Ranma ½: One Wish! Pt I

He was lost, again!

Ryoga sighed tried. If he didn't have such a lousy sense of direction he'd probably be all right. But his father had the same affliction, he was always getting lost. So, it was only natural that he'd probably inherit it. But he wondered why he couldn't just follow a simple map without going around in circles?

He stopped in a clearing of a forest to get his baring by the stars, but since he had entered a thicket, it had clouded over and it looked like it was going to rain by the look of the clouds. As a precaution, he took out his umbrella to protect himself from a downpour. If he got wet, it would take him twice as long to get where he was going. There was nothing worse than having to travel across country as a tiny piglet. The things he took for gained as a human he had to struggle with as an animal.

His instincts were correct and a droplet of water fell from the sky striking the back of his right hand. He quickly got under his umbrella as the rain began to drop. Seconds later, thunder boomed and lightning ravished the sky. He had gotten under his umbrella just in time. All he needed now was a dry place to ride out the storm. But in the forest, where would such a place be? He knew enough not to harbor under a tree. He was reminded of an old school lesson that to do so was invite being struck by lightning.

But fortunately he was in luck! His salvation had shown its face. It was a small cabin in the middle of nowhere. But what would a cabin be doing out here? The only thing Ryoga could think of as a reason was it must be someone who is camping out. But when he looked inside it looked abandoned… all expect an ample storage of food? It was a stockpile of all his favorite foods! A regular cornucopia of delight!

He couldn't believe it! It was impossible! How was this possible? All this food just left here?

His stomach sang a symphony of hunger.

He reached for hot steaming pork bun on a plate of other delectable and delicious goodies when…

…he jerked awake.

He sat up.

He was in his sleeping bag under a clear, starry night, his campfire exhausted, and his belly growling. He had went to bed hungry because he was unable to forge his dinner.

He sighed disappointed.

If only he turned right instead of left at that intersection along the road -- he'd be in Nerima with a full belly. He even might be sleeping in Akane's bed too, as P-Chan of course!

Ah, sleeping in Akane's bed. The thought made him blush, but he liked thinking of it. He had slept in her bed so many times, but as P-Chan. But it felt different when he was an animal. It didn't feel perverted and he didn't get aroused as much as if he were human. It was just… he didn't know how to fully describe it. If she only knew he was human, things would probably a whole lot different. Yes, his life would be shattered, that's what would be different. She would no longer welcome him in her bed, and that would be terrible!

He longed to be with her. His every waking moment consisted of her in his thoughts. And yet at the same time thinking only of her seemed to distract him from focusing on his training. He had to get stronger to defeat Ranma so Akane could see him as a worthy suitor. But again, was he trying to get stronger for himself or only to impress her? A martial artist did what he felt was the right thing to do. But was Akane getting in the way of accomplishing his goal?

But how could he even think that? He was doing this all for her!

And then it struck him…

She was a distraction.

"It's so hard, Akane," he started to say, "sometimes I wish I never met you and yet at the same time I could never imagine my life without you!"

He tried to clear his mind and lay back down to get some sleep, but his thoughts kept racing with thoughts of her.

"I wonder what my life would be without you…"

"I can grant that wish, you know," someone said in the distance.

Ryoga sat up and looked in the direction the voice came from, but it was extremely dark and the light from the night sky was no help to identifying the owner of the voice. But he sensed something…familiar…and suddenly became very nervous, as if he knew what it was. "Oh no…" he said worried, having a strange feeling of being watched.

He quickly rummaged through his sack and grabbed a flashlight and shone it into the darkness in front of him. But to his dismay he couldn't see anything. He moved it from side to side, surveying the area, but there was nothing there. Was he hearing things? Did he imagine that voice? Was he dreaming? But why would he be dreaming of hearing THAT voice?

He flicked off the light and sat in the dark for a few moments. Then when he got that feeling back, the feeling of being watched, he quickly turned it on and got the shock of his life! The light stopped at a large hunk of white fur, and when he shone the light upwards, he saw the face of Maomolin, the 3,000 year old ghost cat.

He let out a startled scream and backed off a meter, up against a tree.

"Mea-llo Ryoga!" the large, hefty looking, white fur cat said in his feline voice, smiling. "Meh! Fancy meeting you 'ere. You lost, too?"

"T-that's none of your business," he said, nervous of Maomolin. The last time he encountered him the situation didn't turn out well.

"I heard your wish, would you like me to grant it?"

Ryoga's brow frowned in confusion. "What wish?" he said.

"The one you made where you wished you never met Akane," he said.

Ryoga's brow rose and he suddenly became angry. "Absolutely not!" he said. "I would never wish anything like that to happen!"

"Then why did you say it?"

"Never mind that."

"You love her, and yet you wonder what your life would be without her?"

"Forget I said anything! Now go away!"

Maomolin snorted angry. "That's no way to talk to a friend," he said.

"You're not my friend. The last time we crossed paths I nearly died of embarrassment when you used me to get to Akane so you could snatch yourself a bride. I refuse to be used in that manner!"

"I did you a favor," he said. "You could never have confessed your true feelings to her if it wasn't for me."

Ryoga gritted his teeth and growled under his breath. "With ears that big I would imagine you hear good," Ryoga said. "For the last time, go away! I never made a wish and would never allow such a wish to be made, ever!"

"But you forget, I still owe you a debt for saving my life from those hungry, rabid wolves in the forest that time. I must repay the debt or I could lose my powers because I didn't fulfill a granted wish."

"No, you don't, and I shoulda let those wolves have you for all the trouble you caused me. You don't owe me anything. Your debt, despite how troublesome, was paid. If ever you granted me a proper wish, it would be that I wish I'd never met you!"

"You don't mean that," Maomolin said.

"I do, with all my body and soul," Ryoga said. "If you feel you still owe me a debt of gratitude for saving your life, then grant me this wish. I wish I had never met you."

Maomolin sighed sad. "Very well," he said. "But the wish is ill-reversible."

"All the better," Ryoga said, he smiled thin. He crossed his arms across his chest. "You've caused me great grief and once you're gone, all the trouble you caused me with Akane will be gone, too! Someday I'll tell Akane how I feel, but the way I did it with you inside me, was just too embarrassing!"

"If that's your wish, then that's what you'll get," Maomolin said. "But a warning; your life as you know it from that moment on, that moment we first met, will not be the same. When you fiddle with history, you alter the future."

"If it means never meeting you, I'll take what destiny deals me," he said. "Now grant my wish and be gone forever from my memories!"

Maomolin folded his arms in front of him and extended his paws a foot in front of his chest. "Maomolin, the 3,000 year old ghost cat, hear-by grants your wish," he said. Then he quickly smirked mischievously before he preformed the history erasure. But Maomolin didn't erase himself from Ryoga's mind, instead he did something else entirely.

There was a bright flash--

--and Ryoga jerked awake from a light sleep. He was laying on the ground, and looked out into the darkness of a forest. He thought he heard a noise, but didn't see anything. Suddenly he sighed, it was all a dream. He still remembered Maomolin.

To be continued…