Chapter 8
"Hurry up Haru! I can see the mountains up ahead! My God they are huge – it's going to take us forever to climb the specific one!"
Kyo looked back when Haru didn't reply and saw the other boy had stopped and was rubbing his stomach slightly with a sad little look on his face.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Kyo asked, and Haru thought he could almost hear concern in his voice.
"…. I have this sudden craving for a…nice…big…"
"…Yes…?"
"Glass of milk."
"……keep moving."
"But I want some milk."
"Just shut up and keep on moving!"
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According to the map, they had to climb the mountain all the way till almost the top where they were supposed to find a cave and enter it. There in that cave they would find the girl they sought.
Kyo had been in front before, telling Haru to hurry up, but now their positions seemed to have reversed. Haru was aching all over but he was suddenly feeling a raw determination like nothing else. He wondered if he was getting it from being inside Kyo's body.
We are so close now…I can't give up…"Hurry up!" he urged Kyo on.
"How the hell am I supposed to go fast with your twig-like legs?" Kyo growled.
"Well I'm managing just fine with the sticks you call arms!" Haru retorted as he grabbed the jagged edge of a rock to help pull himself up the steadily increasing slope.
"They are not sticks! I work out every day!" Kyo insisted, feeling Haru's black side take over. "I am strong! I'm physically powerful! Well built and muscular! I'm buff! I am – waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"KYO!" Haru turned around and his eyes widened as he watch the boy slip and begin to fall. Just at the last moment, his ankle got caught between two rocks and saved him.
Haru smirked at Kyo who was now hanging upside down. "Here, I'll help." Haru grabbed Kyo's ankle and began to drag him up the rest of the mountain.
"HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? STOP! LET ME UP!"
"Hahaha, look who's the strong one now!"
"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE IN MY BODY YOU BAKA!"
"…oh… right…"
It certainly was becoming confusing.
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"Whoa." Kyo breathed as he stared at the opening in the side of the mountain. "Are you sure it's in here?"
"Well, that's what the map seems to indicate, the first mountain we come to, and the first cave near the top."
The two boys looked at each other a little nervously before they began taking small hesitant steps into the cave.
The moment he entered, Kyo felt a prickling of unusual energy in the air. It tickled his skin as if there were a thousand ants marching up and down.
"Do you feel that?" he asked Haru.
"Yeah, I do."
"Be careful," Kyo told him.
"Be careful? Why are you telling me to be careful?" Haru grumbled but stopped as he saw something up ahead. "Huh…what's that glowing blue light?"
Unconsciously Kyo reached out and put a hand on the other boy's arm, holding him back, almost in a protective way, but his hand dropped in surprise a moment later as the scene came into view.
His eyes were immediately drawn to a sparkling, glistening, shimmering bluey-silvery liquid that seemed to form a sort of pond, right there, in the depth of the cave in the mountain. The sparkling water seemed to be emitting some kind of bluish light that illuminated the entire area.
"Wow," was all Haru could say.
Kyo moved forward, wanting to touch it….needing to… he had never seen anything so dazzling in his entire life….he almost couldn't help himself…it was pulling him in….
"Kyo!" he heard Haru shout. "Get away from there!" But he kept on moving closer…. closer….
He stood right by the edge of the pool now, and reached out, practically in a trance. Haru had come up next to him but now he couldn't seem to stop staring into it either. As his hand drew closer and closer towards touching that shimmering substance, the feeling of something…magical in the air intensified. Just as the tips of his fingers were about to graze the surface, something moved underneath and Kyo leapt back in fright.
"If you were wise, you wouldn't touch that liquid," a female voice informed them pleasantly. "But then…how many of the people who come here could actually be called wise?" she laughed, a light, tinkling, musical sound which echoed around the cave.
Kyo and Haru looked around frantically for the source of the voice and they couldn't see anyone. Then they looked back to the pound…
They gasped, as the substance in the pond began to rise up, forming into the shape of a person as it grew. Finally, the figure stepped out of the pool and the shimmering liquid transformed into a sparkling dust, which fell gracefully to the ground and revealed….
"It's her!" Haru gasped, pointing an accusing finger at the figure.
She was a beautiful girl with flowing hair that seemed to go on forever. Looking at her hair, one moment it seemed to be a deep green, another moment it seemed to be blue. Her eyes were a shimmering silver and blue and they looked as if they were always swirling, gently moving - just like water.
"What are you?" Kyo couldn't help blurting out in amazement.
The girl laughed. "Well, I can't tell you that now can I. But why don't you boy's tell me you're wishes and I'll see what I can do."
"Our wishes? Our wishes are to be back in our own bodies!" Kyo exclaimed. "You don't know how much trauma your stupid magic had inflicted on us ever since we bumped into you and got that liquid spilt over us."
The girl blinked and then stared at them for a second.
"Oh!" Rapidly she bowed down in apology. "Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai! I'm so sorry! Yes, I remember that day…I hadn't realised so much of the liquid I had been carrying had spilt over you're bodies. See, just a sprinkle won't have an effect, it must have been quite a lot, and I hadn't realise….i thought it was okay….gomen!"
Haru huffed. "What is the meaning of all this anyways?"
"Ah…" she hesitated, then she smiled. "Well I guess there's no harm in telling you…you deserve an explanation. You see I have to power to grant wishes. It's all very complicated as to how I came to be like this and I most definitely can't impart those secrets to you, but the point is, if someone has a wish they really want to make, they come and see me. Now, I can't tell you exactly what I am, but, one condition of my powers means that I cannot travel out of this cave for a very long time at all…if I spend too much time away from this unique place, I will disappear into non-existence forever."
A sad faraway look appeared in her eyes. "Do you have any idea what it's like to feel trapped? To never be able to leave a place for a substantial amount of time? To never be allowed a real life? That's what it's like for me. There was a time…long again, when I did have a normal life…once, I had hopes and dreams and…. well, there's no need to tell you all about that. But the point is, the only way I stop myself from going completely insane is by having a few days experiencing life even if it is someone else's."
Haru and Kyo stared at her, not quite understanding, but not sure they were liking what they were hearing either.
"Ah, boys! Stop looking so bemused! What I'm saying is that, in exchange for granting a wish to whom ever asks, the person then agrees to allow me to take over their body for three days and three nights. All I have to do is sprinkle this liquid over our bodies and we switch places. During that time, they stay here, in this cave, but I put them in a special kind of sleep, so that they wake up in three days without even having been aware of time moving. I then grant their wish and they can return to their normal lives, while I have had the pleasure of experiencing life for a short while. That day when I bumped into you two, I was on a mission to complete on of my clients wishes!" She beamed at them, her teeth glistening almost blinding white.
"Yes, quite a touching tale really. A mother had come to see me. She had a little daughter, but they forever fought and didn't get on well at all. She said it pained her that this was always happening and her daughter always seemed to be depressed and she didn't know how to communicate with her or help her. She said it had been so long since she had been that age that she was afraid she couldn't even remember what it was alike to be young, she was afraid she was so far away that she couldn't even help her daughter and that a gap would continue to grow between them. She wished that she could see things from her daughter's point of view in hope that she may understand her better, and that perhaps her daughter could see things from her point of view too, because she believed that was the key to resolving all conflicts, to understand each other and gain acceptance even if they don't necessarily agree with the others perspectives. So, I was on my way to visit her daughter and sprinkle my magic over her so that they would switch bodies for a week. I was rushing and didn't see you two, so intent was I on hurrying because if I spent too long away from my cave, I would disappear and become nothing." A glistening tear slipped down her cheek.
Kyo and Haru just stared at her for a moment. Kyo couldn't help but wonder, sincere as the mothers intentions had been, how well would her daughter have handled waking up one fine morning to find herself as her mother? No matter how he looked at it, it all seemed just a bit too messed up for him.
"Well boys, again, I'm so sorry for the mix-up! But, it can't have been all bad now could it? My magic is good magic….I have helped improve countless number of people's lives. Can't you say it has changed your life for the better? You've only got one day left before the magic should wear off; you really didn't need to come here. After tomorrow, you'll be back to your own selves!"
"NO." Kyo said very firmly. "I can't stand this any longer, I want…no, I need to be back in my own body now!" This girl was making him edgy, and he just knew he didn't want this weirdness to go on for even a second longer than it had to. "What could be good about being trapped in a dumb cow's body?" he exclaimed, though he couldn't help flinching slightly at the nasty words.
"Well it's better than being trapped inside a weak little kitten's body!" Haru snarled.
"Oh dear! I can see you two boys still have a bit to work on in you're relationship." The girl laughed again, looking quite delighted.
Relationship? What the hell is she calling a relationship! Kyo thought angrily.
"Lady, just switch us back already." Haru demanded.
"Okay, Okay, I can do that easily. But before I do, come on, think about this longer…this opportunity that you've had isn't one that comes by often, or comes to many people. Are you absolutely sure you want to go back to yourselves right now or would you rather have one more day?"
"Now." They both said in unison.
next chapter coming soon :D
