Non-fiction Fantasy

By K-chan

Warning: Shounen-ai, swearing, a little weird. That's about it so far.

Simple K-chan say's: 'Mine, all mine! Bwuhahahahah!'

For Phae, the Ying to my Yang.

Chapter 1: Look at me now, do you see?

"Hey Guy's? I need to go to the bookstore." I trail off as my polite request is met with assorted groans from my friends.

My name is Kawamoto Yushiro, I am nineteen years old, 5ft 9 with clear blue- violet eyes, an annoyingly girly figure and can't remember the natural colour my hair. My only living family consists of my little brother Tame and my Aunt Glen, the two of whom live together in the quiet suburbs; I on the other hand, rent a run-down apartment not to far from the mall. I dress like a Gothic, as do my friends and have never so much as kissed anyone. My hobbies include reading, drawing/painting and scaring any 'normal people' who dare enter my mall. Right now, my mission in life is to buy a new, interesting and exciting book. But my friends are being difficult!

I pout stubbornly. "Aw come on! I went into the 'Naughty Nickers' store with Cleo."

Laz tugs playfully on my untidy hair, which was candy pink today. "Yeah, but it's at the other end of the Mall!" He laughs at my glare and tries to grab my ass. We get quite a few weird looks as no one's used to seeing a group of Goths standing around laughing; they probably think we're on drugs.

Mina Scenaa steps in and saves me, tugging Laz back by his ear. "Now, now Lazarus. Leave Yushiro alone, you know how he is." I smooth my immaculate shirt and feign aloofness. "He has to have something to do while he's busy saving himself for you." She continues happily, I roll my eyes and flip that over-sexed idiot Lazarus Gates the bird. He winks suggestively and blows a kiss right back. God I need new friends.

Cleopatra Akinu giggles at our antics. "I don't see what all the fuss is about. We could just check out that new place."

I whirl and face her coldly. A new bookstore? In my mall? That I didn't know about? Impossible! "What new bookstore?"

The petite fake-redhead rolls her eyes and points. "That one right there." Then she adds ever so helpfully. "Duh, Shiro!"

Like I said, I need new friends. But still. they can come in handy at times.

I look in the direction that Cleo is pointing and see the store immediately. Posters of the latest releases decorate the front window and from what I can see it looks rather up-beat and modern. Over all I'm pleased, but I must admit the name of the place leaves a lot to be desired.

"We Sell Books?" I read aloud sceptically. Not very creative for a place that lives off the imagination others.

Laz latches onto my arm again and makes a poor attempt to nuzzle my neck. "Let's go have a look, my little yummy-Yushiro-sugary-pie!"

I groan in exasperation and try to shake him off, but it's a lost cause. Laz has an addictive nature, cigarettes, alcohol, caffeine and has even been known to do the drugs every once in awhile. For some strange reason Laz decide that I'm addictive as well and has become obsessed with sleeping with me. I'm not sure if he's actually serious or not and I don't want to know.

I glare at the frosted black spikes of his hair. He's like a leach; once he gets a good grip on your skin there's no way to dislodge him, you just have to wait and eventually he'll drop off on his own. Either that or you could burn him off, but somehow I don't think that scenario would end well.

Mina swishes past, her face deliberately serious. "Well? Hurry up! Yushiro can lose his later."

Bitch; she probably thinks she's funny. I guess I should come out with something that will scar her for life. "Hey Mina. You need to die your hair again."

Oh yeah, good one Yushiro. She's forever traumatised now. Idiot.

She grins at me and flips her long hair. "No way! Black hair with white roots is in!"

"Not as good as edible-pink." Purred Laz trying to tongue the hollow behind my pierced ear, thankfully this manoeuvre doesn't work being that I'm too tall. "And I should know, it's my job to be on top of these sort of things." He gives my arm a meaningful squeeze.

I don't say anything to that, instead I stalk into the lovely 'We Sell Books' Laz still clinging tight.

The store is surprisingly large inside, with lots of brightly coloured shelves and dazzling red carpet. I'm not quite sure why, but it has an unrealistic quality to it. Like when you space out and every thing feels like a dream. Laz looks around before gasping. "The next Harry Potter Book!" He releases my now numb arm and 'ooh-ing' and 'ahh-ing' happily makes his way over to the bright poster.

Seizing the opportunity I make my escape and head for the 'Fiction - fantasy' section. The tall shelves hide me from my friends easily, hopefully buying me more time then the five minutes Mina seems to think it takes to select a good book.

After the allotted five minutes I still haven't decide what I wanted to get, I can here Mina practically screaming my name. In a hurry I just grab whatever's in front of me.

I turn around and barely manage to bite back the undoubtedly girly shriek clawing at my throat. Holy Shit, it feels like my heart is going to bash through my ribs. There's someone standing right in front of me.

My first impression is 'creepy'. Upon closer inspection I realise that my first observation was correct; there is something decidedly creepy about this person. There's something about them that's just as unreal as the store. I can't tell if it's a guy or a girl and even though their hair is pale silver I couldn't guess their age if my life depended on it.

"Going to buy that one?" the stranger asks as I gape at them. Their voice, somehow, is as sexless as their appearance.

"Uh?" I look at the book in my hands. It was thicker than the bible; a hardcover (expensive!) and someone had lost the jacket. The cover was plain white with the words 'Non-fiction Fantasy' printed elegantly in gold down the spine.

Hmm, without the jacket I couldn't tell what the book was about, but the title intrigued me. A non-fiction fantasy? Could be anything really, and the mystery of it was enough to make me nod to the. uh, it?

"Yeah."

The person smiled in an odd, creepy kind of way. "A good choice, sir." The book was stolen from my grasp before I could so much as blink.

"A very good choice." they repeated studying my face. I don't like strangers looking me in the eye, though I'm not too sure why, so I let myself stare at the name tag that I've only just noticed on - er, it's shirt. The badge proudly displayed that I was in the presence of the manager of the store, but oddly enough the space left for the name was empty.

"Well, you're our first customer and the item is clearly damaged. so I'll let you have this one for free."

I watch the mysterious manager suspiciously as he/she puts the book in a brightly coloured bag that had the trusty 'We Sell Books' printed on it. I'm not suspicious by nature. well okay, I am but I don't believe in getting something for free.

Everyone's looking for something, and there's always a price.

~(*)~

I sigh in relief as I shut the heavy steel door to my apartment. Alone at last.

Don't get me wrong, I love my friends to death but I'm actually a rather private person and need a lot of space.

My apartment's not exactly the Ritz; but hey, it's home. The walls have several cracks in them and were probably once cream but years of cigarette smoke from previous tenants had stained them a dull mustard colour. None of the furniture matches, copies of famous artworks are tacked to the wall along with movie posters and a couple paintings of my own. Colourful orderments team in every nook and cranny, yet I keep my apartment spotless.

The overall affect is a warm homely environment that manages to be bright and colourful at the same time.

I've never bought anyone to my home, it seems too personal or something.

I take off my shoes by the door, something most people find weird, as I don't look the slightest bit Asian, and pad through my lounge room and into the kitchen; dumping several bags on the green and purple couch as I pass.

Man I am hungry, I eat enough for ten people yet remain the same width as a bean-poll. I yank open the fridge and after a few minutes of debate I choose a Snickers over a grated cheese & carrot sandwich with mayo. Too much work, plus it was chocolate! It wins hands down; I only stood there for so long so I wouldn't feel bad about eating unhealthily. again. It sounds sad, even to me, but what can I say? I have a notoriously un- satiable sweet tooth.

I lean wearily against the ugly chipped counter that separates the kitchen from the tiny dining room and look at my feet while I munch on the Snickers. I'd been wearing my heavy black combat boots all day, but unbeknownst by anyone, hidden under the tough black leather I was wearing odd socks. One was rainbow-like in colouring and the other was a plain white ankle sock.

For some reason this struck me as ironically deep and meaningful. You can only ever judge someone on the outer shell that they choose to show you, yet underneath they could be, and usually are, completely different.

Never judge a book by its cover? Was that the lesson to be learnt from my socks?

I blink and shake my head, then eye the almost finished chocolate bar cautiously. What the hell is in this?

~(*)~

I give my pink hair one final scrub with the towel before pulling on the neutral grey track-pants that I wear to bed. It's only 8:30, a bit early for bed usually but I want to start the new book I got today.

I switch on my lamp before turning off the light and climb into bed. The bedspread is an ugly brown colour that I bought in a thrift shop. At the time I'd been short on cash and I've never been motivated enough to go hunting for the perfect sheets for my 'magical love nest' as Laz once put it.

I take my time getting myself comfortable, adjusting my pillows and wrapping the sheets around me snugly. I even allow myself to yawn before I reach for the mysterious 'Non-fiction Fantasy' sitting on my bedside table next to a framed photo of my friends.

For some strange reason I hesitate; my hand is just hovering over the white cover. Never judge a book by its cover. That's what my socks had said. well not said, but you know what I mean! I just know reading this book will change my life.

I groan and snatch up the book.

You idiot Yushiro! It's just a fucking book! Get a grip, it's not like it's gonna come to life and bite your head off!

It could. a small part of my mind defends.

I ignore myself (if such a thing is possible) and lean back, opening the book. I'm immediately assaulted by the smell of fresh parchment; ooh my fears have been justified!

I snort irritably and turn my attention to the first page. Once again it has the title printed across it but apart from that the page is blank. I'm surprised, there should have at least been the name of the author somewhere on that page. I check the cover; it's not there either. Weird.

I decide to ignore the oddity and turn the page, my eyes quickly following the small text.

= Along time ago there was nothing, not even darkness. Then in the blink of an eye there appeared matter. Something now existed.

The Father Time and The Mother Universe were spawned from this insignificant matter and with them came the Real. Plains and alternate realities of endless possibilities branched off from the Real, creating an ever-growing tree of vortexes. A shifting in the Real where Mother and Father touched created Matter and Anti-matter.

Suns and planets were born from the ever-increasing matter.

And lo, there was something unexpected. The entire Real shook with the creation of Life, a miniature universe in it's self. The very first amoeba crawled from creation. A mixture of all things of the universe. Fire, earth, water, air, matter and, even more miraculous, anti-matter.

Slowly the Life became complex, it had instincts, then thoughts. Through it all the Universe watched, and comest it onto a revelation.

Life could change The Real.

This was the Creation. =

I blink, okay. That wasn't too bad. I'd read worse, it seemed a bit philosophical, but then again the 'Belgariad' by David Eddings (Love those books!) has a similar beginning. Just the author trying to set the stage, I guess.

I admit, I am intrigued to see where this is going. So I ignore that stupid voice that had insisted earlier that the book could bite and turned the page.

= The Universe is vast, and is made from both matter and anti-matter, light and dark, good and evil, two halves of a whole.

But never had such a thing as Life ever existed, and as the universe watched something happened.

One thinking-Life met another and there were feelings, emotions. The Universe experienced love for the first time. This was as new and as unexpected as Life itself.

The universe also felt something else; empathy. They were the same. Life was as much as an accident as the Universe and for both to continue to Exist things must change.

But the Real did not want to change. For it was sturdy where the Universe was flexible, it was that which held all together. The Real could not allow Life to change it as it willed.

The risk was too great, Life could not see beyond the weaves of The Mother and The Father, how could such a blind and petty thing control all that is?

The Real would stop Life, The universe would continue in an orgy of change, using Life to alter the Real to its liking.

Thus began the Struggle.

The Stagnant and the Ever-changing. =

Well shit, this stuff's deep; but not too hard to figure out. Obviously the first page was about the big bang and the second is the theories of Order & Chaos. I mean it's interesting and all, but I'm impatient. I want to get to the story.

So I do one of the worst things imaginable; I skip forward.

Not too far, only about ten pages or so. Ah, this is what I'm looking for.

= On this planet that crawled with Life the Edges overlapped. Here the Universal-Life protected the Thinking-Life.

Within the Vortex of the Edges, the creatures of the Universal-life fight to protect the blind Thinking-Life called man, from the Real-life who seeks to destroy them.

And this is the beginning of The Story.

~ Into the womb of the Universe and the embrace of Time, Travel Life. Lift the veils of the Real from thine eyes, And traverse the Vortex. Find the destiny of Life, For life is the destiny of the Real. ~ =

Hmm, better. Idly I stretch and glance over at my alarm clock. I freeze.

1:56? I've only read three pages, what happened to the other five hours? Okay, this is now entering the 'Beyond Weird' category. What the hell is going on?

And. Fuck. I have to work tomorrow too. I hate Subway. I don't have time to think about this now, I have to get to sleep or I'll never wake up on time.

Grumbling I put a flattened chocolate wrapper in the book and set it on my bedside table.

I flick off the lamp and roll over. Damn, I don't think I'll be able to sleep! All that philosophy has my brain going into over drive. I shut my eyes.

~(*)~

I look around at the unfamiliar street that I'm standing in. It's nighttime so the street lamps are on but I appear to be the only person on the street. Something feels off, I can smell it in the air.

I must be dreaming, which means I at least got to sleep. Yay for me.

As I walk down the empty street in my grey pants a gentle breeze moves over my bare arms, thick and heavy. I don't really enjoy the sensation, it feels sickly, almost perverse, like unwanted fingers trailing over my skin.

I suppress a shudder at that thought. This sure is some weird dream; nothing's tried to kill me yet.

I hear the sound of running heading towards me.

Then someone bolts around the corner only two or three metres in front of me and freezes when he sees me.

I can't help but gape in surprise. I'm pretty sure it's a guy even though he has flowing hip-length hair. The colour is washed out by the gold light from the street lamps, so it looks dark brown but I think it might actually be a deep green colour with two sky blue streaks. His eyes are huge and slanted, his irises looked almost as gold as the lighting. All he's wearing is a loose black shirt that hangs almost to his knees, with a maroon sash tied around his slim waist, a heavy woollen coat that reaches half way down his calves and strange little belted sandals strapped to his feet.

We stare at each other for a couple of minutes before there's a weird padding noise echoing from around the corner. "You idiot!" Hisses the stranger and he grabs my arm. "Hurry up this area is crawling with Reals, you shouldn't be here!"

"Uh..?" He gives my arm a tug, I can't stop staring; his skin seems a little. green??? But that's not what I'm staring at; from under his untidy green hair are two long pointed ears decorated with jewelled studs and rings.

"I said hurry up!"

Okay, I am definitely dreaming, there's a pointy-eared, sandal-wearing little freak trying to pull me down a dark ally. No way this is real.

The freak-thing sandwiches me between him and a dirty Dumpster. Dear god, I hope he's wearing pants under that dress thingy of his.

This is so stupid, I try to stifle my giggle. I can't believe I've subconsciously put myself in this situation, my brain is so fucked up.

My cross-dressing companion glares at me. "Unless you want to die slowly and painfully I suggest that you shut up!" He whispers frantically.

Mr tough guy? I didn't know that was my type, good for me. I giggle again.

A strong, long-fingered hand covers my mouth. "Shh, she's coming."

Oh yes, this is definitely a dream. Any second now and an evil Godzilla or some-such will come tearing down the ally and use my spinal column as a toothpick. Why do I always have to have such weird dreams?

And speaking of weird; I suspect I have dropped one third of my height, either that or everything has decided to get bigger.

Perhaps my subconscious is trying to tell me that I am feeling overwhelmed by life? Maybe I have a deep-seated desire to be sheltered and protected? Or I could just be feeling sensitive about my height tonight.

My 'rescuer' suddenly tightens his grip on me and holds his breath. There is a snuffling noise, which is then replaced but the sound of heels on concrete.

"Game over, pretty boy. Now come out with your cute little hands up." Calls out a rich feminine voice. All right, I totally don't get my brain tonight; what the hell am I thinking?

The green dude hesitates; his pink rimmed amber eyes locking with mine. Freaky eyes dude. "All right Ansette, you win. You can have the map back. But I also call for a temporary immunity."

The unseen woman snorts in disbelief. "Yeah right Mage, I've been fucking chasing you for two days. No way in hell I'm fucking giving you Immunity! Besides, I think it's high time the Cat's got their claws into one of Hiro's men again." She laughed, and even though it is warm and welcoming my pointy-eared friend shudders. "Aw, fuck! Come on Shinta, don't you fucking dare make me go down there and get you! " The stranger complains.

"Please Ansette! You have to grant me immunity!" Shouts Shinta, or at least I'm assuming that's his name.

"Hmm." The sound of heels draws closer. "What're you hiding back their Elf?"

His arms are wrapped so tight around me that I can barely breathe. "Stay back, Real!"

Okay, that's it, I've had enough of this freaky dream. I start to squirm in his arms. "Gah! Would you bloody let go of me? Some people require oxygen to live!" I yank myself out of Shinta's hold and leap out from behind the Dumpster.

"Wait!" The elf catches my arm, effectively halting my escape.

"Is that what I think it is, Elf?" I look over at the tall woman standing just inside the mouth of the ally. I don't like the way she's looking at me. First impression says: Predator.

Ansette's hair is coal black an almost reached the small of her back in liquidy waves. Her skin is the colour of burnt honey and I can see quite a bit of it, what she's wearing could be classified as lingerie. A black leather bikini-type-thingy and pale bronze over-robes made from a gauzy material. Her shoes are thigh high, the heels tall and pointy. Her eyes are slanted but not as unnaturally big as Shinta's and her irises are like hammered gold. She reminds me of a cat, dangerously intelligent, but still wanting to toy with you.

Shinta nods; I swear to god, if that green skinned twit doesn't let go of my arm it's going to drop off. I'm pretty sure I'm already going to have a bruise, if this wasn't just a dream of course.

"Well fuck me!" Exclaims Ansette. Damn, she sure does like to use that word.

"He hasn't chosen yet, I have to get him to neutral ground." Shinta pleads, still sticking to my arm like glue. Jesus, this guy's almost as bad as Laz.

The woman thinks for a moment then holds out her hand. "Map." Shinta sighs and pulls a rolled up piece of paper from his coat pocket. I watch in surprise as he throws it lightly into the air and mutters a word, the scroll appears in front of Ansette and she plucks it from the air.

What the hell was that? Magic?

Then again, this is all a dream so why not?

Ansette puts the paper who-knows-where and grins. "All right Shinta, I'll grant you and your pretty boy Immunity." Who the hell does she think she's calling 'pretty boy'? I scowl. "But you owe me one Elf."

She winks at me. "I'll see you around, eh? Luck on picking sides, pretty boy; and remember, just because you found one side first doesn't mean it's the right one. Don't nock it till you've tried it, right?" With that she turned and left, letting me see that her bikini has even less material at the back then it does at the front.

"Who the hell was that?" I demanded. "And while I'm at it, who the fuck are you?"

Shinta grins at me sheepishly; the little bastard still hasn't let go of my arm. "Well, that was Ansette, head of the Shadow Cat's Clan and I'm Shinta of the Talon Squadron."

"Oh, suddenly everything makes perfect sense." I drawl sarcastically.

The elf smiles widely. "Great! For a minute there I thought you were going to ask what planet we're on!"

My god, he is like Laz! There's no way I'm fucked up enough to imagine being rescued by someone like that freak. Unfortunately this leads me to the realisation that if this isn't a dream, then it must be real.

"I was being sarcastic you fucking idiot! Now where the hell am I?!" I explode, waving one arm like a mad man as the other is *still* restrained by the elf. "And would you let go of my arm, I'm not going to disappear!!" I know this is the truth, because I'm not that lucky.

Shinta lets go but he doesn't step away. "Hey, are you okay?" He watches me worriedly. I must be going crazy, I could have sworn that his eyes were yellow but now they were pale blue with the pink outer ring.

Now that he mentions it, no. No I'm no okay. That weird feeling is back, like the air was smothering me. "No! I'm not 'okay' you insensitive jerk!"

The elf seems rather taken aback by my attitude. "Um, alright. What's wrong?"

Wrong? WRONG?? The pointy-eared green-man wants to know what's wrong? "What isn't? First time goes funky, then my subconscious decides to put it's freak on me, and YOU! You can't possibly be my imagination, I'm not that desperate, but you're a fucking ELF!!!"

Shinta frowns in confusion. "Should I be something else? Were you expecting another fairy?"

I push the annoying idiot aside "Gah! Just leave me alone! And what is with this air?" I ask in exasperation. Its getting kind of hard to breathe, maybe I should calm down a bit?

"Uh. The air?"

For a moment I have a terrible head-spin and I stumble. I'm cool, no need to panic, everything's fine.

I turn to face my would-be rescuer. "Hey, the least you could ha-" Only he's not there. And neither is the squalid ally.

Instead I'm standing in a bright park; not really one of my favourite places. It looks like any stereotypical park ever made. Lots of grass and trees, I'm standing on a surprisingly clean asphalt path and in front of me is a brightly coloured playground.

"I don't hate you." I look in the direction of the voice. It's a little kid, he's sitting on the shiny red swing set.

"What?"

The boy smiles and swings back and forwards. "Do you want to play?" His pastel green eyes close against the rushing air as his momentum carries him higher.

"Uh, okay." Heavy chains rattle as I seat myself on a spare swing. I rock a little on the point of my toe but can't really get all that excited about something as monotonous and repetitive as a ping pong match.

"It's almost like flying!" Laughs the boy.

"I guess." The kid can't be more than five, where are his parents? He shouldn't be out here all by himself.

He lets the swing slow down a bit before continuing. "But you can't fly of corse. Because gravity keeps you on the ground."

I halt my pathetic attempts and stare in surprise. That's one smart kid. "True, but what about air planes or hang gliders? People can fly with those."

He giggles. "Silly, those things are just mathematical formulas and scientific inspiration brought to life. But they too must obey the laws os Physics." He drags his feet in the bark-chips, coming to a stop. His unnerving green eyes locking with mine. "Life can find loop-holes, but ultimately they must follow the Real."

"Ah. right." I'm not certain of what's going on here, but something definitely seems off. This isn't the type of conversation one expects to have with a five-year-old on a swing set.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this."

"." I have no idea of what I'm supposed to say to that.

"Will you talk with me again?" He asks a touch desperately. What a weird kid.

"Sure, any time."

He bites his lip hesitantly. "Yushiro, will you be my friend?"

Well, what the hell? "Okay, why not? My name's Y-" I blink. "Wait a second, how did you know my name?"

The kid is gone and I'm sitting on a rusty swing set in an over grown park, with the uncomfortable feeling that I've been by myself the whole time.

What the fuck is going on?

"You're dreaming."

With a resigned sigh I turn to face the latest figment of my imagination.

End Chapter 1

Erk, tired. Need sleep. *blinks owlishly* Right, so far so good. I'm not really all that happy with this chapter, but then again that's just the way it goes. Meh, bygones. If this was enough to get you interested drop us a line. *yawn* Like review, or something.