A Wish Come True Part 2: Consequences

*-*-*-*

The story so far...
	Akane got a wish.  Akane made a mistake.  Akane never met Ranma. But
Akane kept her memories.  Oh My!

*-*-*-*

	Akane was still on her knees in the garden.  The quiet was disturbing. 
She had stopped sobbing and was just crying quietly.  <Ranma, I didn't
mean it, It wasn't supposed to happen like this.  I was going to make a
wish and we were going to be happy and never have to worry about
Happosai or Ukyo or Cologne or Shampoo or Kodachi or Kuno or anybody. 
Ranma... where are you?>
	Akane stood and walked mechanically back into the house.  She entered
the parlor and sat down on the couch, mulling over the time since
school.  She had been so angry at Ranma.  <What had he done again?  Oh
yeah, he was hanging all over Shampoo and... no, that's not right,
Shampoo and Kodachi were hanging all over him.  Then he ate Ukyo's
okonomiyaki, and then he came over to eat with me... and he brought
UKYO!>
	"Oh yes, he was truly doing some horrible things today wasn't he
Akane-chan?"
	Akane turned around to find the goddess of the past glaring at her with
a look so cold Akane thought the temperature inside had dropped a few
degrees.
	"Yes, Akane, I must admit.  Ranma was truly deserving of that wish,
what was it he did again?  He ate lunch with you and his best friend? 
That would be one of the most unforgivable things a man could possibly
do to me."
	"Who are you to judge ME?"  Akane's temper was flaring at the
condescending woman who had given her that magic ring.  "This is all
your fault anyways, that magic ring that you gave me.  You knew what was
going to happen, you knew that Ranma would get me mad and that I would
accidentally waste that wish just to get rid of him."
	"I am Urd, Goddess of the Past and of Love, Second Class, Second
Category; limited, and I will judge you as I see fit.  So don't go
trying to blame your problem on me.  I know the past, Akane, not the
future, the future isn't set anyways so even if my sister was here there
was no way I could've known just how stupid you would be.  Don't start
blaming me, and don't start blaming Ranma for something YOU did.  You
are always claiming that you are a martial artist yet you lack
self-control even more than I do, you attacked Ranma on a daily basis
whether he did anything or not.  If he looked at you, you hit him.  If
he looked at anyone else, you hit him.  If he insulted you, you hit
him.  If he was nice, you treated him like he had a mental illness.  I
checked up on you Akane-chan.  Something I should've down before I ever
agreed to that wish, but I'd already done that..."  Urd stopped for a
moment to catch her breath, and calm herself down.  "I started to like
you Akane-chan, because deep down I'm willing to bet that you are a good
person, even if you are possessive, angry, paranoid, and jealous.  Heck,
I'm most of those things myself.  Claim responsibility for what happened
Akane, and mean it, and I might consider trying to help you."
	"Urd, I... I'm sorry, but... Ranma he just got me so mad that... I just
wasn't thinking... I mean, I say stuff like that all the time, and even
if he gets mad at me... he would always just... I would just have to..."
	"Sorry can't fix everything Akane-chan...  The best I can do right now
is tell you how your life went so far."
	"But if I never met Ranma, then how come I remember everything."
	"That's part of the wish, Akane.  There are beings out there that also
grant wishes... when they change the past.  The person who made the wish
changes with it.  When we do that, the person is excluded from the
shift.  Otherwise they wouldn't realize that they'd made the wish."
	"So... where's Ranma now?"
	"Ranma is living happily in Nerima..."  The Goddess suddenly looked
rather smug as she gazed at Akane.
	"He's still in Nerima?  Then I can find him and we can be happy and
everything will just the way it was before, you'll see."
	"...with Ukyo."
	Akane's face fell and she looked ready to cry again.  "But, but why?  I
mean, wouldn't his father remember about the engagement to one of us,
either me, or Nabiki, or Kasumi?  His dad was always really adamant
about that engagement.  I mean, he wouldn't let Ranma live with Ukyo, he
just wouldn't."
	"That's just it Akane-chan... Ranma didn't get to the dojo that
night..."

~~Flashback Time~~

Two years ago...

	A panda and a red haired girl with a pig-tail faced off in the street
of Nerima.  It was raining hard.
	"I TOLD YOU POP! THIS IS NO TIME FOR FIANCEE'S!"
	Having said that, the redhead leapt up and landed a kick on the panda's
face sending it flying into a street sign, where it collapsed in a heap.
	"I'm going back to China now, so suck on that, Oyaji."
	Unbeknownst to the girl, the panda had gotten back up and was holding
the street sign in one paw.  It swung it towards the girl.
	Call it divine inspiration, cause that's probably what it was, but
something warned the girl of the attack ahead of time.  She ducked under
the blow and caught the sign with her hand.  Standing back up, she
turned around and faced the panda.
	"Now you listen to me, Oyaji, and you listen good.  I am not..."  She
swung the sign towards the panda's face.  It impacted with a clang.
"...going to let you..." She did it again. "...ENGAGE me to some
girl..." She did it again, this time there were murmur's from the
gathering crowd.  "...that I HAVE NEVER EVEN MET!"  She swung the sign
at the panda to accentuate the last word, and it broke across it's
skull.  The panda fell down, unconscious.
	The redhead turned around and glared at the crowd, which stepped back
and began walking away.  The redhead could hear the people talking.
	"...and I thought Tomobiki was wierd."
	"Don't stare darling, or I'll hurt you."
	"Imagine!  Engaging a girl to a girl."
	The girl began to get slightly pissed at that one.
	After the crowd had the left, the redhead picked up the panda and slung
it over her shoulder, impressive considering how much that thing had to
weigh.
	Walking a few blocks, the girl found a bridge under which the ground
was relativley dry.  Setting up camp, the girl stuffed the panda into
one of the tents.  Heating a kettle of water, she dumped it on herself
and turned into a good-looking young boy.
	Growling, Ranma crawled into his tent and tried to get some sleep.

~~Kcabhsalf~~

	"So you see Akane-chan... you and Ranma never met.  As such, he didn't
fall in love with you.  Besides, all it would take would be a couple of
deluxe okonomiyaki and Genma would stand behind Ranma's engagement to
her, you know that as well as I do."  Urd was know standing on the other
side of the room going through Soun's stash of alcoholic beverages. 
"You'd think he'd keep something better on hand... sheesh."
	Akane had passed through anger and was now absolutely enraged.  She
couldn't believe it, this so-called goddess was treating her like the
entire thing was her fault!  Like it was her fault she got so mad at
Ranma for being a pervert!
	This time however, Akane was not going to lose her cool.  "That doesn't
explain why Ranma's living in Nerima... I mean, wouldn't he have left
after he confronted his father like that?"
	Urd stood up, holding a sake bottle.  It was one of Soun's more
expensive brands.  "He tried Akane-chan, Kami-sama knows he tried. His
dad wasn't too happy about leaving, but Ranma managed to use just the
right combination of blunt objects and sharp ones to convince him that
it was the wisest thing to do.  Then, when he was on his way out of
town, he ran into an old... acquaintance of his."
	"When you say old acquaintance... do you mean.."
	"No Akane-chan, Ukyo came a couple days after this."
	"A COUPLE DAYS! But it was a long time before she came here.  If she
came here about three days after Ranma that would mean she got here
before Shampoo even."
	"Apparently Ryoga was just as upset about his Jusenkyo curse then as he
is now, or, was now."  Urd shook her head, temporal mechanics was just
too much for her.  "Anyway, their fight attracted alot of attention. 
Newspaper's included.  Ukyo was just at the right place at the right
time to see the paper.  I mean, a headline that reads 'Saotome/Hibiki
brawl results in massive property damage' would kinda be noticed by
someone who had sworn death on Ranma."
	"Ryoga's got a Jusenkyo curse?"
	"Whoops, forgot who I was talking to."  She leans down close so she's
talking right to Akane's face and addresses her as one would a small
child.  "No Akane, Ryoga is a perfectly normal, well-adjusted human
being, there is absolutley nothing wrong with him at all."  Urd stood
back up to her full height and muttered so that Akane couldn't hear.  "I
hope you wise up someday." 
	Akane seemed to buy Urd's explanation with a simple. "Oh."
	Urd popped open the bottle and took an impressive gulp, draining almost
half of it.  "So, things happened pretty much the same with Ukyo...
except that Ryoga gave her a little haircut with that belt of his.  Poor
girl.  She challenged Ranma, he found out she was a girl, found out
about the engagement, called her cute, and she fell for him again.  She
opened up the Ucchan's a few days later, and Ranma figured with Ryoga
dropping by at all hours that he could afford to stay here and his
skills would stay up.  He still takes occasional training trips with his
father, but now Ukyo comes along."  She tried to take another swig from
the bottle she was holding and found it empty.  "Drat."
	She leaned back down to the cabinet and pulled out another, this one
was slightly more expensive.  "Let's see... is there anything else you
need to know... hmm."  Urd placed her hand to her chin in a thoughtful
expression, which looked awfully out of place with the drink in her
other hand.  She began to tick things off on her fingers.  "Okay, lesse
here.  Kodachi's still after her man."  Akane looked about ready to
speak up.  "Don't ask... it's more complicated than it was in your
world.  This's some strong sake y'know, 's good stuff."
	"Is there anything that's changed for the better for me Urd? 
Anything?"
	"Hmmm, oh yeah, Kuno's not after you anymore... that's good.  Although
I personally don't mind a guy who's a wee bit over-affectionate.  The
fact that he's an idiot doesn't count in his favor though."
	"How in the heck did that happen, I thought he'd be after me forever!"
	"Well..."  She put her hand on Akane shoulder.  Akane noticed that
there was a fairly large pile of sake bottle behind her, and her breath
reeked.  "...He started chasin' after the pig-tailed girl, see?"
	Akane nodded.
	"And then... he realized that she was under that foul sorcerer
Saotome's evil spell.  He made it his obligation to free her... follow
so far?"
	Akane nodded again, this was basically the way things happened in her
past.  It still didn't explain why he wasn't after HER anymore.
	"Well, Akane-chan... He, ya know Kuno..."  Urd seemed slightly tipsy. 
"He found out that Ukyo was also under Ranma's spell... wish I had more
sorcerers like Ranma, he's great with the ladies... *hic*."  Reminded of
Ranma's infidelity Akane began to fume again, faced with a goddess who
was downing her father's entire supply of sake didn't help much.  She
noted that the pile seemed bigger than the last time she checked.  "Kuno
found out that Ukyo was also under Ranma's spell.  He decided to try and
free her as well.  He began to devote more and more time to getting both
of them for himself.  Selfish nutcase..."
	Akane leaned over and checked her father's liquor cabinet.  Urd had
apparently gone through half of it, and it was a pretty big cabinet.
	"Akane... I'll explain the rest of this later, right now.  Can I borrow
your couch?"
	Akane stood up in a hurry.  "Why should I let you?  You've been nothing
but trouble since I me..."  Akane's speech died off as Urd collapsed
into an almost coma-like state on the couch.  Akane could hear her
mumbling in her sleep.  "Mmmm, 's good sake."
	Akane was absolutley astounded.  "Whod've thought a goddess could get
drunk?"
	"I would have."
	"What the..."  Akane turned, startled at the voice, and found herself
face to face with a girl who looked to be about twelve, she was dressed
in a slim red and white outfit and had a hammer propped on her
shoulder.  She had the same kind of marks on her face that Urd did. 
Different color, and different shape, but the same basic marks.
	"You're a goddess too aren..."
	"I don't have time for this.  Out of the way."  The girl walked over to
stand next to the couch and pulled a wierd helmet out of her dress.  She
placed it on Urd's head.
	She pressed a button on the helmet and it began to glow.  After a few
seconds Urd shot up to a sitting position and the little girl removed
the helmet.  "Skuld's instant hangover cure, patent pending."
	"What... where... huh?  Oh, hello squirt.  I was having a nice
dream..."
	"Dad says stay away from the booze while you're working.  Bye now!" 
Skuld waved and walked into the kitchen, running water could be heard
for a few seconds and then the doorway began to glow.  After it subsided
there was no more sound from the kitchen.  Urd looked noticeably upset.
Akane checked the cabinet and noticed that all the sake was apparently
back where it had been when Urd first showed up.
	Akane closed and locked the door to the cabinet and turned around to
face Urd.  "So?  Before you tried to remove all the alcohol from my
house."
	"Um... I forget, where was I?"
	"I think you were at the bit about Kuno?"
	"Oh, um, yeah.  Anyway, Kuno is now chasing after Ranma and Ukyo
because he believes that they are under Ranma's evil spell.  He calls
Ukyo his 'Goddess of okonomiyaki' and other such nonsense.  He thinks
that she's madly in love with him.  Anything else you need to know
you'll probably find out later.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have to talk
to my father.  No drinking on duty... HAH!"
	That being said, Urd disappeared into the T.V. set.  Leaving Akane just
as upset, angry, and lost as she had been feeling before Urd arrived. 
The only difference was that now she knew that Ranma was in Nerima, he
was with Ukyo, and she didn't have to worry about Kuno anymore.
	The door to the house opened and in stepped a rather daringly dressed
Nabiki.  She was wearing jean shorts and a tank-top "Hey Akane, Dad
still asleep?"
	"Um, yeah, I think so... why?"
	Nabiki gave Akane a calculating look.  It quickly receded back into her
emotionless mask.  "Good, c'mon.  I hope you're hungry, I brought dinner
from that Nekohanten place.  They make good Ramen."
	"Umm, why isn't Kasumi cooking?"
	Nabiki arched an eyebrow at Akane, as though she'd just said something
that didn't make any sense.  "Akane, you know perfectly well that Kasumi
works over at the Kuno mansion every monday.  How else would we pay our
bills?  I still haven't found that redhead or gotten that okonomiyaki
chef to let me take pictures of them yet and Kuno doesn't buy your's
anymore.  The other boys at school do, but they can't afford the prices
that I used to charge him."  Nabiki stared down at her hand as it
clenched into a fist almost of it's own accord.  "Kuno no Baka, why'd
you have to... um, anyway.  Here."  Nabiki handed Akane a box with a set
of chopsticks attached, she opened it to find a bowl of Ramen.  Akane
figured that since neither Shampoo nor Cologne knew her now that it was
safe to eat.
	Nabiki was the first to finish her food and ran upstairs after doing
so.  When she re-emerged she was holding her camera in one hand and a
few pieces of cloth in the other.  She noticed that Akane was finished
when she reached to bottom of the stairs.
	She motioned towards the dojo with her head.  "C'mon Akane, it's time
for that photo shoot."
	Akane head whipped up in shock at that.  "WHAT?"
	"Akane, not only did you promise me, but if you want to eat at all next
week you will be going through with this.  C'mon."
	<I did WHAT?>  "I... okay."
	Nabiki tossed her the red thing that she was holding in her hand. 
"Don't worry Akane, I don't sell pornography.  We don't need money badly
enough for me to do that to you..."
	Akane blushed from her hairline to her toes as she walked into the
dojo.
	Nabiki waited for a moment before following, she finished her last
sentence to herself, making certain that Akane was not within earshot. 
"..yet."
	She wiped the stray tear from her face with the back of her hand and
made her way towards the dojo.

End part 2

Author's post-script:  Where is this going? I do not know... but I do
know that there is more in store.  Chapter 3: Forever my Ran-chan, will
probably be a while in it's release, it's going to be longer... much,
much, longer.

"With a promise of stranger things to come"

?_?

Brian, signing off...
Tell me what you think so far.