STORY SO FAR:  Kodachi Kuno was treated and released from a mental
hospital just before the beginning of Ranma 1/2.  She now attends
Furinkan with her brother.  Kodachi has met Nabiki, to their mutual
dislike, and thinks Akane and her sister have hatched a plot to get
money from her brother by convincing him Akane loves him.

********
	"I'm Ranma Saotome.  Who're you?"

	"I am Tatewaki Kuno."  He raises his bokken dramatically.  "The Blue
Thunder of Furinkan High!"  An ominous crack of thunder rolls out of the
sky and a cool, wet breeze begins to blow.  I look up at the gathering
clouds.

	"Uh, yeah," says Ranma nervously.  "We're gonna be late for class. 
C'mon, Akane!"  He seizes my hand and dashes into the building.

	"Which class?" he says as we pound down the hall.

	"341," I respond.  "Third floor."  I can barely keep up with him. 	

	We burst through the classroom door as the bell rings.  I stagger a
little, panting, but his warm, strong hand is still clutched about mine,
and I am smiling foolishly at him.  

	"Are we late?" asks Ranma.  He looks back at me and does a perfect
double-take from a Mack Sennet movie.  He drops my hand as if it were
made of splintered glass.  "Uh . . . you're not Akane."
	
	"Kodachi Kuno, sixteen years old.  Hi."  I bow.  

	"Uh, Ranma Saotome."

	"Yes, I know."

	"You must be the new student," interrupts the teacher.  "Please sit
down, class is about to start."  

	Akane charges into the room like an enraged water buffalo.  "RAN MA!"
she bellows.  I slide quietly into my seat.

	"Late," says the teacher, without looking up.  "Running in the halls
and shouting.  Stand in the hall."

	Akane's shoulders slump and she turns away, defeated.  Is she crying? 
She leaves the classroom quietly.  As the door swings shut, I turn and
look at Ranma, who is, in turn, watching the closing door.  As the latch
clicks into place, he turns and looks at me.  Something passes between
us--a moment of understanding.

	Akane is important to Ranma.

	I don't know how I know this, couldn't give an analysis of my
reasoning, but I know it's true and I know it's not the disease; the
disease never gives a sudden bright flash of insight like this.  He
looks back at the door as he sits, away from me.

	I look down at my desk, feeling deprived and lonely.  What is it about
that girl that draws the boys so?  I don't understand.  Taking out my
schoolbooks, I try to follow the lesson, but my eyes swim with tears
that I have to rub away.  I wish . . . I wish a million things, but
mostly I wish that I were normal.  Then I could have a normal life and a
normal brother and a boyfriend like Ranma.  It's not fair.  She doesn't
even care about him.  I'd care about him, I'd . . . 

	Something touches the back of my hand.  Fingers.  I follow the fingers
to the hand and back up the arm to Ranma, who is looking at me,
concerned.  "You okay?" he whispers.

	Oh, he cares, he cares.  I smile at him and nod faintly, hardly able to
breathe.  He gives me a rogueish grin and turns away.  I watch him
raptly until the muffled sniggering around me penetrates my
consciousness and I turn back to my schoolbooks.

	Why do they keep these classrooms so hot, anyway?

	Class proceeds quietly for a time.  I pay as much attention as I can to
the lesson and the rest of it to Ranma.  He quickly stops paying
attention to anything at all and stares blankly at the blackboard.  I
have just decided to ask if I can help him with his homework when there
is a commotion in the hallway.  I hear my brother's voice, then Akane's
voice raised sharply, though I can't understand either of them.  

	Suddenly my brother bursts through the door, shouting.  "Saotome, I
forbid it!  I will never accept this engagement between you and Akane
Tendo!"

	"Engagement!?" burst out dozens of voices, mine among them, drowning
out anything else my brother has to say.  An incomprehensible cacophany
of questions and demands follows.  I begin to feel strange again, to
sense that I am pulling away from reality.  I haven't the will or the
wit to deal with any more of this.  I push my way out of the classroom
and flee down the hall.  The walls stretch in front of me and squeeze me
from the side and I am crying, crying as I run.  

	Outside, I stumble, and end up huddled sobbing on the lawn with my mind
knocked loose again.  Bizarre fantasies scream in my head, visions of
both cruel venegance and abject begging.  Love me, love me, love me.  I
dig out my pills and swallow them dry.  Eventually the chaos recedes and
I am able to think meaningfully again.   

	This place is bad for me.  People in my condition need safe, controlled
surroundings in order to function.  Stress and confusion make us
vulnerable to relapse, and my brother is no longer the steady,
comforting presence I remember him as.  I am being forced to anchor him
to reality, instead of the other way round.  I should, for my own
safety, place myself back under Dr. Nakajima's supervision, but I can't
simply abandon my brother to these Tendo bitches.  

	 From above and behind me, I hear shouting and lift my head in time to
see both Tatchi and Ranma throw themselves from a third story window. 
Horrified, I scream as they plummet, strike the ground, bounce slightly,
and settle, sprawled on the grass.  I run to them.  Ranma, although
battered, does not seem seriously injured, thanks to the way he tucked
his body during the fall, but my poor, dear brother landed on his
shoulder and has broken his arm in at least two places.   

	Akane comes charging out the front door with a crowd at her heels. 
"Are they all right?" she asks, looking more concerned than I would have
given her credit for.
	
	"I'm fine," says Ranma, staggering to his feet.  I catch him as he
collapses and hold him close, glaring at Akane.  Her mouth tightens.

	"Fine, then."  she tosses her hair and turns away.  "Pardon me for
worrying."

	"My brother's broken his arm," I say.  "But I don't suppose that
bothers you, does it?"

	She whips around.  "Your brother is a creep!  I'm sorry he broke his
arm; I wish he'd broke his stupid neck!  I hate him!"

	My throat tightens at her words.  I lay Ranma down and stand slowly. 
"Is that so?  And what prompted this change of heart?"    

	"My love is shy," says my brother from the ground, "and covers her love
with a mask of indifference.  But the nobility in her spirit calls out
to mine, and the gaze of the worthy can penetrate all disguises."

	"I don't think she's pretending, dear brother," I respond.

	Akane points a shaky finger at him.  "You see?  You see what he does? 
No matter what I do, it's always the same thing.  I'm 'shy,' or I'm
'hiding my feelings' or something idiotic like that.  It's not even
'someday you'll change your mind;' he acts like I _already_ love him. 
Well, I don't.  I don't, and I never will.  Maybe you can explain that
to him, because I can't."

	No.  Oh, no.  So much makes sense now, so many pieces fit.  Perhaps I
should have solved the puzzle sooner, but I did not want to see the
picture it revealed.  While I was being purged of the worm, it was
slowly eating away my brother's mind, unmolested.

	"No explanations are necessary, my dear sister," my brother replies as
if prompted.  "The beautiful Akane and I share a bond which passes mere
language.  Such a bond cannot even be broken by death.  Even now, her
soul reaches out to mine, and I feel . . ."

	I cannot bear this.  "Please, brother," I whisper.  "Please be quiet." 
He continues, unheeding.  I try to school my face into immobility, but
can see my failure in Akane Tendo's eyes, which have lost all anger and
are now swimming with pity.

	"I'm sorry," she says, taking a step forward with her hand
half-raised.  "I know you must love your brother and . . . and I guess I
said some things I shouldn't have.  Can't we just start over and be
friends?  Oh, please don't cry!  I'm sorry, I . . ."

	I turn and flee, abandoning my brother.  I must escape this girl and
her cruel, humilitating tenderness.  I must compose myself.  I must
think on what is happening, what I can do.  I must be proud, and strong.

	I must mourn my brother, who has fallen into madness.


-- David