Kusanagi turned her attention towards Ranmaru since he rarely called her by her true name. She then looked down at herself to realize what she was wearing or rather to take notice of what she wasn’t wearing. “AHHH!” She immediately glared down at Takumi and then at Ranmaru as if this was all their fault.
“You! Perverts!” Kusanagi declared as she leapt off of Takumi and then flung her shoe at Ranmaru’s face.
BAM
The shoe hit Ranmaru directly between the eyes and he fell backwards.
Kusanagi then dusted her hands off and turned to leave them in a huff. “Hmph!”
“Why did she even come in here?” Ranmaru asked confusedly from his place on the floor.
“To save you from my evil clutches of course.” Takumi giggled. When had the man managed to move right next to him?
Ranmaru wondered as the fruity designer began to run a hand up Ranmaru’s bare chest towards one of his nipples. Ranmaru frowned and turned to give Takumi a cold look. If looks could kill. He then simply shoved Takumi back with one hand, which sent the designer skidding across the floor due to his incredible strength. “I don’t need saving.” Not when I need to be ready to save Oujo-sama.
***
Finally, everyone was dressed and ready for the fashion show to begin. Kusanagi peaked out from behind the curtains to the runway stage that she would soon have to walk down. She was surprised at the incredibly large turnout of people that had come for the fashion show - there were lots of models, a few pop Bitch 293
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idols, reporters, and of course fashion connoisseurs. They were all highly superficial and vain people, Kusanagi realized as she looked at all of them. People who had been consumed by their vanity, and who tried their best and did whatever they could to maintain their beautiful masks. People who used fashion, expensive anti-aging creams, brand name make-up, and even surgery to keep up their facade of youth and beauty. People that also had a unique aura around them...
Kusanagi shivered and closed the curtain behind her not wanting to see more.
And then the fashion show was underway. Katsumi was the first to go out onto the runway to model. She was wearing a sky-blue dress with an empire silhouette – a high-waisted cut of dress where the material was gathered just underneath the bust from which a long, loose skirt of flowing, silk material came down to touch the floor. Behind Katsumi’s back were two sparkly, sapphire blue and black butterfly wings that had been attached to her back. Blue rhinestones had also been glued to Katsumi’s face - one large jewel was in the center of her forehead and other smaller jewels had been glued in arches over her eyebrows.
Katsumi made her way down the catwalk and was doing a spectacular job that is until she suddenly tripped and fell flat on her face. Opps. The crowd laughed but Katsumi seemed unaffected and simply picked herself back up and continued her way down the runway as if nothing had ever happened. The crowd that had been laughing seconds before seemed impressed by Katsumi’s inner strength and ability to keep on walking like that even after her clumsy mishap and so began applauding her instead.
After Katsumi it was Kusanagi’s turn. Kusanagi took a deep breath and then made her way out onto the runway. She could care less about Takumi’s show or his success, but she did have her pride. And even though she was being forced to do this she was going to do her best, and she was going to make sure her best was nothing short of spectacular.
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Kusanagi walked out onto the runway and immediately the cameras began to flash. Kusanagi couldn’t help the small smirk that graced her lips. She knew she looked good. The outfit that Takumi had designed and which she had gotten to wear was an extremely daring mix of styles between ancient, modern, and futuristic Japan. The outfit consisted of a sleeveless kimono of a deep, emerald green silk. The accents on the kimono were black and there were two sharp pieces of material at the neckline that accentuated the modern cut of the outfit and that jutted out like a bird’s wings. A thick black obi, or sash belt had been tied about her waist accentuating her slender frame.
Attached to Kusanagi’s forearms and tied with black ribbons were two square-shaped kimono sleeves that had also been created in green silk. A black ribbon choker had been tied around Kusanagi’s neck in a large, dramatic bow. Kusanagi’s hair had been styled with half of her hair being brought up into a topknot from which two, long, golden chopsticks were sticking out on each side. Her shoes were geta, traditional Japanese wooden sandals, except that the wooden base was at least four inches high. Kusanagi had to be very careful not to trip in such high sandals, but she had to admit the overall effect of her outfit was sensational.
The crowd of spectators Ooed and Ahhed as they watched Kusanagi walk down the runway and Takumi had tears in his eyes as he watched her performance.
Kusanagi made her way back and let out a breath of relief that it was over. The next to go out would be Ranmaru, who was escorting Orihime. Orihime’s ball gown had been made to match Ranmaru’s ensemble in black and gold, and had been fashioned after the popular Gothic Lolita style. The black, velvet gown was sleeveless and the neckline had been adorned with a large, silk butterfly so that the v-neck of the dress was made by the top of the butterfly’s wings. The design of golden butterflies had also been embroidered throughout the material of the gown. Orihime wore a black, lacy choker around her neck and she wore a pair of long, black silk gloves that also had lace accents at the ends of the sleeves. Her hair had been left loose, cascading over her shoulders and back in a chaotic wave of gold. Black butterfly barrettes, which Takumi had handmade out of silk and shiny Bitch 295
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onyx beads, adorned her hair in places.
Kusanagi frowned thoughtfully. Orihime truly did look like a princess and Ranmaru was indeed looking like her prince or perhaps her knight. They really did look good together, Kusanagi realized with a pang as she watched the two of them walk down the runway together from behind the curtain. Kusanagi felt a twinge of jealousy as she watched them both arm in arm but was unable to recognize the feeling for what it was. The crowd also seemed to become enamored by the beautiful couple and was going wild by taking numerous photographs. However-The pendant around Orihime’s neck suddenly began to pulse with light, as it seemed to sense the unique auras of the people, who had been gathered there that night. Their auras of vanity. Kusanagi watched in a stunned stupor as the aura of smog appeared circling around Orihime once more, and that foul smell from before had returned, but this time the stench was ten times as strong. Kusanagi put a hand in front of her mouth as she began to cough.
The pendant seemed to be going out of control Kusanagi realized as the pendant’s glowing seemed to become erratic and it was suddenly sucking in large amounts of ‘aura’ from the gathered crowd – stealing their vanity, youth, and beauty. Kusanagi could See it being sucked in-People in the audience began to fall over unconscious, their auras of youth and beauty having been stolen. Kusanagi saw that their hair had been turned white.
Kusanagi couldn’t remain a spectator any longer after that, and so rushed out onto the runway stage. She could See that the people weren’t dead yet since the Grim Reaper’s shadow was still formed behind them but remained unmoving. These people were hanging precariously on the thread between Life and Death. Their lives were still in danger and if the pendant decided to steal anymore of their aura from them they would surely die. Kusanagi looked towards the pendant and saw that it was just as she feared
- it hadn’t finished feeding and was still sucking at the remaining 296
auras of the fallen people.
“Orihime! Stop! You’re killing them!” Kusanagi yelled over towards her.
Orihime had been in a kind of trance, with a dazed look on her face, her golden eyes dull - but at the sound of Kusanagi’s harsh voice she seemed to snap out of it and looked around finally noticing what her pendant had been doing of its own will. She grasped her pendant intent on stopping it but her eyes widened in fear. “
I...can’t stop it! Somehow the pendant is out of my control! It’s gone berserk!”
“Shit. I knew something like this would happen. Dammit!” Kusanagi steeled herself and took a deep breath before walking forward and towards Orihime. She would have to take care of this herself. This was much harder than it looked since for Kusanagi it felt like she was trudging through sludge. Kusanagi had to use all her strength and willpower just to be able to continue forward, and not allow herself to become overpowered by the smell or the smog cloud that had formed all around the entire runway stage. Her eyes were watering badly and she began to cough again as she stubbornly continued her way towards Orihime.
Finally, Kusanagi was standing in front of Orihime and using the last of her remaining strength she reached out to grasp hold of the cursed pendant. It tried to resist her of course. As Kusanagi’s fingers wrapped around the pendant it immediately burned her hand painfully, but even as Kusanagi flinched from the pain she didn’t take her hand back until she was ripping the pendant from Orihime’s neck. She then raised her hand high up into the air-“No! Don’t do it!” Orihime cried as she realized what Kusanagi intended to do.
But Kusanagi didn’t listen to her and smiled instead as she threw the pendant down hard upon the runway floor where the stone in the pendant shattered easily. A dark moaning shade rose up out of the broken pendant fragments and Ranmaru unsheathed his sword seeing that he finally had some work to do. He quickly empowered Kuroki Ryu with his yokai energy before bringing it down upon the shade in a high downwards slash. He easily exorcized the evil spirit that had inhabited Orihime’s Bitch 297
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pendant. The evil spirit let out an angry shriek as it was destroyed.
Kusanagi was panting for breath and Ranmaru noticed that two strands of hair that were on either side of Kusanagi’s face were now white. The stolen auras of vanity, youth and beauty began to return back into the bodies of the fallen victims. And as for Orihime-The illusion spell had been broken. And the true face of Orihime had been revealed to all. A horrified gasp went through the crowd and Kusanagi turned to see what the fuss was all about and saw Orihime’s true form. She couldn’t help but stare since there in the center of Orihime’s forehead was a single, spiraled golden horn that was about four inches in length.
“A unicorn maiden...” Kusanagi muttered to herself as she realized what Orihime was.
Orihime was beginning to panic. No one had ever seen her true face...she could feel all the eyes upon her. Those harsh eyes that were condemning her, judging her. The crowd of people had begun to whisper frantically about her new appearance…
“Orihime is a yokai...?” “Orihime is a unicorn maiden?”
“Look at that horn!” “She looks like...?” “A demon.” Someone finally finished the thought that everyone had been thinking and put a voice to it.
“No...” Orihime breathed to herself as she clutched the sides of her face in her hands. Her worst nightmare was finally becoming a reality. She had done everything in her power so that no one would ever have to see her true form. She had even managed to find that pendant and had known the price she would have to ultimately pay for its use – her own youth and beauty. But she had never expected the pendant to be destroyed suddenly and for her secret to be revealed so unexpectedly like this. “No...”
She sunk to her knees and covered her face with her hands as she shook her head back and forth. “No, don’t look at me. Please...don’t look at me. I’m...hideous.” Orihime moaned in despair.
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“Orihime-” Kusanagi began, brows furrowed as she walked towards the girl.
However-A voice suddenly boomed out across the auditorium.
“Orihime! You foul masked woman! You hideous deceiver of men’s hearts! You’re nothing but a witch, who has charmed me with a lie! You will pay dearly for deceiving me - with your life!”
The voice declared.
All eyes turned in the direction the voice had come from, which was across the auditorium, opposite to the stage, and on the second level. There the figure of a man in a hooded, black cloak was seen. He had his arm raised, and his long, pale finger was pointed accusingly towards Orihime.
The Grim Reaper? Kusanagi gasped in fright, her heart pounding madly in her chest. He’s come...for Orihime! “Oh my god, it’s him!” Kusanagi blurted out.
Ranmaru was at his Mistress’ side in an instant,
“Mistress?” He asked her concernedly and followed her line of sight. There he saw the mysterious cloaked and hooded figure.
“You know who he is?”
Kusanagi looked back at Ranmaru with haunted eyes,
“You can see him too?” She demanded of him in a mixture of shock and disbelief.
Ranmaru furrowed his brows at her, not quite understanding what Kusanagi was getting at. “Yes, I can see him.”
Kusanagi blinked back at him, “I mean, you can see the Grim Reaper...?”
“You mean that man?” Ranmaru questioned her again trying to clarify.
“Man?” Kusanagi blinked, “Wait a second, Ranmaru can you smell him?”
Ranmaru nodded back in his stoic manner.
Kusanagi blinked back - Opps. She had just mistaken a flesh and blood man for the Grim Reaper himself. Ranmaru must think she was insane! A guilty look crossed Kusanagi’s face immediately as she realized her mistake and wondered if she could try and hide this from Ranmaru somehow. Ranmaru however noticed this. Why did Kusanagi think Bitch 299
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that man was actually the Grim Reaper? Is it possible that she’s able to See...? Ranmaru opened his mouth prepared to question Kusanagi about her mistake.
However-The man pulled his hood back to reveal who he was and his cloak swirled revealing that it had a bright red lining. It was none other than the eccentric clothes designer - Akai! He had a red mohawk of hair, a white painted face, black painted lips, and a red teardrop had also been painted under his left eye for dramatic effect. Kusanagi thought he looked like some kind of evil clown. But she scratched this thought when he suddenly raised a giant sniper rifle and aimed it directly at Orihime- Holy-!
“My darling Orihime! How could you deceive me like this? I believed in you! In your beauty. You were the muse and inspiration for my greatest work! But now...you’re nothing but a fake and a monster! A demon! But don’t worry my darling. I shall save you from your own hideousness by painting you in the beautiful red color of your own blood! Thus shall you be cleansed of your own ugliness! Never fear! I shall save you!” He took aim and fired.
He’s not really the Grim-! Kusanagi was frantically putting the pieces of the puzzle together in her mind when the shot was fired. Shit! Kusanagi reacted on pure instinct.
“Orihime!” She pushed Orihime to the stage floor and out of the way of the bullet.
Ranmaru leapt into action next and unsheathed his sword Kuroki Ryu once again. Ranmaru hopped down from the runway stage, and ran down the center aisle towards the other side of the auditorium, his sword held out before him. Once he was in the right position he simply jumped up and onto the second floor landing directly in front of a stunned Akai with a heavy thud. Akai blinked back at Ranmaru with wide-eyes full of fear,
“Just what are you?”
Akai turned his rifle and let loose a cry as he fired several shots in Ranmaru’s direction, but Ranmaru easily dodged these 300
bullets as he moved his sword and body through the air using his yokai speed. Akai lowered his rifle then, his jaw gapping open.
“Uso…no way…”
There was a fierce glint in Ranmaru’s eyes that were glowing red as he turned and pointed his sword Kuroki Ryu at Akai. “Who me? I’m the Lady Kusanagi’s Samurai Butler.” He swung his sword forward, first bringing it down upon the rifle and cutting it in half. Akai squeaked in fright and dropped the useless pieces of the gun before him. Ranmaru then moved his sword swiftly through the air and did not hesitate to run Akai straight th
rough the heart, in one fluid motion-Bright red blood splattered into the air as it gushed out of the wound in Akai’s chest.
Akai smiled as he watched the droplets of his own blood fill the air like cherry blossom petals wafting on a spring breeze,
“So beautiful...” He looked into Ranmaru’s red eyes. “An angel of death ka? At least I died beautifully.”
Ranmaru removed his sword and Akai fell back, dead, with a broad smile on his face.
Ranmaru remembered the fallen form of his miko love Nagi and shook his head. You’re wrong. Death is never beautiful…
“Kusanagi!” Came Orihime’s panicked voice.
Ranmaru’s ears perked up and he turned to look down the aisle. Had Kusanagi been hurt? He leapt down from the second floor and onto the first floor to run back down the center aisle and towards Kusanagi. He leapt back up onto the catwalk and was at Kusanagi’s side in seconds. Orihime was kneeling next to Kusanagi’s unmoving body with a helpless expression on her face. Ranmaru bent over and pulled Kusanagi’s limp body into his arms protectively. He saw a spot of red blooming on her shoulder - she had been shot. He looked down at her with his ears flopped and pressed down on either side of his head, and his golden eyes were filled with worry, “Oujo-sama...? ”
“R-ranmaru?” Kusanagi’s eyes fluttered open. She blinked back up at him and smiled lopsidedly through the pain in her shoulder. “Ranmaru, don’t look at me like that. It’s just a flesh wound. It’s nothing serious. Mou, you’re always such a worrywart.”
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Ranmaru let out a breath he had been holding. His Mistress was alright…
Kusanagi frowned suddenly when she sensed
something... malevolent. “Ranmaru, I think there’s someone who needs you more than I do right now. Help her, Ranmaru, that’s an order.”
The crowd was becoming restless again now that the serial killer had already been dealt with. Their attention seemed to be focused on Orihime and her horn once more. A young man suddenly threw his cell phone at Orihime, who didn’t notice since she was too busy crying into her hands pathetically. Humans love to bring someone up but humans love it even more to bring someone down. Kusanagi thought to herself morbidly as she shook her head.
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