Peter set aside the problem of his unknown ally to deal with a problem of a more personal and difficult nature as he heard Harry enter the apartment. Peter gathered himself for the talk to come as he shut down the little dark room he'd set up for himself and stepped out into the apartment.
Harry looked at him for a moment in a mixture of guilt and embarrassment, before turning to the phone. Peter politely waited for the phone call, obviously to Mary Jane, finish.
"Incredible? What do you mean incredible?" Harry asked Mary Jane, drawing a bit of a self-indulgent smile from Peter behind him. "Listen, I could come over and take you out somewhere, buy you something. Because I like to buy you things. It'll make you feel better. Yeah, yeah. All right. I'll see you then. And what do you mean incredible?"
The phone conversation ended and Harry looked to Peter, still embarrassed.
"I'm sorry, I didn't want you to find out this way," Harry said. "It's just, you never made a move."
"You're right," Peter said idly. "I never did."
Harry decided he'd had enough at that point and changed the topic.
"What the hell was that thing?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," Peter said, thinking back to the maniac that had crashed the party. "But whatever it was, someone has to stop it."
Peter was wondering just how that could be done when he considered something else.
****
"I'm settled in fine over here," Kodachi said. "I am having no issue with my age. No, everyone is quite understanding of the issue."
Kodachi failed to mention that most American documents seemed to be operating under the assumption that she was actually eighteen rather than sixteen, an impression she hoped to keep up.
Graduating early had almost driven her, well, back into madness, but she had managed it.
"How are events proceeding back home?" she asked, eager to change the subject
from her somewhat prideful and unnecessary refusal to live as a so-called minor in a foreign country.
Besides, this made her older than Ranma and Akane instead of younger…
…in an admittedly dangerously treading close to self-deceiving manner that she should likely not pursue any further.
Kodachi paused a moment to listen to the response on the other end of the line.
"Nothing has changed then," Kodachi said with a sigh. "I suppose I could not expect much to in so short a time. I suppose we're all too young no to know better."
There was another pause and Kodachi took a sip of her tea as she sat in the dim room of her study.
"My maturation was not what one would call natural," Kodachi answered the unheard side of the conversation. "How about...her?"
Kodachi stood up straight, setting down her tea and looked disturbed for a moment.
"She'll be laying a plan of some sort," Kodachi warned. "No, there's nothing here she wants. She wants the same thing the rest of us do, Ranma. I'll keep my eyes open regardless."
Kodachi sat back down and cautiously tuck another sip from her tea.
"No, things are quite boring here," Kodachi said. "There was a little excitement the other day, I'll admit, but it is likely no where near as bad as the Tokyo papers made it out to be."
Meanwhile she glanced at the Daily Bugle, and especially the photographs of the battle, and considered things carefully.
The Bugle's photographers managed to find Spider-Man with uncanny accuracy. In addition, the other spider seemed to almost be posing for some of the shots. As if he was helping the photographer to get good shots.
That implied a certain…familiarity.
Curious that the other spider would be so supporting the paper that so viciously defamed him, but it would make an excellent cover. In any case, it gave her at least one lead for her search.
****
Kodachi walked into the office and looked about, her face partially-hidden by the expensively subdued pair of sunglasses she was wearing. Her off-center pony-tail rested on the black, faux-leather shoulder of her jacket, which was opened to reveal a green, silk shirt underneath, embroidered in a subtle and skilled manner with a vareity of floral patterns in reds and yellows. A tight pair of designer blue jeans further added to the assemble, but the finishing pieces were an exquisite set of high heels.
This outfit was not overly much to Kodachi's liking. The shirt was not so bad, but the rest of the outfit had problems. The jacket looked so terribly artificial, though a true leather jacket was certainly out of the question. She may have lost much of the insane pretension she had previously held, but she still held onto the samurai idea that wearing a piece of a dead animal was...unclean. The blue jeans looked fine, but they felt like they were either trying to crush her to death, crawl into forbidden areas or both. As for the shoes...
It was clear to Kodachi's mind, after numerous giggles and comments directed her way, that high heels were not commonly worn with jeans. There were two facts that did not help. The damn things were uncomfortable as hell and only her enhanced agility and balance training let her walk normally in them.
In any case, she had reached the Daily Bugle office alive and had managed to get up to this floor. And now, on to her task.
She saw a desk standing in front of an office and recognized the presence of what had to be a secretary for someone else. She worked her way wincingly to the desk and the name plate that read "Betty Brant."
"Excuse me," Kodachi said, looking about.
"Yes?" the woman responded looking up to see the girl for a moment before turning back to her work. "May I help you?"
"Quite," Kodachi said. "Who would I speak to about photographers?"
"If you have pictures to sell," Miss Brant said idly as she typed at the computer to call up an appropriate program. "I'll arrange an appointment with Mr. Jameson to review them. So if you w…"
"I do not think so," Kodachi said, with a but of a hmph. "I am not a photographer. I am looking for a photographer."
Miss Brant took on a long-suffering expression and closed the notepad on her computer, returning to the previous application as she looked again at the somewhat overdressed teenager in front of her.
"Listen, Miss," Brant said without pausing to get Kodachi's name. "This is a newspaper office, not an agency for photographers for hire."
"I am aware of this," Kodachi said testily. "But I understand that the Daily Bugle uses mostly freelancers, and I thought perhaps that..."
"Uh huh," Betty Brant interrupted, shaking her head. "That perhaps we give out the names of our resources so that other papers can make a bid on them?"
"Certainly not," Kodachi said with an appropriately arrogant snort. "I am merely in the process of organizing a...housewarming party at my estate in order to meet some of my neighbors and I was hoping to have the event documented."
"There are a large number of photographers listed in the," Betty paused for a moment as she picked up a certain word. "...did you say estate?"
"Yes, estate," Kodachi said. "I moved in yesterday afternoon."
"Can you give me the address?" Betty asked.
Kodachi sighed irritably and jotted something down on a piece of paper she took from a pad on Betty's desk before handing it back to her. Looking at the address, Betty recognized it immediately.
"Hmm," she said. "Would you mind sitting down for a moment, Miss...?"
"Kuno Koda...," Kodachi said, coughing as she caught her mistake. "Pardon me, I almost forgot this was the United States. Miss Kodachi Kuno."
"Right," Betty said. "Please sit down."
****
Kodachi was beginning to regret her choice of acts, because she was finding herself thoroughly roped into actually giving the implied party.
J. Jonah Jameson, it seemed, had seen a chance to make some further contacts. As such, he was willing to help her, not only with a photographer, but also with organizing and planning. Her little charade was quickly turning into a major society event and that scared her more than little.
"Now, about photographers," Kodachi said in a manner she hoped wasn't timid. "I want this to be a memorable event." It would be memorable for her if only a quarter of the people mentioned attended. "So if you..."
"We'll find you a photographer, don't worry about that," Jameson said brusquely, lighting a cigar as he spoke. "A professional one capable of taking pictures of more than just lunatics in Halloween masks."
"I'm not sure what you mean by lunatics in Halloween masks," Kodachi said. "Unless you mean that debacle at the Unity Fair."
Jameson looked at her as if she were subnormal mentally for a moment before realizing something.
"You only came to the States a week or so ago, that's right," he said nodding. "Yeah, the freak from the fair. A thug in a mask who plays vigilante, I have someone who gets me pictures of him in action. You'll probably see some eventually. Maybe you already have."
"How terribly plebian," Kodachi said, affecting her old tone of disapproval. "I should hope to avoid such characters as much as possible myself. A mask wearing 'crime-fighter'? It is too much to accept."
"A girl after my own heart," Jameson laughed. "I think there's something else behind this loony, and I intend to find it."
"That sounds like a worthy cause," Kodachi agreed, standing up. "In any regard, I thank you for your help on my party. You have my number and address, and I have your number here in case I need to consult on further points."
"No problem, Miss Kuno," Jameson said. "I'm always glad to help."
Kodachi nodded as she considered that, yes, she was now to a point that she needed to actually give the party. At least it would provide her a natural way to meet this photographer, who might lead her to this other spider-person.
She bowed politely to her host and left the room, catching the amused look of the secretary.
"More than you bargained for?" Betty asked.
"Quite a bit more," Kodachi said as she walked passed uncomfortably on her heels.
She stepped off the elevator, confused and cautious as she carefully headed for the street.
****
Peter walked into the office, looking about.
"Parker!" Jameson's characteristic voice sounded out through the office. "Get in here!"
Parker headed quickly to the office, glancing at Betty as he walked by, the secretary simply rolled her eyes.
Peter's eyes sparked a moment, he hadn't been expecting anything like that after only a couple of weeks of working there.
"Here you go, Mr. Jameson," Peter said. "The Oscorp press conference just like you asked for. But there was staff photographer there."
"Kid, if all you do is snap pictures of Spider-Man," Jameson said. "You're not going to get any real skill. So, when I send you out as a back-up photographer…be thankful I'm giving you the chance. Now, let's see if we can use any of these…"
Peter handed over his pile of papers and watched as Jameson went through his normal dismissive act over them. The man really got on his nerves…really quickly.
"Betty," Jameson yelled out.
Eyes rolling, Betty stood up from her desk and stomped her way inside.
"Yes," she asked patiently.
"Get me a list of our social photographers for that Kuno party-" Jameson started to say.
"Kodachi Kuno?" Peter asked reflexively.
Jameson and Betty both turned sharp-eyed looks on Peter as he said that.
"You know her," Jameson said with a smirk.
"Vaguely," Peter said. "She's a student in one of my classes."
Jameson's face broke out into a wide, lunatic grin.
"Peter, my boy," he said. "I knew there was something I liked about you."
****
"Make sure you thank her at the party," Mary Jane insisted as she stepped away from Harry and glanced down the hallway to see Peter coming into the loft. "Hey, Peter."
"Hey, MJ," Peter said. "What's going on?"
"That friend of yours, Kodachi," MJ said. "She saved Harry's life at the fair. I'm just reminding him to make sure to thank her for that."
"So you're going to be at that party too?" Peter asked.
"Oh, she invited you?" MJ asked. "I thought you were just classmates."
"No," Peter said, a little too quickly for Harry's comfort, but he pushed those thoughts aside. "Jameson wants me to go as a photographer, get pictures of the party goers and such."
"Oh, that'll be interesting," Mary Jane said.
"Yeah, I guess it will be," Peter said, wondering if he was always going to be moving on the fringes of high society without being part of it.
"I guess, between the two of you," Harry said. "I'll have to thank her."
****
Spider-Man landed in the dark shadows on the edges of Miss Kuno's property, but it was Peter Parker who walked to the gate to be admitted by the security that had been hired for this event.
Peter looked about the surroundings with an inevitable touch of envy. All the land within the walls, and the house ahead, belonged to one eighteen-year-old girl. Other girls Kodachi's age were saving for college and getting their own apartments, not splurging on an estate.
He shook his head clear of the emotion, however, as he walked through to the house, checking his camera.
"Parker!" a gruff voice shouted out. "It's about time you showed up!"
Peter turned around and was dismayed to see his boss, Jameson bearing down on him, a cigar chomped tightly in his mouth.
"I got here as fast as I could Mr. Jameson," Peter said.
"Next time start earlier," Jameson insisted. "And what are you doing just hanging around here, get to work and snap some pictures. There's a lot of big wigs around here."
"Right away, Mr. Jameson," Peter said, partially tuning out the cranking older man.
"And be sure to get some pictures of that Kodachi girl," Jameson said. "You should find her easy. Damn strange sense of fashion if you ask me."
Jameson's eyes bulged angrily as he looked around the room and then suddenly slackened as he was walking forward to genially shake some man's hand.
Peter shook his head in frustration as the bear of an editor proceeded to go about the business of making connections in the town. Peter did have to admit one thing that he agreed with Jameson on.
Kodachi was easy to find, but it wasn't due to a strange fashion sense, unless kimonos worn by Japanese aristocracy could be considered strange.
The high, shrill laugh that she produced was something that was anything but easy to ignore and forget, and it drew Peter right to the girl, making what the rich probably considered polite conversation.
Kodachi carried herself proudly, almost arrogantly, and seemed to have a cavalier manner towards everyone that she was presented with. As for the caterers and waiters that had been hired for the night, she barely seemed aware of their presence at all as they passed through the crowd.
Kodachi kept her gaze scanning as she talked, probably seeing that the guests were properly cared for.
Kodachi felt herself suffocating with each passing moment.
Here she was, continents away from Nerima, and she still behaved this way. It was as if she didn't know any other way to behave.
"Yes," Kodachi was saying. "It is a modest dwelling, I'll admit, but I shall require as few distractions as possible while I am attending school..."
"Excuse me, Miss Kuno," a girl's voice called out, attracting Kodachi's attention and immediately she felt a weight strike her chest.
It was that girl from the attack on the fair, and her boyfriend. Harry, Kodachi remembered, and from a resemblance to another guest, she had to assume that he was Harry Osborne. Of course, she should have known that anybody who would have been on that balcony would have had a chance of appearing at this party. She only wished this pair had decided not to attend.
She opened her mouth to talk them, and she knew what would come out.
"Yes," Kodachi asked. "What is it? I was in the middle of a conversation." She gestured to the other socialite that she had been speaking to."
"Don't you remember?" Mary Jane asked.
"I don't often commit to memory the faces of every person I see," Kodachi said.
"On the balcony?" Mary Jane reminded her. "You carried Harry away."
"Carried..." Kodachi blinked for a moment. "Ah yes, he's the one that fainted in the attack, right?"
"I didn't faint," Harry said, a bit angrily at the younger girl. "I got hit in the back of the head."
"Yes," Kodachi said doubtingly. "I'm sure that's what happened. Now, I was having a conversation, so I'll merely accept your apologies and we can finish with this."
"Apologies?" Mary Jane repeated, confused beyond belief.
"Yes," Kodachi said. "For my wasted time and effort. I do believe that section of the balcony never fell so my 'rescue' of him was completely pointless, while you were rescued by that garish acrobat in the mask, making my return to get you equally pointless. And now you are both engaging my attention when there are better things I could be doing. So, I'll simply accept your apologies and move on."
Why can't I simply get rid of the Rose?
The thought ground on her through the next conversation, which she went through automatically, filling in responses from the Rose's language.
"Excuse me a moment," she said at a break in the conversation. "I have to go powder my noise."
She left the hall, leaving the high society types to circle among themselves, just as they had been doing while she was there. The Black Rose wouldn't have noticed, but Kodachi did. She was unnecessary at this party, just a bit of entertainment for the industrialists and politicians and old money that had been invited. They would only get offended, or suspicious, if she stayed absent from her own party.
Either case allowed her to get out of the sight of the others and escape the Rose for a time.
She stepped out of the ball room and glided down the hall into a darkened room at the end of the hall that may have served as a library or second study for the previous owners. She sat down in one of the chairs heavily and leaned her head forward into her hand.
She was pathetic. That was the only thing she could say about it.
Even now that she was thinking clearly, her first reaction when socially threatened was to turn to the Rose, again. The idea that a year ago she wouldn't have been acting did not occur to her. All she saw was that she couldn't escape herself.
She turned to look at the door in the moment before it opened.
"This part of the building is not open to the guests," she said in a cool tone.
"Oh, sorry," the young man on the other side said. "I was looking for the bathroom."
Kodachi sat up a moment, a frown on her face at the comment. It was coincidentally similar to her own excuse for leaving the party. Then she looked and saw the face belonging to the voice.
"Peter Parker? What are you doing here?" Kodachi asked, before her eyes lowered to the camera about his neck. "You're the photographer that Mr. Jameson retained for me?" She stood up and flipped back her hair.
"Yeah, that's me," Peter said, watching her closely.
Kodachi frowned a moment and checked her clothes for any sign that they were too loose. She was, after all, well aware of the effect her own beauty had on some men. It wasn't always a good thing
"Are you feeling okay, Kodachi?" Peter asked. "You're not acting like you normally do."
The laugh that followed was shrill, but by no means amused. In fact, it seemed very much on the edge of lunacy.
"You have no idea what normal is for me," Kodachi said.
"If you don't like the party, then why call it?" Peter asked.
Kodachi sighed and considered her position. She needed to find this Spider-man, for that she needed to find out who the photographer that provided the pictures to the Bugle was.
Here she had a Bugle photographer in front of her.
"I was looking for a photographer," Kodachi said, honestly.
"Yeah, I know that," Peter said. "Bu…"
"No, you don't understand," Kodachi said. "I was looking for a specific photographer. The party was…sheer bluff. At least until Mr. Jameson latched onto the idea."
"Oh," Peter said. "I see, and now you're here acting like…"
"A sociopath," Kodachi noted. "Yes…I know."
"I wouldn't go that far," Peter said. "So what photographer were you looking for?"
"I think I'll discuss that with you later, Peter," Kodachi said, starting to stand up. "For now, you need your pictures and I need to show my face to the high society vultures."
"Listen," Peter said. "I've got enough pictures, and you're turning yourself into a wreck and that can't be healthy."
"The party must be attended to," Kodachi protested. "I have a duty as the host. And besides, it won't go on much longer."
Peter watched as she stepped past him, back out into the party.
****
Several thousand feet above the Pacific, a girl sat patiently in her first class seat. A smirking smile sat on her face as she twisted a black-petaled rose under her nose.
***************
Author's Notes: I have a little bit more that is prewritten, for those that have seen this arc before, I'm mixing and matching several of the variations I've had of this story so far. In addition, I'm having to do a lot of fill in writing.