The Red Tiger

Akagi Torao rushed to his computer. Three-thirty in the afternoon and it was time.

He leapt at the keys. Miyuki’s name was grayed on his messenger service. He leaned back from his computer. She was usually on at this time of day.

He thought about bringing up her e-mail. She was never able to give her phone number. He tensed his mouth and considered his course of action.

Her sign-on ping sounded through the speakers. His head bolted up. He didn’t move immediately for the mouse, but he did slide up his black sleeves.

She made the first move. She said a simple “Hi, CrimsonTora.”

He straightened. He could almost smell that something wasn’t right. Usually, her words were full of energy.

His hands dashed across the keyboard as he wrote back, “What’s wrong?”

The moments between his and her reply crawled with the thunder in his ears. He’d had nightmares about something happening to her and they all came flooding back.

But the flood receded a little when she answered, “I just have a bit of the flu.”

He could almost hear a small cough through her words. His fingers immediately went to work with home remedies and websites he’d logged away in memory. He kept going till she stopped him with a calm, “It’s okay. My family is taking care of me.”

His fingers rested against the keyboard till, methodically, he typed out, “I hope you feel better soon.”

Her reply was simply “Thank you very much”, but he could sense her faint smile on the other end. That and a kind “Bye” were all she said before signing off.

He knew she must’ve really been hurting. It pained him that he couldn’t sit beside her and offer comfort. But they lived more than a thousand miles apart and Torao feared calling her, if they ever exchanged numbers. His voice was far too rough like a growl, especially when he was nervous.

He feared scaring her. He feared hurting her.

He stood and walked over to the mirror.

Everyone was intimidated when they met him. His smile was usually so small that others often mistook it for the sign of something nasty or devious going through his mind. His long, red hair, which nearly reached his shoulder, had the tone of freshly-dried blood. And it always seemed to poke up in the back despite his best efforts to control it. Some compared it to demon horns, others to animal ears. Either way, it earned him few friends.

His nose was low and crooked. His glasses, long and flat, obscured enough of his mysterious, brown eyes to make him look suspicious.

He loved wearing his black uniform with gray trim, but, with his appearance, it only cemented the impression that he looked more like a villain out of a book than a quiet, lonely high-schooler.

Torao tried to change his look a few times, but he could never change the impressions of others. He feared that, if Miyuki ever met him physically, she would feel the same way.

They first met, less than a year ago, on a sword-fighting fan site. They were each other’s first Internet friend. She just became a part of his life. The days when she wasn’t online felt darker and colder.

Always, at the back of his mind, he wondered about her. He wondered if her spirit, which warmed his days, was real behind those words. He wondered if she would still offer him kindness if she met him in the flesh.

He lay down on his bed and covered his eyes. Softly, he said to himself, “I wish I could be there for her and… I wish I could know the real her.”

Someone else was listening to his words. Out, from the drooping edge of his bed covers, peeked a pair of wide, red eyes and glinting teeth. The small, darkened figure leaned a long, pointed ear out and said with a small, raspy voice, “Oh? What’s that? 'I wish'? Since you’ve been so kind as to leave all those lovely little candy bars for a little imp like me, I grant your wish.”

It wiggled its fingers out and up.

Torao didn’t hear the creature’s words. He suddenly felt so groggy. He drooped against the bed, took a long breath, and was swallowed by blackness.

He floated in the void, at the edge of awareness, until he seemed to fall. He rolled over and over until he settled to rest on unfamiliar carpet. It was blue and not black like the kind in his room.

That wasn’t the only strange thing.

He also found he couldn’t blink. His body felt soft, like every bone in it had vanished. But, he could still nudge his legs a little, as well as what felt like his arms. However much he moved them though, he couldn’t lift or shift his body.

Torao was stuck there, his eyes gazing out at the carpet. That was when he noticed a gigantic, brown dresser to one side and a huge table to the other. Neither of which he had seen in his life.

But what concerned him most was that he was beginning to feel a vibration. Whatever was making it had to be huge. He tried to speak but couldn’t feel his mouth, let alone move it. The vibration came closer and shadowed him.

He expected the worst.

Then, he heard a voice.

“Aww…Tora-chan, you fell off.” The voice surrounded him, but it didn’t sound like a giant’s voice. It was calm and friendly, though a little raspy. It sounded like a girl’s voice.

Before he could think about if he’d heard it before, a pair of hands as big as his head wrapped around him. They lifted him off the carpet, sailing through the air. He caught a glimpse of color and a lamp before a swath of red flew right at him. He landed on it with both hands bracing him.

While the hands pushed on him and seemed to rearrange his flesh, it didn’t hurt. He looked up, past the red, to a big face looking down at him. He recognized it from the photos she sent. It was Miyuki, in the flesh.

She squeezed his face with one hand and laughed softly as she spoke, “Were you trying to run away? You silly tiger.”

Torao felt her hands touch and smooth back fur on his face. He felt the motion as she played with his tail. He even sensed something as she tickled his whiskers. This wasn’t his body.

Miyuki coughed. She tucked him under her arm and coughed again into her hand. She walked forward with him jostling and shaking about from her trek. She crouched and picked up a glass of water on the table. When the coughs cleared, she downed the glass. Behind the table, Torao could see a closet.

She walked around the room and over to what looked like a huge bed. As she walked, Torao saw a desktop computer, a mirror, and a small TV. The mirror passed by far too quickly but Torao did get a glimpse of a bright-red mass of fuzz and fur below himself.

Miyuki carried him into bed and pulled the covers close around her. She cradled and gave him a firm hug. With a sigh, she set him on the covers in front of her, smiled, and shut her eyes.

All Torao could do was look back at her. She was so beautiful to him. Her short hair dipped over her face.

Under any other circumstances, he would’ve found this to be the perfect moment. But he was afraid with so many thoughts twisting through him. And his fear was all trapped inside because of this strange body.

He cursed it. He gritted mental teeth and tried to fling himself from it. With a great yell, he tried to yank himself out and free.

To his surprise, something moved. One of the legs lifted just a little bit. He paused and relaxed. It settled back on the bed.

He thought and contorted himself. It took a couple of tries, but he was able to nudge all the way to the edge of the bed.

Torao felt exhausted though nothing on his strange body actually hurt. He looked at the cliff of the bed. Flexing one of the legs, he sent himself over and back onto the carpet. He tumbled end over end. It didn’t hurt, but he worried if he’d be able to get up again, helpless till Miyuki picked him up.

Fortunately, he landed with his legs spread out beneath him. It took a lot of groaning, but he was able to will them into a position where he could move.

He turned around to face the mirror. He took an unnecessary breath and brought his first leg forward. Coordination threw him off a few times. He had twice as many legs as usual. First, he tried hopping but his control of them was too sluggish. And he didn’t feel up to dragging himself across the carpet.

On his fifth flop, he heard Miyuki. He worried he’d hear her voice and she would find him and be scared. But, after a moment, he heard her soft snore and relaxed.

He thought about the four legs he could feel underneath him. He thought about the cats he’d seen in the neighborhood and how they walked. It was an awkward shuffle, but it got him over to the mirror, where he relaxed and stared ahead.

But the image in the mirror did nothing to calm him. Staring back at him was a small, plush tiger with reddish fur.

He looked back at the little plastic eyes stuck into his face. They were detailed with a wide-open, blue iris. An indented stitch led to a hard, pink nose on the end of his face. Below that, he could see an X mark stitch meant to form his mouth.

His body was colored the same as his hair but with black mottles that banded his legs and scattered across his face. All four legs were rounded pads never meant for gripping. His tail showed from just behind him, flat and small.

As he took it all in, he resisted the urge to scream. He still expected this was all just a very lucid dream. He tried to change the form in the mirror. He tried to think of flaws to explain this as a dream. He willed his eyes to open.

Something did happen though. A form resolved itself next to the plush form’s reflection. It had glinting red eyes, large wide ears and bright, uneven teeth. It wore only a torn and faded garment that looked like it had been shredded from a larger one. Torao recognized it. It was one of his favorite shirts he’d lost a long time ago.

The creature folded its clawed hands and slowly walked around him. It was a little taller than him. He followed it as well as he could with his gaze.

After inspecting Torao a few times, it cackled and said, with a voice which only seemed to echo in Torao’s head, “My best work. Your spirit fit perfectly into that little thing.” Its voice turned from old-man like with raspy moments to high and like a cat’s as it asked, “Don’t you…love it?”

Torao made a roaring noise and yelled back in his thoughts, “WHO ARE YOU?!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?”

The creature seemed to have heard what he said and answered, “Gingery Gong at your service, fiery one. I am a home imp. I love the houses of humans. I love chewing on your leftovers. Asssss…for what I did to you, I did exactly what you asked me to doooo. Don’t you like it?” It made a nasty pout.

He roared back, “I didn’t wish for this!”

The imp narrowed its eyes and growled, “Soooo ungrateful. I granted you a wish. Don’t you know how rare it is for an imp to do such a service to a human? Yoooooou…wanted to be closer to the girl you love. Yooooouu wanted to know what she reallllly was beyond how she presented herself to you in words on a screen….And here you are. Right where you wanted to be…”

Torao hung his head, which made the plush’s body droop a little in turn. “This isn’t what I wanted!”

The imp’s voice went high and soft. “Oh really? What did you want? Simple little teleportation? You suddenly appear on her doorstep? With no explanation. Your scary face and intimidating presence? OHHHH…I’m sure that would’ve gone over soooo nicely.”

Torao clenched his mouth, despite the fact it made no change in his appearance. He demanded, “Put me back in my body!!!”

The imp yawned. “Another wish? What do I get for it? Your bed is all out of delicious candies. And I don’t take much kindly to threats. After all, there are far worse things I could’ve done to you. That I still could do to you. Sooooo just a weeee bit of respect should be in order here.” It ended its words with clenched teeth.

Torao said nothing. The imp picked at its ears and, after a moment, continued, “However…I can imagine that this is a little bit of a…nasty surprise for you. But you should’ve been more careful wishing out loud.” It shook one little clawed finger with a frown, then froze…

“BUT! It’s no fun to just crush someone’s spirit and doom them for their wish. I’m not one of thooooose. Instead, I’m giving you this special opportunity. You get to be as close as you like to her…as her favorite little stuffed animal. You get to know everything. You get to see the real her. In so many ways…” It grinned a lecherous smile.

Torao tried to turn away. He couldn’t do that. It would be like spying on her. It wasn’t right. The imp patted him on the head and said softly, “But just think…she’ll know you as the cutest, softest, nicest widdle tiger. You won’t have to wowwy about how scawy you are to her because she’ll love you soooo much.”

Torao tensed and asked the one question most on his mind, “And how do I become human again?”

The imp groaned, “As if being human is the greatest thing in the universe. Fair enough though. You get one year…like this. By which time, you will know...one way or the other. So far as your body, well, you’ll be completely catatonic till all those days from now. But, I guarantee you that your body will be just fine. It won’t even atrophy to the point where you’re even weaker than a girly girl.” The imp enjoyed a little cackle to itself.

Torao tried to aim his head to glare back at the imp. It continued, “And your family will be, of course, very very sad but you should’ve thought of that before you wished what you wished. Now, I know that’s a lot to deal with and everything, so I’m going to be really nice and give you one more little thing.” It snapped its fingers once.

Torao looked down to see what might’ve changed about him. He immediately realized that he could move his plush body with great ease. He didn’t have to strain.

The imp lifted its head proudly. “I matched your body with the toy. Which is just human speak for that I made it really easy for you to control it.”

Torao bolted from his spot and lunged at the imp without plan or concern, just fury at what it had done to him. It snapped its fingers again and his plush body flopped to the carpet, as motionless as any other toy.

The imp added, “I can also make it impossible for you to control. And I can just leave you there…a spirit in a toy, screaming for release from a trapped hell. So, which do you prefer?”

Torao gave a solemn sigh, which made the imp smile and snap its fingers once again. Once more, Torao was able to move with full control of the plush body.

The imp laughed and gave a little wave as it said, “Have a nice, fun year.” With that, it faded away.

Torao sat there a moment before he finally moved again. Walking still felt rather like prancing on wobbly stilts, but at least it took balance instead of all his effort just to move.

He worked his way around the bed, till he came to the side he had jumped off from. It seemed like a mountain from down there.

Crouching his soft legs, Torao took a jump at it. He got higher than he figured, but his furious flailing at the edge couldn’t support him as he plopped back on the carpet.

He decided to try a running start but his running was still like a quick series of hops. This time he slammed into the side of the bed with all legs splayed out and his stuffing rattling, before he plopped right back down on the ground.

He pondered using some kind of stick to vault his way up, but he’d never been any good at that during PE. It was then he noticed a bit of the cover dangling towards the ground. He leapt for it and squeezed his legs together with all his effort. He held.

With an internal grin, he scooted his way to the top.

Miyuki was there, just as he’d left her, but with an arm reaching out expectantly and a sad look on her sleeping features. He walked over and nudged his way under her arm. Immediately, her sad look turned into a smile and her breathing slowed. Torao pulled over a bit of blanket to cover his eyes enough to block the light.

It wasn’t sleeping and he didn’t feel like sleeping. But, along with the warmth of Miyuki’s arm, it was enough to settle some of the fears racing through his mind.