Sakuya Misaki wrote:
Sakuya-sama ^_^ no Jurai
Two Halves Make a Whole
Part 3
"Oh, daddy, how I�ve thought about the moment when I
finally met you... what I would say, what I would do
when this day finally arrived...," the little girl�s
eyes begin to glisten as she stares at Mr. Saotome.
Genma and everyone else is speechless.
"Daddy, I�m your....," Suiren starts.
"....my son?" Genma finishes her sentence jumping to
conclusions, "Are you saying that you are my son? Oh
to have another son and one not cursed! A child that
is one-hundred percent male!!"
"I am NOT your son!! I am your daughter!" she yells
in frustration, "My name is Suiren Saotome."
"Here," Kasumi says pouring hot water over Suiren�s
head, "Why don�t we all discuss this over some dinner.
Suiren, you can tell them the story that you told me."
Calling her a girl when she is actually a boy at the moment is
confusing. You might want instead to refer to her as "what
seems to be a boy" rather than as a girl.
***
Everyone is now gathered in the dining area and
Kasumi is serving the food.
Suiren takes a few sips of her tea and begins. "Well,
I guess it all started before I was born. Mommy
explained to me that Daddy had taken my older brother,
Ranma, on a training expedition when he was six, but
what Daddy didn�t know is that Mommy was pregnant with
me when he left. My whole life Mommy told me stories
of my father, the great martial artist, and my older
brother and how they went on a journey all the way to
China to train. She kept so many photo albums full of
They didn't, you know. They spend no more than six or
so months in China. Before that they were wandering Japan
as demonstrated by their encounters with Ukyo and Ryoga.
However, Genma did apparently correspond with his wife on
occasion. One way, of course, since she never knew where
he'd be.
pictures from before I was born..... That�s how I knew
you the moment I saw you. Daddy�s still just as bald
as he was in the pictures and Brother Ranma just
looks.... well... taller," Suiren becomes more
serious, "Two years ago, when I was eight, I set out
on a journey.... to find the father and brother that I
never knew......"
"What made you decide to leave your mother like
that?" Akane asks.
"Two years ago...," Suiren sighs, "Two years ago...
mommy... died......"
The entire house falls silent.
"I-I�m not even sure why... the doctors wouldn�t tell
me...," Suiren says holding back tears, "all I know is
that she got really sick all of a sudden... and
then... she was gone.....
"You see....," she begins again after a short pause,
"I had to find you..... I was orphaned and all
alone... with no other family..... no aunts or uncles
or grandparents... nothing..... nobody..... I had no
other choice, but to find out where my brother and
father were, but since my mom hadn�t had any contact
with you in so many years... I didn�t even know for
sure that you were still alive... The only place that
I knew to look was China so I headed there......
"Somehow while I was in China I came upon the cursed
springs at Jusenkyo. I had been hiking through the
mountains near there for several days, just walking
along, minding my own business, when out of nowhere
some guy comes falling down on me! Before I could get
out of the way he latched onto my backpack and took me
down with him to the springs below. The next thing I
knew, I was wet.... and I was a boy...
"That�s when I remembered Mommy telling me about an
old friend of Daddy�s that lived in Nerima so I headed
back to Japan. I figured that since I had no where
else to go I might as well go there... I thought they
might help me find you, but since I couldn�t remember
the name and I really didn�t know where Nerima was
anyway, I was completely lost..... that�s when Miss
Kasumi found me today. She was the one who told me
that you had fallen under the Jusenkyo curse, too and
that Ranma turns into a girl and Daddy turns into a
panda."
"Well, look at it this way, Saotome," Soun pats Genma
on the back, "you have a girl that�s half boy and a
boy that�s half girl. Two halves do make a whole! That
means you have a full daughter and a full son!"
"Yeah, sure Daddy...," Nabiki scoffs.
"Why didn�t she tell me that she was pregnant?" Genma
asks Suiren straight out.
"Would it have made any difference?" she answers with
a question, "Would you have stayed if you knew that
you were going to have a girl?"
Genma is not sure what to say to this.
"Even if you had known about me you wouldn�t have
cared. You still would�ve left," Suiren yells through
the tears now streaming down her face, "Daddy, why
didn�t you ever come back? Why didn�t you love mommy
enough to come back to her before she died?" Suiren is
desperate for an answer.
"You�re only a little girl so you wouldn�t
understand. I made a promise to your mother to make
Ranma a man among men and look at him now," Genma says
pouring water over Ranma�s head.
"You didn�t have to do that, ya know!" Ranma snaps,
"She didn�t need a demonstration!"
"Until I could find a cure for this curse, I could not
return to my wife, Nodoka," Genma says.
Lame explanation. Ranma was curseless for 10 years, give or take
a year. Genma didn't return because Ranma's training wasn't complete
and he didn't want Nodoka interfering until Ranma was pretty much
fully formed.
"Mommy didn�t care anything about that! She just
wanted to see you again! She missed you both so
much... You deserted your family, Daddy....
This....this is all YOUR fault!! It�s your fault that
I�ve had to live my life without a father and it�s
your fault that I fell under such a terrible curse...!
Part of me wants so much to love you, Daddy..., but
the other part.....," Suiren breaks off, her eyes
downcast. She clinches her fists, her voice trembling
as she talks, "I was so happy to get to see you... I
thought that you would be happy and say that you would
take care of your little girl from now on... I�ve run
so many scenarios of this day through my head.... but
the first thing you do is get excited that you have a
son...
"How could you... how could you do this to me... how
could you do this to Mommy... how could you just leave
us like that...? If you had just come back.... if you
had just been there for her..... she wouldn�t have
gotten so sick and died... Daddy... If you had just
come back...," Suiren takes off upstairs, crying. She
runs into a room without even thinking about whose
room she�s entering, and slams the door behind her.
Akane runs upstairs after her to try and possibly
talk to her with Kasumi close behind.
"What kind of lousy parent are you anyway?" Nabiki
sneers as she rises from her seat and follows her
sisters out of the room.
Nabiki's line lacks snap. Too much moral indignation. Even
if Nabiki was outraged, she'd phrase it with sarcasm. "Gee,
I guess that blows your nomination for 'Father of the Year'."