Chapter 1: The Wish

Ranma Saotome was not having the best day. In other words it was a fairly typical day for him. As he flew through the air, high above the streets of Nerima far from where he was originally punted, he took a little time to think about how he got into his current situation.

Man, you'd think I'd get at least some karma after helping out that kid in the hospital. And I was even being really nice to that ghost girl Mineko. She was pretty friendly too, til she kicked me at least. Ugh, why'd that uncute tomboy have to go and mess things up anyway?

Ranma then noticed where he was going to land and let out a groan just before splashing into the canal. An annoyed red haired girl emerged and fished out the shoes that were now a little too big.

And now I gotta deal with being wet. Sometimes I think that's even worse than changing. Well, better start heading back I suppose. At least Kasumi should have some hot water for me back at the dojo. And maybe Akane was able to explain things to Mineko. Does everyone have to react bad when finding out about my curse?

The pigtailed martial artist started running to the place he considered home. He went quickly over rooftops, on fences, across canals, past alleyways, and then stopped. Ranma backed up slightly and looked in the alley he just ran past. Wow, I must've been knocked pretty far if there are actual muggers here.

Ranma saw three teenage punks a bit older than him wearing leather jackets and trying to look tough while surrounding a young blond haired woman who had her back up against the alley wall. One of the punks with a spiked up hairstyle was holding a knife to the woman's throat and making threats. Okay, got to be careful. Don't want her getting hurt or anything. Huh, looks like changing was a good thing after all.

"Um, excuse me," a soft voice called out. Everyone turned to the entrance of the alleyway to see a small girl standing there looking pensive. Her bright red hair was tied back in a single pigtail style braid. The yellow shirt and black pants she was wearing looked far too large on her and the bare feet just confirmed to the punks what they suspected was a homeless girl wandering into the wrong place. "I really don't think you should be doing that," she continued with clear nervousness in her voice.

"Hey, it's okay kid," another of the punks, sporting a blond pompadour, responded. "We're just having a little bit of fun here. Ain't we, lady?" The woman managed to keep a neutral expression despite the situation. There was also something in her eyes that Ranma couldn't quite pin down. Now wasn't the time to worry about that though.

"If you don't stop that right now, I'll go to the cops. I mean it!" Ranma said, trying to modify his cute girl act to sound scared. Come on, spike boy. Put the knife down. Then we'll really have some fun.

The largest of the group, with a shaved head, walked up and grabbed the redhead's arm. "Now, now. No need for that." He then grinned as he dragged the girl over to the others. "Heh, check it out. This 'kid' sure got a nice set of tits on her, don't she?"

"Hey! Let me go, you big jerk!" Ranma cried out.

The spike-haired kid grinned and motioned to the blond one. "Hey, make sure the nice lady don't interfere." He then took his knife off the woman's throat and sauntered over to the girl whose arms were pinned back by the bald punk. "Okay, sweetcheeks. Don't try anything stupid and you'll-"

Whatever else he was going to say was cut off by a foot hitting hard under his chin, making him fly up several feet off the ground before landing hard. Ranma immediately followed up by reaching behind him and throwing the big man over his shoulder right on top of the punk's prone buddy. He glanced over at the remaining punk with all semblance of fear now gone from his eyes. Instead, he exuded pure confidence and asked with a smirk, "wanna have a go too?"

The blond haired boy hesitated for a moment before reaching over to the woman, perhaps to use as a hostage. The pigtailed girl seemed to blur for a moment before appearing right in front of him with a fist fully embedded in his stomach. He keeled over in pain before collapsing on the ground. The pigtailed martial artist then looked over as the bald man scrambled up to his feet. The large teenager took one quick glance, then turned around to run out of the alley as fast as he could. Ranma just sighed and then leapt in the air landing right on the back of the punk's head, knocking his face hard into the pavement.

Ranma looked back to the woman still in the alley. "Hey, are you alright, lady?"

The woman kept that look from before in her eyes and gave a smile that didn't even seem to acknowledge she had a knife up to her throat moments before. "Why yes, thanks to you," she said with a cryogenic calmness.

Ranma let out a sigh as the cop cars finally left with the would-be muggers in tow. he was glad he didn't need to go to the police station and for once was actually grateful Nabiki bothered to create an ID for his girl half, one 'Ranko Tendo', even if he still questioned if it was worth the cost. Still, it took some time to explain what happened and it was starting to get really late. Shaking his head slightly, he turned and looked up at the woman he just met. She looked foreign, probably from somewhere in Europe. Must be a tourist or something. "Hey, um, lady…"

The woman gave another smile and spoke in a calm tone that reminded Ranma somewhat of Kasumi. "You can call me Ahn."

Something about that name felt odd to Ranma, but at the same time also matched up perfectly with the woman's aura. He also noticed that she didn't have a hint of a foreign accent. "Uh, glad you're okay and all, but I sorta need to go now."

"But you can't leave yet, Ranko. I haven't rewarded you for your bravery."

"Oh don't worry. It's a martial artist's duty to protect people in need after all, and a true martial artist does not require a reward for their deeds."

"Ah, I see. Well, I was going to buy you some ice cream-"

"But it would also be rude for a martial artist to turn down such a generous offer," Ranma quickly amended.

Very shortly, the redhead found himself seated at a booth in a nearby ice cream parlor happily scarfing down his third parfait while Ahn sat across the table casually nibbling on her cone. "That was quite the brave thing you did back there," she casually commented.

"Oh, it was nothing. Those jerks were easy to deal with. Besides, it's a martial artist's-"

"Duty. Yes, you said that. But that's not the actual reason, is it?"

Ranma paused in mid bite and looked up. "Wuh?"

"Oh sure, you most definitely have your pride and an absolute desire to win, and it can lead to a lot of trouble for you, there's no denying that. However, there's also no denying that, in the end, you will do whatever you can to help out others in need. You're a good person, Ranma Saotome, and now I want to help you out."

At the mention of his actual name, Ranma froze up. "Wait, how did you-"

"This place is a bit noisy, don't you think?" Ahn stated while looking around. She then turned back to Ranma and gave a slight smirk. "Why don't we get a little more privacy," she said while snapping her fingers.

All of the surrounding sounds instantly ceased. The ambient chatter, the clink of metal against glass, the whirl of electric mixers. All gone. Ranma looked around and saw completely empty tables with no signs that anyone was ever there. He quickly stood up and took a ready stance against the woman in front of him. "What did you do? Where did everyone go?"

"Oh, they're right back at the diner enjoying their ice cream. Probably didn't even notice us leaving. I just moved us to somewhere we can talk without getting interrupted. Not a bad recreation of where we were, right?"

"Uh, I guess so," Ranma said, relaxing his stance slightly and looking around once more before turning back to the blond haired woman with a resigned expression. "Alright, who are you and what do you want me to do?"

"Right," the woman said, finishing her ice cream cone and lightly dusting off her hands. "First, true introductions would be in order. I actually have a few names, but in this form I tend to go by Angeya." She waved her hand and bright Katakana appeared before her, spelling out the name.

アンジェッヤ

"Although, I think this looks a bit nicer." She waved again and some of the kana disappeared.

アン

"Plus it makes for some nice symbolism, don't you think?" She leaned back and smiled, waiting for that moment of realization. Instead, all she received was a look of confusion.

"You know, because it's the first and last kana," she continued.

"It is?" the redhead replied, studying the symbols in the air. "Oh yeah, that's right. Uh, okay?"

"Hmph, well I thought it was neat. And quite appropriate as well." Ahn raised her hand up and the two kana flew apart and turned into bright dots. Several other dots appeared between them and lines connected all of them together in one continuous chain.

"Beginning and end, and everything in between. A series of occurrences that lead into each other." A blue glow appeared at the first point which slowly traveled down all the way to the last one.

"Ah, but what if we were to go back and have it so something different happens at one of these points?" The blue glow moved again from the start, except this time at one point in the middle the glow suddenly changed to red and a new path appeared. It then continued down in a different direction and ended up far away from the original end.

"It doesn't even need to be a spectacular change to make a big difference. A butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil and a monsoon occurs in Thailand. A horseshoe nail goes missing and a kingdom gets conquered. A woman struts into a bar and an entire town experiences a blackout. Cause and effect, chain of events."

Ranma just stared at the display in front of him for a few seconds. "Uh, so you brought me to some weird ghost ice cream parlor to give a lecture?"

Ahn gave a bit of a pensive look and waved her hand again, causing the display to fade out. "Well, I was planning on a much nicer place to do this, but I got a little turned around trying to find you and then, well, I sort of got jumped in that alley."

"Wait, why didn't you use your powers to, uh, you know…"

"Send them to the cornfield? No need, you showed up and had everything under control, right?"

"Uh, I guess." Ranma gave a reserved sigh and sat back down at their booth. "Yeah, I'm not getting out of this one, am I? Alright, what do you want me to do for you?"

Ahn gave a gentle smile. "Ah, no. You see, this is about what I can do for you. More specifically, what I can help you do for yourself."

"What, me? Why?"

"Well, I guess I could have just stood in front of some magic cauldron and made a wager with a random deity about your life, but that seems a bit outdated. Besides, I wanted to put the decision in your hands."

"Um, what decision?"

"Like I showed you before, one change can make a big difference down the line. So that's what I'm offering to you. A change to one event in your past in order to make your life better."

"Really? How?"

"With this." Ahn reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a softball sized clear orb that looked to be made out of glass and in no way could have fit in that pocket. "Now, I'm sure there's quite a few things in your past you'd like to change," she said as she placed the orb in front of her. "So, you should take the time to think about…Ranma?" Looking ahead, the redhead was nowhere to be found. She looked down and the orb was no longer in her hands, replaced by some strange looking wooden doll.

Ranma huddled behind the counter of the kitchen clutching the ball in his hands. "I wish I didn't get this curse. I wish I never even went to Jusenkyo." He looked at the item in his hands that mocked him by continuing to be a glass sphere. "Come on! Why aren't you doing anything!"

"Because it doesn't work that way," said a voice next to him.

Ranma shot up and gave warding gestures while still holding tightly onto the orb. "Uh, I wasn't trying to…I mean…wait, what do you mean it doesn't work that way?"

Ahn gave a gentle smile back. "Just some precautions that were made. You can be quite impulsive and wishes can end up with unforeseen consequences." The look on her face turned towards contemplation. "I was told the story of this one girl who was also given a wish. A wish with consequences. And she still rushed forward, even knowing the price that would need to be paid. Things did turn out well in the end, quite saccharine in fact. But…it was very touch and go for a long time. So, yeah, I want to make sure everything goes well with you." Her smile brightened and she let out an amused snort. "Plus, I'm pretty sure Berry will never let me hear the end of it if I screw up."

"Uh, okay. So, um, what do I have to do then?"

"Well, first off the orb is set up to examine your wish and start glowing blue if it believes a positive change will come from it. There wasn't any hint of blue glow happening, so the orb decided it wasn't a good wish."

"What?!" Ranma shrieked out.

"Come on, it's not like you actually hate your girl form."

"Hey! I…uh…what about all that stupid stuff that happened because of my curse."

"Oh, you mean like your dad running off with your friend Ukyo's family food cart? Or that pit of cats? Or what happened between you and Ryoga in middle school?"

"Um, well, but what about after Jusenkyo? All the-"

"Multiple fianceés? Rivals? Challengers? You really don't think all that would have happened regardless? Let's face it. Minus the whole Kuno thing, everyone pretty much treats you the same regardless of your form. So what exactly would-"

"My mother."

Ahn looked over to the redhead, who now held a determined expression. "Ah, Nodoka Saotome. So this is for her then."

Ranma held his stare for a few moments before looking away and slumping down against the wall. "You're the goddess, so you should know, right?"

Ahn gave a slight smile and answered in a gentle tone. "Well, in honesty I'm more of a…yes, I do know. When you were too young to even remember, your father took you away on your training journey, leaving your mother behind. Before he left, he made a vow to raise you as a Man Among Men or else-"

"We'd both commit seppuku. And Mom…"

"Would then use her katana to follow you both to the afterlife," Ahn quietly finished.

"Yeah." Ranma gave a bitter laugh and gestured to his currently female body. "Can't be much of a Man Among Men like this, can I? I spent so long not even knowing I had a mother. Now that I'm with her I can't tell her I'm her son. To her, I'm just some girl named Ranko. Just a stranger."

"Now that's not exactly true, Ranma. She might not know who you really are, but she does care about you deeply. Do you really think your mother would hate you if she knew the truth?"

Ranma paused for a long while before letting out a sigh. "It doesn't matter. Mom's real big on honor and duty. Even if she didn't want to, honor would demand that she'd do it anyway. So I have to keep this up. As long as I'm half-girl, I'm stuck calling her Auntie Saotome instead of Mom." He took the moment to look up at Ahn, allowing the grief to show clearly on his face. "Every time Mom comes to visit, the first thing she does is ask if her son is there. And every time we have to tell her 'Oh, you just missed him' or 'He's gone out on another training trip'. And then I have to see that glimmer of hope in her eyes turn to disappointment. Every. Single. Time. She's been waiting so long to get her son back and I can't tell her that I'm right here! I just…I just don't want her to be lonely anymore."

He waited for Ahn to respond, but then noticed that she was looking down further with a confused expression on her face. Following her eyesight, he was amazed as he saw the orb still in his hand was now shining brightly with an…emerald glow? "Wait, I thought you said this thing was suppose to turn-"

"Blue, I know," Ahn finished. She motioned with her finger and the orb flew up and into her hand. She then closely examined the glowing sphere. "Let's see…what exactly are you trying to…huh…" She waved her free hand around the orb and the green color started to oscillate between lighter and darker shades. "That's…wow, I didn't even know it could do that."

"What? What's it doing?" Ranma asked in concern, quickly scrambling to his feet.

"Well, normally we'd start at the cause and go from there, but apparently this thing heard what you were saying and decided to actually work backwards."

Ahn walked out of the kitchen back into the dining area and sat down at a nearby booth, never taking her gaze off the flashing orb. Ranma quickly followed behind, taking a seat at the booth across from her. She continued to study the sphere closely, now apparently talking directly to it. "Are you serious? Wow, that's…you must really have a point you want to prove. Or is it me? It's because I'm the one doing this, isn't it?"

Ranma looked at the scene pensively before asking, "Um, so what's going on?"

Ahn gave a smile as she looked up. "Well, the good news is that your wish has been heard and it was accepted."

Ranma could only look on in shock for several moments before he was able to finally find the words. "Are…are you serious? Is it really gonna happen? Will I really be-"

"Don't celebrate just yet," Ahn interrupted, putting her hand out in a stopping gesture before turning her attention back to the orb. "I still need to look through this timeline."

"Wait, I thought that ball thingy had everything under control."

"Did you forget what I said about unforeseen consequences? Monsoons, fallen kingdoms, blackouts. I need to check this to make sure a little change doesn't lead to the end of the world or anything like that."

"What? How the heck would that happen?"

"Hey, could you please be quiet for a bit? Proofreading a life takes a good amount of concentration. Uh, here." Not breaking her gaze from the glowing sphere, she waved her free hand and an extra large parfait appeared in front of Ranma. "Enjoy. I'll let you know when I'm done. Should just be a few minutes."

Ranma blinked a couple of times at the giant confectionery in front of him and the spoon that was now in his hand, before shrugging and quickly digging in. Oh wow, just a few more minutes and I'll be 100% guy. No more girl body. No more… He paused mid bite, looking down at his currently female form, and then back up at the ice cream treat in front of him. Taking a big swallow, he spent a few moments staring at the parfait, before continuing to eat, much more slowly this time. Okay fine, so the magical goddess who knows my whole life maybe had a point. It's not a big loss though. Not really. As long as I can be with my Mom and actually be able to call her Mom, that's all that matters.

Ranma was just finishing his treat when Ahn gave a big smile and looked back up. "Alright, everything looks to be in order here. No world getting blown up or evil dictators conquering Japan. Your life will still be quite chaotic, though. I seriously doubt there would be any way to avoid that. Now, there are just a few more things we need to go over."

The redhead's expression deflated slightly. "What? There's more?"

"Don't worry, this will be quick. First off, don't worry, Akane will still be a part of your life."

"Really? Oh, um, I mean…" Ranma looked away and tried to hide the red in his face. "Whatever, not like I was worried about that dumb tomboy or anything."

"Yes, I'm sure. The next thing is that you don't have to worry about forgetting anything about this current life. You will still retain everything that happened here and then will slowly gain the memories for your new life."

"Oh. Won't that be kinda confusing though?"

"Unfortunately, that's not something we can avoid. Which brings me to one final part: when this is going to happen."

"Now! Let's do this right now!" Ranma quickly blurted out.

"I don't think that's the best idea. Remember, this will be a lot of changes for you, so you will want some time to get used to it. Then again, we don't want to go too long, especially with a couple of things I want to make sure definitely happen. All things considered, I believe 12 will be the best option. Are you okay with that?"

"Uh, yeah sure." Midnight, huh. Figures that's when it would happen. Makes sense I suppose. It'll give her time to let me know what to expect at least. Don't want to be caught off guard like with a challenge I wouldn't know about or something. "Yeah, I guess that works."

"Alright then." Ahn waved her hand one final time over the orb, causing the green glow to change to a solid white. "Hold your hand out, please."

Ranma did so and the blond haired woman placed the glowing sphere into his grasp. She then turned his hand over and put both her hands on top of his. She gave one final gentle smile towards the redhead. "It was a pleasure meeting you. Despite what anyone may try to say, you are a good person. Never forget that. I wish you well, Ranma Saotome." She then slammed her hands down with all her might.

He felt the glowing orb shatter on the table beneath his hand, the white light spreading out and saturating his vision. Then, he felt himself shatter.

Ranma's eyes shot open and he found himself lying down and staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Okay, so what happened to midnight? He paused for a moment, then quickly brought his hand up against his chest. A chest that felt flat. He relaxed his hand down to his side and let out a long breath. Did…did it really happen? It really worked? "Am I really…"

He froze at the sound of a voice that was far too high pitched and brought his hand up to his throat. "Wait, what's…" He quickly sat up and made note of several things.

First, instead of his normal bedroll, he was in a full sized bed that was quite soft.

Second, as the large, fluffy covers fell away, he saw that he was dressed in a pair of light blue, pink, and white pajamas he had never seen before.

Third, his body was smaller. Quite a bit smaller in fact.

Fourth, his loose hair was falling in front of his face. Hair that was bright red.

Finally, the scream that escaped his throat was still a much higher pitch than it should be.

I…I'm…I'm…how dare she! She promised! Goddesses aren't supposed to lie like that. She must have messed something up. Oh, I hope that Berry person goes and rips her a new-

"Are you okay?" Ranma turned towards the voice coming from the doorway. The woman standing there wasn't in her regular kimono and her dark red hair was styled much differently. Still, there was no way he wouldn't recognize that face.

"A…Auntie?"

The woman paused a moment before entering the room. "No, Ranma sweetie, it's your mother."

Ranma's eyes grew wide as he looked down at himself again and then back up to the woman in front of him. He then scooted back on the bed as far as he could while waving his hands in front of him in warding gestures. "I…I…I can explain! Really! It's…um…I mean…" Reaching the headboard, he curled up and covered his head. "I'm sorry! I wasn't trying to…please…not seppuku…you don't have to…I don't wanna die!"

Nodoka rushed over to the bed and enveloped the trembling child in a hug. "Ranma, honey, it's okay. You're safe now. There's no seppuku."

Ranma stopped shaking and relaxed slightly. "There's not? You're not gonna make me…?"

"No, of course not! I would never do that to you! Ever! It was just a nightmare."

"A nightmare? But Mom, it was…" He paused and looked up into Nodoka's eyes.

"What was it, Ranma?"

He blinked a few times. "Mom?"

"Yes, Ranma sweetie. I'm here."

Ranma turned and wrapped his arms tight around his mother. "Mom!"

He buried his face in her shoulder not caring about the tears that were falling. He continued to repeat the word over and over. For him, at that moment, it was the only word that existed.

Nodoka smiled and gave soft assurances while lightly rubbing her child's back. After several minutes, the tears slowed and Ranma slowly released his grip. Nodoka gave one last squeeze and pulled away. "Are you feeling better now?" she asked.

"Yeah," Ranma replied while giving a small smile. "I am."

"I'm glad," Nodoka said and then gave a quick laugh. "I should probably go back to the kitchen and make sure our breakfast hasn't burnt."

"Oh, oh yeah. You should do that, huh?"

"Right." Nodoka smiled at Ranma and stood up. As she left the room, she called out behind her. "Oh, if you are feeling better, could you go and make sure your sister gets up?"

Ranma sat in place on the bed lost in thought. Unbelievable. I guess that goddess managed to do it after all. Great, I wonder what other surprises I have to-

As he was getting out of bed, the last thing his mother said finally clicked and he fell onto the floor.

Wait, sister?!

Short Omake by StrawberryCharlotte:

As her guest left, 'Ahn' turned to look slightly to the right. "You can appear now."

An almost sheepish-looking, tiny and pink orb flared into being before being replaced by an equally sheepish tiny pink goddess. "How do you keep doing that?"

"Observation."

"Right. Well, good work on that wish. Completely stopped a Scenario Athetos, which is kinda a good thing. Even with the happy ending. I mean it's been a good millennium and I still get the collywobbles when I think about that one." Berry smiled and created another parfait, bringing up a clipboard and pen. "Good marks on this one, though."