Chapter 5 - A Meeting of Minds
The sun has just recently passed it's zenith, fading into a long
summer's afternoon. The bright light illuminated a young man
balancing a large pile of papers in a box on his head. The shade from
the box, with the sun directly above, kept his head in shadow, but the
end of a black pigtail could be seen sticking out from beneath it.
Perhaps unusually, Ranma isn't walking on the fence, even though the
fence is his normal route to Furikan high school. It is even more
unusual, however, that he should be following this route during what
is, for other students, the month long summer break.
Nevertheless it is happening; Ranma is proceeding to Furikan, on summer
break, and the papers on his head are a pile of completed schoolwork.
Nabiki has been spending a lot of time with him recently, tutoring,
and this schoolwork is the result. The school had agreed to accept
Ranma's work in advance, in order that he could get his degree on an
accelerated basis from work done at home. The stack currently on his
head accounted for a good third of his senior class work. Ranma
doesn't want to know how Nabiki had arranged this dispensation.
After a brief visit with everyone's favorite chibi-disciplinarian to
drop off the aforesaid work, Ranma departs the school for home, much
lighter than when he entered.
Down the street, in the shade provided at the intersection between two
buildings, another young man waits leaning against the wall. A large
traveling pack with a bamboo umbrella strapped to the top is on the
figures back. As Ranma nears, the figure pushes itself off the wall
with a low growl, and reaches for the umbrella atop his pack, his eyes
begin glowing in an unholy reddish fury.
"Ranma, YOU WILL PAY !" With a howl of near inexpressible anger, the
young man throws the umbrella like a spear, sending it whistling at
incredible velocity toward Ranma's head.
Barely looking, Ranma gently sways aside from the unprovoked attack,
and the umbrella buries itself to half it's length in the thick brick
wall behind him. Ironically, it was the same wall recently repaired
in the Martial Arts Bricklaying contest a few weeks earlier.
"Ryoga," Ranma says in acknowledgment, and turns a listlessly toward
his opponent, just in time to gently sway aside from Ryoga's flying
kick. Ryoga lands near his umbrella, and takes a moment to rip it
from the wall.
"You, let, Akane, DIE !" howls Ryoga, as he attacks in near berserk
fury. Ranma, however, barely appears to be fighting back. Each swing
or jab of the umbrella, each punch or kick, is met with Ranma merely
fading away or swaying aside from the technique.
The entire situation seems unreal or detached Ranma thinks, as he
absently deflects a razor sharp spinning bandanna. Somehow, it's
not like he's being attacked at all. Rather, it's as if he is just
making his way calmly through some bizarre, deadly obstacle course
while wrapped in cotton, occasionally having to dodge or deflect some
deadly attack like the spinning back kick, back knuckle, overhead
umbrella strike combination just now. He barely can seem to bring
himself to care about avoiding the attacks, much less attack in
return. The only goal currently in his mind is to bring this problem,
as his others, to the person pledged to resolve them, Nabiki.
Ryoga, true to form, is growing more and more incensed as his opponent
seems to glide like a whisper of a dream around each attack. Ryoga
forebears to engage in further yells of threat or defiance,
concentrating solely on avenging Akane on what, to him, is the cause
of her death.
If Ryoga had been paying attention, he might have noticed that Ranma
is not at all behaving normally. Not only is Ranma
uncharacteristically silent, devoid of the enraging taunts which he
normally employs, but his parries and dodges, while still graceful,
lack the normal fire and spirit of Ranma's fighting style. An outside
observer would see that Ranma isn't fighting back at all.
During the short course of the fight, an already deceptive distance
had been covered. Despite the relative silence of this combat, the
concussions of Ryoga's missed strikes serve to preannouce the presence
of the moving battle. Pedestrians clear away from the combatants with
the finely honed survival instinct necessary to live near the walking
chaos known as Ranma's life, hurried along by the palpable aura of
berserk rage emitting from Ryoga. Meanwhile, each wall leaped, each
attack dodged, and each roof covered brings the battling pair closer
to Ranma's eventual destination, the Dojo.
Unnoticed by the combatants, two of the pedestrians are an attractive
auburn haired middle aged woman carrying a long bundle wrapped in
silk, and a gi clad portly man wearing wire rim glasses and with a
handkerchief covering a bald head. The couple exchange a worried
glance and hurry down the street in pursuit of the battle. Both
Nodaka and Genma easily see the change in Ranma's fighting style, and
worry about it's import, and how it will reflect on the resolution of
this fight.
The battling pair finally leap the wall of the Tendo compound, and are
promptly met with a bucketful of cold water, flung by Nabiki. The
Tendos had also heard the effects of the impending battle, and Soun
and Kasumi were on the porch, curious to see why Nabiki had grabbed a
fire bucket and rushed out when she heard the noise.
Quickly, Nabiki drops the bucket and snatches up Ryoga-P as he
struggles out of his clothes. Slapping him smartly across the muzzle,
she growls "I've been waiting for you to show up. You Will _STOP_ !".
Ryoga calms his piglet struggles, although his eyes remain an
unhealthy shade of red, and turns his glare at the now female Ranma.
After making certain that Ryoga is stopping his attack, at least for
the moment, Nabiki turns to the now female Ranma. "Ranma, I know you
don't like this, but it's like we've talked about earlier. It's time
to apologize to Ryoga."
Meanwhile, Genma and Nodaka have arrived on the porch behind Soun and
Kasumi. Nodaka is struck by the seeming emptiness in her sometime
son's and currently daughter's gray eyes, as well as the obvious
reference of Ryoga to the pig held by Nabiki. Putting out her hand,
she restrains Genma from advancing, cutting off his impending speech.
Ranma nods, reluctantly. "Ryoga, Nabiki's right, I don't like it, but
I do owe ya an apology." Slowly, she kneels, bows formally, and
gathers herself. Nabiki had worked on this speech with her for some
while to get it right. Speaking formally, she begins, "I apologize
for the lack of respect I have shown to you in the past. I apologize
for the insults I have done to you, especially those belittling your
Jusenko curse."
Ranma pauses for a moment to gather herself, and breaks from the
formal speech. "And I apologize for not giving ya a fair chance with
Akane." She takes a breath. "You're right, ya know, if you had
gotten Akane, she'd maybe be alive now, and even though I'd hate it,
it'd be better than ..." Finally, she breaks off, unable to continue,
and turns her head away in shame and grief.
As Ryoga finally takes time to get a good look at Ranma, it finally
filters in how much pain Ranma really is in. He should know, he's
seen that same look often enough in a mirror. He also begins to take
in the still only half repaired devastation in the yard around him,
and realizes the strength of the depression Ki blast Ranma must have
produced to cause it. Perhaps in truth, Ranma's depression might be
far worse than his own.
Then, Ranma's apology registers, and his rage slowly drains away. He
is still unhappy with Ranma, but despite his efforts, he seems unable
to hold onto the hate he had nurtured.
Nabiki holds Ryoga to her face and hisses at him. "Now, damn your
dishonorable cheating hide, you are going to accept Ranma's apology,
and you are going to apologize for sleeping with Akane without her
knowledge, using your pig form to come between them, and for carrying
your gods damned useless fucking grudge. Akane's death is NOT RANMA's
FAULT you damn pig. And I swear by all that is holy that if you don't,
I will have you at the local pound and neutered within the hour. _Do_
_you_ _understand_ ?"
Nodaka, who had been slowly growing more concerned over the situation,
twitches upon hearing some of the things Nabiki said. Glancing over
at Soun and her husband, she begins to see that the Ranma's situation
may be far worse than she had been lead to believe.
Ryoga gives a little, reluctant piggy grunt in acknowledgment to
Nabiki. On hearing this, she breaks eye contact and reaches for the
kettle which Kasumi has produced, dumping the contents over Ryoga.
Ryoga quickly scrambles for his clothes without making eye contact
with anyone there.
"Well, we're waiting." This from an impatiently posturing Nabiki.
Ryoga hems and haws for bit, before finally not quite looking at
Ranma. "All right, it's not like I forgive you, yet, but I'll stop
the feud. It's not like killing a walking dead man would be any
satisfaction."
"And ?" Nabiki prods.
"And I'm sorry for those things she said, okay ?" Ryoga throws her a
frustrated glance.
Nabiki nods. It's about the best she expected from Ryoga. Ranma
finally looks up, and meets Ryoga's gaze. Softly, she asks Ryoga "You
need some help getting somewhere ? We could call a cab or something
to Akari's place. And if you want, we can still fight whenever you
show up."
Ryoga is surprised yet again. Ranma is being nice ? Perhaps he had
misjudged him a little. Slowly he nods in acceptance of the offer.
He'd still keep an eye on Ranma, in case he ruined any of the other
Tendos, but for now he'd leave things be.
"If you'd please come with me, Hibiki-san, we can see about that cab"
says Kasumi, as she steps off the porch to hand another kettle to
Ranma. "Perhaps you'd like a snack while you wait ?" Shortly, she
and Ryoga disappear into the house.
Genma, finally with a clear approach to the again male Ranma, begins
to puff himself up. "Worthless boy ! Perhaps you should stay in that
weak girl's body. It fits your actions today, backing down from a
fight and apologizing to an enemy !"
On the other side of the porch, for the first time in days, Soun
begins to show a bit of life. "Genma, my friend, wait. Perhaps the
union between our families can be saved. It seems Nabiki and your son
are perfectly matched, does it not ? The way she helped him resolve
the other finances you arranged speaks for it."
"That is enough, Husband, Tendo-san" Nodaka's voice whipcracks across
the yard. Both men cringe at her outburst.
"Ranma's actions today have been nothing but honorable and manly. Yet
in response, you give him nothing but condemnation and pressure to
marry immediately after loosing his finance. Your actions on the
other hand ..."
"Tendo-san, did you truly allow that young man to sleep in Akane's
bed in his pig form ? Have you no honor ? Genma did you truly
arrange other finances for our son, knowing you had made a promise of
honor for him to marry a Tendo ?"
"Um, well, you see, a martial artists road is hard, and any advantage
must be seized. When the only way to feed us was to claim a dowry by
promising my son in marriage, it must be done. Further, it was a
burden to toughen the boy." Genma finally breaks off his
justifications, seeing that he is only further enraging Nodaka.
"Auntie, there is something else you should perhaps know." Nabiki
addresses herself to Nodaka. "When Ranma arrived here from China
after my sister's death, he offered to suicide in atonement for not
saving her."
This revelation brought the expected gasp from Nodaka. Still she
straighted in pride that her son would consider his honor so
strongly.
"I didn't think that it was an acceptable solution. So I suggested
that Ranma pay his debt to us by becoming something which could have
saved Akane, a doctor. Ranma accepted, and gave his word of honor to
do so."
Nodaka looks thoughtfully at Nabiki, and perceives that there is more
to the story than Nabiki is saying. "I see. But why your further
involvement in my son's affairs, if that is all there is ? And why a
doctor ? It is an honorable career, but not what I expected. Did you
too feel you have some debt to pay here ?"
Nabiki flushes and looks down. "Yes, I too bear some of the blame for
the failure of Ranma and little sister's relationship. Had I not
acted as I did, they may easily have married and taken a different
course of action, one that would not have led to my sister's passing.
They certainly would have been much happier then they were."
She looks up and meets Nodaka's eyes again. "I won't let him die,
Auntie. I owe Akane far too much for that. As to why a doctor, well
... ", she glances at Ranma quickly, "you see him, he needs to do
something positive, to know he _can_ save lives, through one means if
not another."
Nodaka continues to regard Nabiki for a short while. Finally, she
comes to an impulsive decision. She would do what she could to
support this impressive young woman and her son. She turns to her son
and slowly approaches the nervous young man. Stopping several paces
away, she pauses a moment to free the Saotome blade from it's
wrapping. Kneeling, she formally bows and addresses him.
"My son, this day you have made me proud. It is fitting that you
should adopt a greater responsibility at this time. I ask that you
accept this." Formally, she bows again and presents the Saotome honor
blade to her son.
Nabiki quickly shuffles over and pokes a stunned Ranma, nodding
rapidly at him. Shaking off his stupor, Ranma slowly kneels and
accepts the blade. "I, um, thank you Mother. I will bring honor to
our clan."
Nodaka meets his gaze and favors him with a brilliant, and totally out
of place smile for such a ceremony. "I know you will clan-head. I'll
have the paperwork processed in the morning." Getting up after Ranma,
she continues, "Of course, this also means you have the responsibility
to approve arrangements involving our clan."
Genma sputters, realizing that Nodaka in effect has just dissolved the
Tendo/Saotome marriage pact.
Soun is devastated yet again, at least until Genma finally turns and
whispers to him "Give it time. It's in his hands now, but the boy is
already growing dependent on your daughter, we need only let nature
take it's course."
Nabiki breathes a sigh of relief. This is the last of the
entanglements she is worried about. Perhaps now she can get down to
the business of giving Ranma something to live for.
***
Authors notes -
That's all the relationships and rivals, or at least all I'm going to
bother to do. I also hope I've done a bit better job of explaining
Nabiki's motivation in this chapter.
Also, it was mentioned in a review that I may have mischaracterized
Ukyo in the last chapter, which is probably true. I can only plead a
little wiggle room: since Ranma never said he doesn't love her in
cannon, I choose to interpret Ukyo receiving such a statement as
eliciting that reaction.
The sun has just recently passed it's zenith, fading into a long
summer's afternoon. The bright light illuminated a young man
balancing a large pile of papers in a box on his head. The shade from
the box, with the sun directly above, kept his head in shadow, but the
end of a black pigtail could be seen sticking out from beneath it.
Perhaps unusually, Ranma isn't walking on the fence, even though the
fence is his normal route to Furikan high school. It is even more
unusual, however, that he should be following this route during what
is, for other students, the month long summer break.
Nevertheless it is happening; Ranma is proceeding to Furikan, on summer
break, and the papers on his head are a pile of completed schoolwork.
Nabiki has been spending a lot of time with him recently, tutoring,
and this schoolwork is the result. The school had agreed to accept
Ranma's work in advance, in order that he could get his degree on an
accelerated basis from work done at home. The stack currently on his
head accounted for a good third of his senior class work. Ranma
doesn't want to know how Nabiki had arranged this dispensation.
After a brief visit with everyone's favorite chibi-disciplinarian to
drop off the aforesaid work, Ranma departs the school for home, much
lighter than when he entered.
Down the street, in the shade provided at the intersection between two
buildings, another young man waits leaning against the wall. A large
traveling pack with a bamboo umbrella strapped to the top is on the
figures back. As Ranma nears, the figure pushes itself off the wall
with a low growl, and reaches for the umbrella atop his pack, his eyes
begin glowing in an unholy reddish fury.
"Ranma, YOU WILL PAY !" With a howl of near inexpressible anger, the
young man throws the umbrella like a spear, sending it whistling at
incredible velocity toward Ranma's head.
Barely looking, Ranma gently sways aside from the unprovoked attack,
and the umbrella buries itself to half it's length in the thick brick
wall behind him. Ironically, it was the same wall recently repaired
in the Martial Arts Bricklaying contest a few weeks earlier.
"Ryoga," Ranma says in acknowledgment, and turns a listlessly toward
his opponent, just in time to gently sway aside from Ryoga's flying
kick. Ryoga lands near his umbrella, and takes a moment to rip it
from the wall.
"You, let, Akane, DIE !" howls Ryoga, as he attacks in near berserk
fury. Ranma, however, barely appears to be fighting back. Each swing
or jab of the umbrella, each punch or kick, is met with Ranma merely
fading away or swaying aside from the technique.
The entire situation seems unreal or detached Ranma thinks, as he
absently deflects a razor sharp spinning bandanna. Somehow, it's
not like he's being attacked at all. Rather, it's as if he is just
making his way calmly through some bizarre, deadly obstacle course
while wrapped in cotton, occasionally having to dodge or deflect some
deadly attack like the spinning back kick, back knuckle, overhead
umbrella strike combination just now. He barely can seem to bring
himself to care about avoiding the attacks, much less attack in
return. The only goal currently in his mind is to bring this problem,
as his others, to the person pledged to resolve them, Nabiki.
Ryoga, true to form, is growing more and more incensed as his opponent
seems to glide like a whisper of a dream around each attack. Ryoga
forebears to engage in further yells of threat or defiance,
concentrating solely on avenging Akane on what, to him, is the cause
of her death.
If Ryoga had been paying attention, he might have noticed that Ranma
is not at all behaving normally. Not only is Ranma
uncharacteristically silent, devoid of the enraging taunts which he
normally employs, but his parries and dodges, while still graceful,
lack the normal fire and spirit of Ranma's fighting style. An outside
observer would see that Ranma isn't fighting back at all.
During the short course of the fight, an already deceptive distance
had been covered. Despite the relative silence of this combat, the
concussions of Ryoga's missed strikes serve to preannouce the presence
of the moving battle. Pedestrians clear away from the combatants with
the finely honed survival instinct necessary to live near the walking
chaos known as Ranma's life, hurried along by the palpable aura of
berserk rage emitting from Ryoga. Meanwhile, each wall leaped, each
attack dodged, and each roof covered brings the battling pair closer
to Ranma's eventual destination, the Dojo.
Unnoticed by the combatants, two of the pedestrians are an attractive
auburn haired middle aged woman carrying a long bundle wrapped in
silk, and a gi clad portly man wearing wire rim glasses and with a
handkerchief covering a bald head. The couple exchange a worried
glance and hurry down the street in pursuit of the battle. Both
Nodaka and Genma easily see the change in Ranma's fighting style, and
worry about it's import, and how it will reflect on the resolution of
this fight.
The battling pair finally leap the wall of the Tendo compound, and are
promptly met with a bucketful of cold water, flung by Nabiki. The
Tendos had also heard the effects of the impending battle, and Soun
and Kasumi were on the porch, curious to see why Nabiki had grabbed a
fire bucket and rushed out when she heard the noise.
Quickly, Nabiki drops the bucket and snatches up Ryoga-P as he
struggles out of his clothes. Slapping him smartly across the muzzle,
she growls "I've been waiting for you to show up. You Will _STOP_ !".
Ryoga calms his piglet struggles, although his eyes remain an
unhealthy shade of red, and turns his glare at the now female Ranma.
After making certain that Ryoga is stopping his attack, at least for
the moment, Nabiki turns to the now female Ranma. "Ranma, I know you
don't like this, but it's like we've talked about earlier. It's time
to apologize to Ryoga."
Meanwhile, Genma and Nodaka have arrived on the porch behind Soun and
Kasumi. Nodaka is struck by the seeming emptiness in her sometime
son's and currently daughter's gray eyes, as well as the obvious
reference of Ryoga to the pig held by Nabiki. Putting out her hand,
she restrains Genma from advancing, cutting off his impending speech.
Ranma nods, reluctantly. "Ryoga, Nabiki's right, I don't like it, but
I do owe ya an apology." Slowly, she kneels, bows formally, and
gathers herself. Nabiki had worked on this speech with her for some
while to get it right. Speaking formally, she begins, "I apologize
for the lack of respect I have shown to you in the past. I apologize
for the insults I have done to you, especially those belittling your
Jusenko curse."
Ranma pauses for a moment to gather herself, and breaks from the
formal speech. "And I apologize for not giving ya a fair chance with
Akane." She takes a breath. "You're right, ya know, if you had
gotten Akane, she'd maybe be alive now, and even though I'd hate it,
it'd be better than ..." Finally, she breaks off, unable to continue,
and turns her head away in shame and grief.
As Ryoga finally takes time to get a good look at Ranma, it finally
filters in how much pain Ranma really is in. He should know, he's
seen that same look often enough in a mirror. He also begins to take
in the still only half repaired devastation in the yard around him,
and realizes the strength of the depression Ki blast Ranma must have
produced to cause it. Perhaps in truth, Ranma's depression might be
far worse than his own.
Then, Ranma's apology registers, and his rage slowly drains away. He
is still unhappy with Ranma, but despite his efforts, he seems unable
to hold onto the hate he had nurtured.
Nabiki holds Ryoga to her face and hisses at him. "Now, damn your
dishonorable cheating hide, you are going to accept Ranma's apology,
and you are going to apologize for sleeping with Akane without her
knowledge, using your pig form to come between them, and for carrying
your gods damned useless fucking grudge. Akane's death is NOT RANMA's
FAULT you damn pig. And I swear by all that is holy that if you don't,
I will have you at the local pound and neutered within the hour. _Do_
_you_ _understand_ ?"
Nodaka, who had been slowly growing more concerned over the situation,
twitches upon hearing some of the things Nabiki said. Glancing over
at Soun and her husband, she begins to see that the Ranma's situation
may be far worse than she had been lead to believe.
Ryoga gives a little, reluctant piggy grunt in acknowledgment to
Nabiki. On hearing this, she breaks eye contact and reaches for the
kettle which Kasumi has produced, dumping the contents over Ryoga.
Ryoga quickly scrambles for his clothes without making eye contact
with anyone there.
"Well, we're waiting." This from an impatiently posturing Nabiki.
Ryoga hems and haws for bit, before finally not quite looking at
Ranma. "All right, it's not like I forgive you, yet, but I'll stop
the feud. It's not like killing a walking dead man would be any
satisfaction."
"And ?" Nabiki prods.
"And I'm sorry for those things she said, okay ?" Ryoga throws her a
frustrated glance.
Nabiki nods. It's about the best she expected from Ryoga. Ranma
finally looks up, and meets Ryoga's gaze. Softly, she asks Ryoga "You
need some help getting somewhere ? We could call a cab or something
to Akari's place. And if you want, we can still fight whenever you
show up."
Ryoga is surprised yet again. Ranma is being nice ? Perhaps he had
misjudged him a little. Slowly he nods in acceptance of the offer.
He'd still keep an eye on Ranma, in case he ruined any of the other
Tendos, but for now he'd leave things be.
"If you'd please come with me, Hibiki-san, we can see about that cab"
says Kasumi, as she steps off the porch to hand another kettle to
Ranma. "Perhaps you'd like a snack while you wait ?" Shortly, she
and Ryoga disappear into the house.
Genma, finally with a clear approach to the again male Ranma, begins
to puff himself up. "Worthless boy ! Perhaps you should stay in that
weak girl's body. It fits your actions today, backing down from a
fight and apologizing to an enemy !"
On the other side of the porch, for the first time in days, Soun
begins to show a bit of life. "Genma, my friend, wait. Perhaps the
union between our families can be saved. It seems Nabiki and your son
are perfectly matched, does it not ? The way she helped him resolve
the other finances you arranged speaks for it."
"That is enough, Husband, Tendo-san" Nodaka's voice whipcracks across
the yard. Both men cringe at her outburst.
"Ranma's actions today have been nothing but honorable and manly. Yet
in response, you give him nothing but condemnation and pressure to
marry immediately after loosing his finance. Your actions on the
other hand ..."
"Tendo-san, did you truly allow that young man to sleep in Akane's
bed in his pig form ? Have you no honor ? Genma did you truly
arrange other finances for our son, knowing you had made a promise of
honor for him to marry a Tendo ?"
"Um, well, you see, a martial artists road is hard, and any advantage
must be seized. When the only way to feed us was to claim a dowry by
promising my son in marriage, it must be done. Further, it was a
burden to toughen the boy." Genma finally breaks off his
justifications, seeing that he is only further enraging Nodaka.
"Auntie, there is something else you should perhaps know." Nabiki
addresses herself to Nodaka. "When Ranma arrived here from China
after my sister's death, he offered to suicide in atonement for not
saving her."
This revelation brought the expected gasp from Nodaka. Still she
straighted in pride that her son would consider his honor so
strongly.
"I didn't think that it was an acceptable solution. So I suggested
that Ranma pay his debt to us by becoming something which could have
saved Akane, a doctor. Ranma accepted, and gave his word of honor to
do so."
Nodaka looks thoughtfully at Nabiki, and perceives that there is more
to the story than Nabiki is saying. "I see. But why your further
involvement in my son's affairs, if that is all there is ? And why a
doctor ? It is an honorable career, but not what I expected. Did you
too feel you have some debt to pay here ?"
Nabiki flushes and looks down. "Yes, I too bear some of the blame for
the failure of Ranma and little sister's relationship. Had I not
acted as I did, they may easily have married and taken a different
course of action, one that would not have led to my sister's passing.
They certainly would have been much happier then they were."
She looks up and meets Nodaka's eyes again. "I won't let him die,
Auntie. I owe Akane far too much for that. As to why a doctor, well
... ", she glances at Ranma quickly, "you see him, he needs to do
something positive, to know he _can_ save lives, through one means if
not another."
Nodaka continues to regard Nabiki for a short while. Finally, she
comes to an impulsive decision. She would do what she could to
support this impressive young woman and her son. She turns to her son
and slowly approaches the nervous young man. Stopping several paces
away, she pauses a moment to free the Saotome blade from it's
wrapping. Kneeling, she formally bows and addresses him.
"My son, this day you have made me proud. It is fitting that you
should adopt a greater responsibility at this time. I ask that you
accept this." Formally, she bows again and presents the Saotome honor
blade to her son.
Nabiki quickly shuffles over and pokes a stunned Ranma, nodding
rapidly at him. Shaking off his stupor, Ranma slowly kneels and
accepts the blade. "I, um, thank you Mother. I will bring honor to
our clan."
Nodaka meets his gaze and favors him with a brilliant, and totally out
of place smile for such a ceremony. "I know you will clan-head. I'll
have the paperwork processed in the morning." Getting up after Ranma,
she continues, "Of course, this also means you have the responsibility
to approve arrangements involving our clan."
Genma sputters, realizing that Nodaka in effect has just dissolved the
Tendo/Saotome marriage pact.
Soun is devastated yet again, at least until Genma finally turns and
whispers to him "Give it time. It's in his hands now, but the boy is
already growing dependent on your daughter, we need only let nature
take it's course."
Nabiki breathes a sigh of relief. This is the last of the
entanglements she is worried about. Perhaps now she can get down to
the business of giving Ranma something to live for.
***
Authors notes -
That's all the relationships and rivals, or at least all I'm going to
bother to do. I also hope I've done a bit better job of explaining
Nabiki's motivation in this chapter.
Also, it was mentioned in a review that I may have mischaracterized
Ukyo in the last chapter, which is probably true. I can only plead a
little wiggle room: since Ranma never said he doesn't love her in
cannon, I choose to interpret Ukyo receiving such a statement as
eliciting that reaction.