[Episode 218957] [Episode 218957]Hikaru Gosunkugi lay in his bed and glared through the darkness toward the unseen ceiling, grinding his teeth. The rumor mill at school had been working overtime like never before, the entire student body abuzz over the sudden change in Nabiki’s demeanor. The general consensus had been that a guy had somehow gotten through Nabiki’s icy shell and found something resembling a real woman (though Akane had vociferously denied the possibility and a few students had agreed with her logic, most simply shrugged it off as Akane having her own not unreasonable problems), and most of the speculation had been over just who her new beau was. Suggestions had ranged from one of the students (with a large betting pool forming over which one it might be), one of the teachers (another, smaller betting pool), or perhaps a family friend, skilled in the martial arts and able to provide enough protection that she could relax (a very small betting pool, since this one was a yes-or-no question, nobody knowing any such Tendo family friends). No one had asked Gosunkugi for his own opinion, of course, if there was anyone in the school as socially isolated as Nabiki it was him, but he knew and this time knowing something that nobody else did wasn’t the joy it usually was, because Nabiki and summoned and bound her own personal nature spirit f*cktoy.
He had long known that Nabiki was a practitioner of the Mystic Arts, of course. Her Awakening several years ago had been impossible to miss for anyone in Japan’s mystic community that saw her, and Gosunkugi had been amazed and a bit jealous at the level of power she’d manifested. Still, he’d been able to console himself with the fact that, while powerful, she was completely untrained while he had the knowledge and traditions of his family’s generations of immersion in the Arts to draw on — strength is fine, but useless without the knowledge of how to use it, and his ancestors had been shadow advisers and protectors of emperors and shoguns, high in Japan’s shadow aristocracy. His jealousy had been born when he’d come across her purchasing supplies in one of the few stores that catered to the real Initiates and realized that she was actually learning how to practice the Art instead of being satisfied with whatever innate talents she might have acquired since her Awakening; but he’d told himself that, in spite of her power, she’d never have the resources he had to draw on and so could never be his equal. That had changed the other day, when he’d passed her in the school hall accompanied by a busty, cute, and obviously natural redheaded humanlike nature spirit. It hadn’t been hard to figure out just why Nabiki had bound that spirit to her, and the daze she’d been in when he’d seen her at lunch today had just confirmed his suspicions. Now, with the knowledge that she’d succeeded in a summoning that he’d failed over and over, his envy flared to toxic heights to mix with old jealousy and the white-hot anger that resulted ate at him like cancer.
Finally he gave up on sleep and, quickly getting dressed and slipping unnoticed out of the house, he headed for the Furinkan school and an isolated and overlooked shed (thanks to his ritual of avoidance) on the school grounds. He would teach that upstart bitch of a nobody a lesson she’d never forget!
* * *
Gosunkugi gazed in satisfaction through the slight haze of incense smoke at the imp crouched within his summoning circle. Details were difficult to make out in the flickering candle light, but didn’t really matter — one imp was as good as another, weak and not particularly intelligent, but useful as scouts and spies if their instructions were clear. He cleared his throat, and in what he fondly considered a commanding tone he said, “You understand you instructions? You are to spy on Nabiki and her new redheaded spirit slave, and report back to me, at the school, not my home, when you know its true name.”
“Yes, master,” the imp replied, cringing slightly. You’ve only repeated them three times, it mentally added scornfully to itself.
“Very well. Go, and do not return until you have fulfilled your orders,” Gosunkugi intoned, then scratched a break in the summoning circle and cracked open the shed door. In a flash, the imp was through the circle’s gap, out the door, and off into the moonless night.
As the imp known as Gorash ran through the quiet night toward the Tendo dojo it snarled in anger and injured pride as it thought about the “master” that had given it its marching orders. What a complete idiot! He didn’t even try to dominate or bargain, he just gave me my ‘orders’ and sent me on my way. He didn’t even try to learn my true name! Too bad I couldn’t tell him what to do with his ‘orders’, but Mara’s general directive was clear — until she says otherwise, that moron is to think he’s the greatest summoner of the age.
Noticing a stray cat in an alley as it passed, Gorash backed up to walk unseen past the wino sipping from his bottle and up to the cat. The cat saw the imp, of course, and hissed at the intruder in its territory. Gorash’s head instantly ballooned to four times normal size, bared a set of fangs to do a tiger proud, and roared. The cat instantly backed up in a crouch, then turned and fled yowling into the night. Gorash’s head returned to its normal size and it walked back past the puzzled wino staring after the fled alley cat, feeling much better. Nothing lasts forever, Gorash consoled itself as it again started running toward the dojo. Eventually the idiot’s usefulness will be over, and then that overbearing bastard is ours! A vicious grin crossed its face as for a moment as it contemplated the fun the demons would have ‘playing’ with Gosunkugi when the time came, then disappeared as the entrance to the dojo came into sight. Ah well, to work, it thought and started to circle the premises.
* * *
A short time later, Gorash was back in front of the dojo entrance, disappointed but not surprised. A ward covering the entire property, without a single gap and too strong to break through, much less without being noticed — and after only a year’s practice, impressive. I can see why Mara is so eager to get this Nabiki working for us, and to become one of Mara’s lieutenants when her time comes. Now, that’s a mistress I’d be proud to serve under. Gorash walked to the home across the street and slipped behind the rose bush beside the front entrance. Nothing for it but to wait until she goes to school and try and follow her without being noticed, and hope she lets something slip, then see if Mara wants the moron to have that particular bit of information. Gorash sighed as it settled down. Yeah, right, 'just'. Nabiki isn’t an idiot. This is going to be a long assignment.
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(Posted Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:07)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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