Disclaimer: I don't own the rights or anything related to Ultimo. Nothing, period.


Chapter 3: Red Head

For the third time of my life, I woke up from an uncontrolled sleep that was none of my doing with a gasp. I was in a room, an empty room. It had a bed, some sort of desk with books in one corner, a window with curtains, and a closet. Cloths and other random items were scattered over the floor and the room smelled strongly of cologne; the type of fragrance only a young man would use.

"Oh, great!" I muttered under my breath as I got up off the bed with fear that gripped my heart with a painful twist. I hoped to god that the room didn't belong to some psycho or some douche bag that couldn't control his hormones.

"Why here?" I whispered to myself once again as I tipped-toed silently to the door. The two strangers could have placed me in a forest near a town or something but I did not know them well enough to trust them to put me in a safe place as I pressed my ear gently to the door.

There were gentle thuds of someone walking across a floor covered with carpet. The footsteps did not come closer but moved on to some place beyond the other side of the door. I stood there listening for a long time; listening for who ever it was to move once again.

Nothing.

I took three deep breaths to calm myself down. I took a minute or so to contemplate if I should use the window to leave or to open the door and sneak out. Then a sudden though occurred to me, did any of the inhabitants of the house know I was here? I shock my head as soon as that question formed in my mind. I wouldn't be alone in a room if I was. I looked at my hands, knowing that there weren't any humans who had something similar to them on earth. I would be a curiosity if someone found me and I had to wonder if the girl did something to the Astral Gate before I was sent through.

At the moment, the Astral Gate was a gateway that was under constant renovation. I didn't know the full mechanics of it but the Astral Gate sent a pulse of blue light when it connects my world to another. It was one of the many reasons why the Gate kept being modernized. My people didn't want to scare any other race into a war or something. I wasn't to sure if I used 'renovation' and 'modernized' right though.

I took another moment to think about the right words when a loud beep made me jump out of my skin. With my heart threatening to leap from my throat, I realized, with a seeking heart, that the sound made me wet myself.

"Goddamn it! Is that how it goes?!" I asked myself in embarrassment. I looked down at myself. There was nothing I could do about the giant wet spot that was warm between my legs unless I wanted to 'borrow' a pair of pants.

Another beep brought my head up. I scanned the room and my gaze rested on the bed I was using moments ago. There was some sort of blue device that looked like a cat collar with a flashing light that reminded me of a glowing marble.

With a frustrated sigh, I moved toward the bed and picked up the mechanism. It slipped out of my long figures. It took all I had not to curse aloud. On the second time, I managed to pick it up. The movement was clumsy and the device was in an awkward position in my hands. With a few more tries, I managed to position it in my hand and with a slight movement of my thumb, I pressed the glowing light and the collar changed into a different shape. The bottom half of the circle pivoted around which made the two pieces take on the shape of the letter 's'. The top part fanned out with a hologram screen and suddenly the face of the young girl filled it up.

"What now?" I asked between my teeth, "I'm not in the best position to talk to you right now."

The girl looked startled at my tone and took a minute to regain her composure. When her face changed into a smile, she opened her mouth and asked "Why?"

"Your call…," I began with a deep breath, "made me pee myself! What type of person would not explain anything at all to me and expect me to be all right with the current situation?! Moreover, didn't tell me that he or she would be sending a phone with me as well! I am in a strange bedroom in the middle of some place I have no information about and you expect me to be all right about it! I'm scared out of my mind and here I am in the middle some room in my pants, which is wet of my own piss! I don't fucking believe this!"

"Hold on! Calm down! Calm down!" she interjected.

"How dare you tell me to calm down! I've been experiment by my own godparent into who knows what, have giant gauntlets on my hands and thrown into another world with no idea what the hell is going on! And you expect me to calm down!"

"Altair and I will explain when we be able to come over roughly two days from now," the girl interjected again as she tried to calm me down.

"And why should I trust you? I don't even know you!" I yelled. I blinked my eyes since they were threatening to betray my emotions.

"You would have died if we didn't do something," was her reply.

I stood there looking at her. No words could be uttered from my mouth as I was to over come with a multitude of emotions. I wanted to cry, to yell, and to be hugged by some one I know. However, none of that could fix anything and I had to force myself to hold everything back.

"What should I do?" I asked, my voice was nothing but at harsh whisper.

She didn't answer my question as she said, "We be there tomorrow. That would be the earliest for us."

With that, she hung up. I stood there watching the hologram rippled with silent static.

With a sudden cry, I flung the phone against the wall. It bounced off it with a light thud and a ringing sound. It didn't break but it left the wall with a small dent. I collapsed onto the floor.

"Why?! Why me?! What did I do to deserve this?!" I uttered as tears streamed down my face. Fear of the unknown took hold of me then. I began to rock back and forth.

"What's going to happen to me?" I whispered to no one. I curled my hand into a first. It hammered the floor as a loud cry of pain ripped past through my lips. Minutes passed. Slowly but surely I began to calm down.

Through my tears I began to think; my hand still hammered the floor but lightly now. I looked at the window. It was still covered by curtains. I was tempted to use it to escape but it might look strange when someone saw me use it. I wanted to be discreet about me sneaking out of somebody's house and me in general so that idea was quickly discarded.

I looked down at my lap. My other option was to use the bedroom door and then sneak out but there was someone already in the house. Eventually I would be found out if I stayed. My knowledge of the layout of the house was as far as the four walls of the room I was in would allow me. In addition, even if I left the house people would stare at me and some one would derive to a conclusion.

I had just one option, a very risky gambit.

I slowly looked at the door and my heart laterally skipped a beat. I stared in amazement at the being before me. His skin was white like falling snow or better yet porcelain. It looked as soft as feather down and looked as if it would break if I touched it or even brush the air around it with my hands.

A mane of colorful hair in such a bright vermilion offset his skin that it appeared to be on fire and it flowed in silky strands around his head like a fluorescent halo. It seemed to refuse to the will of gravity as it fluffed gently and gracefully in air, like clouds or puffs of cotton blown in the wind.

His eyes were green. They were brilliant; reminding me of emeralds that sparkled when held up in the sunlight. The ones only the truly mad would seek out or traveled to the ends of the earth for. They were soft, filled with innocence and peace like the crystalline delicate waters of the Caribbean, shifting from the soothing warm green to the ferocious ice gray in the blink of an eye. It felt like I was being caressed by a gentle wind when I looked into those eyes; eyes who looked like they saw the world change through countless years but kept every ounce of kindness in them.

An innocent angel. An ageless guardian.

Even from were I sat, his beauty and goodness was unmistakable.

However, that wasn't all that was surprising about him.

He wore a pair of gauntlets that were the same shade as his hair. I never thought that metal could be crafted into something so delicate yet so strong at the same time. They were relaxed at his sides. Even the action looked graceful. The material of the gauntlets reflected the light back upon themselves and it seemed to be made out of layers of red glitter and rubies. It was as if the waters of time worn the surface of the gauntlets down to skin, soft glittery skin.

I could only stare in amazement. It was only when I began to become light headed that I realize that I was holding my breath in awe. The sudden rustle of air blowing past my lips broke the silence.

He blinked his eyes with eyelashes of spider silk and eyelids of soft china.

"You're finally awake! Is anything wrong?" he asked. Even his voice was beautiful. I never heard an angel speak before but I was sure an angel would sound just like him. It was like bringing all the beautiful sounds in the universe together to make an even better, more glorious sound.

Apparently, I was still in awe because he slowly walked toward me, knelt down and wiped the dampness off of my face with the softest of touches with his thumbs.

"I..I.." I began, as another wave of fear, betrayal and pain threaten to take over.

"Hush, everything is alright," he whispered as he took me in his arms to try to comfort me.

"H-how….d-did I…g-get…h-here..?" I managed to ask between my sobs. His hug was warm and comforting. Even his caramel scent made me relax just a little.

"Found you in the park one night after a flash of bluish light. You've been out for three whole days," he answered.

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed, breaking from his hold and jumping to my feet.

He looked up at me for a second. He did a once over and said, "You need a bath"

That distracted me for a second as I looked down at myself. Besides the wet spot that gave anyone the right assumption that I wet myself, I also looked like I rolled in the dirt in the middle of the woods somewhere or in a rather large mud puddle. My clothes and skin were dirty and I could only imagine what my hair looked like. I suddenly became relived at that moment. No one tried to clean me up a little while I was asleep.

"You need a bath," he exclaimed happily this time as he grabbed my hand and began to pull me out of the room.

"H-hold…on!" I demanded weakly, trying to pull myself away with no success.

"After we're done, you'll need to explain yourself," he chirped in a serious tone as he gave a quick glance at me.

A second passed as I registered what he just said.

"What?!" I exclaimed once again. "You not serious are you! I'm pretty positive that I'm old enough to take a bath by myself!"

"You've been out for a while," he stated innocently as he gave me a puppy dog stare.

"You don't trust me do you?"

He was silent for a moment and then he said, "Yamato-sama doesn't."

That was all I could make him say before I shoved into a room that was combination of a laundry room and bathroom. The half of the room just before us was divided with a foggy colored glass wall. There was a door in the wall and I assumed that the bath area was on the other side. There were two small machines standing side by side on my left which was used for washing cloths since there was a giant pile of cloths in front of them. There was a sink on my right with some other things that added to the atmosphere.

We stood there for a moment in silence. I wasn't to sure about how he was reacting but the moment for me was very awkward and embarrassing.

"Sooo….," I began, not knowing were to begin. I never had this type of thing happen to me before. I took a look at him as I asked shyly, "Do you mind looking the other way as I get out of my cloths?"

He blushed at me in understanding and turned around to give me some privacy. I was amazed that no one gave me a new set of cloths doing this whole episode because I pretty much wore the same outfit before my godparent did what she did. I mentally slapped myself for bringing that memory up since I let out a small whimper. The sound made my new acquaintance shift a little.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he looked at me over his shoulder.

"It's nothing. Nothing at all," I mumbled. I was glad when he didn't push further nor bothered to fully turn around to look at me. If he did, then I would mostly likely told him about myself. I wasn't ready. Not now. I know I had too eventually.

I took a look back at my cloths after I did a quick glance over my shoulder. My current attire was something I made for myself. The cloths were modeled after my favorite fashion book that followed the fashion trends of Japan and China here on earth. Just because we weren't allowed to flock to earth and back didn't mean my planets residents didn't observed it from time to time.

Well anyway, my soiled pants were that of a Japanese hakama. It was lose and baggy and if it were clean it would be cerulean in color. I wore what appeared to be a Chinese wrap for a shirt around my chest and it trailed down toward my knees. It tapered from the left to the right and it was light turquoise. The top of the wrap, which was my chest area, was held securely in place by a sash that looked like a silver obi. It was tied in a bow in the back and the ends trailed behind me like streamers. The top part of the wrap looked like a tank top with spaghetti-straps. Add samurai looking sandals and my outfit would be complete.

"Were should I put my cloths?" I asked after taking roughly 5 minutes to get out of them.

"Put it on the white machine in the corner," he answered from where he stood. I did what I was told and quickly went into the shower. Through the sound of water, I heard him put my cloths in the machine.

"Take your time and help yourself to the shower supplies. Your cloths would take a while to get clean," he stated from the washer machine.

"Um, sure," I stated as I pulled my now wet hazel colored hair out of my face. With my hands, I rubbed some soap over my legs. I let the water wash the soap suds and dirt away as I began to wash my breasts.

"Why are you being nice to me?" I asked after a few minutes of silence.

Another moment passed and I started to think he left while I was showering. About the time my mind came across that thought, I heard his whispering voice just outside the shower door, closer than he was before.

"You bleed. Karakuri Doji don't bleed."