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I grew up in a small fishing village. My father was a fisherman. As soon as I was old enough I would join him on his boat and help him. We were not wealthy but we were comfortable enough. My father became ill when I was seventeen and I worked in his place. It was difficult, but I managed. However, after being ill over a year, my father died. My mother had died when I was ten years old and I had no siblings, so I was on my own.

Things might have continued as they had indefinitely, if not for the ocean being polluted. People became afraid of anything that came out of the ocean. I sold very little of the fish I caught and was forced to live on a diet of fish. The government instituted a new law that all fish and seaweed must be tested before it can be sold. I did not have the means to do this.

I was forced to sell my father's boat in order to survive. I was ashamed of failing my father and did not leave my home for several days. During that time I became sick. It is obvious now that the fish I caught was contaminated, as I changed greatly. I was too ill to appreciate the changes at first, but they became all too obvious once I had recovered.

The muscles that I had built up over the years helping my father and on my own melted away. I lost height and my hair grew out to a remarkable length. I grew breasts and became in all ways female! I was horrified, but not so much so as when I discovered that I had four new appendages. I now had six arms!

I began to scream, but something shot out of my mouth. It was translucent and stuck to the ceiling, but was still attached to my mouth! I pulled on it and I felt something release. Now I was holding a rope of what could only be webbing in my hands, still attached to the ceiling. I was a spider!

I fell boneless to the floor and cried for a long time. How could I face anyone now? I had lost my masculinity and my humanity all at once!

In my sorrow and shame I attempted to kill myself by slitting my wrists. I cut all six of them, but I healed too quickly to bleed more than a trickle. Trapped in this horror, I collapsed in tears.

I was still weeping when I heard my only friend, Yori, knocking on the door. "Come on, Hachiro, stop moping around in there!" he yelled.

I slowly got to my feet and stumbled to the door. I wasn't thinking, or perhaps I wouldn't have opened it, but I did.

"Come on Hachiro, answer me!" he was yelling just as I opened the door. He stood there gaping for a moment before saying, "What are you?! What have you done with Hachiro?"

My eyes stayed glued to the ground as I answered, "I am Hachiro."

Yori was silent, so I risked a glance at his face. He looked furious. "What are you talking about, Hachiro is a strong man, not a freak girl!" he replied angrily.

"I have changed, I'm sorry." I answered, ashamed.

Yori stormed into the house, screaming, "Hochiro! Where are you?" over and over again. He searched thoroughly. Finally he turned to me where I still stood in front of the open door and said, "Those are Hochiro's clothes you're wearing…can it be? Is that really you, Tokuro Hachiro?" I nodded sadly. He stared at me for a long time, then turned and stormed out. I never saw him again.

I was under no illusions; I knew that Yori was no longer my friend. I also knew that any hope of finding a job and keeping my family home were gone. No one would hire me as I now was. I would have to leave, but to where?

I went through all my belongings and picked out those things which were the most important to me and I could carry. This proved to be quite a lot, as my strength was greater than it was before, despite my smaller size. I used the largest shirts I had and wore one of them over my extra arms. With that and a hooded jacket I could at least appear to be the man I once was.

I slung one large bag over my shoulder and picked up the other and left my home for the last time. It, too, I would never see again.

I walked to the ocean and watched the sun set. There were signs out that warned against going in the ocean, or eating anything out of it. All the fishing boats were tied up and abandoned. I was almost glad my father was dead, so that he would not be here to see all of this, and me.

My hood had fallen down in the breeze and my long hair was swirling around me. I turned to leave and saw three men walking towards me. "What's a pretty girl like you doing out here?" one of them asked with a leer. He laughed, "You must be here to see us!"

I had not yet considered the implications of being female, so his meaning was not immediately clear. When I did realize what he was saying, my eyes widened in shock. While I had been processing all of this the three men had spread out and blocked my path. "Come on, girl, let's have some fun!" one of them said. While my attention was drawn to him, the man opposite of him grabbed my arm. The other two jumped forward to grab me and started dragging me away.

I struggled with them, but I had no leverage. My new arms reacted without thought and pulled my shirt up to get at the men. My four new arms grabbed onto whatever part of them they could and started pulling their hands off of me. I was stronger than them, and was soon free. They whistled appreciatively and I realized that my new breasts were now exposed. In a rage I struck out at them with all six arms.

When I regained my senses I found all three men lying on the ground, unconscious. Several limbs were bent at unnatural angles. I ran.

I was halfway across the village before I thought to tuck my extra arms back inside my shirt and pull it down. I had left the village behind before I remembered my bags, which had fallen in the struggle. I was too afraid to go back, so I left them.

I stuffed my hair into my jacket and pulled my hood back up to try and hide my gender. I trudged beside a road for hours without paying any attention to where I was going. The darkness pressed in on me and I imagined those men, or more like them, coming out of the darkness for me. I looked around fearfully and increased my pace, only to have to slow down again as I tired. This pattern repeated many times, until I was too tired to go on.

I was afraid to sleep but I was too tired to stay awake. I found a secluded place to rest and slept.

Sunlight awoke me. I groaned as I got up. The ground was far from soft. I got back on the road and continued walking, hoping I wasn't going back the way I came.

I trudged for hours before a car stopped beside me and a man asked if I needed a ride. I took one look at him and ran. He followed me for a short time, then gave up. A while later another car pulled up and I tensed to run, but it was a woman in the car. She offered to give me a ride to the city, and I accepted.

We rode in silence the entire way. I was afraid to speak, lest I give away my new gender, or my mutation. I mumbled a "Thank you." When she let me off and watched her drive away.

I wandered aimlessly into the city. I was hungry, but had no money. That's when five men approached me. I was ready to run, when I realized that three of them were mutants like me. "This is our territory, go away!" one man said. He had bull horns and seemed made of muscles piled on top of muscles.

I turned away and started walking in a different direction. Suddenly one of them jumped in front of me. He had dog ears and a tail. "You can't just ignore us!" he growled. He took a swipe at me with his claws. He moved so fast I didn't react in time and my shirt was torn open. "Well, it's a girl!" he leered as my breasts became visible.

He reached out to touch them, and one of my extra arms shot out and grabbed his hand. He looked shocked, then pained as my hand squeezed his. Then another hand shot out and punched him in the face. He was ripped out of my grasp as he fell back heavily, already unconscious.

"Well, well, well, it looks like we've got a girl with some strength here!" a third man said. He had no visible mutant traits, but I suspected he was one anyway. I'd heard of mutant gangs forming in the bigger cities and assumed this was one of them.

"Well, if you can lay Touken out like that, maybe we could use you." A fox mutant said. "What do you think, Tougyuu?" he called to the bull mutant.

"Yes, we can definitely use her!" he agreed lasciviously. He grabbed one of my arms and twisted it behind me. I tried to reach him with all of my arms to pull him off of me, but I couldn't get a grip on him.

"She's a feisty one, isn't she?" the other man said with a grin. He stepped towards me and in a panic I spit at him. Only it wasn't spit, it was webbing! The webbing stuck to his face and I pulled as much as I could with my neck, causing him to fall on his face. I pulled the webbing out of my mouth with one of my free arms and yanked him back down every time he tried to stand.

Tougyuu, the bull mutant holding my arm, put his free hand on my shoulder and said, "You've got some tricks in you, don't you Kumo?"

I twisted around and managed to sink my teeth into his arm. I felt something flow through my canines. Tougyuu stiffened and then slowly relaxed his grip. I turned and watched as he fell to the ground slowly, already unconscious.

The fox mutant stepped forward angrily. "What have you done to Tougyuu?!"

"I don't know!" I wailed, backing away fearfully. He seemed very intense.

The dog mutant, Touken, was still unconscious, and the man I'd webbed was still down. The other man looked around at all this and walked over to Tougyuu. He checked his pulse and said, "He's alive. It looks like he's just asleep. Some spiders have a mild venom that can knock out or paralyze their prey. That's probably what she did, Kitsune"

The fox mutant, Kitsune, seemed to relax at that. "Okay. So what do we do with her?" he said.

He addressed his answer to me. "What about it? Will you join our gang? We won't hurt you if you do as we ask. We can use those powers of yours."

Kitsune glowered at me menacingly. I shrank back and nodded. What else could I do?

They had me carry Tougyuu while Kitsune carried Touken. The other two were able to walk under their own power. They led me to an old house in a very run down neighborhood. I suspected the house was not theirs, but that no one wanted to dispute their claim.

They all kept a close eye on me, which was becoming very frightening. I didn't know if they were just being weary of me, or if they were looking for an opportunity to attack me. They offered me some food, but it made me sick.

Once Touken and Tougyuu had recovered they led us out to deal with a rival gang. I didn't want to be involved, but I wasn't given a choice. Both Touken and Tougyuu were obviously just waiting for an excuse to attack me.

The other gang weren't mutants. At least not noticeable ones. They treated the obvious mutants in our group with disdain and would only talk to the two apparent non-mutants. They were arguing about territory when one of them threw a rock at Touken. He was instantly at his throat, crushing the breath out of him. The other gang members attacked Touken. I was then drawn into the melee by the other members of the gang.

One of the gang members attacked me with a chain. I caught the chain and yanked it out of his hand. He kept coming and took a swing at me. I caught his fist in my hand and pulled him towards me. Then I latched my fangs on his throat without thinking. He went limp instantly as my venom entered his system. This time I didn't let go, and felt more flowing into him through my fangs. He sagged down and I followed him, never once letting go.

I suddenly found that I was intensely hungry. I felt fluid flowing out of him and into me. It felt delicious! I shivered in pleasure. After a while I felt full and pulled away. What just happened? I thought in horror as I looked down. The man was obviously dead, with a strange fluid leaking out of the holes in his neck.

I looked up and the fight was already over. The other gang members were either dead, unconscious, or had run away. All the members of 'my' gang were looking at me in shock. Then the man who had known about the venom said, "So that's why the food made you sick, you needed to feed off of a live animal." I shuddered, as I remembered what I had learned about how a spider feeds. What I had drunk was the dissolved insides of that man!

I was barely aware of my surroundings as we returned to the old house. Tears were streaming down my face. The others were keeping their distance.

I grew tired and slept after that. In the morning they told me they needed me for something. I was to be a lookout and help should they get into trouble. They were going to rob a bank!

I was horrified, but too frightened to argue with them. I was sure they'd do horrible things to me if I refused. The idea that I might be a match for them never entered my head.

We walked over to the bank and I situated myself in an alley while the others went in the bank. I made a quick trip further back in the alley to make a web I could use to escape to the roof if something happened, then returned to watch the bank. It was quiet for a while, then people started running out. I heard police sirens, then they started encircling the building. Am I supposed to get involved now? I wondered, until Touken came running out and attacked the police!

He was amazingly fast! In seconds he'd incapacitated all of the police. I shuddered at some of the injuries, they looked fatal. He then stood there, watching to make sure they didn't move. He didn't even glance in my direction, so I guessed that I wasn't needed yet. I could only hope I wouldn't be.

Suddenly something came crashing to the ground! I felt the ground shake where I was standing, and saw Touken fall down from the impact. The street was cracked, too! The thing that fell turned out to be a woman. She had glossy blue-black wings, cat ears, tail, and hair. Touken attacked her with his customary speed, but she was too fast for him!

After knocking Touken out, she ran into the bank. A few moments later I saw through the window Kitsune flying into a wall. Then police stormed the building. I waited to see what happened. I was just about to leave when the woman who fell out of the sky came back out of the bank. She looked right at me and I panicked and ran.

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 To Be Continued…
 
Photographs courtesy of FreeFoto.com

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« KittyHawk - Part 6 »