Title: A Tough And Brutal Friendship
Author: S. Mark Gunther
Part: 1/?
Warnings: Hospitals. Insanity. Forced Companionship. Angst
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is not mine. The characters are not mine. the belong 
to the great and mighty Rumiko Takahashi. Only my opinions about them and 
the series, and the plot line therin is mine. Hence why I'm still poor.
Summary: Hikaru + Kodachi + Hosiptals = ?
Archive: Yes to AAML, and the RAAC archive. Anyone else, ask
first.
Comments: This fic is also dedicated to Finmagik, the always awesome 
inspiration for me any time I write about Gosunkugi. :D I want to also thank 
Jason_Miao and DannyCat for helping out on this fic.


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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: ATABF.txt

A Tough and Brutal Friendship
By S. Mark Gunther

     "But I don't want to go and visit her!!" Hikaru Gosunkugi whined 
softly. He and Tatewaki Kuno walked down a sterile hallway, the sun shining 
brightly in the day sky. "She hates me! She's used me for her experiments 
before!"

     "And you honestly believe I have been immune from my sister's demented 
play, Gosunkugi?" Tatewaki answered slowly and angrily. "I've had to deal 
with it since my mother went away."

     "Then you're the one to deal with it easier. I'm leaving," Hikaru said 
as he tried to turn and walk away. Just as he took a step however he was 
pulled back by Tatewaki's large hand and gripped tightly. The kendoist 
stared into Hikaru's eyes and glowered angrily at him.

     "You are not leaving until I get home. You have defiled my love, Akane 
Tendo with the pictures you took and you must atone for your crimes. Either 
you will atone for your crime this way or I will beat you within an inch of 
your life. Are we clear?" His voice was low and sinister, his tone informing 
Hikaru of the seriousness of the matter. The younger boy could only nod in 
fear as he was let go from Tatchi's grip. "Come. We are already tardy."

     "Yes, father," Hikaru muttered under his breath as the pair walked 
along, annoyed at the kendoist's patronizing tone. His face mixed the 
emotions of a man who did not want to deal with the things he had to deal 
with. His face twisted into a sneer mixed with a grumble as he stood in 
front of their destination with the kendoist. "So all I have to do is sit 
with until you return?"

     "That is correct. I must confer with Nabiki Tendo for a while about my 
new homework deal. My sister needs someone here with her until she is able 
to come back home and I must keep this appointment. Nabiki was rather cold 
about the flexibility of this. So you have to stand in for me." Tatchi 
replied as he opened the door to the semi-private room. "I trust you'll do 
nothing to anger my sister in her time of rebuilding."

     "If I have my way, I won't say more then 10 words to her all day," 
Hikaru replied shortly. "She's not my friend. Why do I need to be interested 
in her?"

     "Because if you're not, you will be thrashed and sent here as well. And 
I will be the one to thrash you and send you here. Now go." With that he 
pushed Hikaru into the room and shut the door. He turned and nodded to a 
nearby nurse who locked the door behind them from the outside. Hikaru was 
now, well and truly trapped.

     Hikaru looked around the room and saw Kodachi lying on a small bed, her 
normally pale face now sunken and shallow. Her eyes looked away from his 
body, her hands lay at her sides. She looked tired. He walked to her 
tentatively. "K...Kodachi?"

     "W...Who is there?"

     "It is Hikaru Gosunkugi. I...I've come to visit you."

     "Who sent you? Perhaps my brother, sending you to spite me more?"

     "Yes. Your brother was the one who sent me. He sent me because he had 
to go to an appointment with Nabiki Tendo," He said softly as he came closer 
to her bed. He noticed the bandages on her forearms and wrists. They seemed 
brighter then her own skin, the gray flesh of her body seemingly having a 
negative amount of color and life. "I...I've come to spend some time with 
you."

     "I have nothing to say to you," She said softly, turning her head away 
from the boy. "I have nothing to say to anyone now. I am the rose of no 
color."

     "That means nothing to me," Hikaru said tiredly as he sat down beside 
her bed in a small armless chair. She kept her body turned away from him, 
not wanting him to see the bags under her eyes. "I'm nothing, you're 
nothing. We're both nothing."

     "I'm still more then you are. I'm more then you'll ever be."

     "Sure. You're more then me. If you're so much more then me, why are you 
here in this hospital?" Hikaru's voice began to climb in anger and in 
frustration all on it's own. He couldn't stop it and he didn't try to. For 
once he was going to say all that he felt inside. "You're a fool like I am, 
Kodachi. You're a bigger fool because you let your obsessions with Ranma 
Saotome drive you to this. You're the biggest fool of all because no one 
loves you. Nobody. Not your brother, not me, and certainly not that asshole 
Ranma..."

     "Shut...your...mouth..." Kodachi hissed quietly as Hikaru ranted and 
raved. She could feel the trimmed fingernails of her hands begin to dig into 
her palms as she tried to keep control. "No. More..."

     "No. You're going to hear all that I have to say. You're going to 
listen to me because your brother forced me to be here. I have to stay 
otherwise he's going to hurt me. That's what people like you do to people 
like me. They hurt and destroy without even caring." Hikaru could feel his 
entire body revving up in response to the thoughts in his head. "All those 
times you drugged me to test out some new scheme for Ranma, all those times 
you used me for your own gain, all those times you and your brother used me 
as a vassal for your foolish obsessions. Did you ever think how I felt? Did 
you ever think how much I hurt inside? Do you ever think that I might get 
tired of being friendless and alone? You have your friends and your brother 
but I have nothing except myself. So stop whining. You're the only one to 
blame for your state."

     As Hikaru finished his angry words, he was cutoff by Kodachi's thin 
wrist planting itself, along with the butt of her hand, against his chest 
and pressing him against the wall. He looked up and saw her eyes flaring, 
her cheeks reddened and angry looking. He could only stare at her as his 
mind finally realized what he had been saying to this disturbed girl.

     "One more word against my beloved and I will hurt you, Gosunkugi. 
You're right. You are nothing to me. You'll always be nothing to me. You'll 
never be anything to me because you're still a boy. You're a boy chasing 
after boyish dreams. And you did this to yourself," she hissed venomously. 
Her voice was low and menacing and yet her breath came out in short jerky 
gasps. "You let my brother bully you into seeing the freak. You did this to 
yourself. So if I'm nothing, you're less then nothing. Akane, the one you 
say you love, doesn't even notice you. What makes you think she'd ever love 
a little boy like you?"

     "What makes you think Ranma would love a psychotic little wench like 
you?" Hikaru yelled, his dander rising and clouding over his good judgment. 
"You poisoned him for fuck's sake! You stalked and spied on him! You 
attacked him and tried to take him by force! What human being would ever 
want to have you, you demented little girl?"

     "SHUT UP!!!" Kodachi reached back to slap him but before he could, 
Hikaru knocked her back and ran the short distance to the door. He tried the 
handle and found it to be locked. He pounded for a moment and then looked as 
he heard Kodachi's scream behind him. His head narrowly missed Kodachi's 
hand as it impacted the wall. She screamed in pain as he slid away from her 
along the wall of the room. It was then, in the middle of the eye of the 
hurricane of Kodachi, that he noticed the room itself. It was a normal room 
to the outside observer but upon further inspection he realized that all the 
walls to the room were padded. Everything in the room was made so that 
damage to it would me minimal at best.

     Kodachi rebounded from the missed punch and ran to him, grabbing him 
around the shoulders and trying to swing him to the floor. She succeeded but 
managed to toss him to far forward and he flopped out ahead of her and 
hopped to his feet, managing to jump over the bed in the process. He barely 
had time to figure out what he was doing before he saw her sailing over the 
bed in a perfect double front flip. Thinking fast, he scrambled his narrow 
and nimble body underneath the bed and tried to get away from her as best he 
could. As soon as she slid out of the other side, he saw her coming behind 
him. Her hand grasped out to him as her slightly larger hipped body got 
stuck on a middle crossbar of the bed.

     Thinking quickly, he grabbed the edge of the bed and turned it over 
onto its other side. It took some doing and it also allowed her to move 
another foot forward on the shiny floor but when it was turned over, the 
mattress and spring now lay on Kodachi's back, pinning her to the ground and 
limiting her movement. She screamed and yelled incoherently as Hikaru 
scrambled to the middle right of the mattress, effectively shifting the 
weight and pinning the girl to the floor even more. With a swift movement, 
he grasped her ponytail and yanked hard on it. She squealed sharply as her 
head was jerked upward by the scared and equally angry young male.

     "Now stop this!!!" Hikaru screamed as he yanked the hair some more. 
More screams came from Kodachi as she began to feel the boy's anger on her 
back. "I didn't come here to fight you, Kodachi! And I will not let you hurt 
me. But if I have to I'll stay like this until you calm down. Now will you 
settle down?" She didn't answer so Hikaru grabbed more of her hair and 
yanked harder. He liked hearing her whimper and scream beneath him and he 
continued to do it until she moaned out that she would stop harassing him. 
With a sigh, he stopped yanking on her hair and merely knelt on the bed 
frame, not ready to let her up yet.

     "...I didn't want this Kodachi. But you left me no choice," Hikaru said 
as tears began to come down his cheeks. He couldn't believe he was crying. 
Nobody cried over Kodachi. Nobody. "Why did you make me hurt you like this?? 
Why did you attack me?"

     "You...you haven't hurt me, Hikaru," Kodachi panted softly as her body 
began to cool down from the workout she had received. "I...I'm sorry I 
overreacted like this. I...I've not been taking my medicine."

     "What medicine?" Hikaru gulped as his body, now experiencing the 
withdrawal symptoms of rapid adrenaline loss, began to shut down.

     "The anti-depressants. The drugs the doctor prescribed to me to try and 
regulate my emotions. I..." Kodachi started to speak more but was cutoff as 
a series of sobs began to escape from her mouth. Soon she cried outright and 
pounded her fist against the terrazzo tiles on the floor as a distraught 
Hikaru watched her. With a swift movement he was kneeling next to her, 
cradling her head in his lap. Though still scared somewhat from the earlier 
encounters, Hikaru could not help but feel genuine concern in his body as he 
knelt next to the girl and kept her from hurting herself more.

     "I...I never wanted...to hurt him...or myself. I only...only wanted 
love..." She stammered, her voice wavering and shaking as the repressed 
emotions began gushing out of her. Her voice trailed off into a deep wail as 
her body shut down itself. Hikaru shoved the moderately heavy bed off of her 
and picked the girl up into his arms. She was abnormally light for a gymnast 
of her size and even Hikaru found it easy to lift her to the crook of his 
arms. She instinctively pressed herself close to him and continued to cry as 
he sat down in the chair. For a long moment he didn't speak and she didn't 
stop crying.

     "I'm sorry, Kodachi..." Hikaru said softly, still holding onto the 
girl. "I'm sorry I hurt you."

     "You didn't hurt me," Kodachi sobbed softly. "I hurt myself. I did this 
to myself. You just drove it home. You made it clear to me again."

     "But I didn't have to do it like this."

     "No you didn't. But I'm glad you did." At that she flung her arms 
higher on Hikaru's neck and straddled his hips, hugging him tightly. For a 
moment, Hikaru stopped and thought rationally about what he was doing and 
then threw rational thought out the window as he hugged her. The sunlight 
streamed into the room, the clock on the wall ticked quietly and the two 
young people embraced. Kodachi cried more as she dug her nails into Gos's 
neck and the boy noticed not a thing. It was almost as if both of their 
bodies were on autopilot and nothing seemed to matter but their affection.

     Soon, Kodachi grew tired of her clinging and cradled herself into 
Hikaru's arms. He looked down on her rapidly calming body and sighed. Who 
knew he'd be in the position he was in? Who knew he'd be comfortable with 
the girl in his arms. "Kodachi, I need to turn your bed back over to put you 
back in it." His voice was regret laden and quiet but he held his ground, 
determined not to let his own fragile guard down.

     "I'll let you go only if you come to bed with me." The quiet 
determination in her voice shocked Hikaru and he looked into her eyes just 
as she looked into his. Shock met calm and calm backed shock down.

     "But we barely know one another..."

     "And you're holding me here. I want you to continue holding me in the 
bed." Kodachi's voice stayed crisp and firm, yet it was saturated in her 
trademarked sultry swagger. His loins began to shake as he slid out of the 
chair and placed her in the seat. As he walked to the bed and turned over 
the frame and mattress, his mind glanced and skimmed over the combinations 
of things that could happen to him in the next few minutes. None of them 
looked appealing. As soon as the bed was reset he looked at the girl and 
nodded.

     "Yes. Yes I will hold you in your bed." Kodachi nodded and walked 
shakily to her bed, sitting down and sliding to the other side as she lay 
out on her side. With a shaky gulp, the younger boy slid in next to her and 
places his hands at his side. For a long moment they merely looked at one 
another. Neither wanted to move yet they both knew something was going to 
happen. Kodachi broke the stalemate and places her hand on his tummy. Hikaru 
gasped and sighed softly, resigning his fate. He slid his arms around her 
athletic waist and back and pulled her into his embrace.

     She matched his actions and for a long time they lay on their sides, 
not speaking or doing anything else. Kodachi looked into his soft brown eyes 
and noticed that he was more handsome then people realized. He was still 
ugly but even in his ugliness a childlike beauty shone through the surface. 
As she looked at him, he noticed the little details in her face. The worry 
line on her face, the bags underneath her eyes, the matured tilt of her chin 
and jaw, he saw it all. They both saw in one another things they had never 
seen before or wanted to see. They didn't want to stop looking.

     "You're beautiful..." Hikaru breathed softly, his voice barely more 
then a whisper.

     "And you're less ugly then I thought," Kodachi replied, her cheeks 
reddening again. He blushed as well and then smiled softly. He had weathered 
the storms, so he thought.

     "Gee, thanks."

     "No, I mean it. I...I know girls have called you ugly before but you're 
really not. You're not attractive but you're not ugly. You're just plain," 
Kodachi murmured as her hand traced along his shirt and chest. He shivered 
and blanched slightly as he watched her hand play on his surface. Try as he 
might, Hikaru could not shake the feeling that he was on a barrel with no 
paddle and he was floating down a river to a high waterfall. He knew he was 
in trouble if that sort of thing kept up. So with a slight resignation he 
slid his hand to hers and stopped it from going any further.

     "Please stop, Kodachi. We don't even know each other to be doing this." 
Even as the words left his mouth, he could feel the stirring in his loins 
erupt yet again. He couldn't help looking and seeing her body and her face 
and wanting to let her have his way with him. "And what about your brother? 
What would he say if he saw us like this?"

     "He would say that he wouldn't mind if both of you did this at the Kuno 
mansion. Which I don't," said a voice from the doorway. Both heads popped up 
and looked at the doorway, the imposing figure of Tatewaki Kuno being filled 
in the frame. He stood in the doorway with a smile on his face and a knowing 
look on his cheeks. "My appointment with Nabiki Tendo ended far sooner then 
expected and I came to see how my little sister has come along."

     "Thank you for caring so much about me brother, but I'm busy. Hikaru 
will be out soon so please close the door." Kodachi laid her head on 
Hikaru's arm and chest, snuggling close to him as best she could. Before 
Hikaru could get a word in edgewise, the door closed and he was left alone 
again with Kodachi. Seeing the futility of his situation, he sighed and 
cuddled closer to the gymnast and exhaled more pent up air in his lungs.

     "So I guess you planned this all along, Kodachi..." Hikaru said softly, 
his voice low and sullen.

     "No."

     "Then why did you attack me?"

     "Because you angered me. You angered me and I lost control. And you 
defeated me, albeit trying to protect yourself." Kodachi answered calmly. 
She nuzzled closer to Hikaru's warmth and smiled. "I've never had someone 
care for me enough to stop me. I want you to be my friend. Will you be my 
friend?"

     "Do I have any choice?"

     "No."

     "Figures." Hikaru sighed and looked down into Kodachi's peaceful face. 
She looked so calm, so peace filled. It wasn't in him to say no to a woman 
in that state, so... "Yes Kodachi. I'll be your friend. For better or worse. 
I'll be your friend."

     "Do you promise?"

     "Yes."

     "Promise?"

     "Yes!" Hikaru said sharply

     "Promise?" Kodachi said, giggling a little and looking into Hikaru's 
eyes.

     "Yes I promise! I promise I will be friends with you, Kodachi!" Hikaru 
exclaimed as she clamped her grip down on his ribs.

     "Good. That's three times you promised." Kodachi smiled and kissed the 
boy on the cheek. He blushed at this and then kissed her back. This earned 
him a gasp from her lips and an equally deep blush as she realized that he 
had finally done something more intense to her.

     "I...I think I need to go, Kodachi. I will come back tomorrow..." He 
stammered and sputtered as he slid off the bed and onto his feet. His swift 
footsteps carried him to the hallway where a smirking Tatewaki waited for 
him.

     "I see you had some fun with my sister, Hikaru. I trust you did nothing 
that would make me angry at you." He smiled broadly as the boy merely looked 
at him with acid in his eyes. They stared at one another for a moment and 
then Hikaru hurried off, his face burning with shame. Tatewaki merely shook 
his head a moment and then walked to the head nurse in charge. He asked for 
a piece of paper and began to scribble a note...

*****

     Hikaru rode the subway car and pressed his face against the cool glass. 
His face had not stopped burning since he barreled out of the hallway in the 
hospital and into the train station. So many thoughts swirled in his head as 
the tunnels and lights passed by his eyes. So many worries in his mind. So 
many memories...

*****
The Next Day
*****

     The head ward nurse sighed and sat deeper in her chair. It was the 
early evening and she had had a long day indeed. She would be glad when the 
shift ended and she could drag her bones home for a nice dinner and some 
sleep. Just as she began to file some more papers a small voice caused her 
to look up. Hikaru Gosunkugi stood before her, a small bunch of wildflowers 
in his hands. "I'm here to see Miss Kuno, ma'am."

     "Ah yes. You must be Mr. Gosunkugi. Please read this and then feel free 
to go in and see her." The head nurse went back to her paperwork and left 
the boy to open the folded over plain paper. Hikaru's eyes quickly scanned 
the simple script and took in the meaning therein.

---
Hikaru,

     I have decided to allow you to be my sister's sole companion in her 
time of recovery. She needs a friend and a companion to help her as she lets 
go of Ranma Saotome and the grip he has on her heart. And you are the one 
for the job. From this day forward, until explicitly necessary, I'm 
entrusting you with being there for her emotional satisfaction. Whatever you 
both do, it will only be for Kodachi's needs when you are in her presence. 
I'm giving you this assignment because my sister has alighted herself to 
you. For you to resist now would be asking great harm for both you and I. So 
do not resist this. You cannot stop my sister's desires or her needs. Who 
knows? You may find a delight in being hers as well as her being yours.

     Just do not hurt her. If you do, you will be beaten until you cannot 
move. Pure and simple.

                                                              Tatewaki Kuno
---

     Hikaru smiled as he folded the letter up and put it into his pocket. 
Nothing ever changed. The Kunos both thought he was their vassal and he 
could do very little about it. But the nice thing was that he could see 
something interesting at the end of this road. For once, he didn't feel any 
trepidation along the road he was to walk. It felt nice to be totally 
confident again, even if there was a bit of fear behind it.

     Hikaru turned the corner and walked down to Kodachi's room. A smile 
permeated his face and a spring was evident in his step. The observer would 
notice also that he seemed to be wearing a pair of shin guards over his 
pants. Thus was the state of the their friendship.




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