The sound of someone knocking on the screen door to the bedroom I shared with Ranma and Genma woke me from a dead sleep. I never slept well, sometimes I got a good night, sometimes not. Sighing, I got out of my bed roll, and headed toward the screen door, past the slumbering forms of Ranma and Genma.
Nabiki Tendō stood in the doorway, holding a bundle under one arm, and giving a smirk. "Say, I think you and I got off on the wrong foot yesterday. What do you say I give you a tour of Nerima?"
I raised an eyebrow, "Why're you being so nice suddenly? Yesterday you were acting like we were an imposition."
Nabiki shrugged. "I figured you'd want to see a little bit of our slice of Tokyo. That, and well, Kasumi, Akane and I spent some time getting your outfit together, and Kasumi suggested I take you out to see the Ward—so I will. Here,"
She pushed the small bundle towards me, and gave a brief smile—though it looked like more of a smirk.
I observed the bundle in my hand. I frowned a bit and looked at her, latent feelings I'd set aside stirring again in the middle of my belly.
…
The sight in the mirror nearly made me stop breathing.
In the reflection, someone smiling ear-to-ear, who was almost certainly a girl, was standing, waving. Two smiling figures, a quiet auburn-haired woman, and a smirking dark-haired man, beamed at her with pride.
There was a stillness in the air as I approached the mirror and placed my hand on it with some degree of shock and awe.
After Dumbledore arrived and sent me back to the Gryffindor dorms, the weight building up in my chest let loose, and I cried the entire way back, silently choking out the tears from beneath the weight of what I saw.
No, no, no, no no no
I didn't know where I was going, but I knew I had to find someone to give me some support.
The memory is a haze of tears and snot, but I remember Hermione embracing me close, stroking my hair. An unspoken truth had crossed us both as we laid there together, me crying into her.
Hogwarts had magic—ancient magic. No male could ascend the girl's dormitory stairs. It was impossible to do so, and the result would simply trigger the defense mechanism—the stairs would give way to a twisty-bendy slide that would lead to the offender having their arse on the ground.
But it let me up, without a question.
I cried into Hermione's nightshirt, letting go of years of repressed memories and feelings; feelings I wasn't certain I wanted.
She, ever my rock, laid there and comforted me into the night.
As I drifted into sleep, she whispered quietly to me, "Merry Christmas, Harry. Boy or girl, you'll always be my friend."
…
That weight in my chest from that night was building again, and I wasn't sure I was ready for that kind of breakdown without the one thing in my life that kept me tethered to the ground.
I needed to play this off, play it off like a joke.
"A blouse? And a skirt?" I said, nervously, "Why?"
"You and Akane are very close in size, and Daddy is extremely tall compared to you, so…" she shrugged.
"Right," I nodded slowly, feeling a little sour at being cornered.
Nabiki knocked me on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it too much, Hari. It's just clothing."
"Heh, yeah… just clothing…"
Dressing up in the clothes wasn't too difficult, I'd had some experience in the matter, so what was easy for me would be hard for… a normal person. After what felt like an eternity, I made my way downstairs, with Nabiki, who was wearing a very small smile on her face, standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Wow, you clean up good, Hari."
I had the good grace to blush a bit at her compliment. Gone was the serrated and mud-splattered t-shirt and jean combination that I'd gotten as a hand-me-down from Dudley, replacing it was a mint-coloured blouse, black knee-length skirt, and a pair of black socks, all on loan from Akane.
"I look silly," I said, feeling a little irritated at the bubbling feeling I felt in my stomach.
"No, you look fine—though your hair is a little messy," Nabiki reached and played with my hair a bit, pushing it out of my eyes and latching a beret up to keep it from falling back to where it was.
"But it works for you."
I felt my cheeks get hot again as she walked past me into the genkan.
…
Hermione grinned ear to ear as she looked over me. A tucked away classroom on the fifth floor of Hogwarts had become a place for her and me to get away to spend time together. Our relationship was… complicated, if I could put a word to it.
By third year, we were still trying to navigate our feelings for each other, but the realities of the situation with Sirius Black, and Voldemort, kept me from actualizing it. Here, I was free as a bird. Hermione would toss me outfits to try on and model to see what I liked and didn't like.
We only did this a couple times before the school's security tightened. After that one night we spent together, I never went back to that fifth-floor classroom where we stashed everything away. Maybe someday, another girl who isn't sure about herself will find it and help herself cope.
But Hermione would always say the same thing, every time I tried on something new.
"It wouldn't look good on me, I'm very plain. But it works for you, Harry."
A kiss on the cheek or lips always followed, but that was our thing. She and I treated each other like a queen.
…
The warmth in my chest grew a little stronger, but this wasn't the feeling of nervousness or anxiety—this was a feeling of… attraction? Maybe?
Nabiki dropped a pair of low-heeled black shoes in front of me, and I had to keep myself together to suppress a genuine smile.
"Go ahead and put them on—you should look about the same shoe-size as I do. I think these heels will go good with your outfit."
I didn't say anything and slipped my feet into the heels, and Nabiki helped me secure them. Opening the door, she motioned for me to go first. I stepped out onto the road, and Nabiki quickly took lead.
Walking in heels, even these low ones, was a remarkable difference from the shoes I've worn in my life.
It was far easier than I thought it'd be. Hermione had complained relentlessly last year about how difficult it was to walk in heels after the Yule Ball… I didn't dare ask to try, but now that I was doing it… This didn't seem all that hard at all, really.
I said to Nabiki, "This is going to end badly—"
Nabiki gave a brief laugh, which had a slight hint of friendliness to it.
"Hari, if I didn't know you were already a boy, I'd say you were just a tomboy. So, calm down. Your clothes were tattered. If there's anything worse than crossdressing, it'd be walking around in rags. Take some pride in yourself and don't be such a dummy!"
The butterflies in my stomach didn't stop, but Nabiki's words soothed me some, and made me feel a little better about the whole thing.
The market district in Nerima was home to most of the ward's shops and restaurants. Even though it was a little early, school was out of session for another few days, and so hordes of teenagers were meandering along the walkways, frequenting local establishments.
"Over here, this cafe." Nabiki pointed, "I have a meeting with some friends here—won't take too long. You can even sit with us."
Nabiki entered the cafe and I followed her over to a small table. Two other girls were sitting, conversing quietly. They moved to stand up as Nabiki approached and Nabiki gestured for them to stay sitting. She smiled confidently, and the air around her transformed from being remote, yet friendly, into one of control and ice. The ambient temperature in the room dropped a few degrees, I thought.
"Good morning, ladies."
She pulled a chair out for me, and motioned for me to sit in it. I sat down, and she helped push my chair in, before taking her own seat. The two girls looked at me in interest, before the darker haired one spoke up.
"Good morning, Nabiki—uh, who is your friend?"
I opened my mouth to speak, before Nabiki gently placed her hand on mine, and gripped it. "This is my new friend… Natsuko. She just moved here from England. She's very shy, so she doesn't talk very much."
"Wow, England?" The same girl said, "That's great!"
Nabiki turned to face me with a smile, "Natsuko, this is Rina," she gestured to the black-haired girl, "and this is Makoto," she gestured to the other girl, who had long honey-colored hair. "They're my… lieutenants."
I bowed my head in greeting, and looked at Nabiki questioningly. Nabiki waved her hand, "I'll explain later, Na-chan."
The butterflies started flapping hard again, and I felt myself blush again. The new name made sense, I guess—I can't look like a girl and have a name like Harry… But why did I like it when she called me that… Na-chan?
Nabiki ordered me a coffee, and I decided to quietly drink it while listening to their conversation in detail. I didn't learn very much, I was too busy transfixed by Nabiki. She was a very pretty woman, and had a flair for fashion I'd never seen in any girl since Hermione (as often as she got around to that given her austere nature at Hogwarts. I'd seen some of the stuff she wore in the Muggle world, and found that she maybe… overcompensated for her time in Scotland.)
The conversation broke up as Rina and Makoto left to do their own thing. Nabiki took a deep drink from her cup of coffee, and fixed me with a smirk.
"You seem interested in something."
I broke eye contact with her and said, mostly into my coffee, "What's with this Natsuko stuff?"
"You needed a proper Japanese name," she sipped it again, staring back at me with the same intensity I had given her.
"But why? Why the outfit and the name and—"
"It's all in good fun, Natsuko. Alright, look—Kasumi and I figured if you were going to be stuck wearing girls' clothes for a few days, you might as well have fun. Are you having fun?"
"Yeah, I guess I am," I said, uncertainly. "Just being able to go out and talk to people without them staring at my forehead," I touched the place where my scar was covered by my bangs, "Is a miracle."
"Well, good. You're very pretty, I should have you know." Nabiki said without looking at me.
We soon emerged back onto the street, with Nabiki leading me again through Nerima. As we walked down the street by the canal that ran through the middle of the district, Nabiki asked, "So, tell me about yourself."
"I'm fifteen and I'm from England. I can't really talk about much else right now, Nabiki, for reasons that are… beyond me." I scratched the back of my neck, and said, "But I'll tell you when I get a chance. All you need to know now is that there is a very big reason I left England, and I don't really want to return."
A glum thought crossed my mind: "Except for her."
"You're fifteen huh? You don't look it… you know," Nabiki said, with a thoughtful expression on her face, "I'm very resourceful, and so is my father. I can get you documentation to let you go to school with Akane, Ranma and I. Mister Saotome already plans to enroll him in Furinkan, that's the high school we go to, but you're… kind of a gray area, because you're just a random vagrant. You're too young to attend, technically, but I can arrange something for you."
A distant thought took me to Hogwarts, before the sound of a distant bird snapped me back to reality.
"Yeah, I guess that'd be okay. I'd rather be around you, Ranma and Akane than be on my own."
A sly grin spread across Nabiki's face, and she nodded. "I'll take care of everything for you."
After a couple hours, we'd seen most of the ward, and Nabiki took us back to the Tendō Dojo. As we arrived at the gates to the Dojo, I grabbed Nabiki by the arm and said, "Nabiki… thank you. This is the most normal day I've had in my life... ever."
Nabiki gave another odd smile, and she nodded. "You're welcome, Natsuko."
I laughed some, "You're going to call me that forever, aren't you?"
"Maybe, maybe not. We'll see." She said nonchalantly, before stopping. "Hey, wait, give me a second!"
She dashed indoor, and returned a few minutes later with Akane, Kasumi, and a film camera.
"I wanted to show you off before you got all comfortable—isn't my date beautiful?"
Kasumi smiled, "Oh, I knew you'd look good in that! Wasn't I right, Akane!"
Akane looked at her sister and nodded, "Yes, you were." Nabiki handed the camera to Kasumi, and said, "Let's get some pictures!"
I spent the next few minutes having pictures taken in front of Nabiki's film camera.
I asked her, "Are you gonna do anything with these pictures?"
"Probably not, but I figure you'd like some mementos of your first day exploring the ward. That, and, you're very pretty! I think we should immortalize how good you look!"
I blushed, though I felt like I was going to puke from how hard the butterflies in my stomach were flapping, like someone was making a noxious potion with the contents of my stomach.
It'd been far too long since I'd felt that lurching queasiness in my stomach, and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. Stepping through the genkan, I slipped the heels off and retreated away from the trio of girls. I noticed Genma was playing shogi with the Tendō patriarch, and Ranma was in their dojo complex, meditating.
Walking along the wooden path, I made my way over to where Ranma was, and took a seated position in front of him, and followed him in meditation. The feeling in my stomach was difficult to subside, and meditation just left me too alone with my own thoughts. Opening my eyes, I simply sat there, thinking.
"I can feel your anxiety from here," Ranma said, not opening his eyes. "Wanna talk about it?"
"I think, maybe, I don't know—" I said, not sure about how I was feeling. "Meditating isn't helping like I thought it would."
Ranma opened his eyes and looked at me for a moment. "You look… nice. Is this the reason why you're so freaked out?"
I nodded, and said, "I'm… kind of afraid that I'm enjoying myself. I had a wonderful day with Nabiki, and… I don't know, I think I might like this! That's freakish!"
"What, dressing like a girl?" Ranma asked, leaning back, laying his palms on the wooden floor of the Dojo. "That's not freakish at all. I'll tell ya the same thing that woman in China told me—there's not much of a difference between girls and guys other than the sex organs. Do you think ya might wanna be a girl?"
"Yeah, I think… maybe?" I scratched the side of my neck, "I mean, I wasn't really planning on this, but I dunno, I've had thoughts about it before. That's normal, maybe?"
"I dunno, neither one of us really had a solid childhood, I guess." Ranma said, looking up at the ceiling. "If this is what makes ya happy, then all power to ya. You do look a lot like a girl like that, I doubt anybody's gonna clock ya as anything but. I'll support ya one-hundred percent of the way, kiddo."
Ranma grabbed my hand and said, "You've been a tremendous help to me and my old man, and you're the closest thing I've had to a best friend since… I guess Ucchan… and I won't stand to see ya miserable. Ye can count on me. But just 'cause you're livin' as a girl don't mean I'm gonna go easy on you. You're still gonna train yer butt off."
My stomach wasn't twisting anymore, and I wrapped Ranma up in a big hug. "Thank you, Ranma. I don't think I'm ready yet, but I appreciate the vote of confidence."
He grinned, "No problem. Besides, maybe you'll help me figure it all out too. We're both, uh, ships lost at sea, I think."
I hugged him tighter, the weight in my chest draining. Maybe the emotional needs I had with Hermione weren't tied to just one place, I could find them in the comfort of others. Ranma was becoming more and more like a brother to me. I could depend on him when it came down to it. I loved him, but only as a brother.
"Now, all this sappy stuff aside, do you wanna get some practice in?"
"Sure thing, Ranma. Let me get out of this stuff. I'll be back."
For once… I felt…
Serene, perhaps?
…
September 1, 1995
Mister Ito had come through again— Nabiki admired the forged birth certificate of Saotome Natsuko, and was impressed at how similar it was to an actual birth certificate. Not a single thing about it gave away that it was a false record. Joining it were falsified school records from other parts of Japan, and her 'basic resident identification card' which served as a form of identification that typically wasn't necessary.
Pleased to no end, she slipped the documents back into an envelope, and headed down stairs.
The house was empty, save for Akane and Soun.
"Where is everyone?" Nabiki asked her father, and the older man smiled, "Genma said he had errands to attend to today, and your older sister is out with ah, uh… Natsuko?"
"Oh, good! Here, Daddy, look at this," she summoned the envelope and handed it to her father. Soun looked inside the envelope and glanced at the documents.
"Very impressive, they look real—Mister Ito?"
"Yeah, he did a masterful job."
"I should say so, he is the brand-name in less than legitimate documents. I know plenty of local and national officials that use him when they need to expedite work." Soun shook his head and handed back the document of envelopes to Nabiki. "I hope that this helps them with getting everything squared away and his son and ward registered."
…
He cleared his throat as he stood a few feet away from the two women.
"Your Highnesses," he bowed, "Someone has filed documentation relating to a member of the Spiritual Family."
"Which one, Hiro?" The younger of the two asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yours, Your Highness. I have a copy of the documents here, if you wish to look at it. This person is, as far as the documents show, a younger daughter of the former Prince Yamagata."
"A third child?"
"Yes, ma'am. Born not long after Ranma. It is obviously a forgery, that it went without reporting for so long."
The younger woman relieved Hiro of his folder, and glanced at them with the older woman over her shoulder. She read through the document before whistling to herself, and looking at the older woman. They shared a brief lingering moment of eye contact before she looked at the man again.
"Hiro, how many people know of this?"
"Less than five, ma'am."
She shook her head, "I want this put on the back-burner, and a gag order put into place. Her Majesty is in no condition to be briefed on this, particularly where my brother is involved. The Princess Tohoku and I will investigate this independently."
Hiro nodded, "I thought you would think so, ma'am."
He bowed to the two, "Your Highnesses," and quickly made his departure, leaving the two women alone.
The Princess Tohoku said, "Hanako… if he's already back in Japan, then Auntie is already aware of his presence."
"Even in her lucid periods, Mother, she can't do very much to impede his progress. And if he's in Tokyo already, there is absolutely nothing she can do. Her power grows ever weaker by the day, and she has never been on speaking terms with the Tennou. After what happened during the Olympics, she and the Shouwa Emperor haven't been on speaking terms, and I believe she has repeatedly referred to The Emperor in… less than kind terms."
The Princess Tohoku nodded, and sighed, "We will play it by ear then."
"That's all we can do. Auntie… can't last much longer," Hanako said with a shrug, before clapping her hands together. "In the meantime, I must attend a meeting with the Chinese ambassador, something about magical activity in the Qinghai region."
…
"Natsuko, are you alright? You've been very… melancholic since we left the Dojo." Kasumi's voice punctured through my cloud of thoughts. I glanced at the older woman and sighed.
"I'm sorry, Kasumi, I… today is just a little bit of a difficult day for me."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
If Ranma and Genma were magical, then the Tendo family probably was too. I looked at her and said, "I mean, maybe. I'm not sure… first… um, do you know anything about magic?"
Kasumi smiled, "Not much, but I do know it exists, and forms a tremendous backbone to our nation and people. I was never interested in the practice of alchemy or anything to that extent, but I learned a lot of spiritual rituals from my mother. That's about as far as my familiarity with the whole concept goes. Does this have to do with magic?"
"Yeah, actually…"
She nodded in her sage way, and looked at me with a firm, maternal expression, "Why don't we go sit and enjoy some breakfast while you tell me what's troubling you."
It wasn't a question—it was a thinly-veiled command. Relieved to have the power of decision relieved just this once, I capitulated and followed her closely.
We entered a small establishment, and the elderly manager grinned as we entered. "Kasumi, my dear! It is a pleasure to see you!"
Kasumi smiled, "The pleasure is all mine, Mister Tanaka. No customers yet this morning?"
"No, dear. I'm sure they'll trickle in as the hours wane on. Who is your friend?"
"Ah, yes, excuse me. Mister Tanaka, this is Natsuko."
I bowed much in the same way Kasumi did to the older man. "Pleasure to meet you, sir."
"So polite! Not many children have those manners these days." Mr. Tanaka laughed and said, "Please, both of you, take a seat. I'll grab some menus," he dashed off, and Kasumi and I found a table.
Placing menus down, Mr. Tanaka smiled and said, "Take your time. I'm sure the young one isn't sure what she wants yet."
"Thank you, Mr. Tanaka," Kasumi smiled soothingly, before placing her menu down. "Once we order, we'll discuss your problem. Have you ever had okonomiyaki before?"
"Nope, during our journey through China and Japan, it was mostly cheap meat and white rice."
"Oh, you're in for a treat." She waved for Mr. Tanaka to return, and ordered two orders of okonomiyaki, I wasn't paying much attention to what kind or flavor or anything, I was just trying to keep the knot in my stomach from tightening.
"Alright. Natsuko… let's begin. From the very beginning, if you're okay with doing that."
I sighed and said, "Alright, well… I'm a… mage, I guess. My parents were also mages, when I was a baby, they were killed by a tyrant named Voldemort for standing up to them and leading a resistance against his reign of murder."
I sighed, "After they died, I was sent to live with my… non-magical aunt and uncle. There are a lot of bad memories there."
"When did you first think you were a girl?" Kasumi asked intently, and I felt a bit like a deer in headlights.
"Well, I… I'm not sure. When I was young, I used to see all these girls in the schoolyard with long hair and ribbons in their hair and I just kinda liked the way that looked. Every time my hair would get long, my aunt would cut it all off with a pair of scissors," I gestured with two fingers violently, before shaking my head,
"But my magic kept growing it all back. I didn't really bother trying anything else, because they loved to find excuses to starve me or hit me."
Kasumi gasped, and I said, "It's okay, Kasumi. That was years ago… anyway… right about the time I was 11, my cousin's birthday comes before mine, I got dragged along to the zoo with him, and you know, I was really feeling very depressed about the whole arrangement. I met this… python. Did you know I can converse with snakes? It's a very rare power that only certain… dark wizards can attain."
"Really?" Kasumi said, "You can speak to snakes?"
"Yeah, I'm not sure if I can still do it. Something… happened that erased my ability to speak English, so I may not understand it anymore."
Kasumi nodded, and I shrugged. "Anyway, I got the snake to start moving and interacting, so my cousin runs over and shoves me onto the ground. My glasses get broken, and he starts banging on the glass like an idiot. I got angry, and…"
I gripped my tea mug closely and said, "The glass disappeared, and my cousin fell in. I got knocked around a bit, dragged by my hair, and starved for a few days… anyway, the week before my birthday—a letter appears in the mail slot. I don't get to read it, of course, my uncle takes it and shreds it. And then more come, like a thundering horde. So many letters, flying everywhere."
I laughed a bit at the memory of Uncle Vernon tripping over dozens of letters that were flooding through the fireplace.
"Anyway, he absconds with us to a holiday on the Isle of Wight, which is a place in the South of England. While we're there, we're woken up at midnight on my birthday by this big lovable oaf of a man. Rubeus Hagrid, one of the finest men I've ever had the pleasure to meet. He tells me that I'm a wizard. Which, you know, is this tremendous thing to tell a boy who has been nothing but a house prop for the first decade of his life."
I shook my head, "Anyway… September 1st is the first day of class at Hogwarts, the school I went to for magic… it's the day I met my best friends, and it's the day that I always looked forward to… because it meant getting away from the abuse. I guess, even though I'm not there anymore, the feelings linger."
"There's a girl," Kasumi said quietly, and I looked at her sharply.
"There's nothing wrong with that, Natsuko. I won't pry, that's your business," she said with a smile, "Did she… help you?"
"Yeah, she was the one who gave me all the support I needed during the first few years I struggled with my identity. I owe her the world. Maybe I'll find a way to bring her here."
After our food was delivered, I spent the remaining time we were there explaining the gap leading up to my exile from England. I didn't mention the things I saw in the Mirror of Erised, and I didn't mention what we'd done on the eve of the Third Task, after everything was said and done.
At the end, Kasumi rose from her seat, came around, and gave me a tremendous hug.
"I promise you that you'll always have a place here, Natsuko." She let go and returned to her seat. "I promise that here, you will have a family. A genuine one. I will see to it. I know you may miss your friends, this Hermione girl sounds like she may have been more than that… but… I will do my best to make sure you are happy here."
I smiled at her, "Thank you, Kasumi."
"It is my pleasure. Now, allow me to spend today indulging you like a little sister. I was never able to do this for Akane and Nabiki, so please, allow me to do it for you."
I felt myself blush some and said, "Yes, ma'am."
Kasumi grinned ear to ear, a far cry from her usual soft matronly smile. There was something deeper to it.
Pride, maybe?
…
My head was whirling.
Who knew that being a girl required so much effort?
First, Kasumi had taken me to a specialty shop in a neighboring ward. The small shop seemed unimposing, but the sign out front indicated its use—it was a shop meant for males who wanted to take the appearance of women.
"H-How did you find this place, Kasumi!?" I asked, glancing up at the sign.
"Phone book, and a few internet searches," she gestured with her fingers like she was typing on a keyboard. "I'm not so old fashioned I don't have a computer, Natsuko."
We entered the establishment, and a woman stood at the counter. She seemed to brighten at the sight of Kasumi entering the building, but played it off nonchalantly.
"Welcome, how can I serve you today?"
"Yes, my young friend here," Kasumi pushed me forward some, "is in the market for some breast forms."
The girl looked me over and then gave a brief nod. "I'm sure we can find something that suits your needs. Have you ever given thought to what size you'd be interested in?"
I blinked, "Um… no, not really… This is all very new to me."
"It's okay, honey. I understand," the young woman smiled, patting me on the shoulder. "We'll try a few sizes out, and you can decide which one you like best."
She pushed me into a small dressing room, and soon arrived with a stack of boxes.
"Forgive me for my rudeness," she said, "I'm always so excited when I get new customers… my name is Mako, I'm the owner of this establishment."
"N-Natsuko."
"That is a very pretty name. It suits you. Now, Natsuko, to determine what size is best for you, we must try on a few. I need you to remove your blouse."
I discarded the garment onto an offered hanger, which she mounted on the small peg on the door. Looking me over, she tapped a finger to her chin.
"How old are you, Natsuko?"
"I'm fifteen."
"You're very skinny for 15… hopefully when you start hormones, you'll fill out some and you won't need these," she gestured to the two breast forms in the box, "anymore. Do you have any female relatives?"
"None that are living, my mother died when I was a baby."
"Cousins?"
"Adoptive one, but he's a male."
"Ah, well, no telling then. If you do ever find a relative of yours that's a woman, observe her dimensions. If you go on estrogen this young, you'll probably get within a few band measurements on her."
"How do you know all this stuff?"
"I'm not only the owner of a shop for a certain type of clientele, dear. I'm a medical student, I just run this place for my mother when she's out of town. She's going to be so pissed she missed a young one. She loves helping the young girls come out of their shell."
"Are there a lot of… girls like me?"
"Ones that are actually transgender? Yeah, but a very small minority of our clientele is like you. A lot of them are just adult men who like to get off on being made to look pretty." She made a jerking motion with her hand, and I blushed visibly in the mirror, and started giggling.
She smiled, "There you go! I knew I'd get you to laugh!"
She shook her head, "Anyway—first, I need to figure out a band size for you… every girl has one, let me get a couple bras to try."
She left the stall and returned with a handful of bras. Hanging them on the side of the dressing room stall, she helped me try one on.
After what felt like forever, she finally clapped. "I think we have a winner! How does it feel?"
"Empty on the front," I patted the empty cups, "but it fits pretty well."
"Fantastic, as for the empty front, that's why you're here, dear." Mako said with a snort, before having me take the bra off. She took the pile of discarded bras and left. She returned with another handful of them, with them arranged from smallest to largest.
"Okay, the first one we're going to try is an A-cup. This is the smallest one I can give you. Honestly, it won't be much different from being flat chested, but if you just want something small for aesthetics, you can't go wrong."
She helped me put on the bra, but it seemed a little easier this time. I'd not worn one when Nabiki took me out, and I hadn't one on today, but a couple times taking one on and off made it seem trivial enough with enough practice.
She then showed me how to insert the false breasts into my bra, and after some fiddling, we finished. She had me looked at myself in the mirror, and put my blouse back on to see how it looked under clothes.
Looking at myself for a moment, I felt a twinge in me, before I shook my head.
"Too small."
"Too small?" Mako raised an eyebrow, and I said, feeling the swarm of butterflies in my stomach "Well… if I'm going to go full steam on it, I should go full steam."
Mako nodded, "I understand. As I said, it's only marginally above being flat-chested. Here, let's try something else…"
She procured two more breast forms, these were much larger. She also snatched the emerald-green bra off the wall.
"Here, try these. This is… a C-cup. It may be a little troublesome for a young girl like you, but I don't know, maybe you'll rock this look."
I fussed with the clothing and forms for a little longer, and looked at myself in the mirror. This felt right, like it was where it should be.
I looked back at Mako and said, "I like this. It feels right."
"Oh, lovely!"
She took me out of the dressing room and I looked over at Kasumi for affirmation. Kasumi gave a smile and a nod, indicating that yes, I did look very nice.
She paid the total for the forms, along with a couple other things at Mako's suggestion, and Mako said, "I hope you found everything satisfactory, Miss Natsuko."
I felt a twinge of genuine happiness, and gave a wide grin to her. "Thank you, I did."
We stepped back out onto the city street, and I wrapped Kasumi up in a big hug. "Thank you," I mumbled, as I broke away.
"It's my pleasure. I'm always happy to see my little sister happy. Now, come on, we've got many other stops left on our trip today."
The other stops on our day included several clothing stores, and one cosmetics store. The bags piled up, and I found myself with enough clothes to last me years.
Skirts, shorts, jeans, blouses, t-shirts, tanktops, sports bras, one-piece swimsuits, dresses, and undergarments—everything, and Kasumi didn't seem to care how many times I objected to her spending a lofty sum on me. The assortment of cosmetics to try out didn't help my feelings of guilt.
As we made our way home, Kasumi seemed happy, and said, "Did you have a good time today, Natsuko?"
I blushed, "Yes, Kasumi. I can't thank you enough for all this—I'll cook and clean and—"
"Shh," she said, stopping and looking at me. "I did this for you as a gift. Please just accept it. If you want to help around the house, I won't say no because I appreciate help, but don't feel like you must do it because I spoiled you today."
"Thank you, Kasumi."
We arrived at home, and Kasumi called out a hurried greeting, and we went upstairs to drop everything off. Kasumi said she had go start dinner, and instructed me to go through my purchases and change out of the borrowed outfit into something I liked.
I dug through my purchases, and came up with a simple black t-shirt and a matching skirt. I didn't bother with trying to hide my maleness, as the skirt betrayed nothing. As I was observing myself in the mirror, a knock came on the door.
"Come in," I said, and the door slid open to reveal Nabiki. She opened her mouth to say something and then stopped.
"Nabiki! Kasumi took me shopping today, how do I look?"
She gave her traditional sly smile, "You look very nice, Natsuko. I just came to see you, see how you were feeling."
"Kasumi is a very therapeutic person. If she was a therapist, I'd probably be tripping over myself to have her be my shrink." I said, and giggled some, and sighed, "I'm sure that there will be adversity in the future—it's a given, considering my life, but for now, I'm going to try to enjoy it."
Nabiki nodded, "That's a very wise outlook. Anyway, I have news for you later tonight, but we'll do it in front of the whole family."
I smiled, "I look forward to it."
As she closed the door behind her, I stared at myself in the mirror. Memories of the last night Hermione and I had spent together played back in slow-motion. I'd spent the whole summer building up the resolve to carry on, the emotional walls to keep it all in.
I could feel it failing.
The warmth of her body, the gentle curves, the smell of her hair—everything about her intoxicated me to my very soul, but neither one of us were ready yet.
It had been a messy and nervous affair, neither one of us understood how sex worked, and how… to do it, but we'd managed, and taking precautions was Hermione's specialty. After the thing was said and done, both of us had realized that we'd gone too far. We were rapidly crossing the point of no return, and it was no surprise to me that that was where it came to an end.
Cedric's death shortly afterwards, and the summer of isolation I'd spent back at 4 Privet Drive left the wounds of our relationship to fester. She acknowledged me as a girl, and always would, but neither of us knew what sexuality we were yet, and we decided that for better or worse, we would… put our feelings aside until we knew the truth.
I never got to tell her that I knew the truth—that I was a girl, and that I wanted her.
And I was afraid, because I think… I might… be interested in this other girl too.
Oh, dear… what was I getting into?
