Choices and Consequences

Chapter 1

Akane's Wish

Uncertainty consumes me...

Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.

Friday February 17, 1994

"You come back here! RANMA YOU IDIOT!" This scream emitted from a young woman with short blue hair; she had an expression of utmost fury on her face that she wore very well.

"Ha! I would rather eat five-week old road kill than your 'food' Akane! At least then I MIGHT live to see tomorrow!" The teenage boy shouted back; he had black hair in a pigtail, a face with bright, steel-grey eyes with a hint of blue to them, and enough arrogance for ten emperors. While he shouted, he was running on top of a fence at a fairly good clip, with the girl in hot pursuit on the ground running alongside said fence.

Despite the fact that Akane was quite fast herself, Ranma was far too fast for her to keep up and his grinning face quickly vanished into the distance with a single parting shot, "Try calling the JSDF! I heard from Nabiki that she sometimes sells them your so-called lunches as biological weapons! Stupid uncute tomboy!"

As he left her sight, the tomboyish young woman stamped her feet then slowed her pace down to a slow walk; she was very early for once so she could take her time walking to the school. "Stupid Ranma, how can I get better if no one will even taste it? I wish I could cook well enough that he wouldn't want to eat what those bimbos make him and only want to eat my food." She growled.

"I can help you with that," spoke a male voice from right behind her. Akane whirled around and saw a man standing in the shadows of a nearby building of the marketplace that she had been passing through. He was dark-skinned with long blond hair in a ponytail; he also wore a ring on each and every finger as well as long brown robes with a light green star pattern all over the front.

At such an unusual sight as this strange man, even considering that they were in Nerima and such sights were to be expected, Akane could do little more than stand still and stare at him for several seconds before remembering he said something. "Excuse me?"

The man then started talking in a perfectly even monotone, almost as if he were a computer in the shape of a human being, "I can help you with your troubles, my name is Aijou, I am a wish-granter; if you are willing to pay the price I will grant you a wish. Although there are certain conditions, the wish and price involved must only affect you, the price must be more valuable to me than the wish, and you may only make one wish."

He paused to take a single breath then continued speaking at exactly the same pace as before.

"Side-effects are: you and those you know will be unable to notice that anything has changed and will think the wish had always been in effect and you will forget you have ever made said wish." He spoke all of this mechanically and the same monotone from beginning to end, as if he had said it hundreds of times; his bored face added to that impression. "Do you have any questions?"

Akane just blinked while looking at him looking like she got hit by a truck. "Could you repeat all of that again? I missed parts of it."

Aijou sighed and repeated the monologue he had given before with the exact same tone and wording.

Akane crossed her arms and replied in a rather annoyed tone. "What do you mean by price? If you want money go ask Nabiki, she has my allowance for the next two weeks."

He shook his head and with a slight frown said, "I do not trade my wishes for money, but rather attributes and abilities such as your ability to get random males to fall in love with you or your ability to swim or lack thereof; some of these attributes are more valuable than others." He said this too in a monotone, although he seemed to be somewhat annoyed with her; Akane started to get angry at how he seemed to view talking to her as a boring and annoying task.

Nonetheless, she banished her anger at him with a quick 'hmmph" and started to think about how she could take advantage of the situation. 'Well, what should I wish for? The ability to cook better would make people…' She quickly shoved aside thoughts of a single individual, '…like me more. On the other hand if I was better looking Ranma would never bother looking at those tramps. Maybe I should wish to be a better fighter. Ergh, what would stop the pervert from cheating on me with his other fiancées the best?'

After a few minutes of thinking and much pacing, during which Aijou just stood there in a state of total apathy while barely breathing, as if he were a human statue, she decided to wish…"I wish I was the most beautiful girl in Nerima, and I will trade my ability… err the first one of mine you mentioned in order to get this wish."

He turned away slightly and she had the distinct impression he rolled his eyes, "You mean the ability to get random males to fall in love with you?"

She nodded before remembering he had turned away and said, "yes".

He then sighed, before answering her. "Alright, that sounds fine. Ahem, I AGREE TO YOUR TERMS!" He said the last in a low shout. There was a rushing noise and a bright green light enveloped her from all sides in a dome of crackling energy. A golden symbol of a set of merchant's weights was superimposed on the dome and then…

A young woman left the marketplace leaving a trail of young men staring at her in her wake; she had sky-blue eyes and dark hair with a bluish tint that trailed down to her shoulders as well as a face to die for; where once her smile was described as cute, now it could be described as unearthly. Her face seemed equally comfortable in an expression of great kindness and compassion or in one of terrible rage; she seemed like an angel fallen from the skies whose purpose was to shatter the minds and break the hearts of men with the image of her beauty.

It was almost time for classes and Akane rushed quickly after her sometime fiancé towards Furinken High with an almost feral grin on her face at the thought at how she planned to surprise him.


After Akane left, Aijou chuckled, enjoying how his first encounter with a Neriman had gone; after hearing the tales of the craziness and madness of the place, he had elected to see if there were any opportunities to make a deal, especially because with people of such power, he could make a bigger profit in a couple hours than he had made in the past month, assuming they didn't become hostile.

He had particularly liked his deal with Miss Tendo, as she had been quite foolish to make such a trade, for an ability such as hers only came around maybe once every decade. 'It is quite ironic; from my glimpse of her thoughts and motivations, Miss Tendo desires love, yet doesn't want to be trapped in it nor be lusted after. However, her wish has done more to make her an object of lust rather than true love...It is quite a pity that she has so much pride, without the self-confidence to back it up...'

Aijou then smirked; he had more wishes to grant... 'And more profits to be had...'

Author's Notes: This is my first piece of fanfiction, it is based on the manga and begins right before Nodoka first arrives. It will follow the manga in terms of events (although I do plan on skipping a lot of the filler chapters such as the one at the end of book 20 with the headmistresses panties) although there will be major changes to the events that occur. For example, a different person might use the koi rod of love, or someone might be brought along who wasn't.

The point of this fanfiction is to take several changes to canon at that point and see how they snowball in the future and what changes it will lead to in the long run. As for pairings, I will leave that as a surprise for you all in the future.