Chapter 4

I did. In fact, I was so relaxed, I fell asleep for the entire washing and cutting. It was just the smell of the peroxide that got me up.

"What? What are you doing?" I asked and stretched before shrieking at myself in the mirror to my right. I was blonde! No longer a mysterious raven haired beauty. I looked like a younger version of mum!

"It's okay. You can kill you dad for it later." Mum said apologetically and dad looked alarmed before I began to whimper through the whole colouring process.

"My beautiful hair. My long, black hair. Gone... poof..." I whimpered and refused to look at myself until it was done.

An hour later after colouring, rinsing, blow-drying and finally straightening my already straight and stressed out hair, mum tapped my shoulder.

"What?" I grumbled and she pointed to the mirror before I glumly followed it and gasped.

My hair was a beautiful light blue and felt so silky. It was a little shorter but still reached around to my butt with an undefined length (again) and had a side fringe that was jagged and fell across my right eye.

"Well?" Mum asked and I got up to hug her and dad.

"It's great. Even though I liked having normal coloured hair. I like a difference every now and then," I said truthfully and my parents exchanged depressed looks. "Did I say something?"

"When a member Alters, they stay how they are when they were seventeen." Dad said and my smile dropped.

"What?"

"How do you think your dad looks so young to have had five children in twenty-two years? Skincare products? Anti-age creams? Absolutely none." Mum explained and I sat down in the seat again.

"So I'm immortal?"

"When you Alter, yes. But you can still die from normal wounds and diseases like a Soul Reaper," dad stated and I shook my head.

"So I'm going to stay like this while I watch my friends grow old and die?! I don't want that! I want to age with my friends and grow old with the love of my life. Not stay stuck like someone in a photograph!" I exclaimed and began to cry.

"Don't do that," Mum said.

"I don't care!" I snapped and stood up. "I'm going for a walk."

"Where to?"

"I have no idea but I need a walk." To Ichigo's. I need to tell him.

"No, you won't." Daijiro explained and scared the hell out of me.

"What was she doing?" Dad asked.

"She wanted to go to this Ichigo person and tell him."

"I don't even know where he lives!" I screamed and grabbed my coat before storming out.

How could they tell me this now? I was looking forward to having a power that would only cost me valuable years of aging and dying with my friends. I trusted them to tell me the truth. I thought angrily and decided to walk home.

Half an hour until I Alter, I thought glumly and stared at my bedroom ceiling. Tomorrow, I'll have to act as if nothing happened and bring my camera like I do for every Valentine's and Halloween. Only this time, it has to be better because it was my last year. Maybe someone will finally have the guts to ask Meimei out or maybe me...

"Seika, sweetie?" Mum questioned through the door and I sighed before turning my back to the door.

"It's unlocked!" I called and the door swung open gently before I felt weight lower the edge of my bed.

"Sweetie, you have to get ready. You can't Alter in here on your very first time."

"So I'm going down to the basement, like my brothers did. And they'll keep watch to make sure I'm not a vicious, cold hearted killer, am I right?"

"I know you're upset that we didn't tell you the effects of the Alteration but we couldn't find the right time and then you stumbled upon a topic starter for it. We honestly didn't think you'd react like that."

"You said our family had a rule of outward honesty between each other. And yet, you've been keeping the biggest secret from me! Why didn't you just tell me sooner so I had years to prepare for it?" I asked and sat up, my back still facing mum.

"I can't find words for the answer, sweetie. Please get ready, there's only ten minutes left," mum said sadly and left the room, closing the door behind her.

I changed into a white shirt and denim shorts before stomping down the stairs, through the kitchen, the living room, and finally opened the door to the basement which was out of sight so visitors didn't see the door unless they snooped through the entire house.

My brothers and parents were in a circle on the outside of a ring of blue and green candles to represent my favourite colours. I stepped into the circle and kneeled in the centre before dad and Takashi began to draw protective symbols onto the concrete with chalk around me until they stepped back. Dad wouldn't leave his watch alone.

"I hope that watch has the right time, Raiden. Or you'll be sorry," mum breathed and I began to feel tingly.

"It's starting... I can feel it through her," Daijiro informed and the others tensed as aqua coloured spiritual energy began to seep from my body and circle around me, covering me in a pleasant warmth.

I closed my eyes and curled up into a ball because that's what felt right. My forehead brushed the cool concrete until I couldn't feel it altogether. The spiritual energy continued to grow until it enveloped me completely and my Alteration started.

The feeling was gentle. Where my body changed, it felt like I was being stroked by cool hands. I stretched out and realised I was no longer toughing the ground. Then the stroking became quicker and gentler until I couldn't feel them at all.

Then the spiritual energy, twice as much, began to flow through me and I touched th ground as the whispers of strokes blew outwards like strong breezes, knocking back the boys as dad held onto mum.

"Fifteen minutes is the quickest time, kitten. You seemed to have it well under control," dad informed and stepped over the candles that were no longer burning. "I must say. You're quite a sight."

"I don't feel any different." I said in a voice that sounded like my own but it had another voice added to it for a very creepy and very cool effect. "But I sure sound it."

"Daijiro, bring the mirror!"

Daijiro brought along a full length mirror and placed it behind me before tapping me on the shoulder to turn.

"I hate being married into this family. I can't see what my daughter's grown into." Mum sniffed as I stroked my face. My skin was paler and my ears were pointed. I wore a short red dress that just covered my butt but the sides of the dress dragged along the ground with gold trimming. the sleeves bared my shoulders and dropped from the elbow like the sides of the dress. I also had white gloves that attached to my middle finger.

My shoes were pale pink heels that were peep toes and strapped around my ankle with pale pink feathers wrapped around the outside of my calves. I also had two incredibly large white feathered wings that curled back towards me and then arched out elegantly but they were pressed up against my back. I smiled at myself and spotted a pair of fangs.

"You're a beautiful sight, kitten," dad informed.

"You know, the more human you look, the more powerful you are. You're frightening me right now." Takashi said

"Absolutely beautiful." Dad repeated and kissed my cheek.

"When you're in your Altered form, you can't be seen by normal people. And when you're not in your Altered form, you can choose to be seen or not. But others like us and people who can see ghosts can tell whether you're in soul form or real form." Takashi explained.

"How do I change back?" I asked.

"Just imagine a creative way for this form to return to your old form. Then it'll be a lot easier to go back and forth between your Altered form but you have to be in your soul form before you change to your Altered. Give it a go," Takashi informed and I imagined a flash of white light around me and returning me to my original form. "There we go. Nothing big, nothing boring."

I looked down at myself to see me back into my singlet and shorts. "What is it with the women always making fun of the guys like Aunt Akana?" Kyouhei said.

"Our brains mature quicker, brother. It won't matter that your three years older than me, I'm more mature than you." I smirked.

"Save your breath," dad stated. "In fact, you better go back up to your room and sleep on this. Preferably without your mum seeing you."

"Oh, okay. How do I go in soul form?" I asked.

"Well, we use Mizu o Tsuki to change between soul form and our original form. Just say it," Kyouhei explained.

"Mizu o Tsuki?" I yawned and I felt a little tingly before the feeling disappeared just as quickly as it had arrived.

"Just go to bed, kitten." Dad said.

I slinked passed my worrying mother and clambered up the stairs before heading up to my room.

Because the preparations for the Alteration is so long, you'd think that after it, there'd be some kind of celebration? No. It would just go on like any normal day. The Alteration is the party for the birthday and then it just becomes a normal day. Nothing special. But it usually wore the newly altered person out after awhile.