Curse of the Nanban Mirror

Chapter Thirteen: The Song that Soothes the Heart

I was peacefully repairing my damaged fans when… "LION'S ROAR BLAST!" The ground shook; I caught my mug of tea before it fell off the edge of my new coffee table.

"They're at it again," I sighed before sipping my tea and placing the mug back at the center of the table.

Ryouga apparently has finally learned how to do that damnable chi attack… though, I'm quite sure he was supposed to know it before Herb came… not really sure, everything seems to be out of order or something. I got up to open the window before walking into the kitchen to prepare some snacks. It's only a matter of minutes before one of them come flying into my apartment.

"Damn it!" Ah, so it's Ranma.

"Don't you even dare think about punching a hole in that wall Ranma, or I'll be having breasts for dinner tonight," I commented and I returned to the table with the snacks.

"Katsu!" he flushed in embarrassment at my words. I shrugged; I wasn't in the mood to being polite and clean in my mindset today. "I usually say I'll have pork, but seeing you're here instead of Ryouga, I think it's justifiable to say breasts instead of pork." He stared at me for a bit, momentarily distracted by my randomness. "Well, are you just going to stare dumbly at me? Or are you going to rant about how Ryouga defeated you?"

"He did NOT defeat me! Ranma Saotome does not lose! This is just a minor setback! I'll beat him just yet!" He declared furiously.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that," I murmured as I clamped tightly onto the frame of the fan with my pliers trying to keep the damn thing still while I struggle to pull the cloth into place. The frames were custom made, but I put in the cloth myself. After all, I can't let the guy who makes these know what I use, or else he'll charge extra. Besides, I'm adding something new.

"So… what are you doing?"

"Nothing of your concern," I sighed as I finished and snapped the fan close and open again to test it. I grinned when it made a sound I like.

"Are you doing something new with your fan?" Ranma asked curious, he must've heard the sound difference as well. I snapped the fan open before waving it gently.

His ear twitched. "Is that this whistling?"

I grinned and pulled the fan sharply upwards before snapping it close. "Kind of neat isn't it? Though, I'm not really sure it'll be useful yet, it's still on testing stages."

He sighed. "At least you have something to master, I don't even know what the hell to even start on! How the heck does Ryouga do it!?"

I shrugged. "I haven't started on this martial arts thing until I came to Nerima… but I did notice something about Ryouga, he seems more miserable than usually…"

"Miserable?" he perked up at the thought.

"Don't you even think about it, it's not worth it," I murmured as I checked the rest of the fan to make sure nothing is loose. "Long term depression or a long term of any emotion would only do more harm then anything else."

"Is that why you're so apathetic most of the time?" I paused and glanced over to him. "Don't try to deny it Katsu. I'm not the smartest person around, but I'm not stupid either." I didn't say anything as I went back to fixing my fan. It wasn't long before Ranma decided he won't be able to get me to talk and left for the Tendo residence.

Once he was gone, I dropped the guise of fiddling with my fan; I was done with it the moment the fan played its lullaby. "That was interesting; he's not as much of an idiot then he usually appears."

"Shiyu, are you sure it's going to take a full year before that mirror is fixed?" I sighed exasperatedly.

"The date isn't going to shorten just because you want it to," she commented dryly as she strolled over and snatch up my fan curiously. "Why did you find the need to make your fan into an instrument?"

"I got bored and wanted to slack off from the translations," I grinned cheerily. "What I told Ranma was just a load of bull shit."

"I… see…" Shiyu sighed before smacking me over the head gently. "Get your ass up girly, time for training if you have that much free time to spare."

I flinched. "Um… can I go back to translations?" For those of you that can't see Shiyu at the moment, she has the most frightful smile. It may seem gentle to those who doesn't know her, but as her disciple of sorts… I am terrified.

"Come on can't you do any better than that girly!? Get your ass up in gear!" her voice cut through the air like a hot knife on butter… okay, I know my metaphors suck, sue me.

"Mercy, mercy, mercy!" I half chanted, half screamed as I ran from her attacks.

"You have to fight back at some point girly!" Shiyu roared as she snapped her whip at me. My fan appeared instantly to block before I jumped on and took flight.

"PRIDE OF THE FIERCE TIGER!" A white blast flew from a distance away. I couldn't help but stare in awe at the light. Compared to Ryouga's green blob of misery, this was almost pretty.

"Where are you looking at girly?" I yelped as Shiyu caught my throat with her whip and hauled herself onto my fan.

I grasped onto the whip gasping for air. "G-get off!" Yeah… ninety pounds of pressure wrapped around your throat can do that to you…

"You're not always going to get opponents that would let you off easily, so get your ass out of this yourself," she said as she leaned over the edge of my fan.

I landed the fan before I stood my ground. I reached back to pull out my new fans to swipe at her or at least poke her with as a stick. My attempts were pathetic; already, my vision was slowly fading and I struggled for breath. It's all right; she won't kill me anyway, so I shouldn't worry. I was expecting to lose consciousness any time soon.

"DELIQUENTS!" screech a little girl's voice. Oh no… I barely had time to turn when I felt my energy getting zapped away and I fell to the ground soundly. "How dare you attack a fellow student!? Come back here!"

"Shut up fool," if I had energy I would shiver. "Your insolence will not be tolerated."

She's going to be feeding. By the way, this isn't the first time I've witness her preparing for a feeding. Shiyu has this quirk she picked up from over the years. She does not feed from children, elderly, sickly, druggies and pregnant woman. Though, what's more important is that she would not use allure or as she fondly names it, the sex beam, by hypnotizing the other person to be completely infatuated with her. Instead she uses the allure to scare the crap out of her victim and paralyzing them in place before she attacks.

"W-what are you going to do!?" the woman's voice was terrified. A low rumble of laughter from Shiyu made the woman collapse to the ground in horror. I could hear her gasping breath and the scratching of the clothing on the ground as she trembles in fear.

"What do you think I'll be doing human?" she hissed.

"Shiyu stop," I whispered weakly as I struggled to crawl up from the ground.

"Silence," she hissed. "I shall feed at my leisure!" Oh, did I mention when she does one of these things, she goes all out until she's done.

"You said you wouldn't feed when I'm around!" I whined, yes, it's a whine.

I absolutely hate it when she feeds around me. As she is a defective vampire, her allure does not control the person, it just affects them as an external problem, rather and internal one. In other words, if she uses it, whoever that is in the location would feel her intent. Meaning, I am getting scared shitless at the moment with this woman.

"Why protect this woman? She has wronged you, she must die," she hissed again. Another thing, Shiyu has a thing against killing, when she said she'll kill you, she's not serious... at least I hope she's not serious.

I struggled to push myself from the ground. "Stop it," I said again.

"I shan't," responded my defective guardian.

"B-boy! R-run while you can!" the woman shouted to me. I didn't have the energy to turn to her.

"She has seen our exchange, she must die!"

"God damn it! Can't you stop for once! Just wipe her memory and leave her alone!" I argued irritably.

"Wipe my… memory!? DELINQUENTS!" the woman seemed to have gotten her wits back.

I don't have enough energy to fight her off, but I still have those three… I closed my eyes and quickly opened the last three chi points before I felt that restrictive feeling back at my chest and eyes. My breathing became heavy and harsh as the chi rushed through my system. I barely managed to jump out of the way as the woman screamed something; the tree behind me seemed to have wilted. Why is she attacking me? Can't she see I'm only trying to help?

"Delinquents!" It's that word again, that hateful word, that damnable word. Why does everyone insist on calling me a delinquent? Mom did her best to keep me from being one. Why the fuck do they keep calling me that? What the fuck did I ever do to them!?

My vision turned red, I felt my face warm up and the back of my eyes pulsing painfully. "I'm not a fucking delinquent you ungrateful bitch!" My chi rushed to my hand and materialized my glider fan.

"Delinquents!" I was quite certain she said something else other than that, but I couldn't hear anything other than that hateful word.

With a quick sliding of my hand over the metal surface of my fan, it snapped open and hugged close to my arm. Everything seems to slow down as I whipped my fan around and strike at the woman. That word, delinquent, repeated in my head again and again in that horrible screech. I can't stand it! My attack missed as she scrambled out of the way. I screamed furiously, irritably, outrageously, I'm not even certain what I want to call it.

"Burn in hell, bitch!" I faintly remember myself roaring, my body was acting on its own.

My fan lasted only minutes as I used it to slash at the woman and blasting her with chi enhanced squalls. By the time I snapped open my new battle fans, I found the restrictive feeling fading slowly. The red slowly disappeared from my vision. The woman was on the ground cowering away with some scratches and cuts and coins scattered all around her. My fan was aimed at her neck, only inches away from touching it. My body was trembling as my breathing slowed down to a quiet whisper.

"D-Don't kill me," she whimpered and backed away. I watched in horror as her body shrunk into a child's, it's Hinako sensei. My grip slacked and the fans dropped to the ground, whistling the lullaby as it fell.

"I'm a monster," I whispered as I backed away from her.

"Listen to my voice as I say this," Shiyu's calming voice started. "Sleep and never remember of this incidence ever again and I will spare your life." Hinako's terrified eyes slowly closed as she slipped into a peaceful slumber.

"I almost killed her," I whispered to myself in disbelief.

"You did pretty well today. Slipped into your berserker mode a bit unexpectedly, but that is usually the case with berserkers. Well done," Shiyu complemented. One that I don't think I've earned, but I'm too tired to argue. I quickly closed off the three flaring chi points and found myself completely exhausted and without energy.

"Will she be okay?" I asked meekly.

"A little wind never hurt anyone," Shiyu snorted before turning on her heel to face me. "She'll wake up in a few minutes thinking she fell. Now go home, or do I have to escort your girly ass back home too?"

"… I'll be able to get back on my own… You're probably hungry right?" I whispered.

"Get over it girly. Training in two days," Shiyu said sharply before she left me alone.

I glanced over to Hinako's slumbering form for a moment before I picked up my fans and slowly trekked out of the desolated park we fought in. It was a slow trek back to the apartment, my body aching with each step I took. The image of Hinako's fearful face and tearful eyes was burned into my mind. I suddenly felt very cold.

"Katsuki-chan, are you all right?" a gentle voice snapped me out from my zombie march back to the apartment.

I glanced up only to be met with Kasumi's worried eyes. "K-Kasumi-san," my voice cracked as my breath heaved painfully at my chest.

She moved to grasp my hand gently before leading me along. If I wasn't so torn, I would have noticed that she lead me back to my apartment. By the time we entered my apartment, I broke down crying in her arms. I wasn't sure what I was blubbering to her, but she sat there understandingly, whispering reassurances and rubbing my back soothingly. I found myself being lulled to sleep by her lullaby. I'm a monster… but you know what? There is always music to soothe the beast.

o.o.o.o.o

The next time I awoke was when my alarm rang for the next day of school. Groggily I slapped the damnable thing silent before snuggling deeper into my covers; I don't want to go to school today. It took a moment for me to realize I was back in my natural form and dressed in my pajamas instead of the clothing I wore the day before. I flipped to my stomach before I noticed a note next to the alarm. I grabbed it lazily and flipped it open.

"I hope you're feeling better Katsuki-chan, I made you some food before I left. I didn't get a word you were saying earlier, but if you still feel like talking, you can come over after school. Kasumi," I finished the note quietly before burying my face against the pillow laughing. I don't know how much more of this world my sanity can take.

The alarm rang again… I pulled my covers over my head and slapped the alarm silent again. I don't feel like going to school today.

o.o.o.o.o

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

I awoke to the incessant knocking at my door… Who the heck still uses the door to my place? They usually come from the window. Groggily, I snuck a hand out of my covers to grab my alarm clock and glanced at the time. It was nearly four in the afternoon. I must've slept the day away. Reluctantly, I crawled out of my warm covers and staggered to the door before irritably yanking the door open.

"May I help you?" I drone out tiredly, trying to keep my temper in check, scratch the morning person thing, I'm not a person period when I first wake up. I blinked when I didn't see anyone.

"Oh, did I get the wrong house? Young lady is this residence of Katsuya Shinochi?" I glanced down to see Hinako. "He wasn't at school today and I'm doing house calls for the school."

"Katsuya-kun isn't home today, he—"

CRASH

"Katsu! You weren't at school today and— YOU!" I sighed and side-stepped as Hinako drained Ranma dry and walked into to haul his body out of the apartment.

"Sorry to have disturbed you. Please inform Shinochi-san that he is expected at school tomorrow… And young lady which school do you attend?" She asked.

"I'm twenty," I lied. "I just share the apartment with Katsuya-kun; it cuts the bills in half."

She huffed. "Well, that is very indecent! Do you dress like that while he's—" I slammed the door in her face. I'm not in the mood to deal with her teachings. It's enough that I'm haunted from nearly killing her, but to get scolded again?

"Young lady open up this door!" She banged on the door loudly, demanding I open it.

"This is ridiculous," I murmured before grabbing a change of clothes and a hair tie.

Leaving from the front is out of the question, so I'll just have to leave through the window. I picked up Kasumi's bento and my music player before bounding out of the apartment on my fan. Living at the edge of Nerima has it perks; it's easier to get to wide open spaces.

It took less than fifteen minutes for me to fly to a remotely grassy land. I thought I was going to have a moment of peace out here enjoying my homemade lunch from Kasumi, but I must've gotten my dad's gene for being a trouble magnet. I was in mid-bite when it happened.

POP CRASH

"Bloody potion! It always blows up at the most inconvenient times!" I slurped up the noodles before glancing up at the nasally foreign voice. It had a distinctive British accent… or it could be Australian, I could never tell them apart. "AH DAMN IT! Where the heck is my nose!?"

I blinked when she turned around and her nose was clearly missing and blood oozed from the gapping hole in her face… I wasn't exactly sure why I wasn't disgusted, but I guess her cursing up a storm and looking around frantically for her supposedly missing appendage had something to do with it. She was dressed in pantsuit with a torn black robe over it, I'm guessing whatever potion she was messing with, destroyed that article of clothing. I was just going to go back to my lunch when I found said missing nose in my lunch.

I sighed in irritation as I picked the bloody appendage out of my bento with chopsticks. I placed my bento aside before getting up to walk over to the foreigner. "Miss, are you looking for this?" I asked almost dryly.

"My nose!" She cried almost happily as she hurried over to grab the appendage and plant it back on her face. Her hand glowed briefly before the nose melded perfecting back. "Thank you so much! Would you happen to have a tissue?"

I blinked before handing her a tissue to clear her nose of the blood clog. "Are you a witch?" I couldn't stop myself from asking such an obvious question.

She paused before glancing over to me. "Are you not a witch as well?"

I blinked. "Pardon?"

She placed her hands on her hips in exasperation. "I'm asking are you not a witch yourself? If you possess no magical abilities, you would have just not seen me."

"I don't have…" I paused before chuckling. "I guess being cursed counts as having something magical."

The woman perked up almost excitedly. "What type of curse? I haven't done curse lifting for quite sometime! May I lift it for you? Please? Pretty please?"

My eye twitched as I backed away from her. "I'm quite fine with my curse at the moment…"

"But curses always turns out bad in the end! Let me please!"

I backed away a few more steps. "That's okay! I don't even know who you are!" It was only a brief second before she appeared in front of me and grabbed my arm, hauling me off to who knows where.

"Never fear! Faye de Audley shall right you once again! I am a Potion Master and Potion Inventor, I'm highly qualified." She gave a laugh that eerily resembled Kodachi's, raising a hand and snapped her fingers before I can protest.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's safe to say… I've just been kidnapped… I hate you dad. "Miss Audley?"

"Please call me Faye… hmm… I haven't gotten your name yet!" She dragged me along merrily before shoving me into a seat in front of a table littered with books and notes.

"Just call me Katsuya," I replied as she walked about the room waving her hands as she went. The books and notes reorganized themselves and neatly sorted back into shelves that are in this private study.

"Sorry about the mess, I was researching about memory wipes. Do you know how infuriating it is to have an apprentice take the day off because of a pimple problem!?" She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "If I didn't want to prove that damn geezer Riolu wrong, I would've just taken a male apprentice. Is it so much to ask for one female apprentice that can care less about their looks and more about their skills?"

If I didn't hear Riolu's name, I would have just classed her as a feminist. "You said Riolu, he's an old wizard right?"

"I thought you said you're not a witch. How did you know about Riolu?" Faye asked suspiciously.

"I have an acquaintance that knows Riolu and he's currently doing something for her," I answered sheepishly.

She huffed. "What did she get that geezer to do anyway? I can make it a hundred times better!"

"It's a broken magic mirror."

She paused, "Broken mirror? And a magical one at that?" she pondered for a moment. "Those are usually very hard to deal with. How long did Riolu say it'll take him?"

"A year… um… if you don't mind me asking, where am I?"

"Le Havre." She answered casually.

I paused… "That wouldn't happen be in France… would it?"

"Qui! West of Paris." she grinned. "Surprised by my lack of accent didn't you?"

Now what is the normal reaction for a person to have in this situation? … Whatever those answers are; mine is to laugh. "HAHAHAHA!" I hugged my sides giggling. "This is so messed up." I grinned and glanced over to Faye who was waving her hands over the mess of cauldrons. The mess cleaned up itself magically, but she manually handled the ingredients that still lingers.

"You're quite a peculiar young woman aren't you? Never mind that," she placed her hands at her hips. "Now what was that curse of yours?"

"It's easier to show it to you before I explain. Do you have a glass of cold water by any chance?" I asked. She snapped her fingers and a glass hovered in front of me. "Thank you," I took the glass before dunking it onto myself.

The change was instant, the disappearing and reappearing of body parts is nothing to me by now. Ever since Ranma came to me about his girl problems, I occasionally forget that I'm even in my girl form when I'm at the apartment.

"Amazing! Is it truly a full transformation?" Faye asked excitedly as she patted my chest curiously. I was a bit irritated at the invasion of personal space, but at least she kept her curious prodding above the belt. "Adams apple too!" she murmured to herself as she felt around my neck. "Speak! I want to hear the voice difference!"

"I don't think there's much of a difference, I have a husky voice for a girl."

"A pitch lower, but not by much." She hummed as she prod me some more. "Where exactly did you obtain this curse?"

If you're asking why I'll letting this woman do this to me… well, the answer is that she has a very, very frightening dog sitting right under the table I'm sitting at. I've very terrified to what she might have that dog do to me. "Some part of China. It had a valley of cursed springs. Whoever falls into it turns into the last thing that fell in and drowned."

Faye frowned a bit before stepping back and motioning her hands towards the shelves, a book flew out and zoomed into her hands… I'm not sure should I follow Shiyu's thought of wizards and witches being lazy asses… or just follow my instinct to scream FREAKING COOL look at the flying books! They go whee! … But hey, that's just me.

"Hmm… I don't have much on eastern sorcery…" She muttered to herself.

"Um… I rather not touch the curse; since it's very unstable… being a guy isn't so bad… I just can't wear dresses anymore… not that I liked them," I muttered the last part darkly. Mom seems to love putting me in pink frilly dresses.

"Hmm… Where did you say this spring was? China?" There's a glint in her eyes. I may not have known her for long, but whenever someone has a glint, it's a bad thing. "OH, HO, HO! This is a challenge to Faye de Audley! Don't worry Katsuya dear. I'll find a cure for your situation. The only payment I ask of you is to let me show you off to Riolu when I get it done! Okay? All right! Just wait for me to come get you okay?" She grinned brightly before snapping her fingers.

"Hey I didn't—" seconds later, I found myself landing in a koi pond painfully.

"Katsuki-chan?" Kasumi's voice rang through the air.

I glanced up with one eye closed as my hair was dripping wet. "Hehe, sorry to drop in like this," I grinned sheepishly.

"Are you feeling all right?" Kasumi asked worriedly.

"I'm perfectly fine…" if not a little weird out by my odd day. My stomach growled before my face flushed. I guess that little trip with that weird witch distracted me from eating lunch.

Kasumi giggled. "Why don't you come in and dry off while I go make you a snack to eat? My father and uncle Saotome had gone out a little while ago and won't be back until dinner. Come on!"

She smiled warmly before hauling me out of the water and shoving me to get changed while she went off to make food. Interestingly enough, I was wearing her clothes again. I was walking back to the kitchen when I heard that lullaby. I felt the stress melt away as I leaned against the door frame, a song that soothes even the beast.

"Wearing my sister's clothes again Katsuya?" Nabiki's amused voice made me open my eyes. "I might start thinking you actually enjoy cross dressing." She's not too far from the truth actually.

"Just had a little accident when I passed by," I responded warmly.

"So why weren't you at school today?" she asked almost suspiciously.

"I had a little run in yesterday and was attacked by a strange woman. I couldn't get up this morning." It's almost truthful.

She raised a brow. "This woman wouldn't happen to have used a coin, did she?"

"How'd you guess?"

"Five hundred yen," she responded almost immediately.

I laughed. "That's okay sempai, I'm sure I'll find out eventually. After all, how many martial artists are here without a reason?"

"We're home!" Akane's voice boomed into the house as the door slammed shut. Nabiki and I walked over to the entrance curiously. "Katsuya-kun! What are you doing here? Never mind that! Can you help carry Ranma to his room?" Akane said before tossing his sorry ass into my arms. "I had enough of his nonsense for today!" She huffed before storming off.

I grinned. "At least she was nice enough to carry your sorry ass back neh?"

"Shut up," he mumbled weakly.

The door slid open. "Excuse me," I twitched at that voice. Hinako was at the door.

"Hinako sensei! What brings you here?" Nabiki asked almost in mock cheeriness.

"Nabiki-chan! I'm just doing house calls. Is your father home?" She asked chirpily before noticing me. Her eyes narrowed almost immediately. "Do I know you young man?"

"I believe you visited my house earlier and I wasn't home. I had some matters to attend to with the company I'm working with. I hadn't had time to file an absence with the school." I'm getting so good at lying… I really shouldn't be proud of this. Mom would be so disappointed.

"… Well, remember to file one next time! And tell that young lady in your house to dress better before tending to the door! Who knows what strange might take advantage of her!?" She scolded.

I laughed sheepishly. "I don't think anyone would dare do anything to her at that state. She's quite violent. Ah, excuse me; I need to drag Ranma-kun back to his room. He seems a bit exhausted today."

Hinako hmphed. "That delinquent deserved what he got."

"I'm quite sure Hinako sensei." I said light-heartedly before hauling Ranma off to his room.

"Suck up," Ranma muttered.

"I'm not the one that needs someone to carry his lifeless ass around am I?" I said before accidentally ramming his body into the banister. "Oh look how clumsy of me."

"You're doing this on purpose!" he mustered as much energy he could to accuse me.

I grinned. "What are you going to do about it weenie?"

"You jack—OW!"

"What was that you said Ranma? I didn't hear you?" He muttered dark deeds under his breath and spouts of revenge he'll take against me when he gets his energy back, but I'm not worried.

"Katsuya-kun, the food's ready," Kasumi shouted from the stairs below.

"Coming!" I said before tossing Ranma into his room carelessly. Why should I bother with being gentle anyway? He can take it, besides I have the goddess that can soothe any beast with a gentle melody on my side. Heh, I'm getting a little insolent with my placement in this reality. I wonder what sort of punishment I am heading for at this rate. "Looks great Kasumi-san!" I said brightly as I dug in.

"There's still more if you want," Kasumi responded brightly.

"I'm quite sure I'm heading for seconds!" I responded with much gusto. Whatever punishment I'm heading for, I'm willing to take it straight on, just to see my reality once again.

o.o.o.o.o

Cm Aeris: (laughs nervously) um… sorry for the long wait? (hides behind Killua as the readers tosses whatever vegetables and injurious items at her) I have no excuse. xD

Killua: The chapter didn't turn out the way she wanted it to, but she'll get back on track on the next chapter.

Koganei: We're quite sure you've noticed some new characters, but they won't play a big role! So don't worry!

Mokuba: Other than that FRI!