It Wasn't A Dream
Part 4?
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Nodoka was very nervous nearing her destination. This was where her
husband and son were to truly end their training trip. She had thought
they would've stopped home first, but all she recieved since the trip to
China were letters from Genma saying that they had extended the trip a
little longer.
Nodoka would have remained home, but she had recently found out the
return address on those letters belonged to the home of Genma's old
friend, Soun. The same old friend whose family her husband had promised
her son would join with.
Nodoka looked at the address she had and continued down the street. When
she came to the end of the block she dropped the paper in her hand. Her
mouth was agape when she read the signs on the wall, [Saotome-Tendo]
[Dojo - Home.]
Nodoka thought and rushed past the front gate and
knocked at the door. When no one immediately answered she was tempted to
enter the house anyway.
The door opened and the Saotome matriarch saw a girl with long,
frazzeled hair and looked at her with eyes that seemed to not have seen
any sleep in weeks. "Can I help you?" the girl asked in a lethargic
tone.
"Yes. Is Saotome Ranma here? Or his father, Genma?" Nodoka asked.
The girl's brows flattened a little. "What do you want with...."
The girl was interrupted by the piercing scream of a baby. She sagged
and sighed. "Kasumi, can you handle the door?" Before any reply was made
the girl dashed up the stairs.
Nodoka wondered what was going on with that girl. It was short lived
when she realized what the girl was going to say indicated her family
was here.
A moment later a young woman entered the foyer while drying her hands on
an apron. "Hello, is there something I can do for you?"
"Hello. I was wondering if Saotome Ranma or Genma are here?" Nodoka was
leaning towards Kasumi while looking at her with wide, pleading eyes.
"They aren't here at the moment. Either of them should be back
momentarily," Kasumi answered her. "Would you like to come in and have
some tea while waiting for them?"
"They're here... They are really here," Nodoka said gleefully to
herself. She shook her head and tried to regain control. "Um, yes thank
you. It's been such a long time since I've seen them, I'm finding it
hard to believe that I'll be able to see them."
"When was the last time you saw them?" Kasumi asked, guiding her guest
towards the main room.
"Twelve years ago," Nodoka said sadly. "I've been waiting for them to
finish the training trip, but Genma kept on delaying their return."
Kasumi looked at her funny, and then her eyes flashed sightly and she
blushed. "Oh, my. We forgot to introduce ourselves. I'm Tendo Kasumi."
She poured two cups of tea and gave one to her guest.
"Oh, yes. Sorry, I got a bit excited." Nodoka flushed in embarassment as
well. "I'm Saotome Nodoka, Ranma's mother." She accepted the cup of tea,
and drank a little.
Kasumi stared at Nodoka, her mouth slightly agape. "His... mother? I was
under the impression you were dead."
"Why is that?" Nodoka asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, it's just that when we asked Ranma about, um, you, he didn't
remember much and that he thought you were dead." Kasumi eyed the end of
Nodoka's kimono just to make sure the woman she was talking to was alive
and not a ghost. Not that it probably mattered, but the lady had feet so
she wasn't a spirit.
Nodoka's brows flatten. "And Genma didn't correct that?"
Kasumi shook her head.
"I see." Nodoka mentally added that to the list of things to talk to her
husband about. She wasn't too anguious to talk about her husband
considering he left her alone for over a decade. "Kasumi-san, what can
you tell me about Ranma?"
Kasumi hestitated for a moment. "It's not really my place to tell you
much about him. Right now he's trying to get a work permit so he can
start teaching kenpo here."
"So he's a good martial artist?"
"He's a master."
Nodoka smiled with pride. She was about to ask another question when the
girl that answered the door entered the room holding a newborn infant.
"Finally got her to sleep, and then she soils her diaper. She couldn't
do that _before_ then, could she," the girl mumbled to herself. She sat
down at the table.
"Um, Akane, I'd like you to meet Nodoka, Ranma's mother," Kasumi said.
Akane blinked at the copper-haired woman. She suddenly realized the
obvious family relations considering the lady's appearance looked a lot
like Ranma's cursed form. Akane didn't know how to deal with meeting the
Saotome matriarch. "Ung... ahh, hello."
Kasumi shut her eyes for a moment. "Nodoka, I'd like you to meet Saotome
Akane... your daughter-in-law."
Nodoka's eyes nearly popped out of her head. She stared at Akane in
wonder, her eyes taking in every detail and stopping at the baby in her
arms. "That wouldn't be...."
Akane raised the baby a little. "Saotome Kimiko, your granddaughter."
Nodoka colapsed onto the floor.
"My, she took that better than I thought."
Akane looked at Kasumi strangely.
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Nodoka opened her eyes and saw Kasumi applying a wet cloth to her
forehead with practiced ease.
"Oh, you're awake," Kasumi said, backing away.
Nodoka didn't know what to make of what she remembered. It seemed like a
dream. She had found where her son was living and discovered he was
married and a father. That couldn't happen yet, Ranma was only sixteen
and her husband would've told her.
The Saotome matriarch sat up and saw Akane sitting off to the side of
the room. Her daughter-in-law was breast feeding her grandchild. She
almost passed out again. Nodoka approached the pair nervously.
"How old is she?" Nodoka asked.
Akane looked up at her. "Just over three weeks."
"Three weeks... My thirty-third birthday was two weeks ago... I was a
grandmother at thirty-two and my husband didn't tell me," Nodoka
whispered in disbelief.
"You had Ranma at sixteen?" Akane asked.
Nodoka nodded. "Yes."
"Did you marry Genma before or after conception?"
Nodoka didn't say anything for a moment. "After."
Kasumi stood up. "I think I should get back to preparing dinner."
Nodoka couldn't take her eyes of her granddaughter. "So, tell me, how
did you meet Ranma?"
"Oyaji... ah, I mean your husband, brought Ranma here as part of the
engagement he arranged with my father."
Nodoka nodded. "When was that?"
"Right after their trip through China."
Nodoka blinked. The trip to China was about ten or eleven months ago,
something didn't seem right. "Akane, how long did you know Ranma before
sleeping with him?"
Akane looked down at her daughter and repositioned her onto the other
breast. "I'd rather not say."
"Dear, you're my daughter now and I want to know what happened when you
met my son."
Akane gulped. "It was a strange day. Things happened so fast. When I
first saw him I thought everything was a dream. I accidentily walked in
on him in the bath and we didn't leave until several minutes later. For
a long time I regreted what happened. I'm still trying to understand
what possessed me to do what I did."
"Have you ever had sex with anyone besides my son?" Nodoka asked in an
accusing voice.
Akane looked at her mother-in-law with a flat glare. "I've only had sex
with Ranma. What happened that day was because I thought I was dreaming
at the time. That was the ONLY time I had ever been that stupid."
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