Ying-Ying was awake when Konatsu’s eyes opened at first light, and she watched as the sun played within their green depths. The other girl noted the small look of disappointment and sighed.
“Konatsu’s fine, Ying-Ying. She’s still dreaming.” Clove said quietly. “I think she’s enjoying having a soft bed too much to want to leave it.”
The pink haired ghost smiled. “Is she having sweet dreams?”
Clove sighed again. “Of you and Zhu Shu and Ukyo and someone she sees as an angel of fire.”
Ying-Ying’s eyes widened. “She’s dreaming of Rei too? That’s unexpected.”
Clove shrugged, then sat up. “How’s that girl?”
“Lo Shen took her to the Bunny Hutch last night after you fainted.” Ying-Ying answered. “And we had Doctor Tofu and Sailor Mercury check her out. She was exhausted after whatever it was you did, but she seems fine.”
“I see. That’s good then. That means I got all of it.”
“What was that thing?”
“A little toy of Xi’an Chi’s. A Chaos Crystal. At least that is what he called it when he stuck one in me right before killing me.” Clove’s head hung down, throwing her eyes into shadow. “It gave him complete control of over me. I couldn’t even think for myself fully. I knew he was controlling me, but it seemed like I was doing things by my own choice. He made me torture myself as much as he did before he drowned me.”
Ying-Ying’s voice was full of sympathy. “I’m sorry you suffered so much, Clove.”
Clove sighed. “I still have trouble understanding how you can even find yourself not hating me. I’m sitting here, possessing your soulmate, and you’ve just accepted it. How can you feel sorry for me?”
Ying-Ying put a hand on Clove’s. “You may be inside Konatsu, Clove, but you haven’t hurt her, and you brought her to us much sooner than she would have come otherwise. I was not expecting her to find us until after Zhu Shu and Ukyo had returned. And while you may have done so for misguided reasons, I cannot but find happiness in the fact that you have not only given my love a great gift, but brought her great joy as well by giving her that gift.”
“I used my own blood mixed with the water from the Nannichuan to make her body a match for my own, and create enough similarity between us to enable me to merge with her! How is that a ‘gift’, Ying-Ying? I had planned to use her to not only make Zhu Shu love me, but had planned to enamor Zhu Shu so completely that she would have betrayed her other soulmates just to be with me! All so I could hurt her as badly as I was hurt before I killed her in revenge!” Clove shook as tears ran down from her eyes. “I’m a monster every bit as horrible as Xi’an Chi!”
“Did you actually do any of those terrible things, Clove?”
“I would have if Konatsu’s soul hadn’t been so terribly, desperately in need of love!” Clove sobbed. “Don’t you understand? I’ve killed people, used them, tossed them aside when I was done with them. I’ve hurt too many people, Ying-Ying. I never cared if the girl I wanted was in love with someone else, I just charmed them into loving me, into betraying the people they loved, all so I could pretend to feel like they loved me. And it was all so hollow! I’ve done such terrible things for love and I never even understood what it really was!” She curled up into a ball as she hugged her knees. “Not until Konatsu’s soul-link with you showed me.”
“Then I am happy my beloved could give to you something in return for your gift to her. And you have done none of those things in this life, Clove.”
“I don’t deserve your forgiveness, Ying-Ying.”
“But you have it anyway. I am a spirit healer, Clove. I want to help you as much as I can. I want to help you find your path to happiness, and to keep you safe until you can find it.”
“Even though I have taken over your lover’s body?”
“But you haven’t Clove. You may share it, but you’ve done nothing to harm her in any way. I felt you release her the other night. You made the choice not to hurt her when I wouldn’t have even known it would have been a trauma for her. You kept me from hurting her by doing it.”
“I - I don’t know if I would be able to do so again, Ying-Ying. I am too used to acting out of fury and selfishness. Even now, in despair and self hatred over what I done and how much of a fool I have been, my impulse is to lash out and destroy. Were I not so afraid of hurting you and Konatsu, I might have demolished this house. I have done so to my quarters in my old castle often enough.” She sighed heavily. “I have even carelessly killed my maids many times in my rage.”
“Yet you regret this, and you would not do so again, correct?”
Clove trembled. “That’s just it, Ying-Ying. No matter how much I may regret it now, what might I do when the rage comes again? What might I do when the dragon within me roars?” She waved vaguely overhead. “I have already destroyed this room once.”
“I cannot tell you, Clove. I do not know. Yet I will do my best to help you if and when you lose yourself within the black dragon’s rage.” Ying-Ying reached out to stroke Clove’s hair. “On this you have my sacred vow. I will do all within my power to help you learn how to control the animal rage.”
Clove chuckled ruefully. “Provided I don’t eat you, of course.” She sighed. “I wish my father had made a better choice of a wife. Why couldn’t he have defeated a gold, or even a red? Why did he have to curse me to be a black dragon?”
“I have no idea.”
“Well, Konatsu feels like she might be waking soon.” Clove sighed. “I should go for now.”
Ying-Ying nodded. “I am here whenever you want to talk, Clove.”
Clove smiled sadly as she looked down. “I wish it were more than just talk, Ying-Ying.”
The ghost nodded. “I understand that as well, Clove. Konatsu is not ready for that yet, though. Once she is, we shall see. That is all I can promise.”
“Don’t make me a promise that might hurt your soulmates, Ying-Ying.”
“I won’t, Clove. But once Konatsu has made her choices and come to us openly, who knows? We have never been an exclusive group. Had Zhu Shu’s fears of making Ranma hate her not so overwhelmed her and caused her to distance herself from him and Akane and Shan Pu, I would be sharing their bed already. You may yet have me as a lover, but only time will tell. Already, if your account of her dreams is true, something unexpected is occurring. While Rei has been our lover in the past, it was not anticipated that she would remain so in this lifetime. That Konatsu is dreaming of her can only mean that at some level, she is responding to the inactive soulbond with Rei. That should not be possible. Things are happening that were not foreseen, and events have not occurred as they were supposed to. The future is growing ever more cloudy and uncertain, and yet at the same time, there is greater and greater hope for tomorrow. You have created ripples on top of ripples just by your returning to the stage, and I for one am not sorry that you are here. Were it not so needful to keep you hidden from Hild, I would be very happy for you to stay with us in your own body, nor would I object to your advances, were I not wishing to be certain I will not cause my loved ones pain.”
Clove looked at her, a sad smile on her face. “Almost, you make me hope.” She chuckled ruefully. “I have seduced girls without count, Ying-Ying, had hundreds of lovers… and never has so little promised made my stomach flutter so much.”
Ying-Ying smiled. “I know you wish for my heart as well as my body, Clove. I know the longing you have to be loved, and how much the experience of sharing Konatsu’s soulbond with me has made you desire me. All I can say is that I do not know. I know you are loved, more than you know, by the Dragon, and that I am willing to give to you whatever I can that will not bring pain to my soulmates. Only time will tell us both if that will be more than friendship and a willing ear.”
Clove chuckled. “It would be so easy to charm you, Ying-Ying, even though you are a ghost, yet for possibly the first time in my life I find myself utterly unwilling to do so, and I cannot tell you why. I want to possess you more than any woman I have ever met, and yet, if you do not come to me of your own free will, I don’t think I could stand to live with myself. It is a feeling I have never felt before, and I cannot merely accept that it is an effect of sharing Konatsu’s soulbond. Yes, perhaps that is part of why you are so desirable, and why it has developed so quickly, but it does not explain how I feel about you. I would rather worship you from afar and never know the touch of your hand than to try and cage you and make you only mine.”
“Then perhaps you have learned the first and most important thing about love, Clove. It is a gift that can only be given from a heart free to choose.”
Clove nodded as she lay back down. “I think that was the mistake I made most often in my past life. I will try to not make that mistake again, my lovely flower.”
She lay there quietly as Ying-Ying stroked her hair, and her eyes slowly closed.
When they fluttered open again a few minutes later, Ying-Ying smiled at the joy she saw in Konatsu’s large brown eyes.
“Ohayo, Ying-chan! I was having the most wonderful dreams.”
“So was I, Ko-chan. So was I…”
* * * * *
Dawn found Ukyo returned to the cliff, her guan dao a blur as she went through form after form. Rei had held her as she had cried herself out, but had fallen asleep long before Ukyo’s brain had passed into exhausted slumber. She had been unable to stop thinking, about her life, herself, and everything. Even her dreams had been a chaotic mélange of images from her past life and her present, but they had helped her sort out what she had needed. It was like some barrier had shattered and crumbled away, leaving her no further defenses against what her heart already knew. She had woken in the miko’s arms just before sunrise with a clear head, and a burning need to redeem herself of the cowardice she had shown in the night. She had come to the cliff to focus herself, using the physical exercise as means to release the tensions in her body that the night had left in her while she reviewed the calmness inside herself that she had woken up with.
And she was calm. Oh, she was still angry with herself for what had happened, she couldn’t deny that. Zhu Shu had only wanted her love. If she had simply responded equally, had not been afraid of what she herself had invited… She had kissed Zhu Shu knowing what her fiancée desired, and how desperately. She had only herself to blame for the fear she shown. The dark shadows of the night had been remorseless in showing her the truth about so many things, and no matter how ashamed she was at herself, and how painful those realizations had been, she was at peace with what she had decided to do. The massive outpouring of energy she was throwing into her kata was like the lancing of a boil, the cleansing away of an infection of her soul.
When the cliff face under her finally shattered and collapsed from the ki she was pouring into her strikes, she realized that she was no longer alone.
“You decide to imitate her and do your kata nude?” Rei asked as Ukyo landed on the new cliff’s edge near her.
Ukyo looked down, realizing that she really had forgotten to look for a new outfit in her driving need to meditate.
“Not really. I just wasn’t thinking. I needed to work off the pent up energy from being so angry with myself.
“You can’t blame yourself, Uc-chan.”
“Then who can I blame?” Ukyo asked mildly. “Certainly not her. All she wanted was the touch of the one she loved so much that even in her state she was drawn to me. She loves me so much that even losing her mind couldn’t make her forget! And what did I do! I was so scared of the strength of her love that I turned what should have been her salvation into her damnation instead! I can still feel how she felt, Rei! She was going to kill herself! I know she hasn’t, because I can still feel that she’s there, but she won’t respond to anything I try to send to her. She’s cut herself off from our connection because she feels so ashamed! AND IT’S ALL! MY! FAULT!!!”
Rei winced as Ukyo’s voice had risen from quiet sadness to an angry shout. “I might have been scared too, Ukyo. From what you said, she was being pretty scary. She’s never overwhelmed me like that. I always had to make the first move.”
“She couldn’t help herself, Rei. She wasn’t in real control of her own mind. It’s like she was an animal, like her consciousness was asleep inside her, and I woke her up. I woke her up and instead of love, she found nothing but fear.”
“Uc-chan… Zhu Shu is a very wise person. I’m certain that once she has had a chance to think it through rationally, once she realizes what happened, she’ll understand. You haven’t-
“You’re wrong, Rei. I saw what was in her mind. She woke to find me helpless and frightened under her while she was in the middle of a sexual frenzy. She never gave me a chance to explain, and she won’t let me in now. But I saw everything, Rei. Everything.” She threw the Wrathseeker at a nearby tree, the blade piercing completely through the trunk. “I don’t know what happened to make her like this, but she’s hurting, Rei. She’s hurting and I could have saved her if I hadn’t let my fears overcome me. I knew that kissing her was probably going to lead to sex. I thought I was prepared to give myself to her.” Ukyo finished, the anger finally gone from her voice, replaced by sadness as she hugged herself and shivered.
“Ukyo, you’re upset and not thinking clearly.”
Ukyo shook her head. “I am thinking more clearly right now than I think I ever have before, Rei. Like I said, I saw everything. I saw exactly what Zhu Shu sees in me, why she loves me, why she came to me. And I saw how much of an utter fool I’ve been.”
“Uc-chan…”
Ukyo turned and placed her hand on the slender girl’s shoulder. “I love her, Rei. I’ve loved her since we first met. I knew even then that I was going to be with her forever, because I have loved her for a thousand years, across several reincarnations. My soul knew her, even if my mind refused to let me believe. I bonded with her in the very second I looked into her eyes that first day, tied myself to her so closely that we can even hear each others thoughts. I love her, and I am going to save her. I am going to save her, and marry her, and devote the rest of my life to her, because that is who I am, my beloved Lady Phoenix. It’s who I’ve always been. I AM the Guardian of the Dragon, the warrior forged by the heat of the Dragon’s flame to defend her heart. But I let my obsession with Ranma, and my rebellion against my dad’s wishes obscure what I knew in my soul, to blind me to what Orihime has been trying to tell me. Until last night, I still hoped I’d find some way to marry Ranma. Still hoped for the impossible when so much more was right there in front of me.”
“Uc-chan… are… are you really sure, or are you just upset still?”
Ukyo sighed. “I can’t deny that I am still upset, Rei. But I think this is how I really feel. I think this is how I will feel from now on. It’s because I feel this way that I am so upset. The confusion is gone. It was already fading, but last night just made it perfectly clear. As I lay there in your arms while you held me through the night, I realized how much of a fool I was to still hope I could have Ranma. I can see the happiness he has in Shan Pu and Akane, and I wanted that same happiness. And that’s when I realized that I already had it, if I had just been willing to open my eyes and see reality instead of clinging to a six-year-old’s childish dream. I’ve made my peace with Orihime, accepted fully who I am. I don’t doubt anymore, Rei. Male, female, animal, I don’t care what she is. I love her, and nothing is going to stand in the way of my saving her from Naraku and telling her that. Nothing.”
Rei smiled sadly. “I’m glad you’re not confused anymore, Uc-chan,” she said wistfully, thinking about her plans to continue wooing the chef. Ukyo probably wouldn’t want to experiment any more now that she thought she was sure of her feelings, and Rei had wanted more than anything to have been able to share herself with this girl whose soul was so akin to her own, to have given herself as completely to the flames which burned within them both. Usagi would forever have her loyalty, friendship, and devotion as a Warrior of the Moon Kingdom, but as she felt her eyes start to fill with tears, she realized her heart had always belonged to the Dragon. She thought again about the Phoenix on Ukyo’s back, the Dragon’s hand reaching, but not touching. So close, yet forever apart…
Then she found her chin gripped by Ukyo’s hand and lifted to where she had to meet the other girl’s eyes. Ukyo’s lips met hers and she found herself embraced tightly as Ukyo’s ki poured into her and filled her with its shining azure light. She melted into the chef’s arms as she felt her own energies surging in response to Ukyo’s, and she surrendered to the flames that suddenly flared within her with supernova heat. Their combined ki shimmered around them both in a whirlwind of blue and violet merging into lavender, spiraling faster and faster until her henshin began involuntarily as she felt her body shudder in orgasm.
And as the mystical energies of her transformation fed into the vortex of power that surrounded them and burned away her tears, in the back of her mind a little butterfly spread its wings, and whispered <<I love you too, my glorious Soul of Fire.>>
As the vertigo faded and she could think again, she looked into Ukyo’s lovely hazel eyes and blinked in absolute amazement.
“I may be marrying Zhu Shu, Rei,” Ukyo said as Rei felt a gentle mental caress through the link. “But you’re coming on the honeymoon too. You see, that was the other thing I realized as I lay there last night. I don’t care what destiny might have planned; Fate can go to hell. I need you, my lovely Phoenix. I need you every bit as much as I need Zhu Shu. I had you once, oh so long ago, and now that I have you again, I’m never going to let you go.”
Ukyo turned and wrenched the Wrathseeker out of the tree, then smiled at the stunned priestess over her shoulder. “Now, it’s time to find some clothes and make some tracks towards the Hasai domain. Our beloved dragoness needs rescuing,” she said as she turned towards the village and walked under the trees with a provocative hip sway.
Yet it wasn’t Ukyo’s hips Rei was staring at, but the tattoo, where the Phoenix had landed on the palm of the Dragon’s outstretched hand, the crimson ribbon trailing from the Dragon’s Wrath gripped in its beak and looped into the shape of two hearts intertwined…
And she could swear the Dragon was smiling.
* * * * *
Ukyo wasn’t the only one that dawn had found awake. Kuno had seen the chef leaving the village as he had entered the central square, and despite his surprise at her unclothed state, he had managed to put the sight out of his mind as he had assumed a stance and began slowly to work through his forms. It had been difficult, and the vision of her naked body had intruded multiple times, but he did his best to overcome his animal lusts and focus on the purity of the warrior’s art.
As Ukyo’s naked figure swam before his imagination again, he forced himself to remember.
The shadow’s eyes glowed as he resumed a stance. “Then kill me if you can, mortal. I have slain far greater devil hunters than you.”
“You shall kill no more. I will defend my goddess to my last breath.” he said quietly.
The blade pulsed again, almost shaking the walls with its noiseless throb.
The room darkened once more as the Shadow seemed to suck in all the light, his sword growing even darker as blood red runes began to glow with a dusky light.
“Then come, Devil Hunter. My sword will enjoy the taste of your soul!”
The shadow lunged, the last vestiges of light vanishing as the room plunged into darkness…
And Kuno found himself standing before a vision of light. She was glorious, radiant, a true goddess. Time vanished as he found his breath taken away by her loveliness, and all thought fled before his desire…
“I – I would-
“Date with me, Tatewaki? Would you force yourself upon me as you have hounded so many others? Would you let the animal side of your heritage control you as you have for so long? Is this all that you are?”
He was dumbstruck, his hands going numb as his knees gave way. Through his mind ran memories upon memories of all the girls he had loved, of Akane, Kyoko, Zhu Shu, the kettle girl. And he felt again and again the blows they had rained on him, the scorn, the anger. And he knew that the figure before him could see it all.
“Is this all that you are, Tatewaki?”
Shame ripped through him. “I – I am Tatewaki Kuno… the… the Blue Thunder of…”
“I know what you wish to be Tatewaki. I know the despair which has driven you, the desire. I can help you become the noble samurai you long to be, Tatewaki. I can make you in truth a Devil Hunter. Like I have done for your ancestors, I can give you the strength to defeat this shadow… but why should I, Tatewaki? How have you earned that strength?
Kuno’s head bowed as he cried. “I – I cannot say, my goddess.”
The glowing figure laughed like crystal chimes. “I am no goddess, Tatewaki. I am simply a servant of the Light. You stand now at a crossroad of your life, Tatewaki. You have chosen to defend the Avatar of the Dragon, the girl Song Zhu Shu. Your reasons are self centered, and in part delusion, yet you have shown the bravery which you hide so well behind the mask of a fool. You have shown your courage in the face of certain death, but alone you cannot overcome this foe. Together we can defeat this demon of darkness, but there is a choice you must make.”
“Please, tell me!”
“Who do you want to be Tatewaki? Who do you chose to be? Will you remain what you are, or will you seek to become what you have dreamed? I have awakened to slay this enemy, and once he is vanquished, my task is done. I can return to my long sleep, take from you this memory of our meeting, and leave you as you have always been.”
“Or I can give you the strength to destroy him yourself, and you can be what the Kuno line was founded to be: a bastion against the darkness which threatens mankind, a Devil Hunter. Like my beloved Inuyasha, you can overcome your animal nature, use the youkai blood you bear to be a servant of the light, and be the noble warrior you have always dreamed of being.”
“But remember always, Tatewaki, as you are, you will live a long life, and exist in perfect safety. But should you choose to be what you dream, you will never know which day will be your last, for no Devil Hunter ever dies in peace. You will trade the surety of life for the certainty of death.”
Somewhere, he found the strength to stand. He pushed himself erect and lifted his head to stare directly at the blinding figure before him.
“I wish to serve the Light.”
The figure nodded and stepped forward, the light fading to reveal a beautiful raven haired woman in miko robes. She placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a soft smile.
“It will not be easy, Tatewaki. You bear within you not only the animal nature of your inugami ancestry, but the demonic lusts of your succubus mother. Your strength comes from this, but it is also your greatest weakness. You are controlled by lust, and oblivious to how it has overridden your life. It has made of you a fool, like another I knew so long along. A truly noble warrior respects a woman, because she represents everything he is fighting to protect - Hearth and Home and Life itself. You have chosen to defend Zhu Shu. Will you defend her only to defile her? Would you take what you have not been freely given?”
He hung his head in shame. “I would not.”
“It is no different for any woman, Tatewaki. You will find love, but you must be worthy of her. You must be someone she can trust, or you will forever walk alone.”
“I would be worthy.”
“Then show me your warriors heart, Tatewaki. Take my power, and show me your strength!”
And he had found himself able to see the shadow even in the darkness that suddenly replaced the light, his sword grown giant in his hand as the demon’s blade shattered against it…
Then he had failed immediately in his fight against himself, and Akane and Shan Pu had reminded him quickly why he must fight to control the demon within… just as his sword had stayed silent these many days, until she had relented and answered his plea the other day.
Because to be a Devil Hunter, to be worthy of being a defender against the demons of the dark, he would have to defend against the demon within himself first, last, and always.
To be worthy…
“I must be worthy!” he growled as he banished the thoughts of Ukyo’s nakedness from his mind again.
“Worthy of what, Master swordsman?” Kagura’s voice asked from the door of a nearby hut. “I have watched you at this practice for days, and always you seem to fight against some demon only you can see.”
Tatewaki finished his form and slowly stood, returning his sword to its sheath before he turned and bowed. “I doth fight against myself, Lady Kagura. I must forever war against the demon within mine own soul.”
“Indeed. What sort of demons drive you, Sir Kuno? I can sense the almost pure youkai blood within you. You are more than just a hanyo, though nowhere near the strength of a dai-youkai such as Sesshomaru. You share the blood of another strain I am unfamiliar with.
Kuno sighed. “T’is that nature within me against which I strive, Lady Kagura. I was unaware of it during her life, but it has been revealed to me that my mother was a pure blood youkai, a succubus, one of the night predators of humanity. T’is against the unnatural lusts with which her heritage has afflicted me that I fight.”
Kagura tilted her head. “I know little of such matters, Sir Kuno. I have had no experience with the things that men and women do in my short life. Naraku has little care for such matters, despite the desires his heart has for the priestess Kikyou.”
“Thou knowest nothing of the affairs of men with women? Gladly would I - ” Kuno stopped. “Nay, there I start once more to play the fool. Just because I find thee comely is insufficient reason to suppose thou wouldst feel as I. My apologies, My Lady.”
Kagura blinked. “You – you find me comely?”
Tatewaki bowed. “Indeed I doth, Lady Kagura. Thee move with the very grace of the wind, and thine eyes are like the embers of a setting sun, full of warmth and beauty.”
Kagura laughed, her fan coming up to cover her face as she blushed. “No – no one has ever called my eyes beautiful, Sir Kuno.”
“I am truly shamed for my gender then, my Lady. I must apologize on behalf of the entirety of mankind for such a grievous oversight.”
Kagura smiled at him. “I suppose what you are doing is attempting to ‘charm’ me?”
Kuno smiled ruefully. “Ah, indeed I am. Once again I play the fool.”
Kagura shook her head. “I think it’s quite fascinating. Do human women actually respond to such flowery speeches?”
“Occasionally.”
“Humm.” She placed her hands on her obi. “Well, since you like my eyes so much, would you answer another question for me, Sir Kuno?”
“Anything, my Lady.”
The obi and yakuta dropped to the doorstep as she stood before him naked. “Do you find my body appealing too?”
Kuno blinked… then blinked again, then nodded right before his eyes rolled up in his head and he passed out.
Kagura pouted. “Damn it! How am I supposed to have him engage in sex if he passes out from seeing me naked?”
Merry laughter came from the door to the next hut, where Nabiki and Tao-Ching had been staying, and she turned to see the bunnygirl giving her a huge grin. “Way to go Kagura baby! I don’t think anyone’s ever volunteered to show him their body before. Don’t worry. He recovers quickly.”
“But will he do this every time? How am I supposed to learn about human love if he passes out on me?”
Nabiki gave her a lascivious eye. “Like I said, if you just want to learn about sex, Kagura, Tao-Ching and I would be more than happy to teach you.”
“You are partnered. And noisy. However, our conversations did get me curious. This one has no other partner and I need not worry that his simple mind would seek to deceive me, nor do I need fear the jealousy of anyone as he is unwanted. And… and there is something about him.”
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. “About Kuno?”
Kagura nodded as she dusted off her yakuta and put it back on. “I cannot explain it. He is like a stray puppy.”
Nabiki shrugged. “Yeah, I’ll give you that. Kuno has been the king of puppy love since I’ve known him. Well, to each their own and all that. Just remember, the offer’s open, and try not to let dog boy there break your heart.”
Kagura tightened her obi. “I do not even know if I have a heart to break in such a manner, Nabiki. It has only been days since I have had a heart at all.”
“Well, feel free to ask for advice if you want it.”
“There is one thing I would ask. Would you by any chance have an idea what a ‘succubus’ is?”
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. “Um… they’re a western youkai. A spirit of sexual lust and depravity that preys on men. Basically a spirit that feeds on desire and sex.”
Kagura’s eyes widened. “Interesting youkai.” She contemplated the unconscious form of Kuno.
“Better wait till tonight, Kagura-chan. Don’t think we have time right now.” Nabiki laughed.
Kagura pouted again.
* * * * *
Nabiki and Tao-Ching both blinked when Ukyo came out of her hut just prior to their departure. The chef had abandoned her typical tomboy look entirely to dress in something that left no doubt that she was a female.
It was a simple outfit, but striking. The actual shirt was a heavy leather halter, the shaped leather cupping her substantial breasts from the side but leaving her cleavage fully exposed. The cups were cut and embossed in an ornamental flower pattern, the outlines of the petals dyed a rich red, and they attached to a heavy leather belt that covered her stomach like a corset, leaving her shoulders completely bare. The belt covered her midriff, the matching floral patterned, roughly oval buckle on the front molding itself to her flat stomach, but it was cut high around the hips, the rear flaring out into a small skirt and it was laced up the center under the buckle with a scarlet cord that was tied into a small bow at the bottom of the belt, the long ends that dropped down to her knees doing nothing to conceal the narrow black thong that was all Ukyo was concealing her pubic region with. Her separated sleeves - identical to the ones on Rei’s miko robes but dyed black - tied at the top around her upper arm with red ribbons and were very wide at the cuff, where a second red ribbon threaded through the edge to allow the sleeve to be tied shut. They almost concealed the sturdy bracers she wore, the black leather decorated in the same ornamental flower patterns as the shaped leather top, and equipped with hinged plates that guarded the back of her hands. Her legs were covered in thigh high black silk stockings with wide slits in the sides that were tied at the top in the same red cord as her belt, over which there were shin guards matching the bracers. The stockings had no bottoms, the black silk coming to a point between her toes where a strap went between her toes and then split to tie in a small bow behind her ankle. She had also found a set of geta that were simple solid platforms about three inches thick carved from a heavy dark colored wood. She saw the look Nabiki was giving her and turned to let the bunnygirl see that her thong was string backed, and that the small leather ‘skirt’ attached to the back of the belt only came about halfway down her shapely derrière. Nabiki had to lick her lips.
“Nice outfit there Ukyo. Semi-traditional, yet oh so sexy.”
Ukyo looked down and shrugged. “It’s about as close as I could find to Orihime’s usual clothes, except I couldn’t find a loincloth I liked, so I said fuck it and just stuck with the thong. One half of me feels completely natural, and the other half thinks I look like an ecchi pinup.” She stretched and adjusted herself in the top as she slung her bandolier and Wrathseeker on her shoulder. “The biggest annoyance is that I don’t normally wear bras, and I’ve spent so many years keeping my breasts bound that it feels weird to have them loose. I’d never really thought before about how big they are. Fortunately the cups are just a little tight, so I don’t have to worry about falling out of them unless I hang upside down and give them a good jolt, but my tits feel like they’re on a platter.”
Rei had come out of the hut behind her in time to hear the last comment. “I think you look quite nice when you don’t have them all wrapped up in those bandages,” she said as she pulled up her glove. She had managed to find a very form fitting short and sleeveless red cheongsam with gold trim, and matching stockings and gloves with a thinner set of sandals. The slits on the sides of the skirt came up to her waist, and showed the ties on the sides of her matching red panties.
Ukyo smiled as she admired Rei’s slender figure in the just barely long enough dress, then stepped up to the priestess, pressing her breasts against her as she wrapped her arms around the taller girl. “Do they feel as nice as they look?”
Rei blushed furiously. “Uc-chan! Don’t tease me.”
“Who’s teasing? I decided to wear this in hopes you’d enjoy looking at me in it. I certainly did not put myself on display just so those two could enjoy the view.” She jerked her head at Nabiki and Tao-Ching.
Nabiki giggled. “Humm. Looks like the pursuer has become the pursued.”
Ukyo shrugged, then leaned forward to kiss Rei passionately. When she finally came back up for air she gave Nabiki a grin. “If she hadn’t been there for me last night, Nabiki, I might have done something really dumb. I needed her love then, and I need it now. I’ve finally realized I love Zhu Shu, and you and I both know she loves Rei too. I wouldn’t make Zhu Shu choose, and I don’t want to. So I took a cue from Ranma and decided to start my own little harem.”
“If you can’t fight it, might as well enjoy it, humm?”
“Absolutely, sugar.” She looked at Rei again. “I needed my little firebird to light the way, but now that she has, I am finally contented. I made a horrible mistake last night because I was afraid of what I didn’t want to be true. Now that I have accepted the truth, I’m not afraid anymore. I just wish I had overcome my fear without having hurt Zhu Shu so badly.”
“Going to become a happy lesbian?”
Ukyo stuck her tongue out. “Hell no. I like guys, thank you very much! I just happen to be in love with a couple of girls too. I’m sure eventually I’ll find some stud muffin or six to keep as playtoys.”
Tao-Ching raised a paw. Nabiki doubled over giggling. “The big lug is volunteering,” she said affectionately.
Ukyo grinned. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She turned to look to where Rei’s hand had firmly cupped itself to her behind. “However, I think we had better get moving or I might not be able to keep these clothes on for long.”
Rei blushed and started to take her hand away only to have it clamped by Ukyo’s as the chef put her other arm around the miko.
Nabiki shook her head and laughed. “You can’t blame her, Ukyo. That outfit makes me want to get you out of it too. Hers isn’t too hard on the eyes either. You better both keep an eye out for Miroku’s roaming hands,” she said as she turned Tao-Ching around and started sauntering towards the front gate.
They turned to follow the big cat and the bunnygirl, and Ukyo smiled as Rei’s hand just casually found its way under the string back and wandered lower, all while Rei was doing her best to look absolutely innocent…
* * * * *
The Blackmoon didn’t seem to waste much time mourning the loss of the Phantom sister they had captured, at least that was Akane’s impression when she got the call on her watch just as lunch was starting. Luna was certain something was going on at Hikawa shrine, even if she couldn’t put a paw on it exactly. It seemed Rei’s grandfather had gotten some wild idea about starting a self defense aerobics class, and some strange things were occurring ever since this large woman had started fighting everyone.
“Take Shan Pu and go,” Ranma said as she had closed the watch. “She’s been pouting since last night. I’ll cover for you in class if you’re not back by the end of lunch.”
Akane nodded. “Okay. I did promise her she could fight the next youma. We better hurry though.”
“Give Shan Pu second to change, myah!” the Chinese girl said as she pulled out a small bundle from behind her back, and started stripping, her tail lashing in excitement.
Ranma looked around the deserted section of the school yard, hidden away from the athletics field by a wing of the school on one side, and the administrative extension on the other. “You really should be careful when you start getting undressed, Shan-chan.”
She handed him her cheongsam and shoes. “Shan Pu look, nyah. No-one here see.” She pulled up a black silk stocking wrapped by a gold tiger quickly, and Ranma admired the shapely curves of her legs. Then Shan Pu had the other one on and was pulling on a tight black top that looked rather familiar.
“Hey, that looks like - ”
“Akane outfit dyed black, yes nyah?” Shan Pu giggled as she straightened her gold trimmed fuku and fluffed her bow around her tail. “Shan Pu make one in black for Shan Pu, and one in red for Ran-myah.”
Akane smiled as she was finishing her henshin. “Cute. So you can match my sailor form and maybe not be so recognizable?”
Shan Pu tugged on her second glove and nodded. She reached up and quickly undid her odango, shaking out her hair and then donning a large pair of wrap around sunglasses. “Now no-one recognize!” she said with a happy mew.
Ranma almost doubled over laughing. “Except for the cat tail and ears, Shan-kitty.”
Shan Pu tapped her fingers on her arm as she gave the red-head a cool look. “It work Senshi, it work Shan Pu!”
“Yeah yeah. Now you two scoot. Go save the world and all that.”
She chuckled as she turned to walk back to the athletic field, waving at the two rapidly disappearing girls. If whoever they were off to fight was as inept as the previous two, they shouldn’t take very long. They’d pulverize the poor thing.
As she walked along, it never even occurred to her to marvel at the fact that she trusted her fiancées abilities as much as she believed in her own, and what a difference that was from the Ranma who had walked into the Musk fortress not so long ago…
* * * * *
The principal’s secretary turned from watching Ranma through her window to fix Kodachi with an evil eye behind her large round glasses. The gymnast was sitting somewhat meekly before her desk, with Mousse by her side. She leaned back against the windowsill, her sharp nails tapping one by one with little clicks like a spider walking across glass.
“Miss Kuno, not only have you missed most of a week of school, now you show up in inugami form with a request to allow this undocumented Chinese boy to attend Furinkan? I don’t know what they let you get away with at St. Hebereke, but you should set an example here in Furinkan - for your father’s sake. Even if he has been missing for the last few years, he is still this school’s principal.”
“We both know my father has gone insane, Miss Tsuchigumo. It’s only my family’s lawyers who keep his position open here. And pay to keep up with the repairs necessitated by my brothers little rampages.”
“You’ve had your share of those too, Miss Kuno. We are still repairing the gym’s roof following your attempt to murder Shan Pu.”
Mousse sighed. “Mistress, you did not tell me you actually tried to kill her.”
Kodachi gave him a pained grin. “I was somewhat insane at the time, Mousse. I know that’s no excuse, but it’s the truth.”
Mousse shrugged. “Amazons face every fight as if it will be their last. Knowing Shan Pu, I have no doubt she sought your death as well.”
Miss Tsuchigumo cleared her throat. “Be that as it may, Miss Kuno, there is still a need to maintain discipline. You already have a week’s detention for the missed school, but I must know if you are planning to remain in your inugami form while you attend classes?”
Kodachi looked nervously at Mousse, but then nodded. “Yes, Miss Tsuchigumo. I have spent sixteen years hiding my ears under my hair. I will not hide them anymore. Akane Tendo, Nabiki Tendo, and the exchange student Lo Shen all have rabbit ears, why should I hide those I was born with?”
“Those are the result of a curse, not youkai ancestry. Have you never heard of the Accord?”
Kodachi shook her head. “I have only recently become aware that I am not alone in being youkai, Miss Tsuchigumo. And I have been told that Furinkan allows youkai to attend as students.”
Miss Tsuchigumo crossed her arms. And her arms. And her arms… Kodachi blinked at the eight spider legs that had appeared out of the secretary’s back to cross under her human arms.
“Indeed, Miss Kuno. And they live by the Accord, and do not reveal themselves to humans. We live by the laws laid down by your very own ancestors, Miss Kuno.”
Kodachi shrugged. “Then perhaps it’s time for those laws to be reconsidered. I will not hide my ears, Miss Tsuchigumo. My mother spent eleven years making me believe they were a curse, and caused me untold pain by beating me any time I let them show. Two days ago my shame at being cursed by them drove me to throw myself off Tokyo tower. Mousse saved me, both from myself and my shame. I am, for the first time in my life, proud of my family’s heritage, and proud to be an inugami. I will not hide who I am anymore.”
Mousse’s hand tightened in hers, and she found the courage to look the spider woman in her now multiple glittering eyes.
Then the spider smiled, her mandibles clicking. “Very well, Miss Kuno. But be aware you are on a very short leash as of now. I expect you to shape up your act. No more poisons, paralysis gas, sleeping potions, aphrodisiacs, or any other little concoctions from your greenhouse of horror. Understand? You are hereby limited to your skills as a gymnast alone. No more nasty little tricks. I’ve had it up to here with having to make antidotes!”
Kodachi looked at the spider leg that stretched up to touch the ceiling and sighed. “Yes, Miss Tsuchigumo. Mousse and I had already talked about that, and I had promised him to stop making poisons. It is not an honorable weapon for an Amazon warrior.”
The secretary nodded. “As for you, Mu Si -”
“Mousse, please, Miss Sukigummo. Mu Si is dead, a ghost. My Mistress has given me the name Mousse, and I would prefer to use that.”
Kodachi winced at his mangling of the secretary’s name, but the spider woman just gave him a grim smile.
“Very well, Mousse. I have already been given your transcripts by Ke Lun, since she is your registered guardian. It seems she expected you to seek entrance to the school eventually. There was a note as well. Leave Shan Pu alone.”
Mousse sighed heavily. “I am dead to her, by Amazon law. She will not acknowledge my existence. Nothing I can do will change that.”
“Will you be attending primarily as a male or as a female tenshi?”
“Which ever one my mistress prefers me to be.”
The spider woman rolled eight eyes ceilingward as she sighed. When she looked back down at Kodachi she had resumed human form. “Nevermind. I know you’re bisexual Kodachi, and given whom your mother was I know you can’t help your libido. I’ll figure out some designation for the records. I am tempted to go to this Jusenkyo and web the whole place out of existence.” She stepped to her chair and sat down in it as she picked up a pen. “One last detail before I send you off. You are both aware of the existence of youkai within this school. Under no circumstances are you to expose any of your fellow youkai to the humans who attend Furinkan. You are getting away with letting your ears show solely because of the existence of the Jusenkyo curses and the recent enrollment of a guardian spirit. Very few humans remember the names of Inuyasha and Kagome, but many youkai revere them for founding the Accord. You come from one of the most noble of all youkai families, Miss Kuno. Please, try to be more worthy of the honor of your family’s name than you and your brother have been till now.”
Kodachi stood and bowed. “I will be worthy, Tsuchigumo-sama.”
“You had better. I am reassigning you to the same home room as Akane Tendo, because that is one of the designated youkai mixed classes.”
Kodachi’s breath caught and she swallowed hard. “I – I understand, Tsuchigumo-sama. I – I have abandoned my obsession for her. I will behave myself, and not embarrass her, or myself, anymore.”
The secretary’s eyes softened. “I am not doing this to be cruel, Kodachi-san, though both Akane and Shan Pu are in that class. But if you wish to display your ears, you will cause the least disruption by being in the same class as a bunnygirl and a bakeneko who are openly known to be such due to magical curses. It’s the same reason I put the guardian spirit Fei Ying-Ying in that class. I understand it will be difficult for you both, but I have to think of the welfare of the school as a whole. It would not do to have you hated by some of the youkai for being allowed to show your true form.”
Kodachi swallowed again and bowed. “I will do my best, Tsuchigumo-sama.”
“I appreciate your effort, Kodachi-san. You are dismissed. Please take Mousse-kun to the counselor’s office to be assigned courses, then you are free to attend your afternoon classes.”
Kodachi bowed again. “May I be allowed to ask a question before I go, Tsuchigumo-sama?”
“Yes.”
“What was my mother? I know I am only half inugami, but I never knew that my mother was also a youkai until recently.”
The secretary folded her hands together in front of her face as her glasses caught the light and hid her eyes. She was silent for a long moment before speaking. “Your mother was a full blooded succubus, one who we did not know was one until she had already lured and enslaved your father. Unlike the two succubae we have attending Furinkan presently, she was one of the true creatures of darkness, one who refused to live by the Accords. We call such creatures Chaosians, because they seek to create chaos. She wished for you to become just what she was, a predator on the wealthy and noble, binding them to you and allowing her to control them through you. She was caught and her powers sealed before you were born, and fortunately you took more after your inugami heritage and displayed none of the powers and abilities of a succubus. I am sorry for the pain she caused you, Kodachi-chan, but with her controlling your father, our hands were tied. I am only glad she finally removed herself when your powers did not develop following your first menstrual cycle. Forgive me for speaking so ill of your mother, but I cannot pretend that I would not have gladly killed her given an excuse.”
Kodachi blinked, her face pale. “I – I see.” She closed her eyes and took a deep shuddering breath, and slowly exhaled before she bowed. “I thank you truly, Tsuchigumo-sama. I – I believe that clarifies many things.” She clasped her hands before her as she dropped to her knees and bowed again, tears streaming from her eyes. “Please accept my grateful thanks. I think at last I understand why my mother hated me so much, and for that understanding, I cannot ever repay you. Thank you, Tsuchigumo-sama.”
A long spider leg gently placed a box of tissue before the crying girl.
“You can repay me, Kodachi-chan, by keeping ahold of that pride and dignity that you displayed to me so ferociously when you demanded to be allowed to display your ears, and never letting anyone ever tell you again that your heritage is a curse.”
Kodachi stood, clutching the box of tissues and dabbing her eyes. She nodded, her eyes shining brightly but her throat too tight to speak.
“I have been your father’s secretary for eighteen years, Miss Kuno, and your grandfather’s for forty before that. I have hated to see what that woman made of the proud line of Kuno. I am very glad to see that pride again.” She smiled and made a shooing motion. “You may use the office bathroom to freshen up, Kodachi-chan, but do not forget I am this school’s administrator. I expect you to remember all that we spoke of.” She gave Kodachi a pointed look until the young girl nodded, then turned her attention to the paperwork on her desk.
Kodachi and Mousse bowed and exited the office. Miss Tsuchigumo pretended to be writing until the door closed and then sat back in her chair, wiping a tear from her eye as she contemplated.
Poor little ‘Dachi-chan. I had almost given you up for hopelessly lost. I knew I should have eaten your mother first chance I had when I saw what she was doing to you and Tatewaki. But what is a spider to do? All I could do was watch helplessly as she turned your father into a shell of a man and drove the two of you insane. You’ve grown up into such a beautiful young woman and I am so glad to see that you may finally be beginning to heal. I know I’m just your father’s secretary, but I’ve known you since you were born, and how I wish you had been mine.
She nibbled on a silky lock of her web colored tresses and smiled. And I think I’m happiest that you are finally willing to show the world your lovely lovely hair…
* * * * *
Ukyo and Rei’s choice of clothing had raised a few more eyebrows, but other than Kagome’s comment that they were extremely revealing, and Sango beating Miroku on the head with her boomerang when he attempted to grab Ukyo’s rear end, Ukyo’s unrepentant attitude about her outfit had settled the matter. Sango had admitted to Kagome that usually a body suit went with the other clothing Ukyo had assembled, as well as some pieces of hip armor and shoulder guards. Ukyo had simply shrugged and told them she had worn all that she wanted of the outfit, and she wore less at the beach, so why was everyone making an issue of it? Rei had simply pointed out that her miko robes got in the way if she had to use her bow, and her Sailor outfit was too conspicuous.
She and Rei rode on Tao-Ching as they jogged along tied to Kirara, Nabiki having joined Kagura on her feather overhead. The bunnygirl had decided as they were leaving to try and see if she could maintain a constant shield outfit and still do other things, and as they traveled, she had been randomly tossing buzzballs at trees, leaving a string of them with holes along their path. By midday, she seemed to be able to shoot two at separate targets with decent odds of success, and still keep her glowing pink copy of Sango’s armor over her plain body suit.
They stopped for lunch by a small waterfall near the coast road that they were aiming for, and as Ukyo cooked okonomiyaki for them, Kagome sat next to Kagura.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you, Kagura. When I first asked you to join us, you refused. Why did you change your mind?”
Kagura gazed at her, her red eyes unreadable, then she shrugged. “Because at the time I truly thought I could run away. Sooner or later, I think Naraku will kill us all, but the only real chance I have to live is by siding with you. I can assure you, my reasons for being with you are entirely due to self interest.”
Ukyo chuckled. “That might have been true when you first met us, maybe even when you offered to teach Nabiki how to control her magical abilities, but are you sure that’s still the case?”
“What other reason could I possibly have?”
Kagome gave her a smile. “Friendship maybe?”
Kagura blinked. “Friendship? I am a creation of Naraku. You all know it, and I don’t truly understand why you even protected me from Hakudoushi, let alone asked me to join you. I keep wondering what misstep I will make which will lead to you killing me. You are just the only hope I have of living. We both know the things I have done in Naraku’s service. How could I even think you could be serious in offering me friendship?”
“Maybe because the offer’s genuine.” Nabiki offered from where she was lounging against Tao-Ching. “I mean, do you think I saved your life from those wasps just because you’re teaching me?”
“Of course.”
Nabiki shook her head. “It never even crossed my mind, Kagura baby. I saved you entirely because I consider you my friend. You’ve been in my head, and I’ve offered to share my bed and my fiancé with you. I don’t do that for enemies or to people I’m just using. I’m a very cynical person, just like you are, Kagura. I make a living using people, that’s why I’m known as an Ice Queen.”
“Indeed, my Lady. I hath played the fool many times before Nabiki Tendo, and I hath paid dearly for doing so.” Kuno added from across the grill, where he was carefully polishing his Tetsusaiga. “She doth have a keen eye for profit, and is feared by all in Furinkan. Her friendship is given to few, and sought by many.”
“I know you’ve done some bad things, and nearly killed us a few times,” Kagome said. “But you didn’t have much of a choice if Naraku was holding your heart. You don’t have that hanging over you now, and I just wanted you to know we really do want you to be our friend.”
Kagura looked over at Inuyasha. “Even you?”
The white haired boy shrugged. “Look, I ain’t going to say I trust you completely, but I have to admit Kagome’s right. You were being used by Naraku. You’re not now. I’m even beginning to notice that you smell less and less like Naraku as each day passes. You haven’t earned my trust yet, but I ain’t gonna let Naraku kill you either.”
“Kekeke. How sentimental. How disappointing. You’ve grown soft since I gave you back your heart, Kagura.”
A pink hemisphere appeared over the campsite in a heartbeat as the rest of the group whirled to face the new voice. Inuyasha growled as he saw the figure of Naraku hovering above the small cliff over the waterfall, his shield glimmering around him darkly.
“Please, don’t get excited on my account. I simply came to deal with some unfinished business.” the demonic youkai said as he smiled evilly. “Oh, and to give you some wonderful news, of course.”
Inuyasha jumped out of Nabiki’s shield and unleashed a windscar, growling in frustration as Naraku’s barrier absorbed it and the shimmering winds simply circled around it pointlessly.
“Dammit!”
Naraku chuckled again as he hurled the white haired boy into the ground by returning the windscar at him. “And here I thought you would enjoy hearing about your little lost dragon girl.”
Ukyo’s eyes narrowed. “What have you done to her now, you bastard!”
“I? I have done nothing Ukyo Kuonji. It is not I who is the cause of her present suffering. I have simply struck a bargain with her. She seeks death, so I have offered to free her from the burden of her life in exchange for the final shards of the Shikon no Tama. It seems she much prefers to die at my hand rather than await the vengeance she believes you are coming to deliver.”
Wrathseeker dropped from her nerveless fingers as she realized the depth of Naraku’s cruelty, and knew without a doubt that her soulmate truly expected Ukyo to be hunting her down to kill her. What did she have to go on but the rage Ukyo had displayed at their engagement? How much worse would it be after being raped by the dragon girl? She had cut herself off from their link out of shame, her last feelings from Ukyo those of terror caused entirely by Zhu Shu’s actions. Her knees gave way as the guilt of hurting her soulmate, of giving Naraku so easy a means of driving Zhu Shu beyond the brink of utter despair, overwhelmed her. She barely even heard Rei howl beside her as the air suddenly grew hot and the very sky around Naraku ignited with the Senshi’s wrath.
The rest of the group shielded their faces as the waterfall outside Nabiki’s shield vaporized and the vegetation charred instantly to ash. Sweat rolled down the bunnygirl’s face as she focused on keeping a barrier between themselves and the plasma released by Rei’s furious assault on the bubble of darkness around the monstrous form of Naraku. Then Rei fell to her hands, her breath coming in gasps as the fire in the sky died away.
Scattered tatters of flesh swirled around the rapidly reassembling head of the evilly smiling demon.
“Impressive, if futile. I hold your companion’s heart in my hand in place of Kagura’s. Fighting me will gain you nothing but her death. But please, do come to Mikado. I will have no further use for her once she has retrieved the shards, so I will even offer you a bargain. Her life, for Kagura’s. After all, a traitor deserves only death. Bring her to me at Mikado castle, and I will grant you the dragon girl.”
As his head faded along with the remaining scraps of his regenerating body, his evil laughter remained to taunt them all.
Then Ukyo felt a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Kagura’s red eyes.
“I cannot expect you to trust me, because I am indeed a traitor, nor do I expect that Naraku intended to cause anything but strife and dissension among us with his offer to exchange me for your friend, but for what it is worth, I am sorry that my life has been bought with your pain and that of your friends.”
Ukyo shook her head. “It isn’t your fault, Kagura. It’s mine, and only mine, and only I can undo the harm I have caused.”
Sango was looking worriedly at the spot where Naraku had been. “I am worried that he means to send your friend after Kouga and Kohaku. If she takes my brother’s shard she will take away his life.”
Ukyo swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. “I don’t know Sango. The Zhu Shu I know would never kill unless she had no other choice.”
Sango and Kagura both shook their heads. “Under Naraku’s control-” Kagura said, “She would kill even you.”
Ukyo shivered. “He has her believing I’m on my way to kill her instead of rescue her, and he has set her to guard the castle where we have to go to save her. I get the feeling he plans to make her kill me before he finally kills her himself. If she gets him all of that jewel, he’ll have accomplished his goal, right? And I doubt she has any idea that she is being set up to hand the bastard the key to even more power. All his offer of a trade was for was an attempt to get us to doubt you, and hand you over without a fight.”
Kagura nodded. Then a shadow fell over her, and she looked up to see Inuyasha.
“I still ain’t going to say I trust you, Kagura. But I will tell you this. If that bastard wants to lay a finger on you, he’s going to have to go through me to do it.”
“And I as well, my Lady.” Tatewaki said as he knelt before her. “We will rescue my goddess, and deliver thee forever from the hand of this vile fiend. I, Tatewaki Kuno, will swear to thee that we shall slay the demon Naraku. I will vow on my very life that his cruelty shall end, because I know already that he will be slain. And he was slain by this very sword upon which I swear. Take heart, my friends, my companions. Take heart and sorrow not, for history itself doth tell us that we shall prevail.”
Ukyo’s hand wrapped around the Wrathseeker, and she somehow found the strength to stand. “He’s right. This is our past. We already know that Naraku will die.”
She reached down to grip the shoulder of her sobbing soulmate, and gently lifted her to her feet. “We’re going to win, Rei. We’re going to get her back and that bastard is going to die.”
She held the miko close, feeling as the warmth of Rei’s fiery soul chased away the chill of her depression, and felt as Rei drew strength from the certainty Kuno’s words had restored in herself.
But she did not notice the look Nabiki gave them before she looked away.
“History says we win, Uc-chan,” the bunnygirl whispered so softly that only she herself could hear. “But does it say we will all survive?”
* * * * *
Akane and Shan Pu had barely made it back before the lunch break ended, a little annoyed that the Phantom Sister, Cooan, had escaped, but laughing about how Shan Pu had defeated the youma who apparently had been long on muscle but very short on brains. And Ranma had to laugh when they explained that Rei’s grandfather had decided to open the female only combat aerobics class because he had been rather put out to discover that he had been exposed as a terrible flirt in a girl’s magazine that had arrived while Rei was away. Since Rei was supposedly off on an ‘extended field trip with friends from another school’, he’d been utterly without females to bother now that the girls wouldn’t come to the shrine where a known hentai lived. While they still didn’t know what the Phantom Sisters were doing or why, it seemed clear that it was intended to maximize the negative emotional states in the locations they were targeting. They’d almost hypnotized the entire class of women into killing each other.
They had discussed it for the few minutes left till the bell rang then headed to their class, and found a surprise.
“Welcome back class. Before we start, I wish to introduce a student who is transferring into this homeroom,” the teacher said, gesturing to an attractive figure standing next to his desk. She looked vaguely familiar to them, but her white bangs were hiding her face as she looked down at her feet, and she appeared to have a pair of dog-like ears poking through her hair, which were presently drooping, making her look almost afraid. “Miss, please introduce yourself to the class.”
The girl almost whispered her name, but Akane’s rabbit ears shot straight up in shock.
“Miss, you have to speak louder please.”
She sighed heavily and her face lifted, eliciting a gasp from the entire class. “My – my name is Kodachi Kuno. I – I know most of you know me as I was. The – The Black Rose is no more. Please accept my apologies. I know my behavior has been inexcusable, but I pray that you can forgive the madness with which I was afflicted.”
“Kodachi?!?” Ranma blurted out. “What the hell happened to you? When did you get cursed?”
“I – I am not Jusenkyo cursed, Ranma-sama. I – I am an inugami. Since a very young child, I have dyed my hair and hidden my ears.”
“An inugami?”
“She means she’s a dog spirit, Ranma-kun.” Kyoko said from her corner, where she was looking at Kodachi in admiration. “Like a kitsune or bakeneko.”
Kodachi nodded. “Yes, Onamuri-san. I – I was asked by your cousin Ryune Minamoto to convey her greetings.”
Kyoko smiled. “You met Ryu-chan? Ooh, you must tell me how she is doing later!”
Kodachi bowed to her than turned to where Akane and Shan Pu were sitting, lowering herself to her knees before bowing prostrate. “I – I must also extend my deepest apologies to Akane Tendo, and Shan Pu. I cannot ask your forgiveness for my behavior, but Mousse-sama will be here tomorrow and he will be disappointed with me if I have not expressed the utter sorrow I feel for having behaved in so shameful and dishonorable a fashion. I have not acted in a manner becoming for a warrior.”
Akane and Shan Pu both blinked, Shan Pu letting out a soft ‘nyah’ in surprise. “You know Mu Si?”
Kodachi bowed her head, still prostrate. “I must also beg that you please spare his life, Shan Pu-sama, for my sake. I could not bear to see him suffer any more than he already does for having earned your hatred.”
The cat girl blinked repeatedly. “You – you want idiot Mu Si?” She waved dismissively. “You keep. He dead Shan Pu. Wish much happiness and many children, myah.”
“Shan Pu! That’s a little cold.” Akane said chidingly.
“You no know Mu Si, Akane-chan, nyah. He good match Kodachi. So long no chase Shan Pu, myah.”
“I think she loves him,” Ying-Ying said softly. “It’s not very nice to tease her that way about her love.”
Shan Pu looked shamed face. She mewed sadly. “You tell Mu Si, he behave, nyah, maybe Shan Pu hear him again,” she said to the still bowing gymnast.
Kodachi rose to her hands and knees in shock, then bowed rapidly to Shan Pu several times “Thank you, I will Shan Pu-sama.”
The teacher asked her to stand and go to her seat, which was next to Kyoko, and as she did, Ranma leaned over and asked softly. “Who is that, and what did she do with Kodachi?”
“She seems like a very nice person to me.” Konatsu said.
Ying-Ying nodded. “Yes. I don’t know what it was, but something happened to her, something traumatic. I think she was serious when she said the Black Rose was dead. Her aura isn’t black anymore.”
Shan Pu shrugged. “It custom in Amazon village, myah. In rare case, someone injured or go through very bad experience. They like new person, nyah. Sometimes is so great change, take new name, and old name is placed on gravestone. Maybe is new Kodachi, myuu?”
Konatsu was looking at where the gymnast was talking quietly to Kyoko while the teacher was busy writing on the blackboard, and Ying-Ying noted her eyes had shifted to green. “Whoever she has become, she seems to be getting along well with the kitsune there.”
“Kitsune?” Akane asked.
Ying-Ying laughed nervously. “Oh you know Ko-chan, Akane-chan. Kyoko-chan is just so cute and with the way her hair pokes up, she does kind of look like she has fox ears.”
Clove took the hint and Konatsu’s eyes shifted back to brown as the kunoichi nodded. “Kyoko-chan would look so kawaii with fox ears!”
She said it a bit too loudly though, and the small cheerleader looked startled as she looked at Konatsu and blinked, blushing furiously while Kodachi’s face looked mortified.
“She probably would indeed, Kenzan-san.” The teacher said to the class as he turned. “However, the subject of this period’s lesson is on page…”
* * * * *
“The whole class knows I’m a fox!” Kyoko wailed, her ears quivering as her tail lashed back and forth furiously.
“Calm down, Kyoko. All she said was you’d look cute in fox ears, a statement that just happens to be absolutely true.” Kaede said earnestly. “You’re incredibly kawaii in your true form, but Ai could come in any minute!”
“She twisted her ankle in gym.” Megumi said as she poked her head into the changing room. “She’s not going to make practice today. She’s getting it looked at over at Tofu’s clinic.”
Ayeka sighed. “No point to practice without her. So have you heard the latest?”
Megumi shook her head.
“Kodachi Kuno came back to school today. In her true form.” Kaede supplied as she stretched, then took off her sweater and blouse and undid her bra. She groaned as her wings spread to touch the walls. “Kami! It feels so good to let my wings out!”
“Mmhumm. I think you just use it for an excuse to show off the size of your chest.” Ayeka said. “However, Megumi, the succubus forgot to mention Kodachi is an inugami. She’s running around with dog ears fully visible, and her hair is apparently white as snow.”
“A white haired inugami? What, is she aping Inuyasha?”
“No, no, no, Megumi. Don’t you know? The Kuno’s ARE Inuyasha’s descendants.” Kyoko said excitedly, her tail wagging and her anxiety forgotten. “Why do you think I let Kuno chase me? Kodachi told me she’s been hiding her ears because her mother made her. Oh, and she’s not full inugami, she’s half succubus.”
“WHAT!” the succubus in the room blinked.
The kitsune nodded at Kaede. “Her mom was a succubus. Kodachi said she was an evil one though, a Chaosian.”
“How the hell did the Youkai Council let a Chaosian get her hands on the family of Inuyasha?” Ayeka said in shock. “My uncle was a Chaosian, and my god, was he a fiend! He must have killed two or three hundred people before the Hunters got him.”
“Kodachi didn’t know. She told me she only found out about youkai when she met my cousin Ryu-chan. She knows I’m a kitsune because Ryu-chan told her.”
“Just great.” Kaede muttered. “It’s bad enough I got to put up with Miyaki-onee-chan, but now there’s another one of us here.”
“At least your sister just collects artists,” Megumi said. “I know she’s a pain when she parades her entourage around, and teases you about having too small a harem, but at least it’s nice spending cash when we model for her.” She sighed. “But it’s annoying that Kodachi is allowed to be in her true form. Only reason I can think she’s getting away with it is because she’s Principal Kuno’s daughter. Same reason Tatewaki gets away with so much.”
Ayeka nodded as she scratched Kyoko between the ears. “By the way, I got what we need to deal with Fei-san. If she proves difficult when we challenge her and Konatsu, I can seal her in this!” She held up a small stoppered glass bottle with a small set of charms around the lip, about the size of a sake jar. “It’s a spirit trap.”
Megumi raised an eyebrow. “Cool, where did you get it?”
“Same place Ai got the dragon wine. Didn’t even have to spend cash. I traded an ounce of my blood for it. The owner’s making a longevity potion.”
“Is that safe?”
“Oh, he’s a registered fox mage. Mom sent me to him actually. She couldn’t even be bothered to ask why I wanted a spirit trap. She was too busy planning the fundraiser for the bloodbank.” Her finger trailed wistfully down the vein in Kyoko’s throat. The kitsune blinked, then smiled and tilted her head to the side as she swept her hair out of the way. “Oooh! Really?” Ayeka cooed.
Kyoko giggled. “You have to get back your lost blood, right?”
Megumi laughed. “You realize, she’s going to be blissed out for an hour at least if you offer your throat.”
Kyoko smiled as she pulled Ayeka’s head down to her neck. “But it feels soooo good!”
Kaede laughed. “What the heck, go for it Ayeka. Not like we’re having practice today anyway.” She looked at Megumi. “So, heads or tails on the soon to be wildly orgasmic fox?”
Megumi laughed. “Flip for it?”
“Okay, but use a real coin this time. No more double tailed ice coins.”
Kyoko’s laughter changed to an ecstatic moan as Ayeka’s lips closed on her throat…
* * * * *
Mara was better at shape changes, so she won the argument with Urd. Besides, as a former demoness, she was much better at acting, even if she did say so herself, and as a goddess, third class, she technically could get away with fudging the truth.
When Ai came limping into the clinic, she was bent over behind the counter pretending to be picking up a bunch of fallen folders, and besides the nurse’s uniform, she was sporting fox ears, and nine full fox tails, she and Urd having decided that a kitsune was the least threatening of Ai’s four infatuated youkai followers.
Ai blinked at the profusion of tails waving in the air as Mara shuffled the folders into a pile, waiting patiently until the head cheerleader finally called “Um… Hello?”
“WAAAA!” Mara yelped, and winced as she deliberately banged her head on the underside of the desk to knock her nurses hat askew and make sure her ears were visible. She stood and rubbed the back of her head. “Owwwwww.”
Then she blinked, appeared to remember the customer and turned to face Ai. “Oh! Hi! I’m sooo sorry. I’m Mara-chan! I didn’t hear you come in.” she said in her best disturbingly chirpy airline stewardess voice.
“Umm, I’m here to see Doctor Tofu. I sprained my ankle.”
“Oh, Tofu-sama isn’t here right now!” Mara said with a disappointed sigh. “He had to make a housecall.”
It was true, Kasumi had called him away less than ten minutes ago to go check on the Phantom Sister that the Senshi had caught and that Phoenixmoon had said Lo Shen had freed from some sort of control spell. The computer program had been puzzled, saying he had been unable to determine exactly what had happened when the Amazon Loremistress had taken Konatsu, Ying-Ying, and Ami into the young woman’s psyche. He had grumbled about it like a voyeur who had suddenly found his peephole sealed up.
Ai nodded. “I guess I can wait.”
“Oh no, I’m qualified to handle minor injuries!” Mara said brightly, wagging her tails and sending paperwork flying everywhere. Ai blinked and tilted her head to look at Mara’s tails.
Mara acted puzzled, and slowly turned to look at what Ai was looking at. “Oh no! My tails!” She hurriedly pulled down the back of her skirt, the mass of tails resisting the effort mightily. “Um… I don’t suppose you’d believe I’m a cosplayer?” she asked hopefully.
Ai shook her head. “Cute tails though.”
Mara blushed. “Um… well…”
Ai laughed. “Don’t worry about it, Nurse-chan. I’m used to weird stuff around Nerima.”
“You – you don’t think I’m scary?”
Ai shook her head. “If I wasn’t limping, I’d probably be chasing you around that desk.”
“You don’t mind I’m a youkai?”
Ai blinked. “Youkai?”
Mara nodded. “I – I’m a fox spirit. I know I’m not supposed to show my true form in front of humans, but I have a terrible time remembering when I get distracted!” Mara quivered her lower lip. “Oh, now the youkai hunters are going to be after me! I’ve broken the Accord!”
Ai waved her hands at her. “Calm down, calm down. I’m not scared, and I don’t care that you’re a youkai or whatever. I just need to get my ankle looked at and wrapped.”
“You – you don’t mind that I’m not human?”
Ai shrugged. “I go to school with three rabbit girls, a dragon half, and a guy who changes back and forth between male and female. I really don’t think a cute kitsune like you is a scary monster.”
“You’re really nice for a human!” She slid aside the door to the examination room. “This way please.”
“Okay, and I’ll even promise you I won’t eat you.”
Mara giggled. “But humans don’t eat youkai!”
“Nurse-chan, if I thought I could get you out of that uniform, I’d certainly make an effort to lick you to death.”
Mara blushed for real this time. “Ooh, you are a naughty one aren’t you?”
Ai laughed as she sat on the table and let Mara lift her ankle and start unwrapping it. “I am a very naughty girl, Nurse-chan. Maybe after you wrap my ankle you can spank me.”
Mara giggled. “I’m happily involved, but you’re sweet to offer.” Her tails wagged again.
“You might want to watch those. You’re already going to have to clean up in front.”
Mara giggled again, and sparkled as she let the shapechange lapse and resumed her normal form, still in the nurse’s uniform. “There. You really aren’t scared of me?”
“Wow, you really aren’t cursed are you? I thought you probably had one of those Jusenkyo curses. But you did that without any water.”
“Oh, no, I’m a Ninetailed Fox. Mara Onamuri. I thought I told you I was a kitsune.”
Ai blinked. “Are you related to Kyoko Onamuri? She’s one of my cheerleaders.”
Mara shook her head. “I have no clue, but the Onamuri kitsune clan is a really big one. I have thousands of fox relatives. And we’re related to the Minamotos, who are kitsune nobility! Haven’t you heard the tale of the golden haired nine tailed fox?”
“You mean the one about the fox who advised the emperor, Tamamo-no-Mae?”
Mara nodded. “Yep. She runs an inn up in the mountains these days. I think we’re distantly related. My aunt says I look a little like her.” She opened a cabinet to retrieve Belldandy’s ointment and knelt to apply it to Ai’s ankle. The rapid healing would make up for deliberately having tripped up the cheerleader to get her to the doctor’s office. “We kitsune have a long and distinguished history in Japan. I even graduated from the Kitsune Academy as a senior rank ten!”
Ai chuckled. “I always thought kitsune were just stories. I wonder if Kyoko is a kitsune too.”
Mara smiled, her face hidden. “If she’s an Onamuri, probably. But you have to be careful. We youkai have to live by the Accord; we’re not supposed to reveal ourselves to humans. It’s the law.”
“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned these Accords. What are you talking about?”
“Well, several hundred years ago, the youkai used to prey on humans, but there was this powerful youkai, well half-youkai, and a human miko who married one another. The hanyo and miko got all the youkai to join together and make a treaty with the humans. Since we could assume human form, we would coexist with humans, and it eventually was established that the best way to continue doing this once the Shogunate took over was to simply let humans forget that youkai lived among them, because otherwise the various military dictators might try to use us to make an army or whatnot.”
Ai nodded. “I can see that.”
“So it’s the law that we can’t reveal ourselves to humans. If you’re not upset, it’s not going to be a problem, but it’s always dangerous for a youkai to reveal her secret, because she might scare a human, or risk being hunted, or just cause someone a lot of heartbreak. It’s hard for a human and a youkai to love one another, because there are so many differences between our races. We’ve got hearts and feelings just like humans, but our powers can be really scary.”
Ai smiled. “I really don’t think you’re scary, Nurse-chan. Terribly cute, but not scary.”
“Some of us can be, but any youkai living among humans has sworn to follow the Accord though. We swear to never use our powers against a human, unless that human is equally powerful, like a mage or a devil hunter. And for those few predator species that have to feed on humans occasionally, like the vampires, or the various races that feed off of emotional energies, they are magically bound to never do so from an unwilling human, and they can never feed enough to cause harm. Only those who do not follow the Accord will kill, but sadly, those are the ones who get all the bad press for the rest of us.”
Ai blinked. “You mean all those stories about monsters are real?”
Mara nodded. “But we’re not evil! At least not the majority of us! We want to live and love, like humans. We’re just different.”
Ai chuckled. “Well you are certainly not evil, Nurse-chan. And if my little Kyoko is a kitsune too, she’s certainly not evil either. She’s the cutest one out of all of us. Kaede likes to say she is, but Kyoko could sell sweets to a sugar factory. Kaede is just too much pure sexiness to really be cute.”
Mara chuckled. “Sounds like you have yourself a little all girl harem there.”
Ai laughed. “Maybe. We are all lovers, but it’s just for fun.”
Mara gave her an eye as she finished wrapping the cheerleader’s ankle. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that, dear. Not if you’ve actually had sex with her. We kitsune aren’t like wolves about mating for life, but we don’t give ourselves out of anything but love.”
Ai blinked. “Huh?”
“If your little Kyoko is a kitsune, and she has let you have her body, Ai-chan, then you got her heart first, and forever. And for us youkai, forever can be just that. We can live for as long as we want, unless we get killed. It’s the same for a lot of animal youkai. We’re not like humans, because so many of us have instincts we don’t really have control over. For many species of us, if we give our bodies, then you have already gotten our love. You would never get one without both.”
Ai blinked again. “But if that’s true, why wouldn’t she just tell me?”
“Human and youkai relationships end in tragedy as often as human to human do, Ai-chan. But when a youkai loves a human, they risk more than just rejection, they risk their life as well, for there are always humans who fear what is different. I spent I don’t know how many years pining for the love of my life, and it took nearly dying for me to finally tell her I loved her. All I can do now is look back on all those years and regret the time lost when we could have been so happy, all because I was afraid. Your Kyoko might just be too scared to tell you her heart, because revealing her heart means revealing everything. Especially since she already has so much of you already, so she stands to lose that much more.”
Ai blinked, the corners of her eyes having acquired a strange sparkle. “I see.”
Mara smiled. “Well, Ai-chan, your ankle will probably be fine by morning, just keep it wrapped up tonight and don’t let the wrappings get soaked.”
Ai nodded, her mind very far away from Mara’s words. There was a ring from up front, and Mara nodded to herself as she slid back the door. Ai stepped out with her to see Urd picking up the papers behind the desk, and the cheerleader blinked to see the gorgeous woman smile at Mara.
“Mara-chan, did you knock everything flying again?”
Mara blushed, resuming her shapeshift as she shyly looked at Urd. “It was an accident!”
“Mara!”
“It’s okay, she knows I’m a kitsune.”
Urd chuckled. “You make a really cute fox, Mara-chan.”
Mara stepped up to the white haired goddess and kissed her. “You’re laying it on thick, Urd my love” she whispered.
“So are you.” Urd whispered back.
They turned to see Ai chuckling. “I can see why you turned me down Mara-sama.” She bowed. “I’m pleased to meet you, and may I compliment you both on your beauty. I remember seeing you at Club Nabiki the other night, and I’m glad I finally got to meet you.”
Urd blushed. “Thank you, you’re pretty good looking yourself.”
Ai smiled. “Thank you for looking at my ankle, Nurse Mara. And for the info.”
Mara wagged her tails, sending papers flying again. “Anytime, Ai-chan. And remember, don’t let fear stop you like I did.”
Ai chuckled as she turned to go, the soft noise turning to full laughter as Urd called “Mara! I just picked those up!”
As the door closed behind the cheerleader, Mara waved her hand and the papers picked themselves up and stacked themselves neatly.
“I take it that went well?” Urd said with a soft smile.
Mara nodded. “It did indeed.”
“Cool. Now, how about we find a TV set so we can go have a little fun cosplay?”
“Ooooh. Naughty nurse?
“Naughty kitsune. Those tails are just too cute.”
“That’s what she said.”
* * * * *
Ai wandered towards home, not really paying attention to where she was going or noticing that the pain in her ankle was almost gone, so deep in thought was she.
Was Kyoko a kitsune? If what that Nurse had said was true, the answer to that question had suddenly become immensely important to Ai.
Megumi had been so impersonal and cold when Ai had first seen her and decided to add her to her little play group, and Ayeka had been hot tempered and aggressive to an extreme. Despite their beauty and wealth, neither had been popular at school. Megumi had shoved away every boy who had tried to get close with her utter coldness to their advances and her indifference to everything, and Ayeka’s uncertain temper had made her notorious around school as a violent fight starter.
Ai had been just starting high school following her recovery from her miscarriage, angry and cynical about her parents, and lonely with the loss of her first female love, Miyu. She had at first sought their company because she had wanted to hurt her parents, to proudly display her lewd behavior and unrepentant bisexuality, all in an effort to get their attention through the embarrassment she caused them. She had certainly not been seeking love.
Yet once she had begun breaking through Megumi’s icy shell, and tempering Ayeka’s bloodthirsty rage, she had found a friendship that had meant more to her than her revenge.
There had been problems of course, making them lovers had required educating both of them not only in sex but in the difference between sex for fun and friendship and her casual flings for variety. They both knew Ai had been recovering from a lost love, and unready to risk her heart again, and after a few rocky months as they learned to work as a team and co-operate in everything from cheerleading to helping Ai fulfill her sexual sweet tooth, they had all become the firmest of friends. Ayeka was a terrific submissive, but despite her massive insecurity complex and her tendency to go berserk with jealous rage anytime she felt threatened with losing Ai’s attentions, Ai had never really thought of her as more than a playmate and best friend, and while Megumi - so different from the ice maiden she had been once she and Ayeka had learned to be lovers - had always been her main advisor and tactician, she had always seemed so content to simply be Ai’s shadow.
When they had become second years, and needed to enlarge the squad, Ai had decided on Kyoko and Kaede for pretty much the same reasons she had originally picked Megumi and Ayeka. Kaede was the biggest flirt and heartbreaker of the new class, and Kyoko, despite her sweet and cute demeanor, had a reputation as a spoiled brat because she seemed to have more fun being chased than in actually being caught. They had come from different middle schools, and between them they had nearly had the boys of the school fighting in the halls before Ai had ended it by adding them to her squad.
But if Kyoko was a kitsune, and the more Ai thought about it, the more she was becoming convinced it was true, what would that do to the squad? Could she accept Kyoko’s love without causing Ayeka’s overwhelming jealousy to flare, or hurting the other girls? Would it cause even more strife than her recent melancholy was already causing among her best friends?
Because, even though it had been irritating her squad that she hadn’t challenged Konatsu and Ying-Ying yet, despite the fact that more and more of the school had been calling them the prettiest girls in Furinkan, despite the fact that even the fanclubs and the webratings had been reporting a drop in the cheerleaders popularity as sex symbols, Ai hadn’t been able to bring herself to the kind of vain rage that had always fueled her challenges before. She had thought talking to Ukyo and helping that damn dragon girl make up with her had evened the score over the dragon wine, but seeing the happiness on Zhu Shu’s face as she had danced in the hall on the morning Ukyo had given her the iPod had struck her to the core.
It was that same look she had thought she would never again see on her own face. The look she had thought lost when Miyu had moved to Germany.
Talking to Ukyo had stirred up so many memories. She had been thinking of Miyu a lot since then, and even entertaining herself with finding pictures of Sailor Venus online was starting to fail to keep her from dwelling on her lost love, and the days of happiness she had felt just being loved…
She sat on a bench in a small park overlooking a canal, and played over the words the kitsune nurse had said.
We kitsune aren’t like wolves about mating for life, but we don’t give ourselves out of anything but love.
She really was starting to believe that Kyoko was a fox, but was it because she believed it to be true, or was she wanting it to be true, because she wanted so badly to be loved again, to feel that same happiness that she had seen on the little dragon girl’s face? She could care less whether Kyoko was human or not, if the nurse was right and she loved Ai, if she truly loved her, then…
Then what? Ayeka’s furious rage at Ai having found someone? Kyoko demanding that she stop playing with her other friends, and insisting that she sleep only with her? The breakup of the friendships which had come to mean more to her than even her life? Could she accept Kyoko’s love without betraying the others for whom she cared so much?
She had ruled her squad with an iron hand, overcome their squabbles with each other with sheer force of will, and turned them into a cohesive fighting force feared at every combat cheerleading tournament. She had no doubt that her not showing up to practice today had simply led to the four of them playing around, sharing their bodies with each other as casually as they shared them with Ai. It had built the trust and confidence between them, just as Ai had hoped it would, and for all their vanity before the school, she had never treated any of them as anything other than absolutely equal before her.
But could she return Kyoko’s love without favoring her? Could she ask the tiny little fox girl out on dates, and to share personal time with her without disrupting the balance she had worked so hard to create?
How could she not?
Because the nurse’s words had made one thing perfectly clear to Ai. She wanted Kyoko’s love to be real, because she desperately wanted to return it, as wholly and completely as she had loved Miyu.
But the same was true for any of them. They all had qualities she valued, little quirks and personality flaws she found endearing, little sexual desires that excited her. From Ayeka’s submissiveness and nibbling obsession, to Megumi’s overwhelming desires for cuddling close, or Kaede’s sheer raw nymphomania, and even Kyoko’s fetish for oral sex, they all met a need she desperately had to fill. Not one of her little sweets of the week had ever been able to match the pleasures she had from her squad, or meet her insatiable need for companionship. Only when she was with her squad did the loneliness ever really go away.
And that was the heart of it. As desperately as she did want to be loved, and would gladly accept Kyoko’s heart, she needed all of them, and she was terribly afraid of losing them. She didn’t want to have to choose, but beyond knowing she had their friendship, and the pleasures of their bodies, could she ask them all for their love as well? Could she even admit to Kyoko that she suspected she wasn’t human? And what would the others think if they found out?
She held her head in her hands, her elbows on her knees, her brain awhirl, and the fear so overwhelming she felt like her heart was going to burst, while tears silently rolled down her cheeks to drop unheeded to her skirt.
Don’t let fear stop you like I did.
But how could she not? It could all come apart, all vanish. If she took the next step, the ground could crumble and she could fall so terribly far into the dark and loneliness again, feel once more the howling artic winds inside her soul.
Gods! How could Konatsu and Ying-Ying talk so casually of sharing Zhu Shu and Ukyo? How could Ranma and Akane and Shan Pu not constantly be at each others throats as they each tried to win one or another’s sole affection? All her life experience had shown her the squabbling and fighting that always went when someone had more than one suitor, the betrayals and broken hearts when someone won and someone lost. How many times had she had to listen to her mother screaming at her father over his latest infidelity? How many times had she heard them talk about only being together for the kids? Yeah, Mariko got more attention and was their darling little girl, but even she knew how little their parents loved one another. All because her father had been a ladies man in college, chased by dozens of girls, and even when he had married her mother, he had always had others desiring him.
How could she ask four separate girls to love her? How could she even dare to hope that it would work? That they would all love her as passionately as she wanted to love them? There was nothing she could think of about herself that would make her worthy of even Kyoko’s love, how could she possibly hope to win all of them?
She was failing even at being their leader. They had worked so hard to be the best, to be the most popular, and she was letting them down as she dithered and let their rivals go unchallenged.
She sighed. That at least she could do. Whatever else, she could be the leader they wanted her to be, and challenge the kunoichi. Ayeka had told her that morning she had a way to keep the ghost from interfering, and when her squad had bested that damnably beautiful ninja girl, then the fanclub ratings would go up again. All she had to do was find a time when she could be sure Ranma and his harem couldn’t interfere.
And once she had been beaten, they’d take her to the cheerleader’s room, and between Kyoko’s amazing massage skills to work out the bruises and kinks of the fight, Megumi’s aromatherapy incense, Kaede’s almost hypnotic dancing, and Ayeka’s incredible culinary skills, she had no doubt that the kunoichi would become one more of the long string of opponents who had given themselves more than willingly over to the ecstasies of her team. Of all the girls they had challenged, only a few had declined the final invitation to grace their bed, and over half of them had begged to come back occasionally for seconds. That was a record Ai prided herself on. She may be ruthless and merciless in combat, but losing to her team was its own reward, and it tended to turn bitter enemies into devoted fans.
And when the only girl who they had yet to defeat came back, and her lover told her of the fun that she could have if she only lost… maybe she could finally redeem their status as queens of the school.
And maybe she could learn the dragon girl’s secret, and finally find her own true loves…
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