Kyousuke Kasuga stood in the middle of the street, watching as Madoka Ayukawa faced off with Kodachi Kunou. The latter was standing on a red-tiled house roof, putting away her useless ribbon and bringing out a set of gymnastic clubs (where she had hidden them, Kyousuke had no idea), while the Ice Queen of Koryou Gakuen stood in the street waiting for her, fingering the guitar pick in her hand.
"Komatsu! Hatta! Get Manami, Kurumi and Kuonji-san out of here!" The tone in his voice brooked no disobedience. "Yuusaku, take care of Hikaru!"
"Hey," voiced his recalcitrant junior, "who put you in charge?"
"Just do it!" he snapped. There was no wishy-washying in him where the girls' safety was concerned. The guys instinctively knew this, and scrambled to do what he said. Madoka the delinquent would presumably be left in his hands.
Yuusaku ran up to Hikaru and told her to come with him. "No way," she said. "I'm staying to help Madoka-san."
Yuusaku looked back at Kyousuke and shook his head. Kyousuke signaled back that he should do whatever was necessary to see to her safety.
Hikaru-chan, forgive me. With a mighty heave, Yuusaku lifted up his blond-haired love interest and slung her over his shoulder.
"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" she shouted in surprise. "Put me down!"
Madoka looked briefly at him. "Get her away from here, Yuu-kun."
Yuusaku nodded and ran off, Hikaru still shouting her protestations over his shoulder, bonking his head with her fists as he retreated down the street to join Komatsu and Hatta, who had taken the twins and the injured Ukyou Kuonji with them.
Kyousuke made sure that everyone was safely away before he turned his attention back to Madoka and Kodachi.
"You dare to challenge me?" the expert in Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics thundered. "I hope you've got your grave ready, because you'll definitely need it!"
"You talk too much!" Madoka shouted. "Shut up and fight!"
With a hate-filled snarl, Kodachi leapt from the roof and hurled one of her clubs at Madoka. The sukeban dodged it by leaping to the side, and, as it shattered on the ground behind her, retaliated by throwing her guitar pick at her opponent.
Kodachi put one of her remaining clubs in front of her face to block the shot. The guitar pick embedded itself in the gymnastic appliance, and Kodachi landed on the street in front of Madoka.
"Is that all you've got?" she sneered. "You're pitiful." She began swinging her clubs at Madoka with a strength and speed that belied her slim, relatively muscle-free frame.
Madoka winced as she parried Kodachi's blows with her forearms. Kuso! she bad-mouthed. This girl's faster than I thought! She waited for the Black Rose to draw her weapons back, then quickly backflipped away from her, lashing out with a leg as she did so.
Kodachi's head snapped back as Madoka's foot caught her on the chin. She staggered back a little and brought a hand to her mouth.
"What's the matter, Black Rose?" Madoka taunted. "This girl isn't as pitiful as you thought she was, is she?"
"Insolent stranger," Kodachi spat. She stutter-stepped and jabbed at Madoka with a club. Then, as her opponent dodged the blow, she knelt down and knocked her off her feet with a quick leg sweep.
Madoka hit the ground with an audible thud. Kyousuke saw the pain on her face as she rolled away from Kodachi and got back on her feet.
I've got to help her somehow, he thought, racking his mind for a way to do so without being detected as using his Power. He ran nearer to the battling pair.
Madoka rushed Kodachi, intending to bring her to the ground, where her weapons would present less of a danger. She dug another guitar pick from the holster band hidden on her right thigh and threw it, hoping the other girl would be distracted long enough for her to shoot and bring her down.
All of a sudden Kodachi's clubs seemed to disintegrate, and Madoka's guitar pick slashed her cheek as it flew past her.
Shocked at discovering herself weaponless and wounded, the Black Rose froze long enough for Madoka to tackle her. They crashed to the ground, and Kodachi was stunned as the back of her head cracked on the pavement. Madoka straddled her and, to make sure that her foe was out of commission, grabbed her face and smashed her head twice on the ground. Kodachi let out a groan, then was silent.
Madoka stood up and brushed her tousled hair back. She stepped off the unconscious gymnast and turned to face Kyousuke, who was standing behind her with a grin on his face.
"What are you smiling about, Kasuga-kun?" she asked sharply, her blood still boiling from the encounter.
"Nothing, nothing," stammered Kyousuke, taken aback by the fierce expression on her face. He wished he could expect thanks from her for his help, but he had to keep his esper powers secret from her. She didn't know he had crushed Kodachi's clubs with his telekinesis.
They stood, facing each other silently, when a cry sounded through the air. "Madoka-san!"
They looked down the way they had come to see Hikaru running back towards them, Ukyou and Yuusaku closely following her, with the twins and the hentais not far behind.
"Madoka-san! Thank goodness you're alright!" Hikaru exclaimed as she ran up and took her friend's hands in her own. "This bozo wouldn't let me help you!" She jerked a thumb in Yuusaku's general direction.
"Geez," the curly-haired boy grumbled, rubbing his cheeks where Hikaru had slapped them. "Some thanks I get for keeping her out of trouble."
Madoka's expression softened as she looked at her childhood friend. "Don't blame Yuu-kun, Hikaru-chan. I didn't want you to get hurt."
"But... you could've gotten injured!" Hikaru wailed. "And I couldn't stand that happening to you, Madoka-san!"
Madoka was about to reply when a voice suddenly cried "Look out!" from somewhere in the sky behind her. She spun around, pushing Hikaru away from her as she did so.
Ranma Saotome, dressed in his red Chinese shirt and olive-green pants, landed before her. He held a canister of water in one hand. He looked at her and smiled.
"Whew," he said. "Sorry, I thought I was going to hit you." He looked past Madoka, and his eyes grew big. "Hey, what happened to Kodachi?"
"She got in my way," Madoka replied. Ranma stared dumbfounded at her.
"Ucchan! What happened to your arm?"
"I hurt it fighting our mutual friend, Ran-chan," the okonomiyaki shop owner answered, holding her bleeding forearm up for him to see. "Lucky for me our new classmates were able to help me."
"Poor Kodachi," Ranma said. "You wouldn't happen to be related to each other, would you?" he asked Ukyou while gesturing at Madoka. "You sound a lot like each other."
"No. What's that in your hands?"
Ranma smiled. "My salvation, Ucchan." Just as he was about to elaborate, however, a shout interrupted him.
"Ranma! Give that back to me!"
They turned to see a figure in loose white Chinese dress land behind Ranma. It was Mousse, Shampoo's suitor and Ranma's rival.
"Hand over what you stole, you thief! Then maybe I shall forgive you for your crime against my beloved Shampoo."
Manami, who was standing some distance away watching the whole event, said, "Oh! Now I understand! Shampoo's a name!"
Ukyou raised her eyebrows. "Ran-chan? You stole that?"
Ranma nodded without looking at her. His attention was focused on Mousse, who had been chasing him the whole morning. "I got it from the Nekohanten."
"What is it exactly?" Ukyou could guess what was in the container, but knowing how strange Ranma acted sometimes...
Before the handsome, black-haired martial artist could answer, Mousse threw a knife at him. Ranma leapt into the air to avoid it, but the weapon tagged his arm and made him let go of the container of water.
"No!" he yelled.
The canister fell down and smashed against the pavement. Its contents splashed over Madoka, who turned away trying to avoid most of it.
"Ayukawa!" yelled Kyousuke. "Are you alright?" Beyond her Ranma leapt away, cursing loudly, hotly pursued by Mousse. The pair disappeared behind the surrounding rooftops.
Madoka removed her hands from her face and looked down at her drenched body. Kyousuke saw her seem to start, but couldn't be sure, as she had her back to him.
"Madoka-san! What's wrong?" said Hikaru, stepping up to her as she clapped her hands over her chest. Kyousuke's eyes bugged out as he saw the gesture.
He watched as the girl of his dreams ran her hands this way and that over herself, then unzipped her skirt partway and peered inside her waistband. She started again, and Hikaru, who was standing beside her, peered inside too. She quickly withdrew herself, however, and turned to Kyousuke with a beet-red face.
Kyousuke, concerned, walked closer to Madoka. "Ayukawa?" he called tentatively.
Still facing away from him, she zipped her skirt back up. "Kasuga-kun," came her voice. It was lower, sounding much like Furinkan High's new school nurse Miss Sakura's throaty contralto.
"Ayukawa? What's wrong?" He looked at Hikaru, hoping for an explanation, but all he got was a shake of her head.
"Kasuga-kun, what...what's going on?" Madoka asked plaintively. "Why am I like this?"
Alarmed, Kyousuke said, "What do you mean?"
She turned around, and Kyousuke's jaw dropped.
"Kasuga-kun," she said, panic evident in her voice, "what happened to me? Look at me, Kasuga-kun! I'm a boy! I'm a boy!"
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(Posted Fri, 04 Feb 2005 18:05)
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