Gentles all:   The following story contains reference to a form of Japanese street fashion, the adherents to which refer to as Elegant Gothic Lolita. Note, that the term “Lolita” refers to this style of clothing. This, with Gabi's kind help, is a revised and illustrated version of the story that originally appeared on Crystal’s Storysite.

Hansel and Gretel: A Fairytale. Act 1. By Sarah Lynn Morgan

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Act I

 
 

     Margaret looked at herself thoughtfully for a moment, and then decided that perhaps she should be even more subtle with her eyes. After all, it would not do to have one of the Sisters from ‘The Holy Order of the Blessed Pain in her Ass’, to write home again about her “extravagant use of cosmetics, and her unconventional sense of style.” The way that her stepmother Joan had carried on the last time such a note came home, you would have thought she had been caught trading drugs for sex to devil worshipers during Friday morning chapel.

     Looking at herself again in the mirror, she adjusted the lacings and the bow on the front of her blouse. She did not want to change her look; it was the perfect choice for how she felt this Friday - but it was a risk. One more letter from ‘The Sisters of Morality in Fashion’, and she might well blow the cosplay convention this weekend.

     The sound of her brother John’s alarm clock made up her mind. She could face another tirade from her stepmother about her “complete lack of awareness of their social position, and her constant attempts to embarrass her parents with her outlandish getups.” In the end, Margaret knew that there was no way to avoid an argument anyway. She might as well feel good until it started; or until it continued, as the case may be. She gently smoothed down the lace of her blouse, and checked to make sure her hairpiece was on tightly, before padding down the hall to John’s room.

     Margaret had always been an “early-riser,” as her dad called it. He said that she got that from her mother. Poor John, on the other hand, would never make it to school without her help. It was not that he was lazy or anything; he just did not wake up before about nine o’clock no matter what the circumstances. Margaret had found him many times with is feet on the floor, sitting on the edge of his bed, still sound asleep.

     Margaret had never really mind taking care of John, because she knew he was a great kid. She also knew that like her, he had no one else. When it came right down to it, they were the only family each other really had.

     Margaret and John’s Mother had died while having him. Since she was three years older, she wound up taking care of John. As soon as she learned how to do something for herself, she would naturally start doing it for John as well. Her dad said that she had done that right from the start. It was good that she had, because the never-ending parade of nurses, nannies, and governesses that her father had hired were a poor substitute for their mother.

     To John, no matter who might be the flavor of the week, Margaret was always there. It made them very close, but Margaret reflected every day that this was a very poor substitute for a dead mother, and a father who was seldom able to show any warmth to his son.

     At ten, and wise beyond her few years, Margaret completely understood that her father’s distance from John was the result of loosing his wife and a mother to his children so tragically, and unexpectedly. She knew that it was the pain of his loosing the only woman he would probably ever truly love, and not that he really disliked her brother. However, she had expected him to get over it. At seventeen, Margaret understood it a whole lot less than she had when she was younger. Seeing the distant way he still treated his own son had put a distance between them as well. She knew now, that would probably never change. It did not even bother her that much any more. Deep down she admitted to herself that she wanted the distance there now. It just made it easier to deal with the fact that she had lost both her parents on that terrible day.

     When she was eleven, her father had married Joan. The woman was not exactly a bad person. She did not try to poison them or anything, but if there was such a thing as a woman completely lacking in maternal instinct, Joan was it. She had no talent for human interaction, which meant that on those rare occasions she tried to act motherly, she only made things much worse. She was never able to deal with any of their problems.

      When Margaret was 13, John had gone to Joan because a teacher had been giving him a really hard time in front of the other kids. He needed help, and Margaret knew that it was the teacher’s fault, and not John’s. Well Joan, true to form began yelling at John for all of the problems that she had to put up with from him, etc. It had been so much worse than no help at all.

      Later, Margaret, had pulled John aside, when he was almost ten, and told him that he should have come to her instead. She told him that if he needed help, he should always come to her from then on. If she could not help, she could get Dad’s help for him. She also told him that the next time he needed some humanity, to go down to the market and buy one of those big dead fish for ten bucks; unlike Joan, at least that would have some human warmth left in it.

      As she padded into John’s room to turn off the clock, he was sitting up in his bed, his blurry sightless eyes staring at the mirror across from him. “Good Morning, Little brother, you were sleeping in your pants again?”

      Rubbing his hands on his jeans, “Yeah, Maggie, I did — Sorry.”

      “It doesn’t bother me, just don’t let Joan see you; we could both use a better start to the day.”

      “Is she up?” John asked, surprised in spite of being barely conscious.

      “I thought I heard her in the kitchen a little while ago, so yes. You get to the bathroom and into the shower, and I’ll go down and get us some breakfast!”

      “Maggie, don’t bother making anything for me, I can’t eat food before the pigeons have had a chance for breakfast. It just seems…, so unfair.”

      Margaret almost smiled, as she firmly pulled him off the bed. “You need a good breakfast if you are going to keep up that GPA; and, I do it because I love you, you little squid! Now get up, and get in the shower!” Margaret put her hands on John’s shoulders, and made sure he was moving in the right direction, before she headed down stairs.

      Joan was sitting in the kitchen smoking when she got in there. It was one of the things that Margaret liked least about her, but since she usually kept to her side of the house, at least Margaret did not have to put up with her clothes smelling like cigarettes. “Morning,” Margaret said, as she walked to the sink to run some hot water in one side and add some dish detergent.

      “Is that what you plan on wearing to school?” Joan asked in a voice that held more disinterest than sarcasm as she flicked an ash away

      “Yes, but I ‘m going to make breakfast in it first” Margaret said evenly, in a voice that held about the same amount of affection. “Do you want some eggs?” Maggie tried at least to make the question seem more friendly, succeeding to some degree.

      “No. You just make sure you get out to school on time.” With that Joan got up and shambled to the master wing, while Maggie tried hard not to shiver, and let Joan see how the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up. She went to the fridge to start breakfast.

      “Morning!” Maggie muttered acidly under her breath.

 
 
      She called John down twice to breakfast before he finally did the zombie walk to the table. Eggs, waffles and bacon, would at least make sure that when he did wake up, he would be able to sit still in class.

      “Come on, John, we have to leave in twenty minutes, get over here, and eat.” She said this while checking to see that his socks matched

      “Oh Yeah? Well what about you?” John asked defensively.

      “I had mine between the first and second call, John, just before I washed the dishes, and put them in the dishwasher. Did you finish that paper for English?”

      “Yes, Maggie, yesterday.”

      “You want me to look it over?” she asked.

      “No, it came out fine. It will be an A, I’m sure.”

      “OK, well don’t forget it upstairs. Put your dish in the sink when you are done.”

      “Yes, sister Margaret,” John said with a gentle sarcasm, as Maggie headed back upstairs to collect her own things without really hearing him.

      A short time later, as they went out the door, she slipped a few dollars into John’s pack for lunch, and they began to walk to the buss stop three blocks away. Looking ahead, she could see the small dark head of an Asian girl, Miyu, who she knew John really adored.

      “So, John, have you asked anyone out to the dance next Friday?”

      “Oh god, Maggie, not again! Isn’t it a little early in the morning, even for you?”

      Maggie responded softly, “Well, you know, John, most girls appreciate a little warning when a boy asks them out. Not only do they need time to get something together, but asking a girl at the last minute makes them feel like they were a second choice or something. You need to ask today, you know.”

      “Maggie,” John replied, “I'm pretty sure what girls really like are to not have geeks like me bothering them!”

      “John, you are a great guy, don’t say things like that, OK. I promise you, it won’t be much longer before all of the girls in your class realize just how great you are Trust me, and give them a chance.”

      “Yes, Maggie. I’m sorry. I’m sure you are right. When the girls in my class get sick of the jocks, the really rich guys, the good looking guys, and all those losers in the cool kids cliques, then I will be there - ready to take up all that slack!”

      “Well, you listen to me, and you ask someone. I think that girl Miyu would be an excellent choice, but you need to ask someone today, OK?”

      “Humph.” John said.

      “Listen, I want to stop by Noriko’s place on the way, so you go to the stop and get on the bus. I’ll catch the 7:40, OK?”

      “Gee whiz, Sis, are you sure you don’t want to hold my hand all the way down the block to the bus stop?”

      Laughing and patting John on the shoulder, Maggie said, “Yes, on second thought you are probably right! Take my hand, squirt, and I’ll make sure you get there!”

      With an almost dirty look, John continued down to the stop, while Maggie turned toward Noriko’s apartment.

 
 

o O o
 
 

      Noriko was dressmaker and a very good one. When it came to costumes and period clothing, she was about the best there was. The majority of her work went to the large theater companies in the area. Noriko could take one look at a garment, and reproduce it almost exactly, except hers were often prettier than the original. Most of the people Maggie knew who were into cosplay liked to make costumes on their own, but a few people who could afford it bought them from Noriko. For a few years, Noriko had also made custom clothing for wealthy clients, but she had hated that so much, she had given it up.

      Noriko made most of Maggie’s Loli clothes, and had arranged to buy others for her through family she had back in Japan. She had made the blouse Maggie was wearing, and even made all her school uniform skirts for her. Maggie knew that the only reason that Noriko did the work for her was that they had been friends for so many years.

      Maggie always tried to help Noriko in return, by running errands, and sewing on beads and things, but she knew that she would always feel that she could never do enough. Besides, she loved being with Noriko so much, that helping her seemed more like fun, than any form of repayment.

      Noriko was about ten years older than Maggie was. They had met at the park years before, while Maggie was there with John. Because she was such a beautiful women, many of the children were drawn to her, and spoke to her easily. It was not too long before Noriko came to understand why the little girl and her brother were always at the park alone. From that time on, she always made a point to speak to Maggie and John when she saw them. From there, as Maggie grew a little older, she was often invited over to tea at Noriko’s apartment, where of course she became fascinated by the beautiful costumes and dresses she saw there. Now, even thought there were many years between them, she was the closest friend Maggie had. More like a big sister than anything else, and her apartment was a sanctuary away from the travail that was home.

      At the door to the apartment building, Maggie glanced one more time down to the stop, hoping that John would have caught up with Miyu. She did not see him though, so she shrugged her shoulders, and pulled the door open. In the foyer, she reached for the bell to Noriko’s intercom, but the door buzzed before she touched the button. Noriko was at her door when Maggie got off the elevator.

      “Maggie-chan, I saw you coming up the stairs. You look very pretty today!” she greeted Maggie in just the same way she had when she was a little girl. It was a joke between them.

      “Thanks to you, Noriko!” Margaret answered. In the apartment, half of which was a studio, Noriko quickly invited Maggie to shed her outer clothing and come over to her by the window where she waited with a measuring tape.

      Maggie stood patiently while Noriko measured her upper body several times. As usual, she never needed to write any of the measurements down, and always seemed to remember them.

      “Your blouses are getting tight across the front?” Noriko asked quietly.

      “Yes. Everything is. I guess I need not have worried so much about the Titty-fairy after all, Noriko.”

      Noriko blushed a little at her young friends impertinence, but she also laughed. “I tried to tell you, Maggie, that time is the master of many such worries. You just had to wait for it to catch up with you. Fortunately, I had faith, so I left some extra cloth in the seams of several of your dresses. I can fix them in a day, when you are ready.

      “Noriko, thank you. I am so sorry to bother you, but I adore the clothes you make, it always makes me so sad when I outgrow them.” Maggie said to Noriko sincerely, as Noriko poured the girl a quick cup of tea, while Maggie tidied herself.

      “I don’t think that you will need to worry about that too much longer. I think you will soon be fully grown, and will no longer have to leave your pretty things in the closet, unless of course your teachers make you!” Noriko replied with a slightly mischievous grin.

      Maggie rolled her eyes. “You know last week we had another casual day on Friday, so I wore that black dress and head-piece you made for me last month. You know that I got sent to Father Bernard who questioned me about witchcraft and devil worship!”

      Noriko chuckled openly, “You know Maggie, and perhaps you should consider wearing a simple school uniform once in a while.”

      “Noriko, the clothes you make for me are so beautiful, why on earth would I want to wear ugly clothes for the ‘Sisters without Mercy.’ No way!”

      “Well,” Noriko sighed, “I make you clothes that you will love, but you need to be careful not to get yourself in trouble.”

      “I am, Noriko, I am. Well, thank you again, but I have to run, it is seven thirty, and I have ten minutes before the buss comes.”

      Noriko watched Margaret for a moment, and then very uncharacteristically made up her mind to be the first one to speak. “Maggie-chan, did you fight with Joan this morning?”

      Margaret sighed, and looked down at her feet. “Not this morning but last night was more than enough.”

      “What happened this time?” Noriko asked gently.

      When Margaret looked up, she had tears in her eyes. She began to speak slowly enough, but soon was spilling out everything very quickly. “I overheard Joan talking to my father last night. It seems that the poetry contest that John entered was the last straw for her. It seems that she has my dad convinced to send John to some military school next year, when I go to college. I couldn’t help myself, I had to say something: John is smaller than the other kids his age, and on top of that, I can’t imagine what would happen to him if they put him in one of those schools now. Would everyone outrank him, or something? It is such a stupid idea, and it’s only because Joan does not want to have to take care of him. Just wait till they find out that he won the contest! That bitch will probably sign him up for the French Foreign Legion.”

      Noriko, tended to agree with Margaret, but as always, she felt compelled to try and guide Margaret. “Please, don’t think that I agree, but you know John might just be better off in military school, than staying home alone. Besides, John doesn’t have problems now does he? He can probably take care of himself better than you think, Maggie.”

      “Don’t get me wrong, he can take care of himself, he’s smaller than most of the kids, but the only one who holds that against him is my father. It’s just that it is so unnecessary to put him through all of that just to make her life easier. If that bastard would stand up to her for anything, even he would admit it is a stupid idea. The kids at a school like that train to give people like John a hard time. They’ll kill him!”

      Noriko thought for a moment, and decided to speak her mind. “You are right, John is a good boy, but they will kill him. It is a stupid idea.” Noriko reached out, and put her hand on Maggie’s shoulder. “What can you do?” she asked.

      “I don’t know, but I need to try and do something. I don’t think I can do anything. I was planning to talk to the guidance councilor at school. He had suggested that perhaps he might get John into a student exchange program, and there may be something he can do!”

      Noriko’s eyes widened, “Maggie-sama, that is a wonderful idea! That may just work. John is very luck to have you for a sister. Don’t be too sad, you will find some way to help. You always do, don’t you?” Noriko lifted Maggie’s chin to smile at her, and gently wiped a little tear from the corner of her eye, being careful not to smudge her makeup.

      Maggie smiled back, and said, “I really have to run. Thank you, Noriko, I’m sorry to bleed all over you again.”

      “That is what I’m here for, alterations and mending of skirts, slacks, dresses, and human hearts!” Noriko said with a smile, and in a display of affection she reserved for Maggie alone, she held out her arms. Maggie hugged her back tightly if very briefly.

      As always Noriko walked her to the door, “Remember your strengths,” she said holding the door open, “patience with those who are cross, and a kindness for all who would be friends.” Noriko watched Maggie walk to the elevator, which had just opened. She shook her head a little as the elevator doors closed behind Maggie, before again turning back to the work waiting on her table…

 
 

o O o
 
 

      John followed Miyu down to the buss stop. Maggie did not know that John had tried to speak to her several times, but could just not seem to get the words out. He thought that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, but she was so quiet. She had a frustrating habit of not responding when people she did not know well spoke to her, which was just about everyone. To those questions, she would often smile politely and bow slightly, before walking away in silence. Some thought her stuck up, but John could see that she was just a shy girl in a new school.

      Miyu had come to the city with her father and mother straight from Tokyo at the first of the year. John thought she was lonely, because she never spoke to anyone unless she was spoken to first by one of a small group of friends. Then some of the bigger kids seemed to frighten her a little. They did not tease her much, but it was pretty clear that she was on her way to another private school north of the city at the end of this year. That was if she stayed in America at all.

      John was not paying much attention. The truth was that Maggie was right. He would find Miyu at lunch, and find some way to ask her to the dance. He hoped that she would say yes, but even if she did not, he knew he would keep asking until she went with him. Now at the stop, he looked up to see the bus coming up the street, and Miyu as usual, standing a little apart from the crowd at the stop, near the corner with her back to a signal pole. She looked like she might have recognized him, when he was distracted by the sight of a black BMW making a Bat-Turn into traffic, and accelerating violently up the street toward them.

      No sooner had the BMW begun racing in their direction, than a hand with a gun came out of the rear window, and began firing back in the direction from which they had come. John began to move toward the corner behind some newspaper racks near where Miyu stood, when a second car, a light blue American car came sliding around the corner.

      The hand sticking out of this car had a machine pistol, and it cut loose in their direction as soon as they came crashing around the corner. As bullets began to pepper the BMW, the driver panicked, and jerked the wheel over to turn down the side street beside John and Miyu. He might have made the turn if he had not bounced off another car, but John could see that he would never make it now. He was coming onto the sidewalk where they stood.

      By instinct alone, John grabbed Miyu by the shoulder and tried to run down the side street. He heard the crash behind him as the BMW took the pole, and felt the wind of the car pass his right shoulder as it flipped past him onto the curb. He lost his grip on Miyu as something hit him in the back, and knocked him to the ground beside the building on the side street. The Blue car made the turn, and raced past. The sound of the machine pistol again rang out, but this time it was all but drowned out by the screaming of running people on the sidewalk, and the sound of a pileup going on in the intersection.

      When John dared to look up he could see the BMW on its roof thirty or forty feet further down the side street. Near the car was an Asian man lying on the ground. In the car was an Asian woman, lying on the roof liner, and staring at him. John tried to move, and it was then that he realized his legs were pinned by a weight that had fallen on them. Miyu! He thought, but as he spun around, Miyu was nowhere to be seen. The weight on his legs was his pack that had somehow wound up there.

      John was startled by the sounds of shots coming from the BMW. Whipping around, he could see the woman firing down the street at the fleeing blue car, but it was too far out of range. The woman then turned back, and began to crawl out of the car toward him. Frightened, he began to stand up to get away. Seeing this, the woman began to yell at him, and waive the gun in his direction. When the woman pointed the gun straight at him, he grabbed the pack strap, and started to run around the corner, and back up the street. As soon as he began to move he heard the sound of the last few shots from the pistol being emptied into the side of the building next to his head. John ran hard...

      Walking down the now crowded street to the bus stop, Maggie did not see the start of the race between the two cars, nor the first part of the gunfight; but, she did see the BMW go flipping across the sidewalk, and the people going down, and fleeing in every direction in an effort to get out of harm’s way. She could also see and hear people running away from the gunfire. She began to run, and pray at the same time. Fortunately, she had only run half the length of the block, when she made out John running back toward her.

      Maggie began to slow to a stop, shaking with relief and waiting for John, when people started passing her. John reached her a few moments later, and grabbing her violently, he began to drag her further up the street. “What are you doing?” she screamed, as he literally dragged her over a filthy trashcan that fell over the curb, in an effort to get her moving.

      “She’s shooting at me!” he screamed back, the strength of his panic now dragging them both up the street. At the sound of even more shots, Maggie too began to panic, but her instinct was to pull her brother into a narrow alleyway between two buildings, to get them out of the line of fire.

      Once she had gotten him out of harm’s way, she asked him breathlessly, “What do you mean shooting at you?”

      “I don’t know, Maggie, but there was a crazy woman in the car that crashed, and she started yelling at me and shooting at the same time. I had to run for it, Maggie!”

      “Calm down, John! Why in the name of god would she shoot at you? You just got caught in the crossfire.”

      “No, Maggie. She first shot at the other car, and then she looked right at me, started yelling in Chinese or something, and started shooting right at me. There was no crossfire!”

      John was bleeding from the side of his head. Maggie grabbed his head, and could see that he had small pieces of brick sticking into him. She gently told him to hold still, and even more gently began to knock the pieces of brick out of his scalp. She also found a piece of what looked like a bullet that had shattered the bricks right beside John’s head. By now, she realized just how close a call John had had. “We have to get out of here, come on.” Margaret said, and she moved to the corner to peer cautiously down the street. By now, there were cops coming out of the woodwork, and they were all that was moving in the intersection.

      Grabbing John’s arm, she began to run up the street, intending to go home, when she noticed Noriko standing at the front door of her apartment. Instinctively, she pulled in that direction, and was soon in the front foyer with Noriko. She knew that both she and John had tried to tell Noriko what had happened, but nether teenager was making much sense as Noriko bundled them into the elevator.

      In the apartment, Noriko took John to the kitchen and began carefully to check the side of his head. The bleeding had just about stopped, and she only found small cuts and gouges from the brick shards. She also found a bullet hole in his collar, which she silent showed to Maggie behind his back, by putting her finger through the hole, even as Noriko continued to clean the boy’s wounds. Maggie sat down heavily behind him, as if her legs had been chopped from under her, and buried her face in her hands.

      Still in shock but feeling better, John began to shake. He also began to feel Noriko picking brick out of his head. Seeking to distract him from the pain, Noriko said “You are very lucky, John. It looks like you just got hit by some pieces of brick, and none of it needs anything more than a little cleaning.”

      John snorted, and said, “Well, I guess since Maggie always said that my head was as hard as a brick, I guess she was right, huh?”

      The joke took both women completely by surprise, and after a moment of dead silence, all three began to laugh a little too hard.

Later, Noriko was able to get a coherent story out of the two, and had pieced together what had happened. Now, all three sat at the table, sipping tea, and collecting their thoughts.

      “Are you sure you saw Miyu run past, was she Ok?”

      “Hi.” Noriko said with a slight bow of acknowledgement, “I am sure John. She is one of my customers, and I know her well. She was one of the first to come by, and she looked frightened, but unharmed.”

      John felt better, even though it was the third time Noriko had told him the same thing.

      Then Maggie chimed in, “It is almost eight-thirty, and we really should be getting to school.”

      Noriko reached out to place her hand on Margaret’s arm. “I do not think that would be wise.” She said flatly.

      After a moment she continued, “I am still not sure what happened, but I do believe John when he said that they were shooting at him. You two should stay right here for now. You should also call your parents and let them know you are OK. You also need to call the school, and tell them that you and your brother are out sick. Don’t tell them where you are, or that you were involved in the shooting, just that you are not feeling well.” Margaret looked at her friend, and seeing the concern on her face, began to worry that the horrible incident was not over as she had been thinking.

      John asked, “Noriko, what are you talking about?”

      Noriko spoke slowly, “John, listen to me. I have heard of the people you were describing, and I know that they run the collections around Chinatown for a local Gang. Many of the people I used to sew for were wealthy, and owned businesses. They call them the Tong. Now, I don’t how big they are, or even if they are part of some Chinese Mafia, but I do know that they are very bad people. If the woman was looking at you and shooting at you, then there was some reason, and it is not safe for you to go out on the street right now.” She sat back and waited for him to digest what she said.

      “Wait a minute,” Margaret said getting really upset, “Why would they want to hurt John? That’s nuts.”

      “It’s nuts or it’s not Margaret,” Noriko said with her inexhaustible patience, and her tone never changing from one of careful explanation, “we only know that they tried to kill John and that these people do not have a reputation of stopping once they start.”

      Margaret sat for a long while quietly. It made sense. She had no idea what had happened, perhaps John had seen something he was not supposed to, but it was not worth the risk. “I’ll call dad,” she said finally “Do you have his new cell number?” she asked John.

      “It’s written on the front of my assignment book in my bag, Maggie.”

      Margaret got up to retrieve the bag, and stooping to lift it from the floor, she noticed it was very heavy, weighing in at what must have been twenty pounds. “Hey, John, when did you get this bag, and what do you have in it? Bricks?”

      Looking at his sister in confusion, “I’ve had it for two years, sis. Are you loosing…” John caught sight of the bag in his sister’s hand, which was all black. His bag was red, with black straps.

      Before he could say anything, Margaret opened the bag, and began to stare open mouthed into it. The expression on her face brought both John and Noriko to their feet, and to her side. They also stared in the bag, which they could clearly see was packed full of neat packets of very large bills. The bag was full of money — a lot of money.

      “That’s not my bag, sis.” John said almost absentmindedly.

      “I know that, you little doofus, unless you’ve been counterfeiting in your room late at night.” Maggie snapped.

      Maggie reached into the bag and checked several packets of notes, most of which were made up of hundred’s and fifty dollar bills. There were packets of larger bills also, some of which Margaret had never seen before. “Jesus, there must be hundreds of thousands of dollars in here!” she said finally.

      Noriko reached past her to pull a small leather notebook out of the stack of money. She opened it just briefly enough to see it was a long list of names, and addresses, with amounts of money written beside each.

      Noriko threw the notebook back into the bag, and taking it from Margaret, she jerked the zipper closed. “No, Margaret, if all the bills are as large as the ones on the top, there are Millions of dollars in the bag, and that along with that notebook are enough to get us, and all our families killed.”

      “What was that book?” John chimed in. “Nothing you need ever know about, and you don’t touch it for any reason, is that clear?” Noriko said in a very uncharacteristic voice. In eight years, it was the first time Margaret had heard that tone from her. Noriko, put the bag behind the chair in the corner, and moved to the window to peer out a small crack in the curtains.

      Finally, she came back to the table and said, “We’re in trouble, and I need to think. Maggie, you call the school, and John you call your dad’s work to get his number. Let him know you are ok, but don’t tell him where you are.”

      “Ok,” they both said in unison.

      “I must think,” Noriko said, as she went to the corner to sit in the same chair she had used to hide the money. I frightened Maggie to see her simply sitting with her hands folded in her lap, staring at the floor in front of her feet.

      Maggie called the school first. The secretary seemed relieved to hear from her, as they had just found that they were missing, and had been in the process of putting two and two together with the stories from students from the area. All in all, it was easy, because everyone at the school knew that Margaret had a parental role with her younger brother.

      Then John called his dad’s office, and left a message to the effect that he and Margaret were going to the movies after school with some friends, and they would call to let them know when they would be home. He began to call his home to leave the same message, when, Noriko jumped from the chair to push down the switch on the phone. “Caller Id, John, you can’t call your home from here. It will leave a number with the message, and they can find us!” John began to turn pale.

“Can’t we just give the money back?” John asked.

      “John,” Noriko answered, “that would do no good. They would assume that you knew about the money, and the book. They would just kill you.”

      “Then what are we supposed to do now?” John said.

      Margaret answered, “We stay alive. We may be able to just pickup where we left off, and act like nothing has happened, that way no one will know!”

      “Maggie-sama,” Noriko said quietly, “That may have been the best way to handle this if they had not seen John run off with the pack. They know where you were, and they only have to talk to that woman to know where to start looking. If you stay around here, they will find you.”

      “I can’t believe this!” John said, and started to walk toward the bathroom.

      “John, we will figure this out, you know.” Margaret said. Stopping to look at his sister, John could only stare at her in wonder.

      “Maggie, you have a knack for fixing things, and god knows I love you for it, but this one is a little beyond even you. Don’t you go to the movies? If these guys want to kill us, then we are dead.”

      “Don’t say that, John!” Margaret yelled at him, letting both of them know just how thin and fragile her calm actually was.

      “Calm, both of you,” Noriko said stepping between them, “this will not help.”

      Margaret, the full realization of what was going to happen, turned to Noriko. “Can’t we go to the Police, and tell them what happened? I mean once we get rid of the money, and they know we don’t have it, we should be OK! Right?”

      Noriko looked at her, and was about to answer her, when John answered from across the room.

      “Sis if it were just the money, that might work, but whatever is in that book probably sealed it for us.”

      Maggie was almost sobbing, when she asked, ‘But there are witness protection programs or something, Right? I mean they must have some way…”

      Noriko sat down in the chair by the window, and shook her head. “Maggie, I don’t think that those things work. I have a friend who is a lawyer, and he said something once. They only put people into those programs when they know something, and they need them to testify. Sure if you give them the money, they will give you some cops to watch you for a few days, or a week, but after that you would be on your own. I don’t think these people would even wait that long before they came for you.”

      Noriko began to shake her head, while examining the street through the curtains again. “I don’t think the police are the answer…, or the only answer.” She continued again as if telling of something she had only dreamed. “When people are being fitted, it can take a long time. At first they make little conversations, about little things. Then they are quiet. Sooner or later, they talk. The one thing the ones had in common, other than money, was that they knew that you couldn’t get help from the police, and anyone who informed, was found out by the gang.”

      The apartment was silent for a long time, because no one wanted to speak further. Finally, John moved to the bathroom, and closed the door behind him.

      Maggie, turned to Noriko once more, and pleaded with her eyes for her to come up with something, but no answer came in reply. Maggie heard the sound of the toilet flush, and turned her eyes to the door, expecting John to come out, but he did not appear. Then she heard the distinct sound of John throwing up. She moved to the door, and knocked, but John just told her to go away. On trying the knob she found that he had locked the door. Not wishing to disturb him needlessly, she simple waited at the door for him to appear, which he did about five minutes later. When he came out, she put her arms around his neck, and hugged him close to her.

      “Listen to me,” John finally said, “they don’t know about you. They only saw me, and there is no reason why they should go after you if they get me. I’ll go to the cops and turn myself in. If you two say that you never saw me, then you should be ok. They want me.”

Maggie recoiled with horror, and said “No fucking way, John! No way!”

      “Sis, it’s the only way, it’s either that or try to find them down in Chinatown, and turn the money back to them.”

      “That would not work,” Noriko said quickly, “the fact that you brought it back to them would prove you knew too much, and they would kill you, and probably come for your sister anyway!”

      “But why? If I tell them that I did not see anyone…” John argued, but Noriko cut him off.

      “First of all, John, they would not hesitate to come after your family. Why not, they would be safer if they killed both you and your sister, because they will assume she was there too. In addition, not only will they not believe you, but also they have plenty of drugs and sick people who would enjoy working anything they wanted out of you. You are very brave, John, but it just won’t work. It will only make it easier for them to kill you.”

      “Ok, then what do I do? Huh?” John asked. “If you have an idea, I’d sure like to hear it, because you make it sound like we should just off ourselves, so as not to inconvenience the poor Chinese mafia! Well that kind of thing comes from your, background, not mine!” he finished loudly.

      The air was electric, when John seeing the look on Noriko’s face, realized that he was shouting at the wrong people. “Noriko, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… You took us in, and got yourself involved to help us. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

      “It is all right, John,” Noriko said rubbing her face with her hand. “I understand you are frightened, but we need to think clearly now. I will do everything I can to help you. If they find you, they will find me now too. We can’t do anything foolish, ok?”

      “So what do we do?” Maggie said softly. “Wait here, and let them get you too? Perhaps John and I should just go.”

Noriko looked over to her. “I can only suggest one thing.” Noriko said slowly. “You have to get away. You have to go where they can’t find you until we can figure out some better solution, but that may never come. We have to get you out of here, and far away. I don’t see any other way”

      Ok, then we go,” Maggie, said after a few moments. “Let’s go now.”

      “It’s not that easy,” Noriko said. “While I have watched at the window, I’ve seen several cars cruising around the streets with what may be people looking for that bag. I don’t know, but just getting you out of here may be the hard part. After that, I have friends at home, and all around. I can find a place.”

      “You mean Japan,” John said, “How are we supposed to get there?”

      Noriko looked at him, and said “First class air, John. You have the money if you need it, and we surely can’t give it back anyway. There is no reason why we can’t use the money for something like that, as long as you don’t go to the mall and start buying everything in sight, you should be ok.”

      “When you say run away, you aren’t kidding, are you? Japan?” John said to Noriko, but Maggie spoke also.

      “Or someplace equally far away,” Margaret said. “The west coast, or Florida, if we can keep a low profile. I’d say Vancouver, where Noriko’s cousins live, but anyplace she has friends, they may have contacts. We have to be careful.”

      Noriko answered her with an almost laugh, “Fortunately, Maggie, they are probably Chinese, and may not know as much about the Japanese community as you suppose, but you are right, we must be careful.” John sat down on the couch and began to hold his head.

      “Are you not well, John,” Noriko asked. “Are you going to be ill again?”

      “No.” he said, “but my head is splitting from where the brick hit me. That is why I threw up, because my head hurts. I need to lie down, I think.”

      They did just that, when they helped him to Noriko’s room. Noriko gave him some pain medicine, and put him to bed, all they while praying that he did not have a concussion, and was in need medical attention. Noriko was convinced, however, that despite his brave front John was just a very frightened child.

      Back in the living room, Noriko and Maggie sat at the table across from one another, and silently began sipping tea that neither wanted. The shrill of the phone startled them both rather badly. Noriko, shaking her head at the silliness of their fright, picked up the phone, “Hi, Noriko?” Her eyes became large and she said “Miyu,” which was the only thing that Maggie understood. She had a conversation for about five minutes, and then hung up.

      “Was that the little girl that John likes?” Margaret asked as soon as she had.

      “Yes, she just told me that she was down at the corner, and she said someone pulled her, but she did not see who because she had looked back at the noise of the car, when someone grabbed her shoulder and pulled her out of the way. She fell on the sidewalk, on top of another woman, and when she looked up she did not see who it was that helped her. She was apparently around the corner from John, but when she heard the shots, she ran like everyone else!”

      “Wow, so she does not know anything then?”

“No, she does not, which is a blessing. To tell the truth, she had me a little worried.” Noriko finished. “The only problem,” Noriko continued again, “I made a Dark Chii costume for her for the CosCon, and she wants to pick it up in two hours. Apparently, a lot of the people are going tonight after the set up, and then the convention starts tomorrow in earnest. I need you to hide in the bedroom with John when she comes.

      “NO problem.” Margaret said.

      Then Margaret, like Noriko sat looking at the half dozen costumes she had ready on dummies and hangers at the far end of the workspace. Sheets covered many, and it was only the stress of their current situation that had kept her from inspecting them. She had seem most of them in various stages of completion, but now that they were finished, she was sure they must have been something. Margaret also knew that Noriko’s own costume was around here somewhere, a copy of Toshiya’s blue Gauze outfit, complete with spiked collar and boots. Margaret looked around, and did not see it, and looked back at Noriko.

      Noriko was still looking at the costumes, deep in thought.

      “Margaret, how tall is John?” she asked. “I don’t know. I can give you his sizes; I buy most of his clothes, but I’m guessing he is right at five-five, or five-six. Why?”

      “I don’t…” Noriko started to say, “I’m going to check on him, I’ll be right back.”

      “I’ll do it,” Margaret said, and began to rise, but Noriko waived her back to her seat as she headed to the bedroom. She came out a few minutes later, and opened one of the closet doors that lined one side of the workspace. She pulled out another dummy with a partially completed white costume, and began to look it over. It was a short white mini dress, with the skirt even shorter in the front, and a back that was mostly comprised of blue crisscross ribbon laces. Noriko began to look over the dress, unaware that Margaret had walked up behind her amazed by her sudden concentration.

      “Noriko?” Margaret regretting her interruption as soon as she uttered a word, because Noriko visibly jumped when she said he name.

      “Oh, Maggie! Hand me that black box on that shelf by your head, will you?” Margaret could see it was marked “Star Quality,” in blue on the top, but just handed it to Noriko. When Noriko opened the box, she could see that it was a wig, that was about three feet long and looked to be a mixture of very light blond, to almost white and even grayish hair. Noriko lifted it out to the box, and examined the hair for a moment, before turning back to the costume to take a couple of measurements. Suddenly she turned to Margaret, and said, “I have an idea.”

      “What?” Maggie asked, the stress of the day making it hard for her to concentrate.

      “I have an idea how to get John out of the neighborhood. We can take him to the convention with us, and once we get there, there will be two or three thousand people there in costume. We can get just walk away whenever we want.”

      Still confused a little by the bizarre nature of the plan, Margaret asked again “But how do we get him there. We can’t just waltz down the street together with you and me in costume. Besides, I already have something to wear. What do you propose we do with John?”

      Noriko, surprised Maggie was so slow on the uptake, simply smiled and pointed at the white dress. Maggie’s eyes slowly expanded to the size of dinner plates as they now accessed the white mini dress in a whole new light.

      “You have got to be kidding! He will never go for that, and you must be out of your mind.”

 
 

o O o
 
 

      “Maggie, we don’t have a choice. First of all, I can’t think of any way out of this. Second, I can pull it off. John is the perfect size for this, with a few quick changes, and he is just young enough that if we work on him, no one will be able to tell who he is. It will work.”

      “You must be nuts, Noriko, he will never go for this!” Maggie said and stabbed her finger at the dress. “I would be embarrassed to wear that in public, how could he pull it off?”

      Noriko sighed, and taking Maggie by the hand, lead her to the couch. Once seated there, she turned to her and said. “Maggie-chan, we have no time. If the woman who saw John is in the hospital, we may have till this evening, or tomorrow. If the police took her to jail, she has probably already gotten to talk to her lawyer. Her lawyer will surely bring a description of John back to her gang. They will be looking for the bag already, and for John within a few hours. If they get the woman out tonight, then she will be able to identify him. We need to get him out now, before she can help them find him. Maggie-sama, they will kill your brother the first chance they get. They will kill him.” Noriko paused to stare at Maggie. “If he has to go naked, in a hotdog bun, it’s to save his life. I know I can do this so that his own mother would not recog….”

      Noriko paused at her gaff, and then continued. “Maggie-sama, no one will be looking for a pretty young girl in a costume, and I can do that — you know I can.”

      Margaret sat still, but Noriko could see a whole parade of emotions crossing her face. She new Margaret better than Margaret knew herself. Margaret would make the right decision as always; Noriko had seen her taking care of her brother to many times to doubt it. In the end, a look of calm came over her face, a calm of finally having some kind of plan to help pull them out of this mess. When she once again focused her gaze on Noriko, she only said “How?”

      “Well, most of the dresses have people coming for them this afternoon, or tomorrow. I think with a few calls, I can get all of these picked up today. I can finish this costume, in a couple of hours. I was going to make it with a slightly longer skirt at first, and then changed to the shorter one. I can finish the change it two hours. Everything else is almost ready now, and since it laces on, the size will be perfect.” Noriko then pulled a clear storage box from the shelf over where the dummy had been, and pulled out the other parts of the costume. There was a matching choker and hairpiece for a Chii, and some shoes, etc. She quickly took an inventory, and passed the box to Maggie, and continued.

      “This costume is ready. We simply need to work on John. We need to get him ready, so that he looks like he belongs in the costume. I expect that will be easier than you would imagine now, but you have to remember that he has to be as perfect as we can manage. In a few years it would take some work, but now that he is still fourteen, we simply need to do to him what you or I do to ourselves. The only real change will be his hair and eyebrows.”

      Maggie’s own eyebrows began a slow climb to the top of her head at the mention of eyebrows. Noriko simply said, “He has to look right, Maggie. No girl in this dress would have an Eskimo fisherman’s eyebrows, would they?”

      Maggie looked at her for another moment and got up to get John.

      When they got back to the living room, John still sleepy from the painkiller, Maggie sat him down beside Noriko, and sat on the other side of him. “John, Noriko has an idea. We think that we can get you out to the cosplay convention, and then to a hotel and or the airport?”

      “What about you?” he asked. “I’m going with you, John.”

      “What about Dad and Joan?” he asked.

      “What about them? Do you want to go home and try to get them to help? Do you think that Dad calling his lawyer, and Joan having another bout of hysteria, will help?” she asked.

      “No, but we should let them know we are OK, before we start leaving the country, Maggie.”

      “We can’t, but I can live with that.” She finished.

      Noriko broke in. “John, are you worried about your parents?”

      John thought for a moment, and then replied, “No, I guess not. It’s just that it’s a big step, you know?”

      “Yes I do, know.” Noriko answered.

      “Well what is this plan?” John asked.

      “Maggie and I were going to the cosplay convention this weekend. We were planning to go tomorrow, but now we think we can get ready and leave at six or seven this evening. We plan to get you a costume, and take you with us.”

      “Why the convention?” John asked, even though he liked this idea already.

      “The costume would give us our best chance to hide you, better than anything else I can think of, first of all.” Noriko explained. “Second, they are expecting thousands of people, most of them near your ages. I think that once we get there, we can blend right in. We can call a hotel, and we can stay in one of those without arousing any suspicion. Lastly, we can head out as soon as possible to the airport, just like we could only be at the convention for one day... We should be able to blend in, and get away, John.”

      Yes, it sounded good, better in fact than he had imagined. “So, ah, what do I wear?” Noriko nodded toward the dummy with the Chii costume, and he followed her gaze to the other side of the room.

      “Where is one I can wear?” he asked. “The white one in the middle.” She replied.

      “The Dress?” he gasped out loudly, “No frigging way! I’m not gonn’a...”

      He was half way up, when Maggie pulled him back down. “John, listen to me, a lot of guys wear female costumes of characters that they like, and there will be hundreds of them there.” Maggie tried to explain.

      “Dressed like that? That thing might as well be a negligee or something. No hooker would wear that thing. She’d never get away with it. I’ll take my chances with a bunch of killer chinamen before I wear a dress!”

      Noriko got up to look out the window, while Maggie tried to reason with John. They argued for perhaps five minutes more, when Noriko called to John.

      “John, come over here for a minute, will you?”

      “I’m not doing it…”

      “John, just come to the window for a minute, you can keep your pants for now.” Noriko said, clearly starting to loose even her almost fathomless patience. At the window, Noriko pointed to a van that was cruising up and down the street. At one point the van stopped, and two guys jumped out to stop two young boys who were walking down the street. One of the men held a bag like the one that contained the money. After a short conversation, which included pointing at the bag, the men moved back to the van.

      Noriko resealed the crack, and turned to John. “John, I’ve always helped you in any way that I could. If you want my help now, you have it. But we don’t have much time. What will it be? Do you want to try it my way, or would you like to try and get out of here on your own?” The implied threat shocked him. Well that, and the fact that Noriko was a very beautiful woman may have had as much effect on John as what he had seen.

      “This is no game, John. You may detest the idea of being dressed like a girl, but believe me, that is nothing compared to what those people will do to you if they get their hands on you.” Noriko said, once again her voice returning to its normal softer tones.

      It took about ten seconds for John’s mind to unintentionally dredge up what some of those things might be. “Ok, what do I have to do?”

      Five minutes later, John was back from the bedroom in a big pink robe, after having removed all of his clothes. The robe had been a problem, but when Noriko had offered to help him, he had come out quickly. “Here, put these on.” Maggie handed him a pair of white briefs, which looked like panties. “You must be kidding? Panties?” he asked her accusingly.

      “Quickly, John, we have no time.” Maggie said. John turned his back, and dropping is own pants, he started to slip them on.

      “Wait, John, do you wear briefs?” Noriko asked. “Yeah, I do.”

      “Keep them on then, and slip the white ones over them.”

      Once John had done that, it became obvious why. The material in the front could not hide his true gender, and he could only imagine how much worse it would have been with just the thin white satin like material.

      “Ok, now let’s fit you.” Noriko said as she whipped off the robe and turned to pick up the dress and slip it over his head.

      “Lift your arms, John… Jane?” she finished with a smile.

      “Christ, you guys got problems” he said as he lifted his arms.

      For the next fifteen minutes, Noriko tried the pieces of the outfit on him, to make sure that everything fit. He asked to see it in the mirror, but Noriko would not let him move. She whispered to Maggie that she did not want him to be worried by seeing himself before they got him ready. Noriko had to change the laces in the dress, but all in all, everything fit better than she had hoped. The dress looked made for him. With the new laces, she was even able to pull the dress in at the waste, which with the pronounced flair at the skirt gave him a waist that would look in place for any woman. The wig was a good length for his height, and covered his hair well, even without the extensions that came with it.

      “OK, John, lets find shoes.” Well they were a problem, but by rummaging through the closets, they found a white pair that would match the dress, and would fit him. Unfortunately, they were high heels. “John, I want you to keep those on, when you are not in the bath, wear them all the time, OK?” Noriko told him. “You will have to walk in them, if I can’t find something. Better when I go out. Then Noriko pulled out the cloth that had been cut for the longer length skirt. Although it did hide John’s briefs a little better, both Noriko and Maggie thought that the longer skirt just did not look right.

      With Noriko on one side, and Maggie on the other, they helped John walk to the bathroom. Once there, Noriko pulled a bottle and a box out of the closet, and handed them to Maggie. “You know how these are used?” she said as Maggie took the bottle and smiled at the label.

      “Yup!” she answered.

      “All over him, OK? You will have to check, but given how the dress is cut, he has to do a good job.” Noriko finished as she headed to the other room for her purse.

      “I understand. I’ll deal with it…” Noriko was motioning for her to come to the door. After a quickly whispered conversation there, Maggie handed Noriko her keys, and headed back to John. It was just half past ten.

      “John,” Maggie said handing him the pink robe, “Let me get your laces for you. I need you to strip down... “

      “Get out, and I’ll…”

      Maggie stomped her foot which was a thing that she could only ever remember doing with John once. “Right now, damn it! I don’t have time, and neither do you! I’ll turn my back, believe me!” Maggie said as she untied the back lacing on the dress.

      Once John was naked in his robe, she handed him the bottle. “John, listen carefully, you have to get in the shower, and spread this all over yourself. Don’t get it on your… Well, you know, but get it all around you. On your legs, tops of feet, arms and backs of hands. I’ll put it on your back for you, but you don’t really need it there. Don’t get it near your face, and don’t get it near your eyes or hair.”

      “Maggie no. please?”

      “Now John!” she said. Then sitting him on a stool, she applied a light blond dye to his hair, and putting a shower cap on his head, sent him into the shower.

      While John stood in the shower for twice the time the material said it needed, she rummaged through the cosmetics in Noriko’s room. For someone who seldom wore much makeup, she had a collection that looked like it should belong to a film studio. Maggie guessed it went with the theater costume side of the business, but much of the makeup was this year’s glamour selection, which Maggie did not expect. Thus, in between frequent checks on John, she was able to pull together everything she would need. At last, Maggie went in, and had John stick his arm out of the shower. She rubbed a part of John’s arm with a washcloth, and pronounced him well done.

      “I’m starting to feel it a little.”

      “Ok, John, shower off now. Use the washcloth, and make sure you rub everywhere. When you get out, I have some lotion for you….

 
 

o O o
 
 

      Noriko got back just after noon. She had just walked over to the couch to put some packages there, when Maggie walked into the room.

      “How is it going?” she asked as she put her bags on the couch.

      “That was fast.” Maggie replied.

      “Years of practice putting together costumes for people has taught me just where to look for what I need -” Noriko explained.

      Noriko then wordlessly handed Maggie back her keys and two passports she had retrieved from their condo. “So how is he doing?” she continued.

      “Fine. He’s just getting out of the shower. I had him keep the depilatory on for twice as long as the box said to. I’m betting that you can’t find a hair on him anywhere.

      “Very good, Maggie-sama. At lease we won’t have to deal with ‘Hairy Chii’, she actually giggled. Let’s go check him.”

      In the bathroom, Noriko embarrassed John by insisting on taking a few quick Peeks at the critical parts of his body. When she ran a quick hand over the backs of his thighs, he jumped a foot.

      “Very good, John! It is better than I dared hope.” Then she finished by checking his arms, hands, and even his back and rear end, after she first turned him so that his robe would offer him as much privacy as possible. “John, I have to say that I would kill for your skin. I can’t believe how smooth and clear it is!” Noriko was starting to get excited about how well it was going, and it showed.

      Margaret, who was still a little embarrassed by the inspection Noriko had given her brother said, “so what’s next?”

      Noriko smiled again, and said directly to John, “Brows, I’m afraid. John, I’m sorry, but there is not way to do this without it hurting a little, so just try to be patient with me, OK?”

      For his part, John just shook his head slightly. He was clearly resigned to whatever fate the girls had planned for him. This was in part the result of watching what little body hair he had grown to that point washing down the drain; hair which he knew had grown only through constant prayer that he would soon grow more masculine to avoid embarrassment in the boys shower. If that had not been enough, the first sight of his now blond hair certainly did not help his remaining resolve.

      Noriko sat John on a chair in the bathroom, and then proceeded to mark his brows with a black pencil to define the best shape for him. Maggie, who was watching over her shoulder, tried to get her to moderate her reshaping a little, to leave John with at least something that might later pass as male. Noriko was brutal, however. When at last she cleaned off the brow pencil, and stepped back, John’s brows would never pass for male. The transformation was dramatic, to say the least.

      Maggie found herself thinking that John looked like her little sister. Not only that, but she thought that he was prettier than she was to boot! Maggie lightly popped him on the back of his head for it, and went to the kitchen to make them some lunch.

      “What was that for?” he called, but she did not bother to respond.

      Noriko made no attempt to hide her grin as John frowned at her; she knew just what Maggie had been thinking.

      Noriko then picked up some scissors, and quickly cut his longish hair into a distinctly feminine style. Despite her worry, she even smiled a little bit remembering the time she’d given a stage actress a haircut, in full costume, six minutes before the curtain went up.

      “What are you doing now?” John asked Curiously, watching her smile at him. “Just a little trim, John. Don’t worry, years of cosplay, and you too could be your own beauty salon. I know what I’m doing. Now, hold still, little one.”

      Keeping still as he could, he said, “I’m not worried.”

      “Good John, because this is going to work fine.” Stepping back, Noriko surveyed her work. She was clearly happy with the result.

      Noriko then moved to the vanity, to find a small pile of cosmetics already set aside in one corner by Margaret in preparation. Noriko agreed with almost all of it, but did change to slightly brighter colors for lipstick and blush.

v Coming back to John, she told him, “Now we will have to redo your makeup for later, but I want you to get used to it for now, OK?”

      John slightly nodded his head, and closed his eyes. He didn’t like the feeling of the makeup, and Noriko was tickling him, but she was at least fast. He just put up with it.

      She was talking to him as she worked. “I want you remember, John, that all you need to do to make this work is to not act frightened. I know this feels strange, but I promise you that it is the best way.”

      He was afraid to nod, but in the end he did a little.

      Noriko quickly applied the foundation they had chosen, and blended out using her bare fingers first, then a sponge. Then she dusted his face with what she told him was a clear powder, even thought it looked pink to him. Then to his surprise, before she picked up a large brush to dust off the excess powder, she also began to tutor him on how the makeup was applied. She explained that there would be times over the next few days when he would surely have to fix his makeup, so he listened very carefully.

      He knew she was finished when she brought in the bags from the front room, and handed him some clothes from her own closet.

      “Here, put these on first.” John could see that they were a pair of skin colored briefs, made of some elastic material, with thick padding in the front. He started to ask, but then realized that he knew what they were for already. When he got them on, and he situated himself, he turned, and Noriko handed him a bra and panties. “Gee! Nor, what do I have to wear your underwear for? Do you think I’m going to have some Chinese hit man trying to get into my pants?” John was reaching his limit.

      “To be honest, John, given how you look, you might have to be careful of boys trying to do just that. You need them John, Underwear does show through most of the time.” He snatched them out of her hand, and then quickly apologized that he did know that she was trying to help.

      “It’s OK, John. We will get through this if we stay calm.”

      She finished him off by giving him a white blouse, and a black mini skirt. John did not say anything out loud, but she started to laugh a little when on seeing the skirt, he muttered “pervert” under his breath. He had a little trouble with the buttons on the blouse, which were on the wrong side or something, but handled panty hose well enough. After that the skirt was no problem at all. She finally placed the high heels on the floor in front of him, and he slipped them on. She held his arm as they walked to the living room.

      When Maggie saw him, she dropped a dish in the sink, which by some stroke of luck did not break. “Oh my god, John!” she exclaimed. “Oh, my God!”

      “Is it that bad?” he asked feeling very humiliated, and unbalanced.

      “Bad? No way, John! You are beautiful! You are absolutely gorgeous!”

      “Awe come on Maggie. I already feel like a complete ass, don’t make it worse!”

      Noriko chuckled, and gently steered him over the large wall mirrors in the work area.

      She left John to stare at himself in disbelief. Noriko caught hold of Margaret’s arm, where she also was staring open-mouthed at John’s reflection, and quickly dragged her away.

      Back in the kitchen, she gasped out to Noriko, “My god, you are good. I mean I know you’ve been doing this for people for a long time, but that is so completely amazing that I don’t even believe it!”

      Noriko actually giggled just a tiny bit. “I told you it would work. John looks a lot like you, Maggie-chan. I just need to bring it out a little. You need to be careful about how you talk to him though, Maggie. He feels bad enough already. I think he may feel just about ready to turn himself in to anyone who will get him away from me, and face the consequences.” The reminder of the danger was not the joke that Noriko had intended it to be.

      Maggie swallowed her own giggles, and nodded her head, saying, “Who are you kidding? I’d never look that good in a million years. Him turning himself in is not your biggest problem, Nor’. If I’d have known the little bitch would look that good, I’d have turned him in myself!” They both laughed then, while trying not to be heard out in the work area lest John misinterpret their excitement, which helped to ease Noriko’s sense of fear for them all.

      “Well, what now?” Maggie finally finished. “I have to start on the costume. Thank god everything is ready. I need you to do John’s Nails, hands and toes, with this.” She handed her a French-nail kit. Then you need to work with him, and get him to walk and sit and move like a girl. Do the best you can. Just be sure not to egg him on about how beautiful he turned out, or he might not be able to go through with this!”

      “Ok, Noriko, but he did turn out gorgeous, huh?”

      Noriko smiled a little again, in spite of herself. “Yes.”

      When Margaret went in to get John for lunch, he was trying to see his butt in the mirror. She knew she should not, but she could not help herself “My my, but isn’t our princess a vain little thing. Don’t worry; your ass looks great in that skirt. If we get out of this alive, remind me to kill you!”

      “Jesus Christ, Sis. This is not funny. I can change back, right?”

      From the work area, Noriko said brightly, “Time is the master of many such problems.”

      “Great, I’m stuck” John said with what little humor he had left in him, and sat down heavily.

      “Why do I need to wear this mini skirt, for god’s sake?”

      Noriko, who had come over to head off the crisis, took John by the chin, and gently said, “John, you have to get used to moving in a short skirt. If you get in a crowd of people, and try to throw one leg on a table or something, people will notice. Don’t worry; I’m not doing this to you because I am a pervert! Well, not that much of one, anyway, but you need the practice. Now sit up, and hold your knees together.”

      Even John chuckled this time, saying, “Yes you are! You’re loving this, aren’t you?”

      Noriko smiled fully for the first time since before their little problem, and nodded. She then made John get back up, and showed him how to sit down more like a young woman would.

      They had a quick lunch, mostly to settle their stomachs, and then Noriko made John stand against the wall while she took some pictures of him with a small digital camera. Then Maggie began to work on John’s nails all the while drilling him on tips on manners and behavior. The both agreed that the more he kept silent, the better off they would be. For her part Noriko was lost in her work. They only pause once, to watch a replay of the report on the local news. The woman had been taken to the hospital, but she was treated and released in police custody. “Shit!” Noriko said very softly, and very uncharacteristically. It was the first time Margaret had ever heard her swear.

      Once the skirt was sewn on properly, Noriko made John try it on, after first slipping off the bra, because Noriko had added padding to the front of the dress. She had also changed the lavender/blue ribbons for pink. The dress was, as expected, completely amazing. Even Noriko could not believe how good it worked out. However, she quickly had it back off of John, and proceeded to make a few final touches to the dress, and to some of the accessories, as well. By two, when the phone rang, she was finished, and ready to try it on him again, when the buzzer rang. It was Miyu, coming to pick up her costume. John and Maggie quickly hid in the bedroom.

      For the next two hours, Noriko had a constant stream of visitors. All but two of the clients just picked up their dresses. One twenty-something guy had tried on the frocked coat and pants that he ordered, but was quickly gone also. Miyu was the only girl who had tried on her outfit, to check the length with her shoes that had just come in the day before. John wanted to peak, but Margaret quickly squashed that idea. The last customer came just after five, and it was done.

      Sitting down with a glass of soda, Noriko motioned them over to rest with her for a minute. “Now what?” John and Maggie asked together.

      “We pack a few things for all of us, and we get ready for the convention. Maggie, take my credit card, and get us a room at the Hilton near the convention center. I need to finish this drink, first.”

      Again, Noriko’s ability to visualize entire clothing ensembles at once, and her unfailing sense of size and fit paid off in a big way. It took her less than twenty minutes to throw a couple of complete outfits for each of them into suitcases with everything they would need for a few days. She sorted out the outfits, and Maggie folded and packed the cases.

      Noriko hesitated, and moving to the top of her closet, pulled out a package that contained a black jumper dress, blouse, and shoes from Moi-Meme-Moitie.

      “Maggie-sama, I bought this for your graduation, but I think we need it for John. I’m sorry.”

      Maggie was a little stunned. The dress was one that she wanted, but she had seen that it had been quickly sold out. She had no idea Noriko had picked it out for her as well.

      “If he wrecks this on me, I’ll kill him!” Maggie sounded far too serious, but she quickly folded the dress very carefully into the case along with all the others.

      There was also a third small case packed full of makeup, and other beauty products.

      John took the two with clothing in them to the living room, and after placing them beside a fourth small case Noriko had placed there, sat to watch the news, while Maggie and Noriko got ready.

      When they came out of the bedroom forty-five minutes later, John got a whole new appreciation for Noriko’s talents. Noriko looked just like the picture of Toshiya on the Dir en Gray poster. Her natural beauty was even more pronounced.

      Maggie was a work of art. She had on a copy of the dress that Mana wore in Malice Mizer’s Shiroi videos. Her bangs were now blond with the blue-gray wigs sausage curls covering most of the rest of her hair. John had not realized that Manna was a guy, until Maggie had proven it to him, but she had the look down pat.

      “Are you ready?” Maggie asked.

      “Let’s get this over with.” John said resolutely. The hair and makeup took the longest. When Noriko had finished tying and pinning on the wig and hairpieces, John had full white/blond hair below his waste. Then Noriko and Maggie both took a long time getting his makeup just right this time, with Maggie being very careful not to get anything on the lace sleeves of her dress. The rest of the outfit got laced on to him, with lacings on the dress, stockings, and in his hairpiece. Lastly, they laced on short granny boots, which fortunately had a heel that was lower than the shoes he had been in all day, so walking on them was easy. Then, the girls stepped back to look.

      “Wow,” Maggie said, “I still don’t believe it, and I’m looking right at you. You look… well both of you look fantastic. If I had not seen you get ready, John, I would not have recognized you.”

      “You are right, Maggie”, Noriko continued for her, “no one will recognize him. And, Maggie-sama, you are very beautiful too. I wish you could enter the costume contests, but now that might not be such a good idea.”

      “I will enter, but it will have to be in the Boston convention in a couple of months. I’m sure you will win, Noriko.”

      John was silent, lost in his own thoughts until Noriko spoke to him. “John, would you like to look in the mirror?”

      “No.”

      Maggie put her arm around her brother, and would have hugged him more fiercely, if she had not had to worry about their makeup. The thought almost made her giggle again. “John, it’s just for a little while, until we can get you out of here. Don’t worry; you look stunning. I think you will be the cutest girl there!” she ended brightly and hopefully.

      “That’s what I’m afraid of, Maggie. Look at me,” He said while lifting his short skirt, and letting it fall.

      Noriko, once more moved to take his arm, and walk him to the living room. “John, a lot of men cosplay J-rockers and anime characters in dresses. There will be hundreds of them at the convention. Even if you tell someone you are a boy, they will not think anything of it. Except of course that they might not believe you.” She finished with a warm smile.

      Maggie then chimed in, “She’s right John, a lot of guys do this, and not all of them just like to wear dresses if you know what I mean?”

      “Yeah, sure!”

      Noriko began to steer him to the mirrors, saying, “Now, John, you must smile for me, ok.” Dress or no dress, there was no way that any fourteen-year-old boy could resist a beautiful woman like Noriko, so he was almost smiling, that is until he saw himself.

      “Ohhh, No!” he groaned, and would have clapped his hand over his eyes if Maggie had not grabbed his hand first. She gave him another terse lecture on not touching his face, and messing up his makeup, while Noriko adjusted the lace on his choker.

      “Maggie, Noriko, I can’t do this. I can’t go out in public like this. I know you worked hard, and it was a good idea, but I can’t do this!”

      Maggie cut Noriko off, “Just cut the shit, John. I have not been taking all that crap from Joan and Dad over you just to see you murdered by some crazed Chinese drug-running bitch. Now you plant a smile on that pretty face, and shutta’ you mouth, or so help me I’ll kill you myself!”

      “Calm, Maggie! Calmly John.” Noriko tired to calm them down, but it was the look of genuine terror on Maggie’s face that did the trick for John. He could tell that she was really scared. He was too, if he did not forget it in his embarrassment.

      “Sorry, Sis. You are right. Let’s do this.” After that, John had calmed down enough to really look in the mirror. “Holy Cow. I look…” Lost in the vision that Noriko and his sister had created, he began to turn himself slowly to look at himself from as many directions as he could see. Then as he once more stood still to stare, a smile began to grow on his face. “…I look…”

 
 

 
 

      Noriko and Maggie were watching this performance quietly, and he did not even have to complete the thought before both girls agreed with him.

      Noriko said, “I’ve got to run an errand, so please, wait here. Calm down now, if you start to sweat, you’ll mess up the makeup.”

      “Sweat! I’m going to freeze to death in this damned thing!” John said, but he was still wearing a look of amazement.

      Noriko threw him a heavy emerald green cape with gold trim, and told him that he would use that to keep warm outside. She then took the empty red and black backpack that had contained the money, and tossed that at Maggie. “Cut this up while I’m gone. Get it into four or five small pieces. We might as well get rid of it now, in the incinerator chute”

      “Why cut it up, so someone does not take it out of the trash?”

      “Yes,” and with that she was gone.

      “Maggie?”

      “Yeah, John?”

      He did not speak for a long time, which caused her to turn toward him, trying to judge his emotions.

      “I just wanted to tell you that no matter what happens, I love you, you know.”

      Maggie did hug him this time. “It’s going to be ok, John. We will make it through this, even if it does not seem like it right now, we are going to make it.”

      “I hope you are right, Maggie, but even if we don’t, I wanted to tell you that I love you. I really appreciate what you guys are doing. If I seem ungrateful, well I just don’t like the dress, but I am grateful for all that you are trying to do.”

      “I love you too, John. Just remember to smile, and act as if you are having a good time. If you walk around with a sad look on your face, we will have to swap dresses — and I won’t look as good in that thing as you do!”

      “Yeah, right!” John snorted in denial, but Maggie just smiled knowingly.

      They were sitting together on the couch, holding hands and talking when Noriko came in. She paused at the table by the door, and picked something up, before walking over to sit on the coffee table facing them. She handed John a little white Purse, with a long white strap. Maggie quickly slipped it over his head, hanging the bag at his hip.

      “OK, we are ready. Do you have the reservation at the Hilton?”

      “Yes,” Maggie said, “Under Noriko Yokoshira. I paid for three days in advance, just like you said.”

      “Good, Maggie-sama. I only wish I could have figured out how to use another name, but we had to use my credit card. Oh, well!”

      “Now I want you to listen to me carefully.” She continued. “This phone is for you, John. Keep it with you at all times. If anything bad happens, you hit star 1 to dial 911. Not only will it get you to the police, but also it will flash a message to my phone letting me know that you are in trouble. If something happens, you dial that number first, you understand?”

      “Yea, I do,” he said solemnly.

      “Ok, Maggie, you have your phone too?”

      “Yes, and I can speed dial you, and call 911 too.”

      “Exactly.” Noriko smiled. “Now John, this may be the hardest thing you ever hear, but if something happens to Maggie, or me you just run. Don’t try to help us. If they either of us, they may kill us, but not before they try to find the money. If they have us all, then they have time to do whatever they want. If they get the others, the one left has to go to the police, do you understand?” Maggie and John just Nodded.

      Maggie felt like she was in imminent danger of loosing her mind, to hear her soft-spoken friend calmly saying such things.

      “Ok,” she then handed over some cosmetics to put in his bag, which Maggie had taught him how to use to freshen up his makeup at need, as long as he stayed between the lines. Then she opened a small wallet, and showed him that it contained three hundred dollars in cash, and one of Noriko’s credit cards. Lastly she handed John a picture ID, with his picture, and the name Aya Yokoshira on it.

      John and Maggie were amazed. “I made this a little while ago with a program on the internet. I printed it and had the lady downstairs, who also does a lot of sewing and crafting, laminate it for me. I already called the credit card company, and told them that you were traveling with me, Aya, so you should be able to use my card if anything goes wrong.” Maggie and John were very impressed at the quality of the ID, and were still staring at it a full minute later, when she gave an ID for “Mia Yokoshira” and another credit card to Maggie.

      “Ok, now one last thing. I was not going to tell you this, but now I think I should. John in the bust pads in your costume I’ve sewn in ten thousand dollars.”

      “What!” Maggie gasped.

      “That’s not all, Maggie-sama. You have the same amount in your headpiece. Now listen closely. If something really goes wrong, use the money to get away, but don’t use it for anything else!”

      “We are not that new, you know.” John said bitingly.

      “I know, but I had to say it. Just remember, that if anyone finds out you have that much on you, not only will the Tong find out very quickly, but everyone else will be looking for you too, so be careful.”

      She looked them each in the eyes, and waited for them to nod before continuing. “Remember this too. If all else fails, Get to the airport tomorrow night by nine p.m. Go to the Pan Am terminal Show your ID, and tell them you have a prepaid ticket, and you should be ok. The tickets are first class, so they should get you right on the plane, and out of sight immediately. That’s a little more than one day away, and you should be able to hide out for that long, and then take a cab to the airport. Do not go home.”

      Noriko stood up “Remember to be calm, and act like a couple of kids having a good time, and everything will work. Let’s go.”

      Margaret stopped Noriko with a hand on her arm. “Wait a minute, where are the tickets to?”

      “Will you not find that out soon enough?” Noriko said, raising her eyebrows at Maggie.

      “Oh! I get it.” John said, “We can’t tell anyone where the others have gone, right?” Noriko smiled. “They will be able to trace us John, but with any luck, they won’t be able to find us before the plane gets to where it’s going. It’s just a little insurance.”

      John was clearly bothered by something, so he then asked; “You’re not sending us to Tokyo, are you?”

      “John, where is your passport?”

      “Umm. In the lockbox in dad’s office at home.”

      “Well I don’t think it will get you on the plane to another country then, will it?”

      Maggie looked confused, but said nothing about the passports in her purse.

      “Well,” John asked, “why don’t we just go home and get them.”

      Still with a warm smile on her face, Noriko said slowly. “And how will a passport for John Holman get Aya Yokoshira on a plane to Tokyo, John?”

      “Oh, yah. Sorry Noriko.”

      “That’s Ok, John. Believe me, if I could have figured that one out, I would have had you on a plane to Nagoya! That is where my family is from, and I’m sure I could keep you safe there.” It was Maggie’s turn to giggle a little, even as she stared at Noriko.

      “John? Anything Else?” Noriko asked, almost smiling at the expression on John’s face.

      “Uh, yea. Were you ever a spy, or an international hit woman, or something, Noriko.”

      “Yes….”

      “Never Mind.” John said, holding his hands up in front of him, and shaking his head ‘no’ emphatically.

      Noriko’s expression did not change as she said very softly, “Don’t worry about it, that was before the war, and we don’t talk about it because I worked for the other side.”

      They dumped the trash into the chute, and walked down the stairs with John in the middle, to wait in the lobby, where Noriko dropped a letter in the mailbox. Then they stood and waited for the cab Noriko had called. In the foyer, John tried to cover his head with the hood of the cape, but Noriko gently lifted it off of his head, and whispered for him not to use it again. Both Noriko and Maggie spent the time waiting for the cab trying to make casual conversation for John, and they did get a little thrill out of calling him by the name Aya. To tell the truth, it was annoying, but help him ignore the people who stared openly at the trio as they passed…

      Noriko had done very well by them, but like most people she had the wrong impression of how the incinerator chute worked….

 
 

End of Act I

 
 

By

Sarah Lynn Morgan

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