Continued from Part two

:::Back At The Tower:::

Jade, for the most part, was exhausted both mentally and physically and was slumped loosely on a puffy cushion in a corner. Pulling herself back together again had proven to be more of a task than she thought it would have been, but she had done it, and was thinking rationally again and chuckled weakly at the fact.

“Look at me, breaking down like this. Uncle Jackie would be rolling in his grave if he were dead in the first place. I just need to keep cool and Uncle and Jackie will sort it out, and if they don't I will. After all, you can't keep the Chan Clan down for long. But just in case, I should start figuring out where I am, or at least when from the looks of things. But where do I…”

It was at this time that Jade noticed something else wrong with the way she was speaking. Not only did her voice sound different, but she was also speaking a completely different language all together! Taking a deep breath, and actually paying attention this time, she slowly and careful spoke aloud again, this time paying heed to the words.

“My name is Jade Chan.”

Unfortunately, her suspicions were confirmed when instead of English, perfect Japanese came out of her mouth, in the form of “Mai na Hisui Chan”. What really surprised her was when she understood it. Normally, she would have to struggle a bit to get Japanese down and understand it while pronouncing, but now she was speaking and understanding it as if she was born to it. Sighing, she chalked it up as something weird to the growing list in true Jade style.

But before she could continue, the smell of the warm food still on the table reached her nose and her stomach growled with longing. Licking her lips and remembering the sweet taste of the toast and jam she decided to at least finish eating before she did anything else. Sitting down and ignoring the mirror, she decided to try a few of the other things set out and picked up a pair of chopsticks.

“After all, its not a good idea saving myself on a empty stomach. Like Jackie says, you need a hearty breakfast to get through the day.”

So with this on her mind, and letting a hungry eye roll across the breakfast spread, before she settled on a covered bowl that emitted steam through small holes in the lid. Careful not to drag the sleeve of the gown she was wearing through the food, she reached over and plucked it up and over to her, and with an afterthought also grabbed a small wooden tray loaded with what looked like grilled fish and a smaller bowl with some rice. Once everything was set before her properly, she took a deep breath of the hearty smelling steam and took of the lid of the bowl, and was confronted with what looked like soup of some sort, mixed with veggies and other ingredients in a deep brown base. Racking her mind, she finally managed to place the name of the dish.

“Ahh! I know this one, Mom and Dad made it once when my cousin came over from Japan! It’s a breakfast Miso, and if it’s anything like the last it’s pretty good.”

Now knowing the dish, she set down her chopsticks and brought the bowl to her lips and took a sip, mindful of the hot bowl. After the first sip, she swilled it around a bit, before a smile came to her face and she took another, deeper drink. After a moment, she set the bowl down with a happy sigh and picked up the chopsticks again, nabbing the veggies floating in what was left of the base before she set the bowl to the side and started on another dish with a gleam to her eye at the sudden prospect of all this delicious food.

Moments later, and a honestly surprised Jade had decimated a large part of spread and wondering how she did it while picking at a bowl of dried fruit.

“Whoa, I don't think I have ever been that hungry before. When was the last time I ate? How long was I asleep for? Must of been a long time, or else I would have never been able to eat like that.” A small burp and a contented sigh later, and Jade was finished. She politely tided up the various plates and dishes a bit, a sort of thank you to whoever made it if she never got the chance to say it, and pushed herself away and up from the table and stretched herself a little to get the small kinks from her arms and legs from sitting at the low table.

Now with a content stomach and a clear mind, Jade thought about what to do next. From what she could tell, she was probably in Japan if the design of the fortress, the fact that she now spoke perfect Japanese, and the food were any hint. But with her luck, that might not even be close. She might not even be on Earth for all she knew, and what she did know was that there were Shadowkhan here and she was apparently one of them. But she still felt like herself, unlike the last time she was in this position, so she guessed that was a plus.

With these few facts in her head, she looked around for any more clues. To one side there was the door to the balcony, and there was another door on the wall next to it. The table and mirror took up the wall next to her, and now that she looked there was also a small cabinet of sorts set next to it. Other then that the monster of a bed and a few tasteful decorations took up the bedroom, mostly works of art depicting peaceful scenes or animals and greenery. There was also what looked to be some sort of changing area, separated from the rest of the room by a black-painted paper screen. To Jade, it was actually somewhat Spartan. So, with little other choice and not wanting to risk the unknown door, she settled for the cabinet and with some trepidation opened the doors on it slowly only to blanch when she saw what was inside.

“Whoa, should I even be breathing next to these? They have to cost a fortune!”

The cabinet was full to the brim with precious jewelry and such, ranging from headdresses and hairpins to rings, necklaces, and wristbands. Jade though she could even spy an ankle bracelet in one corner. Spying a drawer, she opened it up as well, only to find a few sets of ornate combs lying on silken cushions. One in particular drew her attention, and she gently picked it up and examined it. It was carved from something light and hard, yet different from wood, smoother for some reason yet didn't feel like bone. It was painted a tasteful green with a scene of grasslands, with a single green gem, most likely emerald, set on each side and both roughly the size of a quarter. Without reason, at least one that she could find, Jade was overcome by the sudden desire to use it and comb her new hair into something manageable other than the slightly tangled mess it was now.

For good or bad, she gave into the desire and taking a seat in-front of the mirror again she started to comb her hair, finding the action actually relaxing, and helping her think. Not that she got much of a chance, for at that moment there was a gentle knock at the mystery door, almost sending Jade into a panic. Remembering it was best to keep her cool, and that if whomever at the door was hostile they probably would not be knocking, Jade called out. Or, at least, she was going to till she also realized she did not know how too. For all she knew, there was a certain way she was supposed too. Jade's inner trickster set to work, and evaluated the best way to pull it off. Considering how she had been treated so far, the way the Shadowkhan came to protect her, and the general extravagance she apparently lived in, she figured that she was at least someone important. So, common sense and logic dictated that she act the part. So, how did important people act?

Jade quickly thought on it, and came to two conclusions. If they didn't act like total jerks or snobs, important people just acted like they were busy and didn't have much time to spare and kept their words short and to the point. So, that is exactly what she would do. A quite breath to fortify herself, and then “Enter,” was all she said. Right afterwords, two of the garden-variety Shadowkhan walked in, one carrying something that looked suspiciously like a very ornate and high-quality kimono and bowed deeply, presenting the article of clothing.

Not wanting to seem hesitant, Jade took the kimono quickly, getting the idea. After she gave them a nod and a quiet “thank you” the two vanished, leaving Jade alone again. Looking down at the soft piece of fabric in her hands, Jade realized another problem.

“I have no idea how to put this on, but I have to before those two get back. So what do I do?”

She stared at the kimono, a small hope in the back of her mind devoted to the idea that it might suddenly burst into flame and save her the trouble but the rest of her knowing better. With a low moan and a face-palm, she turned around and walked behind the paper separator.

Since she was alone it may have been unnecessary, but they weren’t called ingrained habits for nothing. Her hair offered some difficulty in pulling the gown off over her head – honestly, who needed, much less wanted this much hair? Still, in short order the nightgown was crumpled on the floor next to the neatly folded kimono. For a moment Jade had thought that getting out of the alien garment would be a relief, but was now divested of that idea.

She had felt the lack of muscle tone through the silk, but seeing was a different kind of believing. Her entire body was that same shade of blue, right down to her toes with black nails to match the ones on her fingers. She idly wondered if the black was how they were supposed to be colored or painted like some Goth’s. Running a hand down her stomach she found it smooth tight, devoid of any muscle tone or fat. It was also unblemished, lacking even the small birthmark to the left of her navel. The surroundings and clothing were bad, but knowing her flesh – no, this was not her body, she repeated her mantra from earlier, suppressing the rise of her panic before it began again.

Recalling the clock was ticking, Jade turned her attention back to the kimono resting on the floor.

“Well at least it will occupy me for a while from having another breakdown.” she thought sardonically.

A few moments later, and Jade was once more adding to the list that had started to compile about the weird things she had encountered so far, as she found herself strangely capable when it came to putting on the complex dress and its different layers and parts. She had never even touched one before, but now she knew how to put it on as if she did it every day. She actually found the motions more through instinct then actual thought, almost like her body remembered how to do it but not her head. She had run through the entire process of dressing on auto-pilot, a trance of sorts, and had not even noticed till afterwords that she had apparently not stopped at just the kimono, somehow at some point adding in a small silver headdress and a few other trinkets.

She idly tugged at the kimono, and bothered the small headdress, confused at how comfortable they felt yet how alien at the same time and was tempted to take them both off. Another item in the strange category was that in her experience fancy clothes where always the most uncomfortable. This was far swankier than anything she had ever worn before, but felt quite comfortable. She was even more confused by the fact that sometime during her little trance in getting dressed she had found the time to apparently pull and pin her hair so that it rested only in the small of her back and not at the seat of her rear with the rest folded and held in place behind her head by thin hair pins made of something like obsidian and set with gold. She was actually afraid to pull out the pins, considering how much hair they held up at the moment, and resolved that when this was all figured out and she was rescued, she was going to seriously beat-down on Shendu one way or another for messing with her head and downloading all this stuff into it, and everything else to. She had even apparently put on a set of bracelets; delicate pieces of worked silver or some other metal, and somehow colored a shiny black and set with pearls.

Jade was by no means a girly-girl or one that took pleasure in even small extravagance, so the fact that she would sub-consciously do something like this was actually somewhat frightening, but mostly confusing and left Jade feeling conflicted as everything started to build up again. Her new appearance and situation she had managed to come to terms with, since when she was rescued that would all be fixed. But now Jade was worried if they could fix something that was wrong with her brain. All this stuff, everything that was apparently shoved in her brain, it honestly scared her. What else could have been put in there? What if something was not just put in, but changed? Even by magical means, just suddenly knowing this stuff wasn't right.

But before she could dwell on it anymore, another series of gentle knocks sounded at her door and forced her to put it to the back of her mind for the time. As she walked from behind the paper separator and prepared to allow what was most likely the two from before in, she caught herself in the mirror’s reflection and stifled a small gasp.

Before, when she had last looked, she had at least looked the part of herself with the exception of clearly being Shadowkhan and with longer hair if you ignored the other small details physically, but now…

but now, she looked completely different, she could not even see herself to tell the truth. To Jade, it was more like looking at a picture of a blue Japanese princess then anything else. The dark, flowing kimono with a strange water print with a moon, the small silver headdress reminiscent of a crown, the bluish-black hair and the way it seemed to stream out behind her yet was so tastefully held in place with obsidian hair pins. Even looking directly at her reflection, she could not see her true self, Jade Chan.

At that moment, something almost snapped in Jade, as she fought to maintain the self-control she had regained. She turned away from the mirror, resisting the sudden urge to shatter it for some reason. After a moment, she was back under control, and invited whoever was outside by simply saying, “Enter,” as she had before. Except this time, to her internal surprise, it was not the two Shadowkhan she had seen earlier but two completely different ones.