Kodachi sat on the roof of the observation deck of Tokyo tower and cried.
Mother was right. I am nothing but a failure and a stain on the noble family name of Kuno. She always said the youkai blood ran too strong in me, that I was more animal than human. And my goddess, how I have failed you… I deserve nothing but your hatred for betraying you. I was so weak. I let my animal passions overcome me as mother always said they would, and I have lost you forever.
Her stomach hurt from crying and from the fact that she had not eaten since seeing her goddess so happy with Ranma and Shan Pu at the club Tatewaki had dragged her to – and then abandoned her at. It had been so humiliating, knowing that they were looking at her and gloating at her misery. Even her old rival for the affections of the boyfriend she had used to think was her destined one back in middle school, that cow Makoto, had been there to see her in her fall from grace.
And yesterday… she started sobbing again as she recalled what she had discovered yesterday.
She knew it had been desperation, but the flyer had promised that the cosmetics could guarantee success in love, and she had gone hoping against hope that it could help her to recover her lost Akane…
But at the door she had seen Akane shopping, while that damnable cat girl had hovered over her. She had wanted to flee the shop but her knees had betrayed her, and she had barely made it to a chair hidden behind one of the tall displays. She had sobbed silently, dreading her goddess finding her there but unable to move, and when the counter girl had changed into a youma, she had hated herself for hoping that Shan Pu would be killed by the monster.
But instead she had seen Akane transform and realized finally how truly beneath her goddess she really was. How had she dared to presume to love a Senshi? One of the magical guardians she had idolized since they had first made the news? Truly, Akane was a goddess, a true goddess, placed on this earth to defend it against the wicked and the sinful!
To defend it against creatures like her. She reached up and dragged the tie out of her pony tail, letting her hair fall loose, and shook her head, feeling as circulation returned to her ears, and they straightened from being cramped against her skull by her carefully combed tresses. Those damned ears that had made her such an abomination, and showed her for the mongrel dog she was. Those damned ears that had cursed her from birth. Her noble brother had been born a normal human, but not her! No, she had been cursed with the full weight of their inugami heritage, and been born a hanyo. Even her hair betrayed her, having to constantly be dyed to hide its ugly white color. Why couldn’t she have been like Tao-Ching, free from any taint but the fangs they both shared? She’d learned well enough to never open her mouth wide enough for them to show. Or like her brother, who had inherited the speed and regenerative powers of their family’s patriarch, but no other external signs? No, she’d been condemned to forever display her youkai deformities to the world. She would have given anything to have them so easily removable as Akane’s rabbit ears, gone with the merest touch of hot water, but such could never be.
She had been the first female unfortunate enough to be cursed with the youkai blood in four generations, and oh how her mother had never let her forget! Endless hats as a child, being locked in the closet when her parents were entertaining guests, the beatings when some accident allowed her ears to show. She had cut them off a dozen times, crying in agony as she had sawed at them with a knife, trying so hard to be a normal child, but her damned youkai blood would just cause them to grow back. She had even cauterized them once with a fire iron, and spent a week happy that they were finally gone, but then they had slowly regrown again and destroyed her happiness.
And they had destroyed all her mothers’ dreams of Kodachi winning a rich and powerful husband, and of her mother becoming a power behind the career of said gentleman. When even plastic surgery had failed to obliterate them, it had been too much for the ambitious woman, and she had committed seppuku in shame before her eleven year old daughter and twelve year old son.
Tatewaki had lost himself in his fantasies of being a noble samurai when her father had gone away and left them in Sasuke’s inept care, and she had tried so hard to become what her mother had wanted her to be, had seduced and lied and cheated her way to her desires, but her mongrel blood had triumphed at last. Akane’s transformation had driven it home too clearly to be ignored. Her goddess had been sent to destroy monsters, and she was a monster.
The wind blew through her hair, ruffling it and showing the white at the roots, but Kodachi was beyond caring as she stood and swayed. Climbing to the top of the rail, she looked over the edge. It was such a long way down.
As she let herself fall forward, she prayed it was long enough…
* * * * *
Mu Si could not have told you why he had decided to follow Kodachi when she had left the Kuno estate this morning, save that he had sensed something dreadfully wrong with the girl since she had come home last night. She had been moping about the house for days, not even bothering to dress most of the time, and probably not realizing how dreadful she had started to look. Sasuke had tried to get her to eat, but he had confided to Mu Si that he had had no luck, and had warned him not to mention to the mistress that her ears were showing. Mu Si had thought at first that she had been cursed like he had, but Sasuke’s tale of Kodachi’s woes because of her being a hanyo had broken his heart. More and more over the last few days, he had found himself sitting and watching Kodachi tear herself apart and wishing he could find some way to remove her pain.
When Kodachi had come down to breakfast this morning, carefully groomed and wearing her Furinkan uniform, he had hoped that perhaps she had finally started to come around, but when her steps had turned away from the path to school, he had thrown himself into the koi pond and flown after her, oblivious to the fact that he had nearly been eaten by Mister Turtle, Kodachi’s pet crocodile.
As she had followed the gymnast, not wanting to intrude, but unable to set aside the nagging sense of danger, she had found herself wishing Kodachi had been an Amazon, free to appreciate her heritage instead of condemned by it. The Amazons had many mixed blood and full youkai family lines, from three thousand years of being a refuge for females of any race or tribe. Had Kodachi been born in the Amazon village, she could have learned to appreciate her uniqueness, instead of hating it. Mu Si was certainly proud of the accomplishments of her sister-aunt, a half-ogress who had been Champion for three years until Shan Pu had beaten her. Mu Si had missed the tournament this last time, but she knew it was likely that Shan Pu had fought her sister-aunt as her final challenge to win this year. Few but the elders could match Mu Sel’s strength.
If Kodachi had been an Amazon, she would have never had to hide her beautiful ears…
Kodachi had never even noticed her, not even when she had taken up a perch on the upper reaches of the Tokyo Tower when the gymnast had made her way to the roof of the observation deck. When Kodachi had let her hair loose and her ears out, she had smiled, wishing she dared to fly down behind her and…
The day dream was violently interrupted when Kodachi flung herself from the tower and started the long fall to the concrete below.
Mu Si hurled herself from the tower, her wings flapping furiously as she desperately tried to gain enough speed to catch up to the plummeting gymnast. Fear made the air feel like granite as she hurtled downwards, and the ground was rushing up so fast…
Barely ten feet from the ground, her arms wrapped around Kodachi’s chest and she snapped her wings out violently as she strained to change their downward plunge into a horizontal flight. She came far too close to the concrete for comfort, feeling her wingtips brush against the unyielding surface as she narrowly missed some stunned tourists and a light post. Out of the corner of her glasses, she saw Kodachi’s school bag hit the concrete and practically explode.
That could have been her, she thought, and the image sent a tremor through her as she swerved around a power line, nearly catching a wing.
Then she was in clear air, and rising, the gymnast struggling in her arms and screaming to be let go, to let her die. Mu Si shook her head.
“No mistress. I will show you no more kindness than you showed me when I was lying pierced and bleeding in your greenhouse.”
“But I am a monster! I need to die!”
“And I am a ghost. But you saved my life, and it became yours. Now I have saved yours, and it is mine. I will not let you kill yourself, Mistress. Not now. Not ever.”
She was far above Tokyo by the time Kodachi settled down, the gymnast sobbing in her arms.
“Why would you save me, Mousse? I am an animal, a beast. I should be tossed into a kennel and put to sleep as an unwanted cur!”
“Because you are half youkai? There is no shame in that. Not to me.”
Kodachi slumped. “But I am a monster. A hideous beast! How can you even stand to look at me?” Her hands reached to cover her ears.
“I wish you wouldn’t hide them, Mistress. I think they’re very cute. I’ve wanted to tell you that since I first saw them, but Sasuke told me not to mention them to you.
“You saw them?!?”
“Mistress, you have been wandering around the mansion for days with your hair uncombed and naked more often than not. You haven’t even shaved in a week, and I cannot understand why you dye your hair and ears. Naturally white hair is rare among Amazons, and highly prized.”
Kodachi turned to the angelic looking girl as best she could. “You- you don’t think it looks ugly and old?”
“Not at all, Mistress.”
Mu Si started a spiral as she began to descend towards the ground. “You’ll have to help me look for the mansion, Mistress. I cannot make out any details on the ground.
“No, please, Mousse. Fly me a little longer.” Kodachi pleaded.
“Where would you like me to fly you too, Mistress?”
“Just fly, please. Anywhere. Just fly with me, Mousse. Fly with me and tell me about the Amazons who do not hate white hair and dog ears…”
Mousse… Mu Si thought, rolling the pronunciation Kodachi gave her name through her head as she banked and found a thermal to rise in. Mousse...
As they rose into the sky towards the clouds, Mousse began to speak. “For three thousand years the Amazons have survived…”
* * * * *
Tao-Ching sidestepped Inuyasha’s blade as he caught Tatewaki’s on the guard of his zanbatou, and twisted, almost sending the kendoist into the red garbed youkai’s path, but Tatewaki corrected and launched a ground level sweep that Tao-Ching had to flip over.
As he landed, he felt the change in air pressure behind him and turned, putting the pommel of his sword through the ring of Miroku’s staff, and, yanking the monk off balance, he pivoted the staff around in the monk’s hand to whack Inuyasha upside the head as he tried to attack again.
He grinned as he ducked under Kuno’s riposte, then leaped as he heard a whirring buzz approach, batting Sango’s boomerang off course with the flat of his blade and using its spinning motion to twist him into a spiral as he dodged around Inuyasha’s next thrust.
Then he found himself floating in midair in a pink bubble and he turned to look at Nabiki.
“Now that is hardly fair, Nabi-chan! I can’t fight magic.”
Nabiki gave him a wide grin. “Well you looked like you were having just way too much of a good time. I wanted in.”
“Hey, how are we supposed to train if you interrupt?” Inuyasha complained. “I almost had him!”
Tatewaki swept his bangs out of his eyes. “Nay, good Inuyasha. Had Nabiki Tendo not suspended him, thee would have been disarmed again. Thou over extended thy thrust in thine eagerness to score.”
Miroku scratched his head as he gave his staff a chagrined look. “I certainly wasn’t expecting to have my staff used against me like that. How can you move that thing so fast?”
Tao-Ching shrugged. “It’s a matter of reading how the wind moves over the surface of the blade as it swings. I have to use the air around it to control it; otherwise the drag from wind resistance would not only slow me down, but make it damn hard to control where I hit.”
Kagura blinked. “You can see the wind?”
Tao-Ching shook his head as Nabiki set his feet on the ground and released the shield. “Nothing like that. I know how the blade responds to the air, and how the air tends to move along the blade. And I was trained to read how the air will move around my opponent as he moves. It’s all mental imaging, not actual.”
Kagome poked her head out of the tent and said, “Breakfast is ready. I hope you like oatmeal.”
Shippou cheered as Inuyasha and Tao-Ching both groaned.
Nabiki laughed. “Well eat up anyway, guys. As soon as Ukyo gets done talking to Totosai, we’re heading for the Hasai domain.”
* * * * *
Totosai looked over the spatula carefully, then gave Ukyo an appraising eye. “It’s pretty good workmanship for a human’s. Masamune, if I’m not mistaken. You say you’re having a problem with it’s balance?”
Ukyo nodded. “I thought at first that it was just the fact that I was just unsettled by some emotional issues, and that it would pass once I had meditated and found my center, but it was worse than ever when I got up this morning. I dropped it like five times.”
Totosai nodded as he carefully balanced the spatula on one finger as he gave it a critical eye. “Of course I can sharpen it and rebalance it, but I must ask, why you are using this relatively crude weapon? What has happened to the Dragon’s Wrath?”
Ukyo blinked. “What? What’s the Dragon’s Wrath?”
“Your weapon, Guardian. It may have been seven hundred years since you came to my sensei to forge it for you, but I still remember. It was the finest weapon my master ever made, possibly even surpassing the Tetsusaiga. I recall it was quite beautiful, as befitted the personal weapon of the Dragon Empress’s Guardian.”
Ukyo sat down hard. “You-you know me?” she said weakly.
“Indeed. I recall you quite well, Lady Orihime. I recognized you last night even though your companions called you Ukyo. Do not worry, I will not reveal your true name to them if you wish it concealed.”
“Lady Orihime…” Ukyo felt faint. “I – I was Lady Orihime, the Dragon’s Guardian…” She knew Totosai was right as she recalled her fight with Xi’an Chi. He had called her Orihime, not Ukyo. She’d just thought it was Ukyo at the time.
“Was? Lady? Are you okay?”
Ukyo took a deep breath. “I – I am okay. That was just unexpected.” She rubbed her head. “I’m not Lady Orihime anymore, Totosai-san. I – I died defending Lin Tzu. I am Ukyo Kuonji now, and I only remember very little of my life as Lady Orihime.”
Totosai blinked. “I see. My apologies then, Lady Ukyo. It was not my intent to cause you pain. Your appearance is so much like that of your previous incarnation, I did not realize.”
“No, no. Please. Can you tell me a little about my past self? Who was I?”
“Are you sure you wish to know?”
Ukyo nodded. “I need to know, Totosai. If you know of the Dragon Empress, if you know of me, and of Lin Tzu, please tell me.”
Totosai took a long drag on his pipe. Then he nodded. “Lady Orihime was once one of the finest warriors in Japan, long ago when the world was a far different place than it is now, and Japan was a province of the Empire of the Dragon. She was the daughter of a lord who had rejected her fathers’ attempts to make her act in a manner he considered proper for a noblewoman. She chose the warriors path, and rose to become the commander of the Lord of Japan’s legions at a very young age. It was as a commander that she caught the eye of the Dragon Empress, Lin Tzu. It was rather tumultuous for them both. The empress fell head over heels for her, but Orihime was resistant - until the empress was kidnapped by her brother Song Xi’an Chi. Orihime rescued her, and from what she told me, it was during that quest that Lin Tzu finally captured her heart. The Empress took her as a wife, and Lady Orihime was awarded the honor of becoming the Empress’ personal bodyguard. She sought out the finest weaponsmith in Japan to craft her weapon and armor. My master made them as a set, the Wrath calling the armor at need. They were forged from the scales of a gold dragon, and imbued with the power to absorb any magic cast against them. And as the last step, they were christened with a drop of the Empress’s blood and blessed by the Silver Crystal of Queen Serenity of the Moon.”
Ukyo had grown pale as Totosai told his story. When he finished she put her head in her hands and shook. “It’s all happening again. It’s just like last time. It’s just like it was last time!”
“Lady Ukyo?”
Ukyo swallowed hard. “Totosai, Zhu Shu, our companion who has been captured by Naraku… She’s Lin Tzu’s reincarnation just as I am Orihime’s. And I… I am her fiancée.”
“I see. It is a pity that you no longer possess the Dragon’s Wrath, my Lady. It would serve you far better than this crude axe.”
Ukyo looked at her spatula, the weapon that her dad had made her make like an extension of herself, and for a second, it looked alien to her as in its place she saw the bladed staff, the same one she had once held in her hands as she had fought to buy Lin Tzu time to escape. Her hands twitched as they remembered the feel of the cool golden metal, the weight of the ornate weapon…
She reached out and took the spatula. A gift from her father on her fourteenth birthday, one of the few things he had ever given her that she had been grateful for, as it had been an acknowledgement that she had finally met his approval in her training. A family heirloom passed down through several generations.
She let it fall from her hand.
“Xi’an Chi has the Wrath, Totosai. But I will get it back and finish the job I failed at last time. Until then, may I ask if you have a naginata I may use?”
Totosai smiled as he reached down and picked up her discarded spatula. “Technically, my Lady, the Wrath is a Guan Dao, a Chinese variant of the naginata with a much heavier blade, and I fear I do not. But go tell your companions they are staying for one more day.” He turned the spatula from side to side as he examined it. “After all, it is a shame to let such good steel go to waste. It will do as the heart of your new weapon, and it will serve you well until you recover the Wrath.”
Ukyo nodded, then was struck by a sudden thought. “There is one last question I want to ask Totosai.” She stood and turned around; pulling the stretchy tube-top up her back to reveal the tattoo she had so recently been graced with. “I can’t see it, and I don’t have a mirror.”
Totosai whistled. “You claim to be Orihime’s reincarnation, Lady Ukyo?”
“Yes. This appeared on my back not three days ago.”
“It is the same tattoo Lady Orihime once bore, and yes, that is the Dragon’s Wrath…”
* * * * *
Urd sighed as her donkey decided to stop and grab another clump of grass from the few patches to be found along the rocky jeep track. The beast ignored her kicking its sides as she tried to get it to move again. Mara laughed and moved her more tractable mount close enough to swat the donkey’s rump with a switch. Urd flashed her a smile as they started moving again.
“I wish there was a single TV in her damn village!” Urd muttered for the fiftieth time. “But no, Zhu Shu had to live way out in the middle of the least modernized part of China. I really hope this is worth it! This trip has taken days!”
Mara shrugged. “Well, with everyone back in time, and Kodachi and Mu Si doing nothing more than moping around the mansion, what else were we supposed to do? Until we can find a way to bring them back, or figure out what we have to do next to fulfill Shan Pu’s wish, we had to do something, and Phoenixmoon had absolutely no information on Clove. Shi Wang’s the last person to see her alive. Maybe he can give us some hint about how to go about finding her and stopping whatever Hild has her doing to stop us. If Chaos is truly trying to destroy the universe, we have to have more information then we’ve been getting. Ke Lun and Lo Shen may be sure they can handle Clove, but I know I would feel better if we knew more about her.”
“Yeah, me too, and Ying-Ying did suggest asking Zhu Shu’s grandfather. Somehow I feel like the Dragon is trying to give me a not so subtle hint, you know?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him, Urd. I can’t even tell you the magnitude of the mind I felt when he pulled me into his realm to make my choice to be with you. If he told her to tell us to go see Song Shi Wang, it had to be for a good reason.”
They finally topped the rise and looked down into the valley. Like a piece of ancient history, the secluded vale showed not a single sign of modern life from their vantage. It was a fairly narrow cleft, the rocky cliffs rising from a level canyon to an upland meadow nestled between high mountains. A small river wound through the upper meadow, passing near a ancient Buddhist shrine before falling in a narrow plume down the several hundred feet of cliff to a small lake. Behind the falls, a huge cavern had been formed in some ancient eon when the small river must have been a much larger torrent. From this cavern, numerous paths led around the valley, to the various fields that covered the fertile soil of the lowland region, and several paths wound up the pockmarked cliffs to the monastery and the grazing lands beyond. As they realized the village was in the cave behind the falls, they saw the first sign of modern civilization, the spindly metal frame of a radio tower, nearly hidden by the waterfall’s mists.
“Wow.” Mara said.
Urd nodded and prodded her ungainly beast forward down the rocky trail. Something about the valley seemed odd to her. It took her halfway down the path to figure out what it was. But if she erased the effects of erosion and landslides, it looked disturbingly like an unbelievably massive hand had gouged the valley into the mountains like they were clay. She stopped and stared in shock.
“Urd? What’s wrong?” Mara asked as she pulled up beside the stunned goddess.
Urd shuddered. “I think Legend made this valley. I think he must have made it specifically as a refuge for Zhu Shu’s clan.”
“Indeed he did. Over a thousand years ago.” A pleasant voice said from behind Mara. They turned to see a tall, and despite the long white Fu Manchu mustache and beard, fairly young looking Chinese gentleman sitting casually on a boulder that had been vacant just a second before. He was examining the edge of one of the pair of Song broadswords that he bore critically as he continued. “That you know both my god’s, and my grand-daughter’s names is very intriguing, I must say. May I know your intentions in coming to this valley?”
Urd blinked. “Um,” Urd swallowed. “We are looking for Song Shi Wang.”
“You have found him. However, surviving that meeting depends very much on why you seek me.”
Urd swallowed hard again, her mouth suddenly going dry. Something told her that if she said the wrong thing, she might really be in danger. “Um… My – my name is Urd, sir…” She racked her brain to think of what to tell him.
“Ah. The goddess who is working to grant Shan Pu’s wish.” The swords twinkled and vanished as he stood and bowed. “Welcome to my home, revered one.”
“You- You know me?”
“Ke Lun has been keeping me apprised of my Grand-daughter’s adventures in Japan. When last she wrote, it was to advise me of a misadventure with Dragon Wine that gave my Little Mouse wings. I imagine that pleased her to no end, since she has always dreamed of flying.”
Mara laughed. “I think the fact that her feet rarely touch the ground these days would confirm that, sir.”
“I would give much to see her in her happiness.”
Mara smiled. “Now that I can help with.” She dug into her purse and pulled out a pic of Zhu Shu in her dance outfit that she’d lifted from Nabiki before she’d time tripped.
Shi Wang looked at it with a raised eyebrow. “Interesting. It seems there is much my Grand-daughter has been reluctant to tell me. When did she learn to Dance the Veils? That is no art I imparted to her.”
Urd spread her hands. “I have no idea.”
Shi shook his head and rolled his eyes. “I shall have to speak with her at length about her adventures. She seems to have changed much from the girl I allowed to go on a husband quest. Still, she looks very happy, and with this latest change, her cursed form will not haunt me so. She still resembles Clove, but not in such a heartbreakingly familiar way.”
Urd felt her mouth go dry again. “Um, sir. It is about Clove that we have come to see you, actually.”
Shi raised an eyebrow. “I see. Now I know why the Dragon told me to prepare myself for troubling news. I beseech you, tell me why the ghost of old memories and old regrets have haunted my sleep. Tell me why you wish to know of Clove.”
Urd blinked. “Um… it’s kind of a long story.”
“Why don’t you let me sum it up then, Urd.” Mara said. “It’s my fault anyway.” She bowed to Shi. “I am Mara. Until a few weeks ago, I was a demoness, assigned to prevent Urd from carrying out Shan Pu’s wish. I was bespelled by the Queen of all Demons, Hild, and under that spell, I was responsible for Zhu Shu’s death.”
Shi actually took that very calmly, a raised eyebrow the only sign that he was even listening.
Mara took a deep breath. “Realizing what I had done broke the spell on me, and you have no idea how grateful I am that she was revived. But seeking to undo the harm I had caused angered Hild, and she nearly killed me. As I lay wounded and tormented by what I had done, and what I was going to be forced to do, Legend came to me. He took me away from Hild forever.”
Shi nodded. “I recognized the hand of the Dragon upon you, Mara-sama. And I was forewarned that Zhu Shu would die and be reborn. She has done so before, and I am told she shall again. I will not say that such knowledge makes me happy, for no-one wishes to see their children die, but I have the comfort of knowing it shall be undone.”
Mara nodded in relief. “I thank you for your forgiveness, sir. However, my Queen was not happy at what Legend had done. In revenge, she has released a spirit from the realms of the dead into life on earth once more, and set her to seek Zhu Shu’s death.”
The inscrutability of Song Shi Wang broke, and shocked disbelief showed on his face as his knees gave way and he crashed to the ground. “No… you cannot mean…” Tears fell as his hands trembled violently. “She cannot…” He fell forward, his hands clasping as he bowed. “Please, tell me it is true. I beg of you, tell me I can redeem myself for leaving her to die at Xi’an Chi’s hands, that I have a chance to save her as I should have so long ago. Please, tell me that Clove has been returned to me…”
* * * * *
“Is everyone going to be able to see you, Ying-Ying?” Akane asked as they all walked to school together.
The Chinese ghost had her arm linked through Konatsu’s, her short cheongsam making her almost as provocative as the kunoichi, her long pink hair billowing out behind them both like a cloud as she walked.
“I really don’t know, Akane. I’m not planning on trying to hide, and I’m being as tangible as I can be. Legend has never really told me much about what it would be like for me when I could freely travel back to the mortal realm. I’m discovering things myself. I mean, I thought for sure I’d have to spend most of my time in the spirit realm, but I don’t seem to be losing energy like I used to. When Legend sent me before, I could never stay more than a few minutes in a visible form, now it seems to be effortless. So long as I am within a few miles of you and Konatsu, I seem to gain more energy than I use.”
“Does that mean you truly can stay with me today at school?” Konatsu asked, turning wide eyes to the ghost.
Ying-Ying smiled. “I’m going to try. Hopefully, if people can see me I won’t cause too much of a commotion.”
Akane laughed. “Well, we’re about to find out.”
They entered the school grounds and found Lo Shen waiting for them. “Good morning everyone.” The bunny-eared elder greeted them. “Sorry I didn’t meet you at the house, but I thought I had better come a little early to make some arrangements.” She handed Ying-Ying a slip of paper, and an oddly translucent book bag.
“What’s this?” she asked curiously.
“Ke Lun and I decided that if you’re going to be staying on the mortal plane, it would be best to include you in everything. I hacked into the database last night and arranged your ‘transcript’. I can’t do anything about your translucency, but you’re enrolled as a regular first year transfer from China, and you’ll be sharing Konatsu’s classes and makeup courses. I expect you to be a quick study,” she said, giving the ghost a stern glare. “Believe me, I shall be far more tolerant of Konatsu’s shortcomings than I shall be with you. You shouldn’t have shown me how good a mage you are last night if you expected to slack off.”
“I- I’m a student?” Ying-Ying blinked.
“As of this minute, yes. I’m going to be tutoring you after school with Konatsu, and afterwards, we’re going to see how much magic you’ve learned. You are too talented and too important to our Empress to let you lie around the house idle.”
Akane laughed. “Oh dear, Ying-Ying, sounds like you’re better off hiding in the spirit world.”
Ying-Ying shook her head. “No no no. You’ll really let me attend school too? I have been watching through Zhu Shu’s eyes, but there is just so much I want to learn!” She clasped her hands together. “I have learned much about the spirit realms, but so little of this one!”
Konatsu beamed happily as well. “Isn’t wonderful, Ying-Ying, we can both get to learn!”
Ranma chuckled. “Man, you’d think from their reaction that they think school is some kind of reward.”
Lo Shen turned towards the red head. “Indeed, it is. It is an attitude you should share, Ranma. If you had exercised your mind to the same level you have your body, you would have been a true marvel. Ke Lun has always excelled at the physical side of life, I the mental. That is why we both share the ultimate leadership of the Amazons. The body cannot live without the mind, nor the mind without the body.”
Shan Pu laughed. “Lo Shen has said same to Shan Pu many many time, nyah. Shan Pu try best, but she not as good thinker as Lo Shen.”
Akane scratched between the cat girl’s ears affectionately. “That’s okay Shan Pu. I’m no genius either. Besides, I’m rather enjoying helping you and Ranma with your homework.”
Ying-Ying had opened the bag, and was looking in wonder at the ghostly books inside. “However did you manage this, Loremistress?”
Lo Shen laughed. “The same way all things are sent to the spirit realm. I burned them and collected their spiritual essence. You’re capable of being solid enough to carry regular pencils and paper, but I figured it would be harder to haul around textbooks.”
Ying-Ying sighed happily. “I am so looking forward to school now.”
“Well follow me. You have to sign a few papers, and then you can go to Homeroom.”
* * * * *
Ying-Ying’s introduction to Furinkan was almost as spectacular as Konatsu’s, if for different reasons.
She looked at the class staring at her and bowed nervously. “Um, Greetings. I am Fei Ying-Ying. I’m a transfer student from China, and um… I’m Zhu-Shu’s fiancée.”
A hubbub of voices broke out.
“Wow, another fiancée? I am so jealous of that girl!”
“She’s Zhu Shu’s fiancée? What about Ukyo?”
“Man is she pretty, are all the girls in China that cute?”
Ying-Ying blinked, and nervously smiled again as Sayuri’s hand rose. She rose when the teacher pointed, and bowed.
“I’m very pleased to meet you, but I thought for sure Akane said once that you had died. Is that why you’re kind of see through?”
Ying-Ying laughed nervously as she scratched the back of her head and blushed. “Well, yes. I mean. Um. I’m a ghost.”
“Are you like haunting her or something?”
Ying-Ying stuck her hands out and waved in denial. “No, no, it’s nothing like that. I’m not out to harm her or anything. I’m actually her Guardian Spirit.”
Another student stood up. “Um hi, I’m Daisuke. Are you staying at the Tendo’s too?”
Ying-Ying nodded. Daisuke gave the red head a smirk. “Damn! You are such a lucky dog, Ranma. How do you get so many pretty girls to live with you?”
Ranma was leaning back in her chair. “Don’t ask me. It just started happening when I got this curse.”
Hiromi sighed. “We so need to find this Jusenkyo. Man, I wish I had the money to go to China.”
“Ah, it’s not at all what you might think, guys. It can make you pretty miserable too.” Ranma shrugged. “I don’t ever recommend going to Jusenkyo if you can help it.”
Kyoko stood as she was pointed to. “Um, you say you’re a Guardian Spirit. Do – do you like have to protect people from, uh, like Kitsune and, um, other youkai?” she asked nervously.
Ying-Ying laughed. “No. I’m not a devil hunter or anything like that. I have nothing against any of the spirits I’ve met, though I must admit most of them have been deceased. But I’ve really only been to heaven a few times, so I’ve only met the ones who were not truly evil. I have been trained to combat any spirits who may threaten my charges, but I doubt anyone who goes to this school is evil enough to require an exorcism.”
Kyoko blinked and nodded, looking a little nervous still.
Another student stood. “Is guarding Zhu Shu the only reason you transferred to Furinkan?”
Ying-Ying shook her head. “Um, actually I wasn’t sure I could enroll, being a ghost. Miss Tsuchigumo said it was fine though, and that I wasn’t the first according to school records. I’m really happy I could become a student though, because I’m getting to be with my loved ones. I can’t wait till Zhu Shu and Ukyo get back so I can introduce them to Konatsu. We’ve looked for her for so long!” She gave the ninja girl a brilliant smile.
The kunoichi blushed prettily as she gazed adoringly back.
There was a collective groan from the class. “You mean Konatsu is Zhu Shu’s fiancée too?” Hiromi asked
Konatsu shook her head as she looked off into space, starry eyed. “Not yet, but I will be as soon as she returns! I’ve been waiting for her for ever so long!” Once more she was surrounded by a cloud of small heart shaped bubbles popping merrily.
Yuka shook her head. “Oh man, she’s got it bad. It’s a wonder no-one noticed yesterday.”
Akane laughed. “I don’t think anyone mentioned Zhu Shu around her.” She turned to smile at Ying-Ying. “Well, welcome to Furinkan, Ying-Ying. Looks like you’re going to fit right in.”
The ghost’s smile lit up the room.
* * * * *
Ukyo was sitting by herself in a tree out of hearing range of the camp. When the group had been told why they were staying for another day, it had been decided that it made a good excuse to let the morning mayhem resume. After twenty minutes of listening to swords clash, Ukyo had sought solitude.
Rei found her there as she sat alone with her thoughts, and the miko settled down at the base of the tree until Ukyo finally noticed her. She had seen Ukyo’s face as she had re-entered the camp after meeting Totosai and told everyone that they were going to have to wait while he reforged her spatula into a much different weapon. Something had happened to the chef, something significant.
Ukyo finally sighed and spoke. “I should have figured you’d come.”
“You seemed like you needed to talk.”
“Maybe.”
“What happened, Uc-chan? I would have never expected you to just choose a different weapon than your spatula. It seemed such a part of you.”
Ukyo shrugged. “I can’t explain it, Rei. It just seemed so wrong suddenly. When Totosai told me my name, I just couldn’t bear to use it anymore, it seemed like a child’s playtoy.”
“Your name?”
“Lady Orihime.” Ukyo gave a rueful chuckle. “It seems that Totosai’s teacher was the one who forged my weapon, and Totosai had actually met me in my previous life. He thought I was hiding my identity and asked my why I wasn’t using the Dragon’s Wrath.”
“I see.”
“I don’t know if you do, Rei. I remember nearly killing Xi’an Chi with the Wrath, and his final words were that he was going to make me a trophy in his throne room. It still exists, and I’m going to get it back.”
“Ukyo?”
“I can’t explain it Rei. I just know that I will retrieve the Dragon’s Wrath and that when I do, I will kill Xi’an Chi with it. I’m stuck in this repeating cycle until I finally accomplish what I failed to do as Orihime.” She buried her face in her arms as Rei heard her sobbing.
Rei sighed. “We are all of us reborn, Ukyo. The Senshi, Zhu Shu, You. But we are not trapped. We overcame Beryl, and now we are what we were always intended to be, the Guardians of the Earth. Maybe it is your fate to kill Xi’an Chi, but that does not have to consume your life.”
Ukyo shook her head. “You don’t understand, Rei. I have no choice in my life. Like it or not, I am going to fall in love with Zhu Shu, and I am going to become the Dragon’s Guardian once more. I’m not going to be allowed to make any other choice. Totosai said I was a daughter who rebelled against her father. What am I now? And she said the empress fell in love with me, but I resisted her, until Xi’an Chi kidnapped her and I went to rescue her. What are we doing now? Naraku has captured Zhu Shu, and if he’s not a poor clone of Xi’an Chi, I don’t know what is. And here I am, on a quest to rescue her, and the only one who can lead us to her. I am even going to be using my chosen weapon of old. Totosai is forging me a new naginata out of my spatula, and when I came out here, I cut a pole of the right length and tried a few kata. Rei, I knew instinctively how to use the naginata better than I ever could use my spatula. I could have probably gone back there with just that pole and taken on all four of the guys and held my own. I am a master with a weapon I’ve never even touched before.” She shook her head. “My entire life has been decided for me, not just by my dad, but by the gods themselves.”
Rei sighed. “We all have a fate, Ukyo. The only difference between us and everyone else is that perhaps we know ours a little better than we would like. None of us can control our destiny; all we can do is decide how we will face it.”
“You sound like you’re trying to convince yourself.”
Rei shrugged. “Maybe I am. I love Zhu Shu, Ukyo. I can’t even begin to tell you how jealous I am that she is your fiancée, and that you will be the one to marry her. I knew when she first allowed me to date her that I could never have her permanently, but that doesn’t make letting her go any less difficult. But it is because I love her that I have to try. All I can hope for is to be allowed to keep loving her once she has become yours, to be allowed to share occasionally in the happiness I know you will eventually have with her.”
“Gods Rei, even you seem dead set to make sure I get together with her. I like guys, dammit.”
Rei sighed. “I do too, Ukyo. I doubt I will ever love another girl like I do Zhu Shu. And I put myself through hell trying to decide if I could love her, when my heart already knew I did.”
They sat in silence for awhile before Rei spoke again. “Ukyo, let me ask you a question. If Zhu Shu was male, how would you feel?”
Ukyo didn’t answer for a long while, but finally, “I don’t know. She’s so hard to picture as one.”
“Then maybe you can turn it around. What if you were really a guy.”
Ukyo sighed. “I don’t know. I’ve thought of that too - if I was like Ranma, and switched genders. I just don’t know. The other morning, when she danced for me, I think if she had tried to seduce me right then and there, I would have probably let her. I almost wanted her to, and it surprised me.” She leaned her head back against the tree. “The problem is I don’t know if the only reason I don’t want to love her is because she’s a girl, or because it’s what everyone seems to want regardless of how I feel. I can’t really say that I’ve ever even considered being with any one at all other than Ranma for the entirety of the last ten years. I was obsessed. He was all I thought of. No matter who tried to ask me for a date, boy or girl, I always told them I was engaged to Ranma. I don’t understand how I can look into her eyes and feel the way I do. I’ve never felt about anyone the way she makes me feel. And I don’t even know what those feelings really are.”
Rei nodded. “Would you come down here? I want to try something, if you’ll let me.”
“What?”
“I want to give you a kiss.”
Ukyo blinked. “Huh?”
“I want to give you a kiss and see how it makes you feel. Maybe it will help you figure out your feelings.”
Ukyo thought about if for a long minute, then unpropped her legs from the branch and dropped to the ground beside Rei. “This is silly.”
Rei smiled. “Maybe. But I’m a girl just like Zhu Shu is. And I know she would understand. Maybe I can help you decide how you really feel.”
Ukyo sat next to her. “So, um, what should I do?”
“Have you ever kissed before?”
“Um… not really. Peck on the cheek and stuff to my dad when I was still allowed to be a girl.”
Rei nodded. “Okay. We’ll start off simple then.” She patted the tree. “Lean back, this will be easier if I sit in your lap.”
Ukyo adjusted herself and Rei moved over, her arm circling Ukyo’s shoulders as she faced the other girl. “Now, close your eyes.”
Ukyo did, and felt as Rei’s hand cupped her cheek and tilted her head. Then their lips met, and she was surprised by how soft they felt. It recalled the sensations she had felt as Zhu Shu had danced and her ribbons had caressed her face, but this time she knew it was no illusion.
Then Rei leaned back a little and asked. “So how did that feel?”
Ukyo kept her eyes closed as she seriously thought about it. Her tongue parted her lips slightly and she found herself surprised by the sweetness that lingered. Like honey… lightly tinged with cinnamon.
“Well?”
“Um… I guess I kind of liked it.” Ukyo admitted.
“That’s Zhu Shu’s lipgloss you’re tasting, by the way. She gave me a bottle. Would you like me to show you how Zhu Shu taught me to kiss?”
Ukyo cracked an eye and looked at the mischievous look on Rei’s face. “Why do I feel like that is a loaded question?”
“Because it is. It would be a kiss just like one between lovers. Particularly if your lover was Zhu Shu.”
Ukyo considered. Rei seemed certain that it would prove something. And if anyone would know how Zhu Shu would kiss, Ukyo knew Rei would.
“Okay, sugar, do your worst. Let’s see how it makes me feel.”
Rei giggled. “Okay, just remember, you gave me permission.”
Ukyo nodded and closed her eyes again as Rei leaned forward.
Then she said “Mars Crystal Power, Make up” softly as her lips met Ukyo’s.
The universe spun around Ukyo as she felt her blood simultaneously turn to fire and ice. As Rei’s lips parted and her tongue traced Ukyo’s lips, Ukyo felt herself responding, her lips parting as her tongue met Rei’s and she felt as her entire body joined her in the kiss. Cold fire burned across her skin, leaving behind goosebumps and a feeling of vertigo that had her clinging to Rei like a drowning victim. As the henshin faded and Rei’s lips finally left hers, she drew in a long hesitant breath and felt her body relax in stages.
When she could finally speak again, she gasped. “Are you sure Zhu Shu kisses like that?”
Rei laughed. “I’ll be honest, Uc-chan. She kisses better. That’s just the closest I can come.”
Ukyo pried open an eye and looked at the smiling girl. “You have got to be kidding. No one can kiss that good.”
“She can. It’s called a Chi Kiss, and she can make you orgasm just by doing it. The first time she kissed me with it, it triggered my henshin even without my calling out my transformation. You have to remember she was trained a good portion of her life to be the ultimate servant for an Emperor.”
Ukyo blinked. “Oh. I didn’t know that her training covered that too.”
Rei nodded. “She was trained to be the perfect servant in every way possible.” She smiled softly. “But the topic here was you. How did that make you feel?”
Ukyo rolled her eyes. “You know damned well that it felt good.”
Rei nodded. “Yeah, it was overkill. I couldn’t resist. Let me give you a normal kiss.”
Ukyo chuckled. “No tricks this time.”
“I promise.”
Ukyo closed her eyes again as Rei kissed her, and once more Ukyo found herself responding as Rei’s tongue met hers. She tasted so sweetly of honey and cinnamon…
She was surprised when Rei stopped and she realized the miko was breathing heavily.
Rei fanned herself. “Wow. If you do that to me any more, I’m going to want to strip and let you take me right here.”
Ukyo blinked as she realized her hand had risen and had cupped Rei’s breast through the sailor uniform. She drew her hand back in shock.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.”
Rei laughed. “I’m not. I don’t mind, really, Ukyo. I was enjoying it, and if you hadn’t been about to make me orgasm I wouldn’t have stopped you.” She laid her head on Ukyo’s shoulder. “I think I have to take back what I said earlier though.”
“Huh?”
“About Zhu Shu maybe being the only girl I could love. I think I could fall for you too, Uc-chan.”
“Um…” Ukyo blushed.
“Would you like to kiss me again?”
“I- I don’t know.”
Rei nodded. “Then may I kiss you?”
“But, what about…”
“I told the others we might be gone for a few hours. And if you are worried about me trying to seduce you, I’m not. I really did come out here to try and cheer you up and help you any way I could. I just really enjoyed kissing you.”
Ukyo blushed brightly. “Um… I guess I kinda was enjoying it too.”
Rei nodded. “I could tell.” She smiled. “So if you were a boy, right now, what would you want me to do?”
“Um… I guess I’d probably want you to kiss me again.”
“Very likely. So then, what does the very pretty and deliciously female Ukyo Kuonji, master Okonomiyaki chef, and my friend, want right now?” Rei asked as she traced a finger along Ukyo’s collar bone.
Ukyo thought about it seriously. She knew what Rei was offering, if she wanted to accept it. And no matter what she might have thought about her sexuality, she couldn’t deny that the miko had just proven to her that it wasn’t only boys that she responded to.
I like boys…
But maybe, just maybe, I like girls too…
“Um… maybe I would like you to kiss me again too.” Ukyo finally admitted.
Rei nodded. “Let’s start with that then, and go from there…”
* * * * *
“What?!?” Ayeka blinked at Kyoko in disbelief.
The brown haired cheerleader nodded. “She’s Zhu Shu’s Guardian Spirit.”
“They let a full spirit join the student populace!?!” the tall black haired girl shouted.
Kaede made shushing motions. “Keep your voice down! Do you want Ai to hear you?”
Megumi sighed. “It would be so much simpler if we just told her. I mean seriously, we’ve been her lovers for almost a year and a half now.”
Kaede sighed. “Maybe you two have,” she said looking at the two second years. “But Kyoko and I are just first years. But it’s not fair. Why is she allowed to break the rules?”
Ayeka cracked her knuckles. “It doesn’t matter. It just means we don’t have to play by them either.”
Kyoko looked worried. “But she’s a really nice ghost! And since Zhu Shu’s away, it seems she’s keeping watch over that other new girl, Konatsu.”
Megumi had tried to keep Kyoko from saying the kunoichi’s name, but it was too late. Ayeka was already glowing. “THAT’S IT! I’M GOING TO KILL THEM BOTH!”
Kyoko eeped and backed behind Kaede. “What did I say?”
Megumi shook her head. “Ayeka saw Ai watching Konatsu play with herself in the girl’s shower the other day.”
Kaede was looking at the orange glow around Ayeka and a calculating look came into her eye. “I say we challenge them. I mean, Zhu Shu is bad enough, but now there’s these two new ones. If we humiliate them, make them our mascots, it will in part pay that dragon bitch back for humiliating Ai.”
“Great idea, Kaede. Just fuel the bloodlust. I’ve already had to feed her twice this week to calm her down. Why don’t you offer her your wrist!”
Kyoko looked panic stricken. “But Megumi, you remember what happened when she did that last time. Ayeka went into that mad killing spree against Zhu Shu for kissing Ai and almost fully transformed.”
Megumi sighed, rising to step behind the glowing girl who was obliviously lost in her dreams of murder and mayhem. She grimaced as a small talon of ice formed on her finger. With a deft nick, she drew a few drops of blood and held her hand in front of Ayeka’s face. Ayeka’s eyes regained their focus as she sniffed, then she lunged forward, her lips locking on Megumi’s wrist as a look of ecstasy came to both of their faces. After a few seconds, Ayeka released her bite, a look of serene bliss on her face. Megumi kissed her cheek as Ayeka smiled dreamily.
Kaede had peeked out of the library’s meeting room to make sure Ai was still playing online. “Jeezus, she’s found another Sailor Venus fansite,” she said disgustedly, causing a group sigh.
Megumi looked wistfully out the door too. “I wish we could just tell her.”
“What, that she has four monsters so head over heels in love with her that we’ve put aside our differences just to be with her?” Kaede snorted. “It’s bad enough that Ayeka goes insanely jealous anytime she feels threatened with losing her. You want to make it a reality?”
Kyoko whimpered. “Do – do you really think she would hate us if she found out?”
Kaede shrugged. “I don’t know, but I don’t want to risk it. Ai’s been acting sort of funny lately, and it has me worried. Besides, you’ve got the least to worry about out of all of us,” she said morosely. “You’re pretty harmless, and just way too cute. Same goes for Megumi, since she’s only half. But Ayeka and I are both full bloods of species that have been on the extermination lists for centuries. For every one of us who live under the Accords, there’s still a dozen out there preying on mankind. You nature spirits have it pretty easy comparatively.”
“But the entire school knows there’s a Ghost attending Furinkan now. And no-one’s gotten really freaked out about it.” Megumi argued.
“Because she’s associated with Zhu Shu and Akane. People have gotten used to all sorts of weirdness around them now. I mean, if even Miss Tsuchigumo allowed her register, they must have gotten her some sort of approval.” Kaede shrugged. “We haven’t though. If you want to tell Ai you’re a yuki-onna, Megumi, I won’t stop you, but I don’t want to see you get hurt, and I really don’t want to see you have to move to another school. I may have hated you once, but not anymore. I don’t know what I’d do if any of us had to leave.” She looked to where the blonde head cheerleader was browsing through photos of her favorite Senshi. “I just wish Ai would look at us like she’s looking at that dumb bimbo. I wish she thought of us as more than playtoys.”
“We just have to show her we’re worthy of her love, Kaede,” Megumi said sadly. “We’ve been doing pretty badly against Zhu Shu, and it’s been bugging her. We’ve got to do better when we challenge Konatsu. She’s just a human, and once we’ve beaten her, and made her join the cheerleading team, and that will really be a victory against Zhu Shu. She’ll feel better, and be back to our Ai in no time. You’ll see.”
Kaede sighed. “What of the Guardian Spirit? What if she interferes? I can’t fight magic. Other than my talons, all my powers are illusion and hypnosis.”
Ayeka had finally come out of her blood induced bliss and she stepped up to look out the door with them. “Leave the ghost to me. Undead to undead, Vampire trumps ghost every time.”
The grin she gave them showed off her fangs quite well…
* * * * *
Kagura had found no-one in the hot spring at first, but not long after she had begun to soak, she heard Nabiki call her name.
“Mind if I join you?” the bunnygirl asked as she dropped her robe and towel on a nearby rock.
Kagura shrugged. “I have no objection to sharing a bath, if that is what you mean.”
Nabiki chuckled. “Well if I was being sneaky, I could ask you to wash my back, and let me wash yours.”
Kagura blinked. “That has some significance?”
“It could always lead to other pleasant activities.”
“Oh. I see. You are making what Ukyo calls an innuendo.”
Nabiki shrugged and stepped into the water. Kagura blinked as her rabbit ears vanished.
“You could say that. You certainly look delicious enough to make me want to run my tongue all over you. Even now, when my bunny hormones aren’t driving me into a mating frenzy.”
“Why would you wish too lick me? Is this something that humans normally do while mating?”
Nabiki laughed. “Oh my, you really are utterly clueless about sex. I thought Ukyo was just trying to get me to lay off flirting with you.”
Kagura frowned. “I simply have never had any experiences to gain knowledge from. Human mating rituals were not high on Naraku’s list of importance. Knowing how to make more humans was not something he desired me to know.”
“Yet he gave you a body like that? That is one fucked up mind.” Nabiki sighed. “Okay, tell you what. Why don’t I wash your back and get you to wash mine, and I’ll at least teach you a little bit about being a girl, a human type girl. Deal?” She held up a pink ball filled with water and let it shower over her short hair. “It’s the least I can do for you teaching me magic.”
Kagura shrugged. “Very well. I am curious as to what is involved in the mating act.”
Nabiki giggled. “If you want the full lesson, join Tao-Ching and I tonight. But for now, let me just start by saying that normally, sex is something that takes place between a couple, but not always just a male and a female, and not always just two.”
“From your behavior towards me, I had gathered at least that much.”
“Now I know a lot of people look at sex and love as the same thing, but they really aren’t. I’m cynical enough to say that sex is the animal part of our nature, while love is something that is entirely spiritual. Sex is for the body, love is for the soul.”
Kagura tilted her head curiously. “Yet it seems that they are tied together. Do not most humans require love in order to perform the mating act?”
Nabiki sighed. “Yeah, like I said, I’m a cynic. The way I see it is that too many people have them confused, and that’s mainly due to a lot of misconceptions. Sex is just the mating urge. It’s completely biological, and has as it’s sole function reproduction. Our biology is such that sex is something we can engage in at anytime, and so long as certain criteria are met, essentially the stimulation of erogenous zones, we can get the reward known as an orgasm. That reward is what sex is entirely about. It’s a reward for engaging in species continuing behavior. You can get that reward any time, just by taking your fingers and rubbing between your legs.”
Kagura observed as Nabiki hitched herself up on a flat rock and spread her legs.
“There’s a spot, right here, that responds to simulation, especially rubbing and licking. It’s primarily what two girls will play with when they have sex. Now this,” she pointed to her vaginal opening, “is where a man will place his member. It’s also the birthing canal.”
Kagura nodded as she felt between her legs. “I see. I had been curious as to the functions of that orifice.”
Nabiki lowered herself back into the water. “And that basically is all that is involved in sex. Stimulation of those areas will lead to an orgasm, and that makes our bodies feel really good. The reward varies though. Sometimes it will be extremely good, other times it’s just a pleasant little feeling. And the stimulation provided by a partner is likely going to be much greater than what you can provide for yourself. Generally the more the stimulation the bigger the reward. However, it’s not solely a mechanical process, because the mind interacts with the whole body, so mental stimulation is required as well, and depending on the person, what they want for that mental stimulation varies wildly. That’s part of why humans are inclined to do some pretty strange things for sex. But regardless, it’s still just a biological process that has very little to do with love.”
“Then what is love?”
Nabiki laughed ruefully. “That’s the hard one, Kagura-san. Love is a need that our souls have to share themselves with another. Until I met Tao-Ching, I would have said it was an illusion, something that people told themselves they had when it was just a case of mutual consent to be used as an emotional crutch, but it really isn’t. Love is a need that we all have. It’s like something inside us is incomplete, and until we find that exact match, that part of our soul that we can only find inside someone else’s, we cannot feel whole. It is an emotional need, one that is enormously complex, and tied into so many things that it cannot be properly defined. It’s that very fact that we cannot define exactly what love is that makes recognizing it so difficult. Sex is easy, love is something that you can spend lifetimes hunting. But once it is found, you will never understand how you could have ever lived without it.”
“I am not sure I understand.”
“Don’t worry about it. Most humans don’t understand that either, and they will make the mistake of thinking they love anyone they get close too. In my era, divorce is common because too many people confuse sex and love, and think when the sex gets boring that they fell out of love. They don’t realize that the feelings of lust and the excitement of a new relationship are not what real love is about. It’s such a nasty hodgepodge of cultural taboos, peer pressure, and conflicting belief systems that it’s a wonder most of humanity hasn’t gone stark raving insane. My poor older sister got hurt by mistaking lust and love, and it made her so paranoid about being absolutely certain that she didn’t make the same mistake again that it nearly made her lose the one person in the world who truly made her happy. I’m really glad that she finally got together with him right before we got sent back here.”
Kagura sighed. “It would be nice to imagine that there is someone just for me, but I am a simply a cast off of Naraku. I cannot have a soulmate when I have no soul.”
“I sincerely doubt that Kagura-chan. If you had no soul, you never would have even questioned why you served Naraku. You would have been just a wooden puppet.”
The other woman sighed and stood. “I wish I could believe that Nabiki Tendo. However, you have got me curious as to the relations of a man and a woman. I shall have to think-”
The giant wasp had buried it’s stinger in her back before she had become aware of it, and she screamed in pain as she fell forward into Nabiki’s arms. But even as she fell, she heard a entire swarm descending.
Nabiki surrounded them in a shield and looked at the wasps warily. “I take it those things are bad news?”
Kagura gasped as the poison coursed through her veins and she fought to talk. “They – they are Naraku’s spies… One - one sting… probably won’t kill. Deadly… in numbers.” she managed before she fainted.
Nabiki looked at the swarm and thought furiously. The were out of earshot of the camp, so it looked like they were on their own, and the only sorceress with real combat experience was out cold.
The wasps assaulted her shield, buzzing angrily as they sought access, but withdrew as they realized it was solid. Nabiki tried tossing one of her buzzballs at them, but they were too quick, she couldn’t track one well enough to hit it.
She tried to lift the shield out of the water with her and Kagura in it, but even though she succeeded, she had no idea how to make it move from inside, and Kagura was too heavy for her to lift physically.
“Damn. Time to get creative,” she muttered. She had no idea how to call for help, and it was obvious the bugs weren’t going to leave her alone, and for all she knew that Naraku guy could be right behind them, about to come and finish off Kagura and her as well.
She had no clue how Kagura manipulated the wind, but she’d been thinking about how she manipulated energy to make the shield. She couldn’t move horizontally, but vertically seemed easy enough. Maybe if she could get the wasps…
The thought turned into action even as she had it, and the bubble moved upwards. And as she had hoped, the wasps had moved to keep her contained. She gave a nasty grin.
The large bubble formed around the wasps before they were even aware of it, and Nabiki really hoped she knew what she was doing as she contracted it inwards quickly. If it actually drew the wasps inside with her, they were finished.
The two shields collided in a spray of bug guts and Nabiki grimaced as she looked at the goo everywhere.
“Okay, bugs are gone, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to wash that shit off of me.” she muttered as she lowered the shield back down into the water. But even swirling it around wasn’t washing the stuff off, and she couldn’t see a damn thing.
“You okay in there Nabi-chan?” Tao-Ching’s voice called through the opaque barrier.
“What the fuck kept you? Get some rags and wash this thing off, you damn furball!”
She heard several voices laughing outside the barrier, and she sat down on the bottom of the shield in disgust. “Hey! I’d like to see you do any better!” she yelled. “And hurry! Kagura got stung by one of these wasp things!”
“Why don’t you just make a windshield wiper and scrape it off?” Tao-Ching’s voice was heavy with amusement.
Nabiki muttered about shaving him bald as she did, and in a few minutes, after Sango had helped her pull Kagura out of the water, Miroku was looking at the unconscious sorceress. “How many did she get stung by?” he asked as he felt her hot forehead.
“Just one I think.”
He nodded. “It’ll probably take a few hours to get the poison out of her system, but she will be fine. Let’s get her back to camp, and one of you should probably go and find your two friends and warn them to come back too.”
Then the fireball exploded among the trees on the far side of the camp…
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