Rain
Part 12
Beginning of the end.
++++++++++++
Kura Okami sighed; he had just woken up from a rather interesting
ordeal. Venus had decided to move into the Morisato home as well, much
to the distress of Keiichi. The preceding night had been interesting
to say the least, involving Venus and Urd's attempts to persuade him
into going into their room for the night.
He'd ended up in Skuld's room, with Raiden, Fujin, and Keiichi.
Venus had tossed the unfortunate boy out of his own room. Sleeping
arrangements had been interesting over the past few days, as scenes
like the preceding night were becoming the norm.
He sat down across from the two goddesses and frowned as he looked
at them, neither one had slept in days. They were beaten and dirty,
scheming against one another rather than sleeping. The pair was
glaring at each other hatefully as best they could. It was difficult,
because they were trying to stay up.
"Are they still at it?" muttered Skuld as she walked into the room
and stared at them for a moment.
"Good morning Skuld!" said Belldandy as she turned away from the
stove for a moment. She was used to scenes like this, and was ignoring
her sister and her rival.
"This is getting old. Why don't you both just go to sleep?" said
Kura as he sipped at a mug of coffee.
"I will, if you go with me!" said Venus as sweetly as she could.
She looked almost drunk she was so tired.
"No way! He's mine!" cried Urd as she clutched him by his arm
weakly.
Kura shook his head and stood up, taking both women into his arms
at the same time. He promptly tossed them both over his shoulders in a
fireman's carry. "That's it. I've had enough of this. You're both
going to bed."
"I don wanna!" muttered Urd irritably.
Venus was too busy clutching at Kura's behind to care.
"Hey! Leggo!" cried Urd as she pulled at her hands angrily.
Keiichi entered the kitchen next and watched the scene in
confusion. "What's going on?"
"Kura's putting them to bed, it's been almost a week now," said
Belldandy with a slightly worried frown.
"I don't know why he's even bothering, they're just going to do it
again as soon as they wake up," commented Skuld lazily.
"They'll calm down in a few weeks," said Fujin as he walked into
the room and sat down across from Skuld at the table.
"Morning, is Kura still alive?" asked Raiden as he strolled into
the room as well.
"Yeah," said Fujin as he lifted up a newspaper. He then frowned
and put it back down. "I hate these human newspapers, you have to turn
the pages yourself."
"It's not so bad," said Belldandy cheerfully as she stirred one of
the pots for a moment.
Skuld looked at Raiden and smiled. "Are you doing anything today?"
"Probably not," grumbled the god irritably as he crossed his arms.
"Good! You can help me then!" she exclaimed. "I need a good power
source."
He frowned and turned his head towards her for a moment. "I'm just
a battery to you aren't I?"
"Of course! What else would I want you for?" said the young
goddess as she stood up and grabbed his arm.
He allowed himself to be pulled away and sighed. "Just watch where
you stick those wires this time, all right?
+++++++++++
"Kura? Are you going somewhere?" asked Urd as she saw the god
putting on his shirt.
"I'm going to school," he said calmly.
"What? Why?" she said in mild surprise.
"Because not being here is the only way to make sure you two get
some sleep. I don't want to see either one of you around there
either," he said with a small frown.
Urd frowned and put her head back onto her futon. "Why bother
going to school though?"
"Well, I want to see how my friends are doing since I've been
gone," he said with a small shrug.
Urd nodded and passed out finally.
++++++++++++
"Ranma?" muttered Akane in shock as she saw a familiar figure
walking through the gates of Furinkan.
"Hey Akane," said the god cheerfully as he waved at her.
"What are you doing here?" she snapped angrily as she crossed her
arms over her chest and frowned.
"Checking up on things," he glanced around and saw a familiar
scene. The sports teams were sprawled out across the yard, unconscious
and beaten. "Man. I can't leave you alone for a minute can I?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped.
"Started this again have they?" he muttered as he tapped one of
the defeated students with his foot.
"What's it to you?" snorted the girl angrily as she turned her
back on him.
"Nothing I suppose," he replied with a small shrug. "See ya
around."
Akane blinked and turned to see him walking away. "Ranma! You
jerk!"
"Now what?" he said as he turned to face her again. "And stop
calling me Ranma, it isn't my name."
"You aren't going to do anything at all?" she said.
"You don't want my help," he said in reply. "Besides, you could
take these idiots blindfolded with everything you've been through over
the past year."
Akane blinked and nodded dumbly. "Um...yeah..."
"Don't sweat it. Just hurt a couple of em more than normal and
they'll get the idea. They aren't Kuno after all," he said as he
continued to walk away.
+++++++++++
"What the hell are you doing here?" snapped Ukyo angrily as he
walked into the room.
Everyone in the class turned to stare at her in shock.
"Going to class?" said the boy as he stared at her for a moment.
"You've got a lot of nerve coming her after what you did!" snarled
the girl.
"What? Jeez, you mortals are never happy," muttered Kura as he
frowned at her. "Look, I did you a favor, do you realize how much
being married to me would have sucked?"
Ukyo blinked at him. "What?"
"What? Did you think I'd just settle down and run your little
restaurant with you? Come on Ucchan don't be stupid. I've got
responsibilities now. I'd disappear for years at a time, I'll never
get old, and you'd be alone with your Okonomiyaki restaurant most of
the time. Plus, our kids, if we were even allowed to have any, would
be those heroic types. You know, super important destinies and stuff.
Trust me, that really sucks."
The girl blinked at him, everyone in the room was staring at the
scene in confusion, not understanding a word of what he was saying.
Ukyo was now sitting down at her desk with her head hung. Her eyes
were unreadable, and she simply sat silently.
Akane ignored the both of them, her usual expression of
frustration easily readable.
After a moment, Hinako walked into the room.
Kura settled in for a nice long nap.
+++++++++
After about twenty minutes into the class, Hinako noticed Ranma
was sleeping. "Mr. Saotome!"
The boy said nothing, not even trying to disguise his slumber. His
head was rolled back, and his arms and legs sprawled out as he slept
rather noisily.
Hinako raised the coin and pointed at him. "Happo fifty yen
satsu!"
She was promptly soaked as a stream of water squirted her in the
face from the center of her coin.
She blinked and stared at the offending coin dumbly. "What?"
Everyone in the class was staring at her.
"Happo fifty yen satsu!" Once again, nothing more than a squirt of
water.
The boy sat up and glared at her irritably. "Cut it out. That
doesn't work on me anymore." He rolled his head back and went back to
sleep once again.
Hinako looked close to tears. She rushed out of the room crying.
Akane stood over him and frowned. "Ranma! That was mean!"
"My name is Kura, and it isn't my fault that doesn't work on me
anymore. She's just lucky she didn't try to drain Raiden."
"Now what are we supposed to do?" snapped the angry girl as she
glared at him.
"Take a nap. It's relaxing," he replied calmly.
"You jerk!" snapped Akane as she attempted to punt him out of his
seat. He jumped away deftly and landed in front of the class.
"All right! All right! Jeez!" He scratched his head and picked up
Hinako's book. "I'll do it then."
Everyone in the class just about fell out of their seats as he
began to write on the board in perfect looking English. He paused and
looked at one of the words for a moment and frowned. "No, that's
French...hmmm..." He erased the word and replaced it with the proper
English word.
++++++++++++
"Wahhh! My punishment doesn't work any more! That delinquent
Saotome...! Wahhhh!" Hinako cried, clinging Principal Kuno's leg.
He frowned at her sadly and a single tear fell down his cheek.
"Don't worry Keiki, da big Kahuna know just what to do!"
"You...you do?" gasped the little girl joyously.
"Ya! You be gettin de bowl cut, and den be feelin all betta!"
The pair jumped away from each other, Hinako pointing her coin at
him, and him with his barber's shears held at the ready. After a
moment, Principal Kuno seemed to reconsider. "Or, we could just go and
be punishin dat bad keiki!"
++++++++++++
"He's got to be making this up," muttered Daisuke in confusion.
"What the heck is a 'preposition'?" agreed Hiroshi as he flipped
through the pages of his English book and frowned.
Kura was talking as he wrote on the board. Explaining the sentence,
"Most female pandas, tend to enjoy China in the spring."
The entire class had lost him about ten minutes before, if not
sooner.
It was about this point that Principal Kuno burst into the room.
"Ranma Saotome! You is bein de bad keiki!" He paused when he saw the
boy staring hat him, still writing on the board.
"Huh?"
Hinako stared at him dumbly for a moment. "What do you think
you're doing?"
"Teaching the English class," he replied with a small frown. "Like
you're supposed to be doing right now."
"You speak English?" said the teacher dumbly.
"Of course I do. I was on a ten-year training voyage. Most
countries don't speak Japanese. There's almost always someone who
speaks English though. How else did you think I passed your class when
I slept through it every day?"
Hinako blushed. "That's no excuse!"
"Why shouldn't I sleep? I already know all of this," he said with
a small frown. "I can just pull anything I need to know from the
Yggdrasil system."
"I think we be needin de buzz cut," said Kuno as his patience finally
gave out. He started to move towards Kura, but stopped when he
suddenly became soaking wet.
"Cool off," snorted Kura. There was a small rain cloud over the
principal's head, and it was pouring down on him.
"How you be doin dis?" said the principal as he looked up and put
his hand into the cloud.
"If you don't go away right now, I'll make sure your office is in
monsoon season for the next six weeks," said Kura as he glared at the
man.
The principal hung his head and walked away, the cloud following
just over his head.
"Give me that!" snapped Hinako as she snatched the chalk away from
the god's hand. She turned to stare at the board for a moment as he
sat back down.
++++++++++++
A half-hour later, Hinako was still staring at the board. It was a
complicated mess of brackets, phrases, and side notes. There were
tears running down her eyes as she stared at it. "There has to be a
mistake here somewhere...there just has to be..."
The bell rang for lunch, and the class stood up and began to
wander away.
Kura walked up behind Hinako and picked up a piece of chalk. He
put a period at the end of his example sentence and chuckled to
himself. "Oops, I forgot." He placed the chalk down and turned towards
Hinako. She was shaking with anger. "What?"
"You know English better than I do?!" she screamed.
"Probably," he replied with a small shrug.
She blinked, and looked down at the book in her hands for a
moment. "Um...do you think you could tutor me then?"
That took him by surprise and he chuckled for a moment. "Well, I
would, but Urd and Venus would probably kill the both of us."
"Oh, thanks anyway," muttered the teacher as she sat down at her
desk and sighed.
++++++++++++
"Kuno," muttered Kura as the boy swung his boken at him angrily.
"I have heard that you have destroyed my pigtailed goddess! I
shall never forgive you for this offence!" roared the boy angrily.
"Who told you that?" asked the god with a small frown on his face.
"These words were spoken to me by none other than Nabiki Tendo!"
said the boy as he slashed at him again.
"Figures," grumbled Kura as he dodged lazily.
"Vile demon!" said Kuno as he grew more frustrated.
"God," replied Kura lazily.
This caused the kendoist to pause. "Pardon?"
"I said I'm a god, not a demon," said Kura calmly.
"Base lies!" snarled Kuno angrily.
"Actually, I'm not allowed to lie," said the god as he sidestepped
the strike. "Not directly anyway."
"Ranma Saotome! You would have me believe that you are a god, and
not a dark sorcerer! Such foolishness!" snapped Kuno angrily.
"My name isn't Ranma Saotome, it's Kura Okami," replied the boy
lazily as he caught the boken to prevent the enraged Kuno from cutting
an innocent bystander. "You should be more careful, you almost hit
this guy."
"I shall free Akane Tendo from your clutches, and avenge the
pigtailed girl!"
"But, I already broke up with Akane," said Kura.
Kuno stopped completely. "What is this? Can it be true? You have
released Akane Tendo from your clutches at last?!"
"Yeah, pretty much," said Kura with a small nod.
"Weep for joy! At last Akane Tendo, we can be together forever!"
cried Kuno as he rushed away.
Kura watched him go and smirked. "That should be the end of him
for me."
Nabiki walked up to him and frowned. "Really?"
"What's he got to bother me about?" replied the god with a small
shrug.
"He'll still be trying to avenge the pigtailed goddess," said
Nabiki as she glanced in the direction he had gone in.
"I doubt it, out of sight out of mind. He'll be so busy with
Akane, that he'll forget about her almost completely," said the god
with a small shrug.
"What about her?" said Nabiki with a cold looking stare.
"This was your handiwork, don't look at me," he replied with a
small shrug.
"What?" gasped the girl in shock.
"Don't play stupid Nabiki. Have you forgotten what I am already?"
"You didn't used to be this smart," she said coldly.
"Remembering eons of memories makes you wiser, and smarter," he
said with a small shrug. "Plus the fact that I'm in tune with the
Ultimate Force now."
"What's that?" she said as she glared at him.
"Think of it as the program that keeps the universe running," said
Kura with a slight smirk.
"You should have more faith in me, I wouldn't be doing this if I
didn't think it would work out for the best."
"The best? Like having her marry Kuno and then go on a murdering
spree?"
"In the process making a National hero out of the man who shoots
her, and idolizing him to a little boy who will one day save countless
more?" replied Kura calmly.
"What?" gasped Nabiki in shock.
"Now, that man will live in quiet obscurity," said Kura with a
small frown. "Do you realize how many people are going to die because
of what I did?"
She shook her head and stepped away from him.
"It's best that you never do know. All I can say is this, your
sister's life cost more than you can imagine," he smiled at her and
stuck his hands in his pockets. "My sister told you about that did
she?"
"Sister?" muttered Nabiki in confusion.
"Nodoka Saotome, Yamma no Kami, take your pick," he said with a
small shrug.
"She's your sister?" gasped the girl in shock.
"Yup," replied Kura with a small shrug.
"She didn't tell us about that part," muttered Nabiki hatefully.
"Yeah well, it wouldn't be worth it to go back and change things
now," replied Kura with a small shrug. "It's too hard to change the
past. Plus we'd have to erase her memory exactly at the point she was
replaced in order to be sure everything went as it was supposed too."
"What about free will? Is that a load of crap or what?" snapped
Nabiki.
"No, but Father is the Almighty. He already knows what you're
going to do. It's kinda hurts if you think about it too hard, but it's
best to just forget about it. You can choose, but he already knows
what you're going to choose, so in a way you do...and you also kinda
don't."
"Oh, muttered the girl with a small frown as she turned away."
"Nabiki," called Kura.
"What?" she said as she turned to look at him.
"He does care, as bad as it seems sometimes. You just have to
remember, that he cares about more than just your feelings. There's a
whole universe out there."
She blinked and turned away without a word.
++++++++++++
Kura was on his way home that afternoon when he paused and leaned
against the wall. "How long are you going to follow me Mara?"
"Damn," she muttered as she walked out and stood next to him.
"You never were very good at sneaking around," commented the god
lazily. "Did you want something? Or were you just sent to keep an eye
on me today?"
She turned her head away from him and blushed. "Just keeping tabs.
You know, temptation and all that."
"Yeah, whatever," he said with a small shrug.
"You never put me to bed that way," she grumbled as she glared at
him.
"Oh please, I've had to dump you off at the entrance to hell more
times than I can count."
Mara blinked and stared at him for a moment. "I don't..."
"Of course you don't remember. You were smashed," said Kura with a
small chuckle.
"Yeah, well..." she frowned and turned her head away in
embarrassment.
"Don't worry about it," said Kura as he waved it off. "I wish we
could be friends again, Mara. I really do."
"We can be," she pleaded.
"No, we can't," he replied with a light smile. "You know that as
well as I do."
"I've come to give you one more chance," she said as she pleaded
with him with her eyes.
"It's always the last offer," he said with a small chuckle. "Kura,
this is the last time! I won't offer this again, Kura!" He pat her on
the back and started to walk away. "You demon's sound like used car
salesmen."
Mara frowned and vanished into the shadows. "I meant it this time
Kura. Goodbye, it was nice having you around again. Even if it was
only for a few days."
Part 12
Beginning of the end.
++++++++++++
Kura Okami sighed; he had just woken up from a rather interesting
ordeal. Venus had decided to move into the Morisato home as well, much
to the distress of Keiichi. The preceding night had been interesting
to say the least, involving Venus and Urd's attempts to persuade him
into going into their room for the night.
He'd ended up in Skuld's room, with Raiden, Fujin, and Keiichi.
Venus had tossed the unfortunate boy out of his own room. Sleeping
arrangements had been interesting over the past few days, as scenes
like the preceding night were becoming the norm.
He sat down across from the two goddesses and frowned as he looked
at them, neither one had slept in days. They were beaten and dirty,
scheming against one another rather than sleeping. The pair was
glaring at each other hatefully as best they could. It was difficult,
because they were trying to stay up.
"Are they still at it?" muttered Skuld as she walked into the room
and stared at them for a moment.
"Good morning Skuld!" said Belldandy as she turned away from the
stove for a moment. She was used to scenes like this, and was ignoring
her sister and her rival.
"This is getting old. Why don't you both just go to sleep?" said
Kura as he sipped at a mug of coffee.
"I will, if you go with me!" said Venus as sweetly as she could.
She looked almost drunk she was so tired.
"No way! He's mine!" cried Urd as she clutched him by his arm
weakly.
Kura shook his head and stood up, taking both women into his arms
at the same time. He promptly tossed them both over his shoulders in a
fireman's carry. "That's it. I've had enough of this. You're both
going to bed."
"I don wanna!" muttered Urd irritably.
Venus was too busy clutching at Kura's behind to care.
"Hey! Leggo!" cried Urd as she pulled at her hands angrily.
Keiichi entered the kitchen next and watched the scene in
confusion. "What's going on?"
"Kura's putting them to bed, it's been almost a week now," said
Belldandy with a slightly worried frown.
"I don't know why he's even bothering, they're just going to do it
again as soon as they wake up," commented Skuld lazily.
"They'll calm down in a few weeks," said Fujin as he walked into
the room and sat down across from Skuld at the table.
"Morning, is Kura still alive?" asked Raiden as he strolled into
the room as well.
"Yeah," said Fujin as he lifted up a newspaper. He then frowned
and put it back down. "I hate these human newspapers, you have to turn
the pages yourself."
"It's not so bad," said Belldandy cheerfully as she stirred one of
the pots for a moment.
Skuld looked at Raiden and smiled. "Are you doing anything today?"
"Probably not," grumbled the god irritably as he crossed his arms.
"Good! You can help me then!" she exclaimed. "I need a good power
source."
He frowned and turned his head towards her for a moment. "I'm just
a battery to you aren't I?"
"Of course! What else would I want you for?" said the young
goddess as she stood up and grabbed his arm.
He allowed himself to be pulled away and sighed. "Just watch where
you stick those wires this time, all right?
+++++++++++
"Kura? Are you going somewhere?" asked Urd as she saw the god
putting on his shirt.
"I'm going to school," he said calmly.
"What? Why?" she said in mild surprise.
"Because not being here is the only way to make sure you two get
some sleep. I don't want to see either one of you around there
either," he said with a small frown.
Urd frowned and put her head back onto her futon. "Why bother
going to school though?"
"Well, I want to see how my friends are doing since I've been
gone," he said with a small shrug.
Urd nodded and passed out finally.
++++++++++++
"Ranma?" muttered Akane in shock as she saw a familiar figure
walking through the gates of Furinkan.
"Hey Akane," said the god cheerfully as he waved at her.
"What are you doing here?" she snapped angrily as she crossed her
arms over her chest and frowned.
"Checking up on things," he glanced around and saw a familiar
scene. The sports teams were sprawled out across the yard, unconscious
and beaten. "Man. I can't leave you alone for a minute can I?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped.
"Started this again have they?" he muttered as he tapped one of
the defeated students with his foot.
"What's it to you?" snorted the girl angrily as she turned her
back on him.
"Nothing I suppose," he replied with a small shrug. "See ya
around."
Akane blinked and turned to see him walking away. "Ranma! You
jerk!"
"Now what?" he said as he turned to face her again. "And stop
calling me Ranma, it isn't my name."
"You aren't going to do anything at all?" she said.
"You don't want my help," he said in reply. "Besides, you could
take these idiots blindfolded with everything you've been through over
the past year."
Akane blinked and nodded dumbly. "Um...yeah..."
"Don't sweat it. Just hurt a couple of em more than normal and
they'll get the idea. They aren't Kuno after all," he said as he
continued to walk away.
+++++++++++
"What the hell are you doing here?" snapped Ukyo angrily as he
walked into the room.
Everyone in the class turned to stare at her in shock.
"Going to class?" said the boy as he stared at her for a moment.
"You've got a lot of nerve coming her after what you did!" snarled
the girl.
"What? Jeez, you mortals are never happy," muttered Kura as he
frowned at her. "Look, I did you a favor, do you realize how much
being married to me would have sucked?"
Ukyo blinked at him. "What?"
"What? Did you think I'd just settle down and run your little
restaurant with you? Come on Ucchan don't be stupid. I've got
responsibilities now. I'd disappear for years at a time, I'll never
get old, and you'd be alone with your Okonomiyaki restaurant most of
the time. Plus, our kids, if we were even allowed to have any, would
be those heroic types. You know, super important destinies and stuff.
Trust me, that really sucks."
The girl blinked at him, everyone in the room was staring at the
scene in confusion, not understanding a word of what he was saying.
Ukyo was now sitting down at her desk with her head hung. Her eyes
were unreadable, and she simply sat silently.
Akane ignored the both of them, her usual expression of
frustration easily readable.
After a moment, Hinako walked into the room.
Kura settled in for a nice long nap.
+++++++++
After about twenty minutes into the class, Hinako noticed Ranma
was sleeping. "Mr. Saotome!"
The boy said nothing, not even trying to disguise his slumber. His
head was rolled back, and his arms and legs sprawled out as he slept
rather noisily.
Hinako raised the coin and pointed at him. "Happo fifty yen
satsu!"
She was promptly soaked as a stream of water squirted her in the
face from the center of her coin.
She blinked and stared at the offending coin dumbly. "What?"
Everyone in the class was staring at her.
"Happo fifty yen satsu!" Once again, nothing more than a squirt of
water.
The boy sat up and glared at her irritably. "Cut it out. That
doesn't work on me anymore." He rolled his head back and went back to
sleep once again.
Hinako looked close to tears. She rushed out of the room crying.
Akane stood over him and frowned. "Ranma! That was mean!"
"My name is Kura, and it isn't my fault that doesn't work on me
anymore. She's just lucky she didn't try to drain Raiden."
"Now what are we supposed to do?" snapped the angry girl as she
glared at him.
"Take a nap. It's relaxing," he replied calmly.
"You jerk!" snapped Akane as she attempted to punt him out of his
seat. He jumped away deftly and landed in front of the class.
"All right! All right! Jeez!" He scratched his head and picked up
Hinako's book. "I'll do it then."
Everyone in the class just about fell out of their seats as he
began to write on the board in perfect looking English. He paused and
looked at one of the words for a moment and frowned. "No, that's
French...hmmm..." He erased the word and replaced it with the proper
English word.
++++++++++++
"Wahhh! My punishment doesn't work any more! That delinquent
Saotome...! Wahhhh!" Hinako cried, clinging Principal Kuno's leg.
He frowned at her sadly and a single tear fell down his cheek.
"Don't worry Keiki, da big Kahuna know just what to do!"
"You...you do?" gasped the little girl joyously.
"Ya! You be gettin de bowl cut, and den be feelin all betta!"
The pair jumped away from each other, Hinako pointing her coin at
him, and him with his barber's shears held at the ready. After a
moment, Principal Kuno seemed to reconsider. "Or, we could just go and
be punishin dat bad keiki!"
++++++++++++
"He's got to be making this up," muttered Daisuke in confusion.
"What the heck is a 'preposition'?" agreed Hiroshi as he flipped
through the pages of his English book and frowned.
Kura was talking as he wrote on the board. Explaining the sentence,
"Most female pandas, tend to enjoy China in the spring."
The entire class had lost him about ten minutes before, if not
sooner.
It was about this point that Principal Kuno burst into the room.
"Ranma Saotome! You is bein de bad keiki!" He paused when he saw the
boy staring hat him, still writing on the board.
"Huh?"
Hinako stared at him dumbly for a moment. "What do you think
you're doing?"
"Teaching the English class," he replied with a small frown. "Like
you're supposed to be doing right now."
"You speak English?" said the teacher dumbly.
"Of course I do. I was on a ten-year training voyage. Most
countries don't speak Japanese. There's almost always someone who
speaks English though. How else did you think I passed your class when
I slept through it every day?"
Hinako blushed. "That's no excuse!"
"Why shouldn't I sleep? I already know all of this," he said with
a small frown. "I can just pull anything I need to know from the
Yggdrasil system."
"I think we be needin de buzz cut," said Kuno as his patience finally
gave out. He started to move towards Kura, but stopped when he
suddenly became soaking wet.
"Cool off," snorted Kura. There was a small rain cloud over the
principal's head, and it was pouring down on him.
"How you be doin dis?" said the principal as he looked up and put
his hand into the cloud.
"If you don't go away right now, I'll make sure your office is in
monsoon season for the next six weeks," said Kura as he glared at the
man.
The principal hung his head and walked away, the cloud following
just over his head.
"Give me that!" snapped Hinako as she snatched the chalk away from
the god's hand. She turned to stare at the board for a moment as he
sat back down.
++++++++++++
A half-hour later, Hinako was still staring at the board. It was a
complicated mess of brackets, phrases, and side notes. There were
tears running down her eyes as she stared at it. "There has to be a
mistake here somewhere...there just has to be..."
The bell rang for lunch, and the class stood up and began to
wander away.
Kura walked up behind Hinako and picked up a piece of chalk. He
put a period at the end of his example sentence and chuckled to
himself. "Oops, I forgot." He placed the chalk down and turned towards
Hinako. She was shaking with anger. "What?"
"You know English better than I do?!" she screamed.
"Probably," he replied with a small shrug.
She blinked, and looked down at the book in her hands for a
moment. "Um...do you think you could tutor me then?"
That took him by surprise and he chuckled for a moment. "Well, I
would, but Urd and Venus would probably kill the both of us."
"Oh, thanks anyway," muttered the teacher as she sat down at her
desk and sighed.
++++++++++++
"Kuno," muttered Kura as the boy swung his boken at him angrily.
"I have heard that you have destroyed my pigtailed goddess! I
shall never forgive you for this offence!" roared the boy angrily.
"Who told you that?" asked the god with a small frown on his face.
"These words were spoken to me by none other than Nabiki Tendo!"
said the boy as he slashed at him again.
"Figures," grumbled Kura as he dodged lazily.
"Vile demon!" said Kuno as he grew more frustrated.
"God," replied Kura lazily.
This caused the kendoist to pause. "Pardon?"
"I said I'm a god, not a demon," said Kura calmly.
"Base lies!" snarled Kuno angrily.
"Actually, I'm not allowed to lie," said the god as he sidestepped
the strike. "Not directly anyway."
"Ranma Saotome! You would have me believe that you are a god, and
not a dark sorcerer! Such foolishness!" snapped Kuno angrily.
"My name isn't Ranma Saotome, it's Kura Okami," replied the boy
lazily as he caught the boken to prevent the enraged Kuno from cutting
an innocent bystander. "You should be more careful, you almost hit
this guy."
"I shall free Akane Tendo from your clutches, and avenge the
pigtailed girl!"
"But, I already broke up with Akane," said Kura.
Kuno stopped completely. "What is this? Can it be true? You have
released Akane Tendo from your clutches at last?!"
"Yeah, pretty much," said Kura with a small nod.
"Weep for joy! At last Akane Tendo, we can be together forever!"
cried Kuno as he rushed away.
Kura watched him go and smirked. "That should be the end of him
for me."
Nabiki walked up to him and frowned. "Really?"
"What's he got to bother me about?" replied the god with a small
shrug.
"He'll still be trying to avenge the pigtailed goddess," said
Nabiki as she glanced in the direction he had gone in.
"I doubt it, out of sight out of mind. He'll be so busy with
Akane, that he'll forget about her almost completely," said the god
with a small shrug.
"What about her?" said Nabiki with a cold looking stare.
"This was your handiwork, don't look at me," he replied with a
small shrug.
"What?" gasped the girl in shock.
"Don't play stupid Nabiki. Have you forgotten what I am already?"
"You didn't used to be this smart," she said coldly.
"Remembering eons of memories makes you wiser, and smarter," he
said with a small shrug. "Plus the fact that I'm in tune with the
Ultimate Force now."
"What's that?" she said as she glared at him.
"Think of it as the program that keeps the universe running," said
Kura with a slight smirk.
"You should have more faith in me, I wouldn't be doing this if I
didn't think it would work out for the best."
"The best? Like having her marry Kuno and then go on a murdering
spree?"
"In the process making a National hero out of the man who shoots
her, and idolizing him to a little boy who will one day save countless
more?" replied Kura calmly.
"What?" gasped Nabiki in shock.
"Now, that man will live in quiet obscurity," said Kura with a
small frown. "Do you realize how many people are going to die because
of what I did?"
She shook her head and stepped away from him.
"It's best that you never do know. All I can say is this, your
sister's life cost more than you can imagine," he smiled at her and
stuck his hands in his pockets. "My sister told you about that did
she?"
"Sister?" muttered Nabiki in confusion.
"Nodoka Saotome, Yamma no Kami, take your pick," he said with a
small shrug.
"She's your sister?" gasped the girl in shock.
"Yup," replied Kura with a small shrug.
"She didn't tell us about that part," muttered Nabiki hatefully.
"Yeah well, it wouldn't be worth it to go back and change things
now," replied Kura with a small shrug. "It's too hard to change the
past. Plus we'd have to erase her memory exactly at the point she was
replaced in order to be sure everything went as it was supposed too."
"What about free will? Is that a load of crap or what?" snapped
Nabiki.
"No, but Father is the Almighty. He already knows what you're
going to do. It's kinda hurts if you think about it too hard, but it's
best to just forget about it. You can choose, but he already knows
what you're going to choose, so in a way you do...and you also kinda
don't."
"Oh, muttered the girl with a small frown as she turned away."
"Nabiki," called Kura.
"What?" she said as she turned to look at him.
"He does care, as bad as it seems sometimes. You just have to
remember, that he cares about more than just your feelings. There's a
whole universe out there."
She blinked and turned away without a word.
++++++++++++
Kura was on his way home that afternoon when he paused and leaned
against the wall. "How long are you going to follow me Mara?"
"Damn," she muttered as she walked out and stood next to him.
"You never were very good at sneaking around," commented the god
lazily. "Did you want something? Or were you just sent to keep an eye
on me today?"
She turned her head away from him and blushed. "Just keeping tabs.
You know, temptation and all that."
"Yeah, whatever," he said with a small shrug.
"You never put me to bed that way," she grumbled as she glared at
him.
"Oh please, I've had to dump you off at the entrance to hell more
times than I can count."
Mara blinked and stared at him for a moment. "I don't..."
"Of course you don't remember. You were smashed," said Kura with a
small chuckle.
"Yeah, well..." she frowned and turned her head away in
embarrassment.
"Don't worry about it," said Kura as he waved it off. "I wish we
could be friends again, Mara. I really do."
"We can be," she pleaded.
"No, we can't," he replied with a light smile. "You know that as
well as I do."
"I've come to give you one more chance," she said as she pleaded
with him with her eyes.
"It's always the last offer," he said with a small chuckle. "Kura,
this is the last time! I won't offer this again, Kura!" He pat her on
the back and started to walk away. "You demon's sound like used car
salesmen."
Mara frowned and vanished into the shadows. "I meant it this time
Kura. Goodbye, it was nice having you around again. Even if it was
only for a few days."