Hello all. This is just a fic based on the Escaflowne Movie. This story has been co-written with a my friend Brenli, so I only claim half of the credit!
Girl in Gaea: The Untold Story
By: Brenli and AmetrineButterfly
Chapter 1
Another painting completed. Okami took a step back to admire her work as she dabbed her brush on a napkin, cocking her blonde head to one side. The sun had just begun to set, casting its orange and red hues through Okami's tiny window. She was alone in her dorm room, as usual. This was how she spent most of her time, completing her homework for her Art degree. Her fluctuations in routine emerging only when her roommate would return from Volleyball practice.
The shadows climbed the walls as the sun slowly disappeared, taking with it Okami's only good light source. Sighing, the young woman washed her brushed and pallet, leaving her easel at the end of the room to dry her newest piece. She left her spackled apron on, it seemed like she never took it off.
Okami overheard the jangling of keys outside the door of her dorm room, and in waltzed Kitsune, her roommate, speaking in rapid Japanese and lightly bumping a brightly colored volleyball into the air, watching it fall perfectly into the corner where a desk and the wall met. Not far behind her was Toshiyo, Kitsune's secondary school sweetheart. He looked bored, honestly, but Kitsune remained oblivious to his face as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek, whispering goodnight. Toshiyo casually waved at Okami, and shut the door behind him.
Kitsune sighed and stretched out, kicking off her shoes and plopping into the nearest chair. "Such a loooooooong day… I'm ready to just pass out. How about you, Okami-san?" Kitsune asked, not feeling that she knew Okami well enough to call her Okami-chan. They had, after all, only known each other for a couple months.
The smallest of smiles hovered on Okami's lips as she dried her precious paintbrushes. "Pretty much… Painting in such horrendous light hurts my eyes." She pointed her brush at her easel. "It makes my paintings pretty dark too, unfortunately. My professor probably thinks there's something wrong with me." Her smile broadened as she shed her apron, revealing her traditional tattered blue jeans and white tank top. "How was volleyball?"
Kitsune stifled a yawn. "Eh… It was okay. Same old coach overworking us to death…" She laughed at her own small joke, "The man is insane, you know. Everyday he adds more laps to our runs because he insists we aren't quick enough. But what can ya do?" She shrugged, pushing her dark hair behind her ears. "Toshiyo was late again. You'd think he's probably bored with watching practice or something, but he says that's not it…" Just then a small frown crossed her lips. A rare occurrence for a girl like herself, with such a sunny disposition. "I think something's wrong with him and he's just not saying anything. The jerk." She tried laughing it off.
Okami frowned. In her heart, she knew that Toshiyo and Kitsune's relationship was a tainted one. They didn't have the typical glow about them that the usual couple did, but Okami never said anything. She wasn't really friends with Kitsune anyway. Sometimes she felt that Kitsune only talked to her because her scholarship told her to. Without changing out of her jeans, Okami flopped onto her tiny excuse for a bed, staring at the ceiling. Kitsune's light snoring signified she was already asleep.
Okami lied when she said she was feeling tired, so she just laid there, listening to her roommate's light breathing. She stared up at the ceiling, a ceiling she had become accustomed to very quickly, after so many hours of just staring at it. Okami didn't have any friends at her university. She was a foreign exchange student from America, so not many of the Japanese people were interested in talking to her. And the poor woman knew that her that her long curly blonde hair was equivalent to a "Kick Me" sign, considering how many people stared and sneered at her when she passed them by. She missed her family, she missed her friends. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if she had someone to talk to. Sure, Kitsune talked to her, but nothing more than ridiculous small-talk.
Kitsune had been granted a scholarship, saying that she would room with an American foreign exchange student, to help them to adjust to life in Japan. She wasn't supposed to be Okami's friend, so she wasn't much of one. They had only known each other for a couple of months anyway. Frustrated, the blonde half-breed pulled a blanket over her head and tried her best to fall asleep.
Kitsune woke up early Saturday morning. She was always an early bird, so she thought nothing of it when she rolled to her little clock and saw that it was 6:13 A.M. Quickly she hopped up and dashed into their small bathroom to take a shower.
As she let the warm water run over her, she thought about what she'd do today. It was one of her free Saturdays, and there were a number of ways to spend it. She was sick of volleyball for once in her life. And Toshiyo had been acting funny lately. Well, not anything too different, really, but it was just getting old, that was all…
Okay, fine. She was actually sick of Toshiyo for once, too.
She sighed as she stepped out of the shower, throwing on a warm robe and drying her hair. As she ran a brush through her ebon strands, she stared at Okami's somber painting.
Kitsune had to admit she sometimes felt pretty ignorant about Okami's situation. Japanese born and raised, Kitsune lived a fairly sheltered life. Her idea of far traveling was a short trip to Okinawa. She had always looked like everyone else, spoke like everyone else. She had no idea what it was like to be singled out or alienated. Kitsune couldn't relate. It almost broke her heart.
Kitsune froze.
"Okaaaaaaamiiii… Oi, Okami!" Kitsune lightly pushed on Okami's shoulder.
"Hm?" Groggy hazel eyes slid open as Okami fought her way to consciousness. "Nani?" She stretched, yawning as she let her eyes close again, losing her internal battle to keep them open.
Sighing, Kitsune resumed her gentle prodding. "Okami? Come on get up! It's a bright sunny day!"
A sleepy grunt was the only given reply.
"Onegaishimaaaaaaaaasu?" Kitsune begged childishly. "I'm taking you out!"
"Out?" Okami managed to pry her eyes open. "What do you mean?" She tried her best to smother another wide yawn, but to no avail.
"OutSIDE. In the SUN and the AIR. We need to go hang out, you know? Roomies need to get to know each other!" Kitsune grinned widely. "So how 'bout it? Go get some breakfast somewhere, or somethin'. Oh! And there's a beach nearby. We can check out the hot shirtless men…" Kitsune giggled.
Cocking a brow, the groggy young woman pushed off her blankets and stretched. "A beach huh? Haven't been to one of those in a while…" Okami smiled. "Is there a department store nearby? I need to buy a swimsuit."
"Anooooo… yeah, there actually is one just a block away. The joys of the big city and all, you know?" Kitsune quickly dropped down to a low drawer and pulled it open, grabbing a dark, rich blue bikini. "So get showered up and dressed, Okami-san! Today we are going to get better acquainted! And scope out cuties, but that's totally beside the point."
Okami grinned, excited for the first time in a very long while. "You're supposed to be taken, Kitsune-san!"
A mischievious smirk on her face, Kitsune pressed a finger to her lips, her eyes sparkling. Okami laughed and proceeded to shower herself.
In no more than half-an-hour, Okami was ready to go. Her hair was damp, yet was still showing off its natural curl. She hitched a purse onto her shoulder and beckoned for Kitsune to follow her out the door. "So where is this department store again?"
"Turn left, and walk down exactly one block. Turn left again and you're there!" Kitsune pointed out the way to walk, and off they went, moving briskly in the morning air. "… And here we are!" She said but a short moment later, and they were standing in front of a standard little department store. "The swimsuits are hiding inside… For some reason they don't think to put them up in the display case, even though it's so hot lately… Retarded business. I could run the place better than them, and I FAILED anything to do with advertising." Kitsune scoffed.
Okami laughed, a bright, melodic laugh with a wide sparkling smile to match. "I prefer to stay out of anything business-y, give me art classes all day long!" She pushed herself through the doors and made a bee-line for the bikinis.
"No kiddin'. Business is like learning Latin… It's all foreign to me!" Kitsune mock-sobbed. "My father actually wanted me to go into business… be a secretary or something equally stupid. I think he wanted to throw himself out the window when I told him I wanted to be a teacher."
Laughing again, Okami began to shuffle through the bikini racks. "I can only imagine! Anything business is jibberish to me too. I like art. I understand art. I have ever since I first picked up a paintbrush when I was eight. And my mom has supported me, thankfully." Locating a suit she liked, Okami whipped it off the racks and held it up for Kitsune to observe. "What do you think? Is garnet my color?"
Kitsune considered the choice for a moment, and then nodded. "I think the color would complement your hair nicely, Okami! And I like your hair, by the way. I tried to curl my hair once. It fell flat in an hour." She tugged at a lock of dark hair. "Stubborn. As. Fuck. That's my hair."
Pausing, Okami chewed her lip. "My hair is a curse. I might as well be from Venus, the way people stare at me. It doesn't matter that I have yellow skin and almond eyes, I'm still a freak. A freak not welcome in Japan. It kinda sucks a little bit." Okami turned and made her way to a nearby dressing room. "But I guess that's all right!" She called through the door. "I'm getting used to it!"
Kitsune paused thoughtfully. "… Well you shouldn't have to 'get used to it.' If I were you I'd probably stab them in the eye." She nodded decisively and made mock-stabbing motions in front of herself. "Several times!"
"Heh! You want me to stab all of Japan in the eye? That'd be entertaining!" The white door of the dressing room opened, revealing Okami sporting her garnet string bikini. "What do you think?" She rotated on the spot, showing off her selection and her figure.
Kitsune blinked rapidly. "My God… You have a GREAT BODY, Okami-san!" Kitsune pouted at her own thin body, possessing little curvature, if any. "BUY IT. RIGHT NOW." She demanded, dragging Okami to the register in spite of the fact that the poor girl hadn't changed back into the clothes she'd previously been wearing. "Lucky girl…! I mean, you have BREASTS. It's not fair. Can I have some?"
Okami blinked, afraid out of her mind. "Yes, let me just rip them off and hand them over!" Rolling her eyes, she spoke to the cashier. "I would like to purchase this please, but I must retrieve my clothes first."
Annoyed, the cashier glared at the unusual half-breed and rudely spat his reply. "Hurry it up then, ainoko!"
Biting back her urge to be rude back, Okami spun on her heel and returned to her dressing room.
Okami didn't have to say much of anything, because Kitsune decided to do it for her. "Excuse me? You stupid bastard, don't you care at all about how you make life here for new people like Okami-chan? She has it hard enough, and then you come up with your pathetic nose all stuck up in the air! You're a disgrace… And I'm ASHAMED to call you a Japanese person!" And with that, Kitsune took the finger she'd been pointing at the cashier and promptly jabbed it in his left eye.
"K-Kitsune?" Okami stuttered, eyes wide and holding up her suit on a hangar. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm stabbing him in the eye!" Kitsune promptly smacked the crying cashier. "Don't give me that crying crap! I live a block away from you, and if I come in here and find you giving Okami-chan that lip, I'll rip your lip right off!" She screamed at him. "So you be quiet!"
The cashier whimpered and sucked up his tears, holding a hand over his assaulted eye.
"You know what? Where's the manager… I wanna speak to the manager right now!"
"Kitsune is this really necessary?" Okami offered quietly, shrinking under the harsh stares of shopping customers.
The manager seemed to appear out of thin air, drawn by the commotion and staring customers. "What's going on here?" He commanded.
"Okamiiii this is totally necessary. If I were in your shoes I would've done this a long time ago." Kitsune said to Okami, and turned to the manager. "Yes, I'd like to make a complaint." She jabbed her finger in the direction of the cashier once again. "This guy here made rude remarks to my friend. How do you expect this to get you good business, if your cashier is being a little snot to your customers?"
The manager's jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed, throwing a glare at his sniffling cashier. "I'll deal with you later." He said dangerously, and looked to Okami. "Please forgive his rudeness ma'am." His tone was gentle as he bowed slightly before her. "There will be consequences for his actions. As for you…" the polite manager straightened to view the bikini clutched to her chest. "Your purchase is on me, please see fit to visit us again."
"Arigato… I will." She returned his bow and turned to Kitsune.
"Thank you, sir." Kitsune gave her own quick little bow and kept an angry eye on the cashier until they were out of the store… and then promptly broke into a grin. "Now that's what I call gettin' some respect! That was fun. I almost want to do that again…"
"Come to think of it… that was rather entertaining!" The two girls giggled. "So to the beach? After we retrieve towels and junk from our room?"
"Most definitely!" Kitsune nodded and with that the two girls sprinted back to the room. Hastily Kitsune grabbed sunblock and a plain white towel, throwing them into a pink bag covered in Hello Kitty keychains. She had to admit that the bag looked childish, but she'd always had a liking for childish things like Hello Kitty and anything pink. "Ohhh… Here we go!" Kitsune slipped on a pair of sunglasses that at first seemed to be too big for her face, but once she slipped them on, they actually had a way of complimenting her face. "There we go. I'm hot stuff now." She laughed and slung her bag over her shoulder. "Okamiiiiii! You ready?"
"Hai! That I am!" Okami emerged from the bathroom, sporting a plain dark purple bag, and wearing her typical tattered blue jeans and black tank top. The only difference was the red tie straps of her bikini around her neck. "Shall we?"
"We shall!" Kitsune replied, and off they went, sprinting to the beach, which, fortunately, was very close to their room as well – three blocks away.
The second they got there Kitsune made a beeline for the best spot on the beach. Of course, this meant it had to be somewhere near a group of boys. "Ohhhhh perfect!" Kitsune said merrily, as she laid her towel down, plopped her bag down on it, and swiftly took her white shirt off over her head. "Ah, feel that breeze, Okami-chan!" Kitsune sighed happily, holding her arms open.
Smiling, Okami pulled her own tank off, closing her eyes as the wind spread its gentle hands across her face. She gazed out across the breadth of the sparkling ocean. "Hey Kitsune?"
"Yeeees?" Kitsune asked innocently, still embracing the wind. "Oh! Hottie at 12 o' clock!" Kitsune eyed a young man running toward the water.
Okami giggled. "Oh he is a cute one isn't he?" She sighed. "But seriously… have you ever wondered: why is there only life on earth? Why isn't there a world as… unique as this one, somewhere else?"
"… Well… Who said there wasn't?" Kitsune smiled. "I'm willing to bet there is!" She pointed out to the sky. "Somewhere out there… Maybe behind the Moon… My mother used to say that to me as a child… Granted, she used to say that if I wasn't careful I'd be banished there, but shh. That's okay." The boy she'd been eyeing was now far out in the water, so she followed his tracks and dipped her feet in the water. "You know… Wouldn't it be nice to go someplace other than here? I mean, not in this world anymore? I've always wanted to. 'Course, even just getting out of the country would be a big leap for me. That's the sad thing about it."
"Ever since I was little… I've had these dreams about a world different from this one… I've painted it a few times. I kept seeing these moons, a blue one and a white one. It's weird." Okami laughed and scratched her head. "Maybe I'm just a freak, but I think it would be cool to see those moons someplace other than my paintings, you know?"
"No kiddin'…" Kitsune said quietly, wading deeper into the water. Part of her wanted to jump and say, 'No way, you too? I'm glad I'm not the only one who's had dreams about the two moons, too!' … But she couldn't bring herself to say anything about it. It was too much of a coincidence… Okami would think she was either a loser, or trying too hard to make her feel welcome. Or both.
"Hey… you ok?"
Kitsune looked up from the surf to see Okami had waded in beside her, and was staring with a confused expression in her eyes.
"Oh… Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just lookin' for cuties and all… Not very many today… Maybe they're off hiding in that other world… God damn, we need to go there, then!" She quickly tried to lighten the mood.
Okami smiled again, her typical smile that never really reached her eyes. They held a look that gave away that she was thinking about something else, something sad. But that look quickly faded as she scanned over the beach's inhabitants. "He looks pretty hot, check him out!" She pointed at a tan, shirtless man on the beach with chin-length jet-black hair. "Kawaii, ne?"
Kitsune blinked. "Kawaii is an understatement. That guy is PURE SEX." She giggled. "There is nothing hotter than long hair on a guy… Toshiyo won't grow his hair out, though… It's not his thing…" She rolled her eyes.
"Me? I not a huge fan of long hair, I prefer it kind of shaggy, you know? Short but long at the same time… that's what I like! However I do have to make an exception for Mr. Pure Sex over there!" Okami giggled again.
The city was set in twilight when the two girls finally decided to head for home. Their hair was stringy and soaked from their time at the beach, considering they were invited to join a beach volleyball game, which ended in two guys that they were competing against carrying them kicking and screaming into the water against their will. It was all in good fun of course, and neither of them had had more fun in a really long time.
"So what shall we do tomorrow, Okami-chan?" Kitsune said, drying off her hair as best she could.
"No idea, you know this city better than I do!" Unlike Kitsune, Okami didn't care that she had sand and water dripping from her hair. She had never had so much fun, and with Kitsune, she felt like Japan could become her second home.
"Anooo… Well, that's the problem with living in Japan – You forget what there is to do. Anooooooooo…" Kitsune gave it some thought… "Well there's all those shops… I guess… And… There are karaoke bars all over the place. I mean, it's Japan. What would Japan be like without karaoke? Annnnnd… You could go to shrines… and… other things like that… I guess…" Kitsune laughed. "I don't know! I've been here all my life so stuff like that is just so normal, I overlook it all the time, you know? … You know, Okami-chan?" Kitsune stopped walking. "Okaaaaaamiiiii-chaaaaan…?"
Okami had stopped on the sidewalk a few paces behind, and had turned back to face the ocean. "Can you hear that?" She whispered, captivated by something Kitsune couldn't see or hear.
"Eh?" Kitsune tried to pick up whatever noise Okami had become spellbound by, and soon got caught up in it along with her…
It was a voice, haunting and sweet, singing in the distance.
Win dain a lotica
En vai tu ri
Si lo ta
"What is that?" Okami muttered, wide eyes still glued to the sparkling horizon.
"I don't know… It sounds beautiful, though, doesn't it?" Kitsune cooed. She turned her eyes to the horizon as well, feeling an involuntary smile cross her lips. "It's very haunting… I like it…"
"I wonder where it's coming from…" The blonde-headed young woman saw a sparkle of white across the ocean. "What's that?"
The sparkle grew steadily larger, and with it, the song's volume grew as well. An involuntary swell of panic grew in Okami's chest as the sparkle grew to the size of the setting sun on the horizon, growing brighter every second.
"… It's a woman… with BEAUTIFUL hair…" Kitsune marveled, "And a beautiful voice as well…" Suddenly it registered with Kitsune that beautiful, sparkly woman singing enchanting songs and coming right for you was hardly anything normal. "Wait a minute, what? Are we hallucinating?"
"Uh…" A bright light blinded the two girls, causing them both to shield their eyes. "What the hell?" Okami gasped. The light faded, and only white light surrounded them, and the woman with beautiful hair stood just out of reach. A warm, loving smile lingered on her pale lips as she opened welcoming arms to them.
"Chosen Ones…" Her smile began to weaken. "The time has come for you to face your destiny. Please don't be afraid."
"Why shouldn't we be afraid?" Kitsune cried. "What do you mean, CHOSEN ONES?"
Okami could only stare in her wide-eyed shock as the woman didn't answer Kitsune's question, she merely smiled that odd smile of hers.
Once again a bright light flashed, and both Kitsune and Okami knew only blackness.
Very slowly Kitsune's world came back to her as she cautiously opened her eyes. She could feel something gooey and slimy by her feet and she was almost afraid to find out what it was. She didn't have much to worry about, because once she'd opened her eyes, it took her quite some time for her eyes to adjust. Immediately she was filled with fear, cramped up with little movement, no vision, and something slimy at her feet. "Oh my God… Okami…? Okami-chan?" She felt something stir behind her.
"…Yeah, I'm here. You ok?"
"… I guess so… Yes and no… Okay, not really…" Kitsune whimpered. "I can't SEE anything… Do you feel that… slimyness on the ground…?"
"Yeah, it's pretty gross… And I thought I heard voices a few minutes ago from… somewhere. Where ARE we?"
"I have no idea… We need to get the fuck OUT of here!" Kitsune reached out to begin hitting what she could, save Okami. "If you heard voices maybe they'll help get us out… Oiiii! Anyone out there? HELP!" Kitsune called out, pounding everywhere.
"SSSSHHHH!" Okami hissed. "Be QUIET! Listen!" Straining their ears, the pair heard voices, male voices, from somewhere outside their prison. "I think we're moving…"
"Ok, easy! Take it easy!" A voice echoed. "Set her down easy now!"
The two women shook in their trap as it was set to the ground.
"… What are we inside of?" Kitsune asked. "God, I wish there was some sort of opening or something so I could see outside. This darkness is starting to really get to me… and whatever this goopy mess is…" She shivered, having no idea what it was.
"I'm not sure I want to know… listen!"
"Could you dumb-shits go any slower? Hurry up and open the chamber!" A commanding male voice barked from somewhere beyond their walls.
"Kitsune-chan… I have a bad feeling about thi-" Okami couldn't even finish her sentence before a wall was split in two, shedding blinding light into the chamber, and causing both girls to tumble out of their enclosure. Within milliseconds, the two were laying in a heap on the hard ground. "Ow!" It took another second for Okami to register that Kitsune had fallen on top of her, pinning her to the uncomfortable floor.
"Owwwwwwwww my boooooodyyyyyy…" Kitsune moaned, rolling off of Okami's cringing frame. "Ohhh… headache time…" She clutched her throbbing cranium. "Okami-chaaann…?"
"Ugh." Blinking the stars out of her eyes, Okami managed to focus on a red, gray, and brown mass before her. After a moment, she was able to register that the colors were people, people and their clothing. It seemed as though every person in their brown tattered rags were staring wide-eyed, and when met with Okami's gaze, immediately dropped to their knees and pressed their noses to the floor. "Eh?" The young men in gray armor stared in disbelief as well, clutching hands to the hilts of their swords. A single warrior in red stood at the middle, his brow furrowed, his eyes blazing. "Kitsune… I think this could be bad…"
"… Maybe just a smidgen…?" Kitsune stared, half-scared, half-intrigued at the sight of all these young men in their strange armor and their swords. "… Should we… say hello or something?" She whispered to Okami, staring most cautiously at the man in red as he towered over the two girls.
Okami managed a nervous, sheepish smile in his direction, before the red-clad warrior grabbed her roughly by the wrist, and wrenched her to her feet. "You!" He hissed, his snarling lips uncomfortably close to Okami's terrified face. "Who are you! What were you doing inside the Alseides!" He turned his fiery glare to Kitsune, who remained on the floor, nearly as frightened as Okami.
"Let me go." Okami gasped weakly, petrified under the harsh gaze of this platinum-headed psychopath.
The man's stern grip intensified as he turned over her wrist. "You're… the Dark Star?" He asked, staring at the veins of her wrist.
"What?" Okami shakily followed his gaze, and felt the color drain from her face. Because there on her wrist, was a tattoo of a tribal star… a tattoo she had never seen before.
To be continued…