Wish upon a star

*flashback*

"You can't change the past, it just doesn't work that way, I know you don't like it but you just have to accept the fact that you're dying. All you can do is put your affairs in order and find something productive to do with your final days."

Xander laughed. "I've kept my affairs in order for the last decade and the fact that I've made it this long is nothing short of amazing. Comes from having friends who'll sacrifice themselves for you just as you will for them."

He shook his head and placed a hand on the watcher's shoulder. "I'd be dead already if not for the primal spirit bonded to me and yes I have accepted that I'm going to die shortly, that's why I'm doing this, not because I expect to escape my fate, but because I want my death to mean something."

"But the past is immutable, it can't be changed. You'll be sacrificing your last few days for no reason!"

"And prophecies can't be broken." Xander smirked.

"B—But even if you're right you'll be displaced by your earlier self and unable to alter things after only a few seconds."

"Sometimes a few words is all it takes."

* end flashback *

Looking down at himself he wondered what had happened. This was obviously not his body, because he'd never been in this kind of shape and he was missing a lot of scars and body hair.

The redhead said something that he didn't understand so he shrugged and tried a handful of languages. She showed some recognition to Chinese, but shook her head to show she didn't speak it.

Sighing she leaned the staff against the wall and bent over to pick up a sheathed sword and caught him looking at her ass.

He gave her a grin and shrugged, he hadn't felt this hormonal since he was a teen… or the first week he'd finally bonded with the hyena for that matter. Come to think of it he felt a lot stronger than he usually did, even including tapping into the hyena.

She shook a finger at him in the universal naughty-naughty sign, but her blush showed she was at least a little pleased.

She waved at him to follow her and lead him out into the hall of a house that was clearly of Asian design. They reached the bottom of the stairs where he saw two attractive dark haired young ladies who also didn't speak Chinese apparently and he was guided to change his house slippers for outdoor slippers.

It was a nice day outside and from the buildings and signs he decided he was definitely in either Korea or Japan, if one existed where the people were mostly Caucasian with only a touch of Asian blood. Yeah, Xander was pretty sure he was a long way from the Hellmouth and his home dimension.

The redhead pointed out a Chinese restaurant they were heading for and Xander smiled figuring she was taking him there to find someone who spoke Chinese so they could translate.

As they stepped in the door a purple haired blur attached itself to him, calling out, "My love!"

'She is extremely well built and cute as can be, shame I didn't know who she is,' Xander thought to himself. "Well my day just got better," Xander said in Chinese, shocking the girl.

"You learned Chinese?" She squealed happily and tried to remove Xander's tonsils with her tongue, which Xander co-operated with enthusiastically, until an old woman with a cane separate them.

"Shampoo, son-in-lay may not be himself at the moment so try not to molest him too much," the old woman said, doing an impressive job of balancing on a cane.

"Well whoever I am right now is feeling kinda fuzzy," Xander said, surprising the old woman, "But I support this young woman's right to molest me whenever she feels like!"

The old woman translated what Xander had said, making the redhead laugh while Shampoo beamed, and leaned into Ranma.

"So if you aren't Ranma, who are you?" Shampoo asked, wondering if Ranma had gotten amnesia again.

"My name is Alexander Harris, but my friends call me Xander."

"Are you sure you're not Ranma?" Shampoo pleaded, the joy of having her love return her affection not being something she wanted to lose.

"I may be him as well," Xander admitted. "We don't have enough details on what's going on put together yet to even hazard a guess."

"How can you be Xander and Ranma?" Shampoo asked, a little confused.

"I could be a former incarnation of Ranma or he could be a former incarnation of me, I could also just be a set of memories that were given to him, so he thinks he is me, if that makes any sense."

The old woman who had been keeping up a running translation for the redhead finally jumped into the conversation herself, "Well your mother said she used a minor staff of magi to wish for you to be freed of your father's mistakes."

Xander winced. "Try not to say the 'w' word around me. You never know when a vengeance demon might be listening and wishes in general are more trouble than they're worth."

The old woman nodded, but before she could say anything Xander spoke up, "Wait, the redhead is my mother?"

"Yes, Nodoka Saotome, the redhead who brought you here, is your mother."

"Now I feel guilty for checking out her rear when she bent over, but in my defense my weakness has always been redheads," Xander said causing all three of the women to laugh, as Cologne had translated what he'd said.

Typing by: Stephenopolos