Kasumi the Miko-Sama

Chapter 1. Into the Book ( Kasumi )

            I yawned as I turned over another page of my English book. It was just plain torture, staying in that classroom and slaving away, repeating, translating and getting "he" and "she" mixed up. I brushed my bangs out of my face and snuck a look at my friend's paper. Yui was jotting down english letters like a keyboard. I tried to memorize answer number two but she found out what I was doing. " Kasumi!!! Face on your own paper!! " She snapped. I ducked my head under my table and pretended to look between someone's (hairy) legs. "I wasn't cheating, honest! I'm....just looking for the average lost pencil. Yeah. That's it." Luckily for me, there was a dropped pencil and I grabbed it and stood up. "See?" I said. Yui didn't look convinced, but she just went back to her paper. Phew! I stared at the top of my paper, where I had written my name in my harried scrawl: Kasumi Reikon Otome. Yeah, that's my name. Did I forget to mention that I absolutely hate it? I mean, my three best friends, Miaka Yuuki, Yui Hongou and Okorippoi Kirei Hana, all have better names than me. Well. Except maybe Kirei. She was absent that day, so she missed the test (Lucky girl). I'm the youngest, and the only female, in my family - that is, aside of my mom. My brothers are Warui, Aho, Obaka, Chi, Slingshot, Futtori, Basher, Kei and Shougo - that's according to age, respectively.

            "He is not a man," Mr. Sei, our teacher said. I tried to write that down in English characters but couldn't. I shook my head in frustration ad chewed on the eraser at the tip of my pencil (no, I don't care if there were parasites there, and I don't care if they were transferred to my stomach). Mr. Sei was scribbling furiosly on the board. His hand looked like it was about to fall off. Yui lifted up her pencil beside me. (That's what we do to show we're done.) Please, please, something stall class! I concentrated on my work again and tugged at my ponytail. "Hand in your papers, now," He said. Stall, stall! I thought. Then I noticed Miaka, who was cupping her head in her hands. She looked a bit dreamy. Mr. Sei walked in front of her. Suddenly, without warning, she grabbed her table, raised it up, and hit Mr. Sei square on the head, screaming, "GIMME BACK MY RAISIN-CHOCOLATE-NUT- ICE CRRREEEAAMMM!" Yui sighed. "Now she's done it," She muttered. "Mmm- hmmm." I said, taking this moment to scribble down my guess. Mr. Sei got up, with a big lump on his head, shouting "YYYYUUUUKKKKIIII!!!" Miaka blinked, realized what she had done, and squeaked. The teacher got up, rubbing his head. He looked ready to give up the class. "You'll have Ms. Ying-chan tommorow - and class is dismissed. Papers in."

            I finished packing my bag and slung it over my shoulder. "Kasumi!!! Hurry up!" Yui said. She fiddled with her zipper pull. "Done!!" I said. We ran out of our classroom. "Why *pant* are you * pant * in such a * pant * hurry?!" Miaka asked Yui as we ran. "Gotta go...to the library...overdue book...." She replied. I ran ahead. I was in the sports club in school and was more sporty than my friends. "Kasumi!" Yui cried. "Stop running so fast! This isn't a race, you know!!" I slowed down just enough for them to catch up. "Turtles!" I yelled. When they finally reached me we ran forward again. I could see the library now. It towered over us like a huge, ugly, square, pink gorrilla. I kept on running. Soon we reached the big double glass doors. Yui pushed the door open and headed over to the 'CIRCULATION' counter. Miaka wandered over to the bevarages, and I went to buy some snacks. I found the vending machine easily.

            There were 3 spare KitKat bars. I popped in 50 yen so I could get a bar for all of us. The crane of the machine hovered over the KitKats and then grabbed all three. As I bent down to pick up the three chocolate bars, I saw a flash of blue and red. I blinked. Did I just see a dragon and a bird? Scales? Wings? Blue? Red? Huh?! It was probably some dumb illusion, I finally decided. I was going to run back to the others when I saw it again. Oh, man. Blue and red for sure. It glided up a stairs beside me. I ran after it. It stopped at the end of the stairs and hovered for a moment. I raced up to catch it. It went right through the door. My head was screaming. Should I call Yui and Miaka? Or should I just follow it? Then I heard Yui's voice.

            "Kasumi!! Kasumi!! Where are you?!" In a moment she came into view. "Kasumi? Kasumi!!" I tried to send her a brain message. SHUT UP! I mouthed. "Yui! Yui! Over here!" I hissed. Yui turned her head towards me and then put her hands on her hips. "Kasumi, Kasumi, Kasumi. Is this one of your IDIOTIC, POINTLESS, ANNOYING adventures?" I rolled my eyes. "No, MOM." I said. "Then why in the world are you at the door of the RESTRICTED REFFERENCE SECTION?" She started up the stairs. When she reached me she grabbed my ear. (She does that a lot. I mean, a lot.) "If you go in there we will be in trouble. BIG TROUBLE." I snorted. "Yeah, right. Well, what if I told you I just saw a-" I was cut off by Miaka's fammilar murmuring.

            "Yui? Kasumi? Yui?" I heard Miaka say. "Where are you guys?" Oh great. Miaka may be the friendliest among the four of us, but she was the most airheaded. (That's really just a polite way to say stupid.) If she caught us there she would ooh and aah and probably spread it around the school as 'JUICY GOSSIP' the next day. But she was a follower, so I guess it didn't matter. She looked around and then turned and spotted us. "Yui! Kasumi!" She charged up the stairs. (Why is everyone either going, running or charging up the stairs?) "What are you doing there?" She peered behind Yui's shoulder. "Oooohhh... Restickedted Refferee section? What's that?" Yui slapped her own forehead in frustration. I grinned. "It's were you can get as much chips as you like!" I said. "REALLY?!" Miaka squealed, her face aglow with delight. She pushed the door open. "No!" Yui cried. She loosened her grip on my ear (which was turning red at the moment). I immediately broke free and scampered into the library.

            There was a little light. Yui went inside, her face scrunched up in a look I knew ever since kindergarten. A dim bulb cast shadows my way. I looked around, making sure no one was there. Then I tiptoed into one of the shelves. "Follow me!" I whispered to Miaka and Yui. The truth was, I had no idea whatsoever where I was going. It just popped into my mind to go to that particular shelf. Strange. Like someone wanted me to go there. I heard my two friends fumble to where I was. By then my eyes had adjusted to the dark. I looked around through the shelves, skimming the area for the faint ghostly-bird-dragon-whatever-thing. THUD! Something had fallen. I didn't take notice since it was probably just Miaka. Then someone tapped me on the shoulder. I swerved my head around. Miaka was there. "Where's the food?" She asked. I couldn't help but snicker. "There was no food." I was prepared to howl with laughter when it struck me. If Miaka was there, frowning at me, what had fallen? Miaka takes a LONG time to get up from a fall, for sure. Unless she bursts into tears which then of course takes her an hour to calm down and another to stop sniffling and one more to get up. I turned around and immediately saw what fell. Just a book. But books don't fall by themself. I walked towards it. By then Yui was also there, still pouting.

            I picked up the book. It was dusty, and dust-mite filled. I coughed. Miaka peered behind my shoulder. Yui peered behind my other one. I knelt down and opened the book. Gaak! A dust cloud rose up. We all covered our faces with our sleeves. I opened to the next page. There was nothing written. Not a word of anything. An empty book. An empty book!! For crying out loud, what was an empty book doing in the bloody library?! Then a faint blue and red light started to shimmer around me. Uh-oh. I turned around. Yui and Miaka were also surronded with the light. I was about to curse when I was suddenly lifted of the ground. I choked. I couldn't breathe. Sand was fluttering all around me. I had to close my eyes. I felt like I was an egg being beaten with an electronic beater. I felt like I was swirling in a tornado. Then all of a sudden it stopped. I started dropping from the air. The heaviness in my throat gave way and I found myself gasping incredibly fast for all the lost air. WHAM! I landed on my butt.

(A girl with glasses enters the library. Wandering around, she spots the book and picks it up. Blowing dust off the cover, she read the title. "Universe of the Four Gods," She read aloud. She peers inside the book. It is completely empty. Being a bookworm she still holds the book, thinking maybe it's just the dim light. Then to her amazement, the book starts writing by itself.

"The three maidens are now inside the book. One of them has begun to stir. The other two will come around..." She reads. She decides to stay there, reading it.)

            I opened my eyes. Those really annoying spots that you get when you stare at a light for too long appeared before my eyes. I heard someone groan behind me. My vision was still recovering from whatever that was, but I could make out Yui's mass of blonde hair. "Yui?" I croaked. My voice was cracking. "Yes." I heard her stubborn voice grumble. Then I heard her gasp. She grabbed my wrist. "Kasumi. Where. Are. We?" She said in a very rare alarmed tone. I struggled to pull myself and Yui up. "What is your problem? We're in the library, dummy." I muttered. I tried to gain steadiness by grabbing onto the bookshelf to hoist me up. So I reached out and---fell flat on my face in the sand?! WHOA. Hold on. No bookshelf? Sand? What was this? But by then my vision had come around completely. I. WAS. IN. A. DESERT.

            "Oh Da** it!" I yelled. "Oh God...I don't believe this." Yui hissed to herself, shaking her head like an idiot. "Umm...ohh....uhh..." Miaka was starting to stir. "Sh*t! Sh*t!" I cursed. What had happened to the library? Darn. "Stop being so vulgar!" Yui snapped. "I must be dreaming." I mumbled to myself. "Umm...oh...oh! Oh! Oh! Where-where are we, Yui?" Miaka had just woken up. Great. I forced myself upwards and didn't even bother to brush my sandy skirt. "Where are all of my wonderful Mcdonalds? No Shin Ramen Tei? How about my Hamburger Express?" Miaka whined. Brat. See what I mean? A plain pain in the *ss. Yui was trying to fix her hair or at least run her fingers through it while staring blankly into the horizon.

            "We have to get back to the library! We have to! We gotta!" I balled my hands into fists while screaming with a sudden rage. I gazed around for awhile and suddenly heard something to my left. "Hehehe! Hoohoohoo! Hahahaha - - G-BLARK!" What was making that noise? I turned around sharply and found out what. A bunch of men. Sheesh! I had never faced a man who could beat me just yet. Anyone who faced me at school got a black eye before he could say 'b*tch!'. I could see the mob more clearly now. Most of them had hair tied in buns and some were wearing similar green rags. Weird. They seemed familiar. "Oh no!" Yui shrieked. "Oh no!" Miaka copied/shrieked. They were right in front of us now. "Gahaha!" One of them boomed. "Hey pretty chick!" He pointed right at me. "Yeah, you! Do you wanna boogie?" My face heated up with a familiar rage. Yui grabbed my hand before I lunged at him. "Kasumi, get a grip, they're armed!" She pointed out some knives that were glinting under this brown band wraped around their waist. I thought of something to distract Yui. With my free arm, I pointed wildly to the opposite direction. "Shawn McKelly!" I yelled.

            No, Shawn McKelly isn't her crush, he's just someone who put up her favourite bookstore. "Where? WHERE?" She let go of me and looked around frantically. Works every time. I slid away quickly and charged. "I dont see - AH! GRRRRR!!!!!! KASUMI!!" Yui had realized where we were and had started to run, but I had already thrown a certified Kasumi punch at one of the bandits. "Naww!" He yelled. I turned to the one next to him. He was the one who wanted to boogie. I confused him by pretending to hit his right elbow and kicking him in the chin instead. "Uwar!" He gagged. "HOW'S THAT FOR BOOGIE-ING, YOU CREEP!" I screamed indigantly. He and the other man had passed out. I quickly snatched up his knife, ready to strike anyone. My ponytail was lashing around like a wounded snake. The others started to back away. My stupid karate lessons payed off after all. And I was pretty good with knives. I praticed with my brother, Kei, who was quite an expert with them (he works for a blade shop downtown). An evil grin spread across my face.

            Sudden movement! I lunged forward and raised my knife to strike. Then - - the guy grabbed my hand!! "LET ME GO!!" I screeched. I tried to bite his hand. "Now I'm going to sell your body!" he said, smiling maliciously. "But not without some fun, first! Come on now, Girlie!" I knew what he meant. "OH NO YOU DON'T!" I yelled. He was laughing like having fun with me was the funniest thing in the world. His defense was lowered and he let go of me to hold his belly with laughter. THWACK! I kicked him hard in the chin. His eyes turned a yucky white color. I gave a cheer for myself. Meanwhile, Yui was cowering with Miaka in the background. Miaka was clinging to Yui for dear life (she looked like a giant mosquito trying to stick to Yui's skin). I raced back to them. The other men were having doubts now.

"That girl - she can sure kick *ss!" They turned around and started to run away.

            "You won't get away!" I warned. I started to chase them. I grabbed onto one's shirt. "Come on now, cowards!" I picked him up and tossed him away. I turned around, ready to fight - and was grabbed from behind! "BBAAKKAA!" I screamed, trying to kick him off. But now there were three on me. I couldn't do much. The last guy appeared, a dagger in his hands. He stepped towards me, grinning evily...then stopped abruptly. His face was contorted with pain. "Ano?" He started to say, but then he got whacked from behind. And now I understood why the man was stopped. I heard panting noises behind me. So, Yui and Miaka had followed. The evil trafficker had been stopped by someone. It was a man. He had blue - green hair, purple eyes, a kind of smitten smile and was wearing some kind of dark green dress with a red band wrapped tightly across his belly. He kicked the guy once more, and proceeded to the other bad guys. In 2 minutes flat he had them all on the ground. I felt someone clutch my shoulder. Yui. "Kasumi! Who's that? He helped us! Let's thank him!" She sounded a bit excited. I shrugged. Miaka was staring at him with a strange expression on her face. "Ok, Alright, Ok." I walked towards the guy.

            "Hey, thanks." I muttered. "THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" Miaka practically exploded. Yui, who was more of the 'poised' type said "Thank you, very very much." with a slight 'first-class' accent. The man gave a 'that is so weird' look at our clothes before looking up. "Er, yes, do you think you could just thank me with a bit of money?" He asked. I looked at Yui and then at Miaka. I had used up my money for those 3 KitKat bars. Miaka began to search her wallet. I think the guy got the picture. "I hate moneyless people," I heard him mutter as he glided away. I felt my cheeks flush. No money? Hah! We'll see who has 'No Money'!!

            I was getting ready to charge at him when Yui clapped a hand on my shoulder. "I think we should follow him, Kasumi." She muttered. Then with what seemed like a sudden burst of inspiration, she blurted out "WE HAVE NO FOOD, NO HOSPITALITLY! NO NOTHING IN REALITY! NOTHING WHATSOEVER!" I gave her a puzzled look and then said "All right, all right." I bent down to double knot my rubber shoes (Yeah, yeah, so they're not allowed in school. So what? They're much more comfortable and much better for running if you ask me.)

Then I ran off. "Hey wait!" I heard Yui and Miaka cry. But I was in top speed mode now, and I couldn't do anything else but run.

***End of Chapter 1***

A tale unfolds into infinity

The story has just begun

Destiny lies in your hands

Another world is shining

What may happen next is unknown

Like a Mysterious Play