The Galactic Bride
Chapter 7: The Stowaway

Akihiko's jaw dropped as he saw the Takei sister sitting up in his bed. "What? How did you get here?" Then another question popped in his mind. "How do you know that I'm me?"

"Which one do you want me to answer first?" Hana giggled a bit, speaking in Japanese. Somehow he had switched languages without even realizing it.

"Which ever…" Akihiko shook his head in disbelief.

Hana looked away from him, her smile fading a small bit. Her eyes focused on the exiting wall of the cabin, as if she were collecting her thoughts. Then she spoke, without looking at him. "When Hiro died I tried to run to his body. I was so scared. I looked up and saw them dragging you away. Then you looked at me, and I saw how afraid you were. I don't know what came over me. I jumped on top one of those soldiers and started screaming 'Don't take him, take me!'. After General Anura put you in the transport, she saw what I was doing. She raised her gun and was about to shoot me but she stopped. I saw her look down at my brother. For a brief second I could tell she regretted doing that. Then she looked at the solder I was on top of and said something in alien talk. The solder managed to pull me off and pointed at the fighter. She said something to me in alien, but I knew what she meant. 'If you want to come along, get in.' So I did."

"Why did you do it…" Akihiko shook his head. "Why?"

"I didn't want you to be alone." Hana said simply. "I know, it was stupid. But like it or not, you're stuck with me."

Akihiko hugged her. He had never really done that before. Sure she had hugged him plenty of times, but she was the one who started it. He never had because he didn't think it was his place to do so. But she was the only person in his life now that was from Earth, and he was grateful she was in his room.

"I guess you're okay with me being here then." Hana gave a small joke.

"But what about your family… Earth?"

"I wasn't thinking." Hana admitted. "I acted on impulse. But if I had a chance to relive that moment and consider my options, I would have gone with you anyway. I can't let you face everything alone. Plus… my twin brother is dead. I couldn't lose him and you at the same time…"

"B-But your parents?" Akihiko probed on, feeling a lump in his throat.

"I saw them before I got into the fighter. They didn't even notice I was leaving. They were too busy crying about my brother dying. Now that I think about it, it must be rough losing both children in the same day. But I had to go. Hiro would have-"

"Why'd she have to kill Hiro-kun?" Akihiko muttered, his mind returning to General Anura. "All of this could have been avoided if she just hadn't killed Hiro-kun…"

"That's not true." Hana spoke meekly. "She still would have taken you away."

"I know but-"

"Aki-chan…" Hana started but didn't have anything to follow with.

She just place a small hand into his. When he looked down at it he remembered his body change. Then the other question came to his lips. "So how did you know that I changed?"

Hana looked a bit unnerved by this one. "General Anura let me come along, but she fully intended to grill me with questions. She figured I was close to you if I was willing to exchange myself for you… so she took me. She's been asking crazy things. Stuff I don't understand the importance of. What your favorite color was, who was I to you, if you had any illness. Just weird things. The whole process was so confusing that I wasn't cooperation as well as she'd hoped. So she started showing me….showing me you suffering in the chamber thing. I was at window that looked into the rejuvenation center and I saw everything. Then she started asking me things while forcing me to watch. I guess I was giving answers much more freely when I was scared for you."

So she had seen him in the rejuvenation chamber. That had to be terrible. It felt as much, he could only imagined what it looked like seeing bones break and reform itself. But the odd part was the questions. "What did she want to know?"

"Dumb stuff. I told her you're good at History and Art and you hate Math and Science. You like salty foods over sweet. That you get into fights sometimes. That you've had a crush on Saki Okada forever but never had the courage to ask her out."

"I did not have a crush on Saki Okada." Akihiko quickly murmured, but she pushed his arm.

"She asked random stuff, you know. Unimportant stuff. Sure she'd ask if you got sick or something, but those questions were rare."

"Well… I'm sorry you had to see me like that… like this." Akihiko looked down. "That must of been scary."

"I'm so worried for you." Hana admitted. "I don't know why they wanted you, but it can't be for a good reason if they messed up your body like this."

She didn't know the half of it. So Akihiko told her everything he had learned so far. He told her about how aliens gave birth, the outer space treaty, the battle of marriage thing, and even how he learned the alien language. Well, he censured the sex part. This had taken some time, and by the end of it, he was feeling worn out.

"I'm sorry, you must be so tired." Hana apologized when she realized it herself. "I guess it takes a lot out of you to change species like that."

"It does, though General Anura seems to think I recovered quicker than everyone she's seen."

"Well, forget her. You should get some sleep. Here, I'll move over and-"

"Are you going to go?" Akihiko asked.

"I- I can't." Hana paused and looked away bashfully. "See, they think you and I are… are sort of an item." She looked at him quickly then started rambling. "I didn't tell them we were going out or anything, they just assumed I was your girlfriend or concubine, whatever. That's what General Anura calls me…. BUT I didn't correct them only because I thought they'd take me away so…. so I hope you don't mind."

Laughing a bit, Akihiko laid his head down and invited her to lay down next to him. "It's okay, you can be my concubine."

"Oh shut up!" She said, but laid down next to him anyway. "Don't try anything."

"I couldn't even if I wanted too. I'm a girl now." Akihiko spoke bitterly.

"Yeah." Hana said, but after a few moments she added. "At least you're not an ugly one though."

"You're trying to make me feel better by saying I'm not an ugly girl?"

"I don't know, what else am I supposed to say?" Hana laughed a bit. "It's weird."

The two of them didn't talk much after that. Akihiko was too tired and he ended up falling asleep. He only woke up later when he felt Hana's hands playing with his hair, but it felt so soothing that he went to sleep again. Hours later he was awaked by a harsh shove to the shoulder. He woke up and saw the General standing over his bed. Hana was awake and standing by the bathroom door.

"What?" He asked in Japanese.

"Use the common tongue, Princess." The General returned back at him in the alien language. "From now on you will speak in the common tongue when you are in the presence of a Nimbonian."

Akihiko sat up, head full of rage again. "Hana-chan is in here, it's impolite for us to talk in a different language!"

"Then teach her our language." The General leaned down, narrowing her eyes. "Now get up, tonight I'm going to be your teacher."

"Screw off." Akihiko swat at her. "I'm just a number in your stupid game anyway, so who cares if I die."

"I care." The General pulled him out of bed forcefully. He found that his legs were still weak, but his rage was keeping him up. "Major Lani cares. And your stupid concubine cares as well."

Even through his rage, he noted that the General had stated Lani's military rank. He knew she worked for the General, but Lani never once acted like a solider in front of him so for some reason he just assumed she was a civilian who worked in conjunction with the military. But on hearing her being called 'Major' it really drove it home. It made him feel bitter know that she was more apart of the machine than he wanted her to be.

"Well I'm sorry that I'll be one big disappointment to everyone. 'How To Murder An Alien' wasn't taught in Tokyo High Schools."

"If you're such a loser, maybe I'll just send your concubine in the coliseum instead. At least she shows guts. It must be the failing of the male gender, to be spineless cowards."

"You bitch." Akihiko stood up firmly and got in the tall woman's face. "Leave Hana-chan out of this."

"Then get your ass out that door and follow me to lessons."

Akihiko growled then looked at Hana. "Sorry, looks like I've got to go."

The General slapped him on top of the head and shoved him out the door. He let that slide. He spoke Japanese on purpose and knew that was the result he'd get. But he didn't care he wanted to rub it in.

After a traveling a maze of corridors and lifts, General Anura took him into a cargo bay that was mostly empty. What was there were a variety of weapons and outdoorsmen equipment. Akihiko rightly assumed that combat and survival training was going to begin. His legs was shaking once again, and he felt winded from keeping up with the woman.

If General Anura noticed this, she didn't pay it any mind. She unzipped her jumpsuit to the top of her chest, then rolled up her sleeves. Akihiko must of looked stupid still in the hospital pajamas he was wearing. The General walked over to the survival equipment first and picked up something that looked to be a hatchet.

"Major Lani may have informed you of the competition you'll be competing in for House Grajin. But I'm sure she left out some details." The General started, and was using the hatchet as if it was a pointer to get her points across. "This isn't a fighting tournament, this a battle. Everyone will be placed into the coliseum at once and it will be a free-for-all."

This terrified Akihiko more than fighting one-on-one. Now he was positive the was get killed. "Are you crazy? How barbaric. And you call humans animals? Listen to yourself!"

The General let him tirade, with a bored expression. When he was done she continued. "The majority of your time in the coliseum will not be spent killing other people, it will be surviving. The coliseum will be a gated area on Musa Minor. Musa Minor is an uninhabited planet, and when competitions like this need to be decided upon, the contestants are sent there. The locations are always different, but it's always the same world. It's untouched except for the past competitors who've survived on that world. So what you need to know about all is survival. If you can outlast the others, you can win."

She stopped speaking allowing him to take it all in. He felt more exhausted just from hearing it. Walking over to him she grabbed his ear and twisted it.

"OW! What are you doing!?"

"Now's not the time to go to sleep, Princess."

"Stop calling me Princess!"

"What's the first rule of surviving?" The General ignored his complaining.

"I don't know… getting water."

She looked at him, and a flicker of a smile went to her lips. "The dumb animal has enough sense for that."

"Shut up you psycho."

"Nimbonians come into the coliseum with a slight advantage, if we have enough water, food won't be an issue until about seven rotations. However we can only survivable about four rotations without water. So finding and keeping water around should be your first priority. The disadvantage is that Tyrians don't need water at all, and if a Wahconese has water, they don't need food. Tarfulles and Mari are similar to us."

"Should I be writing this down?"

"It would be wise to remember it. Taking a Tyrians food may take them out of the Contest. One less person to kill." The General told him sternly.

"How long is this competition supposed to go?"

"You're getting off point, Princess." The General nudged him with the hatchet handle. "The Contest lasts until one person is alive. There is no other way."

"What if I forfeit?"

"Then the official referee will kill you on the spot. And rightfully so. No house wants a damn coward in their family."

"So, if I can go in the woods and hide the whole time, that's not considered being a coward?"

"It's not cowardly if it works. Surviving in a harsh environment with little to no tools is brave on it's own. Keeping out of sight from the other contestants would be skillful on it's own. Whoever wins this competition is the best woman."

He started to get sleepy again. If the General would just let him rest up fully then this wouldn't be a problem. Didn't she say he recovered quicker than anyone else had before? That meant everyone else, whoever they were, were probably still sleeping and getting stronger.

The General must have been reading his facial expressions as she grabbed his arm and pulled him over to simulated wooded area in the cargo bay. She pointed inside and shouted at him. "If you're so sleepy, make a shelter among those trees. If I'm satisfied, I'll let you sleep."

"I don't know how to do that!" Akihiko growled at her.

"Does the little baby need help?"

Seething Akihiko stumbled over to the wooded area. He couldn't see her, but he knew the General was watching him. His body was shutting down and his mind wasn't thinking correctly and as a result his shelter attempts weren't working. The General said nothing and just watched him. When he felt at his wits end he looked at her. Without a word she pointed to a log and tree. That was all he needed. He could see how she wanted him to prop it up. Then it sort of became a puzzle. After sometime the shelter was made.

General Anura walked over to it, got on her knees and crawled inside. Akihiko waited, wondering if she was satisfied or not. Then she popped her head out of the entrance and looked at him. "I'm satisfied. Get in."

"What?"

"If you want to sleep, come inside."

"But you're in there."

"In the competition there may come a time where you have to share your food, equipment, and your shelters with others. Get in, and don't knock anything over."

Grumbling to himself, he crawled in carefully. It was close quarters and the General body was pressed against his. When they were more or less facing each other, Akihiko meant to turn around so she wasn't in his face, but she stopped him.

"Even with a friend, never take your eye off the enemy. If I move while you are sleeping, you will know it and will be prepared if I attack. Just don't sleep too soundly."

"How am I supposed to control that?"

"Wrap your arms around me. Even then you will know if I'm moving. If you can't wake up then, you're either sick or deserve to die."

Not wanting to do it, Akihiko wrapped his arms around her. She felt very much like a woman. But this was the same psycho who murdered his best friend, kidnapped his other best friend and tortured her, and forced Lani to rape him. She was wasn't a woman at all. Even if she felt like it. But she also was warm, and she now that she wasn't yelling at him or pushing him around, she was more like a blanket. Her arms were around him as well. So his eyes drooped shut and he went immediately to sleep.

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