Genma and Nodoka: A Love Story

Genma and Nodoka: A Love Story is written by Richard D. Lawson and began online publication on February 12th, 1997.Post at FFML - Retrieved 19-07-2021 It currently stands incomplete at one instalment.
==Description==
==Plot==
Genma Saotome is talking to his son and ends up telling him the story of how he met his wife Nodoka Saotome, events beginning at the point in time that he and Soun Tendo buried their master Happosai alive in a cave. Soun already has a girlfriend that he likes and Genma teases him about this, but Soun wants to get the family home back into shape before he pops the question of marriage to his girlfriend. The pair return to Nerima, but the house is in a bad state of repair and the utilities are currently off, so Genma has to find the local onsen to get a bath. Getting somewhat lost and unable to find where he is going, Genma stops a girl of late high school age and asks for directions to the bathhouse. Since the girl is already going that way she leads him there. The girl leaves him at the entrance and goes inside as it turns out she works at the counter of the bathhouse. At the entrance Genma spots a beautiful woman approaching with a servant in tow. Genma has a quick bath and then leaves to sit atop a telephone pole in wait for the beautiful woman and her servant to leave the bathhouse. He follows here to an apartment complex and then heads back to the dojo. There he and Son do some work on cleaning the house and spend the night on the roof. Soun talks about how he wants to build a dojo on the property and the two have a fight over whether it will be the Tendo or Saotome School of Indiscriminate Grappling. To resolve the issue the pair set up a betrothal contract for their offspring. Genma then gets Soun involved in a plan that will allow Genma to introduce himself to the beautiful woman he followed earlier that day.
Soun pretends to be a mugger and attack the woman and her servant as she heads home from the bathhouse and the servant, an elderly woman, gets a few good hit in on him with her bokken. Genma pretends to come to their aid and beats up on Soun a little more. Genma is asked to accompany the two women home and does so, talking briefly about how he is new to the area. At the entrance to the apartment block Genma offers his protection services for her daily trip to and from the onsen. Genma heads to the bathhouse where Soun attacks him for the hurt he has received for helping Genma's plan before pointing out that she doesn't seem to be Genma's usual type. This seems to be proven the following as when Genma escorts her to the bathhouse and talks to her, her interests are completely incompatible with his and after escorting her tells Soun he has to get out of Tokyo before the woman gets her claws into him. Genma returns to Soun's house and gathers his gear to leave. As he exits the house he nearly runs over a girl, who turns out to be the girl who led him to the bathhouse a few days earlier. She is hurriedly dressed in a kimono and says that she understand that he is leaving on a training trip, having overheard Genma and Soun. She then presents Genma with an embroidered handkerchief to take with him on his journey. Genma asks for her name, which is Nodoka, and after she departs tells himself that perhaps he now has a reason to return to Nerima...
==Notes==
*Followed by Heart of the Home, also by Lawson.
==FFML Posting History==
*1 12/02/97
*1 (revision) 13/02/97
==See Also==
==External Links==
==References==
Category:Thy Inward Love
Category:1997