A Divine Daughter Part I: But, I Didn't Want a Wish! By: Targhan Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters used. Both series are distributed in the U. S. By Viz-Video. "Ah My Goddess" manga is available from Dark Horse Comics, and Ranma manga through Viz. If you really like this stuff, support the real thing! This fic, and all fanfictions written by Targhan are done on an Amiga computer--ZombiOS: the living dead computer! "Amiga: Multimedia before Windows screwed it up." -- www.amiga.org Introductory Notes: This fanfiction will have Skuld appearing to be at a younger age, to facilitate this story Why? Two reasons, the first is obvious from this, the first installment. Second, because she can. Oh yeah, Skuld is not dating Ranma in this little work, or anyone else for that matter. In fact, the real question is: can the author keep Urd out of the story? An Odd Day at the Tendo Dojo: One shouldn't really have to consider what constitutes an odd day at the Tendo Dojo. Between the fighting, explosions, poisonous food, drugged food, and general chaos, an odd day is when there is peace and serenity. In fact, the oddity is so great that Satan began rummaging in his closet for that #@!!$ sled of his. I digress, so how could something of this nature occur? Simple: A shopping trip that Ranma had man- aged to avoid. "Ranma, we'll be back from the mall around noon. Are you *sure* you don't want to come with us?" Kasumi asked of the pigtailed martial artist, as she followed her younger siblings out of the front of the Tendo Dojo. She acknowledged Ranma's nega- tive remark to the idea, then reminded him about the new house rule, "Ranma, you can order out for your lunch, but do not call Shampoo or Ukyou. Remember, we're trying to not make Akane mad." She closed the door, caught up with her family, and left Ranma alone in the house. --- Inside, Ranma was fairly amazed that he actually had some solitude. However, solitude is supposed to be a peaceful state, and Ranma's state was far from peaceful. Ranma looked over his left shoulder, and he crouched to look up at the ceiling. "Hmm, I guess I really do get some damned quiet!" Ranma had exclaimed rather loudly while stretching his arms above his head. Then, there was quiet. He then moved from the family room up the stairs making his way to the room that he and his father shared. The eeriness of the quiet was unsettling. After a year of living in Nerima, every creak sounded like a sonic boom, every rustle of the wind sounded as a war-hammer, and ev- ery ticking clock sounded like a bomb waiting to explode. Thus Ranma determined that a nap was in order, if only to calm his nerves. Opening the door to the room, he felt an immediate change of his sexuality. Following this, he heard, no felt, the loud clang, as the pail hit his head. "Awww, Man. I swear; I don't find water enough as it is. Jeez," Ranma muttered to himself as he rubbed the excess water from his, now her, face. Continuing to grumble as he made his way downstairs, he stopped by the telephone. "I suppose I could go ahead and order some ramen or something," she pondered aloud. Ranma-chan grabbed the phone book from the stand, and thumbed to the restaurant section. She thought to herself, "Target acquired." She picked up the phone, "Weapons ready." Finally she dialed, "I've watched too many American sci-fi flicks." Grinning at the slight skip on reality she just made, she spoke into the phone, "Mushi Mushi! Huh? This is who? Aww geez, it figures.. Goddess what?!!? You're kidding me. Nope, I don't believe it." He hung the phone up with a "click." Afterwards, she made her way into the kitchen to make a sex change; all the while, she was mumbling about having the phone checked. Moments Earlier: "Really, big sister? You're going to let me help the next mortal," Skuld asked of her older sister. Skuld was so excited! This was going to be her first attempt to help a rare deserving human! Not only was this her big chance, she would get to go on as- signment! Although after Keichii's wish, she was a little concerned about what she could get mixed up in. Before she could mention anything about her concern, her sister began speaking to her. "Now Skuld, you know that father has allowed it, and I'll be watching you. You will not have to worry about it. If anything gets too rough, I'll be right there to help." Belldandy took a breath, and smiled ever so comfortingly towards her younger sibling. She quietly mused, "I hope father gives her something that will build her confidence, Skuld is insecure because of her age." Back at the Dojo: Grumbling something about merchants not taking a girl seriously, Ranma doused himself with the water that was just warmed. The quick tingly sensation informed him that the transformation was complete. With that done, he grabbed the towel to clean the puddle from the floor. As he bent down, he was met by a girl. "Ack!" Ranma sputtered as he backed away from the puddle. The girl continued to rise out of the pool of warm water in an al- most ceremonial manner. Ranma was at once both amazed and very nervous; the last thing he needed was another fiance! As he back-peddled, Ranma tripped over a chair. Then, he continued his movement on all fours, backwards. All the while, he was stutter- ing, "W W W Who are you?" Smiling brightly at the slightly disturbed Ranma, Skuld said, "Hi my name is Skuld, and I'm from the Goddess Relief Office." Then she beamed brighter, "I'm here to grant you a wish!" In a response that only Ranma could give to a deity, he said, "Go away. I've had my belly-full of wishes already. Wishes do nothing but cause more trouble." His face was grim, and conveyed the disgust that he felt about any mumbo-jumbo magic. At this point, Ranma raised up, and noticed several things. First, the girl standing before him was glowing. Second, the girl, what's-her-name, was crying. "Don't cry. I'm sure you mean well, but wishes don't work for me," Ranma fumbled out to the upset girl. He went further, as his last words weren't helpful, "C'mon, a cute girl like you shouldn't cry!" The girl in question, Skuld, replied to Ranma's request by reminding him of why she was there, "Sniffle, But, you. You came up as worthy of a wish, and Kami-Sama sent me here to grant it." She choked up a little, and said, "I am supposed to help de- serving mortals." By this time, Ranma was holding the upset goddess. Sighing, he tried to explain, "Skuld, that is your name, right?" Seeing the affirmative nod in his shoulder, he contin- ued, "Skuld, the last time I had a wish someone was almost killed. I can't do that. Be- sides, I've gotten so much stuff messed up a single wish won't fix it." Then it hit Ranma, he could just wish the girl was happy again! Unknown to him, Ygdrassil automatically rejects wishes of this nature--as they tend to create a hiccup in the system. With noth- ing happening, Ranma continued, "Ok, I'll wish something, but only if you dry the tears off of your pretty face." Somehow, Skuld didn't feel too satisfied. This human was literately afraid of the goodness of heaven. Then, she could feel the true wish that the martial artist was hid- ing in the back of his mind. "Heh, between numerous unwanted fiance's, strange curses, a phobia of ca' ca' ca'--those things, and freaky people out to kill him, no wish could fix all that. Good grief, I just wish I could have Divine help to fix all of it!" Almost on cue, Ranma's eyes went wide, "Oh Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!" He had enough sense to know that if a wish were truly granted they could cause all kinds of havoc, and now he was going to be caught up in the middle of it! Just then the girl's glow started to grow, and the winds picked up in the room. Ranma's eyes grew to the same size as his head, and he began clawing at the floor to get away. -- Nearly as quickly as they began, the windy light show subsided into the nothing- ness from which it came. Ranma slowly lifted his body from the floor, his eyes still wide in disbelief. Just great, there was more magic to screw up his life; whatever would hap- pen next, he knew it wouldn't be good. "Con, congratulations! Your wish has been approved!" Skuld was jumping up and down in the Tendo's kitchen. When Ranma could get stabilized from the side ef- fects of the wish process, she ran up to him and hugged him! "I get to stay, so I can make everything better for you! You'll see! It'll be great! While I'm here, I get to be your daughter, isn't that awesome! You are going to be my Daddy!" Ranma, went terminal, petrified, overall frozen in place. Any further terms of en- dearment were lost on him, as he had only one thought, "Oh. Shit." Well, he was lost to normal sensations, until a loud "Kathunk" resonated from the table behind him. Ranma looked from the somehow younger looking girl holding on to him, the happily chirping Skuld, to the stack of papers on the table. Then, he looked back at the girl wearing stuff that was, well, unearthly. Between the various mists, winds, and lights the girl had shrunken nearly a foot in height. He shook his head, and looked towards the direction of the thud a second time. Picking up the papers, he quickly summized they must be some sort of adoption papers. Ranma was somewhat proud of the fact that he was a bit smarter than what he was given credit for. Wait! Why was he being proud of himself at a time like this! He had to get the situation under control, and this girl out of there! To do so, he had to go over those papers. "Yup, those are adoption papers," he thought out loud. -- "Of course," Skuld began, "Poppa, no, the Kami Sama will take care of every- thing! I'm going to be your official daughter until everything is all better! I got to read your file, you are going to be a great daddy!" She then continued, "Don't worry! I'll be here until everything is straightened out!" Noting the look of disbelief on his face, she added, "I'm really here to help, and I will not make things worse. The Kami sent me here, and your true wish is going to be fulfilled. Just wait and see, it'll all get better!" She smiled brightly at the pig tailed guy, and waited anxiously for him to start responding. "Really," she thought, "these mortals just have a hard time with accepting help, even when they deserve it." -- Slowly, Ranma's movements came back under his control. He stroked the girl's head, and said "Hey, are you hungry? We could go get some ice-cream?" Upon hearing that, her eyes began to twinkle, "You're gonna' get us some ice cream?" "Uhm, yeah, that's what I said, I think," Ranma replied, hoping that she liked ice-cream. If she did, maybe the start wouldn't be too rocky. Then again, maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to go out into public with his new, erm, daughter... "I just knew you were going to be a great daddy," she said while batting her eyes as cute as she could at the older boy. "Right! Let's go then," Ranma said, suddenly realizing how long it's been since he's had any of the cold, sweet, and creamy treat. Ranma led the way to the door, completely unsure about how he was going to explain this to anyone, least of all his violent fiance. As he closed the door behind him, Skuld grabbed his hand in a reflexive way. Ranma didn't act as he did with any of his fiance's, because he was in charge of her well being. Slowly approaching the gate of the Tendo compound, Ranma had an epiphany; he was in charge of the well being of a child. Not just any child, he further realized, but a goddess child. For her part, Skuld was thinking about the various things she could do to help her new daddy. Maybe, she could build a medic bot, or a regeneration chamber. Hmmm, she seemed to remember something of a Chinese curse. That's it she could devise a system to interpret a curse, and thus generating a method for a cure! While both parties were lost in thought, Ranma reached for the gate. In a way only possible in Ranma's life, he opened the gate to find the rest of the Tendos on their way in. -- Somewhere else: The smoke filled room had an ominous feeling to it. A feel that was desperate in nature, and had nothing to do with the two men sitting at a table beneath an old light. Soun and Genma were preparing Operation-Marriage, a plan that would not fail. Then again, it could just be an excuse for excessive sake consumption. However, they were left unsupervised......... Later, the establishment would lose another barkeep to the madness of drunken panda. It was a mysterious condition that could besiege the best bartenders, and many legends were associated with it. The most important of these were to change careers upon the first sighting of the drunken panda. Otherwise, foul nightmares could plague a man's family for generations! Worse still, if that said panda was to hug another man in the bar that the bartender must be wary of his first wife. Luckily, the bartender missed Genma and Soun congratulating each other; otherwise, he may have wasted many a yen on some local detective Tendo, as so many others have! -- The Meeting: Akane's eyes spoke volumes; well, they spoke volumes of re- verse-anger-management. Their fiery gaze fell almost immediately on the young girl with Ranma. Her aura began to glow a faint green; with it, her face turned to a shade of red. When Akane had that look, Ranma could hardly notice what the others' reactions were--almost as if they were in a haze. Reflexively, he reaffirmed his grip on the little girl's hand to reassure her. This fact, as small as it was, wasn't lost on Akane. The bellowing thusly, began, "RRRRRANMA! Who is this GIRL?!!?" The next act would reverberate through the collective memories of all present for a long time to come. Akane tried to hammer Ranma, which in itself was fairly normal. However, the amazing thing was that someone grabbed Akane's arm. Skuld, who had her own hammer, was preparing to put an end to that lesser hammer, but someone stopped the crazy woman from swinging. Before she had a chance to determine which person stopped the angry girl, Ranma grabbed her hand and began dragging her off. "Sorry, can't explain now, Akane. I promised the little one here some ice-cream, see ya'' later, bye!" Ranma bellowed as he and Skuld made haste towards the street. "RRRannnmmmaaaaa, come back here and explain this," Akane demanded to- ward Ranma's back. For her part, Kasumi just patted her baby sister on the back and said, "Oh, I'm sure everything is just fine. She seemed like a nice LITTLE girl." Hoping that the em- phasized word would reel Akane in from her immediate accusational state. She almost didn't notice Nabiki rushing inside. Anyway, she had to get Akane in to calm her down. It was just plain difficult to get any information out of Ranma when Akane was like this. Soothing Akane all the way into the house, she heard a startled voice from the kitchen. She could have sworn that Nabiki had just said, "Oh My!" -- Moving at a brisk pace, Ranma could only think to himself, "Yeah, it's getting bet- ter alright. So much better I can't stand it." He rolled his eyes at the thought, and then knew that the girl trotting along with him noticed it. That's when he really wondered if he could disconnect his ears from his brain. "I know it doesn't look good back there, daddy. Yet, you were going to have a fight anyway. See! Look over there," she said while pointing towards a speeding bi- cycle with a purple haired amazon on it. "They were going to end up fighting with *urk*" Ranma grabbed Skuld, and made a ninety degree turn into an alley, hoping that Shampoo didn't see them. He looked down at Skuld silently hoping that she would un- derstand to be quiet, or they would be caught. He felt that she understood, and listened for the ringing bicycle bell to fade into the distance before giving a sigh of relief. Immediately after stepping out of the alley, a moped sped past splashing Ranma completely, and just as completely missed Skuld. This event, while expected for Ranma, was a little odd in that he had still been holding his daughter's hand. As ex- pected, Ranma dropped his head and said, "Not again, jeez." -- Skuld looked on in surprise. She was sure that she had been holding Ranma's hand, and now there was this redhead there. She was about to ask what happened to Ranma, when she remembered that there was something in his file about a water based curse. Grinning, she said, "I guess that'll solve the Mommy problem under the adoption, huh?" She giggled at the paled reaction that Ranma returned to her com- ment. -- By the time they made it to the ice-cream parlor, they were both laughing. Skuld at the aquatic gender bender, and Ranma at the little goddess who couldn't walk on a fence. Skuld was surprised and amused at how Ranma-chan got a volume discount with fluttering eyes. More to the point, she was surprised that Ranma knew how, not that it could be done. She has Urd as a sister, so she has just had to have seen it--and often too! Ranma was surprised at how Skuld could keep up the ice-cream eating pace. The trip back was a bit more somber. Skuld pried Ranma for where they should start, and had to decipher several "Huhs" and "Whatt'ya' mean" statements. By the time they got back, Skuld was fairly certain of two things. The first being that Ranma wanted the curse gone, which meant that she had to devise a machine to fix it. Next, she would start on the fiance dilemma. She was fairly certain that one, or more, of the fiance's would give up just because Ranma had a daughter to care for. These thoughts and the events revolving them, would begin very soon. Be- cause, the Dojo wasn't for away. Skuld and Ranma both hoped that nothing too terrible happened while they were away from the dojo. -- Discoveries: Meanwhile, at the dojo things weren't necessarily looking up. After stopping her sister from attacking Ranma in front of that child, Nabiki sped into the house; she was determined to locate any clues about the girl before confronting Ranma about it. She had long since determined, that while a jock, it was easier to deal with Ranma while holding onto some facts. Dealing with that walking catastrophe required patience and an open mind, not whatever tactic her sister was using to deal with that fiance of hers. She wondered why her sister never learned anything from her, really. It was only a few months ago that Nabiki was engaged to the martial-arts misfit from hell, and she had Ranma off balance nearly the entire time. She shrugged it off, and made a quick scan of the family room, while the rest of the family was watching the now famous Saotome-Secret-Technique (hah!). There was nothing out of place, save for the phone-book opened to the food section. She specu- lated that the family would move the argument that was about to begin through the lower floor of the house, she quickly went to the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, she silently noted the locations of things. What was out of place and what wasn't, was the target. "Aha," she nearly murmured. That was it, right there on the table. She had spotted a pile of papers that had been apparently forgotten. Picking them up, she noticed that whoever, probably Ranma, had looked at them only noticed the top couple of sheets. She began to read them, well, skimming over them to get the gist of the paperwork. Ever so softly, she began to think out loud--contrary to her self taught principle of keeping silent on such things unless the af- fect was required. Her silent voice echoed through her own ears, "let's see, Skuld, age nine. Officially adopted by one Saotome Ranma, to be father of the one to be named Saotome Skuld the daughter of Saotome Ranma. Yeah, yeah, blah-blah, daughter? Daughter?!!?" Her voice betrayed her, and raised a level, "Oh, My." Knowing that someone had to have heard her, so she took the paperwork to her room to continue her investigation. Prancing by Kasumi, she said, "I'll be down in a minute; I have to finish up a bit of business." Then, Nabiki continued towards her room undisturbed. The first thing she did was verify that the papers looked legal, then she decided to look at the rest of them. She pulled a secret trick of her own, putting a pencil in her mouth. An act she learned long ago, one that helped her keep her own voice down when engrossed with something. From there, she began to go into the paperwork in earnest. "Hmm. Interesting," she thought as she read through the various parts of the pa- pers. D.H.R. would require him to be married within six months, or he may lose cus- tody. "Oh boy, what have you gotten yourself into, Saotome," She muttered then con- tinued to read. The case file stated that the girl loves ice cream, and some other fluff. "Hmm, this Skuld is very intelligent. Now there is something interesting. Well, she seems to be like all the other girls around here, when it comes to Saotome though," she thought. All in all, it may not be a bad thing--excepting for the extra mouth to feed. "Maybe, just maybe this will force Ranma into maturing a little. Well, one things for sure. One or two of those wayward fiance's may give up their claim over this..." She could hear the commotion downstairs. The various questions, and tempers. "Oh yeah, this is going to get interesting. What a genie you let out of the bottle, Sao- tome," she chuckled to no one in particular. Leaning back in her chair, she wondered if Akane would be the one to give up. What's more, she prayed that Akane would not be- come violent around little Skuld again. If Ranma wants this daughter, he may just grow a backbone about it, and a serious one too. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds indicating Saotome's return. Taking a deep breath, she moved from her chair to diffuse the ticking time bomb below. Next Up: What's going to happen when Ranma gets back to the house? Will Nabiki keep down the collateral damage? How long will it be before Ranma wears the kanjii for 'Baka' on his forehead? What's this, Ranma's curse is lifted just before a visit by mom--what's [Just an Innocent Panda] to do? Be here next time for: "Oooh, That Mechanical Voodoo That You Do!" ------ Notes: liked it? Hated it? Email me: targhan_aga@yahoo.com ------ Kami sama! Now all my Amiga friends know who wrote this junk!