Nabiki lazily trailed her finger down Tao-Ching’s chest as she propped her head on the other hand and sighed.
“God’s, I’ve been wanting to do that all day. Watching you and Ukyo this morning got me really worked up. I couldn’t decide which of you I wanted to fuck more.”
Tao-Ching laughed as he moved his hips under hers. “Well, considering where you’re still sitting, I’d have to guess I won.”
Nabiki sighed softly as her eyes closed. Then she chuckled as she looked at him again. “Actually, I think our little Firebird is trying to get into Ukyo’s pants. The look she was giving her during the fight was almost puppy love.”
Tao-Ching grinned. “That little priestess certainly does seem to stay close to her. I’d say she’s trying to make herself a third with Zhu Shu and Ukyo. Too bad they’re so young.”
Nabiki pushed herself up to her full arm extension, her hips pressing down firmly. “Why, this bunnygirl not loli enough for you?” she asked as she tightened her grip.
Tao-Ching grinned. “Of course you are. And it’s not like you would object to a orgy with two girls to play with. You’re as much of a hentai as I am.”
“Damn straight. However, I happen to respect my respect my sister’s property, even if she is adopted, and currently needing to be rescued. When Zhu Shu is freed from Naraku, and she can give permission, then I might see if I can play.”
Tao-Ching laughed. “I’d be worried they would seduce you into their little group and I’d never see you again.”
Nabiki licked her lips. “Well, as much fun as spending a few days tasting the ecstasies of pure feminine nectar might be, I happen to like what I’m sitting on too much to give it up, or what it’s attached to.”
“Thank the gods for small favors.”
Nabiki squeezed. “I would not call this ‘small’.” She started a slow rhythm of tensing and releasing. “So what do you make of this new thing with Ukyo?”
“You mean being the reincarnation of Lady Orihime? I’m quite certain of it being the truth. My mom worships the legend of her. She’s the Dragon’s Guardian, and the greatest master of the guan dao according to the Amazon histories, which I can tell you are quite different than the ones you got taught. Ask Lo Shen to show them to you sometime. And one of the central themes of the Orihime legend is that she will be reborn to defend the Dragon when Lin Tzu herself is reborn. The Amazons are absolutely sure that Zhu Shu is Lin Tzu reborn, so it only makes sense that Orihime is here too. That also explains a few other things.”
Nabiki was breathing harder as she concentrated, her head thrown back and her eyes closed. “Like what?”
“Lin Tzu had almost a dozen wives, but there are four primarily seen as her principle mates. Lady Orihime, the Dragon’s Guardian. Lady Ying-Ying, the Imperial Physician, Lady Ye-Ying, the Royal Assassin, and Lady Phoenix, also known as Sailor Mars.”
Nabiki had cracked an eye. “How can you manage to keep talking with me doing this?”
“Amazon warriors are taught all kinds of concentration tricks, Nabi-chan. You can never tell when some assassin might try to stick a knife in you. Wait till we’re back in our time in my bedroom if you want me to lose all control.”
She giggled. “I don’t think I can wait that long. I’m about to lose my mind.”
Tao-Ching smiled and grabbed her hips to steady her as he started bucking underneath her. There was no talking for a few minutes as Nabiki struggled to contain her moans, then she felt him tense and she surrendered to her own ecstasy.
When she could think again, she leaned over him and said, “So you are saying that Ukyo and Rei sniffing around one another is because they used to be lovers in their past lives too?”
“Probably.”
“Where does that leave my sister then? I know for a fact she’s in love with Zhu Shu as much as with both of her fiancées. Is she a reincarnation too?”
“Who knows? Lin Tzu was known for winning people’s love. The Amazons set aside two thousand years of independence to swear fealty to the Dragon Empress out of nothing more than love of her, after all. She could just be a new member of the fan club.”
A long wail of heartrending despair shattered the night. Nabiki sat up like she’d been shot.
“Oh my god, that was Zhu Shu!”
* * * * *
They stood before the Mirror of Beruche’s soul and shuddered.
Lo Shen had brought all four of them into the phantom sister’s psyche and Konatsu and Ami had certainly been ill prepared for what they saw there, despite the warnings given by Lo Shen and Ying-Ying. Ami looked at the reflection of Beruche naked and in chains, her skin covered by lash marks and burns, her face a mask of longing and despair, and she turned away crying.
“Oh, how could anyone do that to someone!” the distraught senshi cried.
Konatsu’s face just looked sad and bewildered.
Lo Shen grimaced. “I wish more people could see the souls of those they hurt. It might make for a kinder human race.”
Ying-Ying nodded. “I cannot even tell where to begin.”
Lo Shen nodded. “I am not sure either. Compulsions and dominations were never my strong suit like they were Clove’s. And she was never this cruel. She influenced, seduced, sometimes forced, and could occasionally be pretty nasty in her own way, but she was never this brutal. I could use her skills. I’d even be willing to let bygones be bygones if she were willing to prove she was trying to seek redemption.” She turned to look at the still silent figure of Konatsu.
For a long moment there was silence as Ami looked between Lo Shen and Konatsu in confusion. Then Konatsu sighed and shimmered. As they watched, the ninja girl’s hair released itself from its bows, shifting from midnight black to snow white, and her ears grew points as her red gi reshaped itself into a tight black Mandarin dress. Emerald green eyes gazed out of her exotically beautiful face to meet Lo Shen’s lavender ones.
“I did not think you had sensed me, Lo Shen. It seems I was wrong.” Clove said as she crossed her arms and arched her eyebrow. “Is this why you dragged Konatsu into this poor woman’s head?”
Ami gasped. Ying-Ying laid a hand on her arm. “It’s okay. Please, trust me, and don’t be alarmed.”
Lo Shen was nodding. “You had me fooled completely, Clove, until I overheard you and Ying-Ying talking. I suspected you might have left a geas in Konatsu, but not that you had possessed her. Yet if Legend is willing to trust you, I would be proving myself to be a stubborn, prejudiced old woman if I refused to give you a chance.” She indicated the chained woman in the mirror. “She is beyond my skill. I could eventually break the spells binding her, but I don’t have the specialized knowledge to do so without harming her greatly. The Ginzishou could possibly remake her, but it would strip from her much of who she is. I would like to save her with as little damage as possible.”
Clove shook her head, her long white hair floating around her in a cloud. “The fool who did this to her is a vicious oaf. I suspect he’s male, and contemptuous of women.” She reached out to touch the mirror. “There is an echo here of great power, dedicated to destruction, like a negative version of the crystal carried by the young moon princess.”
“An evil Silver Crystal?” Ami asked, shocked.
Clove nodded.
“Are - are you really the one who’s out to kill Zhu Shu?” Ami said hesitantly. “You look just like she used to.”
Clove sighed. “I was brought back to life by the Queen of Demons to do so, yes. I don’t think I will do so now, though, so long as I am free to choose otherwise. I cannot really find it within myself to slay my elder sister.”
Ami blinked. “S-sister?”
Clove closed her eyes and nodded. “I did not understand before, blinded as I was by the lies I was told. But I have stared into the Eyes of the Dragon, and I could not fail to see the truth reflected within them.”
Lo Shen gave Ami a long look. “I will not ask you to lie to your friends, Ami Mizuno, but I ask that you keep this knowledge to yourself if you can. Clove has done something I would have never thought possible, and merged with Konatsu. So long as she is residing in the ninja girl, she is most likely safe from detection by Hild, just as she was safe from detection by me. She is defying her bargain with the Demon Queen, and so long as she continues to earn my trust, I would like to aid her in this.”
“So long as?” Clove asked snidely.
“I know most of your past sins were the blame of the wizard Xi’an Chi, but not all, Clove. Mu was my friend, and I do not take kindly to your trying to poison her.” Lo Shen said sharply.
Clove sighed. “She was a trap, Lo Shen. A honey baited trap, and you all fell for her. Xi’an Chi bred her for no other purpose but to steal Shi’s heart and bear a Daughter of the Dragon.”
Lo Shen stepped back in shock. “What!”
“Yes. The damn wizard was promising me Shi with one hand, and taking him away with the other through Mu. She was just a brood mare he created solely to bring out the Dragon’s Blood. When I found out, I went a bit berserk, okay? Yes, I tried like hell to kill her at first. But she was an utter innocent in the entire affair. She had no clue what she was or that she had been made to be used. And once Shi had married her and she was pregnant, it was too late anyway.” Clove said morosely. “If Xi’an Chi hadn’t manipulated my father into trying to marry me off to that damn Mongol butcher, Genghis whatever, and pretty much forced me to kill Garlic only to have Clan Dragon declare war on me as an Usurper, I would have been able to tell Shi that Mu had come to me and rather ineptly tried to seduce me in an attempt to make peace between us. I never had the chance to tell him I wished to accept her request to take me as a Sister-Wife.”
“But, Musk declared war on Clan Dragon!” Lo Shen insisted.
Clove blinked. “What? Why would I declare war on the only man I loved?”
Lo Shen put her hands on her hips. “To force him to marry you according to the terms of declaration.”
Clove rolled her eyes. “How stupid could you be Lo Shen? No-one who knew Shi could possibly think that that would work! Marry me or I will go to war with you?” She put her face in her palm. “By the gods, Xi’an Chi must have gotten to the messengers and played us all for fools.”
Lo Shen paled. “But, but the Musk launched a sneak attack on the Dragon stronghold…” she said weakly.
“After they had attacked and burned our town, how were we not to retaliate?” Clove threw her hands in the air in exasperation. “It wasn’t until the battle was half over that I realized the fortress had been taken utterly by surprise. Then I found Shi wiping out a pack of strangers wearing the livery of my personal guard, and I realized Xi’an Chi must have hired mercenaries to start the war. I tracked Shi to Jusenkyo, but before I could get him to stop attacking me, Xi’an Chi showed up, and in order to save Shi, Mu, and their daughter, I had to fight him. And lost. The bastard tortured and raped me before he threw me into that pool and pinned me to the bottom with his staff.” Clove finished, tears streaming down her cheeks silently.
Lo Shen turned to see Ying-Ying looking at her with golden eyes, and she sighed. “It seems we were indeed all played for fools.” She stepped forward to lay a hand on Clove’s shoulder. “For my part, I am sorry for misjudging you.”
Clove sniffed and wiped her nose. “I never understood why you and Ke Lun hated me so much.”
Lo Shen sighed again, her bunny ears drooping. “I don’t know, Clove. In three hundred years I have thought about those days over and over, and the only causes I have ever been able to find are petty teenaged emotions. I don’t know exactly what Ke Lun’s reasons were, but mine were jealousy over your beauty and despair that you never looked at me the way you looked at so many other girls. I perhaps should have told you how badly I desired you then, rather than allowing my shyness turn into resentment.”
Clove dried her cheeks on her sleeve. “If you had looked back then the way you look right now I wouldn’t have been able to keep my hands off you. I never even knew you were interested. All you seemed to care about was replacing me as the masters favored apprentice.” Clove sighed. “And I admit I was a bitch. I was vain, and spoiled, and too used to getting my own way through whatever means I had to use. I hated that about my mother, yet I was just like her. I spent a small eternity at the bottom of that pool realizing so many things I regretted. Drowning is not something I ever want to do again. I was so angry that everyone I had thought to call a friend had turned against me, and the only one I had to be angry with was myself.” She looked at the soul mirror before them. “I was like this poor girl in so many-” she broke off suddenly as her eyes went wide. “It couldn’t be…”
Lo Shen eyes narrowed as she looked at the dragon mage. “What is it?”
Clove’s hand shot out, passing through the mirror and seeming to go straight into the girl’s heart. Black fire burned along her arm as she screamed, but forced her arm deeper. Lo Shen’s eyes widened and she tried to pull the white haired girl back, only to be flung aside as dark lightning crawled along Clove’s skin.
“What is happening!” Ying-Ying shouted over the roar of thunder.
“I don’t know!” Lo Shen yelled back.
Then Clove screamed. “I got you, you bastard!”
She strained to pull her arm back, placing a foot against the mirror as she slowly withdrew inch by inch. The girl in the mirror writhed, her face in agony as the non space around the mirror grew deathly cold. Ice began forming on Clove’s body as the black lightning shot out around her wildly, standing her long hair on end as she screamed in pain, but she inexorably drew whatever she was grasping out of the girl’s soul…
Then she fell backwards and suddenly all was quiet. They all looked at the mirror in stunned shock.
Gone were the lashes and cuts, the chains and the indefinable sense of violation. The girl in the mirror stood whole, and almost innocent.
And instead of the black crescent on her forehead, there now resided a golden one, its horns pointing upright.
Clove groaned, and they turned to see her sitting up, holding out an object that looked very much like a sea urchin made of black crystal. She crushed it, and it vanished into nothingness.
“Xi’an Chi, you are such a bastard.” Clove said weakly.
Then her eyes rolled upwards and she fainted.
* * * * *
She sat on the edge of the cliff, her legs curled up against her and her arms wrapped around them, heedless of her nakedness. Her body shivered in the cold wind but her mind was far away, and she was oblivious to it.
Soft footsteps approached. She heard them, but it made no impression on her. Voices rose and fell in the distance as she heard her name called, but she made no effort to answer. Even the soft rustle of cloth as someone knelt beside her provoked no response.
“Uc-chan?” came Rei’s soft voice.
Ukyo’s eyes didn’t waver from their fixed stare, but she whispered, “I blew it.”
“Uc-chan? I – I don’t understand.”
“I blew it, Rei. I could have saved her and I blew it.”
“Who?” Her voice was full of loving concern, and it made Ukyo wince… why couldn’t she have been just like that?
“Zhu Shu was here, Rei. I tried to save her and I blew it. I failed to be what she needed. I failed to be her guardian.” Her eyes closed as she recalled the warning her dream had tried to give her. She loves too intently to ever give less than the entirety of her self. “I wasn’t there for her in the way she needed, Rei.”
“Uc-chan, what happened?”
“She came to me, Rei. She came to me because she loves me. She came to me because she needed my love…and I drove her away!” Ukyo’s voice broke as she was racked with sobs.
Rei tried to place her hand on her shoulder, but drew it back as Ukyo flinched. She turned pleading eyes to where Nabiki was running up with Tao-Ching, barely noticing the bunnygirl was wearing nothing but glowing pink armor. Nabiki stopped when she saw the look in Rei’s eyes and nodded as she held up a hand to stop the big cat.
“Ukyo. Please… what happened?” Rei asked as kindly as she could.
“She just wanted my love. That’s all she wanted. Just my love…”
“I don’t understand Uc-chan. Did – did Zhu Shu...”
“She’s not to blame. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault…” she sobbed. “Oh my poor Zhu-chan. What have I done to you?”
“Uc-chan?” Rei’s voice was pained
Ukyo whispered something that Rei couldn’t hear, but behind her she heard Nabiki gasp.
“I – I can’t understand you, Uc-chan?”
“I offered her my love, and I kissed her, and when she responded, I got scared. I made her rape me, Rei. She responded to my offer of love, and I turned it into something horrible because I was afraid of how intensely she responded. I made her love into rape! She needed me, and because I was a coward, I failed her!” Ukyo sobbed. “Just like I did when she offered herself as my fiancée. I wanted to save her, and instead, I drove her away! And her very last thought that I heard through the link was about how much of a monster she was…”
Rei didn’t stop when Ukyo flinched this time, but pulled the other girl into a hug, and held her as the tears fell like rain.
* * * * *
Ke Lun was closing the club’s rear door, still in the playboy bunny outfit she had taken to wearing while managing the club, when she felt the eyes upon her. She sighed. Was it another group of hentai boys who were going to try and pick her up again, or possibly an attempt to mug her? Not that it mattered, but she almost wished that she had changed back to her normal form. Almost. Getting to be young and pretty again did have immense appeal after all.
She could have simply leapt to the rooftop and away, but where was the fun in that? Putting on her best bewildered dumb bunny look, she pretended to look nervously down the alley before hesitantly walking forward. As she drew close to the location where she felt the eyes, she prepared to attack.
But the battlecry of “SWEETO!!!” the small figure gave as he leaped froze her in shock and she let out a “Gah!” as she felt a face bury itself in her bosom, and smallish hands caressing her breasts. Then she put her hands on her hips as a massive battle aura formed around her, the pale yellow light illuminating the white haired figure latched on to her chest as she gave him a hard stare.
Eventually he realized he hadn’t been flung bodily away as usual and looked up, giving her a happy grin. “Wow, dearie, you’re making an old man feel loved!”
“Gotten your fill yet, ‘Happy’?” she said icily.
He plumped her breasts a few more times as he sighed in joy. Then he did a double take as he finally noticed the battle aura that was slowly cracking the pavement around them. “Um… why haven’t you… um.”
“Plucked you off, stomped you into the ground, and jumped up and down on you in rage for several hours?” she asked casually.
He blinked. “Uhhhh.”
She gave him a happy bunnygirl grin. “I’m savoring the thought of that for later,” she gushed. “I just want to know that you’re enjoying getting to run your hands all over my body! After all, you’re the only man entitled to.” Despite the excited happy girl voice she used, the battle aura was starting to crack the walls and lift the broken rock all around them into the air.
“Entitled to?”
“Of course! I mean, you are MY HUSBAND!!!”
The blow drove him into the concrete, then through it as the impact shattered the ground and the explosion blew down the walls to either side of the alley.
As Happosai tried to stand, dazed, Ke Lun reached into her cleavage and pulled out a collar and chain. Before he recovered enough to realize what she was doing, she snapped it closed around his neck. He didn’t even notice it as he staggered, then sat back down.
“Owwww. What do you mean, husband?”
Then his eyes widened, and his hands flew to the collar. His eyes followed the chain to where it was handcuffed to Ke Lun’s wrist.
“When Lo Shen told me that Zhu Shu had inadvertently given you a set of panties and that the seal was broken, I figured you would be along sooner or later, Happy. I’ve been waiting a long, long time to use this.” Ke Lun said as she tugged on the leash.
“Co – co – cologne?”
“Awww, I’m touched. You actually remember. I mean, after you left me on our wedding night, I thought for sure you must have been touched by amnesia or something. I mean, it certainly couldn’t have been because you didn’t love me, right? You did make so many promises to love me forever… right up till you actually got into my bed.”
“What is this thing?!?”
“A marriage collar. It’s used for training recalcitrant males who are captured in war. I wouldn’t bother trying to take it off. It’s tied into your chi. If you actually succeeded in removing it, you’d die.” She wrapped the chain around her wrist until she had Happosai dangling, then started walking down the street whistling happily as he struggled uselessly.
“What are you going to do to me you, you crazy Amazon!”
“Why Happy, is that any way to talk to your wife? And I have a perfectly suitable revenge in mind for you. Who knows, being you, you might even like it.”
She swung him back and forth like a purse, amused as he vainly tried to grab ahold of anything to try and escape. She giggled. “Oh, Ai Ren, Ke Lun is so happy!” she said in her best copy of Shan Pu’s kittenish voice. She did a twirling little dance as she walked, enjoying the screams of protest. As she opened the door to the Bunny Hutch’s apartment, she held him at eye level, and still in that little girl voice, asked “Happy really want know what Ke Lun plan?”
Happosai tried his puppy dog face. “You – you wouldn’t kill a harmless old man like me would you?”
Ke Lun laughed, still playing the dumb bunny. “No. Ke Lun have much better plan in mind.” she cooed.
“Letting me go?”
She shook her head and put a finger on his nose as she smiled enormously. “Nan. Ni. Chuan.” She said, enunciating each syllable separately in her best innocent school girl act as she tapped his nose in time.
Happosai blinked as he digested the import of her words. “Spring of drowned girl?” Then his eyes went wide in horror as he remembered. “Oh no. Not Jusenkyo.”
Ke Lun giggled. “Welcome to hell, Happy. I hope you enjoy your life as my Sister-Wife.” She laughed louder as he screamed in horror. “If you’d just stayed in your cave, you could have escaped this fate, my dear, dear husband. I’ve spent centuries contemplating it, and making preparations. I’ve waited for this day for ever so long.” She hugged him to her breasts and smiled as for probably the first time in his life, he tried to crawl his way out of a pair. “Look on the bright side. Now you can wear all those pretty slips of silk you’ve collected…”
* * * * *
Kodachi flushed the last of the dye remover from her hair with the sprayer and scrubbed her itching scalp. It had taken three applications to remove the black dye, and it had left her hair feeling a little brittle and her scalp a little raw, but for the first time in fifteen years, her hair was its natural color. She looked up into the mirror and tried to smile. It was a nervous, tentative thing.
She dried it with the towel and brushed it out, having to firmly stop herself from tucking her ears under it, and left it loose, taking a deep breath as she opened the bathroom door and entered the main hotel room.
Mousse was waiting for her at the hotel’s restaurant, and they were planning to try and find someplace to dance afterwards, but Kodachi wasn’t sure she was going to make it, even though it had been her suggestion. Her stomach felt like it was filled with needle sharp icicles, and she was already dreading the next step of the evening.
She sat on the bed in her bathrobe and wrung her hands, dreading the knock on the door that she was expecting. While her school uniform had been fine enough to walk around in, Mousse had suggested she have a nice dress for dinner and dancing, and she had nervously agreed.
She wished she could tell if the Chinese boy was simply trying to be nice to her because he felt he owed her his service for saving his life. He had been so dead set against her when she had threatened that she would make him love her, and she had given up entirely on even that in her depression over Akane. Yet the attitude he had displayed to her since rescuing her had been far kinder and more caring than he’d ever been to her previously. It was even amusing when he accidentally started talking to some random object or person, thinking it was her because his vision was so terrible. He always corrected when she spoke to him, or tried too, and it was kind of cute that he was so helpless. He really needed her to help as his eyes.
And she was starting to think she really needed him to be her courage.
The knock on her door startled her, and she nearly jumped. Panic set in as she froze, terrified of what the reaction was going to be when she opened the door.
But Mousse was counting on her to meet him for dinner, with undyed hair and uncovered ears…
She took a deep breath and jerked the door open.
The girl on the other side had been about to knock again and she gave her a startled look. “Oh, Hi! I’m delivering a dress for a Miss Kodachi Kuno?”
Kodachi nervously nodded. “That’s me. Um… come in.”
The girl stepped inside. “Would you like some help making sure it fits properly, Miss Kuno? I’m the seamstress’s apprentice and I can make any spot adjustments you might need.”
Kodachi blinked at the girl’s seemingly nonchalant acceptance of her ears and hair. “I – I would.” Then she even remembered to add “Please.”
The girl gave her a happy grin and laid her box on the bed. “You’re going to look adorable in black, Miss Kuno, especially with such beautifully white hair.” She held up the short black dress, and showed it to her. “Should I make a spot for your tail? I can hide the opening under the bow.”
“Tail?” Kodachi blinked.
The girl took a closer look at her ears and blushed. “Oh, dear. I’m sorry. I thought you were a kitsune like me. My apologies. It’s been a long time since I met an inugami.”
Kodachi blinked several more times. “You’re a kitsune?”
The girl nodded, then sparkled, and her black hair changed to a gorgeous coppery red, and tall ears tipped with black popped up as a bushy foxtail poked out of the back of her skirt. “I’m not supposed to change in front of humans, but we’re both youkai, right?” She smiled. “My names Ryune Minamoto. Nice to meet you.”
Kodachi returned the small bow. “I – I never knew that there were others like me.”
The girl smiled and laughed merrily. “There are lots of youkai and half-youkai in Japan, Miss Kuno. I have family all over Tokyo.” She tilted her head in thought. “Hmmm. Kuno… Kuno… Oh yeah, aren’t you from Nerima? I had heard that the inugami clan there was the Kunos.”
“You- you have heard of us? You know of our family shame?” Kodachi was aghast.
“Shame?” Ryune blinked. “There’s no shame in being youkai.” She looked more closely at Kodachi. “Especially if you’re a full youkai, like you. Why I think there must be at least three dozen different youkai families in Nerima, and I heard the Kuno’s have been Youkai nobility for ages.”
Kodachi sat down. “Full youkai? I’m – I’m only half!”
Ryune shook her head. “Do you have a day a month where you revert to human?”
Kodachi shook her head as well. “I – I have never had a day when I was not as you see me.”
“Then you’re full youkai.” Ryune tapped her nose. “I can smell the difference. You’re only half inugami, but there’s no scent of human about you. I can’t place the other half of your scent though. It’s not one of the animal kindred though. Was your mother an inugami, or your father?”
“My mother married into the Kuno family. She was very unhappy that I was born with ears. She – she called it a curse. She had great plans for my marriage into a family of great power and influence, and she felt my ears would make that impossible. She – she was always very harsh with me about it.”
Ryune frowned. “She had to be the source of the other youkai strain in you, but she sounds like a very evil woman to me.” She shrugged. “My grandmother could probably place your scent. She’s a wily old fox. I’m just average. Shape shifting and a few illusions are about all I can do.” She held up the dress again. “Ready to try this on?”
Kodachi nodded, and stood, dropping her robe negligently as she accepted the dress. The girl helped her into it, and did the buttons up the back as she checked the fit critically.
“Hmmm, not bad. Let me just bring in the waist a touch and tighten up the bust and you’ll look as ravishable as you smell.” Ryune said with a grin as her fox tail wagged.
Kodachi blinked as she realized the girl was flirting, then she laughed, a real, honest laugh that was a far cry from her typical stilted “ohohohoho.” She smiled as she reached out to touch her hand. “Thank you so much, Ryune. Tonight is the first night I have ever gone out without hiding my ears and dyeing my hair. I was terribly nervous.”
The kitsune laughed too. “May I suggest a local teen club? It’s called the Fox’s Den, cuz the owner is a five-tails. It’s the hangout for most of the youkai teens around here. You’ll probably love it, and most everyone will likely have their ears out. Oh, and when you get back to Nerima, what school do you go to?”
“Furinkan.”
“Cool, my cousin Kyoko goes there. That’s where I heard about the Kunos from. She used to chase after this guy named Tatewaki who was a Kuno.”
Kodachi blinked. “He’s my brother. And I remember Kyoko. Is she a Kitsune too?”
Ryune nodded. “Yeah. And she’s way cuter than I am. She even made the cheerleading squad, I heard - at least all she writes about is Ai-sempai this, Ai-sempai that. I’m sure she could introduce you to all the other youkai at Furinkan. I hear at least a third of the school is one youkai clan or another. Like my school, it’s one of the few schools in Tokyo that cater to non-humans, even if it’s a secret. Kyoko even said they had a dragon enrolled there in her last e-mail.”
Kodachi smiled. “That would be Song Zhu Shu.” She laughed at the irony. She had spent so long, and expended so much effort… and now - now that she had failed utterly in every way possible, now that she had accepted her fate, she thought maybe she could look at her future with a little bit of hope after all.
Maybe mother was wrong after all…
* * * * *
Kasumi blinked as Ying-Ying walked into the kitchen straight through the wall.
“Oh, my, is everything okay?” she asked upon seeing the ghost’s distraught face.
“Konatsu’s fainted. Do you have any good teas to restore energy?”
Kasumi nodded. “I’ll bring out a tea set immediately. Should I call Ono-kun?”
“Ono-kun? Oh! you mean Doctor Tofu. Yes, please. She’s used up an enormous amount of magical energy. Lo Shen is tending her, but she’s not a healing specialist, and my abilities are primarily spiritual.”
Kasumi nodded. Ying-Ying left her as she was pulling out her cellphone, and returned to the dojo, where Ami was looking through her visor as she scanned the still unconscious Beruche.
“Kasumi will bring out some tea momentarily, and she’s calling Doctor Tofu too.”
Lo Shen nodded. “Good. From Ke Lun’s reports, he’s an excellent physician.” She looked over at Ami. “Well, Miss Mizuno, what does your computer have to say?”
Ami touched her visor and it shrank in on itself and vanished. “I can’t read any of the negative energy readings on her that I was getting earlier. If anything she seems to read of Silver Millennium energy now. Her spectrum’s almost identical to my own.”
“And Konatsu?”
“She’s reading as normal, just her energy levels are really low. She’s exhausted.” She tapped a few keys on her little computer. “I can’t even separate out her signal from Clove. If I hadn’t seen her, I’d never suspect there are two people in one body.”
Ying-Ying nodded. “Konatsu doesn’t even know, Ami. And until earlier today, I wasn’t positive.” She placed a hand on Konatsu’s forehead. “Clove did something no-one would have ever suspected. Konatsu’s male side is the real Konatsu, but I think her female side is technically Clove. Clove’s body formed the template that Konatsu’s female form copied, and she’s capable of exerting full control if she wants. I started suspecting the other night when I spent the night with Konatsu.” She blushed. “I – I had thought I read the desires of Konatsu for me, but when I got there, and we talked, I felt as Clove consciously decided not to force Konatsu to seduce me, and simply let Konatsu and I sleep. I could feel as she removed the sexual compulsion from Konatsu.”
Lo Shen raised an eyebrow. “Remembering Clove’s predilection to seduce anything cute and feminine, that surprises me.”
“She’s been living in Konatsu’s head, and has seen every thought and memory she’s had. She felt sorry for her, and decided not to interfere in her relationship with me. I could feel that in her mind before she submerged herself behind Konatsu again.” She stroked Konatsu’s hair as she gazed at her lovingly. “Konatsu has had it so much worse in her life that she made Clove feel ashamed of how sorry she was feeling for herself. She made the black dragon in Clove that was crying for revenge and blood retreat.”
Lo Shen chuckled. “What irony. She found the perfect vessel to enable her to carry out her revenge, and it backfired.” She shook her head. “I would never have thought there was any way to tame the black dragon in Clove’s heart, and all it took was an innocent child.”
Ying-Ying shook her head. “Konatsu is not so innocent as you might think, Lo Shen. She has been trying to assassinate her step family for years. She’s just terribly inept at chicanery. Had she ever truly been pushed over the edge into madness, she would likely have become a mass murder. She’s a genius Kunoichi, as lethal and deadly an assassin as there can be. If she had not had such a sweet and gentle nature to begin with, I shudder to think what their combination would have resulted in.”
Lo Shen raised an eyebrow. “I see, so her exceptional gift in chemistry is due to the training she has had in making poisons.”
Ying-Ying nodded.
“That would make her Ye-Ying’s reincarnation then. That relieves me some. I can worry a little less about Zhu Shu knowing she is with Phoenix and Orihime. I had not been absolutely sure which one Ukyo was until now.”
Ami blinked. “Ye-Ying? Orihime? I’m confused.”
Lo Shen nodded. “As you are the reincarnations of the Moon Princess and her Guardians, so too does Zhu Shu have her reincarnated companions. Lady Orihime, the Dragon’s Guardian, who has been reborn as Ukyo Kuonji. Lady Ying-Ying,” she indicated the pink haired ghost, who blushed. “The Imperial Physician, and priestess of the Cult of the Dragon. Lady Ye-Ying,” she pointed to Konatsu. “The Songbird of the Court of the Dragon, and the Royal Assassin. And lastly, your very own companion, Sailor Mars, the Lady Phoenix, as she was known in the Empire of the Dragon, a title bestowed on her by Lin Tzu at their first meeting. These four were Lin Tzu’s principle mates, though she had almost a dozen wives. They were all lost in the fall, giving their lives to secure Lin Tzu’s freedom from the clutches of Xi’an Chi and in the fight against Beryl.”
“What of her other wives?”
Ying-Ying spread her hands. “Just as Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Pluto have yet to be revealed, neither have I been made aware of when our other wives shall be reborn, or even if they already have. Legend only reveals what he is ready for me to know.”
She blinked as a tea cup was placed in her hand, and they all realized Kasumi had quietly come in while they had been talking and made the tea.
Lo Shen stared at her in shock. “Child, how did you manage to enter without my being aware of you? No one has managed that in two hundred years.”
Kasumi shrugged. “I just didn’t want to disturb your conversation.”
“How much did you hear?”
Kasumi smiled. “Do not fear elder. I will keep my mouth shut about our extra visitor. I shall have to speak to Sandal about adding several rooms to the house immediately though. Once Zhu Shu and Nabiki return, we shall be quite crowded.” She looked at the unconscious Beruche. “Is she going to be staying as well?”
Lo Shen shook her head. “I believe I will feel safer if she is kept with me and Ke Lun at the Bunny Hutch. If her companions attempt to rescue her, I would not wish them to attack our Empress’s home. While the wards will shield you from mystical assault, they were not made to repel an army.”
Kasumi nodded, then raised a finger. “That reminds me. Ke Lun called and asked me to tell you when you were not busy that she has, um, acquired a new pet?”
Lo Shen cackled. “Now that I cannot wait to see. Thank you Kasumi. I believe once Tofu has seen to our patients here, I will take this one home and see how Ke Lun’s ‘pet’ is doing. Knowing her plans, it should be quite amusing.”
Ami was looking at her watch. “Oh, I didn’t realize it was this late. If I may be excused, elder? I must get home and sleep before school tomorrow.”
Lo Shen nodded. “Tell the Senshi we will probably have some answers out of our guest tomorrow. And let me know if you would like more education in magic. I think you would make an excellent healing mage, like Ying-Ying here.”
Ami blushed prettily at the compliment and bowed as she left, letting Doctor Tofu enter as she did so.
He examined both patients, and Lo Shen noted happily that while he was certainly overjoyed to be in Kasumi’s presence, he was not displaying the brainlock that had marked him so strongly before. It looked like the empathic bond Kasumi had forged was functioning perfectly.
“They are both simply exhausted, elder. I shall give you a tea to give them when they wake up, but pure simple sleep is the best thing for them right now.”
Lo Shen nodded. “Well I shall take this one home then. If you would be so kind as to help Ying-Ying get Konatsu up to her room? She has a small problem with intangibility…”
* * * * *
Urd entered the Yggdrasil complex with Mara in tow, earning a glare from Peorth but no other reaction from the rival goddess. Urd thumbed her nose at her as she headed to her secondary terminal and started when the privacy screen snapped into place even before she sat down.
“Greetings Goddess Urd, Goddess Mara. I have been emailing you for days.” Phoenixmoon said as she took her seat.
Urd sighed. “I was in the backwaters of China. No TVs and no cell service.”
“I see. You should be made aware then of several developments that have occurred in your absence. Of primary importance is the appearance of Zhu Shu’s fourth love interest, Konatsu Kenzan. It seems now that the ghost Ying-Ying is capable of travelling freely betwixt the mortal realm and the spirit world, the Dragon is taking a bit more of a direct hand in things, and Ying-Ying met the girl and brought her to the Tendo’s. She and Konatsu have been enrolled in Furinkan High, in the same homeroom as Akane, Ranma and Shan Pu.”
Urd raised an eyebrow. “Ying-Ying is LIVING in the mortal realm now?”
“That is correct, Goddess Urd. As she is not technically a ghost in the traditional sense, but has become a guardian spirit, she is fully capable of maintaining her corporeality on the mortal plane in much the same way that the natural spirits and youkai can. She does draw on the life essences radiated by those around her, but her primary energy seems to be coming directly from her bonds to Zhu Shu, Akane, Ukyo, Rei, and Konatsu. As guardian spirits go, she’s in the upper S class, possibly even a U class. If she figures out how, she could manifest physically as easily as any youkai.”
Urd shook her head. “I wonder why Legend didn’t teach her how?”
“I do not know, Goddess Urd.”
“Anything else going on?”
“I have received the results of the investigation of the shockwave which accompanied the wish which Goddess Peorth recently transmitted.”
“And?”
“The shockwave was a result of Zhu Shu, Goddess Urd. She was directly exposed to the wish transmittal beam, and due to her unique connection to the Dragon, she caused a resonance effect of nearly catastrophic proportions. For a few seconds, she merged partially with the Ultimate Force. The resonance most likely has had unpredictable effects on her curse, but Kami-Sama himself interceded in time to prevent her from overloading and dying. She has been sealed and limited.”
Urd blinked. “Sealed! You mean…”
“Yes, Goddess Urd. Zhu Shu has been sealed as a goddess. She had to be. Apparently her power levels following the direct exposure to the Ultimate Force exceeded the capacity of the mortal realm to contain. Without the seals, she would have destroyed the entire island of Japan upon her arrival in the past, and created a shockwave large enough to have driven the Earth out of solar orbit. She has been sealed to prevent her from accidentally accessing her full strength. As Legend’s child, she was not expected to reach her current power levels until she was at least a thousand years more experienced.”
Urd blinked. “A- a thousand years?”
“Zhu Shu is effectively as immortal as you are Goddess Urd. Had not Chaos intervened in the guise of Metallia and Xi’an Chi, and seduced Beryl into instigating the war between Earth and the Moon Kingdom, Lin Tzu could have ruled the Dragon Empire for eternity. Instead, due to wounds she received during the Fall, she died less than six months after the birth of her daughter, at the relatively young age of ninety three. Like Serenity and her Guardians, she can be killed, but will age imperceptibly once she has reached adulthood. Practical immortality was one of the major achievements of the Silver Millennium, if you recall. There is also a better than ninety nine percent likelihood that due to exposure to the energy fields surrounding Zhu Shu and the Senshi, the latent genetic codes for longevity will also be activated within all their close companions.”
“Why have you never told us any of this before?” Mara interjected.
“This report is classified, Goddess Mara. Only you, Urd, Kami-Sama and Legend have been cleared to access it. The report given to Peorth states only that a resonance effect occurred. I was not authorized to give you these details previously. Since Chaos shall soon discover this same information, its possession is no longer a danger to you.”
Urd sighed. “Any other news to report?”
“The Senshi have defeated two attempts by Blackmoon to corrupt locales within Tokyo with negative spiritual vortex’s and have captured the Blackmoon operative called Beruche. Also, Kodachi and Mousse have been making progress since Kodachi’s attempted suicide and Mousse’s rescue of her.”
Urd and Mara both sat up in shock. “Kodachi tried to commit suicide?” Urd yelled at the computer.
“Correct, Goddess Urd. She discovered that Akane was currently a Senshi, and because she is a youkai, and technically could be classed as a youma, she went into a severe depressive episode and had to be rescued by Mousse when she threw herself from Tokyo tower. They are presently dancing at a club called the Fox’s Den, and Kodachi has been introduced to the existence of the general youkai population. It seems to have been extremely therapeutic for her.”
Urd nodded. “Good. That damned succubus who was her mother traumatized her enough. It’s about time she started to heal. As bad as that could have gone, it’s good to know something positive came of it. And I notice you’re calling him Mousse now.”
“Mousse is calling himself Mousse now. It seems his rescue of Kodachi also started the healing process in him as well. He has set aside his identity as Mu Si, who had vowed to never love anyone but Shan Pu, and has decided to try being Mousse, servant and friend of Kodachi Kuno. There are certain to be rough patches, but they have made an excellent start to recovery.”
Urd nodded. “That’s one more down. Alright, call up the lists and let’s see who else we’ve still got to work on while we’re waiting for our temporal delinquents.”
“Very well, Goddess Urd. The best possibility for your next match is coming on screen now.”
Urd and Mara both blinked as the monitor suddenly began displaying a picture of Ai Konjou…
* * * * *
Zhu Shu lay in the middle of the castle courtyard surrounded by the pulverized fragments of death and decay and cried. She’d smashed the scattered remains of the ancient battle in rage after her attempt to commit suicide had met with failure. She had allowed herself to plummet from nearly two miles overhead and all she’d done was leave an impact crater in the ground where she’d collided head first. Slashing her wrists had also been in vain, the cuts sealing almost as soon as they were made, and she’d drawn the sword out of her chest after twenty minutes of agony.
She was a monster, a demon. She deserved to die, and she was tormented by her inability to do so.
She was contemplating seeing if the giant sword in the throne room could succeed where her own had failed when she heard Naraku’s chuckle. In rage she hurled herself at him, only to find her body collapsing before she had moved ten feet.
“So my pet, it seems something has finally awakened you. That will make you far more useful than the animal you were.” Naraku said in fluent Mandarin
“Kill me, you bastard!”
“Why? When you are so much more entertaining alive?” He lifted his hand and a darkly shimmering sphere floated around him and deposited a naked young girl in front of Zhu Shu. “I have even brought you your favorite repast, my darling Little Mouse.”
Zhu Shu shuddered as she looked over the terrified girl. “Let her go. You have no use for her, and she has done nothing to deserve death.”
“You do not wish to taste the pleasures of her body? You seemed so eager for those of the girl, Ukyo.” Naraku mocked. “But, if you do not wish her…”
Zhu Shu screamed in horror as Naraku’s tentacles shot out and the girl perished in a spray of blood that drenched her. She glared at him through the blood dripping down her face as she tried to rise up from her hands and knees, but her body wouldn’t respond. “I am going to kill you, you bastard.” she swore through clenched teeth.
Naraku chuckled. “Your venom is wasted on me, my pet. You are as much a monster as I. Your poor Ukyo was crying her eyes out as you left her. I would not doubt but that she will come for you now, not in love, but to cut out your heart.”
Zhu Shu hung her head. “It is all I deserve.”
“Yes. I watched your pitiful attempts to end your life.” He floated nearer and knelt, reaching out to cup her face. “Do you truly seek death?”
She spat.
“Serve me, fulfill a few simple requests, and I will have exhausted my need of you. If death is what you seek, it shall be your reward.”
“What do you want? You have already forced me to slay those whose corpses rot across the valley. How much more death must you force me to cause.”
“Bring me the Shikon shards born by Kouga of the okami, and that born by Kohaku the traitor, and there will be but one final task I will ask of you before I grant you your final desire.”
“Must I kill them to do so?”
“Without their shards, they will be no threat. I care not how you accomplish your task, but they will probably fight to the death to keep their fragments. I shall even be magnanimous. Once you have them, keep their shards for yourself, for now. I will retrieve them from your corpse when you have finished your tasks.”
“And the final task?”
“Mouryoumaru. But hurry, my pet. Your Ukyo knows where you are, and it will take but a week for her to come for your heart. You are still charged to prevent anyone from entering this castle. The shard you bear will ensure your obedience with that duty. It would be a shame if you were forced to slay your love as well as rape her.”
“Why should I not just fly to her and let her kill me as I deserve?”
“Because, my pet, you cannot die so long as I hold your heart in my hand.” He smiled evilly as he held up the pumping organ, and she felt the tremor in her chest as he squeezed it. “Indeed, if you return to her at all, I will kill her. Even as we speak, my agent stands but a heart’s beat away from her, and a single word will result in your Ukyo’s death.” The heart sank into his hand as he replaced it with a globe showing Kagura watching as Rei led a still sobbing Ukyo into a hut. “Her life depends on your obedience, Zhu Shu.”
Chills ran down her spine as she thought of Ukyo dying at the mad youkai’s whim. Even if she did obey him, she had no guarantee he would keep any of his promises. But for now, she had no choice. She would serve him.
But when the time came for her death, she promised herself she would drag him screaming into the abyss with her.
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