Tainted Gestalt: Keitaro's Perspective

At Hinata Inn’s entrance, Keitaro leaned heavily against the doorframe, clutching his head and his neck. Was he going mad? Depression hit fully. As if he needed insanity on top of all his other woes. Failed the entrance exam twice. Kicked out of his house by uncaring parents. Generally useless. Forever doomed to be alone and bereft of his promised one whose name and face he pathetically could not remember!

Those others in that white space, who were they? That terrifying giant monster-shivers wracked his shoulder blades just remembering it. That beautiful pink haired girl... vampire? His neck still ached slightly from the bite though his skin was unbroken. The voices, the thoughts, the flashes of other places- other people... How was this happening?

Alright. Calm down. Don’t get caught up in my imagination. It’s not real. They’re not real. I’ve got real problems to deal with.

Keitaro stepped into the inn and slipped his shoes off, calling out to the empty foyer, hallways, and staircase, “Hello? Is anyone there?”

He wandered in, looking around for any inhabitants heading generally in the direction of what he hoped would be his grandmother’s rooms unable to keep his mind off of the voices. Mostly because they were yelling in his head again.

“Hey, lady. Put the gun down! Where am I?”

“Me? Not like vampires? Don’t be ridiculous! I love vampires!”

“Now’s not really the best time to explain-OH, SHIT!”

A thunderously bewildering sensation of motion slammed into Keitaro. He felt a blast of heat and ear battering noise. His stomach lurched as if an invisible hand had jerked him into the air and light stabbed his retinas. Abruptly he was seat belted within an unfamiliar car, through the windows the outside world was spinning wildly. With a loud crunch and the **** of a giant punching his spine, the car stopped moving. Upside down, Keitaro hung in his restraints barely able to breath even as his heart hammered away.

And then he was back in Hinata, his hands thrown out and his body half crouching as he drew huge gasps of air into his quivering lungs. Oh god! What the-

“Geez- are they shooting BLIND?! You all right there, Shinji?”

Keitaro recognized that feminine voice and jerked himself away both mentally and physically, lurching down a hallway. He didn’t want to go back there! That-That was an explosion! And it had felt real- so real! His chest and shoulder still ached from the seatbelt, his neck and spine burned from the impact and... were his ears ringing?

That blonde girl’s voice was screaming in his head, “OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! INEARLYDIED!BUTOHMYGODTHATWASAMISSLEGOINGOFFANDITWASLIKEATOTALBADASSCARCHASE!”

“Oh yes my tight little dress wearing sweet, please do help me up out of this flipped over car. Up! Don’t mind me! Just stumbling a bit, getting my balance with an innocent hand on that sexy butt!”

“Kyon, please get off the floor and refrain from further disruptions. If there is something really wrong with you, then please go to the nurse’s office.”

“I’m- I’m okay, Moka-san. I- I’m just seeing things. No! No, I’m sure its not blood loss...ah”

Keitaro clasped both hands over his ears and started humming loudly in a **** effort to keep the voices away and avoid being sucked into another terrifying vision. He’d managed to stumble into a room labeled Manager which he hoped was his grandma’s when a shocking pain lashed across his upper arm causing him to bite his tongue. He spun around, fear shooting through him as he frantically looked for his assailant but found nothing but an empty room.

This was simply too much. He felt tears welling up in his eyes as the stress got to him. He sunk to his knees on the hardwood floor. A growing and overwhelming apprehension gripped him. What was going to happen next? And how bad was it going to hurt?

Suddenly, Keitaro felt better. Not a lot. But by at least one order of magnitude. Perhaps that was because he was calmly walking next to that wonderful beauty. That Moka. There she was looking so cute pushing her quite normal bicycle (with a mundane basket holding her things). Short-SHORT skirt. Normal school uniform. Okay, the environment was really creepy-bare trees, cracked earth, and rather well done halloween decorations everywhere-but that was nothing next to Moka’s welcoming expression and cheery smile.

The idyllic moment was dashed first by the sudden realization that he wasn’t in control of his body and second, when his lips and throat uttered this nonsensical statement, “Definitely going to keep giant metal robot between me and you, lady.”

Moka’s brow furrowed as she looked about, “What do you mean, Tsukune-san? What robot-where?”

Keitaro’s mouth answered without consulting him, laughing nervously, “Haha...It’s nothing. I’m just starting to think I’m getting multiple personalities or something...heh...”

Moka’s eyes lit up and she reached out and grasped his hand. She touched me! You too?! That’s wonderful! We have so much in common! Ooh! I wonder what kind of monster you are!”

Monster? Oh yea, she was supposedly a vampire... While confused and more than a little concerned about not being in control, Keitaro was more than content to be here in this strange place at this moment. It was comforting in a way to be here with this kind and very pretty girl, while being alone back at the inn was more than a little distressing, where phantom pains and terrifying visions could pounce at any moment without warning.

Keitaro was on the ground. Concrete. An arm slammed into his chest and the heavy weight of a body followed. A knee jerked up his thigh heading for his- His arm lashed out hitting the ground with **** as his body twisted violently. Suddenly, he was on top of the woman as his hands curled into fists and-

Keitaro was sitting very still in a very normal classroom surrounded by students all attentive towards a lecturing teacher at the front. His hands were gripping the edge of the desk so tightly they were almost shaking and his fingers slightly ached. Within his mouth his teeth were so firmly clenched that the pressure on his jaw was more than a bit discomforting. --Sliders, Aliens, Demons. This is exactly the sort of thing I always daydreamed about and that makes it entirely suspect. I’m just having some sort of psychotic breakdown. That’s it. Damn, why didn’t I tell Okabe I needed to go to the nurse’s. Wouldn’t that be the prudent thing to do?

Keitaro found himself agreeing with the disembodied voice. It made a lot of sense. That last vision had been him and a cute girl on their way to school together. That was his dream! Entering Todai High School together with that girl from fifteen years ago! And now here he was actually in class! He couldn’t turn his head but he also had a really strong feeling that girl was sitting right behind him!

Pain exploded inside his head as a fist impacted with his chin from below. Long silver hair brushed across his face obscuring half his vision, a dark complected harsh beauty glared down at him with fury in her eyes. He very quickly became aware of a pain far stronger than the one in his ringing head, a terrible overwhelming pressure on his crotch as the woman ground her knee into it. Then her head jerked viciously to the side as his hand captured her dangling hair and violently pulled. Her body followed the motion as his legs and hips pressed up as one, helping her along and--

Keitaro rolled across the floor struggling with an imaginary opponent. He stopped abruptly as he clunked into the side of a table realizing that he was once again back in Hinata Inn. Gasping for breath, his heart pumping frantically, and his body jittery and shaking he fell onto his side and curled up into the fetal position. He stared into empty space as he urgently and desperately prayed that the voices and the vision would leave him alone.