Chapter 21

Myst-claimed In the mysts of time Rumiko Takahashi created a number of great manga's. Ranma ½ is her creation. I am simply borrowing her characters to write this story for my enjoyment and yours.

"Hi, I'm Ranma, would you like to be friends? Sorry, I already have a fiancee but I can always use another friend." Ranma says

Kodachi almost turns and flees but she is intrigued and at the same time very scared by this boy who turns girl. If she admitted to herself how terrified she was, she would flee into the evening screaming her head off. However, the KOS (Kuno Operating System) had another encounter with the infamous Blue Screen of Death and her mind went into partial shutdown while the system re-set. She simply stood there for a minute with a blank look on her face.

'Oh boy, I hope that finding out about me like this might break through her crazyness... but I didn't expect this... now what?' He waves his hand in front of Kodachi's face to see her reaction. There was none. 'Now what? I can't leave her like this.'

She comes out of it in a moment or so. She looks at Ranma and is about to scream when she sees his worried look. 'Someone is actually... concerned.. about me?' This thought short circuits her panic attack "Uh... yeah, I'm okay... I think." she says as she backs off another foot or two only to encounter the wall behind her. "Uh, I guess I should be going now..."

"Are you sure your okay? You look a little pale" Ranma says

"I'll be all right. I think I need to get home now... right, home... I'll be okay. I just need to get home and relax for a while and then all of this will make sense. …. Uh... interesting meeting you Ranma." she says and then turns away and jumps to the roof.

'That went pretty good. I think I will follow her and make sure she gets home okay' Ranma thinks. He leaps up onto the roof and looks for Kodachi. He sees her about 4 roofs away. He follows her without being seen and watches her enter the Kuno compound. The family ninja servant Susuki meets her at the door.

'Good. Now I can get over to Ryoga's and get his help.' Ranma thinks.

Kuno household

Susuki heard Miss Kodachi arrive and went to the front doors to see if she required anything. He knew that she had planned to ambush the Furinkan team tonight. He hoped that she would be a little less crazy for a few days. He was extremely surprised when he saw how she was acting.

"Miss Kodachi, do you need anything..." his voice sort of faded off as he spoke.

'Ah, Susuki..." she said in a sort of flat voice "I... uh.. I think I shall go to bed early. Yes, bed is good. Would you bring me a light snack please? Cookies and milk would be good. Yes, bed is good. I need some sleep and will need to talk to you in the morning... Yes morning is good. Bed is better."

To say Susuki is shocked is like saying the ocean is huge and wet. He recovered rapidly though. "Yes Miss Kodachi. Cookies and milk. Do you want it before or after your shower?"

"Shower? A shower is good... but I will wait until morning for that. Cookies is better. Do we have any snickerdoodles? Yes, snickerdoodles would be good right now." she says.

"Yes Miss Kodachi, we still have some snickerdoodles. I will bring them to your room in a few minutes." he says.

That evening, Ryoga's home.

Ranma has just finished describing what happened earlier. "Well buddy, I seem to recall that you know something about this gymnastics stuff. Do you think that you could help the girls train Akane enough to give her a chance against Kodachi?" Ranma says

Ryoga rubs the back of his neck and replies "I am a bit rusty. I've been on the road so much this last year that I haven't had any chance to practice most of the more obscure stuff I have learned." Ryoga says "I will do what I can to help though. We are going to have to work a lot to get her trained though. Can she spend at least 4 hours a day on this?"

"If she wants to beat Kodachi, she is going to have to make the time. I would rather spend the time with her though. I know what it's like to have to master a new technique in a few days and it's not always very fun." 'Boy do I know it. All those times before when Ryoga or someone else would hit me with something new really helped speed me along as a martial artist, but I had to pay the price... usually a painful price at that'

Ryoga thinks about it for a few minutes. "If Akane accepts and needs me to help train her, I will do everything I can. Where will she be training at?"

"I think the team will use the school gym for an hour or so after classes and then we can continue over at the dojo. That would give you an excuse to stay for supper. You haven't had Kasumi's cooking yet, so you are in for a major treat." Ranma says with a grin.

Tendo household a short time later

Ranma arrived back at the house just after the Gymnastics Team had left. He leaps up to her window and taps on it. Akane turns and sees that it is Ranma and motions for him to come in.

"It happened just as I remember from last time. Well, mostly happened as I remember it. This time I accepted their offer to train after school everyday. Is Ryoga going to help?" Akane asked

"Yeah, he will be in the gym after school and then come over here to help train you some more. We can train for an hour or so before supper and another couple of hours after supper. He will stay for supper with us and I can walk him home afterwords." Ranma says. "Oh yeah, do me a favor... don't trip over something and get hurt. I am NOT going to substitute for you this time. Too many people know about my girl side for me to get away with it again."

Akane nods her head. "The girls told me about their rescue. How did it go with Kodachi?" she asks

"It started good but she followed me in girl form and attacked me as I was changing back in an ally. She saw me change and then she screamed something and fainted. I had to catch her so she would not get hurt. When she came to, I set her down and she backed away ready to run. I could see how afraid she was so I was very careful in talking to her. She was so shook up that she asked me if she was hallucinating again... I told her about the curse and then... I said 'Hi, I'm Ranma, would you like to be friends? Sorry, I already have a fiancee but I can always use another friend.'. She, uh, sort of went into shock at that point and just stood there with a blank look on her face. I was starting to get worried about her when she snapped out of it. I followed her home at a good distance to make sure she was okay. Then I went and talked to Ryoga." Ranma says "I don't think she will stop by tonight for a visit, but she may do it tomorrow night."

"Any new ideas on what to do if she attacks me?" Akane asks

"Not yet. I guess we need to think about it some more.

The next morning, Kuno household

Kodachi woke up about 7am after having a nightmare where she turned into a boy in the middle of a match and everyone was laughing at her. 'Oh Kami... I wonder how Ranma can stand having that curse and still be nice and caring... and still sane. Maybe he does need friends... but I don't know if I can be one. I know I have had my own problems since Mommy died, but his... is much worse.' she thought.

Kodachi got out of bed and went to breakfast. She was still thinking about what had happened last night and what she would do about it.

'First thing to do is get information. Akane Tendo especially and also more on this Ranma person. I think he said his name is Saotome... Doesn't matter. He should be easy enough to find.' she thinks. "Susuki, I have a couple of jobs for you."

"Yes Miss Kodachi. What do you need me to do?" Susuki says

"It appears as though the Furinkan team will not be ready for the match next week. They plan to enlist an Akane Tendo as a substitute. I need all of the information you can get on her by 8pm. The second task is more difficult and more interesting I met a young man named Ranma Saotome last night. I do not know if I was hallucinating again, but he claims to have a curse. He is a very good martial artist so be careful. I don't want him to know I am interested... yet. The curse is... unusual to say the least. I will only say that it uses hot and cold water for triggers. You have until tomorrow night to get all the information you can on Saotome but give me a preliminary report on him tonight."

Tatewaki Kuno comes into the dining area as Kodachi is finishing up Susuki's instructions.

"What interest do you have in the Saotome's dear sister? Another one of your depraved schemes no doubt." he says as Susuki bows and departs. "Which Saotome has caught your interest? Ranma or his sister Rumiko?"

"I had an encounter with a Ranma Saotome last night. It was... interesting. He told me that he has a curse. A very interesting curse in fact. Susuki is going to get some information on him and then I will decide what I am going to do about him." Kodachi says.

"Ranma Saotome is apparently quite interested in my lovely Akane Tendo. I have attempted to chastise him for it every morning at school but his sister Rumiko keeps me from doing so. She is very accomplished kendoist and will take the national championship for her age group next year. Our bouts have improved my skills as well. It is too bad that the Kendo Club does not allow girls to join. She could easily defeat any of the opponents I have had this year in my matches."

"Why brother dear, it sounds as though you are interested in her." Kodachi says.

"I am only interested in her as a kendoist. She is much too young for me." he says."She is a very steadfast person though and one that could be relied upon to guard ones back in a real fight." he says. "Ranma is a very skilled opponent and is very tricky. He will attempt to deceive you and trick you into doing what he wants. On our first day together he tricked me into jumping out of a third floor window into the school swimming pool. I have not forgiven him for it, but now I can see some of the humorous aspects of it."

"What else do you know about him?" she asks

"I have heard rumors that lead me to believe that he is a sorcerer. I have talked to witnesses that claim to have seen him turn into a red haired girl with a remarkable resemblance to his younger sister. He must be using some kind of foul sorcery to be able to have ensnared my fair Akane and keep her from declaring her true feelings for me." he said.

Kodachi sits there for several minutes thinking about what her brother just told her ignoring his continuing rant about Ranma and his love for Akane Tendo.

'Apparently I was not hallucinating. Good. I think that this Ranma person might turn out to be more interesting then I thought.' she thinks. "Well brother dear, I must be off or I will be late for school. Ta Ta!"

A/N This version of Kodachi does realize that she has hallucinations on occasion. She does not realize just how crazy she is though. What does the future hold for her and Ranma? We will have to wait and see how the gymnastics competition comes out first. We already know that Shampoo is coming to it. It will be interesting to see how THAT complicates things.