Kasumi was walking home from Doctor Tofu’s, a dreamy look of contentment on her face. She had spent the last two nights and a day with her new fiancée, and even her long denied libido was sated. And Doctor Tofu had had a surprise for her. The Yamane family was moving to Hokkaido due to Mr. Yamane getting a promotion, and he’d offered Dr. Tofu their current residence, which was the house next to the dojo. It shared the wall across the garden from the dining room and had been built in a similar style, though it’s garden was much smaller than the Tendo’s. Ono had accepted the offer, and once he had moved in, he thought it would be a simple matter to remove the central wall and join both gardens together.
Oh, Ono had been so thoughtful! To think that she could still take care of her family and never be far from his side. He had somehow known the worries she had about her family’s welfare, and he had already seen to them, and now that she had laid to rest all the fears that had given rise to his anxiety attacks when she was around, he had finally been able to be the kind and gentle doctor she had heard of so often when he was with her. It was so perfect!
She looked down at the engagement ring on her finger and sighed in happiness.
Then she heard sniffles, and turned to see the small pink haired cousin of Usagi sitting on a swing with her catball in a small playground beside the street. The little girl was swinging slowly and trying her best not to cry, but like most eight year olds, she wasn’t succeeding as well as she no doubt wanted to. Kasumi took the swing next to her and dug out a lollipop from her purse.
“Hello Chibi-Usa, you look sad. Can I help?”
The pink haired girl sniffed and looked at her. “I’m so scared for my mommy. I miss her!”
Kasumi laid a hand on her head and gently stroke her head. “I’m sure we can find a way to help your mother, Chibi-Usa. The more you can remember the faster we can do what we can.”
“I- I just don’t remember much. There was darkness and fire, and shadows. I want mommy!”
Kasumi stroked her head and did her best to comfort the distraught girl, and soon she had Chibi-Usa sitting on her lap eating the lollipop and laughing as Kasumi got her to tell little funny stories about things her mother had done, and how safe her father had made her feel, and as she did, Kasumi began to put together a clear enough picture of the parents to reach an inescapable conclusion. When Usagi and Mamoru showed up a few minutes later, she compared them to her mental image, realizing what must have occurred.
But she couldn’t discuss it in front of the little girl. She invited Mamoru to come by the dojo to have tea after the girl’s practice, letting him and Usagi know that she needed to talk to them both.
* * * * *
“Describe the throne room again, please Ukyo.” Nabiki said, a distracted look on her face.
“It was a large room filled with the skeletons of men and youkai, not really much to see.”
“You said something about one of them being stuck to a wall though.”
“Huh… oh, yeah. There was this body stuck up behind this throne, a skeleton that was stuck to the wall with a huge sword, like Tao-Ching’s, but with a curved blade.”
“Damn it, that’s got to be it!”
“What’s got to be it, Nabiki?” Rei asked.
“Tao-Ching’s grandfather said the guy who the clan tried to avenge was stuck to the wall with Burekaishi. That has to be why Naraku sent Zhu Shu to kill the villagers, to make sure no-one got to the sword!”
“That’s quite a leap, Nabiki,” Ukyo pointed out. “And it still doesn’t tell us where the castle is.”
“Nor have I ever heard Naraku mention Burekaishi.” Kagura supplied
Nabiki sighed. “Well, I still vote we go see the smith. If anyone knows what the sword is, and if it’s a threat to Naraku, it has to be its creator.” She frowned. “I mean really, it’s just a hunch, but until Ukyo can maybe tell us a bit more about where Zhu Shu is, it’s the only thing I can think of.”
Sango nodded. “If we travel at Tao-Ching’s speed, we should be there by this day’s end.” She turned to where the sound of swordplay rang through the air. “It sounds like your fiancée has taken on both of them,” she said to Nabiki
The bunny girl nodded. “Yeah, I heard him tell them that he needed the melee practice, so they are all sparring.”
“I hope Inuyasha doesn’t hurt him,” Kagome said.
“I’ve watched him practice. Kuno is more of a threat than Inuyasha. He’s much more skilled.” Nabiki pointed out. She tilted her head. “Yeah, he’s telling Inuyasha to pick up his sword again.”
Ukyo laughed at the dismay on Kagome’s face. “Don’t worry about your boyfriend, sugar. I know his type too well. If he’s as much like Ranma as I suspect, he’ll pick up what Tao-Ching is teaching him very quickly. I bet he pays really close attention to fighting techniques.”
Kagome smiled and had to nod. “Yeah.”
Sango shook her head. “I am surprised Tao-Ching has the energy given the noises that came from your hut half the night.”
Nabiki gave her a lascivious grin. “You could have joined us. I’m still working up to the endurance needed to actually wear him out. I could have used some help.”
Sango blushed absolutely crimson as Kagome hid her face in her hands. Ukyo looked at Kagura. “See? Utterly shameless.”
Kagura fanned herself. “So I see. Most curious. She acts just like the monk.”
“So anyone have a better idea than going to see the smith?” Nabiki asked, giving them a look.
They all shook their heads
“Hopefully Totosai will have something helpful to say.” Sango concluded.
* * * * *
Kasumi walked into a house so spotlessly clean she had to stop and blink. The floors were so polished, they showed her reflection, and every piece of wood gleamed. Akane found her there as she came yawning down the stairs on her way to breakfast. “Morning, Kasumi. Did you have fun with Dr. Tofu?”
Kasumi blushed. “Yes, I did. But what has happened to the house? Did you do all this?”
Akane shook her head. “It was like this when I got home last night from work. Our new houseguest is apparently obsessed with housework.”
“New houseguest?”
“Oh, yeah. You missed everything that’s happened since you left the party early. Nabiki, Zhu Shu, Rei, Ukyo, Tao-Ching, and Kuno have all apparently been sent back in time by a goddess granting a wish; Zhu Shu’s first beloved, Ying-Ying, who is currently a ghost, is now staying with us except when she has to sleep, and we found Zhu Shu’s last foretold lover, a kunoichi named Konatsu, who is our mad housekeeper.”
Kasumi blinked at the off handed way Akane delivered all that, then she blinked again at the last part.
“A kunoichi? I thought her last soulmate was supposed to be a male?”
“She’s cursed like Ranma. Only the temperatures of the water are reversed.”
“Oh my! I see.” She blinked. “Wait, but that would mean…”
“Konatsu would rather not be. She’s perfectly happy being a girl. If Lo Shen hadn’t told us she was cursed, we would have never guessed. Seriously, she’s as feminine as Zhu Shu, and apparently trained in similar arts. She’s ashamed of being a guy, seeing as how she’s the heir to a kunoichi school.”
“Oh my. I shall keep that in mind then.”
“Yeah. Last I knew, she was almost finished polishing the furo. The grout was so white I almost thought it was glowing when I took my bath. She was cleaning it even as I was showering.”
Kasumi blinked. “And you weren’t afraid of a strange boy in the bathroom?”
“No. Really, even when she’s male, unless she’s nude, you’d never guess. She’s gorgeous either way, and utterly feminine. And damn does she have a bust when she’s female. Ranma’s been pouting since last night.” Akane giggled. “She’s even a little bigger than Shan Pu.”
“I see. You seem to be taking all this very calmly, Akane.”
The pink eared bunny girl shrugged. “After everything else that’s happened? This seems kind of tame.” Then Akane did a double take. “Oh yeah, on top of everything else, I am now an honorary Senshi. At least till Rei gets back.” She bowed. “Meet the new Sailor Earth.”
Kasumi laughed. “And here I thought my getting engaged would be the biggest topic of conversation at breakfast.”
“A Tendo sister getting engaged? I thought that was a given these days,” Akane grinned. “Now when you get married… that will be news.”
Kasumi giggled, then turned as someone came into the front hall.
“Akane-sama! I finished the bath. Do you have any laundry?” Konatsu asked with a bow.
Kasumi looked at the new girl, and felt herself take in a breath at her first glimpse.
The girl was tall, almost her own height, and her hair was pulled back into a pony tail all the way from her widows peak, a barrette with a red ribbon holding it in place on top of her head, and with a second red ribbon tied about the tail. The bow of the second ribbon was large, and drooped slightly, the long ribbon ends streaming behind her as she moved. Large dark eyes framed by long lashes looked out of a heartbreakingly beautiful face, with pouty lips painted an inviting shade of red. The simple blouse and skirt she wore was a little small, but really showed off an hourglass figure that even Kasumi found enticing. The girl moved with a grace and elegance that compared with Zhu Shu’s, and seemed to simply exude a palpable aura of lust. Kasumi found herself flushing in the heat of the girl’s hot wind.
“Oh my, you must be Konatsu. I’m Akane’s onee-chan, Kasumi.”
“I am so pleased to meet you Kasumi-sama.” The kunoichi bowed “Your family has been so amazingly kind to me.”
“Wow do you make that outfit look good, Konatsu. I wish I looked half as good in it.” Akane admired. “And it’s breakfast time, then we’re off to school, so don’t worry about the laundry. Ke Lun is going to meet us and get you signed up for classes. Lo Shen also said she’d be happy to tutor you to get you up to speed with the rest of us.”
“I am to be allowed to go to school? Oh, Akane-sama I am so happy! I could not take the exams for high school this year because my sisters said I could not be spared from working at the teashop!”
“Oh you poor thing!” Kasumi said. “Let me go make breakfast for you.”
Akane stopped her. “No need Kasumi. Shan Pu said she was almost done when I went upstairs to dress for school.”
“But-but…”
Akane laughed. “Face it, Kasumi, you get to have the morning off. Enjoy it!”
She had to laugh as the Chinese Amazon poked her head out of the kitchen to call. “Breakfast done! You come eat!”
* * * * *
Clove followed Kasumi with her eyes as the elder Tendo sister walked past her.
This was proving easier than she had feared. She’d been worried last night when Lo Shen had hypnotized Konatsu and examined her in depth, but she’d masked her presence successfully. From what she’d picked up, Zhu Shu was currently away, but sooner or later the half dragon girl had to show up. Until then, she had the soulbonded ghost girl to play with. Ying-Ying had been a surprise, but a delectable one. The pink haired girl had even overwhelmingly charmed Konatsu, not that it had taken much. The kunoichi was well on her way to being head over heels in love with the ghost, not even noticing that Clove was enhancing her own sexual appeal enormously. That Konatsu had been dreaming of her soulmates was certainly no surprise. As bad as her life had been, the soul link had been almost her sole source of comfort. And it certainly made things much simpler.
She watched Akane saunter by too, licking her lips at the delectable way her bunny tail waved as her hips swayed. So many pretty girls… it was going to be hard not to seduce them one after the other. After so long in limbo, such a plethora of feminine beauty was like a feast laid before a starving person. She would have to control her appetites carefully. So much temptation could undo her.
Satisfying her imagination with thoughts of Konatsu innocently seducing Ying-Ying later, she smiled and released the body once more to the kunoichi, the girl never even aware she had faded out, lost in daydreaming about how good breakfast was going to taste…
* * * * *
They had left for the crack in the earth that Totosai called home shortly after breakfast. Kagura had floated along side Tao-Ching, carrying herself, Kagome, and Rei on her feather. Inuyasha had talked loudly about going ahead to scout, but had instead trudged along next to the feather looking oddly unhappy that he wasn’t carrying Kagome like usual. Kagome had wanted to show the youkai sorceress that she was trusted, and besides she had been curiously listening as Kagura had asked to speak with Nabiki.
“I talked to Ukyo Kuonji last night about your disappearance yesterday, Nabiki Tendo. She informs me that you are unaware of precisely what transpired.” Kagura started when Nabiki had nodded.
“Huh? This idiot wasn’t paying attention to where he was walking and got lost again, is all.”
“Nay, Nabiki-san. I am familiar with Naraku and I understand how the curse he has cast upon the Hibiki family works. It is similar to the wind tunnel in the monk’s hand. As Tao-Ching walks, random portals are called into being which do shift him through space. I suspect it has varying degrees to which it affects the various members of the Hibiki clan, from portals that merely shift the direction one is walking in, to those such as Tao-Ching’s which can span from this world into others. I also suspect that the curse multiplies in effect when two members of the clan meet.”
“A portal that spans worlds?” Nabiki blinked. “But I saw no portal.”
“Nay. It was not visible to the naked eye, yet it was there to one who has trained in the magic arts. But that is not what I truly wished to speak to you about. It was you who opened the portal that brought you back yesterday.”
“What? I didn’t do anything!”
“You did so unknowingly, yet it was unmistakable. The portal that sent you was touched by the feeling of Naraku’s curse, yet the one which brought you back was untainted, and bore only your energies.”
“You trying to say I subconsciously cast a spell or something?”
“Indeed. Have you not had things you wished intently to occur happen before?”
“Well, yeah, I usually get what I want, one way or another.”
“That is your untrained talent seeking to enact your will. It is this which has prompted me to speak with you, and offer to train you in the magical arts as best I may. Most of my skills are born from my youkai nature, but there is a little I can teach you about controlling your powers. I beg of you to accept, for with the ability you possess, you pose a grave danger to all of us should you unleash your strength unknowingly.”
“A danger?”
“Yes. You brought yourself back from some place beyond this world, simply through the desire to be reunited with your friends. Yet if you grew angry and wished ill upon someone, that same power could kill, or if used unwisely, even destroy yourself.” Kagura reached out and laid her fan on Nabiki’s wrist as she looked at the bunny eared girl. “You possess a gift far beyond my own, yet without training, your talent is like a wild animal - powerful, deadly, and untamed - as dangerous to you as those around you.”
Nabiki nodded, swallowing hard. She turned to look at Ukyo. “She told you some of this last night?”
Ukyo nodded. “I’ve had a single session with Lo Shen, when she taught me how to shield myself against Clove, and before I went to sleep last night, Kagura showed me how to return to the place that Lo Shen took me to. It’s much easier to learn if you have someone show you the way, just like marital arts.”
She turned back to Kagura. “And you’re saying I can be a mage?”
“I would say you have the potential to be a powerful sorceress. I lack the ability to teach you more than some basic skills, but at least with those you will no longer be a threat to yourself and your friends.”
Nabiki blinked. She leaned forward and scratched behind Tao-Ching’s ears. “Yo, furball, you been listening?”
The giant smilodon nodded.
“Think I should learn magic? I was wanting to be useful after all, and I’m no martial artist. Maybe I can actually be a help with a few spells.”
Tao-Ching nodded again. He paused to write a few kanji on the ground that Nabiki laughed at before he resumed walking next to Kirara, putting up good naturedly with the rope Nabiki had insisted upon again.
“What did he say?” Ukyo asked.
“He said I could be the next Amazon Loremistress.” Nabiki laughed. She turned to the wind witch. “Alright, I will do my best to learn what you want to teach. Do I need to sign an apprentice contract or something?”
Kagura shook her head. “No. Just close your eyes and let me in.” she said as her fingers reached for Nabiki’s temples.
Nabiki rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s just what the first guy I had sex with said too…”
* * * * *
Other than getting Konatsu enrolled and into testing, the morning was uneventful. Konatsu had still been getting ready when Akane, Ranma and Shan Pu left, but Ke Lun was waiting, so they weren’t worried the kunoichi would get lost. With Kodachi still avoiding school, and Tatewaki in the past, the morning walk had been almost boring.
As Akane was taking her mid-morning classes, Konatsu had finished testing, and had apparently done a little better in them than anyone had expected. The girl wasn’t very good at such subjects as history or literature, but she had excelled at science and math, particularly in the subject of chemistry. And it seemed her low scores on the rest were simply due to not being allowed to read her text books by her sisters, since she had a photographic memory. What she lacked in IQ she compensated for in retention.
It had been relatively easy for Lo Shen to arrange to be her tutor as well, since she was registered as Ke Lun’s grand-daughter just like Shan Pu. Lo Shen had had to hack the court records to register Ke Lun as Konatsu’s legal guardian following her mother’s death, but no one at the school found any irregularities in the paperwork and by lunch time, Konatsu was brought into Akane’s class to be introduced.
The vice principle had entered first to tell everyone that there was a new student transferring in, and to please be nice to her, then had waved Konatsu in. She entered very shyly and the entire class let out a whistle of surprise.
She was wearing her previous school’s uniform, and it was obvious that it was just a little small. The short sleeve blouse fit like a second skin as the white cloth strained to contain Konatsu’s oversized breasts, and the blue collar of the sailor suit just emphasized her cleavage. The little red bow at the bottom of the V-neck, sitting almost exactly in the middle of her breasts, was doing far more to call attention to them than distract it. The top was also too short due to having to fit around her bustline, and left her midriff bare, showing off her belly button. The short fuku was a matching blue to the collar, and was likewise an inch or two short, just barely reaching mid thigh, and she had on white thigh-highs with little lacey tops, and a pair of shiny black low-heeled pumps. She’d changed the ribbons in her hair to a matching blue, the large one in back poking out from behind her head, and with the large bow that adorned the rear of her fuku, she could have been the cover girl for a cute schoolgirl hentai magazine.
The room was absolutely silent as they looked at the pinup come to life. Konatsu was standing shyly as the vice principle was giving her name out and bowed repeatedly as she was asked to tell everyone a little about herself, inadvertently making the entire class drool with the looks down her shirt.
“I- I- I am Konatsu Kenzan, of the Sexy Kunoichi clan of female ninja, and- and- I am staying with Akane Tendo-sama.” She clasped her hands together under her chin and gushed, “I hope we can all be friends! I am so happy to be allowed to come back to school!”
Akane blinked as several dozen little hearts formed around Konatsu and floated briefly before vanishing with distinct little pops.
The class disintegrated into utter chaos as everyone simultaneously tried to introduce themselves and offer to be her best friend.
Akane rolled her eyes as the teacher tried to restore order, and heard a chuckle come from the empty seat next to her. She looked over to see Ying-Ying perched on the desktop.
“Gods, she is so innocent and cute and sexy all at the same time!” The ghost noted.
Akane nodded. “Yeah, she’s going to cause a riot. Everybody is going to be trying to date her.”
“I’m not worried about it, dear tigress. We spent hours talking last night. She’s been dreaming of me, Ukyo, and Zhu Shu for years now. She fell in love with her just from her dreams, and she was utterly amazed to see the picture of her kissing Kasumi. She knew at once that Zhu Shu was the one she called the Dancer. She told me she’s been trying to escape her family for years, but they would always follow her and haul her back. She knew she was destined to be with the girls in her dreams, but she’d never really been sure we weren’t just a figment of her imagination, like her sisters kept saying,” she rolled her eyes “-when they weren’t calling her an abomination to her kunoichi heritage.”
“Her family sounds like some people I could really hate.”
Ying-Ying nodded. “Yes. The poor dear has been so lonely, and so abused.” She nodded at the blushing girl who was trying her best to greet the horde of admirers who had surrounded her. “She’s got no self esteem at all, so being so popular will probably help her actually start to feel like she’s not worthless, but you might need to go rescue her for the moment.” The ghost girl smiled as Akane chuckled and she and Shan Pu headed to the front of the class to retrieve the nearly overwhelmed kunoichi.
After lunch, Konatsu set the entire school ablaze with lust. She had the same unconscious grace as Zhu Shu, and despite the utter innocence of her behavior, she couldn’t seem to avoid being outrageously sexy. Without ever encouraging anyone to think she was favoring them, she nonetheless had them all panting, male and female alike. Even girls who had been as die-hard hetero as Akane had once thought she was seemed to get a little breathless in her presence. Konatsu seemed to simply exude an aura of sexual desirability. What was more, she seemed entirely unaware of the effect she had, or that she was even causing it.
What was worse, little things kept happening to the beautiful kunoichi that accentuated her sexiness. From the tendency of her skirt to fly up at the least gust of wind to show off the lacy white panties which matched her stockings, to the buttons of her blouse coming undone when she was shaking someone’s hand, revealing that she had no bras that had fit, to the fact that she had, time and time again during the day, turned from greeting someone to collide breasts first with someone else, she seemed unable to avoid giving everyone she met a nosebleed. The fact that Konatsu’s nipples had stayed semi-erect the entire day, something that the shirt had no chance of concealing, just made everything worse. Nor could the fact that - despite her almost constant blushes - all the attention was making the kunoichi highly aroused escape the sensitivity of Akane’s bunnygirl nose.
Even Akane had to admit the accident in gym class that had knocked an entire cooler of water onto Konatsu’s white tee shirt had really been an accident, and Konatsu had been truly distraught, immediately getting a mop and cleaning up the water while utterly oblivious to her shirt’s see through state. By the time Akane had gotten her to stop mopping and realize the transparency of her shirt, the Hentai Squad had already fainted from blood loss. Konatsu had blushed crimson from head to toe and run into the girl’s locker room in mortification.
Shan Pu had looked at the girl disappearing into the locker room and giggled. “Shan Pu see now why called ‘Sexy’ Kunoichi Clan. She make Shan Pu want to drag Ai Ren’s off for fun!”
Akane took advantage of the fact that no-one could see to give the cat girl’s rump a squeeze. “Me too.”
* * * * *
Konatsu stood under the shower in the girl’s locker room, the water just cool enough not to trigger her change, and shuddered.
It was so different being a real girl. She’d never expected it to be this way. So many people liking her, so many boys and girls giving her looks she knew meant interest. She’d never felt so desirable, so beautiful. The looks, the touch of their hands in hers, the feel of their heart throbbing in their chest in time with hers when she’d bumped into them… Even the embarrassment of not realizing her shirt had become see through had faded when she had realized that all those people had been staring in absolute lust for her body…
The orgasm her fingers gave her brought her to her knees and left her gasping on the shower floor. She couldn’t believe the intensity of it, the difference. Her mind roamed to the face she had seen most often in her dreams, and she imagined it was her fingers caressing her as she shuddered into an even stronger climax.
“Oh, Zhu Shu… Come back soon… I need you.” she whispered as she let the water wash over her, her shudders slowly escalating again as her fingers continued. “Too finally be so close to you, yet so far away… I can’t bear it. Come home to me, my love…”
* * * * *
Clove shuddered as she took control of the body to prevent it from collapsing as Konatsu fainted from the intensity of her final orgasm. She gasped for breath as she tried to stop the shaking, and gathered her thoughts from the maelstrom of emotions Konatsu had overwhelmed her with during the shower. She stared at the tile floor as she tried desperately to deal with the enormous mixture of lust and shame and love and hate.
She had not anticipated anything like this. Konatsu’s soulbond with the others resonated in her head like a crystal chime, impossible to drown out, and the longing Konatsu felt had pierced her to the heart. The kunoichi wanted to be with her heartsmates so much it was like a physical ache, but the shame and hatred that had been heaped upon her by her step-sisters and mother was like a hammer blow.
Konatsu wanted to be touched and loved, but she was terrified by her own desire, and ashamed that she felt so for other women. Clove had always known she preferred girls, but Konatsu had spent most of her life liking men, and her response to both sexes had confused her to no end. She had had no preparation for the kind of attention she had received throughout the day, having never before in her life been in a school where she had not been utterly dominated by her hideously ugly stepsisters, and denied any opportunity to make any sort of friendship, or even to get to speak to people without her sisters doing all her talking, and belittling her. To have spent the entire day as the focus of so many people’s friendly attention, and to actually be looked at as an object of lust - not only by boys, which she had semi hoped for, but by so many females as well - had nearly short circuited her fairly limited thought processes. Konatsu might not be able to handle much more until she could sort out her desires and put aside the shame that had been drummed into her externally for her bi-sexual feelings.
But by the gods, Clove hungered for a woman’s touch! The sharing of Konatsu’s orgasms had nearly driven her insane with her own lust. Fueled as they had been by Konatsu’s fantasies of Zhu Shu, it had sucked Clove into the soulbond and left her as dizzy and confused as Konatsu. She couldn’t think clearly, her mind wavering between the sustaining rage that she had nurtured so carefully and uncertainty.
What am I going to do? I can’t force this poor girl into the role of a seductress. Despite all her training, she is as ill suited for it as a small child, and controlling her completely could break her. She’s so pitiful, so lost and lonely and tormented. Her step-family members were monsters that, were they not already dead, I would take great pleasure in spending days in killing. But this girl… oh she is so like poor little Mu. So utterly used by those she trusted to care for her. Xi’an Chi himself could not have been any crueler to her than her siblings, and all because they were jealous of her for being what they themselves were not. All she has ever wanted was to be loved, just like me…
And I am using her to destroy her love…
What does that make me?
The falling water masked the soft sound of sobs as it mingled with her tears and ran down the drain…
* * * * *
After school, and practice, Akane and Shan Pu went out to do some shopping, having the night off from the club for the next two nights. Kasumi waved them off as she brought out a tray of tea and snacks to the little picnic she had set up for her meeting with Usagi and Mamoru, and smiled as she caught Usagi giving the older boy a kiss. They both blushed when she cleared her throat, and hurriedly stood to bow.
“Thank you for coming. Is Chibi-Usa somewhere else?”
Usagi nodded. “I bribed my brother Shingo into taking her to an arcade and getting ice cream so I could come to practice alone.” She giggled. “He jumped at the chance to get a signed poster from Mina’s last Sailor V movie. He hasn’t caught on that she’s the same Minako that’s my friend.”
Kasumi smiled. “Well, you are probably wondering why I said this is important, so I’ll get right to the point. You know I found Chibi-Usa this morning, but you might not know that she was really upset about missing her mother. I got her calmed down before you got there, and I managed to get some information about her parents she probably doesn’t remember consciously. I know who they are.”
Mamoru blinked while Usagi stared wide eyed. “Please, tell us Kasumi-san.” Mamoru said eagerly.
“This may be hard to believe, but since I’ve learned what happened to Zhu Shu, it’s not as far fetched as I thought it was this morning.” She straightened out her skirt as she took a deep breath. “Our Chibi-Usa is exactly who she says she is – Usagi Tsukino, the second.” She looked at them both seriously. “She’s your daughter.”
They both stared in shock.
Kasumi nodded. “Some how, she seems to have come from the future, maybe ten to fifteen years from now, maybe further. She’s your daughter, and she’s come back to escape from an enemy you were fighting in the future, these Blackmoon people. They followed her because she’s the heir to your throne, Queen Usagi’s throne, in her home called Crystal Tokyo. From bits she’s said, I think that key necklace she wears is what let her come into the past.”
“She- She- she’s my d-d-d-daughter?!” Usagi finally managed to squeak.
“Yes. That’s why she takes after you so much. And she remembers feeling safe around her father, and even though she can’t match you two to the parents she knows, she’s so clingy to Mamoru because he feels like “daddy”, because he is.”
“We’re going to have a daughter?” Mamoru said, still blinking.
Usagi was still gobbling in shock. “That BRAT is my DAUGHTER!?!”
Mamoru laughed. “She does take after you, my dear. Look at the bright side though. She’s our daughter, so at least we know our love will survive no matter what!”
Usagi blinked, blinked again, then went starry eyed. “Oh, Mamoru! You’re right! We really are destined to be together!”
“Still, we shall have to try and figure out how this Blackmoon is able to travel time, so that we can not only return Chibi-Usa home, but go to aid our future selves against this enemy.” Mamoru said decisively.
Kasumi nodded. “And keep your daughter safe at all costs. She’s your heir after all. If they succeed in killing or capturing her, even if you defeat them here, they could still win in the future.”
Mamoru nodded. “She may not have been born yet, but I am her father. You may rest assured that I will do all within my power to keep my daughter safe. Just like I do all I can to take care of Usagi here.” He reached out and put an arm around the dreamy eyed girl. “They are my family. I will protect them come what may.”
Kasumi smiled as she stood and bowed, leaving the two to a private moment of love…
* * * * *
Akane and Shan Pu looked at the store front and saw that they were not the only girls who had found one of the grand opening flyers. “Beautiful Clown Cosmetics! Where every girl can be beautiful!” The flyer had said, and promised a 75% off sale for opening day. Akane knew Shan Pu used very little makeup, but she had taken stock of hers last night after Konatsu had asked for a dozen different make up items that Akane had just not had, and realized just how paltry her cosmetic collection was compared to what the cosmetology skills she had inherited from Zhu Shu allowed her to use. She had decided to solve that little problem, and this promised to be the cheapest route.
She left Shan Pu blinking in wonder as she had run through the various supplies, testing and discarding various brushes, and examining a dozen items to figure out that they were updated variations of things Zhu Shu had learned to use as part of her make up kit. She had a whole basket of accessories by the time she had even made it to the counter to examine the actual cosmetics. She was busily cataloging the various shades of eyeshadow when she heard Shan Pu speaking loudly.
“Shan Pu not need heavy makeup! She is warrior! Not courtesan!”
“But the man in your life won’t love you if you don’t wear heavy makeup! Men are all the same, if you are not pretty, they’ll dump you!”
“Shan Pu Ai Ren not like that. Ai Ren’s not care if Shan Pu wear make up!”
“BUT YOU MUST WEAR HEAVY MAKE UP!” The counter girl screamed, and grabbed a large powder puff. She hit Shan Pu in the face with it, releasing a cloud of powder that sent the Amazon into a choking fit. Akane put her basket behind her back as she started to draw her swords, but something prompted her to grab the scepter instead.
“Why did you attack my Ai Ren!?” She yelled at the counter person, who was laughing manically as girls were running out of the shop screaming. The counter girl focused on her. “Everyone must wear heavy makeup! My Mistress Beruche has commanded it!” She began applying the powder puff to her own face, disappearing in a cloud of white powder.
Then the powder cleared as the shopkeeper reappeared, her appearance having altered considerably. Her skin was a light blue, and her hair a vivid green. A cylindrical hat sat on her head, a long tube hanging behind her connected to a large bulb-like ornament. To Akane, it looked like the atomizer from an expensive perfume bottle. “Now you must wear heavy makeup!” the creature screamed as it opened it’s mouth and spat a stream of what looked like foundation crème at her.
She dodged easily, knowing now why she had drawn the scepter. As she landed on top of one of the display cases, she raised the scepter and cried “Earth Crystal Power! MAKE UP!”
The scepter flared into brilliance, causing the youma to shield its eyes in pain as Akane felt the universe spin around her. In a cascade of fire, she felt as her clothes melted into the power coursing through her and left her skin bare. Then ribbons of light swirled around her and wrapped themselves around her arms and torso, tightening and then forming into a set of red arm length gloves with golden tigers spiraling down them, and a white top that looked like a sleeveless cheongsam, the high collar fitting snuggly to her throat and caressing her body as it adjusted to fit like a second skin. Then she felt as an explosion of energy swirled around her waist, leaving behind a short crimson fuku with gold trim. Crimson thigh high stockings clothed her legs, the gold tigers on them matching the gloves, and a pair of red and gold slippers formed on her feet. Then, as she felt her tiara forming on her forehead, with a roar, her swords materialized in her hands. She took a stance as the light faded and the youma looked at her again.
Akane smiled. “I am the Pretty Sailor Suited Soldier for Love and Justice, Sailor Earth! And for attempting to hide girls inner beauty under pancake make up, I will punish you!”
“You will wear heavy make up!” the youma cried and spat another stream at her. She dodged, doing a back flip to land on one of the shelves that filled the front of the store and preparing to release a Dragon’s Tail Whip, but the shelves collapsed under her and she tumbled. The monster cried in victory and released another stream of makeup…
But a recovered Shan Pu’s bon buri intercepted the sticky goo and it coated the ball shaped head instead. Shan Pu tossed the useless weapon aside as she faced the Youma. “Young girls have pretty skin! No need hide with paste!”
“Every man wants a woman to wear heavy makeup!” the monster yelled as she opened her mouth to spit again, but Shan Pu had hurled her second bon buri, and the foundation crème rebounded into the monsters face.
“MY FACE!” the youma cried, pulling the bon buri loose and tossing it aside to reveal her features had vanished from the lips up. “No! I must fix my face!” The youma pulled out a compact and an eyeliner pencil as both Akane and Shan Pu gave it a look of disgusted disbelief. Then Akane sighed and raised her sword. “Earth Wave Strike!” she cried as she brought the sword down and cut into the ground with it. The floor exploded in a straight line towards the youma as the shockwave shattered the concrete and the dirt under it, then it hit the youma as she was finishing drawing in a cartoon eye on her blank face, and with a cry of “Noooooo,” she shattered into powder.
“That was supposed to be a threat?” Akane asked.
Shan Pu shook her head. “To untrained warrior like Usagi and Senshi, they maybe harder beat?”
“They must be. This being a Senshi might not be as tough as I thought it would be.”
Shan Pu looked at Akane’s outfit. “Shan-kitty must say she like Akane clothes.”
Akane looked down at her Senshi uniform and nodded. “Not precisely the way Rei described it, but I suppose there may be a variation since I’m not Zhu Shu. It is really cute, though.” She turned to look at the back in a nearby mirror. “Ooh, I like the big red and gold bow!”
“Akane have bows on braid too.” Shan Pu added. “Make Akane look yum yum. We go home now so Shan Pu can treat like candy and lick?”
Akane laughed. “I’ll henshin again when we get home. I’m not supposed to advertise I’m a senshi after all.” She laughed as she reached behind her back for the scepter, knowing that somehow it had found it’s way there again during the transformation. “I can’t wait till Ranma sees me in this outfit.”
Shan Pu licked her lips. “Think Ai Ren develop sudden sweet tooth just like Shan Pu.”
Akane laughed as her street clothes reformed. “Probably.” Then she stopped, hit by a sudden thought. “Humm. I guess I don’t really have to pay for all the brushes I picked up anymore! But I am NOT going to trust any of the makeup from here. Let’s go find a real cosmetics shop. Then you can have me as candy.”
Shan Pu laughed with her, then linked an arm through hers and beamed with pride as they walked out of the shop together.
As they vanished around a turn, another figure stepped out of the shop as well, her long dark hair untidy and her mascara running down her face from her tears. For a long moment Kodachi looked after the vanished pair, her body racked by silent sobs.
Then she turned and fled…
* * * * *
By nightfall, Kagura had taught Nabiki how to find her center and how to form a basic shield, which had surprised everyone, even Kagura and Nabiki, when the entranced pair had suddenly been enveloped in a glowing bubble of pink light. As they had ridden the last few miles, Nabiki had been laughing in wonder as she reformed the ball of pink light over and over, responding to Kagura’s instructions to make it larger, smaller, or to form it around someone else or even in Nabiki’s palm. And it was obvious that every time Nabiki recreated the shield, it was becoming stronger and better defined.
“This is just like that shield Zhu Shu can make!” she said as she held the glowing sphere in her hand. “Her Dragon’s Egg Shield technique.”
“It is among the most elementary of techniques, Nabiki-san.” Kagura said. “Many can make shields of varying strength but few have the ability to make them as quickly as you have done. Your strength of concentration is far beyond what I would have believed possible for one just learning magic.”
“They don’t call me the Ice Queen for nothing, you know. I told you, I usually get my way. I’ve kept our family finances in the black since mom died. When I set my mind to something, I don’t let anything distract me.”
“Such focus of will is the most essential, and usually the hardest, of all skills to train. Your will is the heart of your power. A weak willed mage is a dead one.” Kagura nodded at Inuyasha. “Perhaps tomorrow we can test to see how powerful your shield truly is. If it can withstand the Tetsusaiga, then it may be the equal of Naraku’s.”
Nabiki nodded, still looking at the shield in her hand, then she lifted an eyebrow in thought. As they watched, the shield grew spikes and suddenly began spinning at high speed. Nabiki concentrated on it for a minute, then turned and threw it directly at a large tree they were passing.
The spinning pink ball crashed into the tree with a loud splintering roar as bark and chips flew in all directions. In less than a second it had chewed its way completely through the tree, and Nabiki, hand outstretched to the still spinning ball, whistled. “Wow,” she said as she released the shield. “That worked better than I thought it would.”
Kagura blinked. “I had never thought of using a shield so offensively before.”
Nabiki laughed. “Yeah, I really doubt you would have Naruto to draw on,” she said wryly, causing Kagome, Rei, and Ukyo to giggle madly.
Nabiki formed another small pink ball in her hand and tossed it up and down like a baseball. “You know, just learning this has made me think of all sorts of possibilities.” She leaned forward to rest her elbow on Tao-Ching’s broad head and prop her own on her hand. “You hear that you big hunk of Amazon male? You’re marrying a warrior witch! Better be a proper Amazon husband or I might have to punish you with a fireball!”
Hearing a smilodon convulse with laughter was a novel experience for them all…
* * * * *
It had been Ranma who had first noticed the side effect of Akane’s henshin. She’d barely been able to contain her eagerness to show the red-head her sailor uniform, and had dragged her upstairs with Shan Pu the moment they had gotten home. As predicted, the cursed boy had found the outfit just as irresistible as Shan Pu, and Akane had found herself jumped and stripped out of it in short order.
Then, as they were cuddling on the bed in the afterglow, Ranma had blinked. “Hey, your hair is different!”
Akane had turned half lidded and utterly contented eyes towards her. “Hmmm?”
“You know how you had cut it short, then Zhu Shu added the braid? Well now it’s like you have short hair in front, but all the hair in back is part of the braid. I can’t even tell where Zhu Shu wove it in.”
Shan Pu propped herself up on her elbows to look. “Ranma is right. Akane hair is like Chinese queue. Short front like she had, but all in back is long.” Her fingers twitched. “Oooh, Akane undo braid! Shan Pu want brush hair!”
Akane had laughed, but complied as the Chinese Amazon had retrieved her jeweled combs, and while Ranma watched lazily from the bed she soon confirmed that Akane’s braid had ceased to be woven in. From just above her ears back, Akane’s hair was ankle length and seemed to naturally shift from her midnight black tresses into the rich coppery red of Ranma’s hair as a girl. Even a henshin back to normal didn’t change it, though when she did it a second time, she not only ended up fully dressed in a new copy of her uniform, but her hair was instantly re-braided as part of the change. Shan Pu had taken one look at that and demanded she strip again, then promptly informed her she was stealing both outfits. Akane had laughed as Shan Pu had carefully collected the extra sailor uniforms and asked the Amazon what she planned to do with them. Shan Pu had just given her an amused grin and replied, “Akane see.”
Afterwards, Ranma had gone to take a bath, only to run into Konatsu at the bathroom door, also in a bathrobe. As the kunoichi had stammered and started to bow in apology, Ranma shrugged and made her stand up.
“It’s okay, really. I don’t mind sharing if you don’t. We both have the same curse anyway. Neither one of us has anything the other hasn’t seen.”
Konatsu had blushed deeply. “But Ranma-sama, I-I cannot take a warm bath. I would not wish to inconvenience you.”
“Hey, I can’t take warm baths at the moment either. Shan Pu’s Great Grandmother put some weird hex on me that makes any kind of heat TOO hot. Besides, the girls are always taking baths together and gossiping. It’s about time they got a little payback.”
Konatsu blushed. “But-but is it not improper for a girl to share a bath with a man who is not her husband?”
“We’re both girls at the moment, and you’re the only girl in the house I know Akane and Shan Pu are NOT going to get jealous over if we share the tub. Come on, I’ve been wanting to talk to you anyway.”
Konatsu bowed, and followed Ranma into the outer room, hesitating for a few moments before finally removing her robe and adding it on top of Ranma’s in the clothes hamper.
Ranma nodded at the shower. “I’ve learned the basic principle of the water thing seems to be body heat. If the water is colder than your skin, you won’t change, if it’s hotter you will, give or take a few degrees. And to be blunt, the curse seems to make you a water magnet. It’s much easier to stay in your cursed form than it is to stay out of it. If you prefer being a girl, that should make things easier for you.”
“You do not wish to be female though, do you?” Konatsu asked, nervously sitting down on the stool and filling a bucket, blushing as she kept taking sidelong glances at the red-head who was standing unashamedly as she tied a dragon’s hair around the upper section of her braid before unraveling it to wash her waist length hair.
Ranma noted the blush but mistook the reason as she shrugged. “I’m getting to where I really don’t mind being female, but yeah, I’m a guy at heart. Hopefully Ke Lun will decide I’ve gotten accustomed to fighting in my female form soon. She’s been attacking at random when I’m not in school, and working the Club is getting to be a real pain when you have to dodge kunai while delivering piping hot ramen and okonomiyaki.”
Konatsu blinked. “The club?”
“Club Nabiki. Akane’s sister’s teen club. You should stop by sometime. Lots of kids from school hang out there, and there’s an arcade and karaoke.”
The kunoichi smiled happily. “Karaoke? I love singing! But my sisters say I have a terrible voice.”
Ranma laughed. “I doubt seriously you could be worse than Daisuke.” She finished combing out her braid and took down the sprayer to wet her hair. “And as good as you look, I don’t think anyone would care if you sang like a cat being boiled alive.”
Konatsu blushed prettily as she removed her hair ribbons. “Do you sing? You are so beautiful as a girl, I cannot help but think you must have a wonderful voice.”
Ranma shrugged. “I do okay, but everyone always is trying to get me to sing girly songs.”
“Do you dislike being female so much then?”
“I’m just more comfortable when I can at least make a choice. Both Akane and Shan Pu have way too much fun teaching me how to be female, and I need a break now and then, ya know. And it’s kinda awkward at school, especially at gym.” She scrubbed her head and looked the kunoichi over as Konatsu brushed out her own hair. “I will admit, though, that there are a lot of advantages to being female when you’re as cute as we are. I’ll take you around the shops I know where a few giggles and a smile will get you free food and stuff.”
“People will give me free food? But my sisters always said I was so hideous. Surely I am not pretty enough to do as you.” Konatsu protested.
Ranma rolled her eyes. “Konatsu, you are drop dead fucking gorgeous as a girl, and have exactly the kind of wide eyed innocent appeal I once thought defined everything a girl should be. If I had met you before I fell in love with Shan Pu and Akane, I might have taken one look at you and fallen head over heels. Zhu Shu is going to flip when she sees you.”
“You know my Zhu Shu-sama?” Konatsu clasped the brush between her hands as her eyes went starry and small pink hearts started popping around her again. “I have dreamed of her for years, but I did not even know her name until last night! I saw her picture and I could not stop crying, she was so beautiful. To know that my dream actually walks this earth is almost more than my heart can bear, and to know she is involved in a dangerous quest and to be unable to go to her aid…” her wide brown eyes grew sad, and tears gathered in their corners.
“Yeah, I know how you feel. But Zhu Shu can take care of herself. She’s a tough as they come. Since she went dragon half, I don’t think even I could beat her in a fight.”
“Dragon half?” Konatsu blinked in bewilderment.
“Oh, didn’t anyone tell you? She’s cursed too. Normally she’s about four foot eleven, but when she gets wet she turns about your height, goes from a large c-cup to a double d, and she used to get blonde hair. Her ears got pointed, and she had fangs and short claws. According to Ke Lun, she fell into the Spring of Drowned Musk Princess, and took the form of this girl they knew called Clove.”
Ranma was busy soaping her legs as she was talking, so she failed to see the look of shock that passed across Konatsu’s face before it once again resumed the wide eyed wonderment that the kunoichi was feeling.
“Anyway, a few weeks ago, this girl named Ai - she’s the head cheerleader and Zhu Shu’s chief rival it seems - got ahold of some dragon wine, and it had a strange effect on Zhu Shu’s curse. Now when she gets wet, she grows a pair of small wings, a tail, and six small horns, three on either side of her head just behind her ears. Her ears have also gotten a lot longer, and they move like an animal’s, you can tell her mood just by looking at them at times. She also spits fire, and she’s gotten incredibly strong. Plus, it made her blonde hair turn black again.” Ranma stepped back under the shower to wash the soap off her body and out of her hair and shivered as the water touched her skin. “Brrrr, cold!”
She looked over to where Konatsu had paused mid way through washing her hair to listen raptly. Ranma smiled encouragingly. “Trust me. Anyone wanting to give Zhu Shu trouble is going to get way more than they bargained for. She’ll be fine. And to top it off, she’s got Rei and Ukyo to look after her.”
“Ying-Ying has told me of Ukyo, this other girl who is to be my soulmate as well.” Konatsu said as she remembered to start scrubbing again. “I am confused about all Ying-Ying has told me. I have dreamed of Zhu Shu so often, and of Ying-Ying, and Ukyo, and another who has wings of fire. Always it has been Zhu Shu who has been the center of my dreams. Yet Ying-Ying is the one I have found first, and I find myself drawn to her so strongly. I can barely think about anything when she is present but how beautiful she is, and how I wish I could caress her and…” The kunoichi blushed again.
Ranma laughed. “So tell her that. I can assure you, Zhu Shu isn’t going to object to you playing with Ying-Ying. She was Zhu Shu’s first love, and even I could see how much Zhu Shu loved her. The fact that the Dragon arranged for her to survive death as Zhu Shu’s guardian spirit almost makes me forgive the big lizard for some of the other things he’s done to Zhu Shu.” She shrugged. “Zhu Shu and Ying-Ying both have faith in him, so it’s none of my business. Still, I bet if you tell Ying-Ying that you’d like to play with her, you’d have a LOT of fun.” Ranma blushed. “I can’t even describe what it’s like to get licked, and she can probably materialize enough to do that.”
Konatsu blushed from her head to her toes this time. “Oh… I could never!”
Ranma grinned. “I thought that once too.” She stepped aside to let Konatsu under the sprayer and wrung out her hair. “But believe me. Two girls can have just as much fun as a girl and a guy, and three girls… well let’s just say that there are times I can’t even walk, my knees are so weak. And both Akane and Shan Pu are evil. They’re like the energizer bunny; they just keep going and going and going…”
Konatsu hid her face as she blushed even brighter…
* * * * *
“You want to know about Burekaishi?” Totosai said in surprise. The wizened youkai smith took a puff on his pipe as he looked Nabiki and Tao-Ching up and down. “I suppose you could say Burekaishi was one of my best blades. Not my masterwork of course, but a finer zanbatou has never been made. The Stonecutter was a temperamental blade though. I made it as a gift for the human husband of one of the okami princesses.”
“Can you describe it? It’s possible that our friend, Ukyo, has seen it.”
“Yes.” He took another puff on his pipe as he gave Ukyo a very long look. Finally he nodded. “It was a large single edged blade. I was inspired somewhat by the shape of the Gurkha Kukri, and in part by a Chinese executioner’s sword. It is eight feet long exactly from point to pommel. The handgrip is an elongated golden wolf, its legs extended as if running, and it’s rear feet and tail are holding a large quartz ball. I also added a reinforcing bar along the back of the blade.”
Ukyo nodded. “That’s definitely the one I saw.”
“I take it you mean to search for the blade?” Totosai puffed his pipe a few more times, then added, “I should warn you that Burekaishi is not a blade that is safe for just anyone. It will only accept one of the bloodline of the Hibiki, and they have been scattered twenty years now. It will serve no other masters.”
Tao-Ching nodded. “That’s not a problem. I’m a Hibiki”
The smith shrugged. “The other thing is that you must be wary of the blade itself. Burekaishi grants it’s owner great power, and power has always been a trap for the unwise.”
Tao-Ching shrugged, but Nabiki nodded. “What kind of power?”
“Both the sword and it’s wielder are unbreakable, forged together of the same steel. Yet the sword can only be as strong as the hand that wields it.”
“Do you always have to speak in riddles, old man!” Inuyasha interjected. “Can’t you ever say anything straight?”
Ukyo laughed. “Glad I’m not the only one.”
Totosai shook his head. “Burekaishi is a blade that is no better than its user. In the hands of a true warrior, it is a weapon without peer, in the hands of a false one, it might as well be a wooden sword.”
Tao-Ching laughed. “That is the truth of any weapon, Totosai, no matter what kind.”
Kuno nodded agreement, while Inuyasha snarled disgruntledly .
“Yeah yeah. Anyway old man, I got a question to ask you.” He indicated Kuno’s blade. “Take a look at his sword and tell me why his Tetsusaiga is different from mine. Kagome says they’re the same sword, just his is from the future.”
Totosai raised both eyebrows. “Indeed.” He held out his hand to Kuno, who placed the blade in his hand. Totosai took it out and blinked. “Humm. Someone has been busy with proper care and a polishing cloth.” He looked at it critically, examining the blade from several angles and thumbing the edge, then he tapped it with his hammer and listened to the ring. He blinked several times and tapped it again, before giving Kuno a quizzical look.
“Tell me about this blade, boy.”
Kuno bowed. “It is the sword of my ancestors. For three hundred years it has been in the family line of Kuno, passed down from our family’s patriarch, Inuyasha. I received it five years ago at the age of twelve when my mother committed seppuku. My father left the Kuno estates in my care and vanished, and I became the guardian of our family’s honor. I was unaware of it’s true name until a short while ago, when I overcame a demon of darkness and discovered ancient glyphs faintly etched into the blade. It is my destiny to defend humanity from the tides of darkness which threaten it from the shadows, as my ancestors have done for centuries.”
Totosai shook his head and chuckled as he resheathed the blade, then handed it back to Tatewaki. “This sword has accepted you as her master, my boy. And she is indeed a much older Tetsusaiga than that carried by Inuyasha. She has gained many powers over her existence, but only she will decide when and what to reveal to you. When you are worthy, she will reward you with further knowledge. But beware. There is a power contained in your sword far beyond my crafting and skill. She has become far more than the mere blade I crafted. She has become a zanpakuto. She will consume the souls of those who die on her blade, and not even the Tenseiga could resurrect them.” He puffed on his pipe as he fixed Kuno with a steady gaze. “Be very sure, boy, that you do not kill lightly, or for little cause. The consciousness I sense within is a spirit of great power that serves the light. If you abuse the power you bear, she may decide she has no choice but to consume you.”
Kuno nodded. “I understand, Totosai-sama. I have vowed to be worthy of such an honor.”
Nabiki cocked her head. “She?”
Totosai nodded thoughtfully. “Yes. I am quite positive that the spirit which has merged with the Tetsusaiga is female, and one that is old and quite powerful. Why she chose to bind her soul within the sword, I cannot say, but it has become her body.” The smith looked at Kuno. “She views you as a mother views her child, boy, but there’s a sternness about her as well. She won’t hesitate to spank you if she feels it is needed.”
Kuno nodded. “I shall do my best to please her, Mastersmith.”
* * * * *
Konatsu placed the last stuffed animal on the display she had made of them, looking around the room and sighing happily. The walls to the room were almost invisible behind the enormous collection, broken only by the closet door and the windows. She’d spent the last hour carefully arranging and rearranging them all, using the largest among them to hide the base of the shelves she had made from milk-crates and the wooden planks Sandal had been kind enough to give her. Now every single adorable animal could be seen, and all the happy faces made her smile.
She laid out the futon, wondering why Shan Pu had been giggling when she had told the ninja girl she was going to be sharing Akane’s room tonight. She’d never had a room to herself before. Indeed, she had never had a futon to call her own either. Or a blanket…
Ying-Ying found her there, sitting on the floor next to her futon, gripping her blanket and crying.
“Beloved? What’s wrong?” The ghost girl laid a hand on Konatsu’s shoulder as her long pink hair swirled around them both.
“I- I have never been so happy!” Konatsu sobbed. “I have a blanket! A whole blanket… for myself!”
Ying-Ying cooed at her. “I am so sorry you’ve had such a horrible life, Ko-chan. But you’ll never have to live like that again.”
“I keep expecting my sisters and mother to come and drag me back. To wake and find this is all a dream, as I have done so many times before.”
“It isn’t a dream my love. You are finally here, finally free.”
“I want to believe that, but even now I am so confused. I- I have always dreamed of you all, but always it was Zhu Shu who found me, who freed me from my loneliness. I have known you all in dreams, and in my heart I have longed for you, yet I am so afraid. How can I love all of you? Surely to love one of you must make the others hate me!”
“We are different, Ko-chan. I love Zhu Shu with all my heart, and I know that no matter what, she loves me with all of hers. Yet our love is boundless, and though I share her with you and Ukyo, and so many others, I know that no matter how much she loves them, her love for me is undiminished. Just as her love for you will never fade. We are all of us united by bonds that not even death and time can break.”
“Yet I am cursed! How can anyone love me! I am a kunoichi who has been cursed with a boy’s body! I have known this shame since my first memories! I have tried so hard to be a true kunoichi, to learn the arts of combat and seduction, of war and home, all to find a master to love, one whom I could serve as bodyguard and mistress! I have yearned for so many of the handsome boys who have come to our shop. And so many times I have cried myself to sleep wishing to be held and caressed, but always I have been cursed. My sisters would never even allow me to serve the tea! I have always been forced to dream from the shadows.” She beat her fists against her thighs. “And it has been even worse since I first began to dream of the love of a woman! My sisters have tormented me for my perversions! How can anyone love a girl as cursed as I?”
“Yet I do! Konatsu, I have never known the love of a man, yet I have had longings for them too. I love Zhu Shu with all my heart, and while it is true she has no desire for the attentions of men, even she knows it is not the body that matters. It was not Zhu Shu’s sex which drew me too her, but the soul which is inside her. Had I never known her, I would have eagerly accepted the attentions of several of the boys of our village. Of all of us, Zhu Shu alone is exclusively drawn to women, and that sadly is due to the traumas inflicted upon her by her aunt. Lin Tzu always preferred women, but she occasionally shared pleasure with those men who had won one or another of her wives affections.”
Konatsu sighed as she pushed her hair back over one ear and looked at the floor. “Then how can she love me, when I am cursed to be a boy?”
Ying-Ying reached out to touch her hand. “I know you showered with Ranma earlier. Had you never seen her, but merely spoken with her from behind a wall, would you have said she was male or female?”
“I – I don’t know.”
“Exactly. Girl and Boy are just labels, they have no real meaning - not to hearts. No matter what anyone might say, we all love who our heart tells us to love, and there is never shame in that.”
Konatsu shook her head. “But - but I am so horrible! I was overwhelmed in school today. So many people, so many boys and girls, all looking at me and making me feel so strange. I know they were looking at me hungrily, all of them. I could feel them tearing off my clothes with their eyes.” She pulled her kimono tightly to her as she blushed. “And I – I – I liked it…” she whispered.
“To know that they all wanted to do with you all the things you’ve dreamed of doing for so long?” Ying-Ying asked gently.
Konatsu nodded. “I - I could not help myself. In - in the shower at school it overcame me and- and-” she couldn’t finish but her burning face said it anyway.
“You made yourself climax?” Ying-Ying said. “Why are you ashamed of that? It’s a natural thing.”
“I was so desperate. I couldn’t stop.”
Ying-Ying stroked her hand along Konatsu’s arm. “I may be a ghost, Konatsu, but I have the same desires I had in life. I have many times dreamed of being held, and caressed and loved, to feel as my beloved pleasures my body as well as my soul. Desire is part of existence, Ko-chan.” She leaned over to kiss the kunoichi’s ear. “I had even asked Shan Pu to let us have this night alone because I desire you.”
The ninja girl turned enormous tear streaked eyes towards her. “You - you do?” Her lip trembled. “But, but how can you? Ranma says I am beautiful, and for the first time today I really felt like a women, but I know the truth. I know I am still pretending to be what I am not, only what I long to be. Even with this body given to me by the gods, I am a failure.”
“Why do you feel so? Because you were aroused by all the attention you received today? Because you had to seek release? Beloved, had I been there, I would have given you that release, even if the entire school had been looking on. I was afraid to stay at school because I was afraid you would feel like I was hovering over you like your sisters always did.”
Konatsu blinked. “Will – will you come with me tomorrow? I - I was so overwhelmed today. I wished so much you or Zhu Shu had been there.”
Ying-Ying nodded. “I would be happy too, my love.”
Konatsu smiled gently and leaned into Ying-Ying’s semi solid embrace, her head resting on the ghost girl’s breasts as she sighed.
“I do not know how I will survive this, Ying-Ying. I feel so conflicted. I had always wanted to be a good mistress, yet I am no longer sure I desire the love of a man. I want to love you and Zhu Shu and Ukyo, but I don’t even know how to love a girl. I k-k-know so many ways to please my master, to be a perfect lover, but…”
“Zhu Shu is exactly the same, beloved. Like you, she was taught to be the perfect wife, the perfect lover. And as I once told her, there is but one way to truly learn to love anyone. All the training, all the techniques, all the skill in the world is just an empty action if you do not truly share yourself with another.” She raised the kunoichi’s face and looked deeply into her dark eyes. “The only way to learn to love is to give yourself over to the ones you love, and begin a lesson that never ends.”
“You – you would make love with me?” the kunoichi asked softly, her hair falling over her shoulder as she sat back up and a hand went to her lip as she nibbled it uncertainly. The kimono fell from her shoulder to let Ying-Ying see the thin silk of her nightgown.
“I would. But only if that is truly what you desire.” She smiled gently. “I do desire you Ko-chan, but I don’t want to seduce you. I want your love, not simply your body.”
Konatsu’s eyes met Ying-Ying’s, wide and full of desire. The ghost could feel the raging lust inside Konatsu driving her and she started to reach forward to caress her face.
Then she felt an oddity, as the desire melted away, replaced with yearning hesitancy, the direct and knowing feeling of a woman desiring passion fading into the confused longings of an inexperienced girl, and an echo of a vastly more complex mind sinking beneath Konatsu’s charming simplicity.
Konatsu shivered. “I – I do want you! My whole body yearns for your touch, but I am so afraid!” she cried, almost in tears.
Ying-Ying gave no sign of what she had sensed as she kissed her on the forehead. “Then now is not the time, beloved. You have been through too much, too quickly.” She reached to stroke back Konatsu’s hair, still slightly damp from the shower. “You need time to rest, and to know you are safe. Tonight, I will be your guardian spirit as I have been Zhu Shu’s, and will watch over your dreams as well as your body. Sleep, and know you are loved.”
As Ying-Ying’s fingers brushed thorough her hair, Konatsu sighed softly, and her eyes closed as she laid her head against Ying-Ying’s breast again. The Chinese ghost smiled softly as she comforted her. So much like Zhu Shu.
And like Zhu Shu, the gentle stroking had it’s desired effect as Konatsu gently fell asleep. Ying-Ying kept stroking until she was sure she wouldn’t disturb her, then gently levitated her up and laid her on the soft futon. With a softly murmured spell, she removed the girl’s kimono, gazing admiringly at her beautiful body in the long silk slip Shan Pu had given the girl for a night gown. Then she spread the blanket over her and smiled as the girl turned on her side and snuggled into it’s warmth with a happy sigh.
Ying-Ying moved to the window and stood gazing out at the faintly glowing tracery of Lo Shen’s wardings, contemplating what she had sensed inside her beloved there at the last. Had it been Clove? The impression had been too faint, too fleeting to be sure. Konatsu had been burning with desire from the moment Ying-Ying had walked in the room, but it had been at odds with her conflicting feelings and doubts. She had wanted Ying-Ying, and at the same time, she hadn’t known if she truly did or not.
Ying-Ying knew Konatsu had never thought of herself as anything other than a female, had spent her entire life feeling trapped in a body that was utterly at odds with who she was mentally. It wasn’t that she had been forced to act female, it had been her choice from the beginning, and her true mother had been wise enough to realize it early. Had she not died while Konatsu had been a small child, Ying-Ying had no doubt that Konatsu would have probably received counseling and even hormones as she had become a teen. Legend had been generous in providing her with a library of current human knowledge as well as traditional lore, and she had been doing quite a lot of research since Zhu Shu had encountered Ranma. Konatsu was a near classic case of gender dysphoria, and a textbook transsexual. It had only been in the last few years that the kunoichi had started realizing she was also bisexual. The feelings she had of desiring female as well as male lovers had confused her as badly as any teen, as she had spent most of her life believing she was solely attracted to men. She had dreamed of her soulmates since childhood, yet it had only been recently that she had realized that they were sexual partners as well, and she was still coming to terms with the redefinition of herself that the knowledge had caused. Suddenly becoming a true female had really been more than she had been prepared to cope with, and it would require great care to let Konatsu make her own choices instead of forcing them on her. While it was obvious what those choices were going to be, Konatsu had to be the one who made them or she would forever question herself.
And that had been part of what she had sensed in that fleeting touch of another’s mind. Sympathy. An understanding of the trials and tribulations Konatsu had suffered, and a decision to remove an unnatural influence from the girl’s psyche. That other mind had felt pity for Konatsu, and had released her to allow her relationship to develop on it’s own. She had felt regret in that mind for having laid the geas in the first place. Regret, and a questioning of itself…
Whoever you are, thank you for releasing her she thought as she looked up at the sliver of moon grinning dimly above Tokyo’s light pollution. Thank you for letting her be free.
She looked back at Konatsu, her mind summoning up the image of the kunoichi laying as naked and inviting before her as she had anticipated her being when she had asked Shan Pu for this night together, and she smiled softly. In time. In it’s own time.
Then she blinked, and took a closer look at Konatsu’s peaceful visage, truly noticing the upswept, delicate eyebrows, the delicate arch of her cheekbones, the heart shaped face. She visualized it with emerald green, slit pupiled eyes, platinum blonde hair, and long pointed ears, and her breath caught.
She could have passed for a twin of Clove. There was no difference between Konatsu’s male and female faces, but if she had stood side by side with Zhu Shu in her cursed form before she had drunk dragon wine, they would nearly have been light and dark twins.
Had Clove been a youkai, or a spirit, Ying-Ying could almost believe she had possessed her beloved Ko-chan… but Hild had given her a mortal body, or so Legend had said. She had slain Herb by removing his soul, and then placed Clove’s soul into the animated corpse, giving it new life once more. She was a fully living half-dragon again, not a being capable of reverting to a spirit form and entering a human like a kitsune or other spirit animal. She sighed. She wasn’t going to get any answers just thinking about it.
Besides, she was ready to try a little experiment with her own spirit form.
Summoning a translucent futon of her own and letting her cheongsam swirl into a copy of Konatsu’s gown, she was soon snuggled into her own blankets, looking forward to sleeping for the first time in years. Another whispered spell snapped softly glowing wards into place around the room, guaranteeing that nothing could enter during the night as well as ensuring that she wouldn’t drift out of the room on a breeze if she completely lost tangibility while she slept. She nodded in satisfaction as she felt Lo Shen probe the wards, but leave them untouched when she realized they bore Ying-Ying’s signature. She giggled at the surprise apparent in the Loremistress’s mental touch. Really, how else could a ghost be able to affect the real world if she wasn’t also a mage? She hadn’t spent four years just waiting for Zhu Shu.
“Good night, my darling Ko-chan.” she whispered as she laid down next to the sleeping girl and closed her eyes. “I’ll see you in your dreams…”
* * * * *
She sat on the stony beach as the sun rose, the waves lapping almost at the claws of her feet. She could not name this feeling that had brought her out of the warmness of her lair. This strange fear of the dark. At first it had been comforting, warm, and enveloping, but now it clung to her, groped at her. She silently mouthed the strange noise that had come to her just before sleep.
Ukyo…
She whimpered as she felt the darkness pressing in on her, even as the light from the sun warmed her black scales. Yet the light held a sense of fear too. Dimly she could recall screaming as the light poured through her, the light that had sent her fleeing into the cloying darkness. She let out a long moan of fear as she struggled to push the memory away.
Seeking comfort and freedom from thought, she stood and drew her swords, flowing into the steps, their familiarity fighting off the shadows of the night. She danced along the beach, stepping lightly from stone to stone, until she came to the shattered gate of the burned down village and found herself looking at a board with strange marks on it. She could not have said why, but she spent long minutes staring at the board in almost fascination.
Then hunger called to her, and she flew to the water, her swords vanishing behind her back as she began to search for fish.
* * * * *
Ukyo set bolt upright, startling Kagura. “What is it Ukyo? Did you have another dream?”
Ukyo nodded. “She’s in Mikado. The village was named Mikado.”
Kagura blinked. “That is nearly two weeks travel from here north along the coast. It is near the Hasai domain.”
Ukyo blinked. “That’s it. That’s where we’re supposed to go. That sword that Tao-Ching is supposed to return is the Hasai family sword. That has to be it!”
“I fear there may be difficulty getting there. The Hasai domain is warring with the Yamana over the Hasai gold mines. It is said that the Yamana have even hired Dutch ronin.” Kagura shrugged. “They also control the only pass through the mountains to the village of Mikado.”
Ukyo gave her an evil grin as she picked up her spatula belt and a whetstone. “Then we’re just going to have to carve a path through them.”
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