Life at Hogwarts
So it was, he was walking home, past the tree he had earlier sensed Hiei in and a little ways down the street before entering the woods just off it. In these woods was a portal between the three worlds.
It's funny though, he thought, that they complain about all the demons coming in and yet they won't close it. It must be very important, he wondered what would happen if it did close. Well…He'd have to try that later. For now, he had a meeting with the Jr. God of Hell. He really mustn't keep getting sidetracked like that.
He was in Reikai after a few minutes, and made his way up to Koenma's office. Either the Ogre's knew he was coming or they had simply gotten used to him by now. He was here quite often he supposed. Perhaps after this he should ask Koenma if the team could go on a short vacation. They had earned it by now, surely. As he walked into the normally spacious office, he took note of the high stacks of paper work littering the place. Honestly, Yuusuke wasn't this much of a clutter bug, he thought! And then he noticed the rather exhausted looking George running around all over the place, artfully avoiding knocking any of them over. 'Quite a feat for someone of his size' was his first thought, his second being that 'George must need a vacation too. Koenma was such a slave driver.'
He sat down on the rather hideous couch, they should have done it in white, he thought, it would have added to the airiness of the room. Maybe he should ask Koenma if he could redecorate. Or maybe not…"I'm sure you're wondering why you're here." Koenma started a bit nervously he noticed, this couldn't be good.
"So let me first point out that a recent unexpected outbreak of a very deadly flu has caused us to not only be swamped" Ah, that would explain the clutter, "but shorthanded as well," and that would explain why Botan couldn't pick him up, "as many of the ferry girls have insisted on taking their break now." Kurama nodded politely to show he heard and understood what Koenma was saying, good help so was hard to find, and they always bailed out when things got tough.
"Now, at the same time, there is a crisis in the Wizarding world involving a very powerful Wizard doing some…less then friendly things." Again he nodded his understanding, but seriously…Wizards? Like long, white beard and pointy, cone-shaped hat, Merlin sort of wizard? Surely Koenma understood that he didn't do fairytales.
"Botan, Yuusuke, and you were going to be sent to take care of this problem, but since we can't spare Botan… you, Yuusuke, and Hiei will be going." Oh, well then, where were they?
"Hogwarts, which is the school you'll be going to in England," Going to school in another country? Just how long is this mission going to take? "…thinks we are speaking for the Wizarding school of Japan and not for the Reikai. The only problem with this is that we already told the school that two boys and a girl would be coming. We can't just suddenly change this; the two countries are already on rocky ground." What two countries aren't these days?
"They would think Japan was up to something. That could cause problems for not only the two countries, but for Reikai as well when they start to figure out Japan never knew about this exchange." Hmm, where was Koenma going with this? Why was he the only one here to hear it?
"And since we can't tell them the real reason Botan will not be coming, we had to find a girl. I didn't want to send Yukina or Keiko and risk getting killed by their respective protectors." It would have been funny… for the voyeur at least. After all, Keiko and Yusuke may have broken up but he still considered her like a sister. "And Shizuru plain out refused. Since she doesn't work for us we can't make her go." Then why don't you just employ her so you can? No, that wasn't fair. He was letting Koenma's staling get to him…
"So we had a pretty big problem. And then, as luck would have it, the people in research and development came up with a solution. There is a pink lake near here that can change the gender of the right kind of person," Oh he did NOT like the sound of that.
"Said person, would have to already resemble the other gender, as t-t-to m-m-m-m-m-ake the t-t-t-t-ransition easi-e-e-r" He was stuttering. As well he should, he happened to be quite happy with his current gender, thank you very much! Honestly when he said he wanted a change this was not what he had in mind!
"We hap-p-p-ened t-t-t-to have-e-e got-t-t-t-t-ten lucky and a-a-a-already h-h-ad you." Koenma looked like he was expecting him to jump up out of his seat and eat him. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea.
Koenma cleared his throat into his hand, and in a very authoritative voice informed him, "The change will take place after school lets out for summer break." And just like that he was shooed out of the office and sent home to enjoy his little time left as a male for an undetermined amount of time. What was he going to tell his mother?
After receiving the rather...interesting news from Koenma the rest of the week had gone by far too fast for him. He'd told his mother that his school was sending him on a study abroad program, and that he'd be back in a year, unless he chose to continue his learning further there. He had gotten his letter from Dumbledore, who was supposedly the headmaster and a very important person if all the titles were anything to go by, earlier that day and indeed, they did think he was a girl. He couldn't help but be offended by that even if they had no way of knowing the truth.
Yet, all too soon he was standing in front of the afore mentioned pink lake, which was right next to the baby blue lake, at 5:30am awaiting his sentence with Botan, who was fidgeting from the vibes he was currently giving off. Kurama, in a completely detached thought, had the notion that maybe Reikai needed to learn a little subtlety, honestly a pink lake! No one was going to notice that one surely. He was being sarcastic by the way.
When the godling finally joined them Kurama was caught off guard when he suddenly pushed him in. Well, he supposed it was better if one didn't think about it before hand anyway. Everything was pink and coated in goop until he closed his eyes. This had to be the most disgusting thing he'd ever done, and he had to admit…it wasn't that bad…at first.
He could feel his muscles shrinking, moving, and softening, though not to the point of being fatty. His waist was becoming smaller and flatter and his hips wider, accompanied by a sharp pain across his chest and a burning in the area of his crotch. His feet and hands were getting slimmer and more delicate while his fingernails grew slightly and he could already tell he was going to have to practice writing with them. He could feel the features of his face become even more feminine, his nose a bit smaller, and his cheekbones higher and more pronounced. His lips were getting plumper, his eyebrows, even, were shaping themselves in a well-shaped arc above his eyes, now complete with longer, fuller lashes. And to make everything worse, he could feel his insides making a big change as well, organs being added, changed, and twisted around to fit in a now smaller frame.
When everything seemed to stop he stood up. He felt the extra weight on his chest and his balance was off. His clothes, now a least a size or two too big for him, were sliding down his frame but not indecently so as they caught on his now larger breasts. By the look on Koenma's face he must have looked pretty good…strike that, he must have been gorgeous. He quickly stepped out of the goop and walked up to Keiko, who had apparently arrived when he was changing, so to speak. They both seated themselves on Botan's oar and held on for dear life when the ferry girl took off.
After a trying ride, considering what he'd been through today, they touched down in the back of the mall at about 6:30am. Botan, who had bags that he didn't even want to think of under her eyes, hurriedly said, "Koenma deposited some money for you in a bank account. Here's the debit card for it." she handed him said card with a slip of paper under it, "…the piece of paper has your pin number on the front. Be sure to memorize that. On the back is the amount of money in the account so you don't over spend." She winked and Keiko and then she was off leaving him and Keiko alone. Kurama quickly memorized the number and flipped it over to see how much was in there. Her eyes widened, surely that was not right. They couldn't possibly spend that much in just one day! Could they…?
His shopping partner was busy pulling him along though and he doubted she'd tell him what she had in store. People were staring at him. Now if that was because he was pretty, or covered in pink goop dressed in oversized men's clothing, he had no idea. When Keiko noticed the hand she held was sticky, after she'd tried to dislodge it, she suggested they get him cleaned up first. She told him to go wash up and she'd go get an outfit that he could wear for today.
Honestly, he'd almost walked into the boy's bathroom before he remembered he wasn't supposed to be in there anymore. He was fortunate that nobody else had decided to use the facilities, he decided, because they would have walked in on him washing his hair out in the sink, buck naked while the clothes he had worn were soaking in the adjacent sink. It was one of his favorite outfits and he only hoped it wasn't ruined.
He jumped when he heard the door open, and then let out a sigh of relief when he saw it was just Keiko. She bashfully looked away from what she'd walked in on and presented him with a bag. She told him, "It's just a plain black tee-shirt and jeans. I didn't really have time to be selective."
"That's perfectly alright Keiko. I appreciate you doing this for me." He said as he rummaged through the bag remembering his manners despite the rather unfortunate situation.
He pulled out a plain white cotton bra and matching panties and blushed when he had to ask assistance with the bra. After taking care of the underclothing than humans seemed so fond of he stepped into the jeans. They were a bit uncomfortable to him, the tightness and all. Were they really supposed to grip his behind like that? The shirt went on next, it stretched to fit his curves, and he found himself wondering why women were so fond of showing their bodies and yet not showing them. A simple pair of dollar flip-flops and a hair tie later and they were ready to go. Keiko had thought it best he pull it up in a messy sort of bun on the top back of his head so it wouldn't drip on him.
Keiko pulled him into a cute little local shop. "This is probably more around your style." She said. Funny, he didn't remember having a 'style'.
"I've always wanted to dress you" she said, and he was amused at her bluntness. "I'm going to help you. Formerly being a guy and all, you might not know some things that you'll be expected to know now that you're a girl. So I'm going to help you look natural in it, ok? We don't want you looking sloppy in England because you don't know how a girl is supposed to dress. You're supposed to be representing Japan, you know?" She nodded her head once with a 'hmph!' and set to work. Her tone left no room for argument so he put up none. He wasn't stupid; he'd seen what happened to Yusuke when he didn't listen to that voice. She started by studying him. She looked him up and down, front and back for a good ten minutes and he had to say he was rather uncomfortable, despite him being used to being looked at constantly.
She took out a small pad of paper and sat down on the inside window ledge. He thought it adorable that her tongue peaked out from the left corner of her mouth as she wrote. She scribbled in that pad for about fifteen minutes while he stood there in front of her feeling very conspicuous. She handed him the note pad and said, "I've written down some basic color guidelines so you know what we're looking for. We can make style choices together. But unless you see something you really like, just sit down and I'll pick stuff out."
He thought perhaps she'd make a good military leader. She was organized and strict, certainly. While Keiko started to look around and occasionally hold things up to him he read what she'd written.
Color-
Black- yes, but not too much or it will wash out skin tone.
Red- only on bottoms or it will fade out hair color.
Yellow- golden- yes, canary- no
Green- Dark greens would be best, but not muted green or lime
Brown- chocolate brown, caramels, nudes, and creams.
Blue- Dark or light but not too light and not muted
Orange- only in small amounts and accessories
Purple- lavender for a soft look royal for a sultry look
Grey- Only deep ones
White- no- washes out skin tone
Pink- see red
Thorough should be added to Keiko's military qualities. He sat himself in a chair and waited.
In his opinion Keiko was just pulling random things off the shelves and racks. She would walk up and down the different spaces pulling things off to be 'tried on'. He had never tried on clothes before, he knew what his size was, why would he need to? "Hey Kurama? How about jewelry? Some nice pieces can really pull a look together." Was that a rhetorical question? He didn't seem to be getting an opinion in this. As Keiko went around gathering things, Kurama noticed the sales clerk looking a little excited. He hoped he wasn't going to be back in the dressing rooms with them. His hopes were dashed when Keiko told him to go try the first one on while she asked the sales clerk, whose name was Ryan, to come back and give them a male's opinion. He sighed, didn't she just get finished saying that he still thought like a male and that was why he needed her help?
After about thirty minutes of trying on and sifting out what worked and what didn't, the thirty outfits they had gone in there with were dwindled down to about three. Keiko led Kurama out of the store with a red face, chafed skin, and three new outfits. By lunch time they had been to thirteen stores and had nine outfits not including underclothes, jewelry, or shoes. "Are you hungry?" It was the first question he'd been expected to answer, but before he could his stomach did. "That's a yes. Come on we'll get something for lunch." He didn't seem to be doing much talking today.
They stopped in a fast food restaurant to get Keiko a chicken salad and then went to get Sushi for him because he refused to eat fast food. It took them a while to eat and they did so in silence. After all, they didn't have too much in common. She was a school-conscious, slightly preppy teenager and he was really a thousand year old, kitsune thief trapped in a now feminine, teenage, human body. Well…when he said it like that it sounded weird.
After lunch Keiko took him to a lingerie store, he felt lunch was unnecessary seeing as it was likely to come back up any minute now. As soon as she walked through the door he blushed. Women actually wore that under clothing? What was the point of the decorations if they were only going to be covered up? This was probably why women in Makai didn't bother with undergarments, they seemed completely unnecessary. A lady in a business suit came up to them; her name tag proudly displaying "Kyame". "Hello ladies. My name is Kyame is there anything you need help with today?" She was perky. No pun intended of course.
"Yes my friend needs to be measured for a bra." Keiko said. The only thing that stopped Kurama from blushing further was his control over his emotions from his days as Youko. Never had he been so grateful.
"Ok then. Miss please put your arms straight out from you." Kyame pulled the tape measure from around her neck and measured him in three places, the top of the chest, the swell of the breasts, and under the breasts. He fidgeted when she did this. "36C. What kind of bra would you like?" Kurama knew he looked incredulous because he could see his reflection in the mirror on the far wall.
"Something comfortable and supportive. We need some panties too. I'm thinking thongs, they're comfy and easier to move in." He had to grit his teeth to keep from snapping at her. If either of his two companions for this trip ever saw him in a thong he'd never live it down!
Two hours before they were supposed to be back in the Reikai, Keiko finally let them leave. Then they remembered they had no way of getting all this home. Luckily Keiko spotted some friends of hers who promptly agreed to help upon hearing the phrase "make-over" pass her lips. Their giggling will be ringing in his ears for the next several days.
Kurama was nervous. He had faced down extremely powerful demons and stolen from very powerful people but he had never been this scared in his entire life. He was standing in Keiko's bedroom sounded by girls, and while normally guys would give their left leg to be in his position one had to take into account that he just switched genders and was in the process of getting a make-over.
He hadn't been talking much really. What was he supposed to say? They were plucking, pulling, painting, spraying, and brushing and really, as cliché as it sounded, he was beginning to think this was torture. Keiko was currently packing the things in the new luggage they'd gotten, seeing as how he hadn't owned any before. But the worst thing he was currently experiencing was that they were all trying to give him directions on how to replicate it. At once.
The girl who was plucking his eyebrows was saying, "They need to have an arch to them. First you brush all the hair in one direction then carefully pluck the hairs out one at a time with tweezers by the roots. Don't over pluck them though because it will look fake that way. If you need help on which ones to pluck they make these little white stickers for it. You just brush you're eyebrows in one direction then place the sticker over them and pluck the hairs that are not covered by it. See it's simple really!"
The girl who was giving him a manicure and pedicure was saying, "You'll need these products to do this, but I'll give you a list so you don't have to memorize them. Now for your feet you start by soaking them in warm water with this mineral salt for five minutes and then you scrub off the calluses with a scrubbing stone. Everyone's foot in different so wherever yours are, is where you scrub. Then you go back and trim your nails to a good length which is not long for toe nails and then you trim the extra skin around the nails and the toes themselves. After you do that you rub this gel on your feet up to your knees to soften the skin. And then finally you paint your nails. For you I'd go with a French pedicure style which is where you paint the part of your toe nail that has the whitish color and then go over it with clear polish. You pretty much do the same thing for your hands, but the nails need to be longer."
The girl who was doing his make-up was saying, "You have a very sexy face, so you should go with some pouty, sexy colors. Go with a nude or dark red on your lips, not to bright though because your skin is so pale. You can go with a light pink for everyday though. To apply it you pretty much just go right over your lips, after a lip liner in the same color of course. Just outline your lip, follow the line. Your skin is so pale that I wouldn't recommend red blushes but a nice light pink would be perfect! Your skin complexion is good enough without foundation and powder and we don't want to take away any color in your skin so we're not going to bother with it. Your eyes however, should be outlined with black eyeliner. You'll need mascara too and probably a light cream color eye shadow. I'll show you how to do a smoky eye too."
The girl who was doing his hair only said that she'd give him a list of some different hair styles and that he'd need to brush it at least twice every day. Keiko was explaining that an outfit wasn't underclothes, a top, a bottom, and shoes. That accessories and make-up and hair and jewelry was all part of it too. He was so confused and their instructions were all really starting to blend together.
After about four hours of this, and he had to balk at that, everything was ready. He was still wearing the clothes he'd been wearing at the mall, only now he had some light make-up on and his hair was dry and down. Keiko said that his luggage would be sent to England ahead of them and that he was to go back to see Koenma now.
As he made his way through the forest his mind was blissfully blank. He hadn't spoken more than three or four sentences all day and he had a feeling he wouldn't be speaking much in the next couple of hours either. Walking through the large doors and up to Koenma's office drew more than a few stares. He was slightly surprised by this, he had to admit. He heard yelling coming from the office he stood in front of. It sounded something like 'baka'. The door made a loud annoying creaking sound when he opened it.
Well, he blamed the door for this. He was standing in the doorway with three boys, because he refused to think of them as men after this, gaping at him. Oh honestly! He hadn't changed that much. His flip-flops clacked as he walked to where they were sitting and sat down next to them.
Koenma snapped out of his stupor, wiped the drool off his chin and started talking, "Now like I was saying you'll all be going to Hogwarts. Your job is to keep everyone, and I mean everyone even people you may not like, safe. We're not sure exactly when, but Voldemort is going to strike again soon. We tried ignoring it; after all it's that Potter's job to kill him. But enough is enough, we have to do something. So we're sending you. You'll be leaving immediately so if you want to say good bye to anyone you'll have to do it by phone. I trust you all have your supply list?"
Hiei just gave him a look that clearly said 'where would I put it? My underwear?' and Yusuke plain out told him he didn't have it. "No! You didn't say we'd need it! You only said to pack up all our clothes and anything else we might want."
Kurama put a hand on his shoulder to calm him, "I have it." He said, pulled it out of his back pocket and unfolded it.
"Well, at least I can count on one of you." Kurama gave him a look, he was still quite angry with him thank you very much. Koenma cleared his throat then continued, "Because of the time difference you should be arriving yesterday at 6:30pm so to speak. You'll spend the first night getting rid of jet lag and getting used to the time zone difference. Someone will meet you after breakfast the next day to take you shopping for supplies, so be up at 9:00am please. Put these in your ears after you get there too, it'll allow you to understand English and speak it properly. Alright we're done." They were shooed out of the office and found themselves deposited in the middle of an airport.
I'm putting some of the chapters together to speed things up and make them longer.
