Nia Dodson was not a typical girl transitioning from teen to adult. Her looks were simple. Dark brown hair and pale brown eyes—some would call them hazel—but she called them dull on occasion. Her single braided hair reached her mid back. Most often, the braids were bound together in some form of a ponytail. It was too much trouble any other way. Black-rimmed glasses were constantly on her face unless one of her directors forced her to remove them.

Despite being eighteen, Nia was an actress. Nothing too big, though. Things like movies weren't her thing. Well, she wanted them to be her thing, but many saw her as too young. So because of her age, she was limited to commercials, and the occasional extra on a television show. This whole 'acting career' started around five years ago. Her mother had died, leaving Nia pretty much alone. Her father had never been around. So the government labeled her as a ward of state until her uncle came for her. He had been overseas filming some type of music video. Anthony Dodson was a director, and he practically forced her to become an actress. It was a live or die type of thing with him. He, more or less, kicked her out. Yes, he gave her an apartment, but it was up to her to pay the bills. Fourteen years old, and she was already paying bills. Her mother would have been proud.

She loved her uncle for taking her under his wing, but he could have been a bit nicer about the whole ordeal. She did just lose the one person she held dear. But no, all he wanted to do was shape her into a fine actress, capable of starring in a big time Hollywood movie. Sure, acting was fun, but Nia just didn't have the passionate drive for it. At this point, she would take anything that was thrown at her, really. What she did have the drive for was anime. Pokemon was the first time she had become fascinated. Then, it just expanded from there. First, it was anime, and then came live-action versions of anime and manga, the Japanese dramas, and then Japanese culture. Watching movies and dramas online were a pain, though. Most were not translated. So her only option was to learn the language, so she wouldn't have to wait for long periods of time.

Her uncle had believed she was learning because she wanted to be an actress in Japan. Ha! Hardly! Her motivation was purely selfish. How else was she supposed to enjoy anything that came from such an amazing culture? Anything and everything that came from Japan was held in high regard. If it had to do with the country, she was fascinated by it. Even the not so appropriate things—even hentai. She didn't watch for the ecchi stuff. She merely observed. Watching things such as that at a young age twisted her innocent mind, and so Nia Dodson was a bit of a pervert herself. Her thoughts would be frowned upon in most societies, so she opted to keep her dirty thoughts to herself. Only her last boyfriend knew of her vulgar mind. That was one of the reasons they had broken up. He could not keep up with her pace.

But enough about that. Although she closely followed actors and actresses of Japan—a reason why her uncle had assumed such a thing as acting for the country—Nia still watched a anime from her adolescent years. Inuyasha was her all time favorite thing to watch. Most of the characters, she absolutely adored. Never mind the skin color differences; she had dressed up as all the humanoid characters at some point—male or female. She almost wished she would have gone to conventions to show off, but it never happened.

So here she sat, watching an episode, cackling loudly when Miroku was slapped for rubbing the behind of Sango. There was nothing better to do, anyway. At the moment, there were no job openings for her. Usually, her uncle/agent called with jobs on the weekends. It was Thursday. Her part-time job at the supermarket only needed her on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Living alone sure did have its perks. She could watch and be as loud as she wanted. However, some of the time, her surrounding neighbors banged on the walls, ceiling, or floor to keep her quiet.

Nia crossed her arms and scoffed. "I would have done a much better job at being discreet. Miroku, you sure have a lot to learn!" The young adult nodded her head, agreeing with herself. Indulging in anything Japanese is how she spent her leisure time. If her uncle knew, he would be ashamed to call her his niece.

"Woof…!"

A loud bark distracted her for a moment. Her white-furred Great Dane jumped on the couch and lied down beside her. He licked at her knee and rested his head against her folded leg. "Did you have a nice nap, Inuyasha?" Nia scratched behind the big dog's right ear. Yes, she had even named her pet after the half-demon of the show. She had trained him to sit whenever she said 'sit boy,' too. Ah, the logic of a fangirl.

Nia focused her eyes back on her laptop. Television was overrated since you could view anything online nowadays. She paused the episode, and then opened a new tab. Every few hours she would check her email, hoping for something interesting. Usually, it was just junk mail. Perhaps this time it would be something good—like an offer to act in a movie with popular actors/actresses. It was wishful thinking. Something like that was not going to happen. With a sigh, Nia closed her eyes. Maybe better work came with age? "God, give me something new!" She smacked her hands together. "I don't care what it is—just let me get something great!"

DING

Cracking one of her eyes open, she saw that she had just received a new message in her inbox. "That's a bit scary…" she muttered. She clicked on the new message and scanned over the words, mumbling them out loud. "What the hell…? 'Dear Nia, what do you wish for? Control your power before your new friends are no more!' Is this some kinda riddle?" Nia closed her eyes for a minute. She wasn't any good at riddles, but she did try. It only took a moment for her to become frustrated. Quickly, she closed the tap and focused back on Inuyasha. Riddles just weren't worth it.

About twenty minutes into the episode, Nia found herself wincing. Inuyasha was surely strong, but he was no match for Kagome. The Japanese schoolgirl's power over the half-breed was annoying, but admirable. She had just told the poor demon to sit, sending him crashing into the ground—all because she had become angry with him. "I kinda wish I was there," Nia said in a thoughtful way. "I would use that power for laughs and not because I was angry."

As if that was any better…

Out of nowhere, the apartment began shaking. Now, because she lived in Ohio, this was a strange occurrence. She did nothing but tense up, eyes wide, hoping it would pass. However, it the quake did not pass. In fact, it became more violent. Things fell over, glasses broke, and loud barking threatened to give her a headache. Nia squeezed her eyes shut, holding onto her laptop. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to stay in one place, but she was panicking. This had never happened before!

Finally, the violent trembling stopped. The sound of things breaking, falling, and barking stopped. New sounds entered her ears. Birds were… chirping? They sounded so close. A foreign smell tickled her nose as the wind blew. She was sure she closed all the windows… Actually, Nia felt a bit weird. Her bottom didn't feel like it was on the couch anymore. It felt like she was sitting in grass. The wind blew again. Nia slowly opened her eyes. The sun shined down on her, causing her to blink rapidly. The laptop that she had been holding onto was no longer in her hands. Confused, she looked around.

"What the…?" It appeared as though she was in some type of forest. "This isn't… my place…" Well, obviously, it wasn't. Nia just felt the need to state the obvious. She stood up and stared up at the sky. It was a bright and sunny day. The sun had been in the process of setting the last time she had looked out her window. "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Her eyes grew wide. She frantically looked around for her dog. Sadly, he was nowhere in sight. Frowning, Nia pinched herself. A dream. It had to be a dream. She pinched herself again. Any moment now, she would wake up with a replay button staring back at her. Again, pain was recognized in her brain. Still, she remained in the same place. There was no replay button. Then again, she had never really tried to get out of a dream before. Who really knew the proper way to wake up from a dream anyway?

"OSUWARI!"

"Wait… Wait… Wha?" Nia's eyes darted all over the place. She could have sworn she heard a female Japanese voice yell out a command for a pet. Hastily, the young woman walked over to where she heard the voice. Peeking out from behind a tree, she saw something so shocking, so weird, and so unexpected that it took time to actually process exactly what she was seeing in the first place. Once her brain caught up with the image of a green and white Japanese school uniform, and the red traditional Japanese clothes, Nia's mouth opened.

She released a scream so loud that it caused her head to spin.