Well, I suppose there's nothing much changed here in terms of plot,
just polishing up a bit.


Oh my...Ranma!?
#1
"A careless wish"
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Disclaimer: Ranma and Oh my goddess! characters belong to their
respective owners, not me.
C&C welcomed.
**************************************************************

 Ranma sighed as he looked at the empty Tendo house. Everybody had gone
out, leaving him to look after the house. It wasn't a duty he really
enjoyed since it meant he did nothing but laze around, waiting for them
to come home. There was no one to spar with and he knew his katas by
heart anyway. Briefly he wondered his father had gone to; he knew Akane
and her family had gone to a funeral. Apparently the deceased had been
one of Mr. Tendo's few friends.

 His stomach growled, reminding him that it was nearing dinner-time and
it didn't look like the Tendos were going to be coming home anytime
soon. He didn't feel like cooking dinner for himself, so that left only
one option. Take-out.

 He considered calling the Nekohanten but quickly decided against it. If
Akane came home and found out that Shampoo had been here with him, while
he was all alone in the house...Well the consequences wouldn't be nice.
Besides he wasn't in the mood for ramen anyway.

 So that left Ucchan's. Stretching his hand out, he picked up the phone
and began dialling Ucchan's number. As he did so, he thought about what
a miserable week it had been. Ever since Ucchan had appeared and tried
to defeat him...he had found out that 'he' was actually a she, and ever
worse, she was engaged to him as well. Of course, Akane hadn't liked
this turn of events very much. He couldn't understand why on earth she
would be angry at him for, since it was his father who had arranged the
engagement after all. Why didn't she go and blame him for once?

 Still grumbling, he finished dialling the number(not noticing he had
accidentally pressed a wrong number) and put the receiver to his ear.

 "Hello? Goddess Relief office, our representative will be right over,"
a sweet, feminine voice said from the other end before hanging up on
him.

 Blinking, he looked at the phone in surprise. That had been weird he
thought to himself, not as weird as most of the things which constantly
occured to him nowadays but weird nonetheless.

 Shrugging, he quickly shoved the incident into a corner of his mind,
where he would later take time to think about it and started dialling
Ucchan's number again.

 "Hello," somebody said sweetly from behind him, startling him and
causing him to drop the phone as he whirled about to face the owner of
the voice. He saw a young woman with light-brown hair cascading down her
back in waves, and some sort of marking on her forehead. She couldn't
have been older than twenty and didn't seem the slightest bit dangerous
at all. But then he hadn't known Ukyou was a girl either, or that
Shampoo was going to kill him because he defeated her, so maybe he
wasn't the best judge of character around.  Besides anyone who could
have sneaked up on him like this woman had done, had to be skilled.

 "Ranma Saotome?" she asked, looking at him.

 "Yeah," he answered gruffly, "who the hell are you? If Oyaji promised
you anything, I don't know about it and I suggest you go beat him up
instead of me." He wondered if this woman was the reason that Oyaji went
out...he suspected that it was. If this turned out to be another
fiancee.....

 "Oh no, I'm afraid I'm not from hell and I don't know your father
either. I'm here to grant you a wish."

 "......Yeah right," Ranma said a bit more harshly than he intended, as
he stared at the woman disbelievingly. "Who are you trying to kid?"
Quietly, he mumbled to himself, "Man, if this turns out to be another
fiancee, I'm going to kill Oyaji."

 "Bad day?" the woman asked, staring at him in concern. Somehow, the
soothing tone of her voice made Ranma feel better.

 "More like a bad week," he said.

 "Why not tell me about it?"

 And he did.

 --------------

 " So Ucchan turns out to be a girl, and a fiancee as well. I still
can't believe my father traded me off for a yatai! What am I!? Some
bargain item at Watson's!? Then there's Akane, that kawaiikunai tomboy.
I have no idea why she's angry at me! What did I do anyway?? Nothing at
all, I mean I didn't even know about the engagement until Oyaji decided
to tell me about it! I say she should go beat up Oyaji instead of me,
but she's such a tomboy she never listens to me," Ranma stopped his
tirade to take in several breathes of fresh air.

 "Sounds like you have quite a problematic life," Belldandy said
sympathetically as she looked at Ranma.

 "Problematic doesn't even begin to describe it. I don't know how
Shampoo's going to react when she finds out about Ucchan," Ranma said
flatly. In the past half an hour, he had managed to give Belldandy the
condensed version of his life story and she had just sat there and
patiently listened to him. It felt good having somebody listen to his
side of the story for once and he appreciated the fact that she was
willing to just listen to him.

 *Man, if only Akane would do that,* he thought to himself.

 "But why don't you just tell them that you don't want to be engaged to
them?" Belldandy asked.

 "Aw, I can't. It's like when I start to tell them, then they start
going all sniffly-eyed on me and the words seem to get stuck in my
throat," Ranma grumbled as he stared out into the Tendo garden.

 "Oh, I see," Belldandy said.

 Ranma turned to look back at her, studying her for a few moments. She
blushed slightly under his scrutiny. " You know, you're pretty
understanding. I wish you were my fiancee instead of that _Kawaiikunai
Tomboy_!" he said heatedly, and impulsively.

 Almost immediately, Belldandy's eyes seemed to take on a strange cast
as she floated up into the air. Ranma watched in surprise( or more
accurately shock) as the mark on her forehead began glowing brighter and
brighter.

 "Wish granted," she said in an eerie, monotone voice, before dropping
back down onto the floor.

 "Wish? What wish?" Ranma asked, puzzled.

 "The one where you asked for me to be your fiancee instead of course,"
Belldandy said, cocking her head slightly as she looked at Ranma.

 "WHAAAT!!YOU MEAN IT WAS TRUE!!! " Ranma yelled in horror. In the
course of telling her about his life story, he had completely forgotten
about that particular detail. When he saw Belldandy's nod in
comfirmation, he started to realise exactly what he had done.

 A wish. He had a wish, a chance to cure his curse once and for all. And
what had he done? He had wasted it! And worse of all, he had used it to
get another fiancee.

 "Excuse me, is anything wrong?" Belldandy asked in concern as she
watched Ranma's right eye start twitching madly.

 "No, nothing's wrong. Heck, what could be wrong," Ranma deadpanned. "If
you'll just excuse me for a moment," he said as he walked towards the
wall and started banging his head against it in frustration. "Baka!
Bakabakabaka!" he growled. All those times he had wanted a real cure,
only to have one delivered to him. And what had he done? Wasted it by
wishing for another fiancee. He felt like killing himself for his
stupidity. Not to mention what Akane would do to him if she found out
about this new fiancee.

 "Raanma...." a deep growl intoned from behind him as a red aura started
filling the room. Ranma turned to see Akane staring at him with narrowed
eyes. "What is this _woman_ doing here?"

 "Uhh...." he said, fumbling for an answer. "Um..you see," he said
intelligiently. "I got hungry...and, umm, I called Ucchan's and got the
wrong number...uh..so this woman came to grant me a wish," he said
before noticing that Akane's expression hadn't changed at all. In fact
her eyes seemed to narrow ever further.

 "You...expect me to believe that!!" Akane yelled. "This woman came to
give you a wish!? What is she? A goddess!?" Akane scoffed incredulously.

 "Ah, figured an unreasonable tomboy like you wouldn't understand,"
Ranma said, before being punted into the koi pond by Akane.

 "Ranma no baka!!"

 -----

 Akane had been having a really bad week. Firstly, another fiancee of
Ranma's had shown up, some weird girl with a gigantic spatula. And to
make it worse, Ranma, that baka had called the girl his 'cute' fiancee!
Ever since then, her father had been pressuring her to get married to
Ranma. As if she would ever marry such an insensitive jerk anyway!

 And to make things worse, her father had started preaching to her about
how short life was while the funeral was proceeding, and about how young
people should get married earlier so they could enjoy their marriage as
long as possible. It had taken all her willpower to keep from
strangling  Genma when he had joined in halfway through the
funeral(although she still didn't know what he was doing there).

 And now, she returned home only to find Ranma alone with some strange
woman! That baka was going to pay if she found out the woman was another
fiancee of his.

 --------

 "Hey! What was that for you kawaiikunai tomboy!" Ranma-chan spluttered
as she climbed out of the pond. "Just because you've got the strength of
a gorilla doesn't mean you've gotta show it off,"

 "Ranma!" Akane said, taking a step towards the currently female Ranma.

 "You must be Akane," Belldandy said cheerfully as she extended her hand
out to Akane.

 Akane looked at it warily, before finally reaching her own hand out and
shaking it. "Who are you?" she asked bluntly.

 "Oh, sorry I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Belldandy, Ranma's new
fiancee." That was all that was needed to trigger the rest of the room
into chaos.

 "RANMA! How dare you get yourself another fiancee!" Soun's demon head
roared as it hovered above Ranma-chan.

 Belldandy frowned as she stepped in front of Ranma-chan protectively,
looking quizzically at Soun's demon-head. While the person in front of
her was definately human, there was now the slightest traces of negative
energy around him.

 "Ranma, you make your father disappointed. How can you hide behind a
woman?" Genma said, sobbing insincerely. "Come, just say you're sorry
and that you'll marry Akane straightaway and I'll forgive you!"

 "Shaddup Oyaji, I don't hide behind anybody! And those two fiancee's
were arranged by you!" Ranma-chan yelled as she jumped out from behind
Belldandy and upper-cutted her father into LEO(Low Earth Orbit).

 "Ranma," a low, trembling voice came from his right, and Ranma-chan
turned to see Akane with her head bowed slightly.

 "A..Akane?" Ranma-chan said, puzzled and slightly afraid that Akane was
going to start crying.

 "Aren't Shampoo and Ukyou enough for you, you pervert! Why do you need
another fiancee for!? Are you planning to start a harem of your own!?"
Akane snapped angrily as she lifted her head as she started violently
berating Ranma.

 "H..hey! Who's a pervert? At least she's more understanding than some
kawaiikunai tomboy!" Ranma-chan retorted.

 "Fine! If she's so much better, than you can go and marry her for all I
care! As far as I'm concerned, this engagement is over!!" Akane shouted
as she punted Ranma-chan into LEO. "And don't let me see you again you
pervert!" she yelled after Ranma-chan's disappearing person.

 -----

 Ranma-chan sneezed as she thought about what a miserable day it had
been. Firstly, she had wasted her chance to be cured of her girl-form,
and earned another fiancee. Then she had got into another fight with
Akane, who as usual didn't believe him.

 And now she was wandering the streets of Nerima, lost. As far as she
could tell, she had never been in this part of Nerima before. She walked
about in the frigid, night air trying to keep warm and find her way.
Unfortunately, she failed in both aspects. She was still cold and lost.
Walking about in cold, soaked clothes did nothing for her.

 *What a great time to develope the Ryouga syndrome,* Ranma-chan thought
sarcastically to herself. *Now all I need is some angry fiancee or
Ryouga showing up to make my day....*

 No sooner had she finished that line of thought, did she hear someone
calling her name. Turning her head, she found Belldandy running up to
her.

 "Oh. It's you Belldandy," Ranma said flatly.

 "Sorry about getting you thrown out Ranma," Belldandy said, glancing at
him with concern. "Maybe if you apologised to Akane, everything would be
okay again."

 "Hah! Me, apologise to her!? That'll be the day!"

 "B...but what about your engagement to her?" Belldandy asked.

 "Who wants to be engaged to a kawaiikunai tomboy like her anyway!?
Unless she apologises first for hitting me for no reason, I'm not going
back to being engaged to that violent tomboy!" Ranma-chan exclaimed
heatedly. Suddenly she felt an aura behind her, and looked behind to see
Akane looking down at her.

 "Uh...Akane..." Ranma-chan stammered. That was about as far as she got
before Akane's mallet slammed her into the concrete.

 "RANMA NO BAKA!" Akane said. "I can't believe I went to all this
trouble searching for you because I was concerned!" That said, she left
in a huff, leaving the unconscious Ranma-chan and Belldandy together.

 Belldandy sighed as she looked down at the prone figure of Ranma-chan.
 ------

 "Urgh," Ranma groaned as he regained consciousness, blinking his eyes
as he tried to fine-tune his vision. Right now, he could only make out a
vague, blurry shape. Slowly, the shape sharpened into a young woman with
light-brown hair and dark-blue eyes, looking at him with concern. He
felt that he should know this woman, and after wracking his brain for a
few seconds, a name came to him.

 "Belldandy," he said simply, as he looked up at her. Glancing about, he
noted that he wasn't in the Tendo dojo. "Where am I?" he said, before he
noticed something even more important. "Hey, I'm male again!" he
exclaimed as he looked down at his (thankfully flat) chest.

 "We're at a nearby shrine. I brought you here since I didn't know where
else to bring you, and I changed you back into a male," Belldandy
explained as she continued to stare at Ranma.

 "Uh...thanks," Ranma said finally. "So where are the owner's of this
shrine?"

 "Oh, it belongs to heaven." Noting Ranma's blank look, Belldandy
explained further, "Well, you could say I'm one of the owners of this
shrine."

 "Ahh...." Ranma said as understanding dawned on him. He had been
brought to this deserted shrine by Belldandy, and she had changed him
back to a male on the way. If it had been anybody else, he would have
suspected that they were up to something but he had trouble believing
that of Belldandy. She just seemed to radiate innocence and purity.

 ------

 Nabiki smiled slightly as she put down the phone. Not an ordinary
smile, or the type of smile which you gave people when you were happy,
but a predatory smile that would have made Ranma's blood go cold. Today
had been a slightly profitable day for her, charging 1500 yen for the
news of Ranma and Akane's break-up, and another 1500 yen for information
about Ranma's new fiancee.

 Tomorrow was going to be an exciting day at school, that much was sure.
She wondered if Ranma would manage to survive the day but quickly pushed
the thought out of her mind. After all, business was business.

 ------

 "Ah-choo!"

 "You must be catching a cold," Belldandy said as she looked at Ranma in
concern.

 "I don't think so, I've never fallen sick before in my life," Ranma
said, sniffling slightly.

 "Well, why don't you go soak in the furo while I dry your clothes?"
Belldandy suggested, reminding Ranma that his clothes were still
slightly damp. Which only served to make the night seem much colder.

 "Ah, thanks Belldandy," he murmured gratefully even as he started to
walk to the furo.

 -----

 Ranma sighed as he came out of the furo, towelling his damp hair. That
had been a very relaxing soak, one that he had needed. He could feel his
muscles relax while he looked about for Belldandy.

 "Ranma, are you done?" Belldandy said, appearing from around the
corner. She eeped slightly before blushing scarlet and turning her back
to him.

 Ranma suddenly remembered he had nothing on but a towel around his
waist. Embarassed, he tightened the towel. "Um...are my clothes ready?"
he asked self-consciously.

 Her only response was to hold something out to him; while still looking
away from him, and nod her head. He reached out and retrieved her
clothes from her hand, but not before their fingers brushed slightly
against one another.

 Ranma found himself blushing as he retreated back into the furo to
change. *What the heck am I blushing for!? It was just a touch, what am
I getting uptight for?* Composing himself, he went outside. Only to find
Belldandy had disappeared. Confused, he looked around for any sign of
her.

 "Ranma," her voice said from behind him, causing him to jump slightly,
his heart pounding as he turned around to face Belldandy. He wondered
why he didn't hear her sneak up at all...it couldn't be that his martial
arts were slipping could it? Whatever the case, it was like she was a
blind spot in his radar.

 "I brought you something," Belldandy said, smiling as she held out a
cup to him with both hands.

 "Uh...thanks," Ranma said as he accepted the cup somewhat warily, he
couldn't understand why he was feeling so jumpy around her. Finding that
looking at her was proving too...pleasant, he distracted himself by
staring at the milky-brown contents of the cup. Frowning, he wondered
what the liquid was.

 As if she could read his mind, she answered his unspoken question.
"It's hot chocolate, something I picked up in America," Belldandy said
as she looked at him expectantly.

 Ranma stared at the contents of the cup for a while longer, wondering
if he should even drink it. He had never heard of this...'hot chocolate'
that Belldandy claimed it was. He didn't think Belldandy was the type of
person who would poison him intentionally... He looked back at
Belldandy's hopeful face, and found for some reason, that a part of him
wanted to drink it no matter what the consequences, as long as it
pleased her. *Aaah, I've survived Akane's cooking, how much worse can
this be?* Ranma thought to himself as he gathered up his courage and
finally downed the drink in one gulp.

 He stood there silently, like a statue as he savoured the taste of the
drink. Finally, his face broke out into a wide grin. "Hey, that was
pretty good," he said as he returned the cup to Belldandy. "Got any
more?"

 "Sure," Belldandy said, apparently filled with relief. *At least he
didn't hate it,* she thought happily to herself. "I'll get some more."
And she smiled at him.

 It was like the sun coming out after the rain, the smile hit him with
the full impact of a train. If he could, he would have walked through
oceans and deserts just to see that smile again.

 And he smiled back at her. Suddenly, things didn't seem quite so bad
anymore.

End of chapter 1
I'd just like to thank my pre-readers

Sining <shihlin@pacific.net.sg>
http://members.xoom.com/Sining