Deluded? You lie! Part 6
Kasumi walked serenely over to the door. She wondered who it could be. Nowadays visitors to the Tendo home tended not to use the door – not that Kasumi was angry about that, no – but it made ordinary greetings at the door so much nicer.
"Good evening," said Kasumi to the visitor standing outside. "Please, do come in." She smiled sweetly at the visitor, and stood aside to let her in to the house. Inwardly Kasumi felt slightly confused. The girl in front of her didn't seem to be acting quite right for some reason…
***
Kodachi straightened out her Furinkan High uniform and left her room, heading down the hall. She rubbed her eyes carefully, not wanting to smudge her eyeshadow. It was still early in the morning.
In the kitchen Kodachi set the table for two – Principal Kuno wouldn't be staying for breakfast. Idly, she reached for a container in the cupboard. Not a normal shaker, though. It was one of her 'special' ones. Her dear, dear elder brother hadn't been particularly polite recently, and she felt it was time to teach him a lesson.
"Odd…" The container was empty. Hadn't it been full yesterday? Surely her memory, usually perfect as every aspect of her was, could not be failing her? Never mind, another powder would do as well as the first.
"Rrrrrrgh!" she groused. That one was empty too! And the next! They were all empty! But who would dare to break in to her private collection of…special additives?
How…How did the thief get past the traps?
Each one had been painstakingly set up, each more complex than the next. As a child, Tatewaki had played at getting past the traps Kodachi set, but now he would never even try, for fear of unpleasant surprises. Why, even her dear, often absent father could not breach the sanctity of the cupboard, but not from lack of trying. He claimed that he needed the paralysis potions to assist with the haircuts of his more difficult students, but Kodachi would hear none of it. Not when one of the aforesaid students was her darling Ranma! That is…Akane Tendo or the pigtailed girl with a buzzcut would be quite a different matter indeed…
"My collection…ruined! Who could have done such a thing?" bemoaned the Black Rose. She had other stockpiles, certainly, but this was her most extensive, and she felt the loss of it keenly.
"Why so distraught, sister dear?" said her brother, peering through the doorway.
Kodachi snapped the cupboard doors shut, and turned around, composed once more.
"Distraught? Not at all." Kodachi stepped back to preparing breakfast, but could not lace Tatewaki's food with a laxative as she had intended. No matter…Anyway, this morning Tatewaki seemed polite enough. Almost friendly, perhaps.
"Ah, a delicious meal, sister. You truly have outdone yourself," said Tatewaki.
He was actually smiling! But he couldn't have been the one to break in to her cupboard, could he? Yet…he had not paused to check his food for even the most obvious of poisons she might have used, had he expected her to be angry with him.
"You seem happy today, brother." Kodachi deadpanned. "Has one of your bimbos agreed to date you?" Hope does, after all, spring eternal. Perhaps if Kodachi took incriminating photos of such a date, and showed them to her Ranma-darling, that would break the spell.
…Break the spell?
"Sadly that is not the case. Saotome, the cur, has spelled them so that they cannot agree to date me, even though their hearts so clearly cry out for that above all else. Yet I shall persevere. No, my happiness is not of that cause."
"Then tell me, brother dear." said Kodachi coldly. Her head ached, and she had no desire to listen to her brother's ramblings.
"I have thought long upon what you told me yesterday evening, sister, and I am pleased at your change of heart. I fully accept your apologies." Tatewaki got up from the table and walked out of the room. "Oh, and as you requested, I will talk to father today. It is high time for him, too, to alter his ways."
EH?!
Kodachi was left speechless...For a few short moments, by which time Tatewaki had left the Kuno residence, and was well out of range of projectile weaponry.
Her? Apologizing to Tatewaki? Preposterous. She hadn't done anything of the sort. She didn't recall even speaking to Tatewaki on the previous evening.
Although, Kodachi realized on her way to school, she didn't remember anything about the previous evening. What had happened? She'd been at the Nekohanten, but then…
***
The pill Cologne had given her must have been a dud. Kodachi could detect no more warmth in Ranma's gaze than on the day before, and he sat as far away from her as he could – this was difficult, as his desk was right next to hers. And every inch he moved his desk away from hers was an inch closer to the desk of Akane Tendo.
Kodachi sighed in disappointment. There was nothing else to but confront Akane and Ukyo at lunchbreak and force them to break the spell. She fingered the sachets of powder she'd strapped to the insides of her sleeves. Poison, paralysis, sleep and more, salvaged from her other stockpiles. One in particular held interest for her today, one she rarely needed to use…This day would show its worth, Kodachi knew, if she used it on her opponents to a subtle enough effect.
"…How are you today, Kodachi?" asked Akane warily, whilst Miss Hinako's back was turned.
The Black Rose sniffed haughtily, almost not deigning to reply.
"Well enough," she said. What did Akane care? Why risk the wrath of the aura-draining teacher by whispering in lesson time?
She's planning something. Ah, but so am I! O-hoh-hoh-hoh-hoh! O-HO-HO-HO-HO! OHOHOHOHOHOHOH!
Kodachi froze, noticing with a chill clarity that she had been talking out loud. She cursed the Kuno tendency towards confusing internal and external dialogue…
"Delinquent! How dare you disturb the peace of the classroom!" squeaked Miss Hinako, turning from the blackboard like an avenging angel. "Happo-five-yen-satsu!"
"Eeeeeeek!"
Oh, how Kodachi hated this school.
***
When Kodachi regained consciousness, she heard voices. Three voices, in the air above her. She kept her eyes closed and listened.
"I dunno." said one. The voice sounded familiar. "You saw her earlier – she's just as nutty as usual." Of course! It was her Ranma-darling. How could she forget him?
"Then how do you explain what she said yesterday?" said a female voice. Kodachi still felt disorientated from Hinako's aura-draining, but she knew that voice too.
"Must've been an act. Some sort of trick…" Kodachi heard her beloved say. Who was he talking about?
"What do you mean 'what she said yesterday', Akane?" said the third voice. Ah, Kodachi could put a name to that voice. Ukyo. So the other one was…
"She came to my house yesterday," said Akane. "And it was as if she were a different person! She apologized – she actually apologized for all the things she's done. It was so strange."
"She said what?" said Ukyo.
"That's what I thought! But it's true." said Akane.
"I still don't believe it," said Ranma. "She had to have been lying."
Kodachi did love to hear her darling talk, but she was well aware that his speech was often sloppy. When they were married, she would have to remedy that. The partner of the Black Rose would need impeccable manners if he were to truly be her match. Which reminded her…His current wardrobe would have to go.
"You're just upset because you've lost one of your girlfriends!" said Akane.
"She was never my girlfriend in the first place!" said Ranma.
Who has he lost? That Shampoo girl, perhaps?
"You mean…" Ukyo trailed off.
"Yes." said Akane, smugly. "She didn't just apologize. Kodachi also renounced any claim she might have had on Ranma."
Kodachi's eyes snapped open, and she jumped to her feet.
"Never would I say such a thing as that!" she cried out, incandescent flames seeming to flicker behind her. "Liar! Liar!" And, at a loss for more eloquent terms, she finished…"Liar!"
"I thought she was asleep." Ukyo commented. "Well, looks like she's back to normal now."
"My darling and I will be together forever, no matter what you say! I know all too well of what you plot!"
"You accuse us of scheming?" growled Akane. Then the Tendo girl's anger deflated. "Look, Kodachi, you need help." she said quietly.
Kodachi gave a brittle smile. "I need no help, and certainly none from you! However…"
Akane, Ukyo, and Ranma paused to listen.
"…Perhaps I do require help." Kodachi batted her eyelashes and assumed a distressed expression. "Ranma-darling, Akane Tendo speaks the most terrible of lies. Do not believe her! Please, tell me you do not believe her. I assure you my devotion is unchanging, truly it is!"
"Err…er…" stammered Ranma.
Kodachi managed to squeeze out a few tears.
"Um...That is, sorta, uh…" He stepped back, looking for an escape route.
"Oh, grow a spine, Ranma!" said Akane. "I'll prove she said that!"
"Why bother?" said Ukyo, crossing her arms. "Kodachi hears what she wants to."
"True…" said Akane, hesitating.
Now past the shock of Akane's allegations, Kodachi began to regain her composure. These falsehoods meant nothing. Nothing. After all, did not she, the Black Rose, know the ways of scandal better than any other?
"Akane Tendo…How foolish you are, trying to slander me in this way. I am surprised that you even attempt to do so. You attempt to break the rules that the ordinary humdrum peons have set out. But in the same way that I am above those rules, so are you below them!" said Kodachi.
Ohoho…Slowly, slowly the cunning spider weaves her web, and lies in wait for the fly…
Indignation rose on Akane's face like the sting of a slap.
"I'm trying to help you, you idiot! You asked me to help you!" said Akane
Ukyo laughed, but not unkindly. "Then I don't think she wants your help anymore, sugar."
"She asked for your help? That…doesn't sound like Kodachi at all." said Ranma.
"Precisely, my dear Ranma." said Kodachi sweetly. She just had to push Akane a little further, and then…
"You – you're agreeing with her!" said Akane.
…Then Akane would show her true colours.
"You JERK!" Akane moved forwards, towards Ranma.
"Akane, wait! I didn't mean tha-" Ranma panicked, but his effort was for naught.
THWOCK!
Akane lowered her fist, leaving Kodachi reluctantly admiring the powerful wallop that had sent Ranma flying in a perfect arc out of, no, through the window.
Ukyo gaped at the shattered glass on the floor.
"You shouldn't have done that! Ranma-honey just isn't good with words. And don't think I'll help you clean this up."
Akane rounded on Kodachi. "You DID ask for my help yesterday, and if you weren't being so difficult, I could!"
"Oh, why keep up the pretense, Akane? Now that Ranma-darling has left, you have no need for that charade." Kodachi sneered.
"Charade? You don't remember, do you?" said Akane.
"I…" There did seem to be a hole in her memory, didn't there? After…after she took the tablet Cologne gave her! To Kodachi's finely honed mind, this sounded deeply suspicious. She made the final, vital connection. "Of course I remember yesterday!" she lied. "And I did not speak to you at all. Whyever would I grace your home with my presence, if not to visit my Ranma?" Well, if Akane really could answer this, Kodachi would be most obliged to know…
"Because…" Akane trailed off. "No, it's no use telling you now. But you'll see reason soon."
The true meaning of Akane's words slid in to place in Kodachi's brain. Akane meant to put a spell on her as well! A powerful spell, to make Kodachi discard her beloved. Ah, but never in a million years could that work, of this she was sure. Had not Gosunkugi said that spells to divert true love did not truly work? Which meant, she realized with glee, that the dark enchantment on Ranma must by now be breaking! Why had she not understood this before?
"O-hoh-hoh-hoh-hoh-hoh! At long last, all becomes clear!" Kodachi laughed, and saw Akane and Ukyo cringe before her.
"Shut up!" said Ukyo, covering her ears against the terrible sound.
Akane winced too, for the grating laughter echoed around the almost-empty room like nails scraped across a blackboard.
"You pitiful cowards never had a chance of coming between me and my darling…" said Kodachi, sighing happily.
"Pitiful cowards?!" said Ukyo, feeling at the very end of her patience.
"Yes…skulking in the shadows. But your spells have no effect! Tell this to your allies, and give up your dark ways forever!" Kodachi conveniently forgot that her own preferred method of combat was indeed of the skulking-in-the-dark-shadows variety.
"We're no cowards, Kodachi, but YOU are!" said Akane. "What is it you said before that martial arts gymnastics match, huh? You like to 'fight in all fairness…' before the match! Without cheating, you can't win!"
"Hah! This from the girl who injured herself rather than fight me? The pigtailed witch replaced you, did she not? Even she, trollop that she is, has more courage than you, Akane Tendo." The Black Rose hated the pigtailed girl with a passion, but at least the wretch had had the stomach to face her.
"Uh…calm down, okay?" Ukyo backed away from Akane, who had begun to glow a most interesting shade of blue.
"Why you…you…" Akane's present expression could not by any stretch of the word be called cute.
"Of course," Kodachi went on unconcernedly, "What else could I expect from an uncultured peasant like you?" She then caught sight of Akane's face, which was now a delicate shade of purple. "Ahhhhh…"
Ukyo made it to the door, where she collided with Ranma, who looked at the scene before him and decided that he'd been better off in the bushes where Akane's punch had landed him. Ukyo, usually brave in the presence of peril, just felt glad to have someone to hide behind. Hurricane Akane was brewing, and promised to leave destruction in its wake.
"Ohohohohoho…" Kodachi tittered, but only for appearances sake.
"Well then…" said Akane, seething, "I think it's time for a re-match! I challenge you…that is, if you've got the guts to face me."
Kodachi felt somewhat…disheartened, for some reason that she told herself she didn't know. But when she noticed Ranma had returned, she had no choice.
"I accept your challenge, Akane Tendo! But when I win, you will release your claim on my Ranma-darling!"
"If you win." Akane snapped.
"Indeed." Kodachi tried to make light of the situation. "And if you should win?" Of course, the Tendo girl would lose…
"If I win…" said Akane, suddenly all smiles. "If I win…" She reached in to her pocket and took out a small drawstring bag. Akane let one orange tablet fall from the bag in to her palm. "If I win, you will take these."
End of part 6
Notes: For those who guessed about anti-insanity pills…you were right!