Amethyst - The Bet, Purple Side of "A Bet Too Much"

Prologue

by Celeste Byrd

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Insert your standard, boring disclaimer here.  It's tough to keep the
legal people happy, so why try?  I'm not doing this for any monetary
gain, and we know the characters in the story belong to their respective
creators.  So there.

Any comments and criticism is welcome at [belldandy@studio-aesir.net]!

========================================================================


     "You know, I think just a small change over here will do fine."

     If Toltiir had the ability to cover his eyes, he would have taken
the time to do it right now.

     It took him a moment to realise that he DID have the ability to
cover his eyes, and it was what he was currently doing.  As much fun as
being a feline god of mischief was, there were limits to what he could
take when it came to something as big as the Bet.  Not that anyone had
actually reached his limit yet, but Toltiir was tired of all the
deities/people/things not abiding by the rules.  It was bad enough that
Mimir was getting angry at him for messing around with the Mimisbrunnr,
the Well of Wisdom.  He didn't need anymore marks against his record, if
he had any sort of record to keep.  Principle, that was it.

     It may seem strange to the observer that a god of mischief would
want to follow ANY sort of rules, but then they didn't know Toltiir.  As
he once said, (or rather, nicked off someone else) there was a BIG
difference between mischief and chaos.

     Of course, mischief and chaos practically have the same effect when
one was dealing with something as massive as time.  Not that anyone
cared.  Why would they?  There's no reason to unless it's happening to
them.

     "What's the matter, Toltiir?  I'm not doing anything wrong, am I?"

     Toltiir looked out from between his paws to answer.  "Not really,
but the Bet's over.  It has been for months.  The faerie timeline won,
you remember..."

     "So?  Why should that impact on a little amusement?  Besides, I'm
not breaking any rules!"

     Toltiir dropped his paws and sighed.  "I don't think slightly
altering an already altered timeline counts as following the rules," he
answered.

     "Aww, you're no fun at all.  And I thought a god like you wouldn't
mind having a little breather from just sitting around all day."

     Toltiir shrugged.  What the hell, he thought.  It didn't matter
what he said, they would either ignore him or do the deed when he wasn't
there.  And to be honest, watching something happen was much more fun
than hearing about it afterwards.  Particularly if you were on the
sidelines, and safe from the general radius of effect.

     "All right, Urd.  But only because no one has done anything since
yesterday."

     What else could he say?  Toltiir was bored.  He needed something
interesting to watch.

    -------------------------===- ** -===---------------------------

     Ranma Saotome sighed as he watched the sun set on the roof of the
Tendo home.  Everyone had gone into the house, and no one was bothering
him.  It was a perfect time to think.

     The "date" with his female side and Kuno had come to an end
yesterday.  He had hated every moment of it, but it had been a sacrifice
necessary in order to get Kuno's Wishbringer sword.  It hadn't helped
that, at every opportunity to grab the sword, Akane or his father had
harassed him.

     His father, he could see doing something like that.  Genma was a
rotten bastard and would do anything to ensure his own happiness.  Even
if it meant trampling his only son in the process.

     Akane...

     ...

     "Serves the pervert right.  Honestly, the way you acted around
Kuno..."

     ...

     Akane, he didn't understand her one bit.  She could be so kind and
considerate on one hand, then turn around and hit him with one of her
blind, stubborn jealousy trips.  Why did she have to interfere?  Didn't
she realise how much hell he had been put through BECAUSE of his curse?
Didn't she know that he would never do anything resembling the things
she described?  Couldn't she try and understand HIM for once?

     Thankfully, he didn't have to kiss Kuno at the end to get the
Wishbringer.  Kuno had given his female form the sword and the final
wish it contained as a gift "to commemorate their first date."  Ranma
wasn't sure if he could stomach kissing Kuno, cure or not.

     He felt a small pang of guilt when he received it, however.  As
much as he couldn't stand the older Kuno sibling, deceiving him didn't
seem right at all.  He knew there was a limit to everything a guy could
handle.  Not that the young Saotome boy would ever admit it out loud, of
course, but the whole deception preyed on his subconscious.

     What he MEANT, was... well, Kuno was a jerk, a complete moron, and
a person who couldn't tell the difference between "yes" and "no" if
there were brightly-coloured signs and thousands of people pointing out
the differences.  He would probably think they were supporting his
decision, too.  But...

     Ranma's mind was trying to tell him that maybe Kuno was never given
a chance.  Kuno was going to be severely crushed when he found out that
his "pigtailed goddess" was no more.  Perhaps it was best to just return
the sword and forget about the whole thing.

     Another part of his mind told him that Kuno would probably just
give up and chase Akane if the pigtailed girl disappeared.  After all,
Kuno had been about to give up a while ago, until Ranma reappeared in
female form.  Kuno would waste the wish on a mundane thing, too.  Now,
all Ranma had to do was think of a way to word the wish to cure himself,
and he'd no longer be half a man!

     The first part reminded the second that a cure would solve the
LEAST of Ranma's problems.  A cure could still be found in China
somewhere, so why wish the inevitable?  Besides, the curse didn't change
what he was inside; he might have the body of a female, but his heart
and mind would forever remain his own.

     The second part retorted that going to China was unlikely,
especially with all the trouble that would follow him there.  The first
snapped that it was impossible to wish for a cure because of the
conflict error involving Ranma's female side, but the second responded
by sticking out his tongue.  The first asked the second if he wanted a
piece of him?  The second gladly obliged, and a fisticuffs erupted in
the confines of Ranma's mind.

     ...

     "Hmph.  You're always getting yourself into these problems, Ranma,
and it's always your fault.  Pervert."

     ...

     It took a few seconds for the psychic fight to end.  Both sides had
come to an agreement, realising the root of it all.  The main problem
wasn't just because of Ranma's curse, they decided.  The curse wasn't as
much of a nuisance as he made it out to be.  It could be tolerated, and
had been for quite some time.  It had even been used as an advantage in
many situations.

     The real problem stemmed from the people around him, the people he
associated with.  They couldn't deal with something as simplistic as a
magical curse.

     It was an epiphany.  Ranma never had one before in his life, and
the feeling was more than a little frightening.

     Perhaps "simplistic" was too strong a word, his mind amended.  The
curse depended on the temperature of water.  It didn't alter what he was
inside.  Though the he received the appearance of a woman, he was still
a man.  It was temporarily dispelled whenever he was doused in hot
water.  The concept itself was easy enough, right?

     The problem was that no one could accept it.

     His father considered it a shame, a tear in the fine fabric of the
Saotome name.  Nabiki took advantage of it all the time, perhaps as
revenge for the disappointment she suffered when she thought he was
truly a girl.  Neither Kuno nor Kodachi could understand it, and
probably wouldn't anytime soon.  The guys at school believed it was the
best thing that could happen to anyone, which demonstrated their
collective mentality on the issue.  Akane dealt with it by calling him a
pervert, and justified her actions by hitting him.  Because he was
different, he became the scapegoat of everyone's problems.  Ranma's
experiences over the past few years was a testament to that.

     Even yesterday, the events that had transpired were concrete
evidence of his assumptions.  He remembered what happened last night,
when he was discussing the various implications of having a wish with
the Tendo sisters.  No sooner had he started talking when he got into a
small argument with Akane.  How did he ever get engaged to her?  They
were practically contrasting opposites.

     ...

     "Because, Saotome.  You're not rich or particularly intelligent,
you suffer from chronic foot-in-mouth disease, you're also a coward in
everything but a fight, which makes you completely unsuitable for me.
You're not old enough or mature enough for Kasumi.  Your curse turns you
into a girl, which both I and Kasumi find revolting.  Need I go on?"

     ...

     He had been dumped onto the youngest daughter, he realised.  He was
just some hand-me-down that no one wanted to keep, and so he was stuck
in an engagement neither he nor Akane liked.  Akane frequently vented
her displeasure about this; often she'd give him a good whack with that
giant mallet.  He knew where he stood with her.

     As for his other fiancées, they also tended to stay on the extremes
when dealing with him.  Not to the same extent as Akane, of course, but
Ranma found himself wishing that they were just friends.  He was certain
that Ukyo and Shampoo would be much kinder to him if a relationship
stemmed from their friendship, rather than a silly law or an arranged
marriage.

     The argument with Akane had briefly subsided when Ukyo and Shampoo
showed up at the training hall.  Unfortunately, the anger increased
exponentially as the discussion turned into a debate and then broke down
into a fight.  The cause of his fiancées' fight?  They disagreed on how
HIS wish should be worded.  Nabiki and Kasumi were clever enough to stay
away minutes before it happened, but Ranma managed to get stuck,
naturally, at ground zero.  The fight turned into a round of insults and
name-calling.  It was hard not to join in, and Ranma did just that.  A
comment about cooking later and he found himself in the stratosphere.

     Glumly, Ranma watched the entire incident play over and over again
in his mind.

     A wish for a cure wouldn't stop the insanity.  A cure for him would
be selfish.  But what could he wish for, if he couldn't cure himself?

     ...

     "Oh, get it OVER with, Saotome.  There is no single thing that can
solve all the problems YOU'VE managed to accumulate. You KNOW that
whatever you wish will just make your problems worse anyway. Why not
just give it up?"

     ...

     Why didn't he, the rational part of his mind asked.  Nabiki was
right.  What was the point of trying if it was just going to get worse?
Why bear the weight of the world upon your shoulders when you don't have
to?

     It's your fault anyway, right?

     There was no one around, and Ranma dropped his facade.  He was no
longer the egotistical jerk, the paragon of martial arts skill.  The
illusions he carefully set up over the years blew away as if they were
made of dust.

     If anyone had been on the roof at that moment, what they would have
found in the fading daylight was a young man, terrified of the world,
betrayed by his father and the people who claimed to love him, and
alone.

    --------------------------===- ** -===--------------------------

     "I'm not an expert in these things," Toltiir began.  "But I do know
that's WAY out of character for the guy."

     Urd smirked.  "That's what you think."

    --------------------------===- ** -===--------------------------

     It was an ongoing battle, he realised, a fight that he had no way
of winning.  He was up against Fate, and Fate had control of all his
pieces.

     Ever since he had arrived in Nerima, there were few emotions that
had been turned on him as frequently as he sparred against his father,
and it hadn't taken very long to recall and trace them out.

     Jealousy.  Hate.  Pity.  Anger.  Disappointment.  Disgust.

     Nothing else had ever been directed at him, and nothing else would
be, as long as things continued this way.

     What had he accomplished over the years?  He was Ranma Saotome, the
greatest martial artist of his generation.  Techniques that had taken
years for ancient masters to grasp were perfected by him in a matter of
days.  There wasn't a single fight that he had lost in his life.

     But what had his fights given to him?  An ego that rivalled Kuno's,
a temper that followed Akane's, an education that barely surpassed
Ryoga's, a curse that questioned his sexuality, a fear that gripped his
heart and his mind, enough fiancées to last him into the next millenium,
and enough enemies to track him afterwards.

     No one ever listened to him.  No one ever cared.  They were too
busy inflicting pain on him, or trying to turn him into someone else.
While he struggled for the past ten years to live up to his father's
expectations, his fiancées continued to fight over him as if he was a
present without the name tag.  Once it wasn't his fiancées, but sibling
rivalry between Nabiki and Akane.  He was a commodity in their eyes, a
pawn to be slaughtered mercilessly by anyone and everyone.  Opponents he
didn't want tried to kill or maim him on a regular basis.  Friend or
foe, it didn't matter.  They all hit him at some point or another.  And
on top of that, he DESPISED his reputation as a loudmouthed jerk.  As
much as he wanted to erase it, years with his father ingrained nasty
habits into his subconscious.  He'd be the first to admit that his mouth
contributed to some of the hate, but not to the scale that his life was
currently at.

     Was it all truly worth having everyone against him?

     Not once had he been looked at as a person.  Not once had he been
understood, or listened to.

     He was tired, cold, and hurt.  And no one cared.

     But...

     His eyes narrowed.  There was only one way he could win, he
realised.  Since he was the focus of everyone's problems, perhaps it was
time for him to move out of the camera's range.  If it worked, not only
would he be out of their lives, but he could... he could...

     For once in the sixteen years of his existence, he knew what he had
to do.

     "My name is Ranma Saotome.  The Ranma Saotome everyone knows never
loses where it counts.  Gotta keep the record, right?"

     In this legacy, this will be my final victory.

     He stood up and unsheathed the sword.  "Wishbringer..." he
whispered, staring at the blade.  "Everyone seems to think I'm the cause
of their problems.  Since everyone would be much happier..."

     A single tear dropped to the ground.  "Since everyone would be much
happier without me... I just wish that they would all be happy...
without Ranma Saotome in their lives.  I wish I was but a memory to
them... and..."

     The loneliness called to him.

     "And... that I'll meet someone who wouldn't hurt me, who could
understand me, appreciate me for what I am, and not what other people
think I have to live up to."

     [GRANTED.]

     There was a flash of light as the wish took effect, and Ranma was
gone.

    --------------------------===- ** -===--------------------------

     "Are you sure you know what you're doing?  I sure don't."

     Urd smiled.  "Well, we've now had a glimpse into Ranma's psyche.
Isn't that funny?"

     "Not the 'ha-ha' sort.  If you ask me, this is a bit cruel to him."

     "Interesting to know that the kid isn't just a macho jerk, but a
child that insulated himself against the harsh realities of life.  I
think so, anyway."

     "Not to me," Toltiir shrugged.  "I like things to be more happier.
This is bordering on suicide here."

     Urd pouted.  "You'll see."

     "All right, all right.  It's kind of original, I'll give you that."
He paused.  "What DID you alter, anyway?"

     "Oh, just the emotional levels between Ranma's fiancées.  A few
extra secretions of hormones here, a dash of jealousy there...  I kind
of reduced Akane's rage threshold that way."

     "So Akane gets incredibly angry at Ranma?  What else is new?"

     "It stops him from making a careless wish," Urd pointed out.  "He's
not as stupid as people think.  Leave him alone with his thoughts and--"

     "He gets all retrospective and figures out his problem," Toltiir
concluded.

     "Yep.  He'll find a way, martial arts or not."

     "Not bad, not bad..."  The feline god nodded.  "I have to give you
credit for thinking it out this far."

     "Yes, it's pretty good, if I do say so myself."

     "What do you intend to happen in this divergence, though?  Ranma's
wish to leave the Nerima ward is all fine and dandy, but where's he
bound?  I don't think you've told me all the details."

     "Well, I'm hoping that Ranma meets his mother much earlier than
scheduled.  She's the only one he can turn to, since 'everyone' meant
the Tendos, his fiancées, his enemies, and his father.  He'll be truly
happy for the first time in his life, finally having the maternal
stability every child needs.  He'll tell her everything and then she'll
sort it all out!"

     Toltiir facefaulted.  "You've been watching WAY too many cheesy,
cut-and-paste, episodic television shows."

     Urd simply smiled her "It can't go wrong, I spent the good part of
fifteen minutes thinking about it" smile.

     "What kind of artifact is the Wishbringer, by the way?" he asked.
"How does it collect the power it needs to make a wish?"

     "Oh, it accesses the Yggdrasil database and searches for a
department that can take care of the full parameters of the wish," she
answered offhandedly.

     "The Goddess Relief Office?"

     "Usually, unless the wish has issues that can only be addressed by
another department, like the Earth Assistance Hotline."  Urd smirked.
"Not that there are many issues we can't handle, of course.  They still
have quite a ways to go before they can reach our level, if you want to
know."

     "Rivalry, huh?"

     Urd looked at him as if he was an idiot.  "What's the point of the
different offices if we aren't allowed any competition?"

     "Business practices in Heaven?"

     "Keeps people on their feet.  Partying all day isn't a good way to
stay alert and healthy."

     "That's a surprise coming from you, Urd."

     "Blame it on my sisters.  I've mellowed out quite a bit thanks to
them."

     "So the Wishbringer has to route power from Heaven, huh?" Toltiir
rubbed his chin as best as he could in his current form.  "So that
means..."

     Urd's expression changed as she continued to watch the events
unfold in the scrying pool.  "W-what?  How could this be?"

     "What's wrong?"

     She turned to him.  "S-see for yourself!"

     Toltiir peered into the pool.  "Ranma finds himself in Okayama, and
ends up at the Masaki shrine?  In exchange for room and board, he does
chores around the shrine and goes to school?  He becomes good friends
with Tenchi, to the point where they call themselves sworn brothers?"

     Urd blinked, wondering how the divergence could have occurred so
drastically.

     He continued.  "Yosho approves, since they're really cousins in
this timeline, but he doesn't let them know?  Nobuyuki also knows, but
Yosho asks him not to tell the boys?  Ranma takes up the Masaki school
of swordfighting, and tries to forget his past?"

     She crossed her arms, trying to think of a suitable excuse for
something she didn't do.  Purposely, at least.

     "How big a rock did you throw in, by the way?" he glaned at her.

     "Uh... his mom fits the wish description perfectly, doesn't she?"
Urd was pretty sure of that.  Where could she have gone wrong?

     "Don't ask me.  I don't know which department's taking care of the
wish," Toltiir smirked.  "But if it's any of the rival departments in
Heaven, then they're probably trying to screw you over."

     "Maybe," she agreed.  "Even then, the rules have to followed.  Just
because we're all rivals doesn't mean we're like THEM, you know."

     "Can't be them, I'm sure," Toltiir replied.  "He's still alive, for
one thing."

     "Why wouldn't he meet his mom, though?"

     "Ranma doesn't know yet that his mother's still alive, I guess.
Besides," he added.  "Being a 'man amongst men' is an expectation, isn't
it?"

     Urd made a face.  "I don't think Tenchi is what Ranma meant by
'understanding him'.  Not by a long shot."

     "Wishes can do weird things," Toltiir shrugged.  "It could have
been worse."

     "I didn't mean it that way!"

     "Hey, you're the one who just said that.  I didn't mean anything at
all."


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To be continued...                             Celeste Byrd [04.05.2000]