Looking Kasumi over as she stepped into the house, Nodoka couldn’t keep the smile off of her face. “So, Kasumi-san, how much longer until you’re due?”
Blushing a little, Kasumi whined a little. “Auntie...”
“Oh, pish-posh,” Nodoka said with a wave of her hand. “I’d like to know.”
“A little less than two months now,” Kasumi managed to answer. “Now, please Auntie, come in! As I said before, dinner’s almost ready, and everyone is gathering in the living room.”
“By ‘everyone’, I take it Genma’s here?” Nodoka asked with a snort.
“Why, yes, Auntie, of course he is,” Kasumi answered, ever the helpful hostess.
“I should have known,” Nodoka answered irritably. In truth, she had come here looking for her husband. She had made dinner the past few nights and he hadn’t been home to eat. She hadn’t prepared anything tonight because she didn’t want it to go to waste.
And since Kasumi was ever so helpful as to make food and point out where her husband was... Why not stay?
Entering the living room, Nodoka frowned as she saw her husband there. “Genma Saotome, where have you been!?”
“Ah! N-Nochan! Relax!” Genma said with a most certainly nervous chuckle. Damn, he had been doing SO well in dodging that woman. He stayed at the Tendos a couple of nights a week, and he’d send Soun over to keep her company. A perfect setup if he ever had one, even without Ranma as his physical meal ticket.
Noticing the rising tensions, Kasumi couldn’t help but frown... Even if only a little. “Oh, Auntie, please don’t make a scene. I’m trying to have a nice dinner this evening.”
“Ah, yes, forgive me impudence,” Nodoka said seriously. “But I’m sure you know how my husband has been the...” Nodoka went silent for a moment, taking time to search for the correct words. “Disappearing-sort as of late.”
Kasumi couldn’t help but nod her head to that. She understood all too well what it was like to have a husband that would be away for hours, if not more. At least Kasumi’s own husband had the valid reason of his medical practice keeping him busy. “It’s okay Auntie, I won’t hold it against you.”
Moving over to his wife, Tofu asked, “So I take it that Nodoka was the surprise you had for tonight?”
Shaking her head, Kasumi answered, “Oh no, Tofu-sama, Auntie Nodoka isn’t the surprise I had in mind for this evening.”
Blinking her eyes, Nodoka asked, “Surprise? What surprise?”
“Oh, just a special something,” Kasumi said with a smile. She then blinked her eyes. “And speaking of which, since you’re here, I’ll need to get you another plate Auntie,” and so Kasumi left to get Nodoka a plate for this evening’s meal.
Looking about the overcrowded table, Genma smiled. At last the woman was gone! Now he could easily be able to get a small snack in before dinner began! So with the guile and stealth of a snake in the grass, Genma’s hand inched closer and closer to the large ham and-
*WHAM*!
Genma groaned as he lie on his back. Looking up at his wife, he managed to grumble, “Nice judo throw.”
Smiling a little, Nodoka answered, “Soun taught me.”
Looking up to spare Soun a glance, Genma couldn’t help but wonder just where the hell Soun had gotten time to teach Nodoka some of the lesser techniques of the Anything Goes style.
Ignoring the parental units in the room, Akane shook her head in annoyance. Yee gods, they were still so childish, much like Akane herself had been only a few years back. “But at least I managed to mature about this. What’s their excuse?”
Sitting on the veranda, Akane was intent on just looking out into the sky. Things had changed so much, and yet they seemed to have changed very little. “I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same has a ring of truth to it after all,” Akane thought smugly as she heard Nodoka berating Genma in the background.
However, before Akane could really take though on how life was going, a figure burst through the back wall, and there was a familiar cry of, “WHERE ON EARTH AM I NOW!?”
Blinking her eyes, Akane stared at the figure. A tall man in an open yellow shirt; the sleeves of said shirt long gone. Faded green pants that were frayed at the bottom of the legs. The yellow with black-checkered bandana framed his long black hair and the red bamboo umbrella were a dead giveaway as to whom it was. “R-Ryoga? Hibiki” Akane asked in surprise.
Surprised to hear someone call his name, Ryoga looked towards the source. Blinking his eyes once, twice, Ryoga’s jaw practically dropped. “Akane Tendo?”
“Oh my god, Ryoga! It’s been years!” Akane said excitedly as she ran out to her friend. “Please! Please come in! It’s been so long.”
“I don’t know...” Ryoga said seriously. “I do have some certain... ‘Things’ I’m still trying to cope with and get done.”
“Kasumi’s made a wonderful dinner,” Akane said with a smile.
At THAT, Ryoga’s stomach growled. “Okay, I guess I can stay for awhile.”
(------)
Meanwhile, across the ocean, a blonde-haired girl stared at her partner for their Business Management II project with a critical eye. “Are you okay, Nabiki? That’s about the twentieth time this hour your stomach growled. Do you need some Pepto?”
“No, no, it’s nothing like that, Carmine,” Nabiki said. “I swear, this happens every time someone mentions Kasumi’s cooking. Damn, do I miss that so much!”
Smirking, Carmine asked, “The instant cup of noodles not holding you anymore?”
Looking over to the stack of empty styrofoam cups, Nabiki blanched. “If I have to eat another one of those things, I swear to god, I’m gonna puke.”
See other episodes by Red Priest of the 17th Order
(Posted Sat, 21 Feb 2004 04:11)
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