The Story of Shanja
The day was warm and beautiful the streets were full of people going or leaving work and students returning home. A girl barely over 7 years of age was walking with her mother to the shops to get some groceries. The girl had fire red hair and gold green eyes, and was overly cheerful that day, that she was jumping and skipping beside her mother.
"MUM! Can I have some candy!" Asked the cheerful girl
"Not yet sweetie. Mummy has to do some shopping then I'll get you some candy and go to the park. How does that sound?" asked her mother,
"Great! I can't wait!" the girl had a huge smile on her face.
While they were going through the supermarket the little girl was all smiles, and every one who was going past them either said; "hello how are you going today?" or "Why your daughter is so beautiful and cheerful you must be proud". And the mother would reply "Why yes I'll always be proud of my little angel."
When they had finished the shopping her mother did by her some candy and they did end up going to the park. The little girl played on the swing and then moved on to the sand box then to finish it off she went on to the merry go round with her mother. By the end of the day her mother asked her: "So sweetie did you have a good day today?"
"Yep! The best day of my life! Thank you mummy you're the best!" and with that they went home to put all of there shopping away and prepare dinner for when her father came home.
The little girl was named Akira Nashima and she was currently in grade two, her mother Sarah Nashima was the designer of the Gotham times magazine; she was 5 foot 5 and had long red hair to her waist and deep green eyes, she also had the body of a model and she used it to her advantage her father was Paul Nashima an owner of a small business called Nashima enterprises that controlled shipment in the docks; he was 5 foot 8 with red hair that was so short that it was spiky but his eyes were blue, he was well muscled cause he worked out at the gym at least 5 times a week. Both parents spent as much time as they possibly could with their daughter, which was every afternoon and most mornings and nights so they got to have breakfast in the morning and they also got to tuck her in at night. In the afternoons Akira would either spend time with her mother or her father, but she didn't mind cause she knew-even at a young age-that her parents also had to work otherwise she wouldn't be able to go to school or have food on her plate. That was why she loved her parents so much, they did everything they could to make her happy even take some time off of work to be with her.
The day that the incident happened was Saturday the 21st of June and the time was 7 in the morning. Akira's mother and her father were at the breakfast table waiting for Akira to come out of the bathroom, when she did come out she was running;
"MUMMY! DADDY! Look what I can do!" she closed her eyes really tight and looked like she was concentrating and then her hair changed from the fire red to golden blonde. Sarah had fainted and Paul sat there opened mouthed and gaped at his daughter-who was laughing happily not knowing that her life was about to change for ever.
"How could this of happened Paul?" asked a worried Sarah
"I don't know Sarah. I really don't know." answered her husband
They had just asked Akira to go to her room and play with her toys so that they could talk about what had just happened.
"Should we go to a doctor and tell them what happened?" offered Sarah
"And tell them what 'oh sorry to bother you doc but our daughter can change her hair colour with out any products could you tells us why this is possible' yeah right he would call her a freak then call the government and then they will take her away from us and we will never see her again" Paul looked frightened not for himself but for his daughters future.
"So what do you suggest we do love? We can't hide her from the world. She has school and friends and we have work." asked Sarah
"I don't know either;" he took a breath "We can't just tell any one, it has to be someone we really trust and would not tell the government."
"I'm with you on that one, but who would we tell?"
'Well we could tell Bobby."
"Why Bobby?"
"Well he's been my best friend since high school and I really trust him."
"All right well tell him and ask him to look after Akira while we are at work."
"Sounds good to me. I'll ring him now and ask him to come over."
With that said Paul got on the phone and rang his friend, asked him to come over ASAP, and in 10 minutes Bobby was at the door. They explained to him what had happened. When that was done it was agreed that Bobby would be moving in to look after Akira, little did they know that Bobby was not un-employed he worked for the secretary of defence, and on his way home he had told the secretary of defence via the phone that he had found the perfect weapon.
June the 22sd 8 am on Sunday, a knock sounded on the door to the Nashima residence. Paul got up and walked over to the door. When he opened it he was faced with 5 man all dressed in black and wearing ear peaces to talk through.
"May I help you?" he asked slowly
"Yes you may. Does Akira Nashima abide here?" asked one of the men.
"Yes. But what do you want with my daughter?" asked Paul.
The men who answered before looked over to his comrades and nodded his head, and with out a word they just pushed aside Paul and went into the house.
"HEY! You can't just barge in here like that!" yelled Paul.
"Yes we can sir and we just did. Now tell us were the girl is?" asked the first men.
"What do you want you want with my daughter?" demanded Paul.
"She is no longer your daughter." Stated the men
"WHAT! She is my daughter and you are no taking her away from me!"
"We are taking her away for she is now government property." Said the men coldly.
"What! Why are you doing this!" asked Paul
"Because she is going to be useful to the government and that is all you need to know."
As the man was saying this, another man came back with Akira over his shoulder, she was screaming for her parents. Then Sarah came running in asking what was going on only to be hit from behind and falling unconscious on the floor.
"Do not get involved in government business from now on." And with that the five government men left the house with Akira never to be seen again.
It had been eight horrible years since the day they had taken Akira from her home and parents. The place that they had taken her had white walls on all sides she had to go through all types of test and they wanted to know how she could shift shape at will. She hated them but the one person that she really hated was Bobby the one that was responsible for her horrible life. He would come in every day to check if there was any improvement on her abilities and every time Akira would hold back on her ability and only change her hair colour just to annoy him, then one day he didn't come and somebody else came. It was a woman; she had short brown hair and brown eyes she was short and a bit round. When she came in she had a smile on her face;
"Good morning Akira" she said it so casually
"What's good about it?" replied Akira
"Now, now none of that please. I just thought that you might want to know that I'm here to replace Bobby while he goes off on holidays with his wife."
"And I would care why?" asked Akira sarcastically
"Well probably 'cause you don't like him."
"And you figured this out all by your self. Wow that's amassing."
"Anyway I just thought that you might want to talk since this is my first day and I don't know anything about you at all."
"You just want to talk about me and not do tests?" asked Akira surprised
"That's the plan Stan." Replied the lady
"My name is not Stan. It's Akira ….. I forgot my last name."
"Ok. I've got an idea lets start this conversation again shall we." Said the lady
"Ok." said a timid Akira
"Right. My name is Sandra and I just transferred her to look after you for about 3 months then I'll be living and Bobby will be back."
"Oh… Well you already know my name and I have been here for eight years. I was taken from my family at the age of 7 and I haven't seen daylight since then. I don't get to play or have fun I've been put through test after test and I don't know what's happening in the outside world let alone what they want from me." She looked over to Sandra only to see a sad expression on her face, "Did I say something wrong?"
"No it's just your life story is so sad. I sware that I didn't know about you been taken from your parents and that you never got to see sun light and play. Who authorized it?" she asked
"Bobby did. The day I came here."
"Well I'm going to change that."
"How are you going to do that?"
"Well I'm going to make a new order that will state; Akira is to be allowed to go out side and play as long as I Sandra Jones is with her. How's that?"
"It's great!" Akira was happy for the first time in eight years. She had a felling that she was going to get along really well with Sandra and she was right. 1 month later Akira had been allowed to go outside and play as well as learning about the outside world. Then Sandra said something that had made Akira's day;
"I have a plan to get you out of this place."
"What! How can you do that?"
"Well quite simple you change your shape when no-one is looking and you sneak out with me and we take you to another country or town."
"Y...you could do that?"
"Yes"
"When can we do it?"
"Tomorrow if you want."
As the hour of her escape came closer Akira grew nervous. She was so nervous that she didn't sleep that night and kept on thinking about her family like she had for the past eight years but this time she wasn't been taken away, she was running towards the open arms of her mother who was smiling and laughing then when she got there her father appeared and gave her a bear hug. As she day dreamed about her family the time went by really fast and it was now seven am on Sunday morning and Sandra had come early as promised to give her the clothes of doctor.
"Now go into the bathroom and get change in every way shape and form." Said Sandra "and when you come out look like you know what you are doing ok?"
"Ok. But what if they know what we are doing? Aren't you risking your job for me?" Asked Akira
"Yeah I am. But it's worth it."
"What do you mean?"
"Well for one you don't belong here you need to be free. And two I don't approve of the way they have treated you."
"Oh. Thank you Sandra."
"Alright now go and get changed we don't have much time before they come and check o you."
With out saying another word Akira went to the bathroom and changed when she came out she didn't look like the 15 year old she was but a 28 black haired lady.
"All righty lets go," said Sandra "Oh and by the way nice work on the change."
As they were walking through the facility Akira was nervous. But when they went through the outer gates all of her fears vanished and went to the other side of the galaxy.
"What happens now Sandra?"
"Well, first we have to get you some proper clothes then I'm going to get you on a plane to Jump city."
"But I thought I was going to go back to my parents?"
"Unfortunately the government has the house and your parents watched. So you can't go back. Sorry."
"It's ok. So why Jump City?"
"Because I have a friend that leaves there and she can help you get started on a new life."
The engine of the plane was roaring, the plane itself smelled like stale air. Akira was sitting at the back of the plane trying to not draw attention to her self, that was until an attendant came up to her and asked her if she was alright. She replied politely that everything was fine and that she didn't need anything. The air hostess left with a smile but she always kept an eye on Akira only to make sure that she was alright. When the plane was descending towards land Akira was very nervous 'cause she didn't know who was going to pick her up from the Jump city airport. While everybody was getting off of the plane Akira stayed behind to gather her belongings, she walked down towards the door and held her breath wondering if they would let her go through and into the airport.
"I hope that you enjoyed your flight Miss." Said the airhostess that had talked to her earlier.
"Yes I did. Thank you for your hospitality."
With that said Akira left and went to retrieve her baggage and went to customs get her things checked out.
As she walked to the gates to the inner part of the airport-were you get picked up- she couldn't help but look around at the police man fearing once again that they would stop her from her freedom, but nothing occurred and she breathed freely. As she looked around from the person that was to pick her up she noticed a middle aged woman with lite brown hair and brown eyes holding a sing that said 'Akira Jones'. That name was the name that she was going to use while she was in Jump city (she and Sandra had agreed on it the day before she got on the plane).
"Hey there are you Miss Jones?" Asked the lady.
"Yes…um... are you Sandra's sister by any chance?"
"Ya huh. Well I would suggest that we get started and go to the city and get your new life started now. What do you think?" She asked.
"That sounds like a great idea. Thank you for your help."
"No problem kiddo."
For three years Akira had gone to school and passed from grade 7 to grade 12 (She took so many extra classes it's not funny) and she now owned a dojo that taught hand to hand combat, kendo, sword fighting and nijitsue. She changed her name again to Lisa Smith and lived above the dojo. Her life was un-eventful she never got into any relationships and kept herself. She trusted no-one and was always on the look out for government men were ever she went. Akira's life up to now had become nice and predictable and that's the way she wanted to keep it but of course something always has to happen to make that nice predictable life change and her name was Scarlet. Scarlet had arrived at Akira's dojo on a Friday afternoon while Akira was about to teach her last class for the day, as Akira was teaching she kept on glancing at the new arrival; she didn't join in but watched instead. So Akira figured that this young girl kept to her self and liked it that way so when the end of the lesson came she sent all of her students home and took on long look at her visitor; she had black hair with red highlights, with violet eyes, she had well formed muscles on her arms and torso. She wore modernised stile clothing (Japanese stile). With out saying anything Akira threw a wooden Katana at her visitor and attacked her, she attacked from all angles and hit her at every turn but her opponent wasn't a good fighter but she did manage to defend her self very well but unfortunately she lacked the skills it took to kill or hurt some one. She turned and walked away towards her apartment on top of the dojo. She walked straight to the door and walked in her visitor was there behind her.
So she turned towards the strange girl and said;
"Sorry but my classes are full and I don't want to take any more students." Akira's voice was as cold as ice. With out saying anything else she turned and went for a shower to wash away the sweat that she had from the days work out. During that time she also came to thinking about this strange girl in her apartment; why did I let her in? I never did that before so why am I doing it now?
After she came out of the shower ---she is now dressed in long army green stile pants and a green shirt that was ripped up the arms and around her torso; she also had brown combat boots--- she went to the kitchen to see if she had any food and to check that the strange girl had left her apartment. Surprise, surprise the girl was actually in her kitchen cleaning it! Doesn't she get a clue to get out of a house when she isn't wanted!