Bitch Heiress X Samurai Butler

by KuroKoneko Kamen

  ‘someone’. And then there were the times when Kusanagi would just ‘stare’ at a point slightly behind these students and a grim expression would form on her face.

  And every time Ranmaru looked to see what Kusanagi was looking at he didn’t see anything there. What was Kusanagi seeing that he couldn’t see? If it was ‘something’? Or was his Mistress losing it and just seeing things. He noticed that several students were getting into yokai drugs recently and wondered if perhaps his Mistress had fallen into the dark clutches of addiction as well. But as far as he knew he had never seen Kusanagi take anything so had no real reason to suspect her. He noted that he wasn’t the only one who had noticed Kusanagi’s strange behavior. Several students seemed to have noticed her odd behavior as well and were beginning to comment on it to themselves and had begun to shoot her either scared, worried or dirty looks. Maybe they were all in a bad mood since they seemed to have caught a cold of some type. Several of the Bitch 71

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  students were either coughing or sneezing but none of them had a fever so it probably wasn’t anything too serious. How odd. What did it all mean?

  Well, whatever it was - there was definitely something wrong with Kusanagi. Kusanagi was almost acting as if

  ‘something’, an ‘invisible enemy’ perhaps, was...after her. This unsettled Ranmaru immensely. His Mistress was in trouble and he didn’t know what he could do to help her. He felt...powerless. That evening Ranmaru decided to sit outside of Kusanagi’s bedchamber in case there were signs of danger or in case Kusanagi had another nightmare. He had his back to the door and his keen fox ears were listening for any signs of change within the room. He just had to find out the reason for his Mistress’ continued insomnia. He could hear her sleeping peacefully inside, her breathing was even until...her breathing became irregular...turned to panting and then Ranmaru heard a pained groan and then a muffled cry. His Mistress was most definitely having a nightmare.

  “Oujo-sama.” Immediately concerned, Ranmaru kicked the door in, and rushed over to Kusanagi’s bedside. She was covered in a thin sheen of sweat and Ranmaru put a hand on her arm hesitantly. “Oujo-sama...? ”

  Kusanagi was still trapped in the clutches of the nightmare and so was unable to respond and simply let out a pained groan.

  “Oujo-sama...wake up...you’re having a nightmare...”

  Ranmaru tried again, lightly shaking her awake. Kusanagi muttered something brokenly in her sleep-“No...Katsumi...don’t go....! Don’t take her away as well...YOU!...”

  Frustrated Ranmaru shook Kusanagi harder finally managing to wake her up with one slight drawback. She immediately punched Ranmaru hard across the face. “I won’t let you take her! Ahhh!”

  Kusanagi then blinked to see - Ranmaru sporting a split lip. Opps. There were tears streaming down her face and she 72

  stubbornly wiped them away with the back of her hand. She obviously didn’t want Ranmaru to see her like that. Blood was trickling down Ranmaru’s mouth but he appeared unfazed by the wound.

  Ranmaru hesitated before reaching out and embracing Kusanagi suddenly. He wasn’t exactly sure what had driven him to do something so bold but he was glad he had done it anyways. Too surprised to react quickly enough Kusanagi allowed herself to be hugged, allowed herself to succumb to Ranmaru’s surprisingly comforting embrace. How did such an emotionless guy know how to comfort someone, Kusanagi wondered in a daze.

  “What’s wrong?” His hot breath whispered in her ear, making her shiver.

  “It’ Katsumi she...” Kusanagi began in a slightly choked voice but then seemed to realize that Ranmaru was tricking her into speaking and stopped suddenly. “That’s none of your business! Pervert!” Kusanagi snapped as she pulled out of Ranmaru’s embrace hurriedly. She then glared at him, her beautiful emerald green eyes flashing. “And what do you think you’re doing in my room? How dare you come in here without my permission and...! And...!” She seemed unable to say that he hugged her and so settled on glaring hard at Ranmaru instead.

  “You were having a nightmare.” Again, Ranmaru used a simple statement thinking that it explained his actions perfectly. Kusanagi’s eye twitched in annoyance, this guy...totally irritated her! “No duh Einstein! But it still doesn’t explain why you’re in here...you’re my Samurai Butler...nothing more! Got it?”

  Ranmaru was nonplused. “Exactly, I’m supposed to protect you...even from your nightmares.”

  Kusanagi gasped, but then scoffed. “Now, that’s just silly.”

  Ranmaru however was serious. “But I can’t properly protect you if I don’t know what the nightmares are about.” He prodded stubbornly.

  Kusanagi frowned and turned her head away. “Keh, it’s not like you’d even believe me if I told you...” She said in a low, lonely and pained voice.

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  “Try me.” Ranmaru said, his face still expressionless. Kusanagi blinked back in surprise, but then shook her head to glare at Ranmaru. “Alright, moron, you’ve done you’re bodyguard duty for the night. Now get lost and let me get back to sleep!”

  “But-”

  “Get the hell out of my room - right NOW! BAKA!”

  Kusanagi yelled as she grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. Ranmaru was knocked back off the bed by the force of the blow. Yep, Kusanagi was no ‘delicate flower’ that was for certain. His Mistress was a surprisingly tough little thing. What was that

  ‘they’ said about good things coming in small packages? Perhaps,

  ‘they’ meant mighty things come in small packages? The pillow barrage continued and sensing that his life was in danger Ranmaru wisely decided to make his exit. He bowed, “As you wish, Oujo-sama. May you have pleasant dreams.” Ranmaru got a pillow in his face for his effort to be polite.

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  CHAPTER 3

  Cute critters aren’t necessarily friendly

  It was the Grim Reaper’s shadow.

  When Kusanagi had spotted Ranmaru and Katsumi hidden behind the tree and spying on her during lunch she had been irked to say the least. And she had immediately gone over there to chew them out. First Ranmaru, and then Katsumi, but when Kusanagi had turned her gaze to Katsumi she had spotted something unexpected.

  There behind Katsumi was her shadow, however, her shadow did not appear normal, or like her usual shadow which was just a shadowy elongated copy of herself. Instead her shadow had taken on the twisted form of someone else - a cloaked and hooded figure that was carrying a giant and deadly looking scythe

  - the Grim Reaper’s shadow.

  And if Katsumi had the Grim Reaper’s shadow behind her that could mean only one thing –

  Katsumi was going to die.

  Kusanagi knew this because anytime she saw someone suddenly plagued by the Grim Reaper’s shadow behind them it wasn’t long before they wound up dead. And it wouldn’t be long either before ‘he’ decided to make an appearance a.k.a the Grim Reaper.

  The first time Kusanagi had seen the Grim Reaper’s shadow had been when it had appeared behind her own parents. Then she hadn’t known what it meant but as the days edged closer and closer to that day the shadow behind her parents had Bitch 75

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  become larger and larger, and had grown more apparent until HE

  had come and killed them. Kusanagi had been forced to watch afterwards as her parents lay unmoving on the ground and the shadow of the Grim Reaper had seemed to come to life to then harvest her parent’s souls with his giant scythe. But it certainly had not been the last. Afterwards, Kusanagi began to notice people with the Grim Reaper’s shadow trailing behind them almost everywhere - even at school. And that’s when she started to try and stop this twisted Prophecy of Death. But the more she got involved the more futile her efforts became when she tried to warn or stop people from dying. And that’s how the rumors at Akai Bara Academy had started. Rumors that Kusanagi was either cursed, plagued by Death, or a murde
rer herself.

  That’s also when her fellow students began to outcast and shun her. It hurt but Kusanagi realized it was for the best. In fact, at the rate things were going and especially after Mamoru’s death, Kusanagi decided she shouldn’t get close to anyone ever again. If she got close to someone she would be hurt - they would be hurt. So it was best if no one got close to her, she decided. That way they wouldn’t care about her and she wouldn’t care about them. But how to push people away, she had wondered. And then she came up with a brilliant idea. No one liked a bitch so why not act the part? And so Kusanagi had created her Bitch Mask in order to push everyone away from her - for their own good. And that’s when that annoying little voice began to pop up in her head from time to time too...

  Kusanagi speculated about why she hadn’t always been able to see the Grim Reaper’s shadow and why this new ability seemed to have been awakened along with her parent’s death. That hadn’t been the only change Kusanagi had experienced since that day either. Kusanagi had always been adept at fortune telling. She had oftentimes told her friends’ fortunes using tarot cards - her readings had always been extremely accurate. Usually, she would tell a friend’s love fortune or work-related fortune, but that was until the cards stopped listening to her and 76

  showed her instead what they wanted to show her - Death. The cards had begun to predict the deaths of her closest friends and Kusanagi had tried her hardest to stop their deaths, but even her most desperate efforts in each case had failed miserably and been in vain.

  She realized how weak she was because of this. She didn’t even have enough power to save her friends. She had even failed to protect her ex- Samurai Butler Mamoru whom she had come to love. He had died protecting her. And then there were the visions or at least that’s what Kusanagi called them. When she was reading the cards they’d suddenly come upon her and it was like having a dream but being awake - a waking dream. Sometimes she’d only see an image related to how her friends would die or a clue, but other times she would actually see their entire death and how it would play out right to the bloody end.

  That’s when Kusanagi stopped telling fortunes. She thought if she stopped she could escape having to see and deal with the death prophecies. But she was wrong. As if her latent abilities could sense they no longer had an outlet in the tarot cards to show Kusanagi visions, Kusanagi began to have prophetic dreams instead - or what she considered nightmares. Sometimes she was plagued by such dreams for weeks and suffered insomnia because of them. Kusanagi didn’t want to sleep if it meant having those visions. The only time she would be released from them was when the person the dreams had been about died. She didn’t know which was worse. And so now Katsumi had the Grim Reaper’s shadow following behind her, which meant she was going to die. Kusanagi had the sickening feeling that it had something to do with her and the everyday dangers that plagued her from yakuza, kidnappers, yokai hired assassins, or greed-crazed relatives. And so she did the only thing she knew she could do - push Katsumi away.

  “And as for you...stay the hell away from me. You’re annoying!” Kusanagi had shouted. Stay away...please stay away...or you’ll be hurt...stay away from me or...you’ll die. Her inner voice had begged.

  The next few days had been hell; Kusanagi had been Bitch 77

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  plagued by strange dreams that made absolutely no sense if they were supposed to be about Katsumi’s death. In fact for nightmares Kusanagi had to admit the dreams were practically...peaceful, nice even. Flowers. Her dreams had all been filled with flowers...to be precise beautiful pink daffodils. She had suffered from insomnia the next few days because of these strange, unsettling dreams. Until that very night when she had dreamed of Katsumi being caught up in thorny vines that were strangling her and creeping around her body to constrict until they squeezed so hard that they pierced Katsumi’s skin on her neck and on the rest of her body, so that blood gushed out of the wounds in a horrible fashion killing her. And then the Grim Reaper had appeared and raised his shinning scythe to slice Katsumi’s head off.

  Kusanagi had awoken in a fit, punching ‘someone’ whom in her half-awake state she had thought was the Grim Reaper only to discover that it had only been her new, annoying Samurai Butler Ranmaru. Blood trickled down from his split lip but he had seemed otherwise unaffected as he looked back at her with those dull golden eyes of his. She had felt a twinge of guilt at the sight. He should have been angry.

  Then Ranmaru had...hugged her! The nerve of that guy!

  Taking advantage of the moment and getting in her personal bubble. Yep, Kusanagi was convinced Ranmaru was a total pervert (or at least a closet-type one).

  Caught off guard by the gesture Kusanagi had almost broken down sobbing and spilled her guts out - almost. Thank God she had remembered whom it actually was that was holding her - her idiotic and annoying as hell Samurai Butler. Just thinking about how much he irritated her made her able to pull herself together.

  Argh that guy...he was just so infuriating! Kusanagi just couldn’t figure the guy out. Who knew what was going on in that pea-sized brain of his?

  She had tried all sorts of crazy orders, requests, chores and the like to make him want to quit. But instead of failing her 78

  he had managed to complete all her requests perfectly, flawlessly even - it really irritated her. He was even managing to handle taking care of the dangerous animals in her menagerie. In fact, they even seemed to be getting along! He was the ‘perfect’ butler. Well, except for the fact he was so...darn ‘emotionless’. He always had this cool mask of indifference on his face that really got under her skin. Though she’d pick that over the ‘fake smile’

  he had been using in the beginning.

  He reminded her of some kind of emotionless robot. An automaton. Yep, he was driving her up the wall! She couldn’t stand... quiet people like him! It made her want to shake him. (Which she sometimes resorted to.) And he had gotten into the habit of stalking her! The weirdo. And he had even gone so far as to recruit Katsumi for help. That week, he had somehow managed to get his hands on a male school uniform and was stalking her around the school openly now - talk about annoying. God, why couldn’t those two just leave her the hell alone?

  But that week she barely noticed their efforts anyways because despite the fact she was keeping her distance from Katsumi the Grim Reaper’s shadow had not left her. And to make matters worse several students now had the Grim Reaper’s shadow trailing behind them as well. Just what the hell was going on?

  It could only mean one thing - Katsumi and the other students all had something in common. Something that would ultimately lead to their deaths...

  And Kusanagi was determined to find out what it was. Which was why Katsumi was completely thrown for a loop when Kusanagi had gone right up to Katsumi and Ranmaru in their hiding place and had begun to talk to them.

  “Hey, Katsumi, what’s up?” Kusanagi began in a nonchalant manner.

  Katsumi blinked in surprise. “Uh...nuthing much?”

  “So...it’s Friday night. Got any special plans?” Kusanagi asked disinterestedly.

  Katsumi’s demeanor brightened considerably, “Oh! Yes, some friends and I are going to go to this new dance club tonight. It’s called Tsuki Hana (Moon Flower). It’s become really popular lately, like totally.”

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  “Oh? How so?”

  “Well-” Katsumi looked around nervously before leaning in to whisper to Kusanagi. “It’s because of this new drug.”

  This had to have been the last thing Kusanagi had been expecting to hear - especially from someone like Katsumi the bubblehead. “A drug?”

  Katsumi nodded, “It’s new...they call it HANABI (fire flower). It’s very popular since it’s dirt cheap. A lot of students at school are doing it too...”

  “I see.” Kusanagi’s emerald green eyes narrowed at Katsumi. “And are you? ”

  Katsumi blushed, “Oh well, you
know, just once or twice or whenever someone offered me one of those little pink pills. I don’t want to seem like a total square, you know. And the drug barely does anything. It just makes you

  feel...lighter...happier...like a balloon actually. You go floating up, up, up and away. And you get this rush like you could do anything.” Katsumi was looking a bit starry-eyed as she described the effects of the drug.

  BONK

  Kusanagi swiftly bonked Katsumi over the head, “Baka! I knew you were a bubble-head but I didn’t think you were stupid enough to be influenced by peer pressure that badly!”

  “Ow!” Katsumi rubbed her head, a few tears in her eyes.

  “Peer...wha?”

  “Nevermind.” Kusanagi shook her head at the girl, who already seemed to be addicted to the drug, and if her shadow was anything to go by the drug was dangerous, perhaps even deadly. She needed to find out more about the people who were responsible for the drug’s distribution if she was going to get any answers however. “So, this drug HANABI is sold at the dance club?”

  Katsumi nodded, looking a bit put out.

  “I see.” Kusanagi looked thoughtful before she smiled sweetly at Katsumi. Ranmaru thought this was a bit creepy. “I’d like to join you tonight if that’s alright. It sounds...fun.” She 80

  forced the word out cheerily, fake smile plastered to her face. Ranmaru shivered.

  Katsumi looked surprised but then excited. “Oh! Sure! I’ll like let my friends know I’m bringing...someone.” Katsumi suddenly looked Kusanagi up and down with a thoughtful eye.

  “What were you planning on wearing?”

  “Wearing?” Kusanagi blinked. “This?”

  A cat’s paw smile formed on Katsumi’s face, “You just leave everything to me, girlfriend. Let me just go grab some things at my house and we can go get ready at yours kay?”