Chapter Text
The Sad Story of the Soulmate Spring
There is a tragic, very tragic story of two soulmates that drowned here six hundred years ago!
The Cursed First Date
Akane was very satisfied with how she managed to rise up to the unexpected challenge. Two weeks into this whole impossible, unfathomable mess, she was finally swinging back, on her own terms!
Well, this newest outing wasn’t exactly her idea, but she had chosen to do it of her own free will! Even if Yuka and Sayuri were the ones to convince her in the first place. But now that the course was set, the only way was forward!
Sure, the challenge of actually going on the date might have been intimidating and a little weird, but those feelings were temporary. This was a foolproof way to prove that Akane had her curse all under control! She was the one dictating how her own life would go! The date itself wouldn’t have been her first choice, sure, but when her friends asked for help, it was important to answer the call - now more than ever before!
So, for this date, she went all out.
She dressed up cool, yet casual - which had meant a quick shopping trip right before the date. She’d gotten herself a new pair of dark, well fitted pants to go with her older purchase of comfortable shoes; topping it off with a brand new dark undershirt. The only thing she hadn’t managed to score yet was a new jacket - all of the ones she’d found were a bit too expensive. That’s why she’d gone with her white Jet Studio jacket - Nabiki had given it to her as a gift… but it had always been hers, Nabiki had just borrowed it. It was a bit short and wouldn’t clasp properly in the front, but that seemed to have been appreciated by Akane’s date and Akane herself didn’t mind it.
She remembered to bring flowers, complimented her date multiple times, and otherwise behaved like a perfect gentleman should! All the while, she tried not to think too much about what it meant that she was having so much fun on the date herself.
Nope, no need to open that door at all.
Having her friends there as support for most of the date also helped a whole lot! Akane had been hesitant to accept that suggestion at first, especially since she feared it wouldn’t really feel date-like to be hanging with three of her friends at the same time, but Yuka and Sayuri were clearly much better actresses than Akane could ever hope for.
In fact, Yuka and Sayuri looked to be having the time of their lives, giving each other much more attention than to Akane or her date, making Akane feel like the whole double date was actually real - imagine that!
Akane spared a glance at Yuka and Sayuri holding hands - Yuka was giggling at something Sayuri had just said and leaning into the other girl. Then, Akane turned to her own date to-
Disaster struck.
Some wild, bare-footed girl with a large backpack ran smack dab into them!
Akane barely managed to protectively cover her date to shield her from the impact, but the powerful slam into Akane’s back caused her to stumble forward, bumping faces with her date - entirely by accident.
Akane’s lips stung, and the surprised squeak of Noriko’s last breath still lingered on her face. Sure - she had planned to end a date with a fake-kiss, but this was… unplanned, and something else, entirely!
But now was not the time to panic about that - especially when Yuka and Sayuri had just shouted in surprise; Akane needed to deal with their weird attacker.
Akane turned around, pushing Noriko protectively behind herself, and took a combative stance, fully expecting to face some kind of Martial Arts Barefoot Runner - that would be just her luck!
However…
The confused, maybe even apologetic face she saw before herself… was her own. It was exactly like looking at the mirror, except the girl reflected in it had bound her long blue hair in a thick pigtail; had multiple little scrapes and bruises, and was clearly on a run… from something. And the surprised expression on her face, slowing giving way to the spark of indignation… it wasn’t like anything Akane ever remembered seeing the mirror.
Just what is going on? Is this even real?
“What are you doing with my body!?” her doppelganger exclaimed first; before Akane could even form a coherent sentence on her own.
The Sudden Eternal Curse
(A Couple Weeks Ago)
A loud scream echoed through the Tendo family home.
It was followed by a handful of loud crashes and then the scream repeated again.
Nabiki and Kasumi reached the source of the commotion at about the same time.
“Akane, what’s going on?” Kasumi asked as she tried and failed to turn the knob of the outside door to the bathroom. The little window in the wooden door wasn’t very helpful, as there was no one in the view. Kasumi could see the inner doorway to the furo was still slid open, letting in the stream to the rest of the bathroom. Through that doorway, a little upturned stool was visible surrounded by scattered bottles of shampoo. Someone had clearly splashed water everywhere. Kasumi even registered a hint of the movement very close to the door, at the very edge of her view - a corner of a towel disappeared.
“Wait!” an unfamiliar, pleading voice shouted from the inside, as someone continued keeping hold on the doorknob, preventing it from being turned. “Don’t!”
Nabiki and Kasumi exchanged a look between themselves.
“That didn’t really sound like Akane,” Kasumi whispered to her sister.
“I think that’s a guy,” Nabiki said over Kasumi’s whisper, and then added in a much louder shout, “Akane, don’t kill the pervert outright! We really don’t want to bother with hiding the body!”
“No, it’s not like-”
Kasumi didn’t let the intruder finish. She put a bit of strength into it and pulled the door open. A naked figure with a mop of wet dark red hair stumbled outside. No clothing at all, except for a towel clutched in one hand, and one torn side of the doorknob in another.
Both sisters recoiled back as the figure landed ungracefully on the ground, giving them a full view they definitely didn’t ask for.
Kasumi let out a quiet squeak of surprise, and Nabiki shouted out something unintelligible and started reflexively winding up for a kick.
“No! Wait! It’s me - Akane!”
Nabiki paused. “You certainly don’t look like Akane,” she said, and still delivered a kick to the figure’s side, even if it was much lighter than she’d planned at the start.
“No, it’s really me! You have to believe me,” Akane whined out again, trying to cover herself up with the hastily grabbed towel. Nabiki’s kick had stung her, but there were more important things to worry about. Her voice was wrong - and her body was completely different, but she was really trying to convey the desperation she felt to her sisters. “I don’t know what happened, I was washing my hair and then suddenly I was like this! You need to help me!”
Nabiki raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, but took a step back.
Kasumi stepped past the Akane to take a quick look inside the bathroom.
“Nabiki, you believe me, right?” Akane begged from the floor, voice shaking and sounding even more un-Akane-like. “I really hope it’s all a bad dream….”
Nabiki tapped her foot on the ground. “Twenty thousand yen, and I might,” she said, pretending to not care even a little.
“Typical.” Akane groaned. “Can’t you see this is an emergency, Nabiki! I can’t just give you two weeks worth of allowance just for believing me! That’s not how trusting one's family works!”
Nabiki shrugged.
Kasumi returned after her quick inspection of both rooms was complete. “I can’t see any trace of Akane inside,” she said slowly. “But… I don’t think anyone could have broken in or out since she went to take a bath.”
“That’s because she’s me!” Akane finally managed to wrap most of herself into the towel, back to the wall of the hallway and was gesturing with the severed doorknob still in her hand. “I’m telling you, it’s got to be some kind of spell or… I don’t know, the work of a malicious yokai who came for revenge! Didn’t dad use to hunt monsters? Maybe there’s an old enemy that could have done this?”
“It doesn’t sound very believable,” Kasumi said calmly. “But you’re clearly putting a lot of pressure onto yourself, so I’m willing to give you the benefit of doubt.”
“You don’t believe me?” Akane shook her head. “I - could prove it - ask me anything you think only Akane would know!”
“Where are your clothes?” Kasumi asked instead.
“In the basket by the door, what kind of question is that?” Akane pointed towards the bathroom. “I obviously keep everything else in my room.”
“I just wanted to know if you have anything to wear,” Kasumi said, gently brushing her right hand at her own temple, her voice still perfectly composed. “Akane or not, you can’t just go around wearing only a towel.”
“Oh,” Akane muttered and blushed heavily. “But - will anything I have even fit me? I don’t wanna tear my clothes, but Kasumi, maybe you could lend me one of your dresses?”
“That’s a very weird way to get your hands on a dress,” Nabiki commented and then grinned. “I’ve got you a more difficult question, then, Akane.”
“Anything!”
“Then tell us who you think Akane’s crush is?” Nabiki said.
Akane froze.
“Oh, our little Akane has a crush on someone?” Kasumi tittered cheerfully. “How sweet!”
“Nabiki, you can’t ask that!” Akane shouted, burying her face into her hands. Hands that were still distractingly unfamiliar. “How do you even know about it?”
“You did say - anything,” Nabiki pointed out. “And Akane's only a little more subtle than her crush, which is barely at all. Maybe the question is a bit too easy…”
“I’ll pay you,” Akane pleaded, face hidden. “Twenty thousand yen to believe me, was it? I promise, I will!”
Nabiki hesitated. “I think it might actually be Akane, impossible as it is,” she said to Kasumi, before focusing back on Akane. “Sadly, that offer has expired… Well, maybe if we agreed on a higher-”
“Dr Tofu,” Akane whispered through her hands, and curled up into herself, trying to disappear into nothingness.
That didn’t happen.
Nabiki must have indicated the answer was correct non-verbally, because Akane didn’t hear anything being said, but soon felt a gentle touch of her oldest sister's hand.
“Come, Akane,” Kasumi said. “Let’s find you something that fits.”
Akane lifted her tear filled eyes, and then grabbed onto Kasumi like she was a lifeline.
The Everyday Life With Eternal Curse
Akane was an unstoppable whirlwind in the backyard.
She was on a self-imposed house arrest, and it was driving her up the wall. Her older sister had just left for school, but it wasn’t like Akane could join Nabiki with her current condition. A couple days without having anyone to fight had left her with lots of pent up anger.
That's why Akane was taking it all out on her imagined opponents.
At least the body she was wrapped into seemed very much tailor-built for practicing martial arts. Made up of lean, efficiently trained muscle, it could pack quite a punch, too. Not only now she was much stronger, she had become a lightning fast storm of a fighter when it came to speed.
She only needed a short adjustment period - things that had been hard before came to her easier, too, especially the flow of ki. The more tuned in to the body’s balance she was, the faster she got. Akane’s speed improved by leaps and bounds in a matter of days. Even beyond anything she imagined was possible to achieve.
Akane smashed her fist through one imagined opponent, sidestepped another and delivered a powerful wide kick. The pants were a little too baggy and uncomfortable, which was a reason Akane’s newly adapted fighting style was so miserly on the kicks. When they happened, she made each of them count.
She caught herself thinking about getting a pair of pants that actually fit the body and had to bite her teeth together to tear the thought apart. Buying clothes that fit would be almost like giving up, wouldn’t it?
Dr Tofu - she bit down even harder to try and banish the eternal shame of that short visit from her mind - was still looking for some clue as to what could have caused the transformation. No one had any idea how to reverse it yet.
Akane adjusted the old ill-fitting pants her father had lent her yesterday, and launched on yet another offensive. A hundred punches in a blink of an eye? Easy!
Akane swept out with her leg, catching the imagined stragglers in their ankles, and spun herself to face the entrance to the house. The door to the family room was slid wide open, and her father was watching.
She hesitated.
“Good job, s-Akane,” Soun said, in that moment of stillness. “Give more attention to your footwork - you’re taller, but not by that much. Stop overcorrecting, especially when at the edge of your reach, like with that last kick.”
Akane blinked.
She opened her mouth and closed it. No sounds came out.
“Oh, don’t mind me,” her father added, waving his hand dismissively and sauntering away from the view. As if offering advice unprompted was an everyday occurrence. As if it hadn't become nearly impossible to get anything out of him when it came to learning Martial Arts.
Akane took a few shaky steps back.
“No,” she said under her breath, and changed direction, charging forward.
With each step, her legs carried her faster, and soon, she climbed up the stairs and was back in her room.
Multiple piles of clothes were propped against the walls. Most of it no longer fit her, so she didn’t bother tidying up at all. Eventually, she’d have to… but not today.
The room felt like it was too small.
The whole house was cramped, even with Nabiki at school. She felt like a caged animal. Nabiki could go out - but Akane hadn’t left the house at all, except for a single visit to Dr Tofu…
The tiny stack of clothes that somewhat fit her was taunting her from the top of her desk where she’d thrown them after going through everything. Absurdly slim pickings, bolstered only by a single worn white jacket Nabiki had sacrificed, calling it a gift. A jacket that was originally Akane’s, too.
Meanwhile, Kasumi had refused to give up even a single dress, even if Akane was sure her boy-shaped body would have fit some of them. Something about boys not looking right in dresses. Akane didn't really want to dwell on that one.
There were enough things weighing on her as it was. Akane was already feeling suffocated by all this, and it had barely been a few days. She hated how she couldn’t be comfortable in her own room, and there was no escaping Soun nor Kasumi by staying cooped up inside the house.
“Enough.”
She grabbed one of her largest shirts to wear. It was cheerfully marked with clouds, and clashed horribly with her father’s pants. But it was the longest shirt she owned. She left Nabiki’s jacket untouched, for a better day.
She thundered downstairs, and didn’t even slow down when she pushed past Kasumi in the corridor. “I’m heading out,” Akane threw back over her shoulder and, but a moment later, she was outside.
She must have looked quite silly; wearing a pair of battered shoes that were absolutely too big, a pair of pants that were tied to her with a piece of rope serving as makeshift belt and a shirt with happy clouds that looked like it was about to burst at the seams.
It would have to do. No one would recognize her anyway.
Akane chose a direction at random, and started walking.