Flight to Another World: Crossover!
By SoulfulZen
Disclaimer: Don't own shit, never will. Rated T for now, rating will go up
Note: I may throw in shit from other manga, anime, video games, books, TV and movies at my leisure. Also, Neko-kun's my little nickname for Kyo-kun 'cuz he's frickin' awesome.
"I think we found a way to break the Sohma curse!" Yuki, who was just in the middle of sipping tea, sprayed it all over Kyo. Kyo returned the favor by punching him in the jaw, which went unfelt. Shigure just stared, surprised beyond belief.
Yuki then asked, "Well, since we all know, I may just politely ask HOW THE FUCK DO YOU BREAK IT! TELL US!" Kyo then realized Shigure had barged in before Tohru could tell him how it was broken. Tohru then prepared for the necessary anecdote.
"Well, maybe I should just tell you the whole story. It all started about a week ago, when Shishou-san and I were reading ancient texts trying to find a way to break the curse. I came across some old story of a family that had pretty much the same curse as the Sohmas. Well, it turned out that they eventually broke it, but the curse, in the form of a great beast, escaped them. That was 2000 years ago. Several other stories show similar curses up until the 16th century. I can only assume that was when the Sohmas were cursed.
"I read on to find that there were devised 4 ways to break the curse. One was to kill the center of the curse who, in our case, would be Akito. Another was to get the center to release the binds he holds on the juunishi. Third, each member drank the blood of their animal daily for a year."
Kyo frowned in sadness. None of these methods were practical. Akito was too heavily guarded to murder, not to mention the legal repercussions. He was also too cruel to even consider releasing them, so that was out. And drinking animal blood? Someone would get suspicious. Besides, the diseases that might arise were nasty, and Hatori would have quite a bit of trouble. It wasn't easy to get seahorses in that vast of a quantity. But wait, wasn't there a fourth option? "Well, I may as well ask what the 4th method was," he said. Suddenly, the door crashed open.
Three large men in black suits with handguns shouted, "FREEZE!" Their words had just the opposite effect, as everyone tore through the house, tearing through more rice paper than they really needed to. Gunshots fired off, shredding the walls. Yuki dashed upstairs, trying to find something to defend himself with. He ran so fast that he couldn't turn and crashed through the wall at the end of the hall, sending drywall flying down with him. He rolled, stood and ran. He didn't know where he would go, he just knew that he couldn't stay, something reaffirmed by the lead flying at him.
Shigure was in the kitchen, trying to calm the thug that was chasing him while he grabbed the shotgun he had hidden in the rim of the countertop. "Listen, buddy, why are you chasing me? There's nothing I have that you want. Besides, I'm allergic to lead. C'mon, put the gun down, man." The thug was confused by this. Akito had told him that there would be heavy resistance. He lowered his gun slightly. This man was but a harmless chicken-shit, not a threat. He realized his mistake too late. Shigure spun the shotgun out from the marble counter and loaded the man's face with 8-gage buckshot. After stealing the man's handgun and stuffing it in his obi, he ran like hell.
In the basement, the third thug cornered Kyo and Tohru. There were two ways out of there that Kyo could see: the staircase and a small window that let up to ground level. But neither way was a possibility, due to the polished German steel held out by the guard. He was babbling into his walkie-talkie, requesting his buddies back him up. Suddenly, Kyo had a plan. "Rin!" he shouted, gesturing his attention towards the stairs. The guard looked behind him, and then realized that he was on the ground. Kyo tackled the man, grabbing the gun. He sat on the thug's gut, finger on the trigger, muzzle at point blank. The man chuckled.
"Hey, kid, put the gun down. You ain't got the balls to shoot me."
"Wanna bet?" Kyo pulled the trigger. click It was empty. Before the thug could recover from the shock of the teen actually pulling the trigger, Neko-kun smashed him in the temples with the butt of the gun, leaving him unconscious and, hopefully, brain damaged. He helped Tohru out, then fled himself. They just ran. It didn't matter where, as long as they kept moving. Over two hours had passed before they could even think of slowing down. Even then, they kept going at a more relaxed pace for an hour.
By the time they stopped, they didn't recognize where they were. It seemed to be a very old town ready for festival, dressed up in bright reds, golds and greens. Only, it was silent. The only motion was that of the wind. They crossed a deep, steep valley and entered the empty village (Note: entering the Miyazaki province) As they trod the ways, they passed by an abandoned food stand with mounds of delectable delicacies piled up on serving platters and bowls, all still fresh. Tohru was starving, but something in Kyo's gut told him that a banquet of fresh food in an abandoned town might not contribute to their health. They walked along, eventually finding a bridge with a large "castle" that looked more like a Kyoto resort on the other side. For some reason, they both got a really odd feeling from it, like they should get away. Night had almost fallen, and in any other festival, the lamps would have been going on.
They decided to find a little house to hide in for the night, maybe even to sleep. As they walked away from the bridge, the sun was almost gone. They kept going along the darkening, abandoned streets. Tohru was getting scared. As quiet as the place looked even at twilight, now it began to feel cold and foreboding. Suddenly, as the sun's last rays vanished, they saw a flickering light near the end of the street. Another appeared next to it, then one across the street, then others, all around them. Eventually, the lights spread close enough to them that they could see that some unseen force was lighting the lamps. Kyo's eyes flashed around, seeking the lamplighter. Tohru tried to reconcile with herself that they were propane lamps. However, as the lanterns were hung without tubing, this was a rather ridiculous idea.
Tohru clutched herself to Kyo's back, terrified of what was coming. Suddenly, they saw a large houseboat coming down the river, which filled itself to the banks naught but a foot before it passed through. More houseboats came down the river, as well as the now-flooded valley they had crossed.
The first boat came into view down the street, and the passengers unloaded, weary and weighted with their luggage. As they toted along, strange… humans? Their features were so odd, almost frog-like. The females… something was just a bit off about them. All of the humanoids were wearing salmon-colored robes that looked like they had been plucked right off of the imperials of Edo. The guests were even more inhuman. They seemed to be naught but shadows who stood erect and left their owners. The two ran and hid under the bridge, dodging shadows and servants all the way.
As they hid, they heard a meowing coming around the bridge. A cat that looked exactly like Kyo came peering under. When it saw the two, they shushed it. It gave them a look so filled with shock, Kyo thought he heard "What in the hellfire! Kyo-kouhai?" Tohru's eyes widened, making Kyo realize that he had heard the voice.
"Kyo! It's me! The spirit of the Cat!"
Kyo was confused beyond confusion. "What?" he asked.
"I'm the spirit that takes over your body when you transform! I own a 50 share of you!"
Kyo's jaw unhinged and fell, as he realized what the cat was. This cat was… HIM! A frog-man peeked under the bridge. "Cat-dono, why are you down here?"
The cat looked at the servant and gave him a glare that would kill a man. As he fled, Kyo asked what the creatures were. "Ghosts. Kyo, you and Tohru have stumbled into the finest bathhouse in the entirety of the spirit realm. By chance, you happened to come on the first day of the season of the 13th year in the 15-year cycle. This was my year to come here."
"15 years?"
"Yes, the 12 for the official juunishi spirits, one for myself, one for the Center alone, and one for the 12 juunishi and the center."
"That's not very fair," exclaimed Tohru, "Why don't you get to go twice per cycle like the others?"
"Honestly, if I never saw that soulless pile of shit that tries to rule my brothers and sisters and I, I would be a happy cat."
Kyo empathized with his spirit guardian in the utmost. Wait, why did he know what to call the cat? He realized that the two shared minds. Although Cat-san's mind was shielded well and he only let Kyo know what he needed to, Kyo's mind was like a library, and Cat-san had a card. Suddenly, he thought of something. He leaned over and gave Tohru a big hug, which she returned, before realizing what she had done. However, Kyo was still human, and Cat-san was still right there. Kyo gave his spirit guardian a grin, as he reaffirmed what Neko-kun had just discovered. As long as they were both on the spiritual plane, Kyo couldn't transform. "So, are we going to go inside or just sit under here like a bunch of beggars all night? You can stay with me until the floods abate."
As they stepped onto the bridge, they got many stares. The bridge acted as a sort of alert for any soul nearby if a human tried to get in. Cat-san shouted "Don't worry; they're with me." Many spirits just shrugged and walked on, but a rather pesky bureaucratic frog demon hopped up to them.
"Sorry, but all human servants entering will be required to go through the lower entrance and get a temporary job while their master stays. Yubaba's orders."
"What in the hellfire are you talking about?"
"I guess Yubaba doesn't like the human servants of mighty spirits taking advantages of their masters' stays and relaxing. She's making them all work for her while the masters relax."
"But why? It seems incredibly pointless."
"I'd bet it had something to do with the Sen incident. But that's a horse of another color."
"Ah well. I'll just speak to my servants over here." Cat-san motioned for the two teens to follow him across. "Well this is wonderful. Just fucking brilliant."
"Why the hell do we have to get jobs when we're with a zodiac spirit? We wouldn't bother anyone."
"I don't know, Kyo. I just don't know. But considering how Yubaba gets, you'd both better go. The servants' entrance is down around the side of the castle, just down the rickety, ridiculously dangerous staircase. There's a man down there who mixes the herbs for the baths. He'll tell you where to go. Kyo, you should drop your beads off with him. Yubaba will take them if she sees them."
"But won't I turn in to that… thing?"
"Hey! I don't
appreciate being called a 'thing'." The large creature in the
shrubberies behind Kyo stood up. It was Demon-san, Kyo's "true
form". Neko-kun just stared, sweating, ready to either fight or
fall on his ass. Tohru didn't even turn; she was white as a sheet
and sweating like crazy. Demon-san made a sound that was supposed to
be a laugh. "Don't worry. I'm just a big, black,
strange-looking lap cat. I'm really a nice guy. And don't worry.
As long as we're all on the same plane, we're three separate
entities." Kyo relaxed and wiped his brow. Tohru was still
petrified. Demon-san poked her. "Is she okay?"
"Y-y-y-y-yeah,
I'm f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-fine."
"Should we give her a muscle relaxant before you two go down the stairs?" Cat-san asked, vaguely worried. Kyo shook his head and then gave Tohru a quick Swedish massage. She seemed to calm down after this. Half an hour later, the two humans walked off around the back of the castle, as the spirits nonchalantly strutted inside.
As the two rounded the corner of the castle, they saw the staircase. It was several hundred feet long, steep, and constructed entirely out of 2-by-4s jutting out of the wall two or three feet. There was no safety anything within sight, and a fall would result in a 30-60 meter drop straight into water. This was a deathtrap for all but the most fleet of foot. Kyo swallowed his fear and placed a foot on the first step. The step held strong, so he put more of his weight on it. He lifted his back foot off of the ground. The board stayed strong.
Kyo gave a sigh of relief, then slowly began walking down, testing every step. When he was about ten steps down, he said, "Tohru. The stairs are holding out so far. Why don't you start coming down?" She nodded, and took the first step slowly. The two descended at a snail's pace, nervous all the way. It was an hour before Kyo reached the bottom. Tohru was still a few dozen feet back. Slowly, she continued down. She was about ten feet away when disaster struck.
Tohru slipped and crashed through a step, barely holding on to the next one. Kyo dashed up the planks, fear forgotten, grabbing Tohru's arms. Her hands locked onto his wrists. She was screaming in total fear, as Neko-kun began dragging her up. She was almost out, when he fell backwards. The two tumbled in a ball down the stairs, crashing into the wall at the back of the nook, sprawled over each other, dazed. When Tohru regained her senses, she jumped off of Kyo, apologizing. They both blushed brightly and started babbling about how they were sorry for getting into each others' personal space and whatnot. Kyo eventually mumbled something about going inside, which Tohru agreed to hastily.
They opened the door and entered. The little room was quaint, made entirely of some wood. One wall was entirely devoted to what looked like drawers. A large part of the floor was sunken a few inches down. Three of the sides of this sunken floor were simply pegs and empty space, out of which ran little puffs of soot. Then would run to one of the gaps and carry chunks of coal out from under the floor and up the one ramped side into a great fire that heated fresh bathwater. Against one side of the room, a man with four arms was taking orders for bathing salts, grinding the herbs for said salts, and working a bellows for the fire. He looked over his shoulder at the two. He wore small, black sunglasses over his enormous, grey moustache. He said in an almost fatherly voice, "Take off your shoes. The soot will keep them safe." As they did, the little soot bunnies carried them off under the floor. One soot bunny saw Kyo's beads and made little excited squeaking sounds.
The man looked over, again, and saw the beads, immediately realizing who Kyo was. "Boy. Toss those beads over here if you intend to get them back when you leave," he said in a slightly more urgent voice. Neko-kun remembered what Cat-san had said and complied, tossing him the string of beads. "Now, children, what are your names?"
"I am Kyo Sohma, familiar to the cat spirit. This is Tohru Honda, a friend of mine."
"So, this is the girl that the Center of the Zodiac is all worried about. You're quite lovely. Keep her safe, Kyo-san," the man warned. He scrawled their names down on a piece of paper and wrapped around Kyo's beads. "Listen to me exactly now. Go through the little door 3rd from the top and 4th from the left side. You'll be in a side hall. Go left, and take the 3rd right. Go down this hall, and take the 2nd right, but be subtle, or something bad may happen. Not every spirit here is nice. Either way, take the elevator to the top floor. Yubaba's office is right behind the curtain, but you should knock on the wall beside it before going in. Tell her who you're with and ask for a job. She will take your names and give you new ones. Do not forget your birth names, or you will never be able to leave."
"Thank you," Tohru replied gratefully. Kyo opened the little door, and out popped what looked almost like a bed.
"You have to close it to get out," the old spirit said. Kyo nodded, and then climbed up. He helped Tohru in, and they both lay down together. Both blushed brightly at this close contact, bright enough to light up a small room. Neko-kun pulled them along by the sheer friction of his hands. The shaft was surprisingly long, far longer than it should have been. But then again, this was the spirit realm. The normal physics didn't necessarily apply here.
When they came out, they were in what seemed to be the servant's quarters. It was empty, so they left quickly. Kyo remembered the man's directions, and motioned for Tohru to follow him. He was slightly hunched over as he walked, so Tohru assumed that it was to be harder to see, so she followed suit. However, Neko-kun's main motive for walking like this was not to go unseen, but to conceal a very large and unsightly erection caused by his close proximity to Tohru in the shaft. Believe me, nobody needed to see that. The two got to the main hall before seeing any spirits, and by this time, Kyo was confident enough to half-stand, still slouched enough to obscure his shrinking boner.
The two entered the elevator, but were quickly mashed in with a large radish spirit. However, he did serve to obscure them from the man on duty, which they were more than willing to suffer being squished for. The ride went without note, until the second-to-last floor, where the turnip got off. It was just them and the elevator operator, another toad-man. He didn't even glance at them until just before they got off. "Be careful," he warned quietly, "Yubaba's baby is in a bit of a mood, so she'll be stressed. Tread lightly, act servile, and be complimentary. And remember: she may take your names, that is certain, but you can still keep your identities from her." Kyo thanked him, and they walked off.
Inside, they heard a very loud baby screaming as something huge stomped around. The blue curtain that served as Yubaba's door was rippling with the vibration. However, as SoulfulZen decided that this chapter needed to go up now, he saved the rest of this not-so-memorable scene for the third chapter.
