------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The One Who Can Fulfill Your Wishes" A Ranma 1/2 Oneshot ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ranma 1/2 (c) Rumiko Takahashi / Shogakukan, Inc. Story and art by Rumiko Takahashi. English adaptation by Gerard Jones and Toshifumi Yoshida. RANMA 1/2 is a trademark of Viz Communications, Inc. This story may be freely redistributed, but not altered or used for profit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ by Douglas MacDougall http://www.dougmacd.net/fanworks/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Akane stared morosely at her desk, tapping her pencil. She'd looked at the photos of every single dish in the colorful recipe book, but she didn't think she'd be able to make a single one of them. Flipping the spiral-bound book to the page she had marked, she looked at how the recipe was supposed to be presented. It was a simple vegetable and noodle dish. Her own effort, attempted in secret last night, bore no resemblance to it. It was too sticky, and had somehow formed itself into a weird oblong ball. It went into the trash with her other efforts; she wouldn't give Ranma another chance to make fun of her. Why did this always have to happen to her? She didn't want much; she didn't need to be as good as Kasumi or Auntie Nodoka. But couldn't she at least make something that consistently tasted good? Even Ranma could do that. The jerk. So she couldn't cook, or sew, or knit; he didn't have to make it sound like she made it her personal mission to make him miserable! Did he seriously think she wanted to spend all this time and effort making horrible things? She was doing it for him! I just want to be able to show him how I feel, she told herself. "Just once, I'd like to be able to make something nice for him and not screw up..." "Granted." Akane blinked. The familiar female voice had come out of nowhere. Something about it reminded her of her sisters, so she glanced into the hall to see if either of them were around. But, as she half-expected, no one was there. So where had the voice come from? Timidly she spoke to the air, "Hello?" Nothing. She sat down at her desk, confused, and a little worried that she was hearing voices. Granted? What was granted? Just once, I'd like to be able to make something nice for him and not screw up... Akane swallowed. Did that mean... her wish had been granted? She licked her lips, flipping to the back of the recipe book, with the most spectacular dish she could find. Just once, she had asked. "Well, I'm going to make it count!" She rolled up her sleeve and made a fist, crying into the air, "Just you wait, Ranma! I'll show you!" * * * * * * * Akane smiled proudly as Ranma surveyed the dish. He glanced at it warily for a second, but it looked pretty normal. Actually, it looked good; from the color of the food, it was obvious that everything has been thoroughly cooked, but not so much so that the vegetables lost their color. The dish was evenly split into two halves. One was a bed of rice, with little radishes carved into flowers placed around it. The other half was a rich mix of meats, nuts, and vegetables in a thick dark sauce. Of course, looks could be deceiving. With some trepidation, he reached out with a spoon to pull out a serving of rice and stew onto his bowl. It resisted his efforts, being held in place by the sauce, which acted more like syrup. Ranma glanced at Akane questioningly. She looked a little upset, but said with conviction, "It'll TASTE good; I KNOW it!" Time to take the plunge. Ranma put a mouthful of the concoction into his mouth. With some work, he managed to bite off a strand of syrup that still clung tenaciously to it. And then the taste hit him. It was... it was... Tears flowed from his eyes. How could one describe the intense flavors, the subtle nuances in his mouth? It would probably take a food coneisseur to fully appreciate them. Of course, someone with such a refined palate wouldn't live to eat another bite. Ranma struggled, himself, fighting his gag reflex and swallowing the mass down. Akane obviously caught the expression on his face -- and probably the twitching of the rest of his body -- as she asked, "It's bad, isn't it?" His tongue was still experiencing sensory overload, and he found himself unable to form words. Instead, he responded by nodding his head vigorously. "It's not supposed to be like this! The voice said I'd finally be able to make something nice for you!" Ranma raised an eyebrow. The voice said? "This isn't fair! Why can't I ever make anything right? I just want to show you how I feel, and it comes out all wrong! It was supposed to be good!" "Uh..." "Does this mean there's something wrong with me? Do I subconsciously want to hurt you? No, that's too horrible!" She grabbed the collar of his shirt and said, "I don't want to make you feel bad, I want you to feel good!" "A- Akane?" He found himself pinned by her intense gaze. "Wait..." Her eyes lost focus, as if she was looking past him. "That stupid voice didn't grant my wish to make something nice, it granted my wish so I could show you how I feel. But then I made that hideous thing and made you eat it!" she cried. Her eyes locked back onto him with renewed fervor, if that were possible. "It's not true! That's not how I feel about you! I don't hate you! I know sometimes I hit you, but that's just because I... I don't know how to express myself! I really love you! You have to believe me! Tell me you believe me!" Her words became frantic, and she leaned closer to him, clutching his shirt. Not really knowing what had come over Akane, he gave the answer he figured most likely to calm her down. "O- Of course I believe you, Akane..." He smiled weakly. "I know you, uh, l- like me." He gently pulled her hands from his shirt. "Love!" She quickly corrected, eagerly switching her grip from his clothes to his hands. He started to nonchalantly inch backwards, but she shuffled after him. "Uh, yeah, that..." Akane lunged at him, wrapping her arms around him "I'm so glad!" He froze in place, as she started snuggling against him. "I'm so sorry, Ranma. I never meant to hurt you or make you feel bad. Let's never fight again!" She removed her face from his chest and looked up at him adoringly. "Are you feeling alright? You didn't eat any of your own cooking, did you?" He placed his hand on her forehead, feeling for a temperature. He didn't see the fist coming. Of course, he never did, when Akane was involved. Strangely, though, having her knuckles buried into his face felt oddly comforting. Akane quickly pulled her hand back in frustration. "You jerk, now look what you made me do! I'll go get the medical kit..." * * * * * * * In his room, Ranma lay on his back, one arm crossed behind his head, and the other picking at the edge of the bandage Akane had put over his nose. What a surreal evening. He felt a lot more releived after Akane had punched him. She'd started to act pretty much like her normal self after that. Hopefully the weirdness was just a one time thing. Still, he was worried about that voice she had mentioned. He had plenty of experience with magic, and he knew that there weren't genies, or goddesses, or magical girls, or disembodied voices, or whatever going around granting people's wishes. Magic only made people's lives more difficult. The only way for your wishes to come true is if you worked your hardest to achieve them. When he was just a kid, he'd decided that he wanted to be a great martial artist. And he became one, through his own blood, sweat and... hard work. He and he alone was the one responsible for what he had achieved. You grant your own wishes. So what voice had she heard? Maybe she'd been trying to act too girly, and her tomboy brain temporarily snapped under the pressure. He hoped it was temporary; he didn't know what he'd do if she was starting to go psycho on him. Then again, it wasn't a BAD sort of psycho, really... He wondered if she would have said those things if she'd been in her right mind. She'd said she loved him, just like that. On a number of occasions he'd tried to just admit that he LIKED her, and it never worked. He knew he was clumsy at things like emotions and stuff. What if he said something stupid and she laughed at him, or something? His mind shied away from the thought. It had to be the hardest thing in the word to admit that you liked someone. Or even, you know, maybe, more than liked them. To be able to just say it, like Akane had, without fear of rejection... He wished he could be that brave. From out of nowhere a familiar male voice answered him. "Granted." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Started 1999-06-07 Completed 2000-03-28 Last modified 2000-03-31 ------------------------------------------------------------------------