Random note: You wanted longer chapters? You got 'em. At least one of 'em, anyway. Don't expect all the chapters to be this long, though...

Ah! Megami-sa… Ranma-kun?
By Tari

Chapter 1: Months

"Hah?" The girl blinked down at Kasumi, then twitched as she recognized the eldest Tendo sister. "Kasumi! Um… hi!" A hand went up and nervously tugged on the ponytail that had replaced Ranma's old pigtail. "So you're the wish recipient, huh..." She offered a weak smile as she hopped out of the now boiling pot of water.

Kasumi studied the young girl before her, noting that she seemed younger than Ranma's female form had been when he'd vanished. She raised an eyebrow as she took in the young girl's outfit: a green and white ensemble that consisted of a loose sleeved white coat over a short skirt, white boots, and green gloves. Strangely enough, the younger Saotome seemed to have a small hammer strapped to her back, as well. "Ranma-kun," she began, "why are you dressed like that?"

The young girl blushed and rubbed the back of her neck in a most Ranma-esque manner. "I'm, uh, subbing a job for a friend, and this is the uniform she's making me wear..."

Kasumi smiled a little, and then gave Ranma a small frown as a thought popped into her mind. "Couldn't you have contacted us, Ranma-kun? We were all very worried about you. To be honest, I'm rather disappointed that you didn't think to let us know you were okay…"

"I-I can explain! Really!" Ranma held her hands up in a placating manner, a small amount of fear etched upon her face.

Kasumi sighed. Three months without her sister bashing him, and he was still girl-phobic. "I didn't say you couldn't, Ranma-kun." Ranma let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "Why don't you tell me about what happened to you?"

"Well, um, basically, I've been in training for the better part of the past three months... and you're my first assignment!" Kasumi raised an eyebrow as Ranma smiled and waved a hand towards the patio. "Can we sit down? It'll take me a while to tell you everything." Kasumi nodded, and headed back into the kitchen to shut off the stove before joining Ranma on the patio.

Once she was seated, Ranma smiled and began to explain, "Well, you know how I got Akane mad sometime three months ago…"

Ranma sat under an old bridge for two reasons. The first was that he wanted some peace to himself, away from the craziness that called itself his life. The second, and more easily identified reason, was simply that he didn't want to step out from under the bridge and into the pouring rain. He would probably have to, eventually, but for the time being, he was quite well and happy in his dry spot under the bridge. A frown suddenly appeared on his face as he thought about his curse. It usually either brought the water to him or, when that couldn't be done, forced him to go to the water. It was rare that he had chances to stay dry for any extended periods of—

KrCKThoOm!

Ranma shuddered at the sudden energy spikes coming from a few hundred meters away. He looked in their direction, but all he could see was the rain as it landed along the muddy riverbanks. He sighed and leaned back, hoping he could ignore it, when a smaller energy spike flared up from the same location.

That second energy spike wasn't from the same person! And it was really, really, weak, which meant that whoever fired it wasn't going to be a match against the other person. It could have been nothing, but Ranma wasn't going to risk it. He glared at the sky from under the cover of the bridge, then blinked as the rain turned to snow. Ah, well, he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He quickly sprinted out into the snow.

As he approached the source of the energy spikes, he began to make out flashes of light above the riverbank. He hopped up and over the muddy banks and stared at the devastated park that he'd arrived at. The trees were blown down and, in most cases, were little more than charred pieces of bark, and the entire area was covered with scorch marks and craters. A nearby bench was hissing as the rain cooled down its recently melted metal supports.

A young teenaged girl was on her knees in the middle of the devastation, her long black hair muddied and tangled, shouting at something, or someone, in the sky. Even from where Ranma had landed, right on the edge of the destroyed area, he could easily make out the numerous lacerations the girl was sporting and the large gash across her left arm. He raised an eyebrow as he noticed the tattoos on the girls face, then shook his head and concentrated on what appeared to be a fight that the girl was definitely losing.

His eyes swiveled upwards to look in the direction the girl was yelling and he involuntarily took a step back. A blonde woman was floating in the sky, a purple energy blast resting in the palm of her hand. Waves of energy were simply pouring off of her and now that he'd noticed her, Ranma could easily tell that her power levels were much, much higher than his. Ranma shivered. How could he have not noticed it sooner?

He reached out with his senses and came to a startling conclusion. The younger girl was also emitting incredible amounts of energy, though not as much as the floating lady, but she wasn't using it for anything at all. Instead, it had simply blanketed the area and had smothered his senses.

"Darnit Mara! Just leave us alone!" Ranma snapped back to reality just in time to see the mud caked girl toss a spinning silver device at the older woman. Her target immediately backpedaled, distancing herself from the twirling object, but she wasn't quick enough. Kthoom! A huge explosion rocked the park and another tree was torn from the ground and shredded.

"You brat!" Ranma couldn't do anything but gawk. The woman had survived the explosion with barely a scratch on her. Her clothing, unfortunately, didn't fare quite as well, much to Ranma's discomfort. "Have a taste of this!" The purple sphere of energy, somehow having not dissipated during the explosion, rocketed towards the kneeling girl, who simply held her hands in front of her as if to shield herself.

Ranma grimaced as he realized that he hadn't done anything to help out yet, and he leapt into action. As he sprinted towards the wounded girl, he lobbed a few quick ki blasts at the blonde woman. He idly noted that the woman had gotten tossed into a tree as he skidded to a stop in front of the young girl. Quickly crossing his arms in front of him and pumping ki into them, he prepared to take the brunt of the purple blast.

"Oomph!" Ranma gasped as the air was forced from his lungs. The purple energy blast had smashed into him at full strength, somehow entirely bypassing his ki shielding. He groaned and sat up. 'That thing hurts more than Ryoga's punches!'

"You…" the girl mumbled, causing him to turn around, "You didn't have to do that, you know..."

Ranma smiled at her at gave her his trademark grin. "It's my duty to protect the weak." The girl's left eyebrow twitched, and Ranma quickly appended, "Not that you're weak or nuthin', but you're definitely injured." The girl sighed and nodded, unable to dispute his claim when she could barely feel her left arm.

"She can't—" the girl broke off into a small coughing fit, "She can't kill me, though. I'm… protected by the... system."

Ranma blinked. "System?"

The girl nodded weakly and opened her mouth to explain, but was beat to it. "I'm not allowed to kill you," a voice sneered out, "but I sure as hell can hurt you!" Ranma spun around and stared at the humongous purple ball that was hovering in midair beside the blonde-haired woman. She smirked at him and reared back to lob the energy blast, but didn't get a chance.

"What the hell!?" The woman screamed in frustration as the blast began to fluctuate and refused to leave her hand. Ranma raised an eyebrow as the sphere turned an angry red, then his eyes widened and he dove over the girl behind him.

The pulsating red ball of energy suddenly collapsed in on itself and Mara's eyes widened. "Oh, shi—" and then the world went red.

Ranma groaned and pulled himself out of the pile of dirt that had rained down on him as a result of the ten-foot crater the last blast had created. His back ached and he felt like he'd gone ten rounds with Ryoga. That was probably because he and the girl had been caught in the huge energy sphere's explosion.

The girl! Ranma's eyes widened and he spun around to check on the young teenager. The blood drained from his face as he took in the dozens of cuts on the girl's body, many of which hadn't been there until after the last explosion. At the rate she was bleeding, she'd be dead within an hour!

Ranma knelt by the semi-conscious girl and quickly went over his choices. He could take her to a hospital, but he didn't know where the closest one was. He could try to patch her up himself, but he didn't trust himself enough to do a good job. Ranma frowned as his mind came up blank when he tried to come up with more solutions. He shook his head, then looked down at the girl. He had to do something right now, even if it only slowed down her bleeding; she was bleeding much too fast.

Sighing, Ranma placed his hands on the girl's stomach. A soft blue glow enveloped the girl and a few of her wounds slowly ceased their bleeding. Ranma nodded and wiped the sweat from his brow. He hadn't been sure that using internal healing techniques on other people would work, but it seemed to have helped.

'Now, then,' Ranma mulled over his choices agian, 'I have ta' be missing something...' His eyes suddenly widened and he lightly smacked himself in the head. 'TOFU! Right!'

The girl's breathing was ragged as he scooped her up and began to sprint out of the park. "You'll be fine," he whispered to the bundle in his arms, "I'm gonna get you to a doctor I know. He's really good."

The nearly comatose girl coughed and shook her head. "N-no... gotta... home. Sis... can help."

Ranma blinked, then looked down at the girl's face. "Are you sure...? I mean he's a doctor 'n' all..." The girl gave him a barely perceptible nod, and Ranma sighed. "Alright. Where d'ya live?"

The girl coughed a bit and took a moment to suck in a labored breath before responding, "Tariki Hongan... Temple in... Nekomi..." She broke down coughing again, but Ranma had gotten enough information.

He really hoped that her sister could help, since Nekomi was a good two districts away and the girl probably wouldn't last long enough for any other trips. She coughed again, and Ranma glanced down at his now bloody shirt.

He sped up.

Kasumi smiled at Ranma as the younger girl weaved her tale. "It's wonderful that you managed to save her, Ranma."

"Yeah, well, I hadn't saved her yet, but I guess I'd done what I could. I just had to get her home, and fast." The redhead looked at Kasumi and smirked. "You know, that girl's family is pretty weird, but one of them reminded me of you. Heck, she even sounded like you." Kasumi blinked a few times. "You two would probably be great friends," Ranma said, turning her gaze to the koi in the pond.

"Anyhow," she suddenly said, "I finally managed to get to her home, that temple..."

Two hours of roof hopping had left Ranma winded and his limbs exhausted, but he refused to stop moving until he got his passenger safely home. 'There,' he thought, sighting an old-looking building in the distance, 'That's the temple!' He dropped to the ground and sprinted towards his destination. His limbs screamed in pain, but he ignored them and forced himself to move faster.

The snow slowly turned to rain as he skidded to a stop in front of the temple, and Ranma suddenly found himself a her. She shook her head, then quickly rapped the temple's front doors. "Hello?" she called out. "I need some help! Fast!"

The sound of pounding feet reached her ears and the door suddenly slid open. A deeply tanned, buxom white-haired woman stared down at her. "What is it, kid?" The woman took a sip from a bottle of sake in her hand, then suddenly spit her drink back out. "SKULD! What happened!?"

Ranma's arms were suddenly relieved of their burden, and the redhead collapsed to her knees. A slightly younger blonde woman and a young man had rushed to the front door and were staring at the wounded girl in the older woman's arms. "Skuld!" The blonde woman's face was wrought with worry as she looked down on the younger girl's bruised and lacerated body.

"Belldandy," the older woman said, "take Skuld and heal her. You're better at doing that than I am..." She handed the wounded girl to the younger woman, Belldandy, then turned to face Ranma. "C'mon in here, kid. I wanna ask you some questions."

Ranma nodded tiredly and shuffled into the temple as Belldandy and the young man carried Skuld into the temple. "Yeah," Ranma mumbled, "Whaddya' wanna know?"

"Geez, you look dead tired." The older woman shook her head, then waved towards an adjacent room. "Grab a seat in there. I'll be right back." Ranma nodded again, then slowly made her way into the room that had been pointed out. She flopped down on the carpeted ground by a small table and idly took her surroundings. Surprisingly, unlike the outside, the inside of the temple was in pristine condition: the tables and floors were cleaned to a shine and the walls still had a full coat of paint on them.

A sake bottle slamming down on the small table snapped Ranma from her observations. She glanced up and saw the older woman sitting down on the ground across from her. "So," she said, "tell me what happened to Skuld."

Ranma blinked. The older woman had a very direct approach to her questioning, it seemed. "Look," she replied, "I didn't do nothin' to her, lady. She—"

"Urd," the white-haired woman interrupted.

"Wha?"

"My name's Urd. I don't want to be called 'lady' every time you try to talk to me."

"Oh." Ranma shook her head slightly, then continued what she had been trying to say. "Anyhow, she was already fighting some blonde-haired lady when I found her. They tore up a huge section of the Nerima park during their fight. I just sorta happened to be... resting... nearby when they started blowin' stuff up."

Urd's eyebrow shot up. "Blonde-haired lady?" She took a drought from her sake bottle, then set it aside and put her two index fingers across her forehead in a V-shape. "Did she have marks like this on her head?"

Ranma's eyes widened slightly as she nodded. "Yeah, just like that! They were red 'n' all."

Urd's eyes narrowed as she dropped her fingers and growled out a name. "Mara." She shook her head and looked back to Ranma. "You said my little sister was fighting Mara?"

"Yeah," Ranma said, "If that blonde lady's name is Mara, then yeah, they were fighting. Your little sister was throwing these metal things—"

"Skuld bombs," Urd interrupted, nodding.

"—at Mara, who was floating in mid-air," Ranma finished. She looked up at Urd, but the older woman seemed to be lost in thought. She sighed, then lifted an elbow onto the table and propped her head up on her hand.

"The squirt was in really bad shape, though," Urd suddenly said. "I know Mara, and she'd never go as far as killing anyone. It's just not her style." She glanced at Ranma. "So how'd Skuld get all those injuries?"

"Not me," Ranma quickly replied, "Some energy blast blew up in Mara's face or somethin', and the blast caught me 'n' Skuld. I slowed down her blood loss and then ran all the way here."

Urd's eyebrow shot up again. "You ran all the way here from Nerima?" Ranma nodded, and Urd let out a whistle. "No wonder you're so damned tired, kid. How long'd it take you?"

"Almost two hours, I think."

Urd's other eyebrow joined the first as she shook her head. "Geez, kid. That's insane."

"Urd!" a voice called, and the blonde-haired woman from earlier, Belldandy, soon ran into the room. "There's a—," she paused, wringing her hands, "a problem with Skuld..."

"What?" Urd was on her feet and beside Belldandy in a flash. "What's wrong with her?"

Belldandy backed up and waved her hands in an attempt to calm down the older woman. "She's healthy, Urd! She's fine, but..." Belldandy sighed and dropped her hands. "She's a healthy human girl, sister. I don't know how, but she's a normal girl! Her markings all vanished while I was healing her!"

"H-how...?" Urd stumbled back, then swiveled around and lifted a finger at Ranma. "Wh-wha-wha... What else happened to her, kid?"

Ranma stared at the two woman in front of her, her mind awhirl with thoughts. 'Human? Markings? Wha?' She shook her head, trying to clear it, then looked at Urd's finger. "I," she stammered out, "I didn't do anything to her! I swear! I only slowed her bleeding and carried her all the way over here!"

Urd's finger dropped as her eyes widened. "You say you slowed her bleeding..." Ranma slowly nodded. "...how? How did you slow her bleeding down?"

"I used my ki," said Ranma, "I wasn't sure if it would work or not, but I managed to push my ki into her to... heal her... wounds..." Ranma trailed off as she began to realiz what the older sister was getting at. "You're not humans, are you?"

Urd's mouth opened and closed silently as she struggled to comprehend what had happened to her youngest sister, leaving Belldandy to answer the question. "No, umm... I don't know your name..."

"Ranma," offered the pigtailed girl.

"Right. Um... I normally wouldn't tell you this, but I'm worried about what happened to Skuld, and..." she trailed off, a nervous expression playing across her face, then she sighed and continued, "You're right, Ranma. We... are goddesses, and…" Belldandy trailed off again, concerned, as she watched Ranma take on an expression of disbelief.

'No way,' Ranma thought as she quickly observed the two sisters' auras. 'No freakin' way.' Her jaw worked silently for a moment as she stared at the two sisters, then suddenly began to produce sounds again. "That's impossible..." she began to stammer out, "You guys... I mean... huge auras... larger than Saffron's, and he—!"

"You knew Saffron?" Belldandy's concerned expression shifted into one of curiousity as Ranma mentioned the Phoenix demigod.

"I, uh, yeah. Sorta," said Ranma, having been snapped back into reality by the interruption.

"You said you were... Ranma, right?" Belldandy asked, quietly. Ranma nodded, and the blonde woman turned and waved a hand in Urd's face. "Urd, sister, do you remember what happened to Saffron?"

Urd shook her head slightly, still trying to work around the idea of Skuld as a human girl, then glanced at her sister. "Yeah, I remember. Some kid stopped him from going on a power-hungry killing spree by killing him. Saved the valkyries a bunch of trouble, too. Special Duty wasn't looking forward to fighting him."

"I think," Belldandy said, pointing to Ranma, "that this girl is the one who stopped Saffron."

Urd blinked, then glanced at Ranma. "That would explain how she had enough life force to replace Skuld's mana, but... that Ranma was a boy." She shrugged slightly as she finished speaking.

"Jusenkyo," Ranma supplied, glad to be back on a topic she understood. She'd lost track of the conversation back when Urd had mentioned valkyries. Both sisters turned to face her, confused expressions on their faces. "I fell into a cursed spring," Ranma clarified. "I turn into a girl with cold water. I'm really a guy."

Both sisters nodded in understanding, then Urd turned to Belldandy. "I guess you're right, then, sis. This's the mortal that managed to take out one of us." Ranma rose to her feet to defend herself, but Urd waved her off. "We're not mad at you or anything, kid. Like I said already, Special Duty—think of them as our police force—was going to capture Saffron, anyway. You did them a favor, in a way, though I don't think they were going to kill him."

"I didn't have any choice!" Ranma yelled defensively.

"Whoa, there. I'm not accusing you of anything. Calm down already!" Urd waved her hands in what she hoped was a calming fashion. "Like I said, Saffron wasn't on our good side." Ranma nodded after a moment, then slowly sat back down.

"Saffron," Kasumi mumbled. "Isn't he the one who kidnapped Akane about half a year ago?"

"That's the one," Ranma said, leaning back on the patio. She blew a puff of breath into the cool afternoon air, then continued her story. "Anyway, Skuld woke up around then, and..."

"Belldandy, Urd...?" Skuld stumbled into the room, bleary-eyed. "...wa's going on?"

"Skuld," said Belldandy quietly, "do you remember fighting Mara?"

The youngest sister nodded tiredly, then covered her mouth as she yawned. "Yup..." She rubbed her eyes, then looked at her sister. "Why?"

"You... didn't come out of it the same, Squirt," Urd said, morose. "Belldandy healed all your injuries, but..." Skuld looked up at her oldest sister, a worried expression on her face. "You're," Urd stammered out, "You're mortal... for now..."

Skuld's eyes shot open and she screamed, "WHAAAAT? You're joking, right?"

Belldandy shook her head slowly, then said, "Skuld, I think you should know this... If you hadn't been turned into a mortal, you would have been dead by now..." Skuld shook her head, unbelieving until Urd held a small mirror up to her face. Skuld quietly touched her forehead, staring at the smooth skin where her emblem mark should have been.

The phone rang in the hallway, but none of the room's occupants moved to answer it. It was cut off and replaced by hushed speaking for a few seconds. A pair of feet suddenly padded into the room. "Um," said the young man from earlier, "it's the Almighty... you know, Kami-sama."

Belldandy nodded. "Thank you, Keiichi," she said, smiling at him. The young man nodded back, and the two of them turned and walked out of the room.

The room stayed silent until Skuld finally spoke up. "Sis," she whispered, looking at Urd, "if I'm not a goddess right now... then who's synched with the future?"

Urd blinked and opened her mouth, only to close it again when she realized she had no answer. She glanced at Skuld for a moment, then sighed. "I... don't know."

"Um," Belldandy piped in as she and Keiichi returned from answering the phone, "Ranma, Father wants to meet you..."

"Father?" The redhead blinked a few times, then her eyes flew wide open. "You mean Kami-sama?"

"Yes," Belldandy replied, "that's Him. He... wants to talk to you about Skuld."

"Interesting," murmured Urd, staring at Ranma. She turned to Belldandy, an eyebrow raised. "Bell, I've seen this guy's file before," she whispered, "He's no saint. I mean, sure, he turned out pretty well what with how his dad treated him, but..."

"I don't know, sister," Belldandy whispered back, turning to face Urd, "but I just took a look at his file, and it's linked to two other files. One of them is Skuld's, but the other one is a restricted file."

"He's linked to a restricted file?" Urd blinked and rubbed her chin. "Could he be a reincarnation?"

Belldandy shrugged, then turned back to Ranma as she replied, "I don't know, sister. Everything will work out, though. I'm sure of it."

"Always the optimist, huh?" Urd mumbled quietly.

"Urd will take you to see Father, Ranma," Belldandy said, a small smile on her face. "Don't be afraid. Father's a very nice person." Ranma nodded a little, then stood up and made her way to the television set as Urd waved her over.

"Alright. This'll probably be a little weird, but bear with me." Urd grabbed Ranma's arm and stepped into the television.

"Wha?" Ranma sputtered out, then vanished into the television as well.

Belldandy turned to Skuld and knelt down to the younger girl. "Think of it as a break, Skuld. Everything will be okay, you'll see." Skuld nodded, sniffling, then allowed herself to be guided out of the room by her older sister.

Keiichi stood by the entrance to the hallway, the only person left in the room. He sighed as he listened to Skuld's soft sobs fade as she entered her room. He had no idea what to do in this situation. It wasn't every day that a goddess lost her powers for some indeterminate amount of time, after all.

He shook his head and made his way into the garage, picking up his wallet from the kitchen counter along the way. 'Well,' he thought as he slipped on his biking helmet, 'maybe I'll go buy some ice cream for Skuld.'

Ranma stumbled as she suddenly found herself in a small, dark, and dingy-looking apartment room. "Where...?" She asked, intelligently.

"This's my heaven-side apartment, kid. C'mon." She tugged on Ranma's hand and dragged the redhead to the front door.

'This is what heaven looks like?' Ranma thought, disappointed. 'I was expecting a lot more...' She shrugged mentally as she felt herself get pulled out of the apartment. A grimace appeared on her face as she was momentarily blinded by the sudden change in lighting.

"Welcome to heaven, Ranma. We call it Asgard, but hey, same thing." Urd swept her hand in a wide arc as Ranma gawked. She was standing in the middle of a courtyard surrounded by small trees and apartments. Outside of the courtyard, as far as the eye could see, were buildings of the different shapes and sizes spiraling upwards through the clouds, all made of the purest white. A young couple passed by, chatting merrily, and Ranma idly noted that they, like Urd and Belldandy, had marks on their cheeks, though neither had any on their foreheads. "Well, c'mon," interrupted Urd, breaking Ranma from her observations, "We still need to get you to your meeting with Father, you know."

"Nn," Ranma quietly grunted, blushing but not making any attempts to move. Urd sighed, then began to drag the redhead across the marble pathways as she made her way to Kami-sama's office.

A few minutes later, an exhausted Urd and a still dazed Ranma appeared in the Almighty's relatively empty waiting room. "I've brought Ranma Saotome," panted out Urd, "to see Kami-sama."

The receptionist glanced up and raised an eyebrow while jabbing a pen in Ranma's direction. "Her?"

"Yeah, she's the one."

The receptionist nodded and smiled at Ranma. "Ranma, He has been waiting for you." She motioned to a large set of doors at the end of the room. "Head right in." Ranma nodded and nervously made her way across the room. She glanced at the doors, then slowly pushed them open and stepped into the next room.

A blinding white light was the first thing she noticed upon entering the room, but it quickly faded as her eyes adjusted to it. A bearded old man in a loose robe sat behind a squat wooden table a few feet away, smiling at her. He waved to a cushion across the table from him, and Ranma hesitantly stepped over and sat down on the cushion.

"You're... Kami-sama," Ranma breathed in wonder, looking at the old man across the table from her.

"Indeed I am," he said, smiling.

"I never thought, you know— I mean, it's an honor, and...!"

The old man waved a hand and chuckled lightly at Ranma's sputtering. "No need for formalities here, really." Ranma quieted, blushing, then looked up at Kami-sama, question in her eyes. "I suppose you're curious as to why I asked to meet you," he said, "are you not?"

Ranma nodded. "Um... yeah, I was wondering that," she mumbled.

The old man smiled at her again, then began to explain. "You are aware that the girl you saved was a goddess, correct?" Ranma nodded. "But you still do not know exactly what happened when you replaced her weakened life force with some of your own ki."

Ranma blinked. "She, um, became mortal?"

"That's part of it, yes," Kami-sama said, "but not all of it. You see, your ki not only replaced a large portion of her mana and spiritual energy, but it also severed her connection to Yggdrasil, the heavenly computer."

"Heavenly computer?"

"Think of it as Heaven's support system. It helps to maintain time flow, monitors birth, life, and death, records general data on living beings, and converts energy from one form to another, amongst other things." The old man shrugged slightly, then reached into his robe and pulled out a small pipe. He began to fiddle with it as he started to speak again. "Anyhow, by severing my daughter's connection to Yggdrasil, you have temporarily left us without a Goddess of the Future. Under normal circumstances, it would be possible for Yggdrasil to slowly replenish my daughter's energy reserves and restore her to her proper position, but the presence of your ki in her body makes it much more difficult to restore her energy."

Kami-sama lifted the now-lit pipe to his lips and puffed on it a few times before continuing. "So you see," he said, "we temporarily need a new Goddess of the Future, and I was hoping that you'd help my daughter out in this situation."

Ranma stared at Kami-sama and pointed to herself. "Me? But I'm not a saint or a holy man or anything!"

The old man took a few more puffs on his pipe, then smiled at Ranma. "You aren't a perfect person, no, but that's why you'll go through training before you take up your temporary duty."

"But... I mean, can't you just replace Skuld's energy with what she's supposed to have?"

"Yes," the old man sighed, "it would be possible for Yggdrasil to simply force your ki out of my daughter's body and replace it with her proper mana." He tapped his pipe on the table a few times and looked at Ranma. "Unfortunately, that would be very painful for her. Incredibly painful, even."

"I... see," Ranma muttered, then sighed. "What'll happen if I say yes?"

"Well," Kami-sama said, "you'll take up the mantle of Goddess of the Future for as long as it takes for my daughter to naturally replace your ki with mana, which is about four or five months. During that time, she will be teaching you how to work the Yggdrasil mainframe." He smiled at Ranma before continuing. "Once you finish training, you'll get to start helping all sorts people who are in trouble or deserve a break. You won't have to if you don't want to, but it's a choice that you'll be able to make for yourself.

"Think of it as a break from your usual life, Ranma. That's how I want my daughter to approach it as well. A change of pace, if you will." The old man blew out a puff of air as he leaned back. "I should warn you, though, that if you accept, you'll be de-aged a bit, since the position of Goddess of the Future is still linked to my daughter, who is only fifteen years of age."

Ranma nodded, quietly, then raised her final concern. "Do I hafta be a girl the whole time?"

Kami-sama let out a long chuckle, then gave Ranma a reassuring grin. "No, of course not. If you're on duty, you will have to be in uniform, which means that you'll have to be female, but otherwise, no, you can be male." He tapped his chin a few times, then suddenly put a finger up. "Oh," he exclaimed, "I forgot to mention that your fear of cats will probably be dampened if you take up this post. I don't think it will go away entirely, but you'll probably never be able to fall into a feral state again. It wouldn't work out if a goddess went ballistic every time she came across a cat, you understand."

Ranma nodded again and thought about the decision presented to her. 'Well,' she thought, 'I feel sorta bad, and the job'll let me help people once I finish training... and I'll be cured of the Neko-ken...' She shook her head a few times, a small smile on her face. "I," she breathed out, "I accept, Sir."

"I'm glad to hear that." Kami-sama nodded, and Ranma suddenly felt a wave of power wash over her, filling her being to the very core. Her head tilted back and a beam of light shot down from above to land square on her forehead, where a small triangular oval materialized. Two similar shapes faded into existence on either cheek before the light and power faded away, leaving Ranma slumped in her seat.

"Ranma, you are now Goddess of the Future, Second Class, Trainee Status." Kami-sama smiled at the tired-looking girl across from him, then waved a hand towards the door. "I'm expecting some... interesting things from you, child. Urd can help you make your way back to her residence on Midgard, where you'll be staying for the duration of your training."

Ranma nodded weakly and slowly shambled to the door, still woozy from her experience. She absently noted that her silk outfit seemed a few sizes too large as she pushed open the doors and stepped into the waiting room.

"It's already been three months since you vanished," Kasumi noted, glancing at the ponytailed girl beside her.

"Yup." Ranma smiled a little. "It took three whole months just to finish training, but it was fun, you know?" She shrugged and looked sidelong at the eldest Tendo sister. "You know, you'd really like Kami-sama. He's a really nice guy. Sorta like you, really." She shrugged again, then looked up at the mid-afternoon sky. "You should really meet him someday."

Kasumi smiled a bit wistfully as she replied. "You and I both know that it would never happen, Ranma. I really wish that I could actually meet Kami-sama, but family comes... first..." Kasumi trailed off as she noted that Ranma had spun to stare at her with an incredulous expression.

Ranma's head tilted back and her eyes closed as she floated up off the patio. A beam of light shot down from the sky and connected with the symbol on her forehead. A small breeze picked up in the Tendo yard and swirled leaves and flower petals around the floating redhead. Kasumi stared at the spectacle, then rushed forward to support the young girl as the light show died down and she fell to the ground in a heap.

"Wish... granted," Ranma muttered, blearily. She slowly stood up and, with Kasumi's help, made her way back to the patio. She rubbed her head a bit and groaned as she sat back down. "Man," she moaned, "I didn't think it'd feel like that..." Ranma's head suddenly snapped back up and she swiveled around to stare at Kasumi, who had sat back down beside her. "Kasumi... do you have any idea what you just did?"

"What?" Kasumi asked, worriedly, "What did I do?"

"Well," Ranma began, smiling slightly, "the only way you can meet Kami-sama is if you're either an important spirit or a divine being... So yeah, He's giving you a chance."

"A... chance?"

"Yup!" Ranma had a wide smile pasted on her face at this point. "He's going to give you a chance to become a goddess!" 'And you couldn't be more deserving,' Ranma mentally appended.

"But... me?" Kasumi stared at the younger girl. "You must be joking, Ranma-kun! I'm nowhere near—"

"Trust me, Kasumi," Ranma interrupted, "You're definitely good enough to deserve this chance. C'mon, let's go!" She grabbed Kasumi's hand and dragged her into the kitchen, where she started heating a pot of water.

"But Akane and Nabiki and Father! And your father and mother, too! They'll all need food and I haven't made any and—"

"Stop worrying yourself so much, really!" said Ranma as she tested the water. "They'll be fine on their own for a few hours!"

Kasumi opened her mouth to protest, but before she had a chance, Ranma firmed her grip on the eldest Tendo sister's hand and dove into the pot of hot water, dragging the older girl in right behind her.

'Oh my,' came Kasumi's last thoughts before vanishing into the portal in the water, 'Perhaps I should have left a note...'

Author's Notes:

First off... Darnit! FF-net doesn't let me use dual punctuation, like "!" and "?" side-by-side. Phoo.

Argh. I can't believe I'm continuing this before finishing my main stories. /

Um... Ranma != Skuld(doesn't equal, for those of you who don't read code). I think that's pretty obvious by now, but I had to make sure. Ranma's Curse != Locked. Same goes for that, too.

That aside, I have a few concerns... first, I have no real clue where the story is going (in fact, the current storyline is spiraling away from mansur's comment that Ranma was Skuld), and second, my knowledge of both series is sketchy now. In fact, the reason I quit writing fanfiction in the first place was because of just how sketchy my info was.

Oh, and, about the hot water thing... I know that a number of people believe that Skuld can travel only through hot water, so I'm sticking with that. In my opinion, if she can travel through all mean of water, she'd be able to go just about anywhere in the world, while her sisters would be stuck to places where people actually have mirrors and TVs.

Anyhow, pairings are either Ranma/Goddess (not Belldandy, since I refuse to screw with the Bell/Keiichi thing) or Ranma/Kasumi.

If it's Ranma/Goddess, I don't think I'm putting him with Urd. Most likely it'd be Skuld, considering that I de-aged Ranma (though he's still at least 14 years old, since I'm going from a later part of the AMG manga) before I thought about pairings... Or, actually, the most likely pairing may well be nothing. If you'd be kind enough to look at the categories I marked this story as, you'll note that I didn't choose romance. (I'm not avoiding the problem... no I'm not... -hides-)

Um. C&C would be nice, along with plot suggestions or the such.

That's it. 'Till next time.

-Tari