us. Kasumi is not even here – she is at the market. Or perhaps on her way home from the market.”
Genma shook his head. “I must be honest with you, Tendou. As I have not been.”
Soun’s eyebrows lifted. “Not so?”
Genma shook his head again. “Not so. Tendou. Ranma is a good son. It is just that”, here he steeled himself for an outburst, “he is adopted.”
Soun’s eyebrows returned to their normal position. “Indeed, Saotome? But why should that be a problem? As long as the adoption is legal, he is your son.” He chuckled. “Did you kidnap him or something?”
Genma frowned. “I am not quite so bad as that, Tendou. The adoption is legal. I just felt I should be honest. It is a sad story, if you would like to hear it.”
Soun nodded, and he stood up from the table and board. “I would very much like to hear it, Saotome. I will get us something cold to drink.” He grinned evilly. “Or I shall get **myself** something cold to drink. Pandas can’t talk.” He returned several minutes later with a pitcher of water. Though Soun did not hear it, Genma had grumbled the whole time. Soun set the water on the table, poured a glass, drained it, and sat down. He nodded for Genma to begin.
Genma responded. “It begins ten years ago. I had a friend in a small town on the island of Hokkaido. Exactly where is not important. You did not know this man. I had met him roughly a year previous, on a training journey I took alone. At any rate, at the time this story begins, I **did** have a son of my own, also named Ranma, and that is significant. I decided to pay a visit to my old friend. Ranma and I were received warmly. I had begun his training several months before, and the boy was nothing short of a prodigy. He would have been an incredible martial artist one day, Tendou. Perhaps the best in the world.”
He paused for a moment to hang his head in memory. He lifted it a few seconds later.
“My friend’s name was Souichi Kumon. He was a martial artist, very close to me in skill. He required hard fights to beat, because he was very strong and very intense. He had a wife, a small woman named Ikuko. You would never expect a great bear of a man to have such a tiny wife, but he did. ‘Bear’ is appropriate enough, because his family school was the Kumon Bear Fist School. Anyway, he had a young son, named Ryuu, the same age as Ranma. It was Ryuu whom I adopted. On the night I arrived, Ikuko remarked that she needed some ingredient or another for a stew she was making, for a celebration. I volunteered to go to the store. I left. I came back about an hour later to find Ikuko dead, Souichi dying, and my son Ranma dead as well. During the time I was gone, a man, a great horrid evil criminal, had come to the home to rob them. He killed Ikuko first – shot her. He fought Souichi and wounded him very badly. Ranma had witnessed the entire event, as had Ryuu. Ryuu had not yet started training, but Ranma had. He leapt into the fight. The man shot him as well. He died instantly, Tendou, the bullet went right through his heart. If the man had been smart he’d have killed Ryuu as well, but he was wounded from fighting Souichi and he had to escape. Which he did. But the damage was done. Souichi died the same night. Before he did, he told me about how brave my son had been, and told me to raise Ryuu as my own, in his place. I agreed.”
Here, he paused, and saw that Tendou was crying. The story had lies mixed with truth. Ranma had not been there at all, nor had Genma. But the account of the Kumon family was real. And Genma had legally adopted Ryuu. He changed his name to Ranma, to complete this story he’d fabricated. It had worked. Somehow, he felt horrible to do it, but it had been necessary. And he’d raised Ryuu to be a man anyway, and made a good son of him. So perhaps it wasn’t completely heinous.
He continued speaking. “I wrote to Nodoka, telling her of our boy’s death, telling her that he’d acquitted himself as a man should. She didn’t make it to Hokkaido in time for the funeral, but I showed her where I scattered the ashes. I had scattered them over the cliff, and they blew away, into the sea. It is a foreign tradition, but it had moved me enough when I heard of it, that I chose it for this. I moved Ryuu from his family’s register to mine, and changed his name in honor of my son. And he has been my son ever since. So, he is not my son by blood...but he is my son in all the ways that count.” He shed a few tears as he finished. This last sentence was completely true.
Soun was crying hysterically now. Genma didn’t know how much the man had even heard. He picked up the water pitcher, and dumped it on himself, instantly becoming a panda. Soun saw this, and the sign that appeared seconds later.
It read, “Cheer up! Pandas don’t cry!”
And then Soun started laughing just as hysterically as he’d been crying. And so the two old friends quite forgot about their game.
Kasumi came back from the market moments later. She listened to her father’s laughter, and smiled happily to herself. Anything that could get that reaction was a good thing indeed.
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(Posted Wed, 18 Feb 2004 17:21)
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