Fan Fiction ❯ Shifting Fates ❯ Shifting Fates Book Two: ch. 2 ( Chapter 6 )

She was still asleep when the knock came on her door. She turned her head and cracked open one eye, blearily focusing on her alarm clock. The glowing numbers beamed back, gleefully displaying the time. 11:00 flashed at her.

"Shimata," she muttered and pulled on a t-shirt hastily grabbed from her closet, the clothing falling to her knees. She staggered to the door and eased it open, blinking irritably.

Taro's curious face came into view.

"Oh, you so have to be kidding," she groaned, already starting to shut the door. Taro quickly placed the toe of his shoe into its path.

"You forgot you have a meeting today, didn't you."

The fog cleared from her brain with a self-heard `blip!' and she leaned her head against the wall.

"Argh." She slumped there for several seconds and Taro stuck his head into her apartment, peering around before letting himself in.

:Thank you for the reminder… but what are you doing now?"

"One of your friends invited me," he threw over his shoulder as he invaded her kitchen.

"Gee… I wonder who did that," she mumbled to herself sarcastically.

"Hmm?" Taro questioned from the kitchen. "Ne'ermind. Where do you keep the rice?"

She numbly pointed to the right cupboard and sat at her table, glowering sullenly at the door and actively denying the rest of existence. Her uninvited house guest peeked his head out of the kitchen and raised his eyebrows at the sight before him. He felt a strong twist of regret and promptly busied himself again with the preparation of food.

She moved only once, and that was to get dressed. The rest of the time she sat, seemingly contemplating the cosmic significance of her door. Had anyone ventured close enough they would have heard a low growl being emitted by her angrily resigned form.

An hour after her rude awakening the object of her consideration opened again, revealing the already sheepish countenance of her best friend.

"Hi!" Shina said sweetly, causing the growl to reach easily audible levels.

"Shina," Yuki said, her voice calm and controlled, "never do that again. I had a horrible night last night thanks to him." She jerked her chin toward the kitchen. Taro, invisible from where she sat, let his shoulders slump dejectedly for a for a moment, then redoubled his culinary efforts. Yuki continued muttering what had happened the night before, occasionally pausing for her best friend to stop laughing. By the end of the telling her voice had lifted and she herself shared a giggle at the overall predicament.

"Oh gods, Yuki! I'm so sorry!" Shina's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "I think the way he reacted was cute."

"Shina!" she shrieked, aghast that she could feel the color rising in her cheeks. Taro's head popped out from his sanctuary and raised an eyebrow at the squirming teen. He gave her a slight leer, much to her horror and Shina's evident delight, and continued to the table, carefully setting down the tea set he'd found after much rummaging through cupboards. Taro had almost reached the haven of the kitchen when Shina's next comment nearly caused him to fall on his face.

"You know," she intoned slyly, "There are worse people to find in your bedroom."

Yuki choked on her tea, eyes bugging the moment before she started coughing. Taro could feel his ears burning as he returned to stirring the rice.

He put the last plat on the table, his brooding eyes meeting openly suspicious ones. Yuki broke the strained silence with the sound of her head hitting the table with a truly impressive thud. She stayed there, speaking into the wood as her eyes raked over her companions.

"If we can all stop being childishly hostile for five minutes, maybe we can actually get something done."

Her flippancy didn't sit well with some of the group. Tantou sighed heavily and Shiso looked ready to explode. The older woman stood up, eyes flashing as she launched into her tirade.

"You silly little twit! How dare you compromise our safety inthis way! How dare you betray our apparently mis-placed trust in you. You're too naïve and trusting for your own good!" Her eyes narrowed then and her voice took on a new sly tone. "Or maybe you're working with him… Have his good looks and smooth talk taken you in? Do you forget this man killed your family?"

Tan interrupted her quickly. "Are you accusing her of being a spy, Shiso?"

"No. I wont accuse her of that, not while Obaa-san still trusts her. What I will accuse her of is being loose with her skirts!"

Yuki stared at Shiso impassively, calmly bearing the brunt of her anger. She could just see Taro out of the corner of her eyes, his fists clenching in anger at the insults being hurtled her way.

How can she just stand there like that! His thoughts were aflame with anger at the older woman, burning with urge to punch her smirking face. It was Yuki's silent acceptance of the umbrage that brought his rage under control. If she could rise above the nastiness then so could he. But he would still take a little revenge. Oh yes. There was nothing that could stop him from doing that. He smiled coolly and stepped forward, neatly blocking Yuki from Shiso's sight.

"You know," he drawled lazily, tone admonitory as he eyed the irate shinoarii levelly, "I was taught to be courteous when I was in someone else's house."

Shiso snarled and slapped him, her manicured nails raking across his face. She moved so fast he'd had no time to dodge. He tasted blood in his mouth, the copper tang omnipresent as he swallowed.

Yuki's wordless howl of rage echoed through the small apartment. She would have leapt for her team mate's throat had Taro not at that moment turned around and placed restraining hands on her shoulders. Her eyes were sorrowful as she looked up at him, soundlessly apologizing for the hurt caused him. She reached up with one hand to touch the corner of his mouth, the side of his face, her eyes hardening.

It was Shina who came to his rescue, speaking up in her best friend's defense.

"Leave off, Shiso. I was the one who invited Taro. And we don't have to worry about him." Here she sighed wearily and the questioning gazes directed at her.

"Yuki found the person we'd been searching for."

Tan stared blankly for a moment, realization slowly dawning upon his weary mind.

"Sh'k'kri. She found Sh'k'kri," Tan whispered, staring at Yuki with something akin to awe.

"Yes. I did. And he's confirmed my belief that Taro is no danger to us!" She poked Taro rudely in the chest. "You can move now. I need to get the first aid kit."

He moved a little to one side, allowing her to sneak around him. She was quick in her errand and returned mere seconds later, the metal case clasped tightly in her hands. Her expression changed from determination to worry as she caught the blank look frozen on Taro's face. Uh oh…

Taro stared straight ahead, his mind going into overdrive. Who is this Sh'k'kri? How does he know about me? He moved back towards the kitchen, unseeing eyes passing right over Yuki's head, every motion painfully controlled as he headed to the one place that offered safety at that moment.

Yuki's eyes practically glowed with malice as she turned back to her comrades.

"We are going to go through with this meeting and then you guys," and she pointed to everyone except Shina, "are going to recon the area tonight. This should only take a few minutes as we've already been over this stuff a million times. Got it?"

Everyone glanced at Tantou for confirmation before nodding, while Shiso sulked in her chair. The meeting did progress quickly after the initial tableau and soon they were ready to depart. Shiso was the last to leave and she smiled rudely as she let out a parting shot.

"Why didn't you have the freak come with us? Looks like you don't trust him anymore than we do. Or maybe you and he are spies. Don't try anything, brat. I've got my eyes on you." And then she was gone, her poisonous words hanging in the air.

Shina looked at the door in disbelief, then burst out laughing. Yuki stared at her, fearing for her sanity in those moments. Even Taro was shaken from his reverie by the raucous sound.

"Gah! She's such a drama queen, that overstuffed lizard!" Shina stuck her tongue out at the door and the long departed older woman. "Now, we really should discuss what we're going to do with Taro."

"What do you mean `do with me'?" His brow furrowed as he gazed suspiciously at the two women.

"You're right. The ritual should be performed as soon as possible. It'll help them trust him more."

"Ritual?" he squeaked. For a moment he had the worst possible mental imagining that a male could. "What sort of ritual is this?"

Shina and Yuki completely ignored him.

"We need to do this as fast as possible. It's for his own good as well."

"Next weekend then. Thank the gods it doesn't require much preparation."

"Where should we hold it?"

"Out in the countryside of course. Somewhere isolated, but pretty."

"I know of a few places that could work." Shina smiled smugly, her eyes glittering diamonds of anticipation.

Taro sat down at the table, slowly going into shock. They weren't talking about… No, of course not. He had to be misunderstanding what they were saying. Pleaselet me be misunderstanding them.

"We should check them out tomorrow then, don't you think?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea."

"Check them out for what?" Taro was getting a little desperate now. He leaned onto the table, eyeing his companions nervously.

"Hey! Who should we invite?" Yuki was looking far too eager for Taro's liking at that moment.

"My brother, naturally… And I think we should include the rest of the team. Now, don't look at me like that. They'll trust him more if they see that he's willing to go through with the ceremony."

Taro blanched, then interposed his body between the chattering women.

"What are you guys talking about?" He cursed silently as he noted the frightened quaver in his voice. And then promptly fell face first onto the table as the girls just leaned around him to continue talking.

"Yuki, you've got to be the one to do it."

"But I'm far to young! I wont have the stamina needed! Shina, you should be the one to do it. You're much better suited than I am!"

"You've got a point. Fine. We both do it. But you have to be the main participant."

Taro looked up then, eyes wide with fright.

"I'm not getting married to ANYONE!" he bellowed.

"We never said you were! Now what could have possibly given you that idea?" Shina smirked while Yuki giggled. Taro glared for a moment longer, finally realizing that he'd borne the brunt of a rather neatly set up joke.

"There is something you need to do however. You're one of us but you can't shift and that's making everyone else nervous. The ceremony we were talking about is how we bring that ability out."

Taro nodded his understanding, cheeks still flushed a little from his outburst.

"So what does this entail?"

"Well… the parents of the child give some sort of inspirational speech to the youngling then start to go through their shift. The hormones released fill the air around them and engulf the child too. It is this that triggers the production of the hormone in the child's brain and then it, too, shifts. And afterwards a big party is thrown. The next day the parents give the youngling another name, one of Shinoar origin."

The look on Taro's face clearly said that they were insane. "You're kidding, right? Why should I go through with this?"

Taro was immediately surrounded by the two pleading and determined females. Yuki was gazing up at him, looking vaguely injured by his refusal while Shina's expression clearly said that if he upset Yuki his original fear would come to pass. The battle of wills pressed on silently for several minutes.

The shadows lengthened.

Taro sighed, admitting defeat. "Fine. I'll do it."

"Yay! And Shina… go tilt the lamp back to where it was." Yuki glowered playfully at her friend before going back into full-fledged planning mode.

Taro slowly cleared the table, silently praying and wondering what the gods could possibly have in store for him next.