Ranma 1/2 :
Fanfic Special :
A Otaku's Wish, a dedication to Mako.
written by Joshua Stevens.

This is a special Birthday fanfic written for a member of 
both FFML and the NF.  Many of you will know her as 
Mako, and today I am releasing a special fanfic in honor of 
her birthday.  Christine, as I will call her in this fic, will be 
the main star of this fic.  Please, put your inhibitions on 
hold for a while, and think of this as something that might 
actually happen ... if anything was possible.
Sit back, relax, and let me show you the Ranma world in a 
new light.  I will present it to you in prose format, where 
you are the audience.  As always, any talking or loud noises 
will have you taken out of the theater.  
And without further ado ... here's the show.
********************************
	"There are four basic rules to being a living person 
in anime, live by those and you have a chance of actually 
having a continuing existence.  
	"Rule one - never outshine the main characters.  If 
you so that, people are going to hate you, your fic never 
gets read, and then the writer never writes you again.
	"Rule two - never bring out super powers unless for 
a higher purpose or for comedic purposes.  If you start 
flashing powers, you'll appear to powerful and people will 
hate you.
	"Rule three - Never, under any circumstances, fall 
in love.  It always looks like favoritism no matter how you 
write it.  Besides, it doesn't come out right.
	"And Rule three - never discount anything as 
impossible.  If you don't expect that something won't 
happen, it's going to happen."
		Hologram, the man with the black eyes.
[-=-=-]
	"....happy birthday, dear Christine; happy birthday 
to you!"  Everyone claps.
	"Now make a wish, that's a special candle that your 
cousin Hol brought over!"  her mom says to her.  The 
candle is perfectly clear, almost crystalline.  Though it 
seems to burn, it doesn't melt at all.  
	For a moment, Christine holds her breath.  She is 
almost regretful at having to blow out the beautiful candle.  
Finally, she thinks up the perfect wish and blow.  As the 
candle's flame goes out, the thought <I wish that I could see 
the world of Ranma for real> flows through her head.
	It was then that something snapped into place, that 
she realized something was wrong.  Looking up at her 
mother, her voice was barely a whisper as she said, "Mom, 
I don't have a cousin Hol."
	Her mom looked at those worried eyes, then ... 
everything stopped.  It wasn't that her mother just froze,  or 
that everyone in the party just quit doing things for a 
moment.  Everything just dead stopped and only silence 
filled the room.  It looked like somebody put the entire 
frame of her life on pause.
	Then she heard those quiet footsteps coming closer.  
She saw the man making his way through the crowd, but 
she wasn't afraid.  He seemed oddly familiar, though she 
couldn't remember his face.  At last, he was close enough 
for her to hear him, and he began to speak.
	"Hello Christine, I like your wish!"  the man said.  
He looked about twenty-five, but he acted like he was 
much older.
	She was confused for a moment, "My wish?  But I 
didn't do that outloud...."  and she noticed a flash in his 
night colored eyes as she said this.
	"That's right, Christine, I'm here to make it come 
true."  he continues nonchalantly, "For some strange cosmic 
reason, you are allowed, for one week, experience what it 
is like to be part of the Ranma universe.  During that time, 
you can do anything you wish, affect anyone you wish, but 
when the times up, everything will be like it was.  Is that all 
clear?"
	Christine thought for a moment.  It sounded too 
good to be true, but it was a golden opportunity.  Quickly 
she nodded her head, and turned to go to her room.  "I'll be 
right back after I get some clothes and stuff."  she said.
	Hologram giggled a bit, "You don't have to worry 
about it, Christine.  I said I'd take care of everything, and I 
mean it.  You won't even have to know Japanese!  I got 
more than enough power for this wish.  You wanna go 
now?"
	Without any hesitation, Christine says, "Yeah, let's 
start this wish already.  I don't need to worry about getting 
hurt right?  Those guys in Ranma never get hurt!"
	Hologram put a hand on her shoulder, "I don't think 
so, you are more powerful than you think there.  You 
should have more than enough power to deal with whatever 
you find there.
 	[-=-=-]
	Christine looked around and she was there ... albeit, 
it wasn't what she expected, but she was there.  Somehow, 
she imagined the place to be more, well ... perfect.  It was a 
nice day and all, but the ground felt all squishy from a 
recent rain, and the trees looked more barren than she 
remembered reading.  <I guess this is what we don't see.> 
she thought.
	Hologram removed his hand from his shoulder, and 
she could see that his clothes had changed into blue jeans 
and a T-shirt.  Looking down at herself, she discovered that 
she was similarly dressed, except she also had a backpack 
on and her T-shirt was red.
	All of a sudden Hologram pulled something from 
the air and handed it to her.  It was some sort of 
subscription to something, but she didn't get enough time to 
read it all.  Before she got through the third line, Hologram 
interrupted her thoughts.
	"It' a boarding pass to the Tendo dojo.  They'll know 
you as an exchange student who is trading places with 
Nabiki.  The map is on the back, and if you have any 
trouble getting there ... follow the sounds of yelling." he 
began to walk off.
	"Hey, wait!"  she called out, "Aren't you gonna at 
least help me get aquainted with this place?"
	"Why?  This is your wish, it's up to you to become 
aquainted with this place.  Besides, I know you'd rather 
have Ranma or Akane show you around." and with that he 
was gone.  He didn't so much disappear, as she lost sight of 
him and then ... he was gone.
	Left alone in a strange place, she didn't have much 
of a choice, she went to find this Tendo dojo.  The map was 
well made, detailing specific landmarks by how she'd 
recognize them, and leading in an all too familiar path to 
the Tendo home.  In a few minutes, she was in a place she 
recognized.
	Before her stood a clean looking, white building, its 
outside walls radiating a healthy feeling and its plaque 
telling of its purpose.  It was Dr. Tofu's office, and then she 
realized that next to her was the gate Ranma walked on.
	Much like the ones she'd seen at home, it was a 
silver colored rust dotted fence.  Its cold form bent at 
places, and there were marks all along the side.  In more 
than one place, it leaned over heavily as if somebody 
pushed it.  Christine had a good indication of who that 
somebody was.
	Knowing that it lead to the Tendo home, she 
followed the fence.  Its path was the same shown in so 
many of her comics.  It was at once familiar and strange.  
She was seeing things as she never had before, and it was a 
bit scary.  She shivered when she realized just how real this 
was for them.  While she was from the real world, and got 
a real life, they never got to know that the lived only in 
people's imaginations.  <This sounds like a Never-ending 
Story movie, yech>
	In a moment she arrived.  She stood in front of the 
aging building, much larger than she imagined.  Gathering 
her courage, she finally knocked on the door, and at the 
same instant it flew open.
	Hearing only the words, "Ranma you jerk!" as a 
warning, she didn't quite have enough time to avoid being 
hit with Ranma.  It was a few seconds before her brain 
recovered enough to let her sit up, slightly.  It was a bit 
difficult with Ranma laying on her and all.
	Ranma, finally noticing how soft his landing had 
been and feeling the movement underneath him, managed 
to turn beet red and stutter out, "Oh, I ... um ... well ... that 
is ... I'm s-sorry?" looking at her with puppy dog eyes.
	Christine managed to supress a smile at the humor 
of the situation.  "That's alright, I guess I wasn't looking 
where I ... you ... were going.  Nice to meet you!  Would 
you mind getting off me for a second?"
	Ranma shook his head for a moment, he must have 
been hit harder than he realized.  Quickly, he jumped up 
onto his feet, and helped the girl up.  "Here you go, I really 
am sorry about that, I should have gotten off when I 
realized...."
	"Thanks."  she said and smiled, "It wasn't your fault.  
I'm Christy, I came here 'cause I'm the exchange student."  
she extended her hand.
	"Oh,"  he said, shaking her hand, "I'm Ranma.  Your 
going to be staying here?  Why are you...."
	"Ranma!"  Kasumi says as she walks into the 
doorway, "Aren't you going to at least invite our guest in?  
You must be the foreign exchange student from America, 
how nice to meet you!"  she says as she takes off Christine's 
backpack.
	Christine nods numbly, <Wow, this is exactly like 
the comic, except more ... colored.>.  "Yeah, I'm the 
exchange student.  I was told I'm going to be staying here?"
	"Yes, you'll be staying in Nabiki's room."  Kasumi 
answered, "My, you pack light!  And you speak Japanese 
wonderfully!"
	Christine responds nervously, "Um, yeah.  I love to 
travel, but I hate taking too much.  Can you show me where 
I can put my stuff?" she asks.
	The patented Kasumi smile is flashed to Christine 
as Kasumi nods her head and says, "Sure!  Ranma, would 
you show ... Christine isn't it .... would you show Christine 
to her room?  I'm sure she wants to see all of the sights, so 
you can give her a tour when she's done."
	Ranma nodded regretfully and took Christine 
upstairs.  "This is Nabiki's room.  If you find anything in 
there, you shouldn't touch it.  I think Nabiki leaves traps in 
there.  Anyway,  I'll let you get settled in, and I'll be back in 
ten minutes, okay?"
	Christine nodded and watched as he walked off.  
Sighing to herself, she slowly walked into the room.  
<Wow he *is* cute.> she thought to herself, <No wonder 
so many girls are after him!>.
	"Too bad he's engaged to Akane, right?"  said a 
voice from in the room.  Turning, she saw Hologram sitting 
on her bed, reading a Shakespeare novel.  He looked up at 
her with his extra dark eyes, and said to her, "I should have 
told you rule #3, never fall in love with a character.  You 
aren't allowed if your going to exist in Ranma for any 
length of time."
	Her eyes narrowed, "Hey, I wasn't falling in love 
with him ... I just thought he was cute.  And what are you 
doing here, I thought you said I had to get accustomed to 
this place myself?"
	"Oh, that...."  he says, closing the book, "I just 
dropped by to see if everything was alright.  You having 
any problems?"
	"Me, no."  she thought for a moment then added, 
"Well, they are all older than me ... but that can't be 
helped."
	Suddenly Hologram bolts to the window and opens 
it.  He turns to her and says, "Consider it taken care of!"  
and he jump out of the window.  She can hear his voice 
add, "Oh, and the rules are written on the locket you're 
wearing!"
	She looks down and sees that the rules are written 
neatly across its surface.  All of a sudden, her door swings 
open and Ranma walks in.  "You ready yet?  I gotta make 
sure some people aren't out ... I mean, that isn't to crowded 
out."
	She smiles to herself knowing why he was in a rush.  
"Sure, let's go." and she takes his arm.  She gets an 
unusually quick tour of the city
[-=-=-] Same time, Different place
	DING DONG!  "I get it Grandmother!"  Shampoo 
says as she rushes to the door.  Opening it quickly, she sees 
a delivery man standing outside her door with a package.  
Extending the package to her, he waits for her to take it.  
As she grabs the package, she asks him, "What this?  We 
no order anything from ... No-s-s-sen-rr-o-ss, we no order 
anything from them.  What is this?"
	"Oh," the man responds in a thick accent, "That's 
some youth potion from one of them Universities down the 
way.  Said that it was goin' to a Shampoo?"
	"Well, I Shampoo!"  she squints at the package a 
moment, "Youth Potion, you say?  Maybe I use after all.  
Good bye!"  she says as she closes the door on him.
	As the man walks away, he takes off the hat that 
covered his ink black eyes.
[-=-=-] Tendo Residence, some time later.
	
	"Yes, give to Akane to say I sorry." said Shampoo 
as she walked out of the Tendo home.  A smile lit her face 
as she knew she pulled it off.
	"Kasumi, I'm home!"  called a female voice from 
the back.
	Kasumi turned around, her hands holding a tray of 
some kind, and said, "Good, Shampoo came by and 
dropped this off."  she said walking with the tray to the 
back of the house.  The tray had an assortment of Chinese 
cooking, each expertly wrought in a way Akane could 
never match, "She says this is to say how sorry she was 
about what happened."
	"Huh?" said Akane, trying to recall what Shampoo 
last did, "She must mean when tried to shrink me with that 
dust, good thing Gosunguki was playing dress up!  Wow, I 
didn't think it was that big a deal, she's done worse."  she 
said as she pushed the tray to the side.
	Kasumi gave her a motherly look and said, "Well 
Akane, you should at least give her the benefit of the doubt 
here.  Take the cookies ... to show there are no hard 
feelings."
	"Alright," Akane shrugs, "I just wasn't very hungry."  
Maybe Ranma of Ryoga would like some."  she walks to 
her room.
	"Kasumi, we're home!"  says a distinctly male voice 
from the front.
	Kasumi turns in that direction, experiencing a 
feeling of déjà vu.  "Oh good, Ranma.  Akane was just 
looking for you upstairs, something about you trying some 
cookies."
	"Ow."  Ranma groans.  He turns to Christine and 
says, "We better not go up there...."
	"....Akane's cooking is toxic, right?"  she finishes his 
thought.  She barely managed to stop the grin spreading on 
her face as she saw his expression of amazement.
	"Yeah, how'd you know?"  he asked suspiciously.
	"Relax, it the *way* you said it." she answered, a 
little guilty over lying.  "Besides, with all those sports she's 
in, there really isn't much time for her to learn to cook, 
right?"
	Accepting her explanation, he says to her, "Yeah, I 
just gotta find Ryoga now.  He'll eat anything she cooks."
	"Oh," she responds, "He's right there, sitting by your 
sofa."  she says, pointing to the piglet next to the sofa.
	"Thanks ... hey!"  his eyes go wide as he turns 
towards her, "What ... how ... I mean, what's going on?!  
How much do you know?"
	Christine realizes she's been caught, only having 
one option left, she calms down and says, "Alright, I'll tell 
you all this in my room, but you better get Akane distracted 
before we go.  I think I saw a teapot on the stove."  she 
says, then headed up to her room.  She didn't want to see 
what would occur when Ranma splashes Ryoga with that 
boiling water.
[-=-=-] To be continued.....
	
That's the first part of this fic.  I am going to post the rest, 
but later on tonight.  So if you like this fic, you have just to 
look out for the continuation tonight (after I finish editing).  
Also, if you liked it, and you want to comment on how 
much you like it, would you instead send email to Mako at 
--------- saying, "Happy Birthday"?  I would much 
appreciate it.  Thank you all on the FFML, and Happy 
Birthday, Christine.