Chapter Two: Mental Flashbangs

A deep oily darkness swam around Akatsuki's consciousness. It was expansive, never-ending, and made Akatsuki's insides roil with uncertainty. Occasionally a spurt of power could be seen coiling through the never-ending void, but the colorful company was fleeting and infrequent. If Akatsuki had been a more mystical man, a magical one even, he'd have sworn he was seeing the essence of his soul.

Alas, now he did have the time to deliberate on these feelings as time flitted by paradoxically. Minutes felt like an eternity, and centuries felt like a drop in the bucket. It was as if the concept of time was too physical, too complex for him to grasp. Or perhaps it couldn't exist in nothing. Laws and truths seemed to change on a whim within the confines of his eternity, and the madness threatened to devour Akatsuki's soul.

Then without warning or preamble, as if a flashbang in the night, the darkness was gone, its oily scars stripped away as if they never existed, and perhaps, they hadn't.

Akatsuki couldn't be bothered with such profound and deep thoughts as his tired mind fought desperately to fend off the slowly growing consciousness that threatened to rip him away from the soft embrace of a pillow.

With a groan, Akatsuki rolled over, pushing his face into the soft cool pillow to avoid the bright light that seeped through his eyelids as he tried to fight off his impending wake. He was retired. He could sleep in; why had he woken so early! He mumbled in protest into the pillow as if to voice his complaints, but the grumblings sounded odd. He sighed in defeat as he pushed himself up the act being far harder than he expected.

"I guess that's what I get for drink-" His voice made him stop mid-sentence, and he held his throat before clearing it. Surely it was just rough from... "Drinking." He tasted the words in the air and paled. It was far too high and... "Feminine?!"

Akatsuki's eyes shot open, only for his arms to lose balance and his face to fall back into the pillow's soft embrace. Akatsuki turned over, a little dizzy, as he gripped his throat. It was thin and far too delicate. Fingers traced up fair skin only to find a gentle face that could never belong to him. Half shell-shocked, he looked down at his hand, which was far too delicate to be his own.

His hands were in graceful white gloves, and he simply stared at them in disbelief. It was as if he was trying to solve a puzzle, but he didn't have all the pieces. And that was about the time he found the third discrepancy on his body. He blinked, the blurry background coming into focus. Two pillowy mounds seemed to be attached to his chest. It was once again like a flashbang went off inside his head, and he rubbed his eyes as if it would make them disappear. The words came out as soon as he figured out just what the fabric-covered mounds were.

"Tits!?" The 'pillows' were tucked nicely into white fur and a deep, almost charcoaled purple fabric that disappeared below the covers. As he shifted, he knew the material ended in a soft dress. He gulped as he moved his lower body, and an errant thought sent shivers down his spine. He knew before he ever moved.

Akatsuki threw the covers off, lifting the dress, only to see soft black panties pressed against his lower body. He gaped in disbelief, knowing nothing was housed beneath without even talking of the panties. His head hit the pillow hard, and he simply stared up at the ceiling in disbelief. He was a eunuch. Someone had come into his bedroom while passed out, cut off his manhood, and put him in this ridiculous outfit. It was the only logical explanation his brain could come up with.

"Miss, you're finally awake!" Akatsuki looked up in surprise only to see a brown-haired maid.

Even more, confusion played its way through Akatsuki's mind as he had never told the house staff to wear maid uniforms. It was just too cliche. The girl's eyes were a light purple, something he had never seen before, filled with a profound sadness that Akatsuki couldn't understand. A bowl of soup sat shattered on the ground near her feet, and Akatsuki was astonished that not only had he not heard the girl enter, but the dish hitting the floor hadn't reached him either.

"You're finnaly..." The girl tried to control her tears but they just kept coming. "Awake."

"Miss?!" Akatsuki protested the statement but remembered the rather busty grassy knolls attached to his chest and the apparent lack of member between his legs. He again laid his head back against the pillow, all the fight leaving his body. His face was void of emotion and he spoke out in understanding.

"Ah, Miss..."

"You don't move. I'll go get the doctor and, um.. your parents!" She said excitedly as she scurried away, leaving Akatsuki with his racing mind and a broken bowl.

He was only really sure of one thing as his mind dashed from one thing to the other. He looked down at his mounds of flesh, poking at one of them with a gloved hand.

He was now indeed a Miss.