Dark shock CH1
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2, only myself and my brother... I think the dimensional PDA belongs to my dad's company, though I'm not to sure. ;P
I know this is a pathetic fic... Maybe you think it's not, if you do, praise away... I feel like an idiot for writing it and luckily my name's not on the net so nobody'll know it's me BWAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHA OKay, I'll stop now, read away.
My brother and I found something quite strange in my father's study… It was a small computer-like device with weird dials on it. "What do you think this it is?", asked my brother. "I don't know and I don't care…", I said as I shook my head and stood to walk out of the room. "Want to test it out?", he asked me with a smirk… I froze. "If dad finds out you messed with his things……", I growled… "I've already gotten in enough trouble because of you, remember when you gave me his PDA to mess around with and I accidentally wiped all the data off it? … Now put that back where you found it." "Heh, you're just scared.", mumbled my brother, just loud enough for my to hear him… My face twisted into a dark snarl as I ignored him and walked out of the room. 'Just because he's older, he thinks he can push me around, that jerk.' As I reached the bottom of the stairs I heard an excited cry coming from my fathers study and I paused and looked up… My brother came running around the corner with an excited look on his face… "Arima! I think this is-", he was suddenly cut off as he missed a step on the stairs… the only thing that flew through my mind was to save my older brother. I quickly moved under him to break his fall and he landed on me with a crash and we both struck the floor… "Hey, you okay?", I asked in a breathless voice from having the wind knocked out of me. "Oh shit…", mumbled my brother as he pushed himself off me… "Hiro?", I questioned as I followed his gaze and gaped as it locked onto the small device that he'd had in his hands, it lay there broken, some wires peeling out of it's casing like a gutted animal's entrails… "I think you killed it…", I said… a bit panicked…
My brother carefully picked up the piece of technology, trying not to disturb the delicate wires, hoping he could fix it… I started at him for a while he was looking at the little machine and cradling it like was a lost love. "Hey, Hiroshi?…", I asked hesitantly… "Ari… I think this was some sort of… I don't know…" Suddenly there was a spark that made us jump and the little machine sprang to life… At first it sounded like a computer booting up but the pitch became higher and higher… "Uh… that sounds like it's gonna explode or something…", I said with a hint of fear in my voice… The suddenly it happened… A huge black orb expanded from the machine before we could react and enclosed us. It was partially transparent form the inside and I could see the outside world a bit. I sat crouched on my knees, looking around frantically. Suddenly it expanded and the bottom seemed to start melding into the floor. "Hiroshi… This is all your fault, you know that, right?", I said with a deep glare at my brother. He just gulped and glanced down at our feet as a black fluid that seemed to swallow all light pooled around our feet. Suddenly the floor we'd been standing on dropped away and we slipped into the black liquid… both of us were worried about what was to happen next but neither of us feared death so we uttered not a single sound as we were engulfed by the darkness.
I lost sight of my brother and though I was worried I felt strangely comforted but the black liquid feel that held my body as I was slowly tumbling through endless space. It was like this space I was in was a part of me and reacted to my very essence. Finally a light appeared in the distance… I was reluctant to leave the darkness' embrace but none the less… I moved towards the light, once more catching sight of my brother, not to far ahead of me… He looked back and acknowledged my presence before looking forward again and flying towards the light… I followed closely after him… Suddenly the light gave way and a world appeared before us… We were up in the sky and looked down on mountains and forest and springs. 'Springs?! With bamboo poles?!' I looked at my brother where he hang in the air next to me. He looked at me and had an excited smile on his face as our bodies suddenly lurched forward as if someone was shoving us into this unknown world. Both of us headed straight for the pools closest to the mountain, spreading out our bodies to minimize the speed increase per second. Now I was really worried… 'With my luck I'll probably miss the pools and hit dirt before exploding into a messy pulp.', I thought to myself. But that didn't happen… as we fell, something grabbed hold of us, some force that seemed to be all around the area and directed us to the pools. With an enormous splash we each hit a pool.
I sunk below the water, winching at the pain of striking the surface at such a speed… The water was deeper than I'd expected and I pushed off the bottom, swimming to the surface… But before I could the bubbles around me suddenly started clinging to my form, blocking my vision as the multiplied at an alarming rate… Suddenly I could feel my entire body changing… weight shifted and disappeared as even my bone structure was rearranged. My breath was escaping me and I struggled free of the bubbles, swimming to the surface with all my might… I crawled out of the water and onto the bank, trying to get as far from the water as I could… I felt like little hands had been groping at my body, urging me to join them in their death… I fault vaguely horrified… Definitely a fate worse than death, to be stuck in one of those pools for all eternity. I coughed and gasped air into my lungs as I crouched on the bank, the water dripping off my form and seeping into the ground. There were two abnormal weights on my chest and a vague feeling that something was missing on my lower body… I looked down… well 'up' at myself from the way I was crouching and saw two pert breasts through the collar of my oversized t-shirt. Deep blue, almost black hair fell in front of my face as I shifted into a sitting position. I heard some movement to my left and looked up to see an older boy there… His fiery red hair stood spiked out in all directions and he had a deep tan to his skin. He had a boyishly mischievous looking face… "Uh… Hiro?", I asked hesitantly. He looked up and our eyes locked… "Arima?…!!! BWAHAHAHAAH! This is priceless! I wish I had my camera!", he laughed. I growled… and waited for him to finish… when his laughter died down to snickers I looked back up at him and asked, "Are you done now?… First we have to figure out what's going on here…" I was still glaring at him. "Well, we look like animè characters and we're in Jusenkyo valley… so I guess we jumped do a different dimension…", he said with a shrug. "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT SO CALMLY?!", I cried in frustration… "Don't you even regret for a second what you've done?" "What are you complaining about? You're the one who was always talking about traveling to different worlds…" "Sigh Yeah… I guess I was… So? What's our first move?" "Well first I want to get some martial arts training… and then head to Nerima." "Ugh… I don't think so… I'm not really one for straining myself to my physical limits." "Then why don't you head to Japan and try to find us a place to stay?" "How am I gonna do that?! We don't even have any identification!" "I'm sure you'll figure something out… Mumbled Wimp." "I heard that!", I cried as I stomped off in a southerly direction… Making sure to keep away from the pools. "We'll meet at Furinkan! In about, six months!!", cried Hiro after me. 'Yeah, yeah, asshole.', I thought.
I trudged along the overgrown footpath, hoping that I'd get to the closest town that had nothing to do with amazons or bird-people or half-breed dragons… The road eventually widened into a cart-road… My stomach grumbled as I hid in the underbrush for the night and went to sleep.
During my travels through the country I learnt something that bugged the hell out of me. My original form still looked human, unlike the world I was in which had a cartoon look to it, like my cursed body. When ever someone saw me in my normal form they just froze up as if time had stopped and when I was changed or left their field of vision they'd just continue as if nothing had happened and they hadn't seen a thing. It was like their minds couldn't grasp the existence of my form and chose to freeze up…
The effect my real form had on people did help me get some clothes and food though, so I wasn't really complaining. The girl body did freak me out a bit with all it's new sensations… fabric always rubbing in the wrong places and balance completely off. In fact… Okay so it freaked me out a lot, it scared me so much I lost all sense of lust for a female body… I turned sexually indifferent… … Believe me… that is scary.
I traveled to Japan on a cruise ship… it was quite easy actually… All I had to do was look for the names of some of the passengers that cancelled and write my name at the bottom of the page in pen, telling them I was a last minute passenger. They accepted it quite easily and didn't even say a word about payment. Security on cruise ships reservations sure are lacking.
I rubbed my fingertips over the jeweled necklace I'd taken off some bandits on they way. It actually scared me how close they came to… I don't want to talk about it. Sufficed to say… Hot water saved my butt and for that I would always be eternally grateful. The necklace was currently around me neck as I stood, staring out over the ocean… The dress I was wearing was a casual summer sundress, which I'd picked up in china. They had some nice styles and I'd wanted to try it out… besides… the cool sea breeze licking my form, accompanied by the spray of the ocean, made me feel more at home than I'd ever felt… 'This is the life…', I thought to myself. 'Free food (Included in the boarding fee), free board and a nice warm shower every night. The view was breathtaking, the people were nice and the water seemed to calm my frayed nerves… For the first time in the two weeks of travel I relaxed my guard. I was just a normal fifteen year old girl on a sea cruise. Of course the fact that I was really a eighteen year old boy from another dimension didn't even cross my mind at that point. As for why I actually felt comfortable in my girl body for the first time? Even I don't know… maybe I was finally accepting it… besides, it's not like I could do anything about it. The constant ocean spray, no matter how light, kept me mostly female on the trip and now that I was gonna be around people for the next three to four days I wanted to interact a little instead of having the frosted over at my presence.
I head the click of a camera shutter and turned to look behind me. There stood Japanese boy… he looked about my age…"Sorry.", he said with an embarrassed smile. "I just had to…", he said with a light blush… "It's okay, I don't mind.", I said with a smile… He seemed sincere enough… "I'm actually a photography fanatic myself… I've been thinking of making a career for myself in that area.", I said with a genuine smile. The guy's nervous movements put me even more at ease. I moved away from the rail, towards him and held out my hand… "Hi… I'm Arima… Arima Night." "American?", he asked, looking a bit startled, grabbing hold of my hand… "South African… one of the few Korean people from there." "I'm Hideki Muzino, age sixteen, photographer for the Furinkan school newspaper." It was my turn to be surprised, "You go to Furinkan?" "Yup, and proud of it… I'm one of the few who can actually survive in that chaos soup." I sat down at the rail, my feet dangling down the edge while my arms rested on top a horizontal bar of the rail. Hideki sat down next to me. "I'm actually heading for Nerima… I was hoping I could find a place to stay there and maybe even go to school at Furinkan." "You're traveling alone?" "Um, y-yeah… I left my older brother back in China… we're supposed to meet in Nerima, five and a half months from now."
"Really?! It must be hard for you to be traveling all by yourself, not to mention dangerous!", cried Hideki with a worried frown creasing his face. "Heh… it's not all that bad… I may not be much of a martial artist but I have some ways of fighting back…", I said mysteriously. He had the most adorable little sister and of course his father had arranged for him to baby-sit some kids, much to Hideki's annoyance… I decided to help out since he looked like he was in enough trouble already, besides… I couldn't let my new friend face those monsters alone… he might not survive…
Truthfully, I love children… their innocent smiles the way the look when they grow up a little, realizing when they're doing wrong and feeling regret… helping each other or and caring about the people around them… Too many people loose this, at first, unyielding innocence far too early in their lives. Looking at them playing breaks my heart into a thousand pieces when I realize that their happiness would most likely be replaced by hardship tests of character…
The sun slowly sets on the horizon and after a final goodbye I go to eat my dinner in my cabin. I remove the blue-jeweled necklace and place it gently on the bedside table… I then unbutton the dress and let it drop to the floor before taking off my underwear and heading for the shower… The warm water cascades down my too real body… For the first time I realize that I'm actually starting to feel uncomfortable with turning back… it made me feel out of place like I didn't belong in this world. But I've never been one to worry about the future… I live for the here and now and expect the worst. That way… It hurts less… Never hope for the best since hope only leads to disappointment and pain. I shook my head and cleared the painful memories from my head before turning on the cold water and shakily stepping out of the shower… my face scrunched up in emotional pain… I look up in the face in the mirror… A beautiful blue haired girl that seemed exotic and strangely alluring with her cobalt eyes and hurt expression. I clench my fist, wanting to strike the mirror and shatter it to a million pieces but I restrained myself, not wanting to pay for it. Suddenly I heard a light footstep intruding in my cabin and I slid open the bathroom door.
I looked into my cabin in shock, seeing someone dressed all in black, like a ninja, with a mask hiding his face. He was bent over my bedside table and holding my necklace. His posture was slightly hunched. 'One of the robbers from China??! No… it can't be… they don't even know who took it and where it is… a thief! Like me……' Suddenly the person sprang into action and roughly shoved me out of the way, back into the bathroom but my foot caught on something and I tripped… the last thing I saw was the edge of the wash basin, heading straight for me… I think I remember crying out in shock.
Slowly I woke up blinking painfully as my blurry vision adjusted to the light… I looked around and my face locked onto Hideki. "Hey…", he said with a sad look on his face, "You okay?" "I-I think so…", I said hoarsely as I lightly touched the bandaged bump on my head with a winch. "I told you it's not safe to travel alone-" "Shut up!", I growled… I was in no mood for lectures… I tried to sit up but the world started spinning and I plopped back down on the pillow feeling a little sick. "You'd better rest a bit, that's a nasty bump you got there…", I nodded, not having the strength to argue…"He's right you know… That 'bump', as he calls it, should keep you bedridden for the rest of the trip plus, the ocean's sway isn't helping any." I looked up to see a man dressed in a doctor's coat. I nodded a bit, feeling the dizzy wave sweep over me again and closed my eyes, relaxing a bit as I went to sleep.
When I woke up again I was alone and the room was dark… the digital clock indicated three am… not several hours after I'd taken a shower and I was feeling like new. At least I think so, unless I slept for an entire day or something but all indications and my hunch said it was just early in the morning the following day. I got up, not the least bit tired anymore… I wandered into the hall, vaguely noticing that all I had on was a button up shirt. A movement caught my eye and I looked up to see someone going down the stairs to one of the lower decks… his movements were swift and precise and… it was suspicious.
I quickly followed after him, knowing those stairs led only to one place. The cargo hold. When I walked into the huge hold I stuck close to the walls, not wanting to be spotted. I crawled my way onto the crates… it reminded me of the blanket castles and mazes my brother and I used to build when we were little… I squeezed between to tight crates and then paused as I heard voices… I slowly looked around the crate in front of me and gasped softly at what I saw… Two men were loading jewels and things into a crate… One dressed in black, whose back was turned to me, and another large one with muscles that made most men look like wimps.
I looked at them for a few seconds, trying to see the other's face… he seemed somewhat familiar… but I couldn't place him. Suddenly I felt cold sharp steel on my throat. "Well well, what do we have here?", drooled a disgusting voice… 'I forgot about the guy I followed in here!', I thought to myself in shock. An arm wrapped around my waist and lifted me off the ground… I did nothing to protest, a little freaked by the knife to my throat. We dropped to the ground behind the other men silently. "Look what I found guys, a little snoop…", said the guy in a freakish slithery voice. The two men looked up… though the one's face was still cast in shadow, so I couldn't see him.
"Think I could have some fun with her?", drooled the man as his hand snaked to the edge of the oversized shirt and started dragging it up my leg… I shivered in disgust, thinking I'd rather die. Suddenly I was startled by a glint of light and something was imbedded in the man's hand… I looked down to see a small knife sticking out of the back of his hand as he rolled away from me, clutching his injury and swearing. "You deserved that, Drake. Firstly, for messing up your mission and trying to rob an occupied room and secondly for daring to try and touch her. 'Wait… I recognize that voice…' The 'man' stepped into the light, reveling a smirking of a sixteen year old boy. "Hideki?!", I cried out, startled.
"One and the same… Arima, right?" I nodded meekly, wondering what the hell was going on. "Hideki, you asshole!", cried the injured man. "Shut up Drake, just be glad I didn't kill you. Turns to me Where were we…" Suddenly I noticed my necklace dangling from the large man's hands… "HEY! My necklace! I stole that fare and square… it was mine first!", I cried as I lunged for it but a strong hand grabbed onto my arm, stopping me in place… "First… How come you're out of bed… I thought you were supposed to be bed ridden for the next two days…", asked Hideki with a deep frown on his face. "I heal fast.", I snarled. Actually I had no real idea how I was up and running so early.
He nodded his head sagely and then said, "Let me ask you this… You said you 'stole' the necklace… right?" "Yeah, so?" "Tell me about it.", he ordered… "Or I might just let Drake there have his fun." I looked over at the shivering, slobbering and excited asshole and cringed away… "Um… When I was traveling on one of the back roads in China some idiots tried to attack me and steal the money and clothes I stole at a town earlier… I, uh, 'froze' them and took everything they had…", I said weakly. "What do you mean froze?…", he asked, as a smile was already creeping up on his face. "Um, well… When my body comes in contact with hot water… I change… Humans can't fit their minds around my form so they basically freeze up…" "BWAHAHAHA! You expect us to believe that?!", came Drake's amused voice. "Shut up Drake… To me Prove it…" "Well, then just get me some hot water.", I said, irritated. Hideki held out his hand towards the big man, "Daniel.", he said… Daniel handed him a thermos which Hideki handed to me. I paused for a second before unscrewing the top… the strong smell of coffee struck my nose.
I sighed before holding out my arm and pouring the steaming liquid over my arm, winching a bit at the heat… My form blurred for a second and shifted… When I looked back up at the people the were frozen in place… Okay, now I had a choice… I could just get out of here… or I could stay and learn more of what they were doing… I decided the best choice was to leave since I didn't want to face 'Drake', right now… I headed out of the hold and towards my room… the shirt wasn't oversized on this form and I felt a little awkward walking around with no pants on but lucky for me, nobody was around and if there was anybody, they wouldn't remember seeing me anyway. I walked into my room and spilled some cold water over my arm from the faucet, changing back. I pulled off the shirt and dropped it on the floor. I paused and stared at myself in the full length mirror. An exotic, beautiful young girl stared back at me… Her cobalt eyes sparkled in a haunting way. Slowly my eyes moved down as I studied my form… 'Is this me? Is this really me or just some joke Jusenkyo played on me? Am I Arima or this person, this girl?' I just didn't know anymore… I was supposed to be a guy, fierce, brave and strong willed… though I've never been any of those… I've always been weak and emotional but I've always kept myself hidden from the world. 'Is this who I'm meant to be?' I felt like I was being torn in two… I was loosing my identity. My sense of self… Slowly I crawled into the bunk and sighed sadly as I drifted off to sleep.
Early the next morning I awoke, feeling a bit better… I tried not to think of my curse and dressed in some loose fitting pants and a muscle t-shirt. I wasn't in the mood for getting dressed up for anything. As I walked down the hall, Hideki appeared in front of me, "Hey…", he said… "I guess you didn't report us last night…" "You know, maybe I should!", I snarled. He grabbed my arm and shoved me against the wall… With his face so close to mine I could feel his breath on my skin, "But you won't, will you?", he breathed. My heart raced and I could feel heat rising in my face. 'I'm blushing?!!' I looked down for a second before shoving him away from me and continued down the hall without a word. I rubbed my cheeks lightly with my thumb and forefinger, hoping he hadn't noticed. If I'd turned around I would have seen his triumphant smirk as he gazed after me.
END CHAPTER
How was that? Yeah, I know... I'm a wimp, right?
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2, only myself and my brother... I think the dimensional PDA belongs to my dad's company, though I'm not to sure. ;P
I know this is a pathetic fic... Maybe you think it's not, if you do, praise away... I feel like an idiot for writing it and luckily my name's not on the net so nobody'll know it's me BWAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHA OKay, I'll stop now, read away.
My brother and I found something quite strange in my father's study… It was a small computer-like device with weird dials on it. "What do you think this it is?", asked my brother. "I don't know and I don't care…", I said as I shook my head and stood to walk out of the room. "Want to test it out?", he asked me with a smirk… I froze. "If dad finds out you messed with his things……", I growled… "I've already gotten in enough trouble because of you, remember when you gave me his PDA to mess around with and I accidentally wiped all the data off it? … Now put that back where you found it." "Heh, you're just scared.", mumbled my brother, just loud enough for my to hear him… My face twisted into a dark snarl as I ignored him and walked out of the room. 'Just because he's older, he thinks he can push me around, that jerk.' As I reached the bottom of the stairs I heard an excited cry coming from my fathers study and I paused and looked up… My brother came running around the corner with an excited look on his face… "Arima! I think this is-", he was suddenly cut off as he missed a step on the stairs… the only thing that flew through my mind was to save my older brother. I quickly moved under him to break his fall and he landed on me with a crash and we both struck the floor… "Hey, you okay?", I asked in a breathless voice from having the wind knocked out of me. "Oh shit…", mumbled my brother as he pushed himself off me… "Hiro?", I questioned as I followed his gaze and gaped as it locked onto the small device that he'd had in his hands, it lay there broken, some wires peeling out of it's casing like a gutted animal's entrails… "I think you killed it…", I said… a bit panicked…
My brother carefully picked up the piece of technology, trying not to disturb the delicate wires, hoping he could fix it… I started at him for a while he was looking at the little machine and cradling it like was a lost love. "Hey, Hiroshi?…", I asked hesitantly… "Ari… I think this was some sort of… I don't know…" Suddenly there was a spark that made us jump and the little machine sprang to life… At first it sounded like a computer booting up but the pitch became higher and higher… "Uh… that sounds like it's gonna explode or something…", I said with a hint of fear in my voice… The suddenly it happened… A huge black orb expanded from the machine before we could react and enclosed us. It was partially transparent form the inside and I could see the outside world a bit. I sat crouched on my knees, looking around frantically. Suddenly it expanded and the bottom seemed to start melding into the floor. "Hiroshi… This is all your fault, you know that, right?", I said with a deep glare at my brother. He just gulped and glanced down at our feet as a black fluid that seemed to swallow all light pooled around our feet. Suddenly the floor we'd been standing on dropped away and we slipped into the black liquid… both of us were worried about what was to happen next but neither of us feared death so we uttered not a single sound as we were engulfed by the darkness.
I lost sight of my brother and though I was worried I felt strangely comforted but the black liquid feel that held my body as I was slowly tumbling through endless space. It was like this space I was in was a part of me and reacted to my very essence. Finally a light appeared in the distance… I was reluctant to leave the darkness' embrace but none the less… I moved towards the light, once more catching sight of my brother, not to far ahead of me… He looked back and acknowledged my presence before looking forward again and flying towards the light… I followed closely after him… Suddenly the light gave way and a world appeared before us… We were up in the sky and looked down on mountains and forest and springs. 'Springs?! With bamboo poles?!' I looked at my brother where he hang in the air next to me. He looked at me and had an excited smile on his face as our bodies suddenly lurched forward as if someone was shoving us into this unknown world. Both of us headed straight for the pools closest to the mountain, spreading out our bodies to minimize the speed increase per second. Now I was really worried… 'With my luck I'll probably miss the pools and hit dirt before exploding into a messy pulp.', I thought to myself. But that didn't happen… as we fell, something grabbed hold of us, some force that seemed to be all around the area and directed us to the pools. With an enormous splash we each hit a pool.
I sunk below the water, winching at the pain of striking the surface at such a speed… The water was deeper than I'd expected and I pushed off the bottom, swimming to the surface… But before I could the bubbles around me suddenly started clinging to my form, blocking my vision as the multiplied at an alarming rate… Suddenly I could feel my entire body changing… weight shifted and disappeared as even my bone structure was rearranged. My breath was escaping me and I struggled free of the bubbles, swimming to the surface with all my might… I crawled out of the water and onto the bank, trying to get as far from the water as I could… I felt like little hands had been groping at my body, urging me to join them in their death… I fault vaguely horrified… Definitely a fate worse than death, to be stuck in one of those pools for all eternity. I coughed and gasped air into my lungs as I crouched on the bank, the water dripping off my form and seeping into the ground. There were two abnormal weights on my chest and a vague feeling that something was missing on my lower body… I looked down… well 'up' at myself from the way I was crouching and saw two pert breasts through the collar of my oversized t-shirt. Deep blue, almost black hair fell in front of my face as I shifted into a sitting position. I heard some movement to my left and looked up to see an older boy there… His fiery red hair stood spiked out in all directions and he had a deep tan to his skin. He had a boyishly mischievous looking face… "Uh… Hiro?", I asked hesitantly. He looked up and our eyes locked… "Arima?…!!! BWAHAHAHAAH! This is priceless! I wish I had my camera!", he laughed. I growled… and waited for him to finish… when his laughter died down to snickers I looked back up at him and asked, "Are you done now?… First we have to figure out what's going on here…" I was still glaring at him. "Well, we look like animè characters and we're in Jusenkyo valley… so I guess we jumped do a different dimension…", he said with a shrug. "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT SO CALMLY?!", I cried in frustration… "Don't you even regret for a second what you've done?" "What are you complaining about? You're the one who was always talking about traveling to different worlds…" "Sigh Yeah… I guess I was… So? What's our first move?" "Well first I want to get some martial arts training… and then head to Nerima." "Ugh… I don't think so… I'm not really one for straining myself to my physical limits." "Then why don't you head to Japan and try to find us a place to stay?" "How am I gonna do that?! We don't even have any identification!" "I'm sure you'll figure something out… Mumbled Wimp." "I heard that!", I cried as I stomped off in a southerly direction… Making sure to keep away from the pools. "We'll meet at Furinkan! In about, six months!!", cried Hiro after me. 'Yeah, yeah, asshole.', I thought.
I trudged along the overgrown footpath, hoping that I'd get to the closest town that had nothing to do with amazons or bird-people or half-breed dragons… The road eventually widened into a cart-road… My stomach grumbled as I hid in the underbrush for the night and went to sleep.
During my travels through the country I learnt something that bugged the hell out of me. My original form still looked human, unlike the world I was in which had a cartoon look to it, like my cursed body. When ever someone saw me in my normal form they just froze up as if time had stopped and when I was changed or left their field of vision they'd just continue as if nothing had happened and they hadn't seen a thing. It was like their minds couldn't grasp the existence of my form and chose to freeze up…
The effect my real form had on people did help me get some clothes and food though, so I wasn't really complaining. The girl body did freak me out a bit with all it's new sensations… fabric always rubbing in the wrong places and balance completely off. In fact… Okay so it freaked me out a lot, it scared me so much I lost all sense of lust for a female body… I turned sexually indifferent… … Believe me… that is scary.
I traveled to Japan on a cruise ship… it was quite easy actually… All I had to do was look for the names of some of the passengers that cancelled and write my name at the bottom of the page in pen, telling them I was a last minute passenger. They accepted it quite easily and didn't even say a word about payment. Security on cruise ships reservations sure are lacking.
I rubbed my fingertips over the jeweled necklace I'd taken off some bandits on they way. It actually scared me how close they came to… I don't want to talk about it. Sufficed to say… Hot water saved my butt and for that I would always be eternally grateful. The necklace was currently around me neck as I stood, staring out over the ocean… The dress I was wearing was a casual summer sundress, which I'd picked up in china. They had some nice styles and I'd wanted to try it out… besides… the cool sea breeze licking my form, accompanied by the spray of the ocean, made me feel more at home than I'd ever felt… 'This is the life…', I thought to myself. 'Free food (Included in the boarding fee), free board and a nice warm shower every night. The view was breathtaking, the people were nice and the water seemed to calm my frayed nerves… For the first time in the two weeks of travel I relaxed my guard. I was just a normal fifteen year old girl on a sea cruise. Of course the fact that I was really a eighteen year old boy from another dimension didn't even cross my mind at that point. As for why I actually felt comfortable in my girl body for the first time? Even I don't know… maybe I was finally accepting it… besides, it's not like I could do anything about it. The constant ocean spray, no matter how light, kept me mostly female on the trip and now that I was gonna be around people for the next three to four days I wanted to interact a little instead of having the frosted over at my presence.
I head the click of a camera shutter and turned to look behind me. There stood Japanese boy… he looked about my age…"Sorry.", he said with an embarrassed smile. "I just had to…", he said with a light blush… "It's okay, I don't mind.", I said with a smile… He seemed sincere enough… "I'm actually a photography fanatic myself… I've been thinking of making a career for myself in that area.", I said with a genuine smile. The guy's nervous movements put me even more at ease. I moved away from the rail, towards him and held out my hand… "Hi… I'm Arima… Arima Night." "American?", he asked, looking a bit startled, grabbing hold of my hand… "South African… one of the few Korean people from there." "I'm Hideki Muzino, age sixteen, photographer for the Furinkan school newspaper." It was my turn to be surprised, "You go to Furinkan?" "Yup, and proud of it… I'm one of the few who can actually survive in that chaos soup." I sat down at the rail, my feet dangling down the edge while my arms rested on top a horizontal bar of the rail. Hideki sat down next to me. "I'm actually heading for Nerima… I was hoping I could find a place to stay there and maybe even go to school at Furinkan." "You're traveling alone?" "Um, y-yeah… I left my older brother back in China… we're supposed to meet in Nerima, five and a half months from now."
"Really?! It must be hard for you to be traveling all by yourself, not to mention dangerous!", cried Hideki with a worried frown creasing his face. "Heh… it's not all that bad… I may not be much of a martial artist but I have some ways of fighting back…", I said mysteriously. He had the most adorable little sister and of course his father had arranged for him to baby-sit some kids, much to Hideki's annoyance… I decided to help out since he looked like he was in enough trouble already, besides… I couldn't let my new friend face those monsters alone… he might not survive…
Truthfully, I love children… their innocent smiles the way the look when they grow up a little, realizing when they're doing wrong and feeling regret… helping each other or and caring about the people around them… Too many people loose this, at first, unyielding innocence far too early in their lives. Looking at them playing breaks my heart into a thousand pieces when I realize that their happiness would most likely be replaced by hardship tests of character…
The sun slowly sets on the horizon and after a final goodbye I go to eat my dinner in my cabin. I remove the blue-jeweled necklace and place it gently on the bedside table… I then unbutton the dress and let it drop to the floor before taking off my underwear and heading for the shower… The warm water cascades down my too real body… For the first time I realize that I'm actually starting to feel uncomfortable with turning back… it made me feel out of place like I didn't belong in this world. But I've never been one to worry about the future… I live for the here and now and expect the worst. That way… It hurts less… Never hope for the best since hope only leads to disappointment and pain. I shook my head and cleared the painful memories from my head before turning on the cold water and shakily stepping out of the shower… my face scrunched up in emotional pain… I look up in the face in the mirror… A beautiful blue haired girl that seemed exotic and strangely alluring with her cobalt eyes and hurt expression. I clench my fist, wanting to strike the mirror and shatter it to a million pieces but I restrained myself, not wanting to pay for it. Suddenly I heard a light footstep intruding in my cabin and I slid open the bathroom door.
I looked into my cabin in shock, seeing someone dressed all in black, like a ninja, with a mask hiding his face. He was bent over my bedside table and holding my necklace. His posture was slightly hunched. 'One of the robbers from China??! No… it can't be… they don't even know who took it and where it is… a thief! Like me……' Suddenly the person sprang into action and roughly shoved me out of the way, back into the bathroom but my foot caught on something and I tripped… the last thing I saw was the edge of the wash basin, heading straight for me… I think I remember crying out in shock.
Slowly I woke up blinking painfully as my blurry vision adjusted to the light… I looked around and my face locked onto Hideki. "Hey…", he said with a sad look on his face, "You okay?" "I-I think so…", I said hoarsely as I lightly touched the bandaged bump on my head with a winch. "I told you it's not safe to travel alone-" "Shut up!", I growled… I was in no mood for lectures… I tried to sit up but the world started spinning and I plopped back down on the pillow feeling a little sick. "You'd better rest a bit, that's a nasty bump you got there…", I nodded, not having the strength to argue…"He's right you know… That 'bump', as he calls it, should keep you bedridden for the rest of the trip plus, the ocean's sway isn't helping any." I looked up to see a man dressed in a doctor's coat. I nodded a bit, feeling the dizzy wave sweep over me again and closed my eyes, relaxing a bit as I went to sleep.
When I woke up again I was alone and the room was dark… the digital clock indicated three am… not several hours after I'd taken a shower and I was feeling like new. At least I think so, unless I slept for an entire day or something but all indications and my hunch said it was just early in the morning the following day. I got up, not the least bit tired anymore… I wandered into the hall, vaguely noticing that all I had on was a button up shirt. A movement caught my eye and I looked up to see someone going down the stairs to one of the lower decks… his movements were swift and precise and… it was suspicious.
I quickly followed after him, knowing those stairs led only to one place. The cargo hold. When I walked into the huge hold I stuck close to the walls, not wanting to be spotted. I crawled my way onto the crates… it reminded me of the blanket castles and mazes my brother and I used to build when we were little… I squeezed between to tight crates and then paused as I heard voices… I slowly looked around the crate in front of me and gasped softly at what I saw… Two men were loading jewels and things into a crate… One dressed in black, whose back was turned to me, and another large one with muscles that made most men look like wimps.
I looked at them for a few seconds, trying to see the other's face… he seemed somewhat familiar… but I couldn't place him. Suddenly I felt cold sharp steel on my throat. "Well well, what do we have here?", drooled a disgusting voice… 'I forgot about the guy I followed in here!', I thought to myself in shock. An arm wrapped around my waist and lifted me off the ground… I did nothing to protest, a little freaked by the knife to my throat. We dropped to the ground behind the other men silently. "Look what I found guys, a little snoop…", said the guy in a freakish slithery voice. The two men looked up… though the one's face was still cast in shadow, so I couldn't see him.
"Think I could have some fun with her?", drooled the man as his hand snaked to the edge of the oversized shirt and started dragging it up my leg… I shivered in disgust, thinking I'd rather die. Suddenly I was startled by a glint of light and something was imbedded in the man's hand… I looked down to see a small knife sticking out of the back of his hand as he rolled away from me, clutching his injury and swearing. "You deserved that, Drake. Firstly, for messing up your mission and trying to rob an occupied room and secondly for daring to try and touch her. 'Wait… I recognize that voice…' The 'man' stepped into the light, reveling a smirking of a sixteen year old boy. "Hideki?!", I cried out, startled.
"One and the same… Arima, right?" I nodded meekly, wondering what the hell was going on. "Hideki, you asshole!", cried the injured man. "Shut up Drake, just be glad I didn't kill you. Turns to me Where were we…" Suddenly I noticed my necklace dangling from the large man's hands… "HEY! My necklace! I stole that fare and square… it was mine first!", I cried as I lunged for it but a strong hand grabbed onto my arm, stopping me in place… "First… How come you're out of bed… I thought you were supposed to be bed ridden for the next two days…", asked Hideki with a deep frown on his face. "I heal fast.", I snarled. Actually I had no real idea how I was up and running so early.
He nodded his head sagely and then said, "Let me ask you this… You said you 'stole' the necklace… right?" "Yeah, so?" "Tell me about it.", he ordered… "Or I might just let Drake there have his fun." I looked over at the shivering, slobbering and excited asshole and cringed away… "Um… When I was traveling on one of the back roads in China some idiots tried to attack me and steal the money and clothes I stole at a town earlier… I, uh, 'froze' them and took everything they had…", I said weakly. "What do you mean froze?…", he asked, as a smile was already creeping up on his face. "Um, well… When my body comes in contact with hot water… I change… Humans can't fit their minds around my form so they basically freeze up…" "BWAHAHAHA! You expect us to believe that?!", came Drake's amused voice. "Shut up Drake… To me Prove it…" "Well, then just get me some hot water.", I said, irritated. Hideki held out his hand towards the big man, "Daniel.", he said… Daniel handed him a thermos which Hideki handed to me. I paused for a second before unscrewing the top… the strong smell of coffee struck my nose.
I sighed before holding out my arm and pouring the steaming liquid over my arm, winching a bit at the heat… My form blurred for a second and shifted… When I looked back up at the people the were frozen in place… Okay, now I had a choice… I could just get out of here… or I could stay and learn more of what they were doing… I decided the best choice was to leave since I didn't want to face 'Drake', right now… I headed out of the hold and towards my room… the shirt wasn't oversized on this form and I felt a little awkward walking around with no pants on but lucky for me, nobody was around and if there was anybody, they wouldn't remember seeing me anyway. I walked into my room and spilled some cold water over my arm from the faucet, changing back. I pulled off the shirt and dropped it on the floor. I paused and stared at myself in the full length mirror. An exotic, beautiful young girl stared back at me… Her cobalt eyes sparkled in a haunting way. Slowly my eyes moved down as I studied my form… 'Is this me? Is this really me or just some joke Jusenkyo played on me? Am I Arima or this person, this girl?' I just didn't know anymore… I was supposed to be a guy, fierce, brave and strong willed… though I've never been any of those… I've always been weak and emotional but I've always kept myself hidden from the world. 'Is this who I'm meant to be?' I felt like I was being torn in two… I was loosing my identity. My sense of self… Slowly I crawled into the bunk and sighed sadly as I drifted off to sleep.
Early the next morning I awoke, feeling a bit better… I tried not to think of my curse and dressed in some loose fitting pants and a muscle t-shirt. I wasn't in the mood for getting dressed up for anything. As I walked down the hall, Hideki appeared in front of me, "Hey…", he said… "I guess you didn't report us last night…" "You know, maybe I should!", I snarled. He grabbed my arm and shoved me against the wall… With his face so close to mine I could feel his breath on my skin, "But you won't, will you?", he breathed. My heart raced and I could feel heat rising in my face. 'I'm blushing?!!' I looked down for a second before shoving him away from me and continued down the hall without a word. I rubbed my cheeks lightly with my thumb and forefinger, hoping he hadn't noticed. If I'd turned around I would have seen his triumphant smirk as he gazed after me.
END CHAPTER
How was that? Yeah, I know... I'm a wimp, right?
