Author's Note: Don't forget to take your time reading this story! I know it's kind of an odd thing to put at the header of a fanfic, but I know from experience that one of the most uncomfortable feelings a person can have is the one you get when you're skimming a story, trying to reach the "interesting" part but not really knowing what that will be. And usually, when I read it again, I realize that the interesting bits were all the things I skipped over. So do relax and try to enjoy the natural pacing of this story, and ANY other story you read on here. And please, enjoy yourself!

#02: I didn't mistake you, did I?

Time seemed to slow as Kajiko fell. Seconds passed by as if ticking through molasses, until suddenly the cold, rushing blackness was replaced by heat and steam and a wash of soft orange and peachy pink light, mottled somewhat in her vision by the bruise-green afterimage of the stripy vortex. Not that she had much time to admire the change in scenery, though. She smacked into the floor face-first, all the breath she had left whooshing out of her.

At first she didn't really want to jump right back up again. It wasn't as if she didn't know what it felt like to take a hard fall, though, or a sound punch to the face. That happened to her all the time. Being attacked by a table and falling through a portal, though… that was very new. She felt entitled to a moment's recovery.

"Ooooh…" said a man's voice, twanging with simpering sympathy. This was followed by a tsk of chiding disappointment. "Oh my… that looked like it hurt."

It had, but none of that mattered to Kajiko. The notion that she had company, real and corporeal human company, was, after days of solitude, almost too optimistic of an idea to take in. Even though this new voice sounded like it belonged to a total prick.

"And missing the water by just a few feet, too!" the voice went on. "So close, but not quite there… Someone really must not be having a lucky day…"

Tell me about it, Kajiko thought. She muzzily began to push herself off the ground. Her face stung, especially her nose, which was clogged with liquid and ached a good deal. She tasted blood, and hoped her nose wasn't legitimately broken. "Who… the heck… are you…?" Kajiko managed to grunt. The words came out sounding rather gravelly and hoarse, probably due to the dysfunction in the nose department.

"Who, me?" the male voice whined, as if wounded by the question. "Oh, come now… Haven't we been over this already? It's getting to be soooo boring, repeating all this to you every time, when you'll never believe me anyway. I am a Shadow of your repressed inner se—"

The male stopped speaking quite abruptly because Kajiko had finally peeled her face off the ground and lifted it up to get a look at who she was talking to.

It was hard to get a clear picture, though, through the steam. The first and most obvious thing that Kajiko noticed was the fact that her new company was apparently wearing nothing but a towel which served as a flimsy loincloth. She could see he was quite tall and well-muscled, with light hair which, with its roughly slicked-back style, reminded her a lot of her own. The afterimage that Kajiko was still trying to shake off just made it harder to discern the minutiae of his features, and it almost made it look like the man – or, was boy more appropriate? – had a shadowy purple aura.

Kajiko opened her mouth to speak – though she wasn't so sure what to say – but the naked boy beat her to it. He cringed and shielded his eyes as if the sight was too much to take. "Ew!" he yelped. "Guh-ross!"

Gingerly, Kajiko touched her upper lip. "It's just a little blood, you wuss," she muttered, examining the stained tips of her fingers. "You don't have to get so..."

But apparently that wasn't what was on the boy's mind at all. "You're a girl!" he exclaimed in disgust.

This was probably the worst thing that the boy could have possibly said. Kajiko bounded to her feet, glaring furiously and putting up her fists. "Hey! So what if I am? You got some kinda problem with that?"

The boy skirted back from her, as if she were the smear from a squashed slug. "Girls aren't allowed in here," he whined on. "This bad, bad bathhouse is for young, handsome men only. Didn't you read the sign at the entrance?" He sighed melodramatically. "I mean, how exactly am I supposed to find steamy romance when no one suitable even bothers to show up! Ugh… I'm just sooo lonely in here!"

"Well— heck, how was I supposed to read your damn sign?" protested Kajiko, still feeling rather discriminated against. So she wasn't good enough for this punk? In truth, she was beginning to notice some very off-putting things about her new company, but she desperately wanted this not to be the case, so she let herself be selectively deaf. Deaf to the emphasis the boy was putting on… certain subjects, but perhaps more importantly, deaf to the breathy, buzzing, distorted echoes that accompanied his words. Deaf to the fact that despite this, his voice was still strangely familiar. "I didn't come in through the entrance, did I? I fell outta that…" She looked up and her train of thought stalled, perplexed. "Hey! Where'd it go?" she said. "That wasn't what I fell through! That's just an ordinary hole in the ceiling! Why isn't it… stripy?"

"Still… You know what they say, when life gives you lemons…" The boy clicked his tongue in disapproval, weighing the options. "You don't think any of the men who came with you are open to… experimentation?"

Kajiko thought this over. "What," she finally said flatly, "What the hell are you talking about?" Once again, her brain feigned ignorance so it only had to respond to the part of the question that she felt equipped to discuss comfortably. "I didn't come with any… anyone else!" She scowled. "Listen, asshole, I've had enough of your going on about irrelevant bullshit. If you don't want me here, then show me to the damn exit already!"

The steam-shrouded boy rubbed the back of his neck. When he spoke next his voice was jarringly normal – lower, rougher, without its vexing whine, unsure. "You mean you… got in here by accident?" he said, a bit crestfallen. "Not… looking for me? But how could you…?"

Perhaps it was the change in tone; Kajiko was struck by an inexplicable twinge of compassion. She didn't quite know why, but she thought she understood what this bizarre individual was feeling right now. "I… sorta wish someone was looking for me, too," she admitted gruffly. "Be nice to know if someone cared, I guess." Kajiko shuffled her feet. "Shit, it's hot in here," she mumbled.

She tugged at the jacket zipper, which was tickling the skin near her throat. Even though the steam was clearing up somewhat, making it less humid and muggy, the temperature in this bathhouse was whole orders of magnitude higher than in the prison area. And, now that the steam was rolling back, she was able to finally get a handle on her new location. She turned on point, taking it all in. Warm colors dominated the atmosphere, a wash of pink and orange from the lanterns that hung from the rafters and jutted out of the walls. The floors were wooden, and, as the boy had pointed out, the raised bath at the center of the room was just next to where Kajiko had fallen. And through the hole in this room's ceiling, she simply saw another ceiling, that of the floor above.

It really was hot. She unzipped the gray school jacket and fanned out the bottom of her black skull T-shirt, which had been clinging damply to her skin.

"Oh my," the boy said rather suddenly, his affectations returning. "Looks like the place is finally clearing up. Well, I'd love to stay and chat… hah, no I wouldn't… but I've just got so much to do! Tootaloo!" Kajiko wheeled around, about to protest, but the boy had his back to her already and was swanning out the nearest exit. "Oooh!" he giggled as the door swung shut. "This is so exciting…!"

"What— wait— come back!" Kajiko said in horror. "D-don't leave me alone again!" Her ears pinked as she realized how weirdly needy that sounded. "Shit… that's not what I…!" Still struggling to remove her jacket, she sprinted for the door and, seeing no lock, kicked it down with vengeful force. "You gotta tell me how to get out of here!"

She stumbled out into the hall, and swore. The boy had vanished completely, and she hadn't even got a clear look at his face, hadn't got the chance to confirm or deny the suspicion that he was someone she knew. And, to her disgust, the hallway was more of the same architectural schema from the bathing room, with no navigation markers, just more dreamlike repetition. "Aw, hell!" Kajiko yelled at the empty hall, "This isn't a real bathhouse! It's another goddamn maze, isn't it?" She wrenched her jacket off and snapped it out before tying it around her waist. Where could that kid have gone?

Furious, she turned a corner, opened a door at random, and saw another bathing room, this one a little more spacious but otherwise identical to the last. "I'm not kidding around, you butt-naked weirdo!" she called, sticking her head into the room. "Get back here or I'll—"

"I thought I knew you!" The boy's voice came from the hall behind her, startling Kajiko badly. Its eerie resonance was really very noticeable, to the point where it didn't even sound human. "I didn't mistake you, did I? You really are…"

Kajiko slammed the door and turned the moment she heard the voice, and then jerked back in surprise. She could see the boy clearly now, and she hadn't been imagining the aura around him one bit. He glowed with a dark halo, lines of shadow rising from him like a thundercloud. His eyes were a reptilian yellow. But she'd been right – she did know him. His hair was cropped to the nape of his neck instead of shoulder length, and his features were molded to match his gender, but there were those same cheekbones, that same nose, and, most tellingly, the same pattern of piercings – two to one ear, three to another, and a tiny stud in one nostril – and the same double-crossed scar over one eyebrow.

He looked, in other words, just like her.

"What the hell are you?" she demanded shrilly. "And why do you look like…"

"I am a Shadow," the boy stated proudly. "A reflection of the true inner self." He looked at her critically. "But I'm not supposed to be your inner self! This is all wrong…!" His voice dropped to a resentful grumble. "How did I get fobbed off with some girl version of me? I hate girls! They're so… inconsiderate. That's why I like men sooo much better."

"Well, guys aren't too damn tolerant either!" Kajiko snarled. "I would know!" First a voice sounding like her, then a boy looking like her… it was like the whole facility was set up to ridicule Kajiko. And she didn't take that kind of crap. Not from biker gangs, not from laughing tables, and certainly not from demonic male doppelgangers. "If you're not my Shadow, then whose Shadow are you? Who are you?"

"My name is Kanji Tatsumi," the Shadow boy smirked. "And my boring, in-denial other self is… well, hellooo there, handsome… he's standing right behind you."

Surprised, Kajiko turned around. Even at a distance, with the last vestiges of steam wafting through the air, there was no mistaking the figure. Not only was he basically identical in appearance to the Shadow, he was dressed almost exactly like Kajiko herself. His Yasogami High uniform jacket was draped on his shoulders, as if it were a cape, and he was sporting the same skull design on his shirt and, as far as Kajiko could tell, even wearing the same simple necklace as she.

The approaching boy tensed, readying his stance for a fight. "What are you goin' on about?" he asked, in a voice that had been hinted around the edges of the Shadow's, but hadn't come into full human form until now. "You ain't my true inner—"And then he started back in a spectacular double take, shock etching its way across his face. "Wh-what? H-hey! You! You can't be here! What… what the hell are you playing at?"

"Well, excuse me for existing," responded Kajiko. His angry tone hurt and affronted her. "Jeez… what's your damn problem?" In her head she added, Is it that I'm a girl? Is that it?

"You're my damn problem!" the boy insisted, rushing towards her in a frantic sort of rage. "Don't be an idiot! Get outta here, now!"

"Yeah, like I wasn't trying to!" Kajiko said, infuriated. Why was this place filled with people who sounded, looked, or even acted like her, but not one of them felt inclined to show her any sort of respect? "Why does everyone think I want to be here? I never wanted to… oh… oh no… oh f— that's bad, isn't it…?"

'Idiot' is right, she told herself angrily. Because she'd been completely dense again, too dense to just listen for a damn moment, too reactive and boneheaded to realize when she was being warned. She'd stupidly turned her back on the first boy, and now, facing him again, she saw that his dark aura was expanding into a column. Behind him, several black, oily shapes were leaking out of the woodwork, growing painted masks for faces, putting out arms and clawing their way across the floor to where Kajiko stood.

She felt her face drain of blood, but she held her ground and started to pick up her fists. If they wanted a fight, she'd give them one, all right. But the monsters were freakishly fast. Even before they had fully assumed what nightmarish forms they were ready to take on, the living shadows were lunging for her.

Here's a drinking game idea for this story: take a shot (of water, please, or milk, or juice... I don't want a very drunk readership) for every introduction or re-introduction of a character that is actually Kanji Tatsumi in some form or another.