First Fanfiction of mine, hope you enjoy! Please leave comments and reviews!
Warnings: For later chapters that will have possible violence, graphic sex, male x male. If you don't like, don't read! There will be many different pairings, you'll just have to wait and see! But if it makes you any more intrigued, I plan to have every character be a seme and an uke at least once.
Disclaimer: I do not own the concept of, nor any of the characters of Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. Also, giving credit where credit is due, I got the idea for the game from Zathura and Jumanji; reason I don't have this as a crossover is because the game itself I've created myself, but the idea is credited to the author of those two books.
Note: This is also posted on AO3 under my alias 'Snakebite'.
Dust, dust, and more dust! It was a beautiful Saturday morning, the sun shining outside and warm weather setting the cicadas to singing away - and yet here Nagisa was, inside and cleaning out his family's dusty attic. His mother had asked him and his elder sisters to do the job together, but over the course of ten minutes they had all come up with 'valid' reasons to be unable to help. Their boyfriend suddenly called, or their friends needed them, or they suddenly remembered a cat being stuck in a tree that they saw earlier that morning and needed to go rescue it. Yeah, one of them actually used that excuse. Well, Nagisa was used to it, and wouldn't let any of that get him down. He had a mission to do!
He couldn't help but cough and shake his blond hair to remove dust that had floated atop his head as he was shuffling items around, one hand bunching up the yellow shirt he currently wore to use it as a mask in front of his mouth. Magenta eyes watered slightly at the irritation, his movements ceasing for a moment to let the dust settle again before starting once more. Moving further back into the attic, Nagisa grasped a pile of heavy, leather-bound books that were sitting there and shifted them further into the light to get a better look.
That's when he spotted it.
The red box with colourful patterns and dancing animals that seemed to spring to life and move on their own, as well as the bold, golden letters on all sides of the box. Interest piqued, the teen quickly pushed the books off to the side and brought the mysterious box into the light to look at it.
The front of the box was deep crimson in color, but it was splotched with random patches of color that could have been various plants and flowers Nagisa couldn't recognize. What really caught his eye however was the paintings of three animals that covered nearly the entire expanse of the front: a wolf, a cat, and a rabbit. The way they were painted made them seem as if they were alive and coming out of the cardboard box cover, mysteriously appearing as though they moved no matter how the box was tipped and turned. The animals were wrapped around two large golden Kanji letters that also seemed to pop from the box, though Nagisa didn't know how to read them.
He let out a small squeal, turning the box every which way to admire it before finally setting it down on the wood in front of him and lifting the top off of it. Inside the box was a game.
But it wasn't just any old board game. It, much like the cover, was beautiful. It was obvious even to an untrained eye that it was completely handmade and hand painted. The base of the game was a silver metal, but it was hard to tell because of the intricate design that was painted on top of it. With the bumps and grooves in the metal and the painting overtop, it made Nagisa feel as though he had a bird's eye view of a small wooded area. Grass and trees were painted with fine enough detail to see each and every blade of grass, as well as each and every small leaf. Flowers were scattered against the ground here and there, along with small rivulets of what were most likely water.
Pink eyes widened as they rested atop three small animal figures: a wolf, a cat, and a rabbit, all as intricately painted as the game itself was. It was then he noticed they were attached along their undersides to the game board, and each animal had its own track that ran in different directions along the game. It was like a classic game board, only much more sophisticated. Excited, Nagisa packaged the game up again before clambering down out of the attic. He stopped only long enough to text everyone and tell them to meet him over at Haru's place, before hugging the game tight to his chest and taking off out of his house before he was caught.
"In Chinese it reads 'Animal'," Rei stated confidently, reaching up with his hand to push the glasses on his face further up the bridge of his nose. Haru, Makoto, Nagisa, Rei, Rin, and Ai were all currently sitting in a circle in Haru's main front room, the game sitting on the floor in the middle of all of them.
Haru sat clad in only his black-and-purple swim trunks, as well as a frilly apron hanging off of his muscular frame. It was evidence of what he had been doing just minutes earlier: cooking mackerel. His blue eyes stared blankly at the game in front of him, hoping this wouldn't take long so he could get back to his meal. Makoto sat beside him, his passive green gaze looking at Haru and knowing all too well what he was thinking, especially since he had already been over since earlier that morning to drag Haru out of his bathtub.
Nagisa sat beside Makoto with an eager smile on his face, quickly switching his gaze from person to person as he grew restless with excitement in anticipation of starting the game. It was better than having to clean out a dusty attic, right? Rei sat beside Nagisa, fixing his glasses occasionally but otherwise not saying much else, with Rin and Ai opposite him sitting beside Haru. Rin looked rather annoyed to have been called over so early on a Saturday morning when he could have been sleeping - or even swimming - instead, while Ai simply looked nervous yet excited at the same time.
"'Animal'? What kind of name is that for a game?" Rin sneered, staring down at the box with a miffed crimson gaze.
"I dunno! We should play it and see!" Nagisa squealed, ripping the cover off of the game and dragging the metal board out of the box to settle it on the tatami mats below. Looking back inside the box, he saw two completely worn dice that didn't seem to fit the polished look of the game in the slightest. Reaching out to grab them, Nagisa suddenly felt his hand grabbed and looked up in surprise at Rei.
"Before we do anything, we should read the rules," he spoke, letting go of Nagisa's hand so that he could grab the box bottom. Flipping it over, he began to read.
"Dòngwù - 'Animal' - A game for those who want to see through the eyes of an animal, to experience the unexperienced. The game is designed for groups of three players. Roll the dice to move your token. The first player, or players, to reach the end of their journey wins."
At this point Rei stopped for a moment with a frown etching into his brow, but after another fix of his glasses he continued reading, "Players Beware: Do not begin unless you intend to finish. The consequences of the game do not vanish until a player, or players, have reached the end of their journey and claimed their place in the Animal Kingdom."
After Rei finished reading, there was only silence from the group of friends until suddenly: "Sounds stupid."
"Rin-chan! Don't be a spoil sport," Nagisa pouted, meeting Rin's reddened gaze with his own magenta one. "Besides, Ai-chan wants to play!" he giggled, pointing at the silver-haired boy who flushed slightly when Rin turned to stare at him.
"Wha-? No, I-" he began to sputter, but was cut off by Nagisa who grabbed the dice anyway and began to shake them in his palm before throwing them onto the ground in front of him. A four and a one.
"... Now what?" Makoto suddenly spoke up, an awkward smile on his face as he tried to ease the tension in the room that was now sprouting up from a certain redhead.
"Maybe you have to choose an animal?" Ai muttered nervously, light blue eyes flitting nervously between the game and Rin, who had resigned himself to leaning backwards on the ground with his arms crossed over his chest in exasperation.
"Good idea Ai-chan!" Nagisa chirped, reaching outwards for the animal that interested him the most: the rabbit. He yelped and withdrew his hand as the rabbit suddenly darted forwards as soon as his fingers made contact with it. The metal holding it in its track swung precariously back and forth, making it seem as though the rabbit was actually hopping across the board. It moved for a short while until it eventually stopped at the number five. Not even a second passed before a pristine card suddenly popped up from a hidden slot along the right side of the board that none of them had noticed until then. With a mischievous twinkle in his eye, Nagisa grabbed the card and began to read aloud.
"Your journey as an animal has begun. Life in the woods is calling you."
Haru stared at the game in disinterest, Makoto glanced at Nagisa with an awkward smile on his face, Rei adjusted his glasses yet again, Ai sat with his hands shifting awkwardly on his lap and eyes downcast, Rin stared at the ceiling in boredom, and Nagisa flitted his gaze between all the other boys.
A sudden ear-wailing pitch ripped from the game, causing all of them to clap their hands over their ears to try and block out the noise. Nagisa closed his eyes, and the next thing he knew he found himself on the ground, a groan leaving his lips as he slowly dragged his bleary mind out of unconsciousness. Something... felt off. Letting out another soft groan, he dragged himself up and onto his knees, shaking his head for a moment before looking around to see what had happened to his friends. They were all laying on the ground as well, soft groans leaving them as they slowly began to wake up and shake themselves awake. That was when he noticed it. Yup, something was definitely off!
All of them now had animal ears and tails.