I'm posting this story again because the last two didn't seem to make
it. I don't know if they're backed up or what but just in case, here it
is again.
"Life is Real, Life is Earnest,
If you're Cold, Turn up the Furnace."
- Herman Munster
PROLOGUE
MAY 1
SOMEWHERE IN CHINA
10:00 P.M.
The crescent moon shone clearly in the evening sky as a
lone figure stoked his campfire and stared into the black center of the
dancing orange flames. It was a young man, well built and healthy,
his eyes dark and intense but with a haunted look to them. He sat,
shoulders slightly hunched, as if deeply absorbed in thought, all his
attention concentrated on the fire as if attempting to figure out some
hidden meaning to a complex puzzle. Finally he relaxed enough to
release a long sigh and look resigned as if he had solved the unseen
jigsaw puzzle but didn't like the picture that it had formed.
"There's no getting around it. I have to face the truth."
The young man continued to study the fire for a long
moment. Finally he stood up, moving slowly over to a large
backpack. He briefly ruffled through it until he found a sleeping bag
which he rolled out near the fire. A thin, cold breeze whispered
past him as he did so, causing him to involuntarily shiver as he
climbed into the sleeping bag and stared up into the sea of stars.
"I was so close." "Maybe....No I've been gone too long as it
is." "I have to go home and be with her."
The young man smiled for a moment as thoughts of his
beloved drifted through his clouded mind. He pictured her smiling
face as she awoke by his side in the morning, greeting him with a
warm hug, holding him close to her as she told him how much she
loved him and how cute he was. He closed his eyes and gently drifted
off to sleep and continued to dream of being with the one he loves....
Several hours later, the moon had reached the highest point
of the sky and was beginning its slow descent downwards. The
young man slept with a peaceful look on his face, his chest rising and
falling with each even breath he took, even as a shadow gradually
fell over him. The shadow was attached to a short young female,
although only modestly built. The girl smiled down at the form
of the young man, her eyes brimming with both amusement and
affection. She knelt down next to the boy's head and softly stroked
his hair with one of her soft hands. The boy stirred lightly at the
sensation and the smile reappeared on his face. and then, in a soft
voice, the boy murmured...
"Akane...."
The girl paused for a moment, as if mulling something over,
and then she leaned down and whispered in the boy's ear.
"Yes, Ryouga....It's me. she whispered as she leaned closer.
"Wake up."
Ryouga Hibiki slowly opened his eyes and stared up at the
face of Akane Tendo. He blinked several times, trying to decide if he
was dreaming or not.
I must be dreaming. Ryouga thought to himself. What
would Akane be doing here in China. "Uh....Hello Akane." Ryouga
quietly said.
"Hello yourself." Akane replied with a grin as she continued
to lightly stroke Ryouga's hair. Ryouga started to sit up but then
remembered something and lay back down.
"What's wrong?" Akane asked
Ryouga sighed. "This is a dream isn't it? Everytime I have
a dream like this, you disappear before I can say or do anything."
"This isn't a dream, Ryouga-Kun." Akane replied softly
"Oh yeah?" Ryouga retorted "Then what are you doing in
China?"
"I felt your pain earlier and came to comfort you. I missed
you and P-Chan for weeks now." Akane replied with concern in her
voice.
Ryouga's eyes grew wide with shock. The dark secret he had
tried so hard not to reveal to her was finally out in the open!
"Y..Y...YOU KNOW....?" Ryouga stammered.
Akane laughed softly while placing her other hand on his
cheek, caressing it lightly as she spoke.
"About you turning into P-Chan?" "Of course silly! I have
known for a long time."
Ryouga could not help but wonder why Akane was being so
nice to him after he had slept in her bed so many times as a pig.
Then Ryouga figured it must be the calm before the storm and
decided he should at least apologize before she killed him.
Ryouga quickly sat up, startling Akane as he closed his eyes
and bowed before her in apology, his head touching the ground.
"I'm so sorry I wanted to tell you but I thought you
would hate me and never want to talk to me again so I kept my
mouth shut but then I was afraid you would be mad at me for not
telling you before and then Ranma...."
"R....Ryouga, it's okay! Calm down! I'm not mad at you!
Honest!" Akane tried to reassure a near-hysterical Ryouga.
Ryouga stopped babbling and looked up at Akane, wanting
to believe. Seeing him calm down, Akane pressed forward.
"I understand why you did it and why you couldn't tell me. I'm
not mad at you." Akane said reassuringly
"Are....Are you sure?" Ryouga asked cautiously
"Positive." Akane firmly replied.
"But how....I mean....If this REALLY isn't a dream....How
did you get here?" Ryouga said, confused.
"Well, how did you get here? Akane asked
"Me? I just....well....I was walking in a certain direction,
I zoned out for a while I guess, next thing I know I'm in China."
Ryouga recalled as he rose to a kneeling position in front of Akane
and sighed.
"I've spent the last two weeks looking for Jusenkyou so I
could finally find a cure to my curse and be normal."
Tears began to form in Ryouga's eyes as he finally
revealed the cause for his current depression. A familiar green
aura began to form around him and he suddenly stood while Akane
slowly backed away a safe distance.
"But....even though I'm in China....even though I've spent
the last 3 weeks walking across China....I STILL CAN'T FIND THE
STUPID NANNICHUAN!!!!!" Ryouga screamed with utter
frustration.
And with that, Ryouga sent a Ki-Blast into the sky, briefly
illuminating the surrounding mountains and sending several wild
animals running in fear. After several moments, the heaviness of the
ki caused the blast to fall back down, enveloping Ryouga and the
ground around him in a pillar of greenish ki-energy. When the blast
faded, there was a ten meter long crater with Ryouga in the center of
it. Then Ryouga began to collapse from the energy discharge and
Akane rushed forward to catch him before he fell.
"RYOUGA!" Akane looked at him with intense concern
"You...You don't have to get rid of P-Chan!"
Ryouga was still in tears as he sobbed "Yes I do!" "I'll
never be a whole man again until I do!" "I can never tell you how
much I....how much I want to hold you....to protect you....to tell you
I..I....I...lo....!"
Tears formed in Akane's eyes as she realized what Ryouga
was trying to say to her. Ryouga closed his own eyes in shame and
embarrassment.
I can't even tell her how I feel in my dreams. Ryouga
thought bitterly to himself.
"Ryouga, I love you both as...." Akane began
Ryouga's eyes snapped open. "W..What?" he managed to
choke out
Ryouga stared into Akane's eyes. He saw concern there as
well as something he didn't recognize, but something that made his
heart of glass melt away. Then she finished her sentence....
"I....I love you, Ryouga Hibiki." "Both as a pig and as a
man."
Ryouga could only stare at Akane in shock. It happened.
The moment he has waited for so long has finally happened. What
does one say when confronted with such a happy revelation?
"N....No way!" "This HAS to be a dream!" "A good, no, a
GREAT one, but a dream....This....This can't be happening!"
Ryouga's voice was on the verge of panic again.
"Maybe this will convince you." Akane replied.
Akane gently cupped Ryouga's face with her hands and then
leaned over to deliver a kiss on his lips. Ryouga's eyes glazed over
completely and his brain went into instant shutdown as he felt the
warmth of her soft lips against his. They kissed for quite a while,
Ryouga being too shocked to move a muscle and Akane not wanting to
release her embrace.
"Maybe....just maybe it's not a dream...."
"IT'S NOT A DREAM!?!?"
Finally it hit him.
If this wasn't a dream then he was kissing Akane for REAL!
WHICH MEANT....
Ryouga instantly passed out. Surprisingly even though he
was out cold he could still see Akane embracing him, only this time
from a distance. She finally released the kiss and stared at his
unconscious self in confusion for a moment and then realizing he
was out cold, she sighed to herself.
"Oh, P-Chan....Why'd you have to pass out now?" Akane
sighed, her voice laced with disappointment.
Knowing Ryouga was out for the night, Akane gently
lowered Ryouga onto his sleeping bag. Then, without another word,
she snuggled up next to him and drifted off to sleep. Ryouga wanted
to hold her, to tell her he was right here and they could still
continue, but for some reason, Ryouga couldn't move his legs....
(Fade to Opening Credits)
"WISHING UPON THE SAME STAR"
(A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic)
>From the Desk of Megane 6.7
This is a work of Fiction. All Characters and Landmarks, with the
exception of Taimak, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi,
Shogakukan Video, Kitty Films, Viz Video, Shonen Sunday, and
anyone else who legally owns the rights.
PART 1: AN ACT OF KINDNESS IS RYOUGA'S REWARD
MAY 2
RYOUGA'S CAMPSITE
5:15 A.M.
A thin ray of sunlight shone down from the brightening sky
to illuminate the prone form of Ryouga. He was still sleeping with a
peaceful look on his face; then he began to stir as he heard the
sound of the birds and a single sunbeam fell over his eyes. He slowly
opened his eyes and blinked several times, adjusting them to the
morning light. He then wiped the crud out of his eyes and rolled out
of the futon. He stretched out and yawned, getting out any kinks
from his muscular frame, and then glanced beside him to see....an
empty space.
Ryouga sighed to himself. "I guess it was a dream after all.
"I should have known better. Still it seemed so real...."
He could still picture Akane leaning over him, running her
slender finger through his hair and the kiss....the first kiss he had
ever received from Akane as a man and not as a pig.
"Too bad it was only a dream...."
He sighed again and then stood up, preparing to clean up
his campsite and move on.
"I guess I'm just going to have to live with this damn curse
a little while longer." Ryouga muttered to himself. "I've left Akane
alone for far too long. There's no telling what Ranma's gotten her
into since I left. At least I have a new technique to try out on him.
I hope it's enough this time. Maybe I'd better practice it again...."
Ryouga walked a safe distance away from his campsite and
searched for a clearing to practice his technique, not wishing to harm
any innocent animals. He wouldn't have cared less if he were in the
city, but spending so much time lost in the mountains and forests, he
had developed an appreciation and respect for nature and knew
enough not to disturb it too much. Then he found the place he was
looking for, a wide spacious clearing near a cave.
"Okay. Now, how did it go again?" Ryouga struggled until
he remembered.
He forced himself to relax, to release his doubts and
concentrate on the task at hand. Then he opened his senses to
everything around him, the smells, the sounds, the sights, the
sensations; he became one with the forest. Then he glanced down
at himself and was delighted to see he had turned invisible! The
technique worked perfectly! Ranma wouldn't be able to see what hit
him....literally! Except....
Ryouga became visible again as the drawback of this
technique weighed down on him, breaking his concentration.
Although the technique would make him invisible to almost any form
of direct and/or inner sight, it required a great deal of concentration
and Ryouga had found he had to remain perfectly still in order to do
it properly, which made attacking with it impossible.
Besides that, it was dishonorable to attack someone from the
blind side anyway and Ryouga would not smear his honor, just as he
hadn't when Genma, Ranma's cowardly father, tried to tell Ryouga
about Ranma's weak spot in order to get revenge on him for
something or another. Ryouga had learned this invisibility technique
by telling himself that Ranma used his weakness of turning into a pig
all the time and thus attacking invisible was justified, but now that he
had learned it, he wouldn't allow himself to be dragged down to
Ranma's level. Not that he could use the technique as a weapon
anyway but still, he would beat Ranma honorably.
Ryouga was still lost in his train of thought when a loud
crash caused him to look behind him. In the tree behind him, a small
animal had stepped into a handmade snare and was now hanging
upside down by one leg and looking quite terrified. It looked like a
cross between a owl and a baby fox and its soft fur was a snow white
color, Ryouga had never seen an animal like it, not in China or Japan.
However the animal was so small and bony, Ryouga doubted it was
being trapped for food, which meant they most likely wanted the fur.
Ryouga wondered if he should free him when he received the shock
of his life.
"Help me!" The animal cried out in perfect Japanese.
Ryouga was startled to say the least.
"He must have fallen into a Jyusenkuo spring!" Ryouga
pondered. "Wait a minute!" "I can't talk when I'm P-Chan!" "This
must be something else...."
The strange animal pleaded to him again.
"Please kind sir!" "Whoever set this trap will come for me
soon." "I do not wish to die today."
Ryouga hesitated briefly, then walked over to the animal
and gently unlooped the vine tying his legs together. Once free, the
animal quickly took flight into the sky and was soon out of sight.
"You're welcome." Ryouga sarcastically replied to the
empty sky.
Ryouga shrugged and decided to head back to his campsite,
pack up his stuff and begin what would surely be a long dangerous
journey to find his way back to the Tendo Doujou in Japan and his
beloved Akane. When he arrived he was surprised to see the animal
he saved perched on top of his backpack.
"Oh, so you came back?" noted Ryouga.
"Yes. Please pardon my rudeness for not immediately
thanking you for saving my life." "I was too caught up in my
freedom to notice." "Freedom is a wonderful thing you know that?"
"Uh....I guess so." Ryouga shrugged "Umm....could you
get off my backpack?" "I have to be going."
The animal rose an eyebrow at that and seems truly stunned
that Ryouga would suggest such a thing.
"Leaving?" "I thought you would want to stay here forever!"
The animal said in a shocked tone of voice.
"What?" Ryouga shook his head "No, I mean, I have
somewhere I have to get to....Someone I want to be with."
"Ah....Would this someone be a girl?" the animal asked in
a knowing tone of voice.
"Um....yeah." Ryouga blushed involuntarily.
"I see." "Only for true love would someone leave this
paradise and go elsewhere." the animal said in a wistful tone of
voice. "Does this girl love you?" he inquired.
Ryouga's shoulders slumped and his eyes grew misty, as he
had asked himself this question many times and still had no clue to
how Akane really felt about him.
Ryouga bowed his head as he replied. "I....I don't know. I
wish I did."
"Really?" The animal said curiously "Tell me....What is
your name?"
"Hibiki Ryouga."
"Hmm." "Well, Ryouga, my name is Taimak....I'm afraid
my last name is a bit difficult for humans to understand." "So let's
stick with Taimak, shall we?" Taimak said in a friendly tone of
voice. "I never was one for formalities."
"Okay, Taimak." Ryouga agreed.
"Good." "Now that we've cleared that up, allow me to
properly thank you for saving me." Taimak paused to take a breath.
"I have it within my power to grant you one wish and one wish only."
Taimak's tone grew harsh for a moment. "Once it is used, it can be
neither changed or recalled." "However...." Taimak's tone grew soft
again. "Since my intentions are to reward you, I will not grant the
wish until you have specifically and precisely told me what it is you
want, so there will be no misunderstandings or accidents."
"A wish?" Ryouga said with a blank face.
"A bit slow are we?" "That's quite all right." "Having the
power to wish for anything you want is a bit overwhelming after all.
" Taimak said in a amused tone.
"I can wish for anything I want?" Ryouga said, excitement
growing in his voice.
Taimak beamed "Anything you want." "For example, you
could be the ruler of the world....
Taimak paused in mid-sentence and looked closely at
Ryouga, sizing him up.
"However I think the world might be better off on it's
own....no offense intended." Taimak cautiously pointed out.
"None taken....I guess." Ryouga frowned.
"Or if you want you could wish for a harem of women to
satisfy your every...." Taimak stopped in mid-sentence and seemed
to blush. "Oh! I forgot, you already have a true love don't you?"
Taimak backtracked. "Never mind then." "You could also wish for
riches beyond your wildest...."
"I....I think I know what I want to wish for." Ryouga
interrupted.
Taimak cocked an eyebrow, or at least made the same
motion with his forehead. "Already?" "My!" "That was quick!"
"Are you certain young man?" Taimak asked with a note of worry
in his voice. "Remember, once you've made the wish you can't take
it back!"
"I know." Ryouga said confidently "I know what I want."
"Very well." Taimak gazed into Ryouga's eyes. "What is
your wish?" "Be specific and precise now!" he admonished.
"And you're sure I can wish for ANYTHING I want?"
Ryouga asked, excitement creeping into his voice again.
"Ask me again and I'll tell you the same." Taimak replied
matter-of-factly.
"Okay then."
Ryouga mulled over the wish in his mind. While he was
tempted to make at least two other wishes that would guarantee his
happiness, he remembered what Taimak said about misunderstandings and
having only one chance at this. And if this creature could truly grant
him this....
Ryouga took a deep breath and made his wish....
(Fade to Black)
CONTINUED IN PART 2....