Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Phoenix ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 10 )

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

The Marxs stood in the Misawa train station waiting for the express to Minato-ku. Even though she wouldn't admit it, Ranma was a bit of a nervous wreck. Her last meeting with her mother didn't go over very well; in fact it had her kicked out of the Saotome clan. Marx stood next to her, his arm around her shoulder for support. He had managed to wrangle a few days of leave before deploying, and was going to use this time to, hopefully, get to know his mother-in-law.

A travel-worn individual wearing a rather large backpack with an umbrella strapped to the top walked by the couple. "When I find you Ranma, I'll make you pay for running out on our man-to-man fight. I've seen Hell because of you," he muttered.

Marx looked at his wife, shock, surprise, and recognition evident on her face. "Is there something I should know," he asked, as the bandana-clad individual walked further on, and was asking for directions to Tokyo.

The redheaded martial artist relaxed as her old junior-high school foe wandered off in a completely opposite direction from the one he was given. "I think I recognized him. Pops had me wandering for so long, I never really made any friends, except for Ucchan. But when we'd stop for any extended amount of time, Pops would enroll me in the local school, so that I wouldn't get in trouble with the local truancy officers.

"One time, Oyaji enrolled me in an all-boys school, since that was the only school in town. Fights would break out at lunchtime over the last edible bread served in the cafeteria. My first day, I used this one kid's head as a spring board to snatch the last curry bread of the day…(No, I'm not doing the full flashback. I recommend Vol. 1 of the manga if you want to read it.)…So I waited for three days at the appointed challenge spot, which was only a couple of hundred meters from his house; but he never showed up, and Pops knocked me out to drag me of to who knew where, although I think it was Bangkok next."

Marx sat there, and incredulous look on his face. "There's no way someone's sense of direction can be that bad."

Ranma smiled. "His was. I had to lead him to and from school every day. Supposedly, he could get lost in a room with one door. I don't know what happened to him after Pops dragged me away."

Marx hugged his young wife. "You know I'd let nothing happen to you. I'd die to protect you."

"I know you would, and for that I'm eternally grateful that I found you…" Ranma was about to continue, but was interrupted when the train to Minato was announced. "Chris, do you still want to go through with this? Trying to patch things up with my mother?"

Marx sighed. "I'd like to, but if you don't want to, I'll understand."

Ranma kissed her husband gently on the cheek. "I want to get this over with. I just hope Mom will be a little more understanding, especially now," she said, rubbing her swollen belly. As they stood, the couple walked arm in arm to the train, ignoring the looks of the locals. Their unborn child decided that he didn't like being ignored, and to show his displeasure kicked his mother…hard.

Wincing in pain, Ranma looked at her belly. "Behave, little one. Otherwise Mommy will take you on a ten year training trip and put you through all the same things your grandfather did to your mother."

As they took their seats on the shinkansen, Marx looked at his wife. "You wouldn't, would you?"

Ranma gave her husband a sheepish grin. "Of course not. But it's the threat that worked. The baby calmed down."

With an almost imperceptible motion, other than the slight building of g-forces, the bullet train began to pull away from the station and accelerate to its cruising speed of 200mph. The redheaded martial artist looked at her husband's white knuckled grip on the chair. "Anything wrong, Chris?"

"N-no. Its just that I feel like we're flying."

Ranma chuckled. "Technically, we are." She smiled at her husband, and took his hand. "I forgot you're a pilot, and you don't trust another pilot's flying skills. Don't worry. We're on rails, not wings."

Marx just nodded, deciding to grin and bear it.

------

The train pulled into Minato station on time. Amid the rush of passengers and commuters, the Marxs found themselves whisked along in the flood of humanity. "How are we going to find your mother," Marx asked.

Ranma flinched slightly. "She looks like an older version of…well, me."

The crowds parted, and standing there, waiting for them was Ranma's mother. Although her hair was more auburn than fiery red, she was a spitting image of her daughter. "Marx-san," she said, questioningly. It was kind of hard for Nodoka to miss the husband of her son-turned-daughter, since he was wearing his Class-B uniform and leather flight jacket.

Marx bowed formally, almost as low as one would for royalty, at his mother-in-law. "Hai, Saotome-san."

Ranma in turn bowed at her mother. "Okasan."

Her mother returned both bows, and turned her attention back to the American Air Force officer. "You made the request for this meeting. And I granted it."

"Okasan," Ranma said, "Before we begin, can we find someplace where we can at least sit?" Nodoka offered her apologies, and the three moved into the lounge. At that hour, bar was empty, allowing the mother and soon-to-be mother a chance to talk in private.

Marx sat his wife down, then sat next to her, taking her hand in his. "You've been there for me, now it's my turn," he said quietly. Ranma squeezed her husband's hand before beginning.

"Okasan, I know that our family has always been honorable; that sofu Sakai was raised to be and fought in the air as a samurai. Our family would choose death before dishonor under the code of bushido. But I ask you this, is what my father did during my training any more honorable than me wanting to stay alive; to experience life to it's fullest?"

"The last time we met, Ranma, you never described your training that you underwent with your father."

Ranma sighed. "Where should I begin? I might as well begin with the Neko-Ken." Once again, Ranma began her tale of woe. As she described the Neko-ken, Nodoka began to feel queasy. Descriptions of other training techniques that Genma put his former son through had the Saotome matriarch pale at the physical and mental torture Ranma went through. Broken friendships, the hardships of the road for ten long years, the idea of theft as training that Ranma went through darkened her mother's features.

The trials after Jusenkyo, and the friendships that Ranma made amongst the Joketsuzoku realized that there was still much honor and an inner strength in her daughter. Ranma described to her mother how she felt when she was disowned, the journey of self-discovery through Japan, and how many times she came close to being raped. Tears came to Ranma's eyes as she told Nodoka of how her resolve was worn thin, of how close the redheaded martial artist was to becoming another member of the homeless killed by the elements, until her rescue by her husband.

Marx tagged teamed his mother-in-law at this point, allowing Ranma to take a sip of water, and to rest her voice. The Air Force officer told Nodoka of how he found Ranma, then nursed her back to health. The fact that he fell in love with this cursed woman the moment he saw her, how that love deepened regardless of her past gender. Marx explained the difficulties of getting new sets of identity papers, because she was clanless, after the marriage and the favor that was called to by someone in the prefecture government.

The couple spoke in turns of the trials that Ranma faced in the school with perverts, the friends she made, the difficulties of being a fighter pilot's wife. They mentioned the fact that Ranma was training her husband in the family Art, and how that first training session resulted in her pregnancy. Her abduction by Genma and subsequent rescue by special operations teams made the head of the clan think about her husband's actions and two-faced ideas of honor.

Nodoka, the stoic matriarch that wanted her daughter to cleanse the honor of the Saotome name with her death, was so moved that she reached across the table and grasped her daughter's hands. "R-Ranma, I never knew how far your father would go to train you. I should never have let that…man take you away from me. But at the same time I am glad that he did, and although I can't say that his choice of a final training ground was appropriate, it allowed you to meet someone who truly loves you. I just feared that Genma might do something else." Nodoka sighed. "He signed a pledge to his friend and training partner Soun Tendo that the two schools of Musabetsu Kakutou be joined in marriage."

Ranma snorted. "I doubt it. The last time I saw my…father," she said with a sneer, "he was handcuffed and awaiting to be taken back to the mainland. The police that helped rescue me told me on the flight off the ship that Genma had so many warrants for his arrest that the countries that filed the warrants will be trying to figure out which one gets him first."

Nodoka chuckled. "Its just that I'm glad that you are married. I'd hate to see you married to Soun's youngest daughter. She has a bit of a temper problem. Of course, her middle sister eggs her on, and that, in turn fuels her displeasure at most people. Perhaps the schools can be united in a future generation.

"If your grandfather were alive today, he'd be proud of you, daughter." She smiled at her son-in-law. "Particularly at catching a fighter pilot.

"You managed to come through the ordeals that apparently your father called training with your honor intact. You have proven yourself a worthy member of the Saotome clan, much more so than your father ever did. I will have you restored to the family register." Nodoka smiled at her daughter. "I will be proud to have you as my daughter.

"I do have a question. If you were permanently cursed by falling into a spring at Jusenkyo, what happens when your father get hits with cold water?"

Ranma laughed. "He turns into a panda. So appropriate for that lazy old fool."

Her mother also laughed. Nodoka was quite able to see her incarcerated husband as a panda. Her expression turned serious when she looked at her daughter. Ranma noted it, and grasped her husband's hand tighter. "Ranma, I have to ask. I know you can no longer be a 'man amongst men', but will you be a 'woman amongst women'?"

Placing her free hand on her belly, Ranma looked at her mother. "Okasan, I will not be a paragon of virtue or a 'woman amongst women' or any such outdated notions. It is the 21st Century, and I am trying to be a modern woman.

"Yes, I was raised as a martial artist. Yes, I may decide to become a physical education teacher, because of my love for the Art and a desire to pass it on. But I can be only the person I am, and the best role model I can try to be for my children. That is all that can be asked of me."

Nodoka nodded dejectedly. "I understand, my daughter. I had hopes…but I realize now that our family is living in a past that is a historical study for secondary school students. I respect your determination to be your own woman, as my own father did when I fell in love with Genma." She looked at Marx. "Christopher-kun, treat my daughter well, and love her as if she had been born a girl. Respect her wishes and her skills. Be mindful of her desires, but do not let her be demanding. And most of all, please, call me 'Mother'."

Marx cleared his throat. "Okasan, I will respect my wife, and love her as I love life itself. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her, even before she told me about her curse. And, yes we may have our disagreements, but we understand that they will happen. I have already told Ranma that I would give my very life to protect hers. My parents raised me in the tradition of western chivalry, and I would never strike her, unless it was during a sparring session."

Nodoka nodded at her son-in-law's comments. "Very good, Christopher-kun. I'm glad that you feel so strongly for my daughter, and were raised to honor women." She smiled at the amerikajin holding hands with her daughter. "Welcome to the Saotome Clan."

"Thank you, Okasan." Marx said, nodding his head to his mother-in-law.