Puella Magi Saotome Magica
By Ozzallos
Prologue
Rain.
It was a constant, if unwelcome harbinger of change both figuratively and literally for one Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. Specifically, it transformed him into a her and now she stared out into the sheets of rain drenching the immediate Chinese countryside beyond the small hut that shielded her person from the majority of it.
Ranma flipped the wet red braid of her hair from her shoulder, shaking her head at the weather that had plagued the region for the past two days. That was her fault, of course.
'Saffron's fault,' the redhead added with a mild grumble. She stared out into the rain, knowing that somewhere beyond the drenching sheets of precipitation there was the waterlogged springs of Jusenkyo. Beyond that was the recent field of battle where hot and cold ki had been thrown about to devastating effect. The battle was over but it had influenced the local weather patterns, instigating a premature monsoon.
'Whatever,' Ranma shook her head and turned back to the hut's interior where she would more than likely be trapped for the next twenty minutes. 'Unless I want ta get soaked to the bone,' she considered the alternative briefly before dismissing it entirely. She could wait the sudden cloudburst out, then find out what the others were up-
"It was a close fight."
Ranma blinked, her head swiveling mechanically toward the childlike voice. The hut consisted of little more than a bamboo cot and rickety old table. It was also empty. Or had been. Now, the table was occupied by... A rabbit? A cat? Ranma shivered slightly with the last thought as she stood dumbfound, staring at some white, fuzzy animal that now sat upon the previously unoccupied table. Beady red eyes stared eerily upon her person and Ranma's own blue stared back, wondering what to make at the...
'…Fox?' The martial artist blinked, still trying to pin down what exactly the creature was. Long white bangs adorned by floating gold rings and a long plush tail dominated the animal's features.
"Ah, yeah," The redhead circled the animal curiously, abandoning any attempt to discern what it actually was in favor of coaxing it to talk again. "You see all that?"
"Only the latter stages of conflict," The white animal's gaze tracked on her steadily. "The escalation was quite impressive."
"That's one way to describe it." She arched her eyebrow skeptically, pausing in her pacing to fully consider the new arrival. She posed the most obvious hypothesis available to her, gesturing to it. "Ah, Jusenkyo curse?"
"I come with an offer for you," The creature stated calmly, ignoring the question.
"An offer?" Ranma parroted, allowing her original question to slip by in favor of what was obviously becoming the reason for the white creature's presence.
"Somebody of your skill would be of great value hunting witches." It continued now that the girl had taken the obvious conversational bait.
"Witches, huh?" Ranma considered the direction of their chat, somehow doubting that the little furry animal was referring to old women with brooms and pointy hats. The bait however, paled in comparison to the events over the last few days and she shook her head, jabbing a thumb back at the slackening rain. "Much as I wanna take you up on the offer, I got a no weird shit policy goin' for at least the next couple weeks."
"Understandably," The creature nodded sympathetically. "I would, of course, offer compensation."
"Compensation?" Ranma responded absently, her attention span rapidly waning back toward the mystery the creature represented.
'Like how the hell it can talk,' she mused as the thing continued. Last she checked, Jusenkyo didn't exactly confer speech to its animal cursed victims nor were its lips even moving.
"Indeed," It confirmed. "A wish."
The redhead's thought process paused and she eyed the animal. "What sorta wish?"
"Anything you desire," The creature nodded again as the girl's attention focused sharply upon it with a scrutinizing gaze. "A wish in exchange for your witch elimination services."
One wish immediately came to Ranma's mind, but it wasn't the first time she had been confront with such an offer, and another thought accompanied the idea. Her gaze narrowed. "What's the catch?"
"The catch?" The fox-cat-rabbit cocked its head, though the unblinking gaze never left her person. Regardless of its static expression, the creature seemed to track her meaning after a few second of incomprehension. "Ah. Your tenure would require a magical transformation. In effect you would become a magical girl in order to hunt-"
"Wait a minute," A sour look flowed across the Saotome's face as she interrupted. "You mean I gotta be a magical girl to get my wish?"
The small animal remained silent for a moment before nodding its confirmation. "Essentially, yes."
"Pass." Ranma waived the offer off, shaking her head. She turned back toward the rain, which had all but stopped. "Look, I'm sure you can find somebody else ta take care of these things. Me? I'm beat."
Silence met Ranma's dismissal at first as the animal considered the offhand rejection of its proposal before renewing the attempt. "The wish is open ended. Surely there must be something you want?"
The martial artist glanced back with a snort. "I got better things to do than play magical girl. Besides, we both know this wish crap always ends badly anyway."
If white animal could have blinked or emoted an expression beyond placid creepiness, it would have in that moment because what the girl had said was absolutely correct. Altering fate and destiny tended to have negative impacts on one's personal karma, though that was the concern of the recipient, not his. Of course, the creature would tell anybody who asked, but those he contracted with rarely ever did. In the end, there really wasn't much to say in the face of such insight.
"I see."
"Yep." Ranma shrugged with little in the way of conversational attachment. "Maybe go pester the Amazon's or somethin'. They got a few good fighters that haven't spent the last week chasin' some Phoenix brat across the back forty of China."
Silence met the advisement and after a moment, curiosity got the better of the martial artist. She turned back to the table and was barely surprised to find it empty. Ranma gave the hut's interior a quick onceover to confirm its absence then shrugged, secure in the knowledge that the offer had been bad news from the get-go.
'A magical girl. As if,' Ranma mentally snorted with wry amusement before turning back to the doorway where the rain beyond had finally begun to slacken. The redheaded girl peaked outside and received a dab of water on her nose for her trouble, but it in no way dissuaded her from taking to the outside drizzle.
The sooner she got the hell away from weirdness of Jusenkyo and China in general, the better.
Author's Notes-
Well, you know what this means. Keep in mind, I don't do angsty grimdark very well, or rather, I can... I just choose not to participate. Yet another example of just because I don't publish, doesn't mean I don't write; sometimes for a variety of reasons. I didn't feel this one had enough fissionable mass to sustain a plot for a long time. That and the peeps over at Fanfiction Federation were getting pissed at me over my obstinacy over Ranma's costume and the writers block it created. All in fun, of course. Mostly :) I know a prologue doesn't give you much, but since you were on Santa's 'Nice' list, you can be assured more is inbound.