Wow, I'm glad I'm going this far with this story. Either way, please enjoy!
Oh and thanks so much to all my reviewers! You make me so happy! Yes, happiness is good! The X folks seriously need some of that!
Chapter 11: A Change of Heart Means Everything
A tremendously glorious morning opened up a fantastic and exhilarating day. The birds were chirping their usual melodies while a shimmering rainbow curved its spectral hues across the clear blue sky. The meadows underneath glistened with ripe green grass swaying against the breeze, and little fluffy rodents pranced like fairies along the blooming dandelions. But in the midst of all this joyous excitement, Kamui found himself apart from such childish fantasy, alone…distant…and frightened.
"This…is not Tokyo," he forced himself to breathe.
The birds fluttered above his head, taking flowers off of branches and lending them to the small rodents who assembled the petals into glorious necklaces. All of them expressed a bizarre countenance, with a huge grin plastered on their faces.
"What is this madness?" Kamui gazed in fear as the creatures scampered across the grass towards him.
"Please Princess Kotori, won't you sing to us today?" they all chanted in unison.
"Say wha…" Kamui whispered, now sweating.
"Dear Princess Kotori, please do take this gift!" a group of rabbits offered him the flowered necklace.
"Princess Kotori, let us play in the meadows today!" a few started tugging at Kamui's leg.
"Princess Kotori, why don't you come sing with us?" more huddled around Kamui.
"Princess Kotori!" they swarmed around him as he helplessly tried to back away.
"Stay away from me!"
"Dear Kotori, we must dance across the enchanted woods today!"
"Stop calling me Kotori!"
"Princess, we must tell stories of fairies and nightingales today!"
"Hell no!" Kamui tried to pull away from their little grasps as they began to scamper on top of him.
"Please princess, come play!"
"No!"
"COME PLAYYYYY WITH US!!!!!!"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Kamui sprang up from bed as he addressed the unknown through sleepy eyes. As his mind began to settle down and his heart continued its normal beat, Kamui looked around his room, noticing everything to be in order.
"Whew, thank god it was only a nightmare!" he sighed deeply. "Getting trapped in an unrealistic place of crap is the worst thing that can happen!"
Kamui stretched as he got up from bed to go use the bathroom. "I mean really, who would have thought turning into Kotori would be such a disaster? I'm glad that was all a dream too." he chuckled as he walked up to the toilet seat. "And then Fuuma turned into me, and Kotori turned into Fuuma. Wow, I should really lower down on the sug-----"
5 seconds later…
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Kamui ran back into his room as he gasped for more air. Sprinting up to his mirror, he yelped once again to see himself in Kotori's body, solid and real in every single way.
"Hell no, don't tell me this is real!" he pinched himself, only to find the truth more hurtful than the pain. "So everything that happened…DID HAPPEN!"
Kamui immediately sank to the floor, cursing and shaking his head in regret. "Ohhh, why did I have to watch that stupid movie anyway? I mean…well, it was not really my fault. Fuuma and Kotori made me watch it! But then it was Seishirou's tape so all blame should go to him!" he ran his hand through his hair. "No wonder I didn't notice Kotori's long unwashed hair…I cut it at that cheap salon yesterday."
And speaking of yesterday, Kamui just realized that it had ONLY been a day since his transformation took place. I mean, considering all the events that had happened, it took at most 24 hours for everything to occur. Talk about slow…
(nebulaX: Don't look at me.)
Tkk Tkkk…
"What the…?" Kamui said as he heard a series of clatters against his windowpane. He crawled up to the window and saw another set of stones hit against the glass. With slight anger, he opened the glass and yelled outside.
"Hey! Who the hell is trying to break my precious window this early in the morning?!!"
"Like, mornin' little sweet bird-killer!"
Kamui opened his eyes and gasped. "I know that voice…" and with shock, he looked down at the unsightly view on his front yard. With the same over-tanned skin and sandy blonde hair, Duke Wonderburger stood with a big grin in front of Kamui's house!
"What…what are you doing here?!!" Kamui managed to speak out, pointing Kotori's index finger at his face.
"Why, I like came to see you, Miss honey-bun," Duke responded sweetly. "I was trying to see if you were, like, awake. So I was throwing these stones, like, at your window and…"
"What…when…how in the world did you find me?!" Kamui questioned with fury.
"Well I, like, followed you of course!" he smiled. "Even when you thought I was, like, gone, I tailed you through the streets. It wasn't, like, easy but I could always distinguish your pretty body amongst all the other, like, people!"
"STALKER! Get the hell away from here!!!" Kamui answered while waving his fist at him.
"Oh come on, sweet muffin, thou must not, like, treat a sexy lifeguard thy way," Duke scolded. "I mean, after giving you the whole night to, like, think about me, you should be ready to agree."
"Agree to what? The end of your existence?!"
Duke gave a deep chuckle. "Haha, as amusing as that was, I should, like, say no. You should be agreeing to go on that date with me like I promised."
Kamui frowned with as much contempt as possible. "How many times are you gonna freakin' understand that I'm not interested!"
"Don't say that Miss Cushion Face, you just won't know how it would be unless you, like, actually go out with me."
"NEVER!!!!" Kamui yelled and closed the window shut with a loud thud. Returning to his bed, he tried to get rid of Duke's voice that reverberated through his walls.
"Oh come on, cherry blossom, just, like, one date?"
"I gotta get outta here…" Kamui decided as he quickly put on a pair of clothes and ran downstairs, taking a different route towards the back door.
"Missy? Kotori? You still, like, there? Answer me!" Duke called again, a little more desperate than before.
"You'll never take me alive!!" Kamui's voice echoed from the back of his house, disappearing completely along with his escape.
Meanwhile...
"I swear I was not imagining things…" Kotori said to herself as she wandered around the front clearing of Togakushi Shrine.
It was quite obvious that the last frightful experience from the day before was much freakier than the rest of her bizarre experiences. For ten seconds, she felt as if she was suddenly not herself anymore, blurting out deadly threats that, might I add, would never come out of Kotori's pure-hearted mouth. She had managed to return back to her house without harm, but sleep had been inevitable. What was that anyway? Was this yet another side affect of turning into her own brother?
"I wonder if nii-san ever has those awkward moments when he's not his kind self anymore…" Kotori thought.
Rriiinnggggggggggggg RrriiiiinnnnggggggggThe sound of the telephone from inside took Kotori away from her thought process. She hurried inside and answered the call.
"Hello?" Kotori answered in her brother's voice.
"Fuuma, is that you?" Seishirou answered from the other end. "What are you doing at your house? Aren't you supposed to be with your Seal friends?"
"No, no, this is Kotori," she said, relaxing her voice. "Seishirou-san, did you find a cure yet?"
"Well…um, no. But I'll tell you I did try last night," he said proudly. "However, this is concerning the video tape. Can you come over to my house right away?"
"Okay…but what is it about?"
"You'll see." And with that, Seishirou hung up.
"Shit, shit, shit, how am I supposed to go home without having Mr. Tan-man waiting at my doorstep?" Kamui said to himself as he walked quickly down the streets. "At least I still have the whole day to kill. By the time I'm back, he won't be even there!"
"Kotori!"
He spoke too soon! Kamui paused as he heard his broken manly voice from behind him once again. "No no no!!! How did he see me go out the back door???"
Kamui started walking faster, blending into the dense crowd. But to his dismay, Duke's voice seemed to get even closer.
"Please Kotori, you, like, should really just hear me out!"
And on Kamui went, pushing and shoving, driving himself helplessly forward to get rid of this nightmare permanently. He really thought he was captured this time, and for sure, a hand grasped around his arm, pulling him back.
"Kotori, come on!"
Kamui had enough. It was time to settle this.
"Duke Wonder…whatever!" he screamed at him. "What part of "no" don't you freakin' understand?! I tried to be nice to you in the beginning, telling I was not interested, but now you force me to take it too far!!" he thrashed a finger at his face. "I can understand you're desperate, but this whole stalking thing has got to stop! I don't know why you like me so much but if I were you, I would just leave!! I'm not like other girls that melt in your presence so just back off!!!"
A momentary silence followed as the people surrounding them stared at the two in shock. Duke Wonderburger suddenly became silent, and his expression turned slightly grim. Kamui, on the other hand, did not evoke even the slightest sympathy on the poor soul. Instead, he walked off in triumph, satisfied at his impolite ultimatum.
"Yeah that's right!" Kamui smirked as his foot landed on the edge of the street that ran against the sidewalk. "And don't even think about coming after me again!"
As he moved forward without thought, without a slight bit of concern of where he was going, he failed to notice the traffic light change from green to red. He was the only soul crossing the street, and by that time, it was already too late.
"Kotori!!"
All Kamui heard was a distant panicking shriek, and he turned to face inches away from an enormous truck heading his way!
Kamui suddenly felt limb as he found himself seconds away from death. The truck continued to honk at him, but to no avail, it attempted hopelessly to push down on the breaks. Kamui would have tried to move aside within the least bit of seconds he had…but without his own body, he was powerless. A powerless Kotori, that was what he was.
And so he stood there, welcoming death at his face. Truly, how horrible this moment would be, feeling all options of escape disappear around you. Kamui pitied himself at that instant, knowing that nobody in the world would have the slightest idea of what would happen to him. Not his fellow Seals…not even Fuuma.
But alas, there was still someone who cared, someone who understood the importance of his life. And he felt that…for suddenly his body was pushed aside, away from the danger, away from his death. Kamui felt himself flying, and for a split second, he could make out the figure that toppled on top of him, saving his hopeless soul. After landing against the edge of the street where he was momentarily safe, Kamui looked up.
There he saw not those amidst the crowd who surrounded him, praying with hope that he was alright; he did not hear the swarms of voices appearing closer and closer, seeking to help or asking of his status; no…Kamui saw something, or should I say, someone far better.
"So Missy, I hope you're, like, alright," Duke said smiling as he got up from lying over Kamui. "That was sooo not a rad thing, yah know? It's a good thing I, like, saved you when I did!" and with that he reached out for a hand.
After he finally got himself together, Kamui took his hand, and stood up on his feet, uninjured and healthy as ever. But now there was a big change on his countenance, and one who had seen him before, could tell that his animosity and fury diminished instantly. He smiled at Duke as he let go of his hand.
"Thank you so much." He said a bit shyly.
"All is, like, forgiven," Duke showed his hand for peace. "Now then, I suppose a payment, like, should be in order?"
Kamui did not even think before the words came out of his mouth. "A date sounds fine with me."
Duke smiled. "Good, I knew you would, like, eventually change."
And so they went off, not quite necessarily hand in hand, towards the distance. Kamui was not sure why he was doing this, but after what the poor guy did, he at least should pay him back somehow. I mean, now that he thought about it, Duke Wonderburger was not really a bad guy at all.
"So, do you really make wonder burgers?" Kamui suddenly asked.
"Like, what?"
"…nothing."
Haha, poor Kamui. Oh come on, he has to do something while he's running about being Kotori, yes? Well anywho, please review!
