Chasing the Rainbow
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form.
Author's Notes: Well, here we are at last. This chapter took a long time to come out, and I apologize for that; real life called me away from this project for several weeks and refused to let me return. The next one should be out much sooner.
Chapter 15: A New Status Quo
"Now, what on earth am I going to do with this?" Ranma pondered, walking placidly down the streets of Nerima in the general direction of the Tendo Dojo. The "this" in question was the improvised, or at least homemade, weapon now clutched in his hand and being used as a walking stick. A wooden pole that had obviously been driftwood at one point, fishing net had been used to tie the upper half of a gigantic crab claw to the wood, and some rusty scrap metal bracing. The whole thing was an obvious glaive, if rather unconventional.
"Teach me to show off." Ranma lamented. "Ah well, I had to get one over that bitch somehow." He declared, pushing through the gates into the Tendo complex and heading inside. Stripping off his worn shoes before entering, as was polite, he knocked some of the excess dirt out of them. "I'm home." He called out.
"Get in here boy!"
Ranma groaned at seeing Genma standing there at the entrance to the living room as he entered the house. A glance inside revealed a serious looking Soun and a rather annoyed looking Akane sitting there at the table. Shrugging he sat down, placing his souvenir off to the side, and got ready for the interrogation.
He wasn't disappointed as Akane decided to let her temper do the talking, "Where the hell have you been?"
"Yokohama." Ranma immediately shot back.
Genma blinked in confusion, "What were you doing in Yokohama? In fact, why did you go to Yokohama in the first place?"
Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "I wanted to get some seafood." He drawled.
Soun was about to say something, and then took a closer look at the glaive and shook his head. Akane was not deterred, however. "And let me guess, you found some new girl to chase while you there?"
"Do you really think I'm that sort of person, Akane Tendo?" Ranma asked, fingers tightening on the shaft. "I mean, what have I ever done to make you think that way?"
Soun cut in then before the girl could open her mouth, "Still, you should have at least called." The other glanced at him and he coughed, "Kasumi got worried when you didn't show up for dinner."
"No I didn't, father. Ranma told me that he was leaving before he went, remember? I was the one who told you not to expect him back for dinner that night." Kasumi gently corrected him, calling out from the kitchen. How she'd heard them talking was a mystery to the residents of the Tendo household, but they weren't that easily diverted from the subject.
Ranma chuckled at Soun's attempt to guilt trip him. Genma was about to rally the interrogation when there was a knock on the door and a call of, "Hello!"
Genma and Soun groaned and Akane growled slightly. "Not only that, these floozies keep showing up asking if you're back."
"They are not floozies." Ranma insisted sternly. "I'm in here, girls."
Quick as a flash there was a blur, well three blurs, and Ranma found himself with Ukyo on one side, Shampoo on the other and Kodachi hugging him from behind as Ukyo squealed, "Ranchan! You're back!" Shampoo's was simply, "Airen!" and hugging him tight enough that she might have been trying to fuse with him while Kodachi simply preferred a more sedate, "Welcome back."
"Girls? Kinda... choking here..." Ranma gasped, struggling to retain his footing against the considerable force being exerted against his body.
With a collective 'ack!' the trio quickly released him. Well, Ukyo and Kodachi released him; Shampoo seemed content to only slightly loosen her grip.
Akane's glower quickly became a less-than-murderous glare at that.
Ranma didn't really notice, as the sudden shift in force being exerted had the side effect of sending him and Shampoo both toppling to the floor. Ranma landed on top of Shampoo, but she didn't particularly seem to mind. Others, however, were not so impressed.
"Ranma! What do you think you're doing?" Soun Tendo thundered in fury, erupting into his trademark Demon Head. A pity he had forgotten that neither Ukyo nor Kodachi was familiar with this and so he had no idea how they would react. Kodachi shrieked in fright and delivered a powerful slap squarely to Soun's right cheek, sending him staggering over in front of Ukyo, who reflexively punched him in the face and sent him flying out into the garden.
"Dad!" Akane cried in dismay, forgetting all about her anger at Ranma and running out to tend to her injured father.
Ukyo had the good grace to try and look embarrassed, but failed miserably. Ranma himself tried to not look smug at seeing the one technique that could actually be used to bully him fail, while Genma simply glared daggers at the intruders.
"Why are you here?" He demanded bluntly.
"I came here to ask my darling Ranma if he would be so good as to escort me on a little private excursion today." Kodachi declared with all of the (considerable) regality that she could muster.
"What!" Ukyo barked. "I came here to ask Ranma-honey to come on a date with me!"
"Shampoo have same idea!" The Chinese warrior declared, having just managed to haul Ranma and herself upright at last, one arm firmly wrapped around Ranma's neck like a hangman's noose and the action of spinning around to face the other girls ensuring that Ranma's face was now firmly entrenched in her chest; an action which her rivals silently gave her credit for grudgingly as the Chinese girl had somehow expertly positioned him just so he could breath and nothing else.
Ranma's thoughts on the matter?
'Why can't I get some peace and quiet once in a while?'
"WHAT!" Akane whipped around, unintentionally whipping her father around and letting him spin into the Koi pond in a rather artistic pirouette as she finally exploded. "I knew it! I knew you were going out with these hussies!" She charged, quite intent on displaying her displeasure with a bit of cathartic violence.
"Run for it!"
Now, nobody would ever figure out just who had said that, but neither Ranma nor any of his would-be brides was particularly indisposed to investigate. As one the quartet leapt over Akane, dashed to the wall and bounded over it, hitting the street running and gone well before Akane or Genma could react.
"Get back here you bastard!" Akane snarled before stomping back inside the house and sitting down the lounge room with a huff. Genma simply groaned as he rubbed his temples as if staving off a headache.
"We are going to have a serious talk when you get back boy."
Soun crawled out of the koi pond, staggered a few times and shook his head to get rid of the stars in his vision from bumping it during his little dip, and looked around. Seeing that the commotion was over, he wandered back into the house and tried to calm down Akane, who was flicking angrily through channels.
"I don't know whose idea that was... but thanks." Ranma said. The quartet were now standing in one of the empty lots favored as camping and fighting grounds for traveling martial artists.
"Shampoo thought was your idea, airen? No matter, but we have good news for you!"
"You settled your fight without killing each other? That is good news." Ranma said, and the sincerity in his tone was, if anything, more humiliating than the words were.
Kodachi coughed pointedly. "Yes, though we will not insult anyone's intelligence by proclaiming that we are happy with the idea of doing so, we have agreed that it is by far the best solution for us to call a true on this matter and allow you to continue dating us until you have decided who is the only true choice to make."
'Which is, of course, me.' Was the thought that rang through each girl's head in unison.
Ranma gave them a rather skeptical, speculating look, but said nothing of it. So long as they weren't fighting, or blaming him, he was happy. Besides, it kind of worked out for him either way. Taking note of Ukyo's presence, a thought occurred to him and he presented the crab-claw glaive to her. "Here - your style uses naginata forms, doesn't it?"
"You noticed...?" Ukyo asked in a soft, happy tone, happily accepting the offering.
"Like that's anything to get starry-eyed over." Kodachi declared in a quiet, scornful voice.
"...And why do you look so upset?" She asked curiously, noticing Shampoo's distracted state and hurt expression.
"Where did you get this thing anyway?" Ukyo interrupted.
"I don't want to talk about it. Let's just say I don't want to even look at seafood for at least a month." Ranma grumbled.
"As fascinating as this is, my darling, we should use this opportunity to settle a matter of some importance while we are not being interrupted." Kodachi spoke up.
"What she talking about?" Shampoo asked Ukyo.
"You're asking me? She's even crazier than you are." The crossdressing chef retorted.
"I am not crazy!" Kodachi shouted angrily, and then quickly tried to compose herself. "As I was saying, darling, we should use this as an opportunity to determine who will be graced with your company on an excursion and at what intervals while there are no individuals of an inclination to intervene to our detriment."
"...What did she just say?" Ukyo finally asked.
"She say we should figure out who get to date Ranma when while there nobody around to mess things up." Shampoo translated, to the shock of all three of her compatriots.
"So what am I; chopped liver?" Ryoga complained, finding it very funny indeed that the quartet promptly leapt out of their skins.
"When did you get here?" Ranma demanded.
"That's my line." Ryoga complained. " Just what is going on here, Ranma?"
"...Tell me, do you really need to know anything more than I'll be here for that challenge fight tomorrow and I won't be messing with your plans to win Akane any more?" Ranma asked, curiously.
"Like you ever were!" Ryoga scoffed.
Ranma looked indignant for a moment, then visibly restrained himself. "Whatever. Like I said, you just make sure you don't wander off to take a leak and wind up in Enoshima, and I'll be here to beat you into the ground tomorrow."
"You got it." As Ryoga returned his attention to cooking his lunch, Ranma turned to the girls.
"Right, and now I need to get some sleep. I'll see you girls later."
The trio pouted slightly at this.
"Maybe you can over to one of our places? I'm sure the others won't mind, Ranchan."
Shampoo and Kodachi glared at Ukyo for suggesting it first, irritated not to have been the ones to suggest it, but they nodded agreement with the general idea anyway.
Ranma shook his head, "No can do, sooner or later I'm gonna have to go back there and deal with those two idiots and Akane. Might as well do it while I'm tired enough to tune them out." With a wave he started walking back to the dojo. "See ya tomorrow girls."
As the girls had suspected, there was a most unwelcoming reception awaiting Ranma when he leapt back over the wall into the Tendo complex. "And just what have you been doing, son?" Soun asked sarcastically.
"Nothing that's any of your business, Mr. Tendo." Ranma replied, placing an icy emphasis on the honorific used.
"Ranma, you had better march yourself right up those steps and apologize to your fiancée!" Genma growled.
"Which one? The one you say you engaged me to before I was even born – you know, you never did say how that happened? The one you got me in exchange for a fish, rice and two pickles? The one whose dowry you stole and left on the road, never even letting me know she was a girl in the first place, and then placed all the responsibility for her on me? The one who only doesn't have an official engagement because she didn't think to ask you for one while you were lounging her luxurious mansion and gorging yourself on five star cuisine? You gotta be a little more specific about these sorts of things, pop." Ranma snarked back.
At that, Genma flinched, then began to look watery-eyed. "Oh, how can my only son do this to me! Besmirch his father, throw my mistakes in my face, abandon the one and only girl he should be faithful to!"
"I'm just doing what you taught me, old man." Was the deadpan reply he got in return. Ranma waited for Soun, predictable as always, to start bickering with Genma, and then did a high speed slink up the stairs to his bedroom; as close as Soun and Genma generally seemed to be, it was a pretty brittle friendship. Ranma spared an idle thought to the prospect that maybe it was because they figured if a friendship like theirs worked, so would a romance along the same lines, then pushed it aside. Opening the door to his room, he pulled the futon out of the cupboard, flicked it out onto the floor, and gratefully fell on it with a soft sigh. He lay there, eyes closed and silent, for several moments, then spoke up.
"So, is there a reason you're in here?"
Akane pouted, clearly still miffed from earlier. "So, what's your excuse?" She demanded.
"What excuse?" Ranma replied, opening his eyes but not looking at her, instead adjusting his pillow.
"About you going out with those bimbos, that's what!" Was the immediate explanation that Akane gave.
"What would be the point? You wouldn't listen anyway." Was the only answer she got.
"What!" Akane snapped indignantly.
"I have been through this song and dance routine with you dozens of times since the old man forced us to stay here. You never change – remember when the old freak dug out that bomb attack of his? After you finally heard why the old men and me were after that scroll in the middle of the hot spring, after you had already beaten me up? You insisted I could have just said something earlier – I asked you then, I'm asking you now: since when have you ever heard me out before beating me up?" Ranma asked, bitterness starting to leak out like wine turning to vinegar. He rolled to face away from her as he said this.
"That was your own fault!" Akane protested.
"Now, see, that's just what I'm talking about! You never accept that you've got something to do with things being wrong, it's always my fault!" Ranma snapped, immediately rolling back to face her. "You don't trust me in the slightest – hell, I'm surprised you didn't jump to the assumption I was going to try and rape you that time we were home alone together!"
"What kind of person do you take me for?" Akane asked, anger and hurt warring in her tone. "Nobody's that unreasonable!"
"Yeah, I'll admit, you got your limits… but, honestly, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of you always leaping to the conclusion that just because Shampoo and Kodachi and Ukyo can't keep their hands to themselves, I'm some kind of hornball loser! I mean, I could take it if you treated all the guys at school the same way, but you don't – they used to try and mob you at school every morning in hopes of beating you up and dragging you on a date, you never hold that against them. You know who you treat me like? Kuno, that's who. No, wait, you treat me worse than you treat Kuno – you give him the benefit of doubt, at least! Unless he's actually being an idiot or got his hands on your ass, you treat him just as somebody you hang out with. Me? You jump down my throat at the slightest thing!"
Through this spiel, Akane had first gone pale, then turned red. What made this even worse than it normally would have been was the fact that, try as she might, Akane just couldn't seem to think of a response… almost as if a tiny little voice was whispering to her that he had a point. And that just made her madder. "Oh, so you're Mr. Perfect, are you?" She snarled. "I got news for you, Ranma, you aren't any sort of angel yourself!"
"You don't see me accusing you of wanting to jump into any good looking guy's bed, do ya?" Ranma retorted, finally moving out of his lying prone position to a seated position.
"Who was it who called me an alley cat when Ukyo tricked me into going on a date with Ryoga, huh?" Akane jeered.
"Hey, as far as I knew, you knew perfectly well what was going on, and you had told me to stay out of it and let you do what you wanted! You were doing the exact same sort of thing you're always accusing me of doing, and getting pissed that I would try and make you do the same things you try and force me to do!" Ranma snarled, finally springing up as if spring-propelled.
"Just what are you accusing me of, Ranma?" Akane shouted at him, furious in a way that she had rarely been before.
"It's called a double-standard!"
"How can you even say something like that?" She growled, more of a harsh mutter to herself than a question to Ranma, trembling with fury and one clenched fist rising to a level with her chest.
"What, truth too painful to swallow?"
"Ranma… you JERK!" She howled, finally bringing her hand arcing around like the wrath of several kami combined, impacting with devastating force on Ranma's right cheek and sending him flying straight through the wall. As Ranma's defiant last insult floated back to her, all but drowned by the splash he made by landing in the pond, Akane snorted in a very un-ladylike fashion and stormed out of the room via the door. "That's it! If dad thinks I'm going to get married to that… that jerk! He's got another thing coming!" She bellowed.
Ranma rose from the foaming waters of the koi pond like Aphrodite… if Aphrodite had been a short, busty, red-haired Japanese girl in a Chinese outfit several sizes too large and swearing like a wharfie. She slumped, still standing in the water, and thumped the side of her head to dislodge water from her ears. "Screw this, I'm too tired to change back." She said, and then hopped up onto the roof, found a particularly sunny patch to curl up in, and did her best to fall asleep.
She spent the rest of the day and all of the night asleep, conveniently missing the stormy weather under the roof as Akane raged, Gelf tried to calm her down, and the fathers alternately bickered over whose fault this was and schemed on how to try and fix this. No, Ranma slept peacefully, and when she woke the next morning, she was ready to take things on her terms. Firstly and most importantly, change that to his terms.
"Thanks, Kasumi." He told the eldest Tendo girl, setting the table for breakfast. "So, how long do you think they'll be in bed?"
"Father and Mr. Saotome were up a very long time… they may not wake up until noon." She answered, looking softly reproving of the idea.
"Ah. Well, I think it's time the old man and I had a heart to heart… besides, like the old saying goes, what's good for the jerk is good for the bastard!" Ranma said, cracking his knuckles with a rather unsavory glee.
"Ranma, I do think you mangled that metaphor rather badly." Kasumi noted.
"Sorry."
About half an hour later, Ranma was making himself scarce in order to avoid being seen by Akane or Nabiki, who had woken up and joined Kasumi for breakfast. He had been allowed to eat first before Akane or Nabiki came down, Kasumi knowing that her youngest sister would be in no mood to see Ranma this early in the day and that her younger sister would most likely take advantage of that fact in some manner. Once the girls had headed off to Furinkan, Ranma having decided that it wouldn't really matter if he missed another day at school. Akane had still been steaming mad when she'd been having breakfast, though strangely calmer than Ranma would have expected.
Anyway, once the girls were off to school, Ranma had crept into the guest room he and Genma shared, finding the old man sleeping soundly. A twisted grin crept onto his features as he hefted a bucket full of boiling hot water. This was going to be sweet…
"That's hot!" Genma hollered in pain, bolting upright.
"Morning, old man! It's time for our sparring session!" Ranma chirped, a sickening level of cheer in his tone.
"Eh? What? Go back to bed, it's too early…" Genma grumbled, lying back down on the sodden futon and closing his eyes. He was a survivor of Happosai's twisted take on training, after all; it would take more than his bedding being soaked in hot water for him to be unable to sleep.
"Up 'n' at'em, you old fart! You been slacking off far too long, an' you 'n' I need to talk, anyway!" Ranma said, his tone never once changing as he promptly kicked Genma straight out through the hole Akane had torn into the wall with Ranma's body the previous day. Ranma did make sure to put enough spin on it that Genma took a painful nosedive into the dirt rather than the relatively soft landing of the koi pond, though. Ranma promptly jumped out after him and landed neatly several meters away from his father.
"Alright, boy, you got my attention. I don't know what's going on in that thick head of yours, but you are going to stop all of this nonsense right now!"
"Make me, old man." Was the only reply Ranma gave him.
Genma growled, sounding more like a bear than his cursed form, and charged forward, hoping to take his son by surprise and prove that he could still move faster than Ranma might expect. To his dismay, however, the younger Saotome wove effortlessly around Genma's strikes and then made three rapid punches in return. To Genma's credit, he blocked the first two, but the third pierced his defenses and hit a nerve plexus – not hard enough to actually incapacitate Genma, but hard enough for him to know he could have been hurt by it.
"You know, old man, I've really been wondering this for some time now… just what is the point of us being here?" Ranma asked conversationally.
"Foolish boy! For you to marry Akane!" Genma boomed, trying to sweep his son's legs out from under him.
Ranma simply leapt over Genma's head and returned the gesture. "So you keep telling me… but what's the point? That's what I want to know."
"What do you mean, the point?" Genma blustered, catching himself on his hands and flipping himself over with more agility than one would have expected from somebody so blocky.
"Just what makes the engagement to her so special you insist I focus on her and ignore all the others, that's what it means." Ranma replied, easily blocking or dodging Genma's strikes. "I mean… what's she got that makes it so important I marry her, specifically? Can't be anything like merging schools…"
"What do you mean it can't be anything like that?" Genma barked, sounding clearly offended as he leapt up and made a diving kick that Ranma dodged.
"Well, for one thing, there's barely any schools to merge – me and Akane are the first generation of the Saotome and Tendo Schools of Anything Goes." Ranma said.
"What!"
"Hey, think about it; you and Mr. Tendo may have come up with different principles on how to build a school, but you're ultimately the old pervert's students, you're really part of his school. Me and Akane, though, we're the first martial artists to be trained and brought up with the philosophies of the schools you two dreamed of. So what's the point in merging us? The Saotome and Tendo Schools of Anything Goes have barely begun to distinguish themselves from Founding School Anything Goes, why squash them out so damn quick?"
This time, Ranma went on the physical offensive, pushing Genma back with blows that he didn't even bother trying to get past Genma's blocks, simply bulldozing his father with sheer force. He finished this routine with a powerful kick squarely to Genma's chest, sending him flying back and skidding across the yard on his back. Dusting his hands off, he added in a conversational tone, "Not that I'm so sure there even is a Tendo School."
That, apparently, was more than Genma could take hearing; with a recovery speed that Ranma couldn't have predicted, the elder Saotome threw himself off of the ground and straight at his son.
"Foolish boy! Of course there's a Tendo School! This is what comes of letting outsiders poison your mind!"
The element of surprise allowed Genma to deliver a resounding blow to Ranma's face that sent him staggering back. Genma managed to get two more good, solid shots in before Ranma recovered and blocked several more, then lashed out himself, knocking Genma back.
"Geeze, that got you worked up. What? Does the truth hurt? We've been here… what, almost a year now? In all that time, not once have I seen any special techniques, anything that could really be called unique to the Tendo Dojo."
"And just what does that have to do with anything? There's more to a school than fancy tricks!" Genma blustered, circling his son warily and looking for the spot to attack.
"Well, to start with, it means I have no idea why it's so important that I take the dojo over. Just what does it have going for it? I mean, yes, Akane's no slouch in combat, if a bit too mollycoddled, but it's not like she's a big deal or anything." Ranma replied calmly, even as he kept himself facing Genma.
"How can you say that with a straight face?" Genma barked.
"What?" Ranma asked incredulously. "Old man, I am a big deal – that's because you stripped me of a normal childhood to make me a big deal, you and I sweated blood to make me something beyond average. Akane's good, but ultimately her level of skill is dime a dozen. Any dojo you name probably has at least one student that's as good as she is, and probably more depending on how old it is. There's nothing special to what she does, it's just her own particular slant on kempo and karate, it's sheer devotion that makes her as good as she is. But she's not unique – there's dozens like her all over Tokyo. The Kuno siblings are both in her level, and they practice kendo and martial arts rhythmic gymnastics, for crying out loud! The Golden Pair, Crepe King Joe, Sotatsu Jikei'ien, Sentaro Daimonji, hell, Temari Kaminarimon is ten years old and able to fight Akane on her own terms! Any of these names ringing any bells?"
"So what's your point? What does all of those other people being on Akane's level have to do with you not marrying Akane?" Genma demanded.
"My point? Old man, you want me to take over the Saotome School, don't you? You want me to teach new students and make our style strong, right?" Ranma questioned.
"Well, duh!" Genma exaggerated.
"So, you want me to marry Akane because that'll supposedly help me do that… but how, exactly? What does the Tendo Dojo have going for it?" Ranma pointed out.
Genma flinched slightly, but then his expression hardened. His body slid into another stance, like a gate being readied to be slammed shut; tense and waiting for the smallest signal or clue to his opponent's intentions. "Who's been filling your head with this nonsense, boy? Where on earth would you come up with something so ridiculous as wondering what the good is of the Tendo Dojo? You had better get your head out of the clouds…"
"Or… what?" Ranma jeered. "And the way I see it, this is me being the only one of us who is thinking clearly. The Tendo School has nothing special for it; no special philosophies, no special techniques, nothing to make it stand out from any of the other dojos in Tokyo. I can't see why you insist Akane is any more special than any of the other girls – Ukyo, Shampoo, Kodachi, they could all fill this apparent goal of yours just as well as Akane, if not better."
At that, Genma let out a roar and charged Ranma, who fell back and lured his father into a position where he could grab the elder Saotome by the front of his customary gi and use his momentum to send him flying into the property wall.
"You know it's true! If it's money you're thinking the dojo will bring in, well, Ucchan's cooking will help supplement that, and Kodachi is one of the richest people we know. Techniques to attract students? Shampoo's got dozens, even hundreds of moves that nobody in Japan has ever heard of – or have you forgotten the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken and Hiryu Shoten Ha? All the Tendos have going for them is that they already have the land to build a dojo on and the dojo is built – not that it's any big concern with the other girls. Kodachi's rich, Shampoo's not too bad off for money herself given she bought the Nekohanten, and Ukyo and I could make quite a sum if we took ourselves on the road."
"What about a reputation, huh? Ever think of that, boy?" Genma demanded, staggering slightly but refusing to be bowed.
"What about a reputation?" Ranma mocked. "Because the Tendo Dojo sure doesn't got one. Remember when I tried to get some students during that lean time that Kodachi bailed us out of? Nobody was interested until Akane turned me into a girl, stuck me in a bunny outfit, and goaded me into flirting with random guys on the street to make them want to join. Mr. Tendo mainly supports this place through that job he has on the council, and when you get off your lazy ass to go to Dr. Tofu's like you're supposed to – I'm kinda surprised he hasn't fired you yet. Most of the guys we even get coming here are people who know Mr. Tendo from the council, guys doing dojo yaburi on all the local dojos, or just after our hides to begin with. So, what's the big deal, huh? Tell me what the Tendos have that makes them the only engagement I should take seriously?" He demanded, a surge of anger in his tone.
Genma simply stared at Ranma, then let loose an incoherent battle cry and charged his son, who merely stared him down. Finally, at the last moment, Ranma struck out in a powerful kick that caught his father squarely in the face and knocked him out cold. He looked down at the unconscious founder of his school, and shook his head slowly.
"You really don't have a clue what you're doing with your life, do you?" He said softly. "Kasumi, I'm going out for a while!" He called.
"Be home in time for dinner, I'm making something special I want you to try." She called back.
Ranma nodded instinctively, then turned and leapt over the wall; he'd warmed up (and worked up some frustrations) with his old man, so now it was time to find Ryoga and give him that fight he was after…
Alright, and another chapter done. For those wondering why Genma's arguments were so weak; keep in mind that not only was he caught off balance by Ranma's metaphorical "assault", he was trying to fight without any ammunition, so to speak. Up until this point, Genma is used to Ranma merely fighting against the idea of marriage; he's never had to deal with Ranma selectively attacking Genma's reasoning for supporting the Tendo engagement exclusively. He's also never really thought about why he wants Ranma to marry Akane, it's simply been "that which will be" to him, and so he's never given the matter of "why" any thought. That caught him with his pants down when Ranma did ask "why". That was what we were trying to convey; that Genma's never really thought about the matters that Ranma's been stewing on basically since he came back from Honest Abe's and so he's in no position to make any serious rebuttal to them.
Anyway, in the next chapter, the long awaited arrival of Natsume and Kurumi. I bet you're all eager to see how they will shake up the status quo even further, yes?