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CHAPTER ONE: WELCOME TO JAPAN
THIRD PERSON
A few weeks later
To the naked eye, it seems as if there's three average, if a bit weird, girls are wandering the airport. A shorter girl with Spaniard features – all the way down to the slightly darker, tanned skin and long, dark wavy hair. Her clothes are dark and cover a majority of her skin, but faint scars peak out from the edges of the clothing. She stands with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. A girl about average height, though heavy around the edges, with dirty blonde hair tied back into a dragon's tail. Her skin is light and the slanted edges of her eyes suggest Asian heritage. Her clothes are baggy and large on her, careful to cover up a majority of her skin. Unlike her apparent friend, she has a large grin on her face and excitement shining in her eyes. A tall girl, standing at a towering six feet, with a thin, lanky frame and dark skin with shoulder-length clean-cut, straight black hair. She is the most professionally dressed – blue tinged white tank with long straight black trousers. Each step she takes is precise and perfect. She does little to acknowledge the two beside her aside from the occasional glance.
But each one of these girls have eyes that unnerve many of the people who looked at them. Startling yellow eyes, one of which is glazed over as if blind – which is likely due to the scar going over it – glare at each person who turns their way, daring them to say something. The eyes of the blonde shine with warmth, yet are such an unnatural shade of green that it makes many around her uncomfortable. The eyes of the tallest meet everyone's gaze evenly and her irises swarm with a startling shade of purple and pink that swirl together in a hypnotizing manner. All of them give off such an unnerving presence that many of the other people within Japan's airport part away from them. Few are brave enough to make eye contact. Even fewer are brave enough to try to talk to any of them – God bless those poor airport workers who look like they're seconds away from pissing themselves.
"And now that we're in Japan," the short one mutters in lightly accented Japanese, "What exactly is your plan Reve?"
She turns to the tallest with a raised brow, a hand on her hip. I can't wait to see what this firme azeno* has come up this time. The blonde nudges her a bit harshly, a frown on her face as she scolds the other girl for her actions with a mere look. She's met with a sarcastic eye roll and a small yowl that, thankfully, no one else seems to catch. The tallest, Reve, doesn't bat an eye as she holds a credit card between her fingers.
Black finger nails that are sharp enough to resemble small claws snatch up the credit card the moment it is revealed and leaves small cuts along Reve's fingers. Reve gives a small, minor glare to the other girl and desperately holds her hands together to hide the pink glow of her skin as it mends together. The third member of their group winces sympathetically, knowing just how much those claws can hurt.
"Ian supplied me with that," Reve explains, "And he has been kind enough to acquire a small rental house for us to live in as well as fake identities."
Her face flashes with regret and guilt for a brief moment at the mention of Ian. His name makes her heart clench in worry and in memory. The Dream Weaver-Human hybrid helped make her who she is today. He's the only one aside from the girls that she ever considers family. She misses him more than she'll ever admit. Dream Weavers are able to communicate to others through dreams and through mental links, but it's not the same. She can't see him in person and at this point, there's no one else she wants to see more. He's my best friend, she muses, almost a brother. But he's safe at home in France, where he belongs… Shame that Kato and Moriko won't get to meet him in person. I'm lucky that they trust my judgment when it comes to him.
"From this point on," Reve brings herself back to reality as if she never left, "We are Moriko Tenshi, Kato Skrapi, and Reve Effori. Close friends that met at an international summer camp when they were children and now travel the world together – as far as the law knows, we are all legally emancipated and have no living blood relatives and are able to afford all of our expenses due to our inheritances."
Mother always said that names carry power – that they make you who they are, Kato muses as she runs her fingertip along the credit card, and if she is right, then I believe that we are strong enough to get through this hell together. All of their names have deeper meanings – meanings that don't go unnoticed by any of them. Reve Effori, French for dream terror, a nod toward her species as well as her ability to sneak into the dreams of others. Moriko Tenshi, Japanese for forested angel, an acknowledgment of her attachment to nature as well as her warm personality. Kato Skrapi, Esperanto for cat scratch for dangerously feline tendencies and species. But they are strong names, Kato notes, names that are perfect for our small tribon*.
"If Kato can manage to remember all of that, I'll eat my weight in dark chocolate," Moriko states simply – Kato, in the process of putting the credit card in her back pocket, hisses in protest.
Reve's lips twitch in amusement, but quickly return to a neutral expression as she continues on walking with her head high. I wonder where he is. I hope the flight landed okay. I'm gonna be sick. So many thoughts swarm through her mind from the people around her. Too many thoughts for her to process at once. The crowd before her blurs and spins. The small hint of panic and fear in her irises go unnoticed as she focuses most of her energy on breathing at a normal pace – there's no point for her panicking. It wouldn't end well for anyone.
"We should hurry," Reve ushers the two other girls, "We still need to purchase the essentials – clothing, food, and other essentials. The house is furnished, but we will need to purchase bed sheets, blankets, and the like. As well as silverware and bathroom products. I would like for us to get this all done before dark as both Ian and I have taken the initiative to sign all three of us up for school."
This causes Kato to stop in her tracks, a snarl forming on her lips as she sneers at the Dream Weaver in distaste and anger.
"School," she hisses, a finger raises up to Reve in a threatening manner – the dark fingernail slowly begins to grow into a claw, "Are you freneza*? We don't know a single thing about normal human behavior and interaction, nevertheless education!"
She lets out a string of curses in her native tongue, yet Reve seems undisturbed. She simply stares at the cat-like being in front of her with a seemingly uncaring expression. Her lips are thin and tight,
"Actually, to my understanding, you don't know a single thing about normal human behavior."
Kato is easily the most physically strong out of the group – an opponent that neither of the others would want to face in hand to hand combat. Yet this bit of factual information does not stir Reve. Moriko gives a small look to Reve, a signal to not antagonize her, a look that goes well ignored as Reve openly glares, despite the claws that grow beneath her chin. A sharp point presses against her throat in a threatening manner, a low growl leaving Kato's throat as her eyes shine with anger.
"Accept the facts," Reve states simply, her voice is flat and monotonic as if she's reciting a dull monologue,"Out of all of us, you are the one with the least human interaction. You spent a majority of your life among other Katojns and other supernatural species with no contact to the outside world. This puts you at a social disadvantage…. But while Moriko and I know more, we do not know everything and none of us can expect to blend into society if we don't even know the basic education. We have to learn, grow, and act as human as we possibly can so no one suspects us of being anything but. The school in question is Ouran Academy that notes us as all as American foreigners as that was truthfully the last country we 'lived' in. Now please get your claws out of my face."
Kato growls deeply from the back of her throat, but having no counterargument, her claws retract back into black humanoid nails. Their tips are still a bit sharper than a normal girl's nails, but are normal enough to pass unless someone looks too closely. Moriko, however, breathes a sigh of relief as Kato backs down.
"She's right, ane, and we should get going."
Kato huffs, scowling to herself as she grumbles under her breath. Moriko rolls her eyes at the behavior, but a fond smile graces her lips before she takes Kato's arm in her own, dragging her along behind Reve.
MORIKO
The good news is that the small house that Reve and/or Ian picked out is a good one. It's large enough, with three bedrooms, a living space, two bathrooms and a kitchen, that none of us will be stepping on each other's toes. Which is a blessing since I know that stepping on Kato is a good way to get clawed – I shudder in the memory of the one time that I stepped on her tail when she was in her other form. Other form. I frown a bit at the mention of a second form, glancing down at myself. Unlike the others, my human form is hardly different than my real form. The green tint of my skin is gone, leaving it a normal tanned, though considerably lighter than the others, shade of human skin, and the rose marks that cover a small portion of my arm (vines with roses) resemble a normal human tattoo. While my eyes have gained a white and a pupil, they remain the same inhuman shade of green that I can't quite change. I roll my shoulders instinctively and I can feel the faint numb pain on my back where two bandaged stubs lay against my skin.
I shake my head slightly to clear my thoughts and adjust the many shopping bags that line my arms. How Reve's friend is so rich, I don't know and I don't think I want to know, but I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Reve took care of her clothes and all of our essentials – aside from Kato's insistence on buying her own bathroom products (she spent a large portion of time sniffing various shampoos and body washes with questions on how exactly chemicals were supposed to actually clean anything). Poor Kato. She's the most oblivious to human behavior, habits, and products. A fact that Reve kindly brought up earlier – which in my opinion was a real dick move on her part. She knows as well as I do that bringing up Kato's past like that was not nice. Heck, bringing up anyone's past like that isn't nice.
Though that's not exactly what bothers me the most. There's something in the way that Reve said that implied that she believed Kato to have less worth. As if she's just a monster or just a cat. An animal. But anyone who spends times with animals know that they can have more emotion than anyone else, I sigh deeply as I look over to the cat in question.
Kato's already reverted back into her animistic form, clearly disregarding Reve's constant bickering about needing to be in human form even while we're at the house. Her panther-like body is curled near the unlit fireplace, her head resting on her large paw with downcast, tired eyes. When I look closely, I can see where the bullet wound that she had gained during our escape is still healing on her side – the blood around it has scabbed over enough that I don't think there's any cause for worry. I suppose maybe it's best for her to be in this form. She heals faster like this than as a human.
I move her discarded clothing and bags to be able to sit beside her, setting my own bags with it. My fingers run through her fur gently, causing her to tense briefly before she relaxes. From the corner of my eyes, I can see Reve watching us closely, yet she makes no move to get any closer. Like usual, she is observing us rather than interacting with us.
I know she didn't mean to, Kato finally speaks up over the mental link, but it still hurt. I am proud of being a Katojns, but I am not a mindless animal. Not a monster.
My heart clenches for my sister – and she is my sister. It's as simple as that. Your family is who you choose it to be and we've been through too much together to be anything less than family. Kato's large feline head moves to rest on my thigh. Her head and upper body are big enough to cover my entire lap and legs as I continue to pet her gently until a soft purr emerges from the back of her throat. A small part of me wonders how much she weighs in this form – over 250 pounds is my guess. It's a solid weight against me, but not painfully so. Though anyone with eyes knows that in human form, she's far from being heavy. Faes, such as myself, are proud of each pound and curve. A fae with more weight to them is just a sign of a healthy, well-fed fae. A perfect parental figure, the embodiment of warmth and friendliness. The idea that Kato is comfortable and happy being so thin (though toned and muscled, she's still just plain small), it's almost laughable. I know that it's because in human form, she relies on the speed that her small form provides, but there are days that I just want to feed her my mother's recipe for instant growth (as she called it) – granted to put meat on your bones. Despite the fact that the recipe itself is void of any meat. Fae biology doesn't bode well with meats.
For a brief moment, I remember the time I saw Kato devour a rat that wandered into her cage at that facility and I shudder before bringing myself back to reality. At Kato's words, I glance back to where Reve was earlier only to see she's disappeared – likely gone to her room. Which is probably what we should be doing right about now. I attempt to move my legs out from Kato, only for her to growl lightly and pressing more of her weight onto me. I tsk at her childish behavior and flick her on her nose, causing her nose to twitch as she snorts, moving off my lap to rub her large paw against the flesh of her nose. Even in her current form, the glare she gives me is pretty clear.
"We should go check our rooms, get settled, and all that other stuff that Reve's been trying to get us to do," I suggest, lightly nudging her in a teasing manner before I go to grab my bags of new clothes.
When I turn around, the many bags hanging from my arms, Kato is back in her human form, adjusting her long, if a bit worn, shirt over her body to cover the essentials, disregarding the pants that still lay on the ground. Not that I really blame her. The clothes we were wearing when we got here were ones we had stolen from some tourist gas station – those big ones that are stuck on the side of busy highways in middle of nowhere that have anything you could ever need if you're a college student or large family on a cross country road trip. My lips thin at the vague pain in my heart. I still remember when my parents took me on those road trips – stopping constantly along the way for various wildlife protection protests. I was very young then and it's blurred, but I remember Dad telling me how those trips made us seem more like a normal, human family.
Kato gathers her things with ease before turning to me. She stares at me for a moment, making me shift on my feet as I bite at my lip, feeling a bit more self conscious from the staring.
"How are you," her eyes soften as she speaks quietly and gently, taking a step forward, gently put her hand on my back.
I tense, rolling my shoulders briefly at the uncomfortable sensation that floods my body. There's a light stinging pain from the two spots on my back, each on either side of her hand where wings once were. Kato removes her hand at my reaction, the pain and gentleness in her normally harsh eyes still baring in my own.
"I'm okay," I answer her question softly, though I can't help but feel as though I'm lying through my teeth.
I don't think Kato believes me. She simply stares with that careful, thoughtful expression on her face, her mouth parting slightly as if she wants to say something but isn't quite sure how to say it. She gives up trying to speak at all, offering a weary smile before she wanders off to her own bedroom. Reve had made sure we knew exactly what rooms are whose – the one with the most windows and sunlight is mine, while the one with the least is Kato's. She wasn't happy about the lack of sunlight, as she loves the warmth it provides, but understood that if she had windows in her room, it was more likely she'd do something that'd expose us. A fact she only begrudgingly admitted under her breath.
Like Kato, I head to my own room down the first hall. The door is situated between a bathroom that Reve and I will be sharing and Reve's own bedroom. The second hall is home to Kato's own bedroom and bathroom. Neither Reve nor I want to share a bathroom with the furball as we know that she's bound to clog the drain. If she'll even shower in the first place. I shake my head and walk into the neatly furnished, if a bit bland, bedroom.
This is definitely going to take some getting used to.