Soun and Genma returned from their grisly errand late
that night, covered with grime and reeking of garbage. Soun
dismissed the curious glances he got from Ranma and Akane
with a curt, "It's finished."
Although neither of them was totally comfortable with
that, they weren't really all that keen to hear the details,
either. Kasumi, who had returned from the library earlier,
just wrinkled her nose at the bedraggled condition of the
two men (or, as it was, one man and one panda). "Go on you
two. Get cleaned up, and then I'll clean the furo so that I
can take my bath."
Soun, now in his full "river-of-tears" mode, looked
lovingly at his eldest daughter. "Thank you, my dear, dear
Kasumi. You take such wonderful care of us...." His voice
cracking, Soun Tendo followed Genma-Panda upstairs.
*********************************************************
Kasumi tried to relax, letting the hot bath water soak
into her skin, working the knots out of her muscles. {It's
been a long week, and I don't think its going to get any
easier, for a while, at least...}
Unseen, a single eye peered through a dark hole in the
ceiling of the bathroom. The position of the aperature
offered an almost perfect view of the room. Had Kasumi
looked up at the right moment, she would have seen the eye
gazing at her with a mixture of lust, tenderness and regret
that would be hard to fathom.
Instead, she simply stretched luxuriantly, allowing her
unseen observer an even better view of the forbidden
territory.
In the darkness of the attic, Soun Tendo, Master of the
Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, wept, even as he began
to relieve the throbbing ache in his loins, the only way he
knew how....
*******************************************************
Sasuke slipped quietly through the darkened streets of
the Nerima District. He had been given a job to do, and he
dared not fail the one who gave him his instructions. Not
after what had happened to the senior Kunou....
He paused briefly to hide when he saw a duck wearing
glasses strolling down the street. {Poor Mousse, he has
almost as many troubles these days as Ranma...}
He finally arrived at Ucchan's. Slipping out a small,
carefully sealed packet of dust, he climbed to her bedroom
window. He carefully tore a small hole in the corner of
the packet, checked to make sure the breeze was right, and
dumped the silvery contents. He watched as the sparkling
cloud settled around the sleeping Ukyou.
Slowly the warrior-chef began to toss in her sleep, her
breathing deepening into soft moans. Sasuke kept silent
watch as her hands moved of their own volition, bringing her
the kind of pleasure that she had been so long denied.
Just as her motions reached their climax, Sasuke leaned
into the window and whispered, ever so slightly, "Ranma
Saotome sends his love."
Then he slipped into the night, not even waiting to see
if the concoction would work the way he had been told it
would. He had no worries on that point--these mixtures
*always* worked.
Besides which, he had another stop to make, and the
timing had to be perfect....
********************************************************
Nabiki tossed and turned, unsleeping, on her bed. She
had been in a state of indecision and shock for days, and
had finally reached a conclusion. Now she just needed the
right time, and the courage to go through with it.
The time would have to settle itself, but she had a
good idea where she could go for the courage.
She got up, dressed and went downstairs, careful not to
wake anyone. She didn't want anyone to know how much she
was hurting--not yet, anyway.
She slipped out the door and into the comforting embrace
of the dark night, failing to notice the living shadow
working its way up the back of the house to Ranma's window.
********************************************************
Ranma stirred in his sleep, brought to conciousness by
some deep, inner instict telling him he was in trouble. As
he looked around the dark room, he realized how right it had
been.
Standing there, half-illuminated by the square of
moonlight coming through the now-open window, was Ukyo, her
eyes seeming to blaze with some feral hunger.
"Ucchan...What are..." Ranma's voice failed him as a
casual flick of Ukyo's right hand sent to the floor the silk
belt that had held her robe shut.
Her voice, low and husky, came across the room. "Shhh.
Tonight's the night, Lover-boy. Tonight you undo all those
years that I spent masquerading as a guy. Tonight's the
night I become a true woman." Even as the full meaning of
her words sunk into his convoluted thoughts, he felt himself
responding to the tone of her voice and the half-glimpses
afforded by robe and moonlight.
"Wha--what about Pops?" Ranma asked, glancing around for
the slumbering form of his old man.
"Don't worry. I saw him downstairs, raiding the fridge.
It looked like he'll be stuffing his face for a few hours,
at least."
{Damn! What a time for him to get the munchies.} As he
felt desperation take hold, he forced his brain to come up
with another counter to this 'attack'. "Wait, Ukyou, this
isn't right. If Akane walks in right now, she'll kill us
both."
"Oh, would you like me to take care of her first, then?"
The question came out with no emotion at all, as she
gestured to the battle spatula propped against the wall.
"NO! I mean, no, I don't wan't anyone to `take care' of
anybody else!"
"But, Ran-chan, I want you to take care of me." Another
subtle movement sent the robe to rejoin its belt, at the same
time accenting her figure. "Don't tell me you're not
interested--I can tell differently by the line of your boxer
shorts."
"Look, Ucchan, it's not that I'm not flattered, and I
might even be interested--someday. But until I'm sure who I
want to be with, I'm not gonna be with anyone. Got it? If
I did take what you're offering, I'd just be using you--and
I don't use my friends. You mean too much to me for me to
treat you that way."
Ranma noticed, with relief, a fade in that feral gleam
in his old friend's eyes. Something about that look had
done more than just frighten him--it had reminded him of
something. If he could just get a moment to think, he was
sure he could put it together.
"So this what Sneaky Spatula-Girl get up to at night,
try to steal Shampoo fiancee!"
Ranma couldn't stifle the groan that came from the pit
of his stomach. {So much for getting time to think.}
********************************************************
Nabiki was kneeling beside Kunou's grave. The fake
grass lying over it somehow bothered her, and she pulled it
off.
{There. I don't think you would like being under yet
another false cover, eh, Kunou-baby? Might as well at least
be granted the honesty in death you were denied in life,
right?} Another crying jag came over her. How many had
there been since the funeral? It seemed like there was no
end to the river of tears. {Honestly, I'm getting as bad as
Daddy,} she thought ruefully.
"I should have known *you* would be here."
The voice, angry, cold, almost inhuman, caused Nabiki to
freeze. Slowly, so as to provoke no reaction, she turned to
look at the place where the voice had come from. Stepping
around one of the larger tombstones was...
"Kodachi." The name came off her lips like a prayer.
"Oh, Kodachi, I am so sorry. You must be hurting so...."
Her voice trailed off slowly, as she saw the gleam in the
eyes of the Black Rose, and realized that any of her words
that did make it through to Kodochi's mind were travelling
through a haze of madness.
"Oh, so you know what this one is going through? So
you know how much this one is hurting?" Kodachi's spat out
the words, bullet-like, and they seemed to Nabiki to strike
with an almost physical force. "How fitting, since it is
YOU who have caused all of this one's suffering!"
Nabiki stood, confused and suddenly afraid, taking a
couple of steps backward, looking for an opportunity to run,
but afraid to turn her back on the gymnast. {C'mon, think,
girl! Stall for time!} "I don't know what you're talking
about..."
"She doesn't know what I'm talking about," Kodachi
mimicked with a savage expression on her face. "I'm
talking about how you, with your sluttish Siren's charms,
seduced away my darling Tatewaki, forcing this one to stop
him from sullying the glorious Kuno family name."
Nabiki's thoughts roiled, part of her mind refusing to
accept the horrific conclusion that the rest of her had
come to. "You...you killed him? To stop him...from coming
to see me?" Rage started to bloom beside the horror and
fear.
"Of course. That is what one does with an infected
beast. After you had poisoned his mind, how could I do any
less, when his honor was at stake?"
"You BITCH!" Nabiki threw herself at Kodachi, fear
completely forgotten in the red haze that seemed to have
clouded her thoughts. "I'll kill you!"
Kodachi sidestepped, laughing. "I am sure you would
like to add another of the Kunou clan to your roster of
death, but I am afraid that you will be denied that option
this night."
She pulled a hoop from behind another tombstone, and
sent it spinning through the cool night air. As it dropped
around Nabiki's body, it contracted, pinning her arms to
her sides.
"Ohohohohhoho. I shall have to thank Sasuke. This
playtoy he designed worked perfectly."
Nabiki lay on the ground, trying to rise. With the last
of her breath, she opened her mouth and screamed. "AKANE!
RANMA!! HELP!!!"
"Now, now, can't have any of that, can we?" A red
gymnastics ribbon snapped out, wrapping itself around
Nabiki's head, muzzling her. She could feel some kind of
adhesive on the inner side of the ribbon, sealing it to her
face.
"Now what shall this one do with you? Hmmm...I guess
it would be best if I took you back to the mansion to finish
this business. We wouldn't want to be interupted, now would
we?"
Nabiki watched, helplessly, as Kodachi pulled out a
throwing pin. Just before it descended, she heard Kodachi's
words. "Don't worry, you won't be alone. Father is already
down there...."
And then there was pain, and darkness overwhelmed her. She
welcomed it.
**********************************************************
Chapter Six
Thoughts & Reflections
Well, I'm now pretty sure I know where this is going. Of
course, the last time I thought that, I wound up with a
completely different chapter (Nabiki was supposed to wander
into Chateau Kuno on her own, dammit!)....
Anyway, I'm pretty sure we're reaching some kind of climax.
By my count, anyway, I've got 1-2 more deaths and two
``events'' of importance, as well as some filler. I may get
this thing finished in 10 Chapters yet....
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