Chapter 52 Of Shogi, Dojo, and Checkers
Nodoka knocked on the door to the Tendo home, her face not showing her anxiety. Even though Ranma had reported his conversation with Soun, this was the first time that Soun was going to meet her former husband, now daughter, and she wasn't really sure that she was ready for his reaction. She almost turned to walk away from the door, when it suddenly became too late.
Soun stood at the open doorway, his mouth agape in surprise. "Good morning, Nodoka," he said, finally. Then he knelt down and stammered, "Good morning to you as well, Genko."
"Hello, Soun," Nodoka replied. She looked down at her daughter and said, "This is Soun Tendo. He's Akane's father."
"Hello, Mr. Tendo," Genko said shyly, from where she was half-hiding behind her mother.
"Come in, please," Soun said, "I'm the only one here right now, of course, since Ranma and the girls are at school, and Tofu is at the clinic."
"How is Kasumi doing at college?" Nodoka asked.
Soun said proudly, "She's doing very well. I know she was worried after being out of high school for a couple of years that she wouldn't be able to handle the workload, but it hasn't been too bad."
The three of them walked through the house and entered the family room, where the newspaper dropped messily on the floor indicated that Soun had been interrupted during his reading. "There should be some tea in the kitchen," Soun offered.
"That would be nice," Nodoka replied.
"Wait here while I go get us some, then," Soun suggested, the tone of his voice showing that he was going to play the host.
Nodoka merely smiled as Soun entered the kitchen. She then sank gracefully to the floor, moving her ever present bundle to one side.
Genko amused herself by glancing around the family room, waiting for Mr. Tendo to return from the kitchen with the tea. Her eyes lit up when she saw the shogi board sitting on the floor by the sliding door that gave access to the outside. She got up from where she had been sitting next to her mother and walked over to the board.
"Shogi!" she squealed happily as she sat down next to the board.
Soun had just walked in carrying a tray. He exchanged a startled look with Nodoka and asked, "Do you know how to play?"
The young girl nodded her head happily. "Can we play a game, Uncle Soun?" the little girl asked, her eyes bright.
"Sure, I'd love to," Soun answered as he set the tray down on the table and walked over to the board to join her. He sat down across from her and the two began to play.
Nodoka poured tea for the three of them and handed a cup to Soun. To their surprise they heard the clack of a piece being added to the board.
Soun looked back quickly to see the little girl's hand coming back from where she had surreptitiously placed a piece.
The two adults watched in awe as Genko played an excellent game of shogi, using many of the techniques that Genma had been famous for. Finally, Soun could stand no more, and he broke down crying, fleeing the family room.
Genko looked stricken and turned to her mother. "Mommy, did I do something wrong?" she asked, obviously concerned.
"No dear, you just reminded Uncle Soun of someone who used to play shogi with him is all. He misses his friend very much," Nodoka replied, "You did nothing wrong. I think he'll be all right in a little while. Playing a game with you was good for him."
"Your mother is right," a shaky voice from the door interrupted.
They turned to see Soun leaning against the doorframe, his face still distraught, but somehow, also looking happier.
"I miss my old friend and training partner, Gen-ko, but seeing you play has helped me more than I can tell you," Soun said.
"Is that why you are so sad? You look lonely," Genko said artlessly.
"I suppose I am a bit lonely during the day. All of my daughters are off at school at least part of the day now, so I rattle around the house by myself," Soun replied, "Though, I do practice in the dojo in the morning, and then have two classes that I teach in the afternoon."
Ryoga, Mrs. Hibiki and Ukyo were gathered around the table in the living room eating their evening meal. While they were eating, the three watched the local newscast on the television that Mrs. Hibiki had just bought for them as a wedding present.
Interrupting their conversation, they heard the anchorwoman say, "In our 'People Search' segment tonight, we have an individual looking for her master." On the screen appeared a picture of an odd looking dog, one half of her body white, the other half jet-black.
"Checkers Hibiki, a four-year old female is here in our studio," the anchorwoman continued.
Checkers raised her paw in greeting and barked.
"That is Checkers!" Ryoga exclaimed.
"She'd like her master to come home and see her new puppies," the woman's voice said over the hubbub in the apartment. On the screen, Checkers was holding a small puppy, with similar markings.
"What a cute puppy!" Ukyo exclaimed, "I wish I could hold one!"
Ryoga turned to her and said, "So she had puppies. I guess I have been away for a long time. We need to go see her."
Ukyo smiled and said, "We can go there tomorrow. Do you know how to get home?"
"Yes, I have this map," Ryoga said. He handed her a map, showing a picture of Mount Fuji, and drawn in below, a picture of a house, with the legend 'Around here.'
"Uh, Ryoga-honey, this doesn't really help," Ukyo said carefully.
"You mean I can't get home?" Ryoga asked, panicked.
Mrs. Hibiki replied, "I'm not sure how to get there from here, either, Ukyo."
Ukyo said, "Leave it to me, I know how we can get you to your house. All I need is your address."
"Oh, I have that," Mrs. Hibiki said, as she began to rummage in her purse. Finally, with an air of satisfaction, she pulled a piece of paper out of the depths and handed it to Ukyo.
Ukyo glanced down and smiled, saying, "This should do. Just leave everything to me."
Ukyo heard the door to her restaurant open and a man walked in. He asked, "Did someone call for a cab at this address?"
"Yes, I did," Ukyo replied, "We'll be right there." She finished wiping down her grill, and walked upstairs to get her husband and her mother-in-law. To her complete surprise, and great pleasure, she found that she liked her new mother-in-law, and it was obvious that Mrs. Hibiki approved of her also. In fact, the older woman was definitely looking forward to being a grandmother, and had already managed to help convert what used to be the storage space on the second floor into several comfortable rooms, one of which was intended to be a nursery, and the other a guest room for her.
"Hey," Ukyo said, "the driver is here. Are you two ready?"
Ryoga looked up from the futon where he was sitting, and nodded. He picked up his mothers backpack, and then helped his mother to her feet. The two of them carefully followed Ukyo downstairs, and out the door, where they stood waiting for Ukyo to lock up the restaurant. Impatiently, the taxi driver honked his horn, but Ukyo just looked at him in annoyance, and helped the directionally challenged pair into the cab.
She entered after Ryoga, and handed the driver an address. "I don't know what your problem is? The meter is running, after all."
"Sorry, miss," the driver said sheepishly, as he smoothly pulled away from the curb and headed toward their destination.
Fifteen minutes later, the Hibikis began to get excited as they recognized the surroundings. The cab pulled smoothly up to a modest, two story home, surrounded by a high wall, that was pierced by an ornate wooden gate. On the gate, they could read the name, 'Hibiki.' The three of them exited the cab, with Ryoga handing the cab driver the fare, with a small tip included.
The three stood there for a second, as the cab drove off, and then with a deep breath, Ryoga pushed open the gate and walked up the pathway toward the house. He had gotten about half-way up the graveled path, when a strange-looking dog, one side white and the other side black, came running from around the corner. Ryoga dropped to his knees as the dog jumped up to lick his face. "Checkers!" Ryoga exclaimed, "I've missed you, girl."
Reluctantly, Ukyo walked over to the pair, loathe to break up the happy tableau, with Mrs. Hibiki following close behind.
"Checkers, this is my wife Ukyo," Ryoga said, "I'll want you to take good care of her."
"Hello, Checkers," Ukyo said in greeting, as the dog sniffed her hand, and then broke into a tail-waving frenzy as she licked the hand in welcome.
"She's how we always used to be able to get places. We would hold onto her leash, and she would take us to the store, or wherever, and then bring us home. And when one of us would get lost, she would come find us," Mrs. Hibiki said softly, "But when Ryoga disappeared this last time, his father and I went hunting for him. We were so worried when he didn't show up from the match he was supposed to have with Ranma that we panicked and forgot to take her with us."
The dog led them up to the front door, where Mrs. Hibiki pulled out an ornate key and unlocked the door. "Welcome to our home, dear," Mrs. Hibiki said as she walked in, followed closely by Ryoga, Ukyo and Checkers. There was a slight musty smell, not really unpleasant, but more one that indicated a long vacancy. On a small table in the main entry, there was a bright, white, envelope.
Ryoga picked up the envelope and saw that it was addressed to him and his mother. Opening it, he pulled out a letter, written by hand, in a large scrawl.
"It's from Dad," Ryoga said as he quickly scanned the letter, "It's dated about a month ago. He says he'll try to get back next week to see if anyone is here."
"Why don't you show Ukyo around and open some of the windows to help air out the place," his mother suggested.
Ryoga shrugged his shoulders in acquiescence, and said, "Okay. Follow me, Ucchan." He headed down the hall, and stopped at the first room. "This is the family room," he said, as he opened the door, showing what appeared to be a large, comfortable, bedroom. "Uh, I mean, this is my parents' room," he said, embarrassed. He walked to the next door, and said, "This must be the family room."
"Uh, Ryoga, dear, I think that's the kitchen," Ukyo said, hiding a smile. She walked over to him and said, "Let's just wander around." She led him down the hall, discovering, finally, the family room, a door that led into the backyard, another door that opened up into the furoba, and then finally, discovered the staircase. She walked up the stairs to find several rooms opening off the second floor hall.
"My bedroom is up here," Ryoga said, "It should be the first room on the right." To his pleasure, when he walked into the room, he discovered that he was indeed correct, as the clothing in the closet, and the belongings scattered across the desk proved.
Ukyo smiled as she walked into the pleasantly appointed room. A large, western style bed was shoved against one wall, with a desk next to it. Above the desk, a large window showed the heavily overgrown backyard. Toward one end of the yard, she could make out a small koi pond, whose placid waters reflected back the evening sky. Occasionally, she could see a small, circular ripple appear in the smooth surface, indicating that the pond was still occupied by the ornate fish.
"This is a nice room, Ryoga. I hope it brings back lots of happy memories," Ukyo said, "In fact, the whole house looks nice."
"Thanks, Ucchan. I didn't get to spend as much time as I liked in it once I turned twelve. That's when my curse showed up. Apparently it's tied to when I hit puberty," Ryoga replied, "But up until then, I was happy here."
"You've never told me, what does your father do, Ryoga-honey?" Ukyo asked, as she sat down on the bed.
"Oh, it's funny. He writes travel guides for one of the magazines, describing what he sees in all of his wandering around," Ryoga replied, "That and then there is a large family trust that does investing for him. That sees to the upkeep of the house, and paying the bills, that kind of thing. Though it looks like they forgot to get someone to take care of the backyard, looking at the size of some of those bushes."
"We're home," Akane sang as she slipped off her outdoor shoes, and walked into the family room. Ranma and Nabiki followed her, and ran into her as she stopped suddenly. Through the open door to the outside, they watched as Soun sat by the koi pond talking to Nodoka and Genko. Genko was watching the koi swim, lazily tossing small pieces of bread into the water.
Nodoka turned and smiled at the three young adults. "Hello, dears. How was school today?" she asked.
Genko turned and saw her brother. The next thing Ranma knew, he was being tackled around the knees by a laughing little girl. "Ranma," she shrieked as she hugged her brother.
"So how was your day, little one?" Ranma asked, his hand tightly held by his wife. He hoped he was doing a good job hiding his uneasiness about seeing his transformed father with Soun, and he wondered exactly how well Soun was really handling what had happened.
"I had fun. Uncle Soun played shogi with me, and then he took me out to the dojo and showed me a kata," Genko lisped, "Mommy says that next week I can start going to school."
Ranma looked over at his mother and she nodded. "She is six, after all, so she should be in school. It took a little work, but I was able to convince the principal at the elementary school by my home that he could make room for her," Nodoka said. She turned to Nabiki and added, "Thank you for helping with all of the paperwork, dear. That really helped."
Nabiki blushed at the praise, and replied, "It was nothing, Auntie. I was happy to help. I just had to talk to a couple of people I knew down at the city hall, and they took care of most of it."
"Well, still, you knew who to contact," Nodoka said.
Akane nudged Ranma and said, "Don't forget, we have practice. We need to go change into our gi's."
"Sure," Ranma said as he gently unwound the little girl. "I have to go get ready," Ranma said.
"Can I watch?" Genko asked.
Ranma traded looks with Akane, who shrugged her shoulders. "I don't see why not. You'll need to stay by the door though so you'll be out of the way," Ranma said. He turned to Akane and said, "Go on up, I need to stop by the kitchen first and then I'll join you." He left for the kitchen, while Akane headed out the door towards the stairs.
A few minutes later, Akane came down, dressed in her gi. Her hair was slightly mussed, and her lips were a little puffy. Ranma was right behind her, also dressed in a gi, and also female.
"That took a bit longer than I expected," Nodoka said, with a twinkle in her eye, "What took you two so long to change?"
Akane blushed, joined quickly by Ranma. "N-nothing," Ranma stammered.
Nabiki snickered and then drawled, "Nothing, huh. Well, I've got some homework to do, so I guess I better get to it."
Akane grinned and asked, "That homework wouldn't have anything to do with a certain Chinese martial artist, now would it?"
Now it was Nabiki's turn to blush as she escaped to the sanctuary of her bedroom.
Ranma and Akane headed toward the dojo, closely followed by the little girl, who's eyes had grown huge when she saw her brother, now turned into her sister.
The two older girls entered the dojo, and bowed with respect to the shrine of Akane's mother. The two girls separated, and Ranma started off on a simple kata. Akane watched for a moment, and then joined in once she recognized the steps.
Genko watched closely, her eager eyes drinking in every motion that Ranma was making. Slowly she began to attempt to copy what she was seeing, clumsily at first, but then as her confidence grew and she lost herself in the movement, moving fluidly from position to position.
Nodoka and Soun watched from the kitchen, their expressions showing their bemusement. "Looks like she remembers some of what she learned as a child," Nodoka said softly.
"Yes, it certainly does. I wonder how much of the art is ingrained in her as simply automatic," Soun said, "If she is just allowing her body to perform the kata without consciously thinking about it, that might explain how she is able to do it in spite of the memory blockage."
Nodoka looked thoughtful for a moment, and then replied, "I think that might be it. It looks like you may have gained a new student."
Taro strode arrogantly through the grounds of the local college, heading for the Admissions Office, where Nabiki had arranged for his enrollment. He was still amazed at how easily she had managed to coerce the college to overlook his somewhat spotty educational record. After all, it was a little difficult to go to school in China, when he changed into a flying minotaur. 'It's a good thing I'm as smart as I am,' he thought, his mouth curled up in a slight sneer, 'and that Mother allowed me to read as much as she did.' As always, when he thought of his mother, he felt the pang in his heart because of her death. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a scuffle coming from one of the narrow passageways between two of the ancient buildings forming this quadrangle. His curiosity aroused, Taro turned down the passage to see, to his shock, Kasumi Tendo facing off against several young men. Roaring in anger, Taro charged them from behind, scattering the men like tenpins.
"You all right Kasumi?" Taro asked as he turned to face the heavily bruised men, dropping his backpack on the ground in front of him.
"Oh my, where did you come from Taro? I didn't even know that you two were back from China," Kasumi replied, "And yes, I'm fine. I was lost in my own thoughts and didn't pay attention to where I was walking, I guess, and then these nice young men came to assist me."
"Assist you? That didn't look like assistance to me," Taro growled.
"Well, they said something about showing me a good time," Kasumi replied.
"Yeah, why don't you run along and leave us," one of the men snarled as he climbed to his feet, "We were just getting acquainted with the lady."
"The lady and her husband are friends of mine," Taro snarled, "And I don't think either of them would enjoy you getting acquainted. Now why don't you run off before I have to take you apart?"
"Hah, there's only one of you, and three of us," the man said with a sneer. He motioned for the other two to charge.
Taro pulled a thermos from his pack and poured water over himself, transforming into his minotaur form. He then sprang into action, knocking all three of them out cold.
Kasumi pulled another thermos out of the backpack, and at the minotaur's nod, politely turned away and poured the contents of the thermos out onto his back. She heard the rustling of clothing as Taro quickly got dressed.
"Okay, it's safe now. Why don't you escort me to the Admin building so I can finish getting registered, and then I'll walk you home," Taro said.
"What do you want to do with these?" Kasumi asked.
"Just leave them there," Taro replied, "Someone will eventually find them, or they'll wake up on their own."
Tofu looked up as the door to his clinic burst open, and three men staggered inside, two of them supporting the third. They were bruised severely as if they had been thrown hard against an unyielding surface.
Tofu said, "What happened to you three?"
"Uh, we were, uh, mugged," one of them, the brightest looking of the three, said.
"Well, take your friend into room one and I'll be right there," Tofu promised.
The two men dragged their friend into the indicated room, and laid him down on the examination table. Tofu followed them in, and quickly checked out the semi-conscious figure on the table.
"Hm, it looks like a pretty severe concussion, a couple of broken ribs, and these massive bruises," Tofu said, cataloguing all of the injuries, "We'll need to keep him awake. He shouldn't go to sleep with a concussion." He wrapped the man's chest, to support the ribs, and rubbed a special ointment onto all of the bruises. "There, that should take care of him," Tofu said with an air of accomplishment, "Which of you wants to get checked out next?"
"I'll go next," the leader said.
"Okay, let's go into the next room," Tofu said, as he led the man out of the room. Just as they were about to go in, the door to the clinic opened and Taro and Kasumi walked in.
"YOU!" Taro roared.
Author's Notes: Thank you for all of the reviews for this story. I'm glad to see people are still enjoying it. As always, reviews, and constructive criticism is welcome and encouraged. Specific comments are below:
Drkjester: That's one of the things I'm still trying to work out, how to easily show elapsed time. Just saying the next day, or having a date or something tends to break of the flow of the narrative, at least IMNSHO, but I haven't given up on figuring out a good method.
Starjacker: All will come clear in time about the three figures from the previous chapter. As a clue, they aren't OC. We'll see what happens with Genko as she 'grows up'
Miroku's Chika: If you've read further, I guess you've figured out the pairings, well at least the ones that I have revealed so far. And yes, I'm a firm believer in Ranma and Akane as a couple, partly because that's what the author intended.
Shinigami: That's high school for you. It can be brutal, especially when there's a teenage pregnancy involved.
AriesNoShion: The dialogue, especially Ranma's and Shampoo's was supposed to be showing how uncultured they were. Over time, of course, they would have learned to speak Japanese better and that's why it improved. Unfortunately, I had a tendency, especially early on, to go overboard. As far as making him a descendent of Kenshin Himura, I figured why not, after all the red hair has to come from somewhere, right? VBG By the way, I think you may have been the first person to pick up the reference to the Kamiya dojo, or at least the first to comment on it. Well done. I like to drop little snippets like that in my story just to keep it a bit different than others. And yes, to answer the question, the woman running the dojo would have been a relative, why do you think Genma didn't like her much?
Sean Malloy-1: Thanks. Probably won't show much of a scene if I do about Ukyo going into labor. Just the after effects, I suspect.
Dragon Man 180: I'll try to show more about the other couples. The problem is they haven't told me what they are doing yet. The whole big happy family just kind of came together.
JohnnyG: When and if inspiration for this story finally ends, I definitely will write some sort of final chapter for it. I don't like it when a story I'm reading just quits either, so I will do my best not to fall into that trap. As to the new characters, it will be more of Genma's chickens coming home to roost, so things should get lively.
Law-kun: That would be telling, now wouldn't it? As to the Hibiki family showing up, I agree, it's a shame that they don't get used that much. I just had to come up with a good way to use them.
Nonengel: It has been a while. This story isn't as easy to write as my other one, so it tends to lag a bit. And yes, I haven't seen many stories with her in them.
Neon-ronin: The hooded figure will show up soon, but they do have a lot of Japan to cover before they can. And yes, it was one last bit of stupidity on Genma's part.
Wonderbee31: Nabiki is still working on her investigations. And I think she's going to be doing something about Ukyo's father too. As to the direction curse, since it never said (that I can recall anyway) when it started, I opted to make it puberty dependent.
Innortal: Thank you. I guess I've taken care of the direction curse, at least for a few years.