Disclaimer: A statement has been issued to the effect that no gerbils have been harmed in the writing of this fanfic, pending the insurance company determination of responsibility for bungee-jumping on studio property.
ASHES - A Cinderella Story
Chapter Eleven - I Will Punish You!
Raging heart prepared to die
Hate looms large against the sky
In the shadows, dancers sway
Chapter Eleven is on its way.
LOKI:
She glared across the clearing at her opponent, a handsome, stalwart warrior too tough for her to defeat easily. He was wearing her down, eroding her armor with his heavier blade, weakening her own blade with nicks and scars from repeated slashes. He was smiling, confident that in the end, which might come soon, he would beat her into the ground.
His gaze was scornful, the haughty sneer of a lowland knight raised and groomed, trained by the best, equipped with the most extravagent weaponry, while she wore borrowed armor and had a light blade made for speed and subtlety, not face-to-face hacking. To protect his pretty face he carried a battle mask. She saw him raise his mask and begin a quick prayer for the final onslaught.
"He's going to kill you, you know. After he finishes playing with you."
She spun around to see a small, wiry man, his pelt too light to be Ainu, squatted in the shadows by the tomb. Her analysis of the stranger was swift and thorough, after which she turned back toward her true opponent. The stranger was harmless. Presumptious, but harmless.
"I will die with honor," she retorted to the ground beside her. "I am not afraid."
"You don't have to die at all," the little man approached, his eyes on the warrior across the scree. "There is a way to focus your spirit so that you will be unbeatable." Disdainfully indicating her opponent with a shrug of his chin, he added, "This guy is a prick. No manners. He's so sure that he'll win that he threw his victory celebration last night. Nice party. I think I could learn to like that stuff you make with rice. Not much taste, knocks you on your butt, but no hangover. And then he threw me out. Me! He doesn't even believe in luck and chance!"
Birdsong had stilled and even the whispering leaves were silent. Her opponent seemed to have stopped moving, halfway to his feet, knees locked in an angle which could become eventually painful.
"Why would you help me?" she demanded, pointing her blade toward the little man when he came closer.
"Whoa! Careful with that pigsticker!" he said, seeming more amused than frightened by her gesture. "Fact is, yon prince is arrogant, conceited, boring, and in bad need of a lesson in humility. I merely want to make him look bad, and you present the perfect opportunity. Look at you. Young, pretty, and a girl, to boot. If he survives, he will never live it down!" The little man's face clouded over, and he spoke with quiet anger, "The bastard told me to get out. No place for me, he said. Time for payback, I say!"
She lifted the sword tip to his chin and he ignored it. He met her eyes, his stormy gray to her stormy brown. Neither blinked.
"So," she hissed, "How do I beat him?"
"Glad you asked, I must admit. You see that face armor he is wearing? Scary. We'll just whip up one for you that'll make you even scarier. Just remember to take it off as soon as you are through with it. It will drain all your strength, if you wear it too long."
"What do I do with it, then?"
"It does not matter. Throw it away, if you wish. It was intended for one use only."
The warrior across the clearing was beginning to move, as if he were a wax figure melting forward into a step toward her. Her eyes went from the warrior to the stranger, and she said, "Still, I do not trust you."
"What's to trust?" the little man lifted his shoulders in a shrug, a gesture which rippled power, quickly hidden, across his body. "Either he kills you, or it kills you. Not much of a choice, I must say. But look at it my way...he will pay for what he did to your lover."
"He was not my lover! He was. He was my friend!" Anger battled with grief upon her face. Anger won, and she snarled, "Give me that!"
She pulled the mask over her face, tied the strings behind her head. Once, she staggered, as she became aware of the power, then she turned toward her enemy. The enemy who had slain her...friend. The enemy, she suddenly knew with all her heart, who was about to die.
The stranger beside her watched the play of thoughts across her face, a gleam of satisfaction stealing across his face.
"Oh, yes," he sang, "Time for payback, says I!"
AT THE PLAYGROUND:
The next morning, Hainoko twisted Mom around her finger and I found myself walking her to school. Mom had made a big breakfast - far more than we could eat, even if we were hungry - and she agreed with everything Hainoko said. It was the principle of the thing that bothered me - they didn't even ask me.
I was about to object when I was hit with a wave of dizziness that almost made me pass out. As I grabbed the edge of the table, Mom and Pops exchanged fearful glances, and Pops grabbed his coat and left. He didn't even say goodbye.
I wouldn't have minded taking Hainoko to school, if she had only asked. For one thing, she had not been her usual bratty self since last night. It was enough to make me wonder if aliens had actually taken her away and substituted a normal kid in her place.
Looking back, I guess I should have been suspicious, but I was too buried in my own problems to pay attention. Hainoko had been chattering away about first one thing and then another, when she looked up and yelped, "What's that?"
A dust devil whirled up the street, heading straight for me. Ducking did no good, because when I backed away it came after me. In an instant I was surrounded by tickling air currents, bits of paper, and tiny leaves from the shrubbery. We both laughed, and I felt good about my sister. She was kind of fun, after you got over her whininess.
Suddenly she grew quiet and I realized that we had arrived at her schoolyard. As she looked about apprehensively, I saw a young boy about her age watching her. Supposing that he might be the cause of her unease, I said, "Hey, Hainoko. Someone you know?"
Hainoko saw the boy start toward us. She thrust her nose into the air, saying, "Don't notice him. He's always picking on me."
"Oh. I thought you had friends here at school."
"Not many. Noriko was my friend, but that's all."
"No boy friends, huh?"
"He is NOT my boyfriend!"
"Uhhuh. What does he do that is so bad?"
"He picks on me all the time! He calls me names! He starts fights and gets me in trouble."
"I'll go have a word with him," I said, trying to stand taller and look intimidating, and I noticed that the boy had stopped, warily.
"No!" she blurted, "I mean, leave him alone. He's not doing anything right now." Then she froze, her face pale, facing the main schoolyard where her true terror arose.
"We've been waiting for you!" Two girls, carbon copies of each other, oozed out from behind the bushes and blocked our path. One of them shouted over her shoulder, "Tengu! Matsoyuro!"
Two of the biggest bruisers I had ever seen shoved onto the playground. They looked like tanks wearing flowered shirts.
"Ah..." I said, the first statement of a brilliant effort in ambassadorial pontification. "Who are these guys?"
Hainoko burst into the tight circle made by me, the twins, and the two tanks. "That's not fair!" she cried, "Those aren't your real brothers!"
"They are while they are on our mother's payroll," sneered the closest twin. "They're going to beat you up!"
I have always held that there are two prime reactions to danger: a) run like heck. b) try to talk my way out of it. Grovel, if necessary.
Suddenly, I discovered that there was a third response: c) anger.
The voices in my head were silent. They were smart. They had taken option a) at the first sign of trouble, so I had no one to talk me out of c).
"Let's go, Big Brother!" Hainoko tugged at my sleeve, and I resisted. I don't know why. Maybe it was the first time she had called me 'big brother' as if she really meant it. Maybe I had spent too much time in a skimpy costume in front of an audience, with the full confidence of magical sparring ability to back me up. Maybe it was the curled lip of the nearest of the two tracked vehicles - scratch that - make that man-mountains - that made me stay.
"Not yet," I told Hainoko. I faced the nearest 'big brother'. He looked massive, mean, but slow. Maybe he was as slow as he looked. I could not hurt him, but I could stay out of his way. I hoped.
"Matchstick," he spoke, with the simplicity and audacity of a child, without elaboration.
"?" I answered. I am known for my eloquence.
He pointed. "You matchstick. I break." He drew a drinking straw from a stolen bento and demonstrated.
"Oh, wow!" the first twin exulted.
"Wasn't that a plastic straw?" the second twin asked in awed tones. "Are they supposed to shatter? I thought they bent."
"Bend you," promised the 'big brother'.
The second large fellow stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Matsoyuro, and my friend is Tengu. I wish to assure you that we hold no personal hostility toward you at all. Please forgive us for the damage which we are about to commit to your body."
"Hey!" I said, "Maybe I can talk to you. You sound smarter than your friend!"
"Oh, not at all. He is very well educated. He has two degrees - one in engineering and another in language. He and I are only doing this because we are taking a mail-order course in sumo wrestling, and we have to pay for the next installment, someway. Although," he nodded toward his partner, who was stomping play-demons away from a circle drawn in the playground, "confidentially, I think he does this because he enjoys breaking things. It is like a hobby with him."
"Then why does he talk that way? He sounds dumb!"
He indicated the way his partner was flexing muscles on top of muscles and asked, "Are you going to be the one who tells him he is acting like an idiot?"
"Yeesh," I said through gritted teeth, "I don't think so. I'll let someone else tell him for me." I could wait no longer. Time to call in the muscle. No one would remember what I became, because the wish would make them forget. I said softly, "I want to be a rock star," and waited for the 'poof'.
And waited.
"You gonna wish you were star," the first giant predicted. "Break rock. Break star."
I backed away from his first clumsy swing, but without the grace I had expected. I was still me, male body and school uniform. The wish had not worked! What had gone wrong? I knew it had been two hours since the last time!
It was then that I saw Basho, hurrying up to the crowd of onlookers. He had a broad smile on his face, and when he saw me he gave me the sign of victory, both hands clasped over his head. "I got rid of the trigger!" he called.
"Now? Could I borrow it back?" I asked, barely dodging a blow that would have smithereened me. "I'm in a tight spot, here!"
"Something else has come up!" Basho said, striding out onto the battlefield - er - playground. "You must come with me! It is urgent!"
"Could it wait? I'm trying to keep from getting killed right now!" The giant's swings were getting closer...he was finding my range. Apparently he was more accustomed to trading blows with oxen or elephants than with someone my size. Meanwhile, his partner, only a few hundred kilos lighter, was trying to edge around behind me, with all the stealth of a bulldozer. If I dodged into him I would be instant roadkill. Belatedly, I began to wish that I had listened to Hainoko.
"It is very important!" Basho insisted. He stopped between me and giant number two, waving his hands about to urge me to go with him. One arm brushed the giant's face, there was a whipcrack sound, and the giant fell to earth, howling and holding his nose. The other giant went to his aid with a handkerchief to squelch the bleeding and I followed Basho, since everyone seemed to be ignoring me.
"Told you to run," grumbled Hainoko, as she hurried along with us.
"Oh, my," Basho panted as he increased his pace. "We must hurry to your home, if we are to stop your family!"
"Wait a minute! What has my family got to do with it?"
"Your parents became alarmed because they kept hearing a girl's voice in your room, and you could not explain where you got your scratches and bruises. They decided it was a ghost and they have called for a priest to exorcise it, and you."
"What's wrong with that?" I gasped as we ran, he with surprising agility for someone in a hassock. I learned how they do it - they picked up the hem on both sides, bared their legs, and ran. It made for some interested stares from bystanders, particularly the women. I tried to shield Hainoko's eyes, but it was difficult to do while running. Fortunately she was behind so I could stay between them.
"You don't understand!" he said between breaths, "This is a wish, not a curse. If the priest attempts to drive out the spirits, the results cannot be predicted. I am afraid something terrible will happen!"
"Oh, yeah? Like what? Am I going to turn into a love-robot or something?"
-poof-
I discovered that my voice had risen and I was running much more gracefully, though my chest seemed to be bobbling with the rhythm.
"They may generate more triggers," Basho explained as he stopped to wheeze. I stopped with him, feeling hardly winded. He glanced over at me and sighed, "I think we may be too late!"
"Hiroshi, your clothes are different!" Hainoko remarked excitedly. I looked to see what she was clamoring about. Instead of the traditional blue mini-dress with jacket and tails, I was wearing tight blue gym shorts, a cotton tee-shirt with a big blue ideogram saying 'Strong Love' on it, and crystal blue running shoes. Different, yes. But definitely girl-type.
"I'm not dressed in my a rock star outfit!"
"I like this one!" Hainoko chirped.
"We'd better hurry on home, before something else bad happens," I said in a melodious voice, as though I were happy at the prospect.
"Never mind," Basho flopped down onto the ground. "It's over. The priest must have already finished. I am too late!"
"But, what happened?" I was remembering the unusual things that had happened this morning: the dizziness at the breakfast table and the whirlwind on the way to school.
"I managed to eliminate the trigger you had been using. You will no longer turn into a girl when someone says the words, 'I want to be a rock star.' However..."
I tried to digest what he was telling me. It did not set well on my stomach. "...However?"
"I used a spell to modify the wish mechanism, so that when you said the phrase 'I want to be a rock star', it would hear so many other phrases that it could not respond to all of them. In trying to exorcise an evil spirit, the priest has strengthened the wish, given it more power, so that it can respond to all of the phrases. Now, instead of that one trigger, there will be many more triggers. Almost anything could cause you to turn into a girl," Basho bowed abjectly, a frown of misery on his face. "I know how badly you hated the thought. Please accept my apology for my failure."
"Actually..." I was thinking. How was I to help Kidori if I lost my ability to fight?
"But I want him to turn into Cinderella!" squeaked Hainoko, "I need him to help me!"
"I must remove the new triggers, one by one," Basho said as he stood and headed away. He called over his shoulder, "It would help if you let me know which ones make your wish work."
"Why don't you simply go down the list?"
"I used a lot of words. I don't know which combinations are effective."
"You can start with 'love-robot'," I suggested. "But take your time."
He looked back in horror. "Love-robot? Was that what you said, back there?"
"Never mind. You don't watch those kind of shows." I was remembering my ungraceful retreat from the two behemoths, and something smoldered within my heart. Hiroshi had run away. Hiroshi always ran away. But I was not only Hiroshi. Right now, I was something more. I might lose Cinderella tomorrow, but for the moment...
"We are going to be late for class," I announced.
Hainoko answered, glumly, "Okay. I better hurry, then."
"No, no!" I held her back. "I said, we are going to be late for class. Deliberately. On purpose. After all, I can't go to my classes looking like this..." I twinkled cheerfully into a kawaii pose, then added with a cute growl, "...and besides, I have an appointment."
The sun came up on Hainoko's face, and she glowed with anticipation. "Oh, boy!" she squeaked.
Thus it was that the sun was at our backs when Hainoko and I strode into the school grounds, surprising the twins and their 'big brothers' as they pursued their extortion game.
"I am Cinderella!" I bellowed, with all the fearsome soprano roar that my small frame and cuteness could project, "Honest and decent people should not fear bullies who hit and steal from them! In the name of all fairy tales with happy endings, I shall punish you!"
Tank1 and Tank2 merely gazed mildly at me. Tank1 bit off the end of a fence post and munched it, unimpressed. They were not afraid. I restrained a chuckle. They would be. I hoped. They started toward me again, side-by-side.
Right where I wanted them.
As I cartwheeled between them, Matsoyuro tried to grab me. He moved unbelievably fast for a tank. I hit his forearm with the flat of my hand, causing a sonic boom -crack- that must have shattered windows, turning the entire side of his arm bright red from the shock. As he withdrew his hand to determine the cause of the pain, I followed after with a double-barreled kick to his steam shovel jaw.
Tengu was coming after me, so I used the momentum from the jaw kick to propel myself toward him. I landed in the middle of his broad belly with my feet, where I danced a rapid fandango on pressure points.
"Y'know, this has been a most enlightening experience," said Tengu. He reeled and collapsed against Matsoyuro. They sat back to back, holding their hurts and moaning.
While they were still dazed and not in the mood for more exercise, I turned to the twins. They were suddenly very nervous as I loomed over them.
"As for you..."
"That one is Dierdre," supplied Hainoko.
"You, Dierdre, and you..."
"She's Dierdrum."
"They look the same to me. How do you tell them apart?"
"Dierdrum is sneakier, and Dierdre is meaner."
"Oh. Okay. Now, about my sister..." I began.
"You're her big sister?" Dierdre/Dierdrum gasped.
"Brother," I corrected them, but they paid no attention. They had both fainted.
Hainoko reached up to hug me about the waist as I walked her to her class in the school building.
"Thanks, Big Brother," she chirped. "I knew I could count on you."
"Hold on. Did you know they were going to start a fight?"
She dropped her gaze. "Well, yes. Sorta."
"Why didn't you tell me? I could have gotten killed!"
"But you didn't! I knew you could take care of yourelf while you were Cinderella!"
"I almost didn't get to change! They were going to beat me up! What if Basho had not helped? I was in trouble, back there!"
Her reply was a faint, "I'm sorry."
"That's not good enough! Come on, I'm taking you to your class. You're dangerous! Why didn't you tell me something was going on?"
"I was afraid you'd leave me alone at the front gate like you always do!" She glared at my back all the way through the front doors.
I should have known she'd do something sneaky, like that. Where had I gotten the idea that she had changed? I didn't abandon her at the front gate every time.
The halls of her school brought back memories of my own early school years. Echoing stillness, as we walked down empty corridors, with murmurs behind closed doors. A bulletin board, framed with crude efforts at artwork. Small drinking fountains that I would have to stoop to use. Teachers peering out with professional interest at passersby.
I was still fuming as I left her at the door to her classroom. A voice called me back from my stormy exit.
"Young lady!"
Hainoko slipped into her room past the stern woman who had addressed me. The teacher was only a few years older than I, but to Hainoko she must have seemed ancient. I bobbed a quick bow, in deference to her status, and she pulled me aside, after assuring that her students were not going to overhear. She said to me in a firm voice, "Are you really Cinderella?"
"Actually, I am really..." I started to say, but she cut me off.
She gushed, "I am so glad! I found this poster abandoned in the locker area earlier, and since you are my favorite star, would you please autograph it for me and my class? I'm your biggest fan, here at this school!"
"Sure!" I said, eager to get out of there. I had to go hide somewhere until the wish wore off. I used a marker pen to scribble, 'To Hainoko's favorite teacher, Miss...'
"Yamato," she beamed. "But please, make it to 'Oyu'!"
I did, and signed several more autographs on newsprint and construction paper for alert teachers who had spotted me entering the building. One teacher wanted me to speak to her class on the need for proper diction while singing, and several pressed me to accept mementos with the school name on them, crafted by their students. I left bearing an armload of handmade presents while Hainoko managed a woeful smile and the bully twins glowered out of their corner.
The warm glow accompanied me all the way to the front entrance, where I saw the clock. I remembered that I had my own school to attend, and I was very late. I would be even later before the wish wore off.
My steps were heavy as I made my way to Furinkan, thinking, She had no right accusing me of being irresponsible. I plodded on, finding it hard to catch a whole breath. I did NOT abandon her at the front gate every time. Not every time. I know I didn't.
--------------
For a little kid, Miss Hinako was alert. She caught me before I was two steps inside the classroom.
The hallway was quiet, though, so I could let my mind wander back over the morning. Oddly enough, the first thing I thought about was the loss of my magic phrase. I could not believe I actually missed it. When I whispered, 'I want to be a rock star,' nothing happened, and I felt let down.
"Man!" I muttered, "Talk about mixed emotions!" At least I did not have to worry about someone else poofing me into Cinderella with that phrase. It was gone, forever, to be replaced with 'Love-robot', which had caused Cinderella to appear dressed in jogging gear. At least until Basho cancelled it.
That, in my mind, may have been an improvement over the coat and mini-skirt, but just when I decided that I was not brave enough to try the new phrase, 'love robot' here in the hallway, it occurred to me that Basho had said 'many more triggers'. Which meant that there were thousands of combinations of words out there, waiting to trap me. The one comforting thought was that, if I were exposed, the wish made people forget about my secret. This confidence lasted until the bell rang for lunch.
"Yo, Hiroshi!" Ranma greeted me, as I stood groaning with the weight of two water buckets, "What did you mean, 'I wouldn't remember?'"
He left me staring after him in shock. He had not forgotten.
I am an idiot, I blithered to myself. Belatedly, I recalled what Daisuke had said at the Cat Cafe, babbling as he prostrated himself before Cinderella. He had said, 'I have kept your secret,' but I had not been listening. With a sinking sensation, I realized that I could have revealed my secret to everyone at Hainoko's school, trusting in the wish to protect my identity, when it obviously did not. Suddenly, the hallway felt very large, cold and ominous.
"What'cha doin' out here?" Miss Hinako popped out of the classroom to ask. "Oh, yeah. You were a bad boy. You were late for class. Well, you can put those buckets away, now. Don't forget, we have assembly after lunch...did your Mom send any of those sweet apple dumplings for desert?"
--------------
The assembly that day was both good and bad. The good was that I found another phrase for Basho to eliminate. The bad was the way that this discovery came about.
Principal Kuno had asked for volunteers to sing his new school song, and when none had come forth, he turned the program over to a person from the legal aid society. I was sitting in the auditorium with a group of other students, listening to the speaker drone on about our rights under the school administration. After hours of this trivia, when it was almost time for school to let out, Daisuke quipped, "Hasn't he heard about 'legal briefs?'"
I started when I heard this, for the words reverbrated in my mind, like the sound of a pachinko ball descending:
'Legal Briefs'
RAttle...
...rattLE
RATtle...
...ratTLE
(kerplunk)
-poof-
I felt the tingle which told me that a trigger had been sprung, and I was once again Cinderella.
I had a nervous feeling about this change. Not good. Mentally, I added the words to the list I was compiling for Basho, trying to delay the moment when my gaze would wander downward, from the stage to the seat before me, to my books on my knee, to my bare knees, to my underwear...feeling the air stir across my chest.
I sighed morosely. Definitely not good.
I was in a bad dream. I was near naked in an auditorium full of people. Mind you, I had sung on stage in a daring costume, and had not been bothered. However, at that time and in that setting, the costume had been designed for showmanship. Boxer briefs with charming Totoro pictures were not. I got them for my birthday, all right? It was Mom's idea of a cute present. Also, my tee- shirt felt too small. As Cinderella, I had certain ...dimensions... that filled out the tank top differently.
Like many bad dreams, no one noticed. Everyone had their attention on the speaker on the stage, hypnotized as he droned on and on. No one would ever see that I was unclothed, female, and exposed, so long as I did not say anything.
"Aaaaccccckkkk!" So, naturally, I said something.
The magic attraction took effect immediately, and everyone turned to stare. I covered my face with my hands and ran for the door, using seat backs, shoulders, and heads as stepping stones.
With a rain cape from my locker wrapped about me, a little later, I slowed down enough to hide and catch my breath. I desperately wanted a certain little black pig to show up. It did not happen.
Students were leaving the assembly, groaning and complaining about the principal's new project, gossiping about the streaker who ran across everyone's heads.
"Did you see what she was wearing?"
"What does that mean?"
"Hey, I saw Ranma-chan wearing men's underwear, one time!"
"That's because he's really a man, Dummy!"
"Say, you don't suppose...?"
"What? Come on out with it! Say it!"
"Do you suppose Ranma dyed his hair?"
(blap!) "Dummy!"
"Owww!...No, I guess not."
I tried to stay out of sight. The last thing I wanted now was to attract someone's attention, especially Kuno...
"My Princess! I have found you!"
"Oh, no," I groaned. "Tell me this is not happening!"
"Allow me to defend you! I shall protect you from this perverse crowd!"
"Dai-kun..."
"Do not treat me with such respect, my princess! I have not earned it! I am not yet worthy!"
"What do you mean?" I hissed, "I am Hiroshi, you idiot!"
He leaned conspiratorially closer, "I know that. But right now, you are Cinderella, and you are vulnerable. I must defend you!" He was wearing a set of armor with helmet, greaves and leg guards, and he was reaching toward me with a narrow fabric strip marked with thin black lines.
For a moment I held my face in my hand, one finger at a time falling down to vibrate across my lips, "Blehblehblehbleh!" Then I pulled myself together, grabbed Daisuke and pushed him against the wall.
"Dai-kun." I said no more, waiting until I was sure his attention was on my face. "Dai, I want you to know that I think you are a great guy, a good pal, and a true friend. I think that your efforts to protect someone you see as a helpless female are both noble and honorable. However..."
He blinked, "...however?"
"However, if you come at me with that tape measure one more time, I'm going to have to hurt you."
"Oh. Okay, Hiroshi-chan."
"And don't call me that!"
He had such a hang-dog look that I took pity on him. "Look Dai," I said, "Despite the curves, despite the costume (or lack of it), and despite the outward appearance, I am plain old Hiroshi. The same as I always was. Because of the wish, I can sing, and dance, and I can fight, but underneath, I am still Hiroshi. Got that?"
He nodded gravely, the helmet bobbing precariously on his head.
"Of course, now and then I do get these strange cravings for chocolate..."
"This is all new to me, Hiroshi...ah...kun," Dai swallowed nervously. "Just don't hit on me, okay? I don't think I could stand that."
"I'll give you a hit! Weren't you listening? And put down that tape measure!"
"Sorry!" he threw down the tape and grinned weakly, "Force of habit. It is just that..." he stopped in embarrassment.
"What?"
"You're so darn cute!"
"Gr.r.r.r.r!"
End: Chapter Eleven