She remembered the situation as it had played out one week ago.
Ryoga went to embarassed. He had just gone through the whole Charlotte Cup thing and now he'd just smashed up some sacred Indian burial ground. "Ranma! You've made my life hell! I wish I'd never heard of you!"
Flash
Wearing a bandana and Ryoga's regular clothes, a thin albino fourteen year old girl dropped the now-useless fetish. "Ranma! Prepare to die," she said in a calm soft voice. "Because of you I have seen Hell. Actually that was pretty bad. Still, wouldn't it be better if we could dialogue this and come to an agreement first?"
The household, including a panda and Ranma gaped.
"Wha-wha-wha?!" Ranma asked.
A short haired girl went and got a kettle of hot water and poured it over Rei. Rei turned towards her and blinked. "That was quite hot. If you do that again, Nabiki, I shall have to repeatedly strike you."
Nabiki blinked at the absolutely calm, emotionless, soft as snowfall voice, threatening her. "Are you or are you not Ryoga Hibiki?"
"I am Rei Hibiki," said Rei who'd never understood why 'Ayanami' when she was a clone of Lillith and Yui Ikari and raised by Gendo Ikari. Hibiki was as good as any other name and further seperated her from her past. "You were expecting some relative of mine?"
"Why are you wearing Ryoga's clothes?!" Ranma asked, trying to understand this sudden change.
"These are my clothes," said Rei simply. "Why are you acting as if I am a total stranger?"
"Because you ARE!" Akane bellowed. "Who are you?!"
"I am Rei Hibiki. You are not usually this tempremental Akane." Rei was glad her briefing was as detailed as it was.
"This was some kind of magical item, wasn't it?" Nabiki picked up the pieces of the fetish. "Then when Ryoga made that wish, you replaced him."
"I am Rei Hibiki. I have never met a cousin Ryoga," insisted Rei. It wasn't like she was lying, not that she hadn't done her share of that before. In a way her pretense at not being a cloned Angel hybrid was coming in handy now.
"So what does this mean, Nabiki?!" Kasumi asked.
Nabiki made a face. If it had come from someone other than Kasumi she would have charged for the info. "Ryoga makes a wish that he never met Ranma while he's holding onto this carving of some really ugly little fellow."
"That appears to be a representation of the Destroyer, a common figure in American Indian tribes of the southwestern United States," remarked Rei. "How very interesting."
"Uh huh. And you know this because?" Nabiki was quick to swoop on the gambit.
"When you travel the world learning exotic martial arts, you cannot help but pick up odds and ends of other things as well," said Rei.
Nabiki accepted that after trying to read a very good poker face and noticing that both fathers and Ranma had nodded at the saying. "Okay. Deductive reasoning. Ryoga wishes he had never heard of Ranma, so the wish is granted. No more Ryoga. Instead we've got a REI Hibiki here. How do you know us, anyway?"
Rei gestured towards Ranma. "I'm his fiancee."
"WHAT?!?!"
How predictable. Rei merely raised an eyebrow. "I've been engaged to Ranma since middle school. We were to meet for a date in the lot behind my house but there were unforeseen complications. When I arrived after three days, you were gone. I tracked you through China and then to here where your father has attempted to force a marriage between you and Akane."
"Yes, they are a fated couple so you'll just have to be going along now," suggested Soun hopefully.
"However as Akane is a lesbian and Ranma is unaccepting of his female side," began Rei.
"WHAT?!?!"
"I... what?! You?! I AM NOT!!!" Akane was embarassed, confused, and alarmed all at once.
"What's a 'lesbian'?" Ranma asked.
"SHUT UP!" Akane responded and uppercut Ranma.
"Has Akane been drinking espresso again? You know that upsets your stomach, Akane."
"How did you know espresso upsets my stomach?" Akane asked, beginning to back away.
"Hmmm. I read something like this in a manga once," said Nabiki. "I'll finish my explanation for a suitable payment."
Rei pulled out a few coins. "I am quite curious myself."
Nabiki decided she'd check the Yen-Peso exchange rate later. "Okay. Ryoga made a wish with a real magical amulet. The wish was granted. Ryoga now has never met Ranma because Ryoga was never born. Instead of Mister and Missus Hibiki having a little boy with fangs, they had a little girl. Understand now?"
"Oh my, just like in 'Tales Of The Monkey Paw'!" Kasumi had read that manga too.
Noticing that Genma had snatched the pieces of the amulet from her hand, Nabiki couldn't help but add. "So if Mister Saotome wished that he didn't turn into a panda, most likely he'd either turn into a warthog or he'd have died at Jusenkyo."
Genma tossed the little things away from him. That had been close!
"As it is broken now, it seems likely a one-shot deal," said Nabiki, thinking it a pity. "Because we're present at the event, we remember Ryoga."
"So that means I'm ENGAGED to Ryoga? I mean Rei?" Ranma asked with an expression of horror.
"That is so," said Rei. "Though perhaps we could cut the waiting and have the ceremony now?"
"Nononono! That's quite all right!" Ranma began backing away.
It had been some week, Rei reflected. Most everyone accepted her as a "replacement Ryoga" now, and even Genma was more cautious when dealing with magic now.
Which was just as well. Now things were about to get more complicated as:
(Posted Mon, 14 Jul 2003 13:52)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.