Disclaimer: Nodoka Saotome, Genma Saotome, Ranma Saotome, and Kasumi Tendo are property of Rumiko Takahashi, a lot of the additional characters are my creations or have been inspired by WarGiver. I'm writing this story for fun, so please don't shoot me for borrowing the Ranma ½ characters.

Some Things are Just too Ridiculous: Side Stories
A look at Nodoka

By Lioconvoy

Pre-story note: The present day of this story takes place during the events of chapter three. After Soun has left the office where he sold some family property.

~~ Ten Years Ago ~~

After hitting her husband on the head several times Nodoka Saotome thought she finally convinced her husband to stop trying to take away her only son. He was barely five years old she didn't see the point of Genma taking Ranma on a ten year training journey. "Why can't you train Ranma here?"

"Nodoka, the boy would be soft. Not to mention that fact that since he's been alive each year we've added another daughter to our family. Two months after he turned one the twins were born, on his second birthday came Koneko, a month before he turned three was Naru, then Nene three months after he turned four. Let's not forget our first child, Natsumi may be a bit of a tomboy, but she is only eight. Dear, I can't train the boy properly here." Genma loved each and everyone of his seven children, but Ranma was his heir and the boy needed to be trained properly. A mother's love would only weaken him and who knew what sort of corruptive affect his sisters might have on him. No he and the boy needed to leave before he got Nodoka pregnant again.

"Why ten years? And do you have plans to visit at all during your trip?" Her husband may have had one point. Their daughters could prevent their son from being a true man among men.

"It will take that long for the boy to master the art, the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu is a very complicated discipline." Not to mention maybe he or Nodoka will have grown sterile by the time he returned. Seven children were more than enough, maybe if more of them were boys he wouldn't mind it as much, but six daughters and one son. If he remained here with his wife and continued to do his duties as her husband; in ten years time they could have seventeen children, more if the former Narita gave birth to any more twins.

"Genma will you visit?"

"I'm sorry Nodoka, we will be traveling quite far. I will write." Visiting would be a bad idea. He loved his wife very much, but she was far too fertile.

"You must do this." Sadly now she could see his point. She didn't want to be parted with her only son, and her husband, but she wouldn't be alone. "Very well. But I want your promise. You will raise Ranma to be a man among men."

"I will. If Ranma is not a man among men when we return we shall both commit seppuku for our dishonor." She was letting him go, Genma wanted to jump for joy, the line would hold at seven. Outwardly he kept calm, Nodoka mustn't know that as happy as she had made him, he didn't want to give her anymore children.

~~ Five Years Ago ~~

Her eight daughters were currently spending time with her father. Nodoka sighed. It had been four years since she last saw her husband or son. Genma wrote to her every other week, but she wanted him here beside her. Sighing, she thought how Genma took Ranma farther away when he heard that Yuukune and Rouko were born.

Broken from her thoughts by knocking at the door, she rose from the couch and went to answer it. It couldn't be the children, her daughters shouldn't be back yet. Leaving the living room and reaching the door she opened it to reveal a woman standing there who looked much like her, if a little taller and perhaps bigger in the chest. Another thing she noticed was the woman was wearing ill fitted men's clothes.

"Nodoka it's been a long time."

She didn't know who this woman was, but a hug came with her greeting. Releasing herself from the hug the Saotome matriarch tried to figure out who this woman was. "Do I know you?"

"Do you know me? Is that anyway to treat your older brother?" Makoto frowned, why didn't his little sister recognize her. Looking down at his chest…he or rather she at the moment figured it out. "Sorry I've gotten used to them and sometimes I don't notice when I've changed. I passed by an old lady cleaning her sidewalk on the way here. Nodoka, could I please have some hot water? That will clear things up."

The woman claimed to be her brother? Makoto Narita was many things; and adventure, a relic hunter, a street fighter, but a woman? "Come inside please."

The older of the three Narita children followed her little sister in to her home and then sat down on the couch as she went into the kitchen. It seemed she would fulfill her request. "I'm sure this is quite the shock, but trust me I am Makoto. You see while I was in China I stumbled upon this strange valley with a lot of springs. I was looking at one of them when a tour guide came up from behind me and started shouting at me in Chinese. He startled me and I fell into the spring I was examining and now I change into a woman with cold water and back to a man with hot."

"Really? A cursed spring?" Her older brother had quite a number of amazing things happen to him, but this…. Then again some of the relics he brought back did rather impossible things as well. A jewel he once brought back from Norway made Koneko into a cat for a short time. Handing the woman the cup she watched her change from female to male as the water washed over him. "It is you."

"Of course it is." The relic hunter smiled, happy little Nodoka acknowledged him. "I don't know if he mentioned it in his letters, but I ran into Genma in Sapporo before I took my trip to China."

"No he didn't. Did anything happen?"

"No, not really. I sparred with Ranma, Genma's training him well." Inwardly Makoto was grateful Genma didn't tell his wife about the Neko-ken incident. He had been worried the fat fool would try to place the blame on him. Sure he gave his brother-in-law the book of advanced combat methods, but Genma should have read the entire instructions for the technique before trying to teach it to Ranma. "How are things here?"

"Well Natsumi's been spending more time with Chisato's daughter, and training with her under Soun. Hiichi and Mizuni prefer training with our sister. Koneko and Naru spent a lot of time trying to figure out just what some of the artifacts you've left here do. Fortunately there hasn't been another incident like with the 'Eye of Odin'."

"I sold that to an American. I don't think he knows what it does and he plans on using it as a display piece. Nene, Yuukune, and Rouko?" He probably shouldn't have interrupted his sister, but he felt the need to assure her she wouldn't have to worry about that particular trinket again.

"Mother has been looking after them while I'm busy with the restaurant." As much as she missed her husband, sometimes she was grateful he took off with Ranma. Yes she wanted him here to help raise the children, but sometimes she worried how many more they might have had if he stayed. In the back of her mind she wondered if that wasn't the real reason he left.

"You and Chisato seem to be doing well. I went by and it looked full."

"Yes we are. We've been able to hire an additional cook and two more waitresses lately." It had been one of her father's better ideas. Both she and her friend were excellent cooks, and although Mr. Tendo had his dojo, Chisato got bored simply being a house wife. The Wild Horse was actually quite fun for the two of them to run.

~~ Four Years Ago ~~

Nodoka still had tears in her eyes. Why had Chisato gotten so sick so suddenly. Poor Soun, now he'd have to raise his daughters on his own. She knew what that was like, and she wondered how good a job she was doing.

As Chisato's health declined she was forced to spend more time at the restaurant and her daughters spent more time with her parents. History seemed to repeat itself. When she was growing up she, Makoto, and Kyo were raised more by their grandparents then their father and mother. She really wished her mother would stop letting her younger sister influence her children.

Five years Genma had been gone with Ranma, she wished it wouldn't be five more years before they returned. She wanted her husband back now. Given the way their daughters were turning out he didn't have to worry about them corrupting Ranma.

~~ One Year ago ~~

Nodoka stepped out of the kitchen and handed her brother a cup of hot water. As always, if she was alone when he visited, somehow he ended up a she. "If I didn't know better I'd say your curse doesn't want mother, father, and Kyo to find out about it as much as you don't."

"A living curse. I don't quite think that's possible, but I've never much understood magic in the first place." Taking the cup offered, the older of the two Narita children dumped it on herself and she then returned to his original male form. "You really sent Genma that pamphlet?"

"Both you and my husband's letters tell me he's keeping his promise. I wanted Ranma to be a man among men, and it sounds like that's what I'm getting. It's just our daughters…"

"You've always had too high a standard, that's how grandmother raised you. You haven't failed, in this day and age people are different then they were during the time of our grandmother." Makoto sighed, Nodoka was his favorite sister, but sometimes she spent too much time living in their grandmother's shadow than being her own person. "Do you really want your only son to turn into another girl? There are other springs there too; a little black pig, a cat, a duck, a panda, a tengu, and a kangaroo among many others."

"What's a kangaroo doing in China?" Maybe she didn't think everything through. It was just she was jealous of her husband's success.

"Drowning." Makoto cracked a smile, then a frown quickly returned. "I've always been careful what I've passed on to Genma. After the Neko-ken I knew better than to give anything potentially dangerous to him."

It had been years before her older brother finally told her about her husband's first act of stupidity. At the time they had been looking after a neighbor's cat, and it slipped his tongue. She was mad at Makoto at first, but since he was here and Genma was wherever, it was easier to forgive her brother. It was remembering what he said about the book of advanced martial arts that gave her the idea to send the Genma the pamphlet for Jusenkyo. "Maybe it was a mistake."

"Maybe Ranma won't get cursed. Ariel combat is one of his specialties. Personally I wouldn't mind Genma falling into one of the springs. Possibly one of the smaller animals so he can be caged when he causes trouble." There was a lot his sister didn't know about his brother-in-law, but considering Genma had certain pieces of information on him…he couldn't tell Nodoka.

~~Present day ~~

Nodoka put down the phone. Tomorrow she'd pay a visit it to the Tendo home. Ten long years had passed and instead of returning home he tried to flee to his friend's home.

Setting aside her anger, she knew her husband's actions weren't completely unjustified. Soun told her she got her wish. Of course he likely didn't know about her wish or the seppuku contract, if he did maybe he wouldn't have mentioned Ranma's curse.

She had no intention of having Ranma or Genma take their own lives, but she was a little happy Genma was afraid. She didn't know if Ranma was aware of the promise, and she hoped he wasn't.

-v-v-

Lio's Corner:
-This is one of several side stories I have ideas for. Some things I think will be easier to right out like this rather than in the main story.

-As mentioned in the pre-chapter note the present day takes place during chapter two. Soun's unseen call to Nodoka happens after he sells the property.

-v-

Getting to know the extras:
Since I was trying to make this story as ridiculous as possible, it has a lot of extra's that I've created to fill various roles. Here I'll try to give a brief summery of those characters.

-Makoto Narita: In this story Narita is Nodoka's maiden name. She has two siblings; one older and one younger. Makoto is the older and his primary job is that of a relic hunter. Often he'll leave various relics with Nodoka. Some of them with rather unusual powers. Makoto has the same curse as Ranma, but he's been able to hide it from all but Nodoka. When meeting with the middle Narita child somehow it always ends up activated.

-Kyo Narita: Nodoka's younger sister. Where as Nodoka spent more time with their grandmother and takes after her, Kyo hung around with Makoto and their grandfather. Kyo is tomboy, and although she's had many boyfriends she's still single. She is also the current master at the Narita family Dojo and has taught all of Nodoka's daughters.

-Natsumi Saotome: Ranma's older sister, she's best friends with Kasumi. Although described by others as a tomboy, it's mostly because she enjoys fighting.

-The younger Saotome sisters: Created by WarGiver for a "Twin Trouble" Omake, I decide to include them in Some things are Just too Ridiculous because I found the concept of Ranma having a lot of tomboy younger sisters hilarious. They are; the older twins Hiichi and Mizuni, Koneko, Naru, Nene, and the younger twins Yuukune and Rouko. I'm still in the process of developing personalities for them.