Genom Research Presents A Suika Roberts Fanfic Tip Warnings and Disclaimers in Part 0. Day -75 -* A woman smiles down at me, `Are you OK?' I smile back, soaking wet, `Yeah, I'm fine.' `Grab onto this, and I'll pull you up.' I blink, then give a little mental shrug, and catch hold of the cloth-wrapped bunde she holds down towards me. I wait for her to brace herself, then, `You ready?' She nods, so I pull back a little, to help. She, however, falls off the edge, into the ditch with me. I manage to catch her, so she doesn't hit her head or anything, but still, `You're all wet. I'm sorry.' `You're such a tomboy,' she smiles at me again. I stare at her, wondering why she looks so familiar, then ask, `Do you have any sisters? One who married a real git named Saotome Genma, perhaps?' `No, I do not have any siblings, but Genma did take my name when we married.' `Mom?' I gasp, throwing my arms around her. `Who are you?' she gasps back, wrapping her arms around me. I let go, and step back when her arms loosen, `Saotome Ranma, at your service.' `Ranma? My Ranma was a boy,' she looks confused. `I am, well, most of the time. Oyaji took me to this training ground in China, summer of last year, and I picked up this curse. Cold water turns me into a girl, and hot water turns me back. I've pretty much gotten used to it.' `That's horrible,' she says, starting to walk down the ditch. `It could be worse, Oyaji turns into a panda, a friend of mine turns into a pig, and another one turns into a,' pause, center, `cat.' `Whatever possesed you to go there?' `Oyaji can't read Chinese, and he wouldn't let me see the book of training grounds.' - `Anyway, here we are,' I tell her, leading her through the gate. A few moments later, `I'm home,' I announce. `We're going on a training trip, now, no questions,' Oyaji tells me, gathering me up under his arm, and then mom steps into his path. Oyaji faints, and I only barely manage to wiggle free before he hits the ground. -* Day -74 -* `So, you let your husband make a promise to return Ranma as a man amoung men or commit sepuku?' `Yes,' she tells me, `I should have realized that Genma would try to hide anything he saw as a mistake, rather than try to work things out. There is a reason I let him get away with such a vauge promise.' `So, you think Ranma's a `Man amoung Men,' even with the curse?' `Of course! What man could resist a body like that? And the oportunities for clandestine research are just wonderful!' Nodoka smiles, `Of course, it would be better if he could control the curse a bit more, since it must be hard to stay away from hot water in the women's baths, but what do they say, no pain, no gain?' I inch away from her a little bit, suddenly realizing that she's a pervert. - I shift a little, trying not to make any noise, yet still keep my legs from going to sleep. At least I know why mom told me to hide, or I hope I do. This sort of thing is much too embarrassing to say to someone's face, "I expect you to go and look at girls, watch them, oggle their nubile bodies," is hardly something appropriate for a mother to say. `Of course,' mom says, outside the closet she put me in, `Genma's such a prude that Ranma can hardly look at himself, let alone another girl, so I'm just a little worried that I'll never have any grandchildren. But boys mature slower, so I don't think I should judge his success with girls by my own.' Akane makes a choking noise. `Oh yes, I was quite the heartbreaker, back in school. I started flirting, consciously, at twelve, and had a steady string of girlfriends right up until I married Ranma's father. I really should have arranged things differently, but oh well,' I can almost see the wistful expression on her face. `What do you mean,' Akane asks, her voice filled with trepidation. `I mean that I really should have told Genma that same-sex encounters are orthogonal to marriage.' What the heck's orthogonal mean? `What does orthogonal mean?' Akane asks for me. `Two sets are orthogonal if they have no overlapping components, so that changing one doesn't change the other,' she pauses, `So, the price of gasoline is orthogonal to the price of diesel fuel, even though both are controlled by the price of crude oil,' she pauses again, `but that isn't a very good example. `Does one need to give up one's old friends just because one has made new ones?' `No, but they sometimes drop away, after a little while,' Akane says, her voice a little sad. `That's usually because they are used to getting a certain ammount of attention, and with the new friends they don't get as much. This tends to make them feel unappreciated, and then they leave. I lost so many friends when I married Genma,' the pain in her voice is almost enough to make me brave Akane's wrath at being spied on. Almost. --- log: 2000 Spring and early Summer: involuntary plotting. 2000 July 29: started. 2000 August 13-15: A bit more 2000 Sept: continued 2000 December 2: bit more 2000 December 3: bit more 2001 January 8: itsy bit. 2001 April 24: Three whole lines! and a bit of editting 2001 October 24: a little more! Need to get through this scene, and then I can go on, finally. 2001 November 16: gyeh, this is really dragging. ah well. 2001 November 20: skipped the end, I should get back to it later, and jumped to the next day. 2002 September 24: just a tiny bit. 2002 November 17: finished the beast. What'd'ya think? Need to finish that FIXMEd lemon scene, still 2002 November 26: tiny edits. 2003 March 29: tiny edits.