Previous part available by email to me.  :)


{These characters are not property of me. I would never attempt to claim 
them as my own. This story may not be used without my permission, and may 
not be used to make money in any way, shape or form.  Characters and certain
situations were created by Rumiko Takahashi, so don't try any funny stuff!} 




Kazuo's Kind
by Lara Bartram

Part 2


	Kazuo walked home slowly.  He had done a very, very bad thing
and now...  He wasn't sure he could live with it.  He had gone by
Nabiki's suggestion, used the stuff she had provided, at a very high
price, and now he was captain of the kendo team.
	He had put the vial of liquid, tiny dose by tiny dose, into
the cookies and then left them for Kuno with a note from 'the
pig-tailed girl'.  Nabiki had said that if it was from the pig-tailed
girl, Kuno wouldn't hesitate to eat them, even if they tasted like
shoe polish.
	And he had eaten them and he had a stroke!  A stroke at 17, as
if anybody would really believe a 17 year old in Kuno's condition
would ever have a stroke.
	As he walked, slowly, wallowing in guilt, he noticed he was
catching up with a young man dressed in a Furinkan uniform, who was
walking with a very pronounced limp.  Kazuo almost ran in the opposite
direction right then.
	Instead, he watched Kuno limp along, wondering what it had
felt like for someone's brain to seize up.  How bad had it been to
wake up and not have control over all his limbs?  How bad had it been
to lose the only thing he was good at?
	Kazuo watched Kuno's foot get caught on a piece of broken
sidewalk and stumble awkwardly.  Trying to regain his balance on only
one leg, Kuno's books tumbled from his hands and scattered over the
ground.  Without anything to hold on to, Kuno fell to the sidewalk.
	Kazuo stopped moving then.  He couldn't just walk by and not
help, but he couldn't walk in the other direction either.  He watched
Kuno sit up slowly, his shirt covered with gravel.  Even from the
distance Kazuo was at, he could see Kuno's left hand shake as he put
it over his face.  God, was he crying?
	Kazuo forced himself to walk, trying not to look at Kuno.
Kuno wasn't the captain any longer.  Ochiai Kazuo was.  And he
deserved it, damn it.  He kept his eyes focussed in the distance as he
avoided stepping on Kuno's books.
	"Ochiai-san..."
	Kazuo stopped walking and looked down at Kuno, trying to hide
the guilt he felt.
	"Could you help me?" Kuno asked, sounding more like a lost
child than anything.
	Kazuo looked at him in horror and began to shake his head.  "I
can't."
	Kuno struggled to stand.  "Please."
	"I... I have to go home.  I can't."  Kazuo started to walk
away quickly.
	"I understand.  Thank you anyway, Ochiai-san."
	Kazuo couldn't look back at the person that used to be the
kendo captain, but was only a broken human being now... because of
him.  Broken... begging for help...  Kazuo didn't think that image
would ever leave him; it would haunt him for a very long time.

***

 	Kazuo tried to meditate; that was something the previous 
captain had never really believed in.  Yet, as he tried to relax, that
image, the knowledge of what he had done...
	'You wanted the dirt, now you've got to shovel it.'
	Shovel dirt... for his own grave.  Meditation was doing him
no good and...  Kazuo put his hands over his face, trying to compose
himself.  What had he been thinking?  That was a question he didn't
think he'd ever be able to answer.

***

	The next morning was quiet.  There was none of the usual noise
that accompanied a morning at Furinkan high school.  Kazuo found that
he didn't care for the silence at all.
	"Are you happy now?"
	Kazuo jumped.  She had slid up beside him and he hadn't even
noticed.  "What?  Why don't you just leave me alone," he said, trying
to ignore Nabiki's presence.  "And what do you mean, happy?"
	"You finally got what you wanted.  He's out of the way,"
Nabiki said emotionlessly.
	"Yeah, I know.  I saw when he..."
	Nabiki was shaking her head.  "No.  You got him good."  A
trace of anger crept into her voice.  "He won't be any sort of
competition for you... at all."
	"What the hell are you talking about?"
	In a strange gesture of compassion, Nabiki put her hand on
Kazuo's shoulder.  "Last night.  He killed himself."  Nabiki pulled
herself away from Kazuo and gave him a little wave before she went
inside.
	Kazuo was stunned.  Dead?  No, it had to be a lie.  A filthy
lie.  "Don't lie to me!" he yelled at the closed school doors, earning
him stares from the students around him.  Kazuo wanted to cry.  It
wasn't even his fault!
	Tendo Nabiki had done it!  And then she had the gall to be
angry about Kuno being d...  He couldn't be dead, he just couldn't be.
Kazuo couldn't be responsible for something like that.
	No.  He wasn't.  He didn't kill Kuno.  Yeah, he had only TRIED
to kill Kuno.  Big difference there, huge difference.  The police
would understand.
	Feeling himself slowly losing control, Kazuo made a beeline
for the practice room.  He should have been there earlier that
morning, but his sleep had been restless all night.  Tonight, he
probably wouldn't sleep at all.

***

	He stopped her on the street.  She was dressed all in black,
he was in casual clothing.  "What's the joke here, Tendo?" he asked
her quietly.
	Nabiki removed Kazuo's hand from her arm.  "Whatever do you
mean, Ochiai-san?" she asked innocently.
	Kazuo sneered at her.  Her act got old very quickly.  "The
black.  What's with the costume?"
	"I have a funeral to attend.  Now if you don't mind..."  She
started to walk away.
	"I don't understand you.  You did it, so how can you be so...
nonchalant, pretending that you care?"
	"Because I do care."
	Kazuo couldn't believe what he was hearing.  "I don't believe
you."
 	"I don't care if you do.  You are nothing to me.  You were a
short business venture a month ago.  Kuno Tatewaki was my best
customer and a very convenient sap."  Nabiki crossed her arms and
looked at Kazuo flatly.  "Are you done?"
	Kazuo's eyes closed to slits.  "You are completely
unbelievable.  You know this was as much your fault as mine.  I will
not take the blame for this," he finished with gritted teeth.
	"So who's blaming you?" Nabiki asked.
	Kazuo couldn't manage an answer.  "Unbelievable," he repeated.
"I hope you realize you..."
	"I hope you realize I don't care what you think.  I have more
important things to do right now, and they don't involve you.  Now
please show a little respect for the dead, Ochiai-san.  It's the
proper thing to do."
	Kazuo could only watch her walk away.  It was true.  Tendo
Nabiki's heart really was made of ice.  But Kazuo's heart wasn't made
of ice; he was a normal human, and he was scared.

***

	School was quiet the next day.  Most of the students walked
around with a haunted look in their eyes.  Even if many of them had
nothing but sour feelings about Kuno, the things that had happened...
Those were not memories easily dismissed.
	The kendo team was barely up for practicing.  Many of the
members still respected Kuno for his skill, if not his personality,
and simply moving on was not as easy as it might have seemed.
	Kazuo himself was exhausted every morning from his lack of
sleep and he heard the rumors.  Ochiai was losing it, wasn't good
enough to be captain any longer, couldn't live up to Kuno...  Well,
Kazuo couldn't compete with the skill Kuno had shown.  That was the
truth, and he couldn't live with what he had done either.
	Kazuo was slowly breaking down.  'Who's blaming you?'  No one
but myself.  And the only thing meditating got him were nightmares
when he fell asleep.  Things were far from over and done with.

End 2