Fan Fiction ❯ A Week in London ❯ 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: Selea

It was a normal day in front of the iHop, except for the fact that the entire front of it had been blown up. A certain sorceress stood outside of it.

Selea frowned. "I didn't mean to blow it up THAT much....," she mumbled.

Okami sighed, exasperated. "Selea, you REALLY don't know your own strength."

She giggled and sweatdroped. "Oopsie daisies...."

Okami sighed again. "Well, where shall we go now?"

Selea bolted up and waved her hand around.

"OH OH! Pick me! Pick me!" She yelled.

"Yes?" Okami said in a dry voice as he pointed to her.

"I wanna go to where you live!"

The rest of the group stared at Selea, and then shifted their gaze to Okami. "I think that would be nice." Hotchpotch smiled.

"Okay, then it's settled! We go to where ever Okami lives!"

"Now wait a minute." Okami interrupted. "It's a lot less simple than that."

"Why?"

Hotchpotch looked around. "Um, where is Maru-san?"

A hand twitched under all the mounds of rubble.

"Oops," Selea said looking at it.

Hotchpotch's eyes widened. "He's still in there?! Oh no!" With that she began to search frantically through the remains of the iHop.

Selea sweatdroped and began to try to scoot away.

Okami rolled his eyes. "You mean you're not going to try and help him, too?"

"Um, am I supposed to?" She looked at him.

He shrugged. "It makes no difference to me."

"Okay. Well then, BYE YA'LL!" She called to Hotchpotch. "IF YA NEED US WE'LL BE IN ENGLAND!"

"Okay." Hotchpotch called back, not really listening.

And then Selea bounced off happily.

Okami looked to the panicking Hotchpotch and to Selea's retreating back. Shrugging, he followed Selea.

~*~* LATER ~*~*

Okami sweatdropped and looked up at the building in front of him. "Selea, why are we at an airport?"

"So we can get there, duh." Selea said making a face at him.

He stared at her. "You're really serious...you want to go to England?"

"Yup, I wanna meet your parents. I mean you've already met my mom." She said. "Though it wasn't at the best of times." She added under her breath.

He nodded silently, the memory stinging a bit.

"Well, just to warn you, my parents aren't very kind..."

"And mine is?"

He shook his head. "She's nowhere near as terrible as mine. At least she cared..." he trailed off. He didn't want to sound whiney.

Selea frowned. She didn't like to hear him talking like this.

"C'mon, we'll miss our flight." She said as she grabbed a hold of his arm and began to attempt to drag him in.

"Fine, fine." Okami said, and tried to keep pace with her.

After getting through the hell that was getting their tickets. The two found themselves waiting for a delayed plane.

"Perfect." Okami muttered under his breath.

Selea put on a nervous smile. "Hey, at least we won't miss it...."

"That's true." he replied. After a few more minutes' waiting, he pulled a Rubik's Cube out of his bag and began fiddling with it.

"Where do you get those things?"

"I have dozens of them. I take them everywhere." he admitted. Why did I tell her that? He asked himself.

"Ah...... can I try?" Selea looked up at him with a look of up most cuteness.

"Sure..." he handed it to her.

She fiddled with it before handing it back to him.

"I give up. How do you solve them in like..... 5 minutes?"

"I don't know." He looked down. "I guess I'm just used to solving them."

"Why?"

"I...I had a lot of time on my hands as a child."

"Why? Didn't you go outside and play with other kids?"

"No." he said. "My parents kept me inside." he tried to keep his voice even and unemotional.

"Why? Were they afraid you'd hurt yourself, like those over clingy parents?"

"I don't think it was that. I suppose they simply didn't want me interacting with the...other kids."

"Why?"

"Oh, well on this trip we need to have as much fun as possible to make up for last time!" Selea yelled, causing other people to turn and stare at her.

Okami looked up at the flight schedule. "Hey, I think our flight is boarding now."

"Oh?" Selea bounced up, re-grabbed a hold of Okami's arm and pikeed off towards the gates.

Okami boarded the plane cautiously. The last time he'd been on one was when he was leaving home.

Selea looked back at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." he said, and stepped back so that Selea could take the window seat.

"YAY WINDOW!" She squealed getting her more weird looks.

Okami apologized to many appalled-looking passengers, and sat down next to Selea. A voice came on over the intercom. "We will now be KNIVES taking off. Our trip will KNIVES last about 5 hours. Please KNIVES enjoy your KNIVES stay. KNIVES!"

Selea bounced up and down hyperly, all the while looking out the window.

Okami seemed to be the only one on the plane that was phased at all by the disturbing announcement. Just as he was about to say something about it to Selea, the engine started to rumble.

"Yayayayayayaya!" She whispered happily.

The plane moved onto the runway and started to pick up speed.

About half an hour into the flight Selea let out a quiet moan.

Okami looked at her. "Are you okay?"

Selea shook her head. "I don't feel good..."

"Oh." he motioned at a stewardess. "Excuse me, we need an airsick bag."

The stewardess smiled at him, sweetly. "Here you KNIVES go."

Okami stared at her and slowly took the bag out of her hands. "Thank you."

"You're KNIVES welcome."

Okami gave the bag to Selea. "Here you are. Just in case."

"Uh huh." She nodded and was absolutely miserable.

Okami leaned back in his seat. He knew this was a bad idea. Why the hell did he agree to this madness?

Selea pulled her knees up and let out another quiet moan.

"It hurts....," she whispered.

Okami looked at her in concern. "There isn't anything I can do, is there?"

"I dunno...." An idea hit her. "Can you put me-" She yelped in pain. "-to sleep?"

"What? Like sleep medicine?" he asked, confused.

She shook her head. "No, spell... Oh gods...." She squeezed her eyes shut. "Now would be nice."

"Ah, I see." he nodded. "Sleeping."

Selea twitched for a moment before relaxing completely.

Okami gazed at her sleeping face. He was nervous about her meeting his parents. They were monsters, no doubt about it, and they most definitely would not approve of her.

~*~*~*~

Selea sat up and looked around, she was no longer on the plane.

"Where the hell am I," she muttered.

"Hello new friend," a high pitched voice called out.

Selea swiveled to face this new person, but it wasn't a person at all, it was a small lilac bunny. She looked around and finally got a good look at where she was. She was in a field of purple, pink, and yellow flowers.

"Oh gods," she whispered.

A whole flock of pink, purple, and yellow bunnies came over the hill.

"New friend, New friend," they chanted.

All of a sudden they stopped suddenly.

"Bye bye!" They called to her.

"What?" Selea asked.

One of the bunnies pulled a lever and the ground beneath her vanished.

"Eh...!" Selea squeaked.

And then she fell.

After a couple minutes of falling she crashed into the ground. Selea sat up and looked around, There was nothing but black, she looked up, nothing but black.

Selea felt her pupils shrink. This was the exact position she would never want to be in.

"Help me..." She whimpered quietly.

Selea pulled her self into a fetal position and rocked back and forth.

“Scared are you?” A new voice called out, but this one she recognized.

Selea backed away from the voice and bumped into an unseen wall.

“No, no- you died!” Her voice was reaching pitches of hysteria. “We killed you! I was there, I saw it happen!”

“Who said the dead couldn't come back?” The voice stepped out of the darkest darkness.

Selea closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “The laws of nature, Minuan.”

“Well, we are in a place where the laws of reality don't apply.”
”I don't care; just get the hell away from me.”

“I don't think so.”

“And why not?”

“Because you're on my turf now, sweetest Selea.” He smiled evilly for her and stalked towards her. “Now, you're going to do exactly what I say, my little flower.”

The smile took a turn towards lecherous.

“Help me, someone…..” Selea whispered in a frightened, small voice.

Minuan was nearly on top of her before a light appeared in the distance.

“What?!” He scrambled off of her and turned to face the light.

Selea looked up and stared at the light, tears quietly streaking down her face.

“O-Okami?” She hiccupped.

“NO,” Minuan yelled, “SHE'S MINE!”

“Actually,” the light said, “I do believe that she is her own person.”

“You can't have her, I found her in MY area of the Darklands, you shouldn't even be here!”

“She shouldn't be here either, which is why I'm here to collect her.”

The light brushed past Minuan and walked slowly towards Selea.

Where the light touched Minuan he burned. He screamed and was soon reduced to pile of ashes.

The light scooped her up and cradled her close to his chest.

“Are you okay?” He asked and looked down at her.

“Yes….” She whispered and hiccupped again. “I feel tired, Okami.”

“NO! Don't go to sleep here, it's too dangerous.”

Selea closed her eyes. “Sorry….”

“Selea? Selea! No, Selea! Selea!” Was all she heard as she fell again.

Selea opened her eyes and looked around, she was still on the plane.

“What? Where am I?” She looked around, groggy.

Okami looked at her. "You're still on the plane." he answered, confused.

Selea blinked and the dream slowly became just that, a dream.

"It was.... a dream..." she said slowly.

"Oh. I see." he replied, and returned to the book he was reading.

Selea frowned, she'd at least expect him to care more, and it upset her a little that he didn't. She frowned and looked out the window, only to learn that it had grown cloudy while she had slept.

~a few hours LATER!!~

A mysterious, deep voice came over the intercom. "This is your pilot, Jake Steel, speaking. We will be landing in a few minutes. Please be sure to turn off all electronic devices and buckle your seatbelts now." A click signified that the announcement had ended.

Selea sighed; this was NOT going as she planned. To make matters worse, her legs felt like jelly and she was lightheaded. Damn air sickness.

The landing gear emerged from the bottom of the plane. Slowly, the tiny houses on the ground grew and gained more focus.

Selea blinked, was it just her or were all the houses appearing to be less than 2 feet apart.

"Um.... Okami, why are the houses so close together?" She looked at him, eyes looking fairly confused.

"It's called a suburb." answered Okami, putting his book away. "It's like the city, but with houses instead of sky rises."

"Sky rise....?"

"Tall buildings." he explained.

"Like castles?"

"Sort of..."

"The must be really pretty....." Selea's eyes took a dreamy look.

The plane descended even further. A great BUMP sounded as it touched down. It eventually slowed to a stop, and the flight attendants made the passengers aware that they had arrived at their destination.

"Makes you think that they think we're all morons." Selea said, grinning in response to the flight attendants announcement.

Okami rolled his eyes and got up out of his seat.

Selea grinned and followed suit.

This is gonna be great, I've always wanted to come here, Selea thought.

Okami cautiously ventured into the airport from the plane, half-expecting his parents to be waiting for him there.

Selea stared in awe as she got off. "There're so many people...."

He nodded. Peering at the crowd, he did not spot his parents at all. He heaved a sigh of relief. But his relief would be short-lived, for the very purpose of coming here in the first place was to visit his parents.

"I'm in London!" Selea said in a singsong voice. "Hey, Okami, everybody sounds like you, cool!"

He listened. Indeed, quite a few people were speaking with the familiar British accent. Memories started to trickle in, but he stopped them before they could evolve into a raging waterfall of recollection.

"Am I gonna get any presents?" Selea said, bringing Okami out of his thoughts

"Presents?" he said dazedly. "Why?"

"I want one, duh, to commemorate my first visit to London." She said it like she was planning to come back.

Gloom lines formed under Okami's eye. "It has to be something that can be carried easily, okay? What is it that you want?"

"THAT!" Selea yelled, completely ignoring Okami's weight/ height limit, and pointed at Big Ben.

Okami stared at Selea. "I'm ignoring that request. Now, let's try again. What is something that you want that can be EASILY CARRIED?"

"Easily carried? Um......," she looked thoughtful, "I dunno!" She grinned at him.

"We'll find something. Let's go to a souvenir shop." he offered, hoping to stretch the time between present time and seeing his parents as much as possible.

“But I wanna see where you live now! We can go souvenir shopping later. C'mon Okami, pleeeease?” Selea looked up at him, trying to put as much cuteness and innocence in the gaze as possible.

Okami made a nervous "urk" noise in the back of his throat, but nodded. "Fine...follow me."

"Hooray!" Selea squealed happily.

Okami, holding Selea by the hand, cast a Ray Wing spell, and sped across the city until they arrived at a secluded mansion on the edge of town.

"Cool..." She whispered.

Okami let go of her hand and strode stiffly to the huge wooden doors. He rung the doorbell and gulped.

Selea bounced after him and stood next to him, grinning widely.

The door creaked open to reveal a stuck-up looking butler. "Who are you, and what is your business with the Master and Mistress Ryu?"

"Cool, a butler, I only got to see these types of guys when my mom took me to see Amelia." Selea whispered.

"Be quiet." he hissed at her. Turning to the butler, he said, "I am Okami Ryu, their son. And this is Selea Mercer, a friend of mine. We are here to visit."

Selea blinked and felt slightly hurt, but quieted instantly.

The butler peered at them warily, but stepped aside. "Welcome to the Ryu abode. Please come in, and enjoy your stay."

"Thank you." Okami nodded to him, and walked inside.

Selea looked around and was once again in awe. The mansion sorta reminded her of Amelia's, but less cheerful.

Okami stopped and stood at the foot of a giant stairway. The look on his face gave away his nervousness and discomfort easily.

A man and a woman, both quite good-looking and dressed in fine, expensive-looking clothing, descended the stairs. "Well if it isn't our Okami." the woman said, who was obviously his mother.

Selea blinked and instantly thought: Stuck up bitch.

Okami gave a short bow. "Hello mother. Hello father. How...nice to see you again." he gestured toward Selea. "Allow me to introduce my good friend Selea Mercer."

Selea blinked and wondered if she was supposed to bow too, she never did for the Seyruun royal family. Phil said he considered her family.

Mr. Ryu looked down at Selea and harrumphed. "Son, why are you associating with such common people?"

Selea blinked for a moment and then frowned and thought: Stuck up bastard.

Okami stared at his father, having no response to his question.

"I'm not common...." Selea mumbled quietly.

"Oh?" Mrs. Ryu gave a laugh that obviously carried no mirth within it. "Then why haven't I heard of the Mercer family? If you aren't common, wouldn't I have heard of your noble family name?"

"I'm not from here." Selea said, gaining confidence as she spoke.

"Then where are you from?" she demanded.

"I'm from a different dimension." Selea smiled triumphantly.

Okami resisted the urge to slap himself on the forehead. An awkward silence followed Selea's declaration.

Selea felt her smile slip away, she felt awkward all of a sudden.

"Anyway." Okami interrupted the silence hastily. "We have a lot to catch up on, so shall we go to the drawing room?"

"Yes, let's." Mr. Ryu said, completely ignoring Selea's question.

~later in the DRAWING ROOM!~

"So, what have you been up to, Okami, for all of these years?" Mrs. Ryu asked and took a sip of tea.

"Well," he said, "I've been traveling with a group of friends as of late."

"Hm," she replied through her tea, obviously not caring.

"Yeah, we fought bad guys and saw all sorts of cool places, met new people and ate lots and lots of good food...." Selea sighed happily at the memories.

"I see." said Mr. Ryu. "And Okami, have you found a woman to marry yet?"

Okami froze. "Er..."

Selea blinked. "Marriage?" She laughed nervously. "What about marriage, Okami?"

"Well...er..." Okami looked pleadingly at Selea. "I haven't really..."

Mrs. Ryu raised an eyebrow. "Well have you or haven't you?"

"...No." he sighed.

"I said, what about marriage, Okami?" Selea glared at him.

"...I haven't found anyone..." he said in a dejected monotone.

"Okami, what are you talking about?" Selea's voice had gotten very very quiet and soft.

Okami gave her a panicked look that seemed to beg her to be quiet.

Noticing Selea's reaction, Mrs. Ryu laughed. "You couldn't possibly be considering THIS girl, could you?"

Selea looked at her lap and tried hard not to cry.

"I mean, look at her! Her hair is ungroomed, her face is so tanned, and she's not comely at all!" she sniffed in an offended matter. "She looks like a common traveler."

Selea stood up suddenly.

"I'm gonna go find us a hotel, okay?" She was talking slowly, trying to keep her voice from cracking, it wasn't really working.

She strode quickly out of the room and house; once she was out she began to cry.

Today definitely isn't going the way I planned, she thought.

Okami looked after her, worried. He turned to his parents with a glare. "Excuse me." he said shortly and followed her.

When he got outside, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I told you they were horrid."

Selea hiccupped. "So you're getting married, huh?"

"I'm supposed to." he admitted. "I have to get married to the richest, prettiest girl I can find, like in all those clichéd storybooks. When it all comes down to it, I may be forced into an arranged marriage." he looked away.

Selea forced on a smile. "Well, I'm happy for you. I hope you find the best girl in the world."

Okami heard these words and flinched, still not looking at her. "Don't do this...faking happiness. I can tell you're just as unhappy about it as I am."

"So? It's not my decision to whom you marry, I'm just supposed to go along and nod happily."

He finally turned to look at her again. "You know what the real issue is here. You know that what it boils down to is the fact that my parents won't accept YOU."

Selea blinked. "So?"

"Don't make me say it." he muttered. "You know that you're the one I want to..."

Selea glanced up. "Want to what?"

"...Marry." he finished.

Selea felt her face turn red and her stomach do flip-flops. "But Okami..... I'm only 14..... I'm too young...."

"Yeah, I know." he sighed and leaned back against the mansion wall. Staring up at the darkening sky, he told himself how dumb it was to tell her how he felt at this horrible time and place.

"Well if it makes you feel any better, I wanna marry you too...." Selea's blush darkened.

A lump lodged itself in Okami's throat. This was too much. It couldn't be real. None of this could be possibly happening, not in a million years. But he looked down at her and realized this was the most real thing that had ever happened to him. "Let's go tell them then."

"But....."

"But what? What have we got to lose?"

"I dunno..... I just don't want them to hate you more than they already do..."

"Not possible." he gave her a rare smile.

She blinked then smiled widely, she loved it when he smiled. "Okay, then lets go!"

Okami re-entered the drawing room, holding Selea's hand. His parents, having finished their tea, looked up from their pointless chatting.

"Mother, Father, I have decided to marry Selea." he announced.

His father's eyes widened in annoyance and surprise. "But whatever happened to marrying a proper girl?"

"She's proper enough for me. I am my own man." he shot back.

Selea now wanted nothing more than to sink into the floor, or go into a corner and hide.

Okami gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry. I have it covered." he whispered to her.

"But she's so young! Think of the scandal!" Mrs. Ryu cried out.

"We'll wait until she's of age." he replied calmly.

"I don't know if....." Selea whispered in a small frightened voice.

"What is it?" Mrs. Ryu asked sharply. "Speak up, girl!"

"I'm sorry.... I didn't say anything of importance." She said quietly.

Okami looked his parents in the eyes defiantly. "Then it's settled." he declared, and lead Selea out of the house without another word.

Selea looked at the sky, it was star filled, and then to Okami, he was looking somber. This was all going too fast for her.

“Um, Okami, I'm really sorry about what happened back there…” She mumbled.

"Not your fault." he replied.

"I know but still...."

He waved her objections off like gnats. "Don't worry about it. We'll just take everything a step at a time."

Selea glanced up at him and sighed.

"So what are we gonna do now?" She asked.

"Well, I say we do that souvenir shopping now."

Selea put on a small smile. "Sure."