Choices and Consequences
Chapter 4
Hibiki Protocols
Passion ignites me...
Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2 or Inuyasha.
Friday February 17, 1994
"Hmm, Hokkaido seems very warm for this time of year."
It was a boy with messy black hair and a yellow headband who spoke these words, the eternally lost boy, Ryoga. The wish-granter, Aijou, blinked and stared at him, recognition finally coming to him without even needing to read his thoughts. 'Fangs, messy dark hair, yellow bandannas and no sense of direction whatsoever… it's either a complete idiot…or it's a Hibiki! Let's see now, what were the Hibiki protocols again?' He saw Ryoga leaving the area and quickly shouted, "Wait! Hibiki person! STOP!"
Ryoga Hibiki, about to turn the corner and probably end up some insane place like Okinawa inside of ten minutes, halted mid-step, turned, and looked back at the strangely dressed man who had called him by his family name. Suspiciously, Ryoga asked him, "Who are you and what do you want? Do I know you?!"
The unusual man smiled at Ryoga and replied, "I am Aijou, I am a wish-granter, I know of your rather strange clan and I have the ability to remove your directional problems..."
Ryoga frowned, unsure of what to make of this, but with the slightest glimmering of hope. 'I have never had something like this happen before in my life, no way it would happen now, let alone for free.' "What's the catch? What aren't you telling me?!"
Aijou groaned. 'Darn, now I HAVE to tell him the whole spiel!' He then planted his feet and began his recitation with a sigh...
"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 in an even monotone, as if he had said it hundreds of times. His bored face added to the impression. "Do you have any questions?" Then he seemed to shake himself out of his bored funk. "However, I can remove your directional problems at no cost other than you losing your one wish.
Ryoga thought quickly. 'One wish affecting myself, Jusenkyo is part of me, that means I can cure my Jusenkyo curse finally!' Ryoga burst into what would have been the happiest grin any of the Nerima Wrecking Crew had ever seen from him before a stray thought stopped him. 'Wait, even if I didn't turn into a pig around her, I still couldn't see Akane more than once every couple of weeks unless I get really lucky. Maybe I would be better off if I just took the freebie.' "Wait a minute, why is it free to remove my directional problems?"
Aijou looked nervous about something. "Well you s-see. A long time ago, one of your ancestors made a wish to me and the problems you have been having are the c-cause. You see, this Koga person made a wish to have an blessing of misdirection put upon him; how was I supposed to know he meant that he wanted no one to be able to find him?! I mean it was clear that he wanted to have no sense of direction! It wasn't my fault!"
All of this was yelled in the kind of tone that let Ryoga know that, yes, it was entirely his fault. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, then pebbles on the street began rising into the air and a visible aura surrounded Ryoga as he began to glare at Aijou who shrunk back into a nearby wall. Then Ryoga screamed at him, "So you mean to tell me that all of my directional problems are because you gave the head of our family a hereditary "blessing" of no sense of direction! What kind of idiot are you?! Who could possibly want to get lost all of the time!?"
'Make note, find ability that allows me to avoid all Hibikis in the VERY near future.' "Eheh, it was an accident, but l-look at it this way; I am here now so we can cure it!" He nodded his head frantically and seemed truly terrified of the young man; easily explainable by the fact that his battle aura now far outmatched anything that the Nerima Wrecking Crew had seen him with against Ranma on account of his sheer rage and the fact that, although he had some skill in the martial arts, it was a joke compared to that of any of the Neriman fighters.
However, Ryoga's mind was so used to him being in a state of anger or rage that he still had some of his intellectual functions working. He started thinking quickly, 'OK, lets see now, if I get this directional problem fixed Akane will still eventually have to find out about P-chan but if I don't get it fixed then how can I possibly win her if I rarely see her?' He roared, "Fine then! Remove my directional problems and get out of here!"
Aijou squeaked, "I A-AGREE T-TO YOUR TERMS!"
A cracking noise was heard, and red light erupted from Ryoga and back into Aijou's person as a golden symbol of a set of merchant's weights floating above him shattered, then...
Ryoga continued his walk while smirking, 'soon I will challenge Ranma and win, then when I have proved myself I will...' He slipped into a fantasy involving him and Akane, "...I shall win the heart of Akane Tendo once and for all!" He soon saw Furinken High and walked straight towards it; hopefully the wall would survive this time...
Aijou collapsed to the ground panting, 'Thank the Kami that a side effect of granting that wish was him not remembering me; if we never meet again, it will be too soon. That boy was truly terrifying.' He then picked himself and took the fastest route he could to get out of Nerima without looking back for fear of seeing a certain fanged boy.
Besides, it took a lot more energy to remove a 'blessing', even if it was voluntarily offered, than it took to take an ability, for he had to undo the powerful magical bonds that were a part of the transaction, so he was too tired to even try and execute a normal wish...
Author's Notes: This was not the only or even the main choice Ryoga has to make, but it was necessary for future parts of the plot. Although he didn't know it, there was actually no way for him to cure his Jusenkyo curse with the wish from Aijou as, since it is most likely incurable from anything other than the Jusenkyo water itself, none of the abilities Aijou has would enable him to cure it as there would likely be no-one to get such an ability from, as very few if any people would have the ability to cure such a curse. Also, being a curse, he cannot extract it as he would a blessing...
This was the final wish chapter. Things will begin to really start moving in the next chapter.
rewind gone nuts: I can neither confirm nor deny your allegations of a Ranma/Akane pairing at this time.) Thank you for your interest and I do hope you will continue your "Another Rainy Day in Nerima" Fanfic soon. I have been following it for a couple months now and do truly enjoy how you bring each pairing to life.
I forgot to mention this earlier as a reply to Chi Vayne's review of my first chapter but it also applies to your review; The ability to make random boys fall in love will have no DIRECT effect on Ranma or Ryoga as any affection from them has a rather solid base by now. However, it might remove Kuno's feelings on her (To her VAST relief you can all be sure), I haven't decided for or against that one yet.
ranko lina Inverse: Given that this was the last of the planned wish chapters, you no longer have to worry I believe about Ranma getting messed over by a wish.
