Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Keiichi, Mion, Rena, Satoko, Rika…none of them are mine. Not even Kira or Katsumi. But I own Skye. Yayz.
Yay! Since the time I posted chapter 3, I've gotten an uber idea, gotten sick, missed school, emoed, finished Higurashi (and it was frickin' awesome), gotten sicker, emoed more, and developed fangirl syndrome for Yagami Raito and let me just tell you, I feel greaaat:D
Get ready for Chapter 4! This is where the real good stuff happens…and when I say that, I mean it this time! Honest!
If you don't know who Hanyu is, stop reading this instant and go watch more Higurashi, seriously, unless you like spoilers :D
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The next morning, I was awakened by the bright sun filtering in through a window. I yawned, my eyes heavy with sleep, and looked up at the clock.
"Ngh…" I half-groaned, half-yawned. "We're going to be late…" I looked around. Through my sleepy daze, I noticed that Katsumi and Kira were gone and were already eating breakfast. Sleepily, my legs weak and tired, I got up and stumbled toward the bathroom.
Rubbing my eyes, I looked in the mirror, and I almost had a heart attack.
"W-whaaat?" I screamed, glaring at my reflection. "This…this…what is this? Kira-chan, is this some joke?" I asked, pulling at the new appendages on my head. "They don't come off!"
For near the top of my straight black hair were two droopy, beige puppy ears.
I burst out of the bathroom, running into the kitchen where Kira and Katsumi were eating. My face was flustered from shock, I was still in a nightgown, and my hair was a mess.
"You guys," I gasped, my hands still on the kitty ears. "Something…I mean…I got…"
"Oh," Kira said, unperturbed. "You got puppy ears." It was then that I noticed that Kira sported a pair of orange kitty ears and Katsumi, a pair of orange fox ears.
"What the-? Aren't you in the least bit…don't you…?" I began, but was cut off by Katsumi.
"To put it nicely, you'd better go into the bedroom and shut the door," she said, turning me around and pushing me back into the bedroom.
"Yeah, I don't want breakfast to be interrupted by her screaming," Kira said, not looking up from her breakfast.
--
For a while, nothing happened. I sat on the tatami mat and reflected on everything that had happened in the past 10 or so minutes. I was just wondering how it was that Kira, Katsumi and I had suddenly become kemonomimi (people with animal features) overnight when I heard a female voice.
"Uh…hi. You're Skye-chan, right?" said the voice (duh).
I made a noise that sounded like something along the lines of a squeak and jumped up, grabbing a mop and brandishing it as a weapon. "Who's there?" I yelled at the room.
"Um…Kaori."
"Kaori?"
"Yes. Wow, is this really our first time speaking? Because…because I feel like I've known you…for…" Whoever was speaking sounded like she was finally meeting a famous person whom she had admired for a long time.
"As much as I love writing about disembodied voices, it's really creepy actually talking to one. Would it kill you to-"
"Ah! I'm sorry," said the voice, and a semi-transparent girl appeared in front of me.
She had short, redish-brown hair tied back in a low, tiny ponytail, but the majority of her hair hung in front of her forehead in large, uneven bangs. She had beige puppy ears, the same as mine, coming out of the sides of her head. She had bright blue eyes- the same color as mine, and she was wearing a miko outfit.
"Hi," she said.
"Um…hi," I said.
"I'm-" she began, but I cut her off.
"Wait a sec," I said, motioning for her to stop. "Give me a second to absorb the weirdness here." I closed my eyes and inhaled a breath, then sighed. "Okay, I'm good. So, what did you want to tell me?"
"My name is Akakawa Kaori, and I-"
"Akakawa?" I gasped. "That's my last name too!"
"I know, and that's not a coincidence. Skye-chan, I've been following you around since you were born, but you've never been able to see me until now. I guess it has something to do with Hinamizawa…"
"Well that's all good and nice," I said, my hands going to my head, "but how can you explain these?" I uneasily petted my puppy ears.
"Oh, that. Skye, I'd like to ask you a favor," Kaori said, looking guilty. "I can't keep following you around like this. There's something weird in the air here that makes me very uncomfortable." She shifted uneasily. "I think you call it…Oyashiro-sama?"
"Nn," I said, nodded, and she continued.
"I'd be very grateful if you'd let me share your body with you," she said bluntly.
I gaped. "W-what? How does that work?!"
"I know you've heard about Hanyuu," Kaori explained. "It would be pretty much the same as that, just substitute 'Rika' for 'Skye' and 'a god' for 'Kaori.'"
"So, you're a god?"
"I guess some would call me that, but really, it won't be very dramatic. I'll just sleep, dormant within you, while you go about as normal. There's only one time I'll need to be awake, and that'll be the night of the Watanagashi festival. That night, after sunset, we'll just switch places until sunrise the next day."
I flinched. "That's kind of creepy. You do know that the Watanagashi festival is next week, right? So I'll only have a week to adjust to this? Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
Kaori sighed. "I'm sorry. I thought it would be too much of a shock to tell you on your very first day here…"
I sighed. Silence followed for a few moments.
"So will you let me? Share your body, I mean," Kaori said quietly.
"I dunno," I said. "Why can't you just follow me around? Like…like…Hanyuu follows Rika?"
"If I do that, I'll only cause more trouble," she said, sighing. "The fact that Hanyuu's footsteps could be heard, but that she could not be seen contributed to a lot of people's paranoia. And you want to help everyone, right?"
I couldn't disagree. "What you described before…that's it? I'll just go on as normal until the Watanagashi festival?"
"Well, there may be some side effects, like the puppy ears, and you'll start knowing Japanese…"
"I'm in."
"Huh?"
"Obviously Kira and Katsumi have already agreed to do this with their guardian spirit god thingies, as I can tell by their animal ears, and I don't want to miss out on being able to finally communicate with people other than Mion. Okay, so let's do this."
Kaori smiled. "Thank you," she said, and faded away.
"What?" I looked around frantically. "That's it?" I didn't feel any different than before.
But then I realized- bits and pieces of Japanese that I had learned through watching anime suddenly made a whole lot of sense. Snippits of words that only made sense on their own fit together to make sentences. I started pacing around the room, so absorbed in my new knowledge.
Unfortunately, I didn't look where I was going, and walked straight into a wall.
Something symbolic in that. I'll think about it and get back to you later.
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"Hauuuuu!" Rena cried, glomping Kira. We were walking to school with her, as well as Mion, Rika, Satoko, and Keiichi. "I wanna take you home! You're so cuuuuuuuute!"
Kira's new kitty ears were going over well, apparently.
"The cuteness! It burns!" screamed Kira, struggling. "Skye-chan, Katsumi-chan! Aren't you going to do anything?"
"I dunno…" I half-sang, looking at the sky while Katsumi gently urged Rena to let go of Kira.
"Y'know, Skye-san," Keiichi said, falling into step with me, "It's pretty impressive how you all suddenly learned Japanese in one night. How did you do it?"
Well, Keiichi-san, actually, we learned it all this morning because Hanyu-like god-girls started sharing bodies with us. "I guess we just studied hard."
Keiichi laughed and patted me on the head. I could tell him that he should avoid doing that, particularly with Satoko, but then again, that was for another arc.
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-hands out cookies that say "sorry it took so long to update"- n.n;
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Review Answers
Teh Future Mrs. Kyo Sohma- If only you knew…X3
Kira35- Meh, sometimes I have to mangle the facts or the story eats itself. Don't take it too seriously XD
TaiyakinoNaku- Mwahaha…yesh XD
Icydragon14- Thank you :D –twirls-