Richard sat with his head in his hands as the conversation droned on. It was a perfect storm of fashion, hormones, feminism and anything else popped into the minds of these two giant best friends for life.
"Where is Fisc when you need him." He muttered to himself.
"You say something?" Kikata asked, looking down towards the human that sat between herself and Prila on the bed.
"Me? Nothing. Just sitting here."
"Would you like to talk about something else?" Prila asked.
Richard shrugged, eyeing the two girls for a moment. Prila's explosive bossom had settled back down to nearly its regular size. "How are you feeling?"
She shrugged, "I'm okay. This happens at least once a month. When you're taking so many pills its easy to forget. Which reminds me I need to get more tomorrow."
"Do they always shrink back to the same size?" Kikata asked curiously.
"No. Not always. Sometimes smaller, sometimes larger." She shrugged, "It's sort of random."
"Wow. You get so many different styles! Do you have a different dress for each one?"
"Now that you mention it I have bought..."
Richard groaned as their conversation went back to clothing. After all these months Richard had figured Kikata was sort of a tom boy...which she was. But around her new friend she seemed to want to let all of her teenage girl out. He finally stood up and made his way across the wide expanse of the bed.
"Where are you going?" Kikata asked with an arched brow.
"Sleep." He called over his shoulder.
"But...this is my bed!"
"This is our room. And I don't feel like sleeping on the table. If you can't share a tiny piece of bed with someone my size you have issues."
Kikata rolled her eyes, "Fine. But don't complain if I roll on you."
Richard reached the tall pillows, taking the soft fabric between his fingers before hoisting himself up. He sat down, eyeing the two women at the foot of the bed. Seeing as he was no longer in their circle they reverted to their native languages. He laid back on the cloud like surface and closed his eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.
~ ~ ~ ~
Kikata glanced over her shoulder towards the tiny mass on the pillow, "I hope he doesn't snore." She kidded, turning back to Prila with a smile.
"Is it bad that I find that adorable?"
"How do you mean?"
"I mean...look at him. He's almost like a tiny little one of us...he is really. I find that cute."
"Oh." Kikata responded, recalling how she viewed him much the same way when they first met, "You learn to look past that. Especially after he gets some blood on his hands."
"He is a good fighter?" She asked curiously.
"I'm not sure. I like to think he is...I just sort of imagine him that way. I pulled him out of a destroyed camp and he had hardly a scratch. And then what happened on that space station, when I saw the video I couldn't believe he kept his head on his shoulders. But, even he refers to himself as some...how does he say...glorified security guard."
"But he is a marine is he not?"
"Yes. But they say its not like the movies." Kikata shrugged, "But no matter, he is a Guard now like me."
"Kind of handsome one at that!" Prila giggled, "You know if you're available-" She noticed Kikata wince, "Oh, sorry. It's too soon isn't it?"
Kikata nodded, "I don't even know if I want to call it off with Runo. What he did was...terrible. And I could never trust him like I did in the past...but what if I just decided to shrug it off?"
"Yeah...you two had so much history...but...would you be happy?"
"I don't know. I was happy in the past. But then I wanted to escape. I felt trapped back there...I guess I sort of always knew that I would either have to give up Runo or give up my dreams." Her eyes swelled with tears as she pondered over the facts. She could go back, he would take her back undoubtably. It seemed kind of nice, but at the same time she wondered if she was just fooling herself. She felt an arm wrap around her shoulder, she accepted the grip and leaned against her new friend, her head resting against a soft surface.
"Comfy?"
The neko's odd remark forced a smile across Kikata's lips, "Yeah."
"It's said that at times our lives are sort of..." Prila raised her free hand and swept it in the air in front of her, "Purposefully pushed towards one another. As if the Universe intends for us to bounce into one another in one way or another. Sometimes we are nudged towards each other, and other times we are spread away."
"And how are we supposed to know what it wants?" Kikata mumbled quietly.
"Your heart will tell you. When fate pushed you away from Runo, did you cling on as tight as you could? Or did you push off of him?"
Kikata blinked, in an odd way it all made sense, "But, what if it's just random? Cause and effect?"
Prila shrugged, "It could be."
Kikata sighed, lifting her head from Prila's chest, "Well. It is comforting to think it might be."
"Yeah. I think I'm going to head to sleep myself. Goodnight Kikata, I will see you tomorrow?"
"Sure. We'll be here." Kikata said with a nod, still wondering on what she had said. She watched the Fela exit the room. She climbed across the bed, eyeing the slumbering human with a smile as she pulled away the sheets. She wondered what his significance was in all of this? She slipped under the sheets and nestled her head down, her mind still bustling with questions as she drifted off to sleep.
~ ~ ~ ~
Richard could feel the darkness pressing down on all sides. The fear of not knowing what lied behind the small beam of dim yellow light of his flashlight made it difficult to move. He was back on the ship, or at least he thought it was their ship. He couldn't put his finger on it, but this terrible, blood chilling fear filled his mind. It made tears well under his eyes and his limbs go rigid as he wondered why he was here.
"R-Richard..." A raspy whisper called from the darkness.
"Kikata?" He called, his voice echoing throughout the shadowy vessel.
"I-It hurts...Richard..." Her voice called again.
"Kikata? Where are you?"
"It hurts..."
Richard spun around frantically. "Kikata?! Where are you?! What hurts?!" His light finally fell on a dark hill in the distance. He sprinted up the ships surface, his light flashing up and down as he ran. Suddenly his feet lost friction. He let out a scream as he tumbled to the ground.
"W-What is this?" He groaned, lifting his arm out of the wet pool. He shined his flashlight on the ground below him and screamed again. Red! The floor was red with blood! He got to his feet and shined his light towards Kikata.
"P-Please..." She gasped, his light causing the pupil of her golden eye to retract. Her voice was wretched, as if she were gargling water as she spoke.
"Kikata? What's wrong?" He lowered his light across her face, her lips were glistening and red, a small trickling stream of red flowing off her lips like a waterfall and onto her chin. His gaze fell even lower, his eyes widening as he saw the horrible wound on her neck. The skin had been torn away as if by some terrible beast, he could see the muscle and tendon flex and move as she swallowed.
"Richard...Help me...I can't...the pain is..." She rolled to her back and screamed, "Oh god!" She cried, "I-I-Oh my god!" her cries made Richard sick to his stomach as he desperately wished there was something he could do. He rushed to her side.
"Let me help! I want to help!" He nearly sobbed, but somehow he knew she was dead. There was nothing he could do, it was too late!
Her cries died down to a gurgle, her limbs flailing, forcing Richard to retreat. She gasped and spat, her eyes watching him in horror as she went into violent spasms. Her hand reached out for him, how could he walk away? But somehow this frightened him. He let her hand grip him, almost clumsily as she pushed herself to a sitting position with her free arm.
"Kikata?" Richard asked, her wide almsot dead stare giving him chills. Her only response was a deep, raspy breathing. Her blood soaked chin still dripping. Her arm moved forward, Richard clinging to her finger as he approached her face, "Kikata? What are-" Suddenly it hit him. She was dead....she wasn't Kikata anymore. She was one of them now. She only knew how to feed! "No! No!" Richard screamed, her teeth gleaming a light coat of red as her upper lip rose in a horrid snarl. Hot wafts of hair blasted him as her deep red tongue slipped forward, "Kikata No!"
"Richard wake up!" Kikata screamed, holding the sweating and screaming human in her hand, "Richard!"
Richards eyes shot open. "K-Kikata..." He muttered.
"What the hell happened? I woke up to the sound of you screaming my name over and over."
"It...was just a dream." He panted.
"Yes. You're fine." she said, looking down at him with a concerned look.
"You were...I was...never mind." He said shaking his head, "It doesn't matter." But he was still shaken to the core.
"Okay." She eyed him for a moment longer, biting her lip, "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? I mean you were screaming as if you were being torn to pieces."
"I was..."
"Really? By who?"
Richard swallowed nervously, "You."
"M-Me?" Kikata asked in shock..."But, why would I ever-"
"It was just a dream. And trust me you don't want to know the rest. It was just so damn vivid...I can still remember every tiny detail."
"I really want to know." Kikata insisted.
"Are you sure?"
Kikata nodded, "Yes."
"Fine. Here it goes." He sighed, "I was in the ship, it was dark as if we had crashed or something. Anything like that. I was terrified for some reason that I didn't understand. Then, you were calling for me...when I found you...your throat had been." He shuttered, "Well it looked like something tore you up pretty bad, blood was everywhere. Then...you died...but you didn't die. You stared at me with this, horrible stare and you...well I think you get the point."
"Ate you?" She asked in a whisper.
Richard nodded, "Look it was just a random nightmare. Don't worry about it."
"I'll try." Kikata said, "Would you like to take a look around the station?"
Richard shrugged, "Sure...what do they got?"
A smile creeped across Kikata's lips, "Ever hear of virtual rooms?"
"Virtual rooms?"
She nodded, "Yeah. They are used for everything here. Realistic training exercises, or just getting to someplace relaxing."
"Well then. Let's do it."
Giantess World
Nova Force by Ginbug