DISCLAIMERS: Any person involved in a sexual act is above the age of 18. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. This story contains some supernatural events, but is not intended to disrespect any religion.
This story also has fictitious members of the Imperial family of Japan. Presently, there are two unmarried princes in the royal family, ages 6 and 62. My characters are not the same ages as existing members of the royal family. I have made up two unmarried brothers, ages 18 and 26, whose mother is now a widow, or dowager princess. There are presently no dowager princesses in the royal family, either. I am hoping that I have treated the royal family, even my fictitious members, with respect.
As for sex, there is little in this one. It has some graphic descriptions, because the main character goes through an involuntary Transgendering from a man to a woman. I am posting it here because I am not sure how it would go over on a non-sexual literature posting site. The story is meant to be open ended, so that the character can be used in many additional stories.
Chapter 4 -- Home and Warmth
Somewhere in the Amori Prefecture, Japan.
As we crunch through the falling snow, the only light I can see is the beam of the flashlight. There are no street lights, and the road reflectors have been covered up by the snow. We are near the end of the road, and I look around for a house. The only thing I could see was a sealed up tunnel.
"Where is your house, Ahiko?"
Ahiko points at the tunnel, "Straight ahead."
I look forward again. The road stops just before the tunnel. The tunnel is crudely carved, and there are metal doors covering the entrance. There is water is flowing under the door, running down the hill, and into the river. Steam is rising from the water, as if flows into the river. I again use my flashlight to check to either side of the tunnel entrance, but I don't see a thing.
"The tunnel? There's water running out! You can't possibly live in there!"
"You're right! The main tunnel was flooded when an underground thermal spring was hit. I live in the upper service passageways. They are about three meters wide, and it goes clear thought the hill. It's winter, so I'm living in the lower one, because it's closer to the thermal spring."
I am still puzzled, but she continues to push the wheelchair to the end of the road and down a small walkway that goes towards the tunnel.
Near the entrance to the tunnel, we turn and zig-zag around a corner. We then go up a concealed ramp and to a door that was hidden from view by some red pines. She unlocks and opens the door and pushes me through. After she closes the door, she turns on a small light and checks me again for vital signs.
"I don't have very big batteries, so we can't use this light for very long. I have a cooking fire in the main area, and it will be warmer there. You need to let you eyes get accustomed to the light in here."
I look around the service tunnel. The walls are wet, and there are channels cut into the floor along each wall to catch and drain off the water dripping down. There seems like an endless series of greenhouses going down the tunnel, and water drops are hitting the top and sides of the greenhouses and dripping into the channels. The greenhouses are the plastic kit type that one would purchase at the home improvement store. After she checks me again, she turns off the entry light, and my eyes start to adjust. There are little night lights on each section of greenhouse that give off a soft amber glow. The dripping sound is similar to a spring rain, with an echo of course. The amber glow gives a warm cast to everything.
She walks down to the first glowing light and turns around. "Each of these lights uses only 1/20 of a watt each. I have 400 of these things, so I am using the same amount of energy to light my home as that 20 watt light we used in the entry."
"How long did it take your father do all of this, Ahiko?" She looked back with a hurt and puzzled look. "I did it all myself. It's not bad, is it?"
"Oh! It's wonderful! You are a very smart girl! But where are your parents?"
I had struck a nerve. She starts to cry again. "I work very hard! I'm a big person, and I can take care of myself!" She reaches into her coat, pulls out her doll, and hugs it.
I try my best to recover, "And you're doing a very good job, Ahiko. Would you like to come over and let me hug you? I'm thankful for being helped by a wonderful lady like you."
She sniffles as she walks back. She takes off her coat and gently leans over the wheelchair. I reached around her and gave her a gentle hug. Something was strange about the hug. I felt around a bit and felt two bony lumps below her shoulder blades. Oh, my! She's deformed!
She gently hugged me back. Ahiko feels my hands touch the lumps on her back. "It's OK; I have several genetic defects, and have a second pair of shoulder blades, along with a few other things. I call them my wing pods. You can call me angel if you want. I like that. We can go now, you're not bleeding, but one of your legs is hurt. I'd like to clean you up and fully examine your leg."
She pushes me down the tunnel, and I noticed several openings to either side. Openings on one side lead to a railing that overlooks the main tunnel. I can hear the water splashing and flowing down into the main tunnel. Most of openings on the other side opened up to small chambers, but there is one with a ramp going up. We stopped at one of the openings that overlooks to the main tunnel where water was bubbling out of the wall. A stone wall had been constructed to form a huge bath and the excess water cascades like a waterfall into the main tunnel. Seats and reclining positions had been carefully formed into the walls. There were many safety bars placed throughout the pool.
"Did you make this too?"
This time she was beaming with pride. "Yup, it took a while to get the temperature right, there's a hot pool, closer to the spring, and a cool pool that's over here. I want you to use the cool pool after we wash the blood off your body. It's just below body temperature. The hot pool may cause your leg to swell up. Will you excuse me while I get us some towels, and fresh clothes to wear?
"Why sure dear, you're being a perfect hostess".
She walked down thirty meters and knocked on a piece of wood on one of the outer chamber walls. "Hello, I'm back now. I did find a lady in the car, and I brought her here. I'm going to clean her up and treat her wounds now. I will then make dinner for the three of us. Sir, do you need anything before I do this?.....Yes, she was bleeding, but I think she's OK now. Do you need to go to the bathroom?.....Are you sure?......OK?....I caught two fish today, so we'll have some protein other than bean curd. I am going to add some wood to the fire and grab some towels and some clean clothes. I'll be back in a little while to cook."
Ahiko then went into a side chamber and returned shortly with the towels and some clothes. Oh my, she must be taking care of her father. I looked around the bath. It is set up for someone in a wheelchair to use. The safety railings were everywhere, and seats were set up around the bath so that it was easy to transfer out of the wheelchair and bathe oneself before entering the bath. She quickly moves me out of the wheelchair and onto a seat. When she goes over to the bath to draw some water, I look at the wheelchair and notice that it is small. It is a child's wheelchair. She must be taking care of her brother. Why did she call her brother sir? How can she do all this? She's just a little child herself! She came back and carefully removed my clothing, washed my body, and examined my leg.
"Your right ankle is twisted. It will be OK to walk on in a day or two. I'll fix that before we go to bed. I want to help you with the cuts on your face right now. Do I have your permission to treat them?"
I nodded. She gently placed her hands on either side of my face. "I want you to stay calm. Please don't be frightened at what you see. Can you do that for me?"
I wasn't ready for that. My face must be a mess. I have not looked into a mirror yet. I must look hideous! Yet, Ahiko had not made a face or winced once when she looked at me. The only thing I see in her eyes was concern for my well being. I take a deep breath, and slowly let it out. OK, I can do this. I nodded and looked into her eyes. "You're going to be a great doctor someday."
"I already am." She smiled and her hands became warm. A golden glow appeared around Ahiko, expecially around her head. I looked forward and cracks started to form on Ahiko's face. Even when blood started to drip from the cracks, she simply smiled and gazed at me with those soulful and caring eyes. In the end, I can only see a smile and two cheerful golden eyes, surrounded by a golden aura of light. Even as the glow around Ahiko subsided, and I see that she has blood dripping from her face, she continued to smile at me. Her hands cooled down, and she removed them from my face, grabbed a washcloth, and started dabbing the blood from her face. She handed a mirror to me, along with another washcloth. I looked into the mirror and found small red lines of blood on my face, a mirror image of the bloody cracks that appeared on Ahiko's face. I dipped the washcloth into the water and started cleaning my face. The cracks washed off, and my face was clean of marks. I looked over at Ahiko's face and see that she now has scars all over hers. What have I done to this child? My hands started to shake, and tears started to run down my face, but she stops me.
She holds my hand and smiles back at me. "I am an empathic healer, and my body regenerates quickly. These scars will be gone in the morning. I still need to walk around and cook dinner, so I will heal of your ankle before we go to bed. I will heal the ankle only a little bit, so that I will be able to walk and take care of you tomorrow. My ankle will be completely healed before tomorrow afternoon, and I will be able to go fishing again.
"My word, you ARE an angel!"
She smiled back. "I like being called an angel sometimes, but I am a simple shrine maiden. I tend a shrine near here, and I go on pilgrimages to other shrines. I have been given the power to heal, and to see spirits. I get frightened by crowds. And if I see too many spirits, I get frightened, so I live by myself in this tunnel."
"Were you talking to a spirit when you went for the towels?"
She shook her head, "No, that was some local boy who I don't recognize. He is lying to me about his identity. I am healing his leg right now. He has a double fracture on his right leg. There is a spirit that led me to him, and the same spirit led me to you. He's here right now."
I grabbed a towel and covered my body. "He's watching us right now? He can see me naked?"
