Tren: My apologies for the late posting.
Aillas: It's always excuses with her.
Tren: I've been busy with highschool graduation actually. I had a huge project due, and then I went through my first Academy exam at the Fire Fighter Academy.
Aillas: No.. Tren DOESN'T want to be a firefighter.
Tren: I just like to exercise with really hot guys.
Aillas: Ever the simpleton.
Tren: But recently, I've stumbed across some free time between work and college stuff.
Aillas: Rejoice rolls eyes
Tren: And I sat down and turned up my music and started typing.
Aillas: We apologize for what happened.
Tren: This is the chapter to end this short cross dressing story arc.
Aillas: The next arc is far more important, and deals with Keichi and his family.
Tren: Simply put, it actually means a little more to the plot.
Aillas: So enjoy this chapter.
"I just don't know!!"
"I just know I'm going to regret asking this… don't know what?" Kurama muttered, hand over his face as he tried his hardest not to make eye contact with any of the people in the store, who were currently giving both him and his son suspicious glances.
"My size."
"Your…" It took a moment before Kurama realized what Keichi meant and paled, looking both sick and faint. "… Oh God Keichi. Just pick a few, pay and get out of here."
"But there are so many? Does fabric matter? How about demi or full? Wire… no wire?" Biting onto his thumb nail, Keichi was hovering, a past time of many indecisive shoppers. Standing in front of a rack of underwear, he was daunted by the bras. There were so many, with such a wide variety of colors, and for a magpie like himself, it was driving him up a wall. He knew he should have felt uncomfortable in this area of the store, but luckily he was girly enough, even as a male, to not get too many strange stares. Oh there were still dirty looks and furtive stares, but there were less than if he was… say… 50 years old and balding.
"Please Keichi… just make up your mind…" Kurama whimpered, standing on the outskirts of the lingerie section as though entering might actually cause him pain. Keichi stood there a little longer, almost relishing in the mental anguish he was causing his father before grabbing three bras of a size he guessed to be close to his own and heading over.
"Happy?"
"Hardly," his father shot back, heading over to the cashier and giving his son a glare. "So explain to me again why Koenma's making you do this?"
"Espionage. I'm supposed to see how the group works," Keichi shrugged as he paid the bras, "Maybe I'm supposed to learn a lesson."
"That would take a miracle. And the reason why you're female to do it?"
"Simple. I made the least amount of changes to my body. The most obvious disguise is always the best. All I had to do was lengthen my hair, make it a little more curly… well, just basically look like Arisa when she was younger."
Smiling, Keichi headed back to his house, father in tow, and was humming in his own soft, quiet way.
"You mean your mother," Kurama corrected his son futilely, shaking his head. It was most likely useless and indeed, it was. Walking forward, ever determined, Keichi never skipped a beat, still humming. "Please tell me you're learning from watching your teammates?"
"Nope. It's boring as hell, and everybody's so dense. Well… everybody but Appoline. I can't seem to hide from that girl."
"Mmm… Good to see you won't be changing anytime soon," Kurama muttered, heading up the stairs of his house and into his room to grade papers, leaving Keichi to ponder about how to best put on a bra…
Time passed at the new school agonizingly slow, and by the fifth day, Midori was ready to punch someone, anyone, as she sat on the railway to a walkway with Arika and Samui. Cracking her knuckles for the fifth time in an hour, she glowered a nearby school girl who gave a shrill shriek and hurried off, eyes fixed on the floor.
"This has got to be the biggest waste of my time. Ever. Next time Koenma decides to have to baby sit some spoiled brat… I swear to God…" she shook her fist and then quickly jabbed the air with a sharp right hook, "POW! Right in the kisser!!"
"I do have to admit, this is a bit… tedious," Samui sighed, pushing his hair out of his eyes and glancing to Arika, who was fiddling with a small iPod nano. "You must want to get back to your own team, hm?" he smiled at her, unaware that it was really Keichi.
"Huh?" she glanced up, large glassy eyes staring at him in confusion then in a heartbeat she laughed and nodded her head. "Yeah, sure, whatever. I don't mind. This is kinda like a vacation, ya know?" giving a bright smile she went back to fiddling with her mp3 before glancing at a thick watch on her wrist. "When is she gonna get out of school? How long can Choir last? And where's that other team mate… the short girl?"
"Wouldn't call her short to her face if I were you," Midori replied, "That short girl is our best fighter. As for choir, who knows how long that can drag on!?"
"Shouldn't be more than a few minutes. It's only an hour long club," Samui added on, before giving Arika a puzzled glance. "Pardon me for asking… but what exactly do you… do? For Rekai Tentai, I mean!"
"Oh that?" she shrugged, applying a thin sheen of lip gloss and smacking her lips before answering, ever nonchalant. "I fight. Mainly kickboxing. I'm nothing big, if that's what you were wondering about."
"Oh, alright," Samui remained content with this for a moment, before standing, "There she is."
Sure enough, their charge came running over, blissful smile on her face.
"Hey guys, sorry, I had to stay a little late!" she laughed brightly.
"Yeah, sure, don't worry, you're just wasting our time," Midori muttered lightly, rolling her eyes, "Not that it matters to you…"
The rest of the walk was conducted in shrill silence, broken occasionally by an awkward joke or comment that was immediately ignored. As the Rekai Tentai slowly walked off in their own directions, they all waved goodbye to each other and as soon as Keichi had turned the corner, his phone rang. Rummaging through his bag he flicked it open.
"'ello," he yawned, heading into a local public restroom, pulling off his girl's school uniform.
"It's me, Keech," Midori's voice came through tinny, but relatively perky nonetheless, and of all the things he hated, he had to admit the nickname she just gave him was beginning to hit rather high on his list.
"Yeah? Whatcha' want?" he was having a struggle with the bra, much to his chagrin as he pinned the phone to his shoulder. He stared at his female form in the mirror and wrinkled his nose at it, wanting terribly to get out of that body.
"Whaddya find out about the girl?"
"HUH? Arika?" he asked finally getting the bra off his chest and letting it snap out of his grasp. Kicking it aside, he worked on the skirt, undoing the small fastener and unzipping it with ease.
"Yeah!"
Stepping out of the skirt, he fiddled out the rest of the clothes and quickly shifted back and started dressing in his regular clothing.
"Nothing much, she's practically nobody. Nothing to worry about, if that's what you're nervous about," he murmured, pulling on a shirt.
"… Nah, it's just, never mind."
"Alright, I won't mind." He quipped, hanging up and heading out of the bathroom, his uniform tucked into his bag. Midori was obviously nervous about something, or suspicious, and he couldn't tolerate either. He worked very hard not to be discovered. He'd be damned if she blew the lid on it. Tying back his messy hair he gave himself a once over in the mirror before nodding his head in approval.
"…"
"You're still curious, huh?" he sighed, shaking his head.
"Yeah…." She sighed and he could practically see her on the other end of the phone, bowing her head in defeat. "Just gimme a call if anything comes your way."
"No prob, I live to serve," He replied loftily, stepping out of the bathroom and smiling, glad to be back in his own clothes…
"Hey, Arika, why don't we ever hang out?" Midori asked one lunch as the four of them sat around on the grass outside the school, picking at their own respective bento boxes. This caught the girl by surprise, who stared in surprise at Midori, her eyes growing wide and then she shrugged, recovering quickly.
"You never ask. And I prefer to keep business out of my everyday life," She replied brightly, licking off her chopsticks and giving as pleasant a smile as she could muster.
"Ouch," Midori made a slight face then nudged Samui in the shoulder.
"Well, Samui and I are gonna go to an arcade, you interested in joining?" she asked, and Keichi was surprised that Samui didn't complain or make a face, but just gave a slight nod. He had to remind himself that he wasn't "Keichi" at the moment, therefore their animosity was temporarily gone.
'Uhh… Sure, what Arcade?"
"A-k0. It's over near the food store," Midori was already excited over this idea and patted Samui on the shoulder. "Cool, we'll meet you there around 5? Enough time to drop off the girl, and then we can change our clothes and meet up. You need a ride?"
"Nah, I can walk, don't worry," Arika stood up, brushing off her skirt and heading off. "I got advanced programming, I'll catch you guys after school." With that she was running off, waving to them before focusing on her destination.
"You know.. she's kinda familiar," Midori said to nobody in particular before walking off briskly…
Keichi didn't head to the arcade. He couldn't bring himself to go. Instead he holed himself up in his room while his father graded papers once more before there was knock on the window and he smiled softly.
"C'mon, I didn't even lock it. What kind of assassin are you?" he asked drolly, sitting up and taking notice of the small shadow that slipped into his room. She was dressed as always in all black, the baggy slacks and turtleneck shirt hiding her small form expertly as she took a seat on his office chair, staring at him with the one crimson eye.
"I thought knocking was customary for humans," she replied calmly only to make him laugh.
"Yeah, knocking on the door, NOT the window. And, toots, you ain't exactly human."
She gave a playful pout in return, tucking a stray hair behind her ear, ignoring the large clump of white hair that fell over one eye and smiled slightly.
"Only half. Aren't you supposed to be in that OTHER form, playing DDR or DDX or some other acronym?"
"…" Keichi paused and shrugged, stretching out his legs in the air and grabbing his toes firmly with his hands. "Yeah, I'm a half hour late now. Terrible, I know. Especially for someone of my standing."
"Hn. What's the matter, I can't have my partner acting up like this," she replied coldly, no nonsense as usual, her kind demeanor from before disappearing and he just bowed his head. How typical.
"I get why Koenma gave me this stupid mission," he admitted to her, "I'm not a complete idiot. He wanted to teach me a lesson. Gods know I don't get along with our teammates."
"And what lesson are you supposed to be learning?" Appoline was obviously bored as she pulled out a whetstone and sharpened and idle dagger.
"That I… I'm the monkey wrench in the teamwork thing. I think. I mean, everyone else seems to strong… and happy and easy going. Samui laughs with me at lunch, and Midori invites me to arcades…"
"Don't tell me you're feeling guilty!" Appoline groaned, glaring at him vehemently.
"… It's not that. I… Never mind," he smiled, aloof and let his feet fall to the fuzzy rug on the floor and buried his toes into the piling. Making a small face he sighed. "It's just a few more days before the target heads back to America. Then… I'll be back to being Keichi."
"Ah.. I GET it now. You're jealous that Arika is better than you…" Appoline sighed, rolling that one crimson eye and stood. "You better get yourself together, you've been a wreck since the Godly Tower mission."
With that she was gone, out the window without as much as a sound. Groaning, he fell backwards onto the mattress and sighed. He couldn't tell why, but he felt sad that she was gone, even if all she did was make fun of him. Rolling onto his stomach, he fell asleep, mumbling into his pillow.
"Women are troublesome…"
(……..)
"I can't believe you!" Midori pouted, pulling on her uniform's sweater as Arika laughed apologetically, tying the neck scarf in a loose bow.
"I know. I just fell asleep and forgot to set an alarm. Hey, you're gonna be late getting home. I still got to clean up from gym, you can leave," Arika smiled, slipping the skirt over her hips and tugging at the small zipper.
"Oh! Are you sure you're gonna be alright?"
"Yeah, it's no problem. You got brother's to babysit. I've got to apply my make up, so this could take awhile!" Arika laughed loudly as Midori gave her thanks and raced out of the large locker room.
As soon as she was alone, Arika began to hum to herself a small song she heard on the radio and finished dressing. Schools were always frightening when empty and she shivered as she headed down the hallways until she heard footsteps behind her. Turning around, she was suddenly thrown back into a locker, a forceful hand at her shoulder.
"Of all things… Arika-chan is here alone?" It was one of her classmates, a brute of a kid and already awkward with his large size. Thought not unattractive, his personality had made himself seem ugly to her as she winced, feeling his fingers dig into her small shoulder.
"To…kito…san?" she gasped as he leaned forward at her, lips inches from her ear.
"All the teachers are gone.. what do you think you're still doing here?"
"Midori-san and I… were getting ready for the five mile run next week!" she protested, pushing back against his hand only to be forced back into the metal of the lockers behind her. Slowly, she felt his hand slide up her leg and for the first time, she was terrified. As Keichi, she would have hit the man, then fed him his own heart for even thinking these thoughts, but if she did that… she'd blow her cover. As she felt him slide his finger down the elastic band of her skirt and tug down and his other hand tore at the buttons of her blouse, she let loose a scream, and her own silent plea to anybody nearby to help.
And help came. In the form of a fist connecting with the man's jaw, Arika slumped to the floor as a figure towered over Tokito.
"If you EVER touch a woman like that AGAIN…" A familiar voice spat as he kicked the offending legs. "I will find you…"
In seconds, Tokito was gone, holding his now injured face. Arika was a mess, sitting on the floor amid the scattered buttons of her shirt and her skirt was around her knees, socks slumping over her shoes. Staring up at her savior, she was surprised to see Samui standing there, cleaning his glasses and pulling his hair back with a leather hair tie.
"You should be more careful, Arika-san. It's dangerous to be alone, you might have exposed yourself as a rekai tentai," he said softly, holding out a hand for her to take. Accepting, she let him pull her to her feet. Staggering, she pulled her skirt back up, noticing sadly that the zipper had been ripped from the seams.
"Yeah… Thanks Samui… I don't mean to look a gift horse in the mouth, but aren't you a pacifist…??" she asked as he handed her two safety pins for her skirt, procured as if by magic from a pocket.
"I think you're a little more important than my vow to peace," he replied giving her a small smile then he held his fingers an inch apart and winked. "But just a little."
"… Yeah.. thanks," she pulled out her sweater from her book bag and pulled it on, discarding her blouse from under it into the garbage can. Sighing, she wiped a few rogue tears from her eyes.
"You must think I'm ridiculous," she laughed, letting him walk her out of the school and onto the sidewalk.
"Hardly, any girl in your situation would be terrified," he reasoned, pausing to push up his glasses. "Arika-san? Where exactly is your house?"
CRAP! Hadn't thought of that… Arika struggled to keep her face placid as she shrugged. "I can walk home myself, I'm a big girl."
"I cannot allow that after you just went through such an ordeal!"
If the guy had tried anything he would have been in for a surprise, she thought bitterly to herself before giving a polite smile.
"I… I can walk home myself, Samui-san!"
"You do have a place to stay, correct?" he wasn't taking any of her excuses, typical Samui and she sighed, feigning awkward silence.
"But… I… I'm sorry, I just don't want you to see my house, it's rather small… and unsavory…" she motioned with a wave of her hand to a dangerous part of town, hinting it's supposed location.
"… Than you will stay at my house. My parents are home from Israel, it will be fine."
And it was chosen. No matter how much Arika protested, she was dragged back to the small home Samui had received after the large house fire, familiar to Keichi for many reasons. Soon she was accosted by the energetic twin siblings of Samui, served food by a blushing Yukina and finally, as Samui went to his room to prepare a bed for Arika to sleep in, she was pulled aside into the small office of the house to see Kuwabara sitting sternly in a chair, glancing at her over the top of his laptop.
"I thought your father made an impressive woman… but, hell, Keichi. I think you have him beat. You clean up nice," His smile was mockingly polite and Keichi sighed, falling into a chair near the desk and glaring at the older man.
"I wish I could say the same about your ugly mug…." He muttered under his breath, only making Kuwabara laugh.
"What a nice mouth ya got on ya…" he stood and placed a hand on the small shoulder of the girl-disguised boy.
"Hah. How'd you know it was me?"
"You can't hide auras as well as your pops," Kazuma laughed, ruffling Keichi's hair and sighing.
"…Is Samui… always this nice of a guy?" Keichi asked quietly after a minute or two of silence and head patting.
"Believe it or not, yeah. I can't imagine where he got it," Kazuma's laughter was loud, but genuine, and Keichi couldn't help but smile, chuckling quietly along with it.
"He's gonna hate me when he finds out," Keichi admitted, "Because lord knows, he's going to find out."
"Well, when he does, I hope you at least learned a lesson."
"Yeah… Teamwork is most effective when I'm not involved," he paused then sighed, "And Samui isn't all bad. You happy?"
"You could say so. Samui should be done with the bed now. He'll take the couch, as always. It seems he just enjoys avoiding sleeping on a futon," Kazuma shrugged and ushered Keichi into the hallway and to his son's room. "Alright, you two be good now, alright?"
Both Samui and Arika rolled their eyes and Samui left the room and handed Arika a pair of sleeping pants and an oversized tunic and headed off to the couch.
By the time Keichi had showered and fallen asleep on the futon, he realized it hadn't even crossed his mind to call his father. Giving him a sleepy text, he then drifted off to sleep and didn't wake up for what felt like the longest time.
(…….)
"Last day… still no action," Midori sighed, shaking her head as they walked the charge back to her house once more.
"Those are the best kind of missions," Samui added to which Arika nodded her head, pulling out a book to read.
"Hey.. Samui?" the client, Jessica, glanced to the blue haired boy who glanced down.
"Yes?"
"What IS your other teammate Keichi like?"
"…" there was a pause before Samui slowly started to talk. "Well, if you've never met him, consider you self lucky. He has all the personal appeal of tapeworms and all the charm of a drunk."
"If you look at him, you'd think he was a girl!" Midori chimed in, smiling.
"He's feckless, reckless, two faced and two timing. He'd sell his own grandmother for something relatively shiny, and kill his own teammates for less!" Samui couldn't help but vent as he walked a little faster and Jessica laughed.
"He sounds terrible! Like a real demon!"
"Worse. A demon at least has morals. He's a trustworthy as Satan but nowhere near as attractive!" Midori crowed, clapping her hands.
It pained Arika to hear this as she gripped the edge of her book a little tighter until the binding began to crack.
"Plus, he needs to get his story straight."
"Indeed," Samui nodded his head, "He says he has no mother, but ever villain we've faced so far still speaks of her as though living. And his father is such a nice man, I can't see how they're related, except for their looks."
"Plus, I hear he sleeps around like none ot-" Midori was cut off as a dagger flew past her head. Jumping backwards awkwardly, she stared ahead. Stepping into view was the assassin they had heard were being sent to attack Jessica. A smaller one, male with bright green hair and chipped horns, darted at Midori only to fall apart into small bloody pieces to the sound of whip cutting through air.
"Not. FAIR." The familiar voice of Keichi snarled as the whip snapped back to fall around his feet. "Talking about a man when he's gone," the voice was coming out of Arika as she stepped forward towards the threat, accompanied by Appoline.
"Oh boy," She sighed to herself, pulling out a katana but getting the nasty feeling Keichi wasn't going to share.
He darted forward, true to form, shedding his female disguise and clothing, taking suitable male dress from the next assassin he attacked, pulling on a pair of loose black fighter pants and tying the sash around his waist.
"I am NOT." He slashed, "FECKLESS." Another dead demon fell to the ground, "OR RECKLESS," then another, this one loosing his long jacket as Keichi pulled his arms through it with angry conviction. "AND.." he took the last two assassins down, spitting at their corpses. What a joke, they were barely trained and sloppy. Glaring over at his teammates, he slipping his whip away, once more a small rose bud, "My MOTHER.. Is. DEAD."
With a snap of his fingers he was gone.
"Oh fun," Appoline sighed, standing amid the very confused Rekai Tentai and Jessica.
It was soon after that Keichi and Samui's relationship crumbled and Keichi went missing for a month from school.
Tren: You made it!
Aillas: A miracle, indeed.
Tren: Next chapter will be better, I promise. I just realized, how is Keichi ever going to graduate highschool with all these missed days?
Aillas: The same way their parents did….
Tren: The manga-ka defied school board law?
Aillas: Exactly.
Tren: Ah. Now to the best part of this show.
Aillas: The end?
Tren: Punches NOOO. The reviewer responses. Call me old fashioned, I like to respond to them this way..
Aillas: So readers, should Tren just reply to you all using the Review Reply feature, or do you like to see your pen name up on these chapters?
Tren: We await your answer anxiously.
-Vitanie Tora: Thanks for pushing through my writers block! I've been fantastic, though my computer keeps trying to kill itself! I don't want my files to disappear!! I didn't do anything bad to Yuki! I promise!! Aillas waves half heartedly at you.
-Justice Without Reason: I'm glad you enjoy Keichi's sexual awkwardness! laughs Tis okay, I do too! My writing has improved? That's good to hear, fanfics are a great way to work on your own writing skills, I've learned.
-Darkness is my Savior: Odd? Odd?? Is that good? And for the record, I celebrate Christmas.
-Lathya: Nice new name! I'm so glad everybody enjoys the idea of Kurama being forced to deal with a shapeshifter son as much fun as I do. Really. It makes me feel less strange!
-ShadeSpirit: I hope you enjoy more torture of Kurama, I promise, It'll continue for awhile. Don't worry, I know about being uber busy. Take care!
Tren: So.. until next time dear readers.
Aillas: Cheerio!
