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Created by Christopher Willmore. / \ \ /
<4cw6@qlink.queensu.ca> / / \/
Based on a story by Rumiko Takahashi and /
Developed by C. Michael Schumacher / /
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R2096 pages: http://qlink.queensu.ca/~4cw6/ \/(Logo:Armakuni)
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The Fall of Heaven - Alpha Draft
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by Lara Bartram <lara@emunix.emich.edu>
Edited by C. Willmore
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R2096 characters and situations used with permission. Takahashi's aren't.
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PART TWO: DOMINE DE MORTE AETERNA
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'Chords, vibrations, and harmonic ecstasies echoed passionately on
every hand, while on my ravished sight burst the stupendous spectacle
of ultimate beauty.'
- 'Beyond the Wall of Sleep' by H.P. Lovecraft
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* * *[2032 - Winter]* * *
Boring. That was the one word that seemed to describe the "life"
of a ghost best for Akane. Boring. There was only so much
satisfaction to be had from observing everything. Not to mention, the
world wasn't all that pleasant to sight-see around.
Sure, she had come across other ghosts before, but... Frankly,
she hadn't been too fond of them. Oh, sure, they had been someone to
talk to, but, well... it just wasn't all that great. No beating
around the bush; it was awful. How they moaned of things left undone,
their families and friends, how it was so unfair and how miserable
they were.
Like she didn't know this. She had only been 16 and had left
plenty of things undone. She knew how unfair it was and how miserable
she was; she didn't need some glowing blob of angst telling her that.
So the loneliness was better than suffering through someone else's
mistakes and problems.
And that brought her to where she was at the moment. Boredom and
curiosity, and maybe even a touch of fright.
She had been working up the courage, after seeing some of the
other less pleasant things that had happened to her friends and
family. She had one other person that maybe she didn't really want to
see, but the curiosity was enough to kill her. Again.
That curiosity led her to the building she was currently standing
in front of. Looking up, she could see, just barely, the top floor.
That was where she was heading.
Getting there wasn't the problem. No one could see her, and she
simply passed through any sort of security... It was having to go
through it all without fleeing in horror. The fact that this was what
the world had become, more so than what was outside, sickened her.
Unable to ride the elevator to the top as no one ever went up
there, Akane was stuck looking for an alternate way. Wandering the
halls of an upper floor, she closed her eyes to everything that went
on around her until she was able to locate the emergency stairs.
It seemed that not even the vaunted Kuno Foundation could get
around those. And as she headed up the stairs, she could feel the
intimidation building within her.
She still wasn't sure why she was doing such a foolish thing.
It was simple curiosity and she didn't need to do it. Yet, she knew
that if she didn't, she would always wonder...
The door was amazingly simple for leading to a penthouse. It
looked like all the other doors, except it was labeled with a 'P'.
Hoping that it wouldn't be like the rest of the building, she passed
through the door.
Impressive was the first word that came to mind. She had seen
luxury, but none of it topped this. Almost the entire penthouse was
open, not divided into separate rooms as normally seen. The sunlight
streaming through the windows made the place rather cheery looking,
but the true nature of it could not be disguised.
It had almost a tangible aura as a prison.
The prisoner was currently kneeling in the middle of the floor,
his head bowed and eyes closed. There could be no mistaking who it
was. "Kuno-sempai," she whispered, almost in awe.
He raised his head then, opening his eyes slowly. He looked
right at her, and Akane instinctively froze. It took a few seconds
for her to get over that, knowing that he couldn't see her.
Akane began to walk to her right, meaning to investigate the
penthouse more closely, but as she moved, he tracked her. Telling
herself it was simply coincidence, she walked back to her left,
watching him out of the corner of her eye. Still he watched her.
Finally, Akane couldn't help herself. She faced him and met his
gaze. He was most definitely looking at her, right in her eyes.
"How... You can see me?" Akane asked, slightly afraid.
"An angel. You're my angel! You're my sign from Heaven that I've
done things right!" he cried out suddenly. Any sort of act, practiced
personality as the Blue Thunder was gone. Seeing Akane there, once
more, his soul cried out for her, to possess her.
"I'm not an angel. I'm not a sign a from Heaven." She wanted to
run, to leave, but there was something so strangely captivating about
the situation, standing there in front of Kuno Tatewaki, the apparent
saviour of the world. And she could feel the need within him, the
intangible force of his soul touch her incorporeal body.
"Don't deny it. Don't deny your purpose for coming here. Tell me
that I've done it all for a reason. Tell me that I've done good, and
that the world is a better place. Please, tell me that I don't have
to do this any longer." He remained on his knees from his meditation,
but it looked more like he was begging her.
Akane took a step back. The feeling she was getting from him was
strange, almost comforting. How badly he needed her, how desperately
he did... it was comfort and power and sadness and pity all wrapped
together, and it almost brought tears to her eyes. "I don't know what
you're talking about," she said quietly.
"But it's you! It's you and you're dead! If you're not an angel,
what are you? I can't believe you're a demon. I will not believe
it!" He got to his feet slowly, as if his strength had left him many
years ago. "Tell me why you've come."
Getting more and more nervous about the encounter, Akane backed up
more. Any farther and she would end up passing through the door. "I
don't know. I just wanted..."
The sudden fury on his face was terrifying to her. "You left once
and you took my soul. And now you've returned. Is it to mock me? To
make light of the fact that I was never able to have you, even when
you were my life?" He took one small step forward, his hand clenching
into a fist.
"Your fault. Saotome's fault... The monastery. Everything was
because of you!" he yelled at her, then fell back to his knees,
exhausted. His head was down, avoiding looking at the apparition.
"It was all because of you... Everything. Because of you, for you,
because I needed you and couldn't live without you.
"Somehow, I managed to. I don't know how."
"I... I shouldn't have come. I just wanted to see how things
were. I'm sorry." Akane was about to pass through the door and
escape the building as quickly as possible.
"No!" he said sharply. "Please, don't leave again," he pleaded.
"You're the only one... You haven't changed, and everyone else has
sunk into the pit of my obsession with me." He hung his head, unable
to meet her frightened eyes.
"Unless this is simply another delusion, another lie I make to try
and feel better about the world. The world that I've created..." He
looked up at her then, his eyes sad and filled with pain. "No. I
haven't created anything. I've only destroyed, and the others... they
used me to shape things the way they wanted them to be."
Silence. Akane couldn't believe what she was hearing. Though, it
did stand to reason that after her... her death, maybe he would have
learned, or gotten better, or grown up. Maybe if everyone hadn't
died...
"And I let them. I could have stopped them if I wanted to. I
didn't need to give in to their demands, but what else did I have?"
Paralysed, Akane listened, was forced to listen to the things that
had happened because she... The things that were her fault. The
things that were Ranma's death's fault. The things that were
Happosai's fault.
"The one thing I had lived for was taken away from me, and nothing
would bring it back. Nothing would bring you back. And now..." He
looked up at her and there was a glint of true madness in his eyes.
"Do you know what Tofu's done? Can you see that?"
Akane shook her head. She wasn't sure she wanted to know either.
He smiled wickedly at her, arrogantly, and a tiny bit of his old
self shone through. "After he blackmailed me, he didn't try very hard
at keeping secret how he plans to bring your sister back to life."
The wickedness shifted quickly to pure anger. "And his vengeance is
pure, for she has tainted you, poisoned your name, soiled your memory.
His vengeance... should be my vengeance."
Akane closed her eyes momentarily, his spirit still clutching at
her. "Kuno-sempai..."
"And she was dead! I saw her in pieces and he'll bring her back
to life! She'll be alive, but her punishment won't be enough, and
I'll have to start all over again because she's dead! She's dead and
she should stay that way!" Things started to slide past him. Alive
dead alive dead dead dead dead alive they were all dead!
Akane could feel it now. She could feel his tentative hold on his
sanity, his grief, his anger, his pain, and she couldn't help herself.
She wanted to run, but she didn't. "What happened? How did this
happen?" Her feet moved her forward.
"I can't stand it any longer. I can't do it. I've failed; I know
I have. The world is a better place for the others. The world is
still as miserable as I remember it after you died." He shook his
head.
"It's all a lie. The Consistency trials may seem like a good
idea, but... Consistency is a lie. Consistency doesn't exist in
anything. Everything must change. I wish it hadn't."
The strange wistful turn his words had taken bolstered Akane.
She walked forward until she stood directly in front of him. "I'm
sorry," she whispered.
He laughed harshly. "Sorry. If it were only that easy. If only
sorry could take back all the things that had happened. If it could
take back what had happened to your sisters, what had happened to..."
All those people he had "cleansed" in his name. "Even now, I wish
for..." He wished for it, wished for the return to the old days. If
it meant he was old and alone, it mattered not, because it would mean
things would be different. He wished for it, but he could not say it
aloud.
He wished for Saotome Ranma to be alive once again.
He could not say it though. "I wish it did. I would tell you I
was sorry and then you would stay with me forever; you would stay with
me and make me complete because I yearn for you. I have yearned for
you for 40 years, though I don't know why."
"Obsession," Akane said simply, though she knew it wasn't wholly
true.
"If it was that easy to explain, things would not be as you see
them now. I am not obsessed with you, Tendo Akane. Quite simply, I
need you. I have always needed you. I shall always need you. You...
you are my life. Without you, I am nothing. The day you died was the
day I was cast into Hell, never to return." His eyes fairly glowed
with muted fury. Glowed with the fires of Hell, the ethereal flames
that had claimed him in the monastery all those years ago.
"Kuno-sempai, I don't know what to say."
"You need not say anything. I know perfectly well how you feel
about me. Why else would you come to taunt me?" The fire in his gaze
seemed to die out at that, and his face grew sad again.
"I'm not here to taunt you! I just..."
"It is a delusion then. Strange. I thought those had stopped
once I had ceased taking Ono's 'vitamins'. No doubt, he has other
ways of keeping me carefully controlled." A tiny, rueful smile
managed to show itself on his face as he looked at Akane.
It was too much. Akane had never heard this side of things. She
knew how... difficult it had been for Tofu with Kasumi's... But
drugging Kuno? That seemed insane! "I'm not a delusion. I'm a
ghost."
Kuno's smile grew, it even became somewhat... caring. "Ah, then
you've come to haunt me. It matters not. Even in your current state,
your presence soothes me. Had you appeared years earlier, I might
have found the strength to stand up to Ono. Alas, it's too late."
"Too late? Too late for what?" This was far more interesting
than simply observing, yet Akane had no idea how he could see and hear
her. Apparently, he didn't either.
"It's too late for your sister. I'm afraid I had a hand in that,
though... I'm not sure whether I'm happy or sad over it."
"Kasumi?" Akane asked in a very weak voice. How could he know?
No one should have known about that!
"No. Nabiki." With the movements of a very old man, he stood and
moved to sit on the plush couch that he rarely used. It was a comfort
this day.
"What about my sister?"
"She killed Kasumi. She framed Ryouga, and then she tried to kill
herself." He ignored the shocked look on Akane's face; he was too
tired to deal with it all. "Onocorp is quite talented at keeping
people alive... and bringing them back to life." He shrugged in a
gruesomely simple manner compared with the things he was saying.
"Your sister, who sullied your name, shall be in the service of the
Kuno Foundation."
The way he said it made Akane's skin crawl. "How?"
"The standard methods of degradation and servitude they employ.
Yes, they; not I. The Kuno Foundation has nothing to do with me or my
sister or my long dead father, and there are no descendants...
Indeed, if any woman besides you would have been able to help me, I
doubt she would have ever been attracted to me. Nor would Ono have
allowed it."
And therein lay the problem. He was being controlled by a
ruthless man, more insane than he had ever been. He was being
controlled the same way he had been... Kyoofu. That little bastard
Kyoofu.
And he hadn't even seen it. He hadn't even cared. Everything had
been pulled out from underneath him, and he had let them do it.
How long? How long ago had they gently removed all power from his
hands and left him a foolish puppet?
A puppet of Ono and Gosunkugi. The thought, if it hadn't been so
horrifying, would have made him laugh. In fact, he did laugh, but it
was harsh and bitter with no mirth at all.
"What irony... The people of the world were my puppets, and yet,
I was Ono's puppet. I was Gosunkugi's puppet. I had been used, and
it's only fitting that I am here now."
His eyes slid closed, and he said nothing more.
The desperate grabbing had ceased, to Akane's relief, and it was
now muted down to a soft stroking sensation. They were the only terms
Akane could think of, but they fit. His spirit was stroking her in a
manner that made her ache with loneliness, desire the companionship of
Ranma.
She left then, without another word. She wouldn't be able to
stand him begging her to stay.
It was strange. It had been a long time since Akane had been able
to talk to anyone, and frankly, the conversation with Kuno had been
almost refreshing. As warped and weird as it might have been.
She had avoided everyone as much as possible in the days following
her visit to the Kuno Foundation... stronghold, thinking about the
things she had heard. But what could she do? She was a ghost and
forced to exist with the knowledge, the weight of it all resting on
her shoulders. And she was alone. That was the worst part of it all.
The process was simpler the second time. She knew right where to
go. Now if she could only gather the courage to pass through that
door with the letter P on it... Several times she started to, but the
thought of the things he had told her held her back. It was like a
horrible car accident; she didn't want to, but she did want. She
needed to.
Nodding firmly once, she passed through the door without a second
thought. The sun was much muted this time, but other than that, the
scene was the same.
"Kuno-sempai," Akane called, not approaching his figure kneeling
on the floor. "I'm back."
Lifting his head slowly, Tatewaki looked at the apparition.
Instead of the amazed joy that had been on his face when he had first
believed it was her, there was only sadness this time.
"So you've returned. How appropriate that it would be a ghost to
keep me company in this cage without bars. I am already a ghost,
without life, without freedom, without anything."
"Should I leave? I just wanted..."
"Don't leave. You may stay as long as you like. I shall receive
no visitors. I never do. Sometimes, Ono requests my presence, but no
one ever comes up here." Tatewaki sighed heavily, breaking from his
strictly formal kneeling position to sit with his legs crossed.
It was so absurdly normal, Akane almost wanted to laugh. Seeing
his lack of emotion, she approached him, her figure becoming even more
insubstantial in the sunlight. "I have to ask, how can you see me? I
haven't met many people that have been able to see me. No one that's
actually understood what I was..."
Smiling, looking like he might fall asleep, dreaming of better
things, Tatewaki said, "Who is to say? I saw the demon before, and I
see you now. Though I refuse to believe it has anything to do with my
tenuous connection to my spiritual center.
"Let us simply say that I am damned, already dead, and that is
how, because I truly do not know." He opened his eyes widely for a
moment, as if he was trying to wake himself up. "And angel or not, I
know that I am blessed by your presence."
"Please don't say that. I made such a... horrible mistake. I
hate this, hate being like this. All I ever wanted was to be with
Ranma..." Akane sat on the floor a few feet away. "That was the only
thing, and now look what I've done. If he was here, he'd call me a
stubborn, clumsy, tomboy that couldn't even die in the right way."
She laughed a little, tears sliding own her cheeks.
"It should have been me."
Akane looked up at Tatewaki. "What?"
"It should have been me. It should have been my presence that the
world rid itself of, not yours. I have done nothing, but destroy and
be used as a puppet..." Tatewaki smiled widely then, true mirth on
his face. "That is my life's destiny. I shall always be someone's
puppet. There is no escaping it."
For some reason, the situation was enough to break Akane's heart.
She had no one, a ghost doomed to walk eternally without anyone.
Tatewaki was the living dead, not a person, not alive. They made a
strange pair indeed.
"I grow tired of this existence," Tatewaki continued. "I grow
tired of this, but Ono will not let me die. He and Gosunkugi think I
don't know their little schemes... Hiding and pretending was
something I gave up after Ono wasn't happy with the money I gave him.
After he demanded more and more...
"I know how they control me. The strings are no longer hidden.
They control me, and through me, they control the people. And through
the people, they control the world. Everything, and it's all because
of my stupidity.
"And all I want to do is die now."
That was the one unique and special thing about being a ghost for
Akane. She could feel his spirit, feel that it had given up, and she
knew, deep inside, that when she had died, he had as well.
Everything was so unfair! Why did it all have to hinge on that
one act? That one hateful act of Happosai... Why did it all have to
happen that way? And why did she have to be so helpless now?
No matter how much she had liked Dr. Tofu, or how much he had
loved Kasumi, things had gone too far. In Akane's opinion, after
hearing about the things he was planning, he was far worse than
Kodachi had ever been.
"Kuno-sempai, do you really think that my sister has to be
punished for what she did?" she asked.
Tatewaki looked at her, completely unemotional. "I don't care
any longer. If she does, it's not in any way that Ono would do it.
She attempted to do the honourable thing, and while I have called for
vengeance against her in the past, I realize that it is a foolish
thing now. What would it accomplish?" He sighed heavily, drained
from the admission of weakness on his part.
"Kuno-sempai," Akane said, thinking her words through carefully,
"I've seen some of the things Dr. Tofu's done. I saw it all, and it
scared me. I don't like what he's done. Kuno-sempai, maybe... maybe
it's time you did something about it." This was a big risk on Akane's
part. There was no telling what kind of reaction she would get.
"If I could, I would. His endless blackmailing grows tiresome,
but what am I to do? He knows all the secrets about me, about my
sister..."
"So what? Does it matter? You said you were tired of it
anyway. So who cares if he starts revealing your secrets? What's the
worst that will happen? You won't be their puppet?" Akane asked. She
got the feeling that she might be getting somewhere with this.
"Their tortures are aplenty, Tendo Akane. You have no idea..."
"So what? Wouldn't it be worth it to have your revenge on them?
To get back for all that they've done against you? To leak out all
their dirty little secrets? You've got to know some of them." It was
strangely exhilarating, talking about revealing someone's most hidden
secrets in a malicious manner like this, where no one else would know.
That moment, Akane knew what it was that Nabiki had always found
so fabulously fun about knowing things others didn't. Powerless as a
lone ghost, with someone that could actually see and hear her, she
could do almost anything.
"Kuno-sempai, I want to help you. I want to help you put things
right."
Akane didn't leave the Kuno Foundation building very often. It
was funny how blatant people were when they thought no one was
watching, no one could see them. All in all, no one would ever know
who or how besides Kuno. But... Was it the unfairness of death that
did this to her, that made her malicious and vindictive? Maybe, but
she didn't care.
"What's the worst thing, the absolute worst thing that's ever been
done by Onocorp? Or the K... Foundation?" she asked, starting to get
quite enthusiastic.
Tatewaki looked down at the floor and even chewed his lip a
little. "I'm not sure. There are many secrets, but as for which
would be most damaging, I can't say."
"Anything that has to do with the public, the people? Or
maybe..."
"Well, it's not common knowledge how intertwined Onocorp and the
Foundation are. And there has been quite a bit of protest over some
of Onocorp's experimental work. If it got out that..."
Akane's eyes lit up with malicious glee. "Yeah, that would be a
good place to start."
"Start?" Tatewaki asked. It still felt like some sort of weird
dream to him, something induced by more of Ono's drugs.
"Yes. You don't think you can just stop by getting egg on their
faces? Something like that would blow over in no time. People would
forget about it as soon as the next great discovery was made." Akane
had learned a few things wandering. She still looked 16, but she was
far from naive, far from innocent. She had a pretty good idea how a
place like Onocorp would operate.
"I suppose not. But what else..."
"Anything. Whether it's the truth or something we have to make
up, it doesn't matter. But don't we see? We... you have the power
over them. You just need to use it."
Tatewaki was looking off into the distance. He began to nod his
head slowly. "Yes... I do have the power over them," he said
absently. "I do."
Akane smiled proudly. Yes, things were going better than she
could have expected.
"Once this happens, they will know immediately who's done it.
There is no hiding my identity," Tatewaki said to Akane. "And I've
never been fond of these machines either..."
"You've never used one?"
"Not for more than a few minutes."
Akane frowned. That wouldn't do. They needed to do it quickly,
get the information and leave as fast as possible to delay the
inevitable. "That's the point," she said absently, trying to think of
a way around the problem. "You want them to know it's you, right?
You want to force a confrontation."
Tatewaki nodded, his hands resting uncomfortably on the keyboard.
"Well, why don't we try just looking around the system first. It
might be menu-based, and I think we could handle that," Akane offered.
It wasn't like she had any more experience on the thing than he did;
she just had a clearer mind.
Swallowing and taking a quick breath, Tatewaki typed in his
username and password. That much he had not forgotten. The cursor
blinked at him for a few moments before it acknowledged that he was
logged in.
His last login date appeared, along with the announcement that
he had new mail. Pressing return to get to the meat of the system,
the two looked at the simplistic menu that appeared on the screen.
Akane immediately pointed at the option for
Intelligence/Surveillance reports, but Tatewaki shook his head.
"I must check my mail first," he proclaimed.
Rolling her eyes, Akane proceeded to drum her fingers through the
table while he went through his mail.
Strangely enough, when he opened it, there were only two messages,
both from the highly respected Director Gosunkugi Kyoofu.
Akane could see Tatewaki's jaw clench as he looked at the screen.
"Read them," she said quietly. "See what he has to say."
The first message came up, and the animosity was almost tangible
in the air. "The little worm," Tatewaki whispered. "Doing Ono's
bidding..."
The message was simple and straightforward, with no pretext of
respect or goodwill. 'Ono wishes your presence. New materials to try
out. Will send escort next week, Thursday. Gosunkugi'
"Why did he mail this if you never check it?" Akane asked.
"Why do you think? He delights in my torment." Tatewaki
remembered that Thursday very well, having been over a month ago. "I
was as I normally am, meditating, when Gosunkugi's gang of brutes
stormed in and bodily removed me. It was most humiliating."
Akane nodded. She bet it was probably frightening too, but knew
he would never admit to that. "What are those new materials he's
talking about?"
The sudden look of hopelessness on Tatewaki's face made her wish
she hadn't asked. "Often, the good doctor finds various materials
that he finds use in testing on me."
"Drugs..."
Tatewaki nodded. "In a way, they were a good thing for a time.
They kept me from seeing how futile it all was, how horribly I was
being used. When I took them, I didn't care about anything. What
easier way to control someone than if they care about nothing?" He
stabbed at the 'd' key to delete the message. "Then I stopped taking
them. I stopped taking the pills and vitamins, and stopped eating for
the most part. Survival has not been easy."
There was silence as he stared sourly at the monitor and Akane
looked at him, now even more disgusted by the man she had thought was
so kind and friendly, Ono Tofu.
"He demanded more money then, as well. I gave it to him, of
course, for I could not refuse. My secrets were too important to me
to let everyone see. I couldn't let anyone know..." Tatewaki said
sadly.
A snarl on her face, Akane shook her head. "It's not your fault,
Kuno-sempai." One tear rolled lazily down her face.
Tatewaki hit return to read the next message. 'Presence required.
Next week, Tuesday. Gosunkugi'
He looked at the date on the message. Over a week ago, and it was
currently Tuesday...
"Tuesday? Isn't that..." Akane started to say.
The elevator chimed softly and the door opened revealing a group
of men, looking nothing like the monks that he had used as escorts
before. The group of six men exited the elevator calmly, walked over
to Tatewaki, who looked at them with shock, and grabbed his arms.
They lifted him, and when he refused to walk, they dragged him to the
elevator.
"Please now, Kuno-sensei," Kyoofu said as he waited in the
elevator, "don't fight. Just cooperate."
Akane followed them into the elevator and could hear the insult in
the young man's voice as he addressed Kuno. She could also see that
he had a syringe in the hand at his side, just in case. "Kuno-sempai,
where are we going?" she asked.
Standing calmly amidst the men, Tatewaki asked imperiously, "What
do you desire of me now?"
"Settle down, Kuno-sensei. Director Ono has something to
discuss," Kyoofu answered, his voice velvety smooth.
"I have nothing to discuss with him," Tatewaki said with a sneer.
"That's fine, because I don't think he wants to hear anything of
what you have to say." Kyoofu slipped the syringe back in his pocket;
it seemed it wouldn't be necessary this time.
The elevator ride was made in silence until it reached the ground
floor. The door opened to reveal a garage and a waiting car. This
was, or would have been if he had cared, wholly unacceptable to the
Blue Thunder.
"Where is my proper escort? I refuse to go anywhere without
the..." He grunted a little as the needle was stuck into his arm.
Right away, his thinking got hazy and speech wasn't a realistic
capability.
"What we have here will do just fine, Kuno-sensei. Just fine..."
Kyoofu gestured at the car, and the group of men herded the Global
Saviour into it.
Akane followed as four of the men, Kyoofu, and Kuno piled in the
back of the car and the door was shut. She was sitting uncomfortably
on the floor of the car among their feet, looking at the one Kuno had
called Gosunkugi. "Kuno-sempai, how did he..." When she looked back
at Kuno, she could tell he was in no condition to be answering any of
her questions.
His eyes were mostly closed, his mouth hung open, and his head
lolled against his chest. Whatever they had given him was strong and
fast working. That only made her more upset at them all. The fact
that they couldn't even control him without drugs, didn't try... It
was downright pathetic.
"That should keep you quiet on the way there," Kyoofu said,
disposing of the used syringe, looking distastefully at his
"superior".
Kyoofu shook his head. "Pathetic fool."
"Akane..." Tatewaki said, his voice horribly slurred.
"What is it, sempai?" she asked quietly, feeling very strange
talking amongst all the other people there.
"Akane, why didn't you ever like me?" he asked, drawing stares
from the other people in the car.
"I... I think you know why," she answered.
"I needed you..."
"You never showed it. You never showed it the way I needed
someone to show it. Not until..."
"Ranma."
"Kuno-sensei, what are you talking about?" Kyoofu asked, leaning
forward some.
Akane glanced at him and glared. "Don't talk to him, Kuno-sempai.
He's one of the ones who did this to you. Don't tell him."
"I know. I won't."
"You won't what, Kuno-sensei?" Kyoofu asked.
"I can see why you don't like him very much. He's a slime," Akane
said, shaking her head.
"He is. I never liked him."
Akane chuckled at that. "We'll talk later. I want to see where
we're going."
"It won't be a pleasant visit."
"Don't worry about that. Just keep quiet."
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