Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, I do not claim any rights to any of the characters or concepts created or owned by Viz Video or Rumiko Takahashi. This is just the work of one fan to the others. The only characters or concepts that I claim are the ones I created or introduced. That said, I bring you:
Broken Mirrors, chapter 52
Sunday, March 13th. Hikaru Gosunkugi's room.
Gosunkugi heard the door open and close as he finished getting ready while he was in the bathroom. He had been expecting to have room service show up and deliver his meal, but the honey and cinnamon taste that lingered at the back of his throat was all too familiar to him to not recognize it immediately. He sighed and walked out into the main room where he could see the figure of the succubus Kodachi Kuno in profile as she laid out the meal he had ordered with careful precision.
"Do you mind telling me what you are doing here, Kodachi?" He asked the succubus while he stood at the entrance to the main room.
Kodachi poured Gosunkugi a .tea before she turned and smiled at him. "And what, pray tell, do you mean? mean here in Las Vegas, your room?"
Gosunkugi hesitated, then sighed and walked over to sit warily at the table where Kodachi had prepared a place for him. When the Succubus did not make an immediate move on him, he managed to relax at least a little as she smiled and sat down opposite of him. "Both, I imagine." The former occultist said.
"Well, I decided that it was time that we stopped pretending that you didn't know I was here, and that I didn't know that you were aware that I was here." Kodachi said with a smile.
She sat down and crossed one leg over the other as she sipped her tea. "And I am here because I wanted to protect two people that have come to be important to me." Kodachi said as she watched Hikaru over the rim of her cup.
Gosunkugi sighed and started in on the meal that sat before him. "How many times do I have to tell you that what you are feeling could not be affection. Like you yourself said, your kind are incapable of such feelings. It's just a manifestation of your hunger." He said as he pointedly did not look at her.
"Yet, here I am, and I have not tried even once to feed off of you, no matter how incredibly delicious you are." Kodachi said with a smile.
Gosunkugi shifted and adjusted his collar a bit. "I still don't see why you thought all of this was necessary."
Kodachi sighed and sat back in her chair. "Hikaru, we can either keep dancing around this, or talk about it. But, I'm willing to take my time, as long as you will stop avoiding me."
Gosunkugi closed his eyes and nodded. "Just…. Not right now, okay. And I will try to not avoid you, as long as you respect my privacy and personal space."
Kodachi nodded and sighed as she her cup. "I… am sorry it came to all of this…. I wish I had not given into my urges…"
"We are not going to talk about this, not yet, okay? And, it wasn't like it was all your fault." He picked at his food some more, then looked at her. "How did you end up delivering my meal, anyhow?"
Kodachi grinned that Cheshire cat smile of hers. "I have my ways."
"You didn't do anything questionable, did you?" Gosunkugi asked as he narrowed his eyes to gaze at the succubus.
Kodachi started to make a reply, then visibly checked herself before she cleared her throat. "No, at least not by the standards of this place. I simply offered the maid a fair compensation for allowing me to surprise a dear friend " she said and smiled warmly at Gosunkugi.
"So, you didn't magically influence her, or anything?" Gosunkugi asked skeptically.
Kodachi smiled, as she was fairly certain she knew what he had not stated as well. "I didn't use magic or seduction, not really. I simply offered her a small amount of money to allow me to surprise you."
Gosunkugi sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I see. So, you threw money at her."
Kodachi waved her hand. "It is how things work here, after all."
"Well, at least now I know the presence I felt since I came here." Gosunkugi said as he finished his meal.
"So, you felt it too, then." Kodachi said with a serious look on her face.
Gosunkugi stopped and looked at her. "You are saying, the presence I have felt…"
"No, it is not I. There has been another succubus that has been summoned into this world, but it's highly likely we are just feeling the residue of her presence. There can not be many who have both the potential to call one of us from beyond the veil that shrouds this world, and can feed the voracious appetite of one of us to keep us here for long." Kodachi said, even if there was a shadow of doubt that lay over her statement.
"Perhaps, but…. It might be best if we presume that one of your kind is being kept by someone here." Gosunkugi said thoughtfully.
"Perhaps, but that would only be a problem if the one who called her here opposes us, would it not? And between you and I, how much of a threat could a succubus who must have been recently called to this world truly be? I don't know about you, but I have not felt the presence of any other beings that should not be here." Kodachi stated with utter certainty.
Hikaru eyed the succubus warily and sighed. "I hope that you are right, Kodachi."
Kodachi, of course, missed the tone of his voice since she was far too happy about the fact that he actually used her name.
A few hours later, Nabiki returned to the hotel and decided to check in on her companions, and went to the penthouse suite of Kodachi Kuno first. She buzzed herself at the door and waited. After two minutes, she buzzed herself again and waited another two minutes before she pulled out the key card she had acquired through her connections at the hotel.
Nabiki knew that the extroverted, exhibitionist demoness wouldn't care if she came in while she was…. Entertaining a guest. The worst that Kodachi was likely to do was to invite her to join in. Still, Nabiki was not prepared for what she found within. The normally organized and decisive demoness's bedroom was a mess, with various outfits strewn about the bed and laying over the chairs.
There was only one thing, or should she say person, who could have brought this in. Hikaru Gosunkugi. The constant target of Kodachi's attention and affections. Nabiki hurried out of the suite and made her way towards the room that Gosunkugi had, and hoped that she was not too late. They desperately needed the priest in working order, and not cowering or, worse yet, demanding to leave because of the impulsive whims of Kodachi.
Nabiki swiped her card and hurried in to be surprised once again when she saw Gosunkugi at work on a set of wards, as Kodachi sat a distance away and watched him with the intense fascination of a cat watching an interesting bird or mouse. Nabiki must have made some sort of sound, because the other two of the room looked up and at her almost at the same time.
"Welcome back, Mrs. Watanabe." Gosunkugi said before he carefully placed his tools down and wiped his hands.
"So nice to see you, Nabiki." Kodachi said, before a serious look settled on her face. "We need to tell you something, but we are not sure what, exactly, it might mean."
Nabiki nodded and sat down across from Gosunkugi and clasped her hands together as she rested her elbows on the table. "And what do you have to share with me?"
Kodachi and Gosunkugi exchanged a look before he nodded and looked at Nabiki intently with his sunken eyes. "We believe that there is another succubus in Las Vegas. We don't know who her master is, or for what purpose she was summoned here, but I believe we must be prepared for anything at this point."
Nabiki sat back and nodded. "I see… Do you think it is still safe to proceed with the marriage here?"
Kodachi spoke up at this point. "It should be? Hikaru's wards should keep anything out, well, anything but me, I hope. And there is no evidence that whoever summoned her is our enemy, it could very well be someone like Hikaru when he was younger. Plus, they should not be able to keep her here very long, not really. The amount of power that you need grows the longer that you are here, as this world actively tries to send you back to where you belong. Honestly, if you wanted to keep a demon here for very long, you would probably have to be feeding humans to her to amass that much power."
"If you know about her, doesn't that mean she would know about you, as well? I mean…. If succubi can feel the presence of their own kind…." Nabiki started to say before Kodachi spoke up.
"Probably not, actually. I have gotten better over the years about concealing my presence, and holding back my nature. The only reason Hikaru can know if I am around is that he was…. Intimately acquainted with me… As the magi that summoned me, of course." Kodachi said with just a hint of a playful gleam in her eyes.
Hikaru blushed and coughed into his fist before he took a few deep breaths and once again resumed his placid, almost disinterred demeanor. "I will further provide a charm to Kodachi… I mean, Ms. Kuno… To obfuscate her presence further. If someone is controlling a succubi, we should be able to keep them from knowing, and there is always the chance that the succubi will not tell her master, even if she is bidden to. Such contracts…. Are usually rather one-sided unless you have a great deal of experience with them."
"Or are just a naturally talented magi, of course.' Kodachi added with a bit of playful innuendo. At the glance that Nabiki cast her way, she blushed and smiled and said in an apologetic tone of voice. "I'm sorry, Hikaru. It appears that I still have more to work on.: Kodachi bowed slightly from where she was sitting. "I hope that you can forgive me, and know that I will continue to work on restraining my impulses better."
Nabiki just continued to watch this rather strange exchange as Gosunkugi looked up and met Kodachi's eyes for a moment that stretched on for a while before he hurriedly nodded and looked back down at the wards he had been working on.
Honestly, even Nabiki was getting to the point where she hoped that the demoness and former magi would just lock themselves in a room for a day or three and get it over with.
Nabiki sighed and sat down as she decided to share her bit of news with them, since she had received the notice from Cassandra Saito on her way here. She had not really been surprised, since she had figured that the determined young woman would want to take on this challenge. It had been obvious that the talented young woman had been chafing under not having anything to do, especially with people dangling what she had wanted just in front of her.
"Ms. Saito has agreed to meet the Saotomes. She should be getting ready as we speak, so that she can leave tomorrow morning. I have already notified the Saotoms, and they are making all arrangements on their side." Nabiki said as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
"If she passes the interview… Will they tell her the truth?" Kodachi asked as he intense gaze fixed on Nabiki for the first time since she had come into the room.
"It will depend on how her interview with Ranma goes, I would say. She will have almost a week to get to know the other people of the house, and for them to get to know her, before Ranko will have to switch with Ranma." Nabiki said with a worried look on her face.
"You are worried that there will not be enough time, aren't you?" Kodachi said.
Nabiki sighed and rubbed her forehead. "How could I not be? They will have only a few weeks to get her ready! And that is if she passes Ranma's interview with her. And how are they going to explain Ranko not being there in the first place!"
"It will all fall into place, Watanabe-san. Ranma is no longer alone. He has both Akane and Ukyo at his side. No one knows Ranko better than Akane, and no one has more determination than Ukyo. Trust in your sister and your friend." Kodachi said calmly before she turned her gaze back to Gosunkugi.
"I wish I had your confidence, Kodachi." Nabiki said with a crooked smile.
"It's not confidence. That sounds much more smug." Gosunkugi said without looking up. "That was certainty."
Kodachi smiled broadly at Gosunkugi. "Hikaru, you know me so well!"
"It was a matter of survival." Gosunkugi stated flatly.
Nabiki hid her smile behind her cup as she watched the two.
Elsewhere, in a lavish room, the woman known simply as K sat on her throne-like chair and gazed at the woman who knelt before her. "How are preparations coming along?" She asked in a sultry voice that sent a liquid thrill .other woman's spine.
"Mistress, everything is in place. We have made ready to invite your guests to visit." The woman said, then hesitated before she asked. "Do you wish to invite Ms. Saito? We can have her in attendance at your wish, Mistress."
"No, let her go. She doesn't matter, after all." K said as she looked hungrily at the woman before her. "She will not draw the others to her, not like Nabiki will. Pass along my will, then come to my chambers."
The kneeling woman shivered as her Mistress swept out of the room. It was likely that she would die tonight, but it would be a small price to pay.
After all, they belonged body and soul to their Mistress. Perhaps, if she was lucky enough, she would even be allowed to speak Her name.
She hurried off to complete her tasks even as liquid, hot excitement ran through her body like molten lava.
The next morning Cassandra Saito was sitting at her table while all of her necessities were packed by very punctual, very professional people that had appeared at her door precisely at seven in the morning. She had handed off a set of keys to the woman who had informed her that her company would be responsible for taking care of her home while she was gone, and had presented a myriad of forms and papers for the befuddled former gymnast to sign. Honestly, by the end of it Cassie was not sure what all she had agreed to, but she had to trust Mrs. Watanabe. She had agreed to give the Saotome's a chance, after all. To see if she might be able to fill the role that they needed her for. Honestly, it was nice to feel needed again. Not to just be there to have what she had dreamed of her entire life dangled in front of her, where she could no longer reach.
Even if what they needed her for was just to fill in for another woman who had suffered a loss like she had.
Cassie sat back in the comfortable seat in the rear of the black sedan that would take her to the airfield where the private jet waited for her. It would be far from the first time she had ridden on a plane, or even on a private jet, but it had been the first since her accident. The last time she had been in the air, she had been on the helicopter that rushed her to the hospital.
Not the best of experiences, honestly.
Still, she rubbed her hands against her thighs as a tingle of excitement ran through her. It was a new adventure, one that she had agreed to on her own. And she wanted to see just where it would take her, now that she had taken that first step.
Figuratively, of course.
Next stop… Japan.