Ah Crap. Ah Crap. Ah Crap.

I skidded around the corner onto yet another silent street and glanced into the side mirror of the nearest parked car. The silhouette of a man darted into the alcove of an antique shop somewhere behind me and silently dissipated into shadow.

I blinked, wondering yet again if I was possibly imagining it (More like praying actually). I grit my teeth and focused on the sounds of my feet pattering against the sidewalk to keep my mind off the figure behind me. Was the night playing tricks on my vision?

I glowered at the toes of my combat boots as if to blame them for my cowardice and made an attempt to quicken my pace. Right. Left. Right. Left.

No. I knew what I saw. It couldn't have been an illusion.

Why does this always happen to me?

I was instantly regretting my offer to stay after school and help clean up. (Darn me for my bothersome kindness). It wasn't like I had a ride. No one would be waiting inside my dark apartment, impatiently worried over my late arrival.

You see, I moved to Japan from America recently in an exchange program at school and convinced the system to let me live by myself. My mother died a year ago and I never met my father, him having run off soon after mom was impregnated. With no siblings to speak of, I was alone. I was used to being alone.

And tonight, at this moment, I sincerely wished it was different. I'd prefer an over-anxious parent to the dilemma I was in now.

I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a store window and frowned. My long blonde hair looked windswept and there was panic in the depths of my ocean blue eyes. Instead of a high school uniform, I wore tight jeans and a t-shirt. Anyone from around here would steer clear of the strange American girl. At least, anyone but my future assailant, whom had been tailing me for the past fifteen minutes.

Damn it.

I realized I'd wasted too much time concentrating on my panicked thoughts, and now was in unfamiliar terrain. I was no longer in the city. And with my minimal knowledge of Japanese geography, it would only get worse. To top it off, my stalker could make himself known any minute and then I'd really be in a world of shit.

You're nothing but a wuss, Lissa. A big, fat, anxiety riddled wuss.

I stiffly straightened my back, and took a deep breath. "Shut up, brain."

Great. Now I really am crazy. Talking to myself. At least it was in English that time. . . I glanced around cautiously. No one in sight. I still remained tense. That didn't mean he wasn't out there somewhere.

A few paces away, a set of stairs rose above me into the night. I barely made out the torii gate marking the entrance at the top. A shrine? I grimaced. The last thing I wanted to do was climb all those stairs, but. . .

I looked behind me into the shadows. Every tree looked like the outline of a man reaching towards me with claw-like fingers, causing me to tense more. But it was my only chance of getting away.

As my eyes wandered back up the menacing set of stairs, a sudden thought struck me. Doesn't Kagome live in a shrine?

I remembered the girl I met on my first day. She'd been kind and helpful. She was the only one in this foreign country that I could call a friend. But her recent absence from school had been weighing heavily at the back of my mind.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss her bubbly, outgoing personality. Without her, school seemed to drag on boringly. Perhaps If she lived here, I could check on her.

With one last shaky look back, I bounded up the stairs, gasping by the time I was at the top. I made it. How do people do this every day? I'd die.

After a second of panting, I took a contemplative look around. Now what? Where would I even go to knock? I'd taken up extra time learning the language, but it hadn't crossed my mind to study the blue print of shrines and such. Who knew I could be so dense? I eyed the building in front of me. Shouldn't the main door be right. . .

At least a hundred yards away there was an old wooden shed with a partially open sliding Shoji door. I scampered over to it and reached out. Maybe I'd hide first, then see about talking to Kagome. My fingers touched the edge of the entrance, so sure I'd made it to safety. Unfortunately, I couldn't be that lucky. A small cheer of victory died on the tip of my tongue when a cruel voice spoke up behind me.

"I'm tired of this meddlesome game of cat and mouse, girl. There is nowhere to hide so why not quit your senseless rambling."

I spun around, panicked. A man stepped from the shadows, a sneer on his face. His eyes were cold and calculating under his lowered black eyebrows. His face was shrouded in a mask of intense lust and bitterness. It made me shudder. Something flashed in his hand before disappearing behind him.

A knife? Fear blossomed in my chest.

I yearned for the katana I'd gotten off a yard sale back in America. I now kept it hidden in my dresser drawer at the apartment, which meant it wasn't here. Cursing, I made a silent promise to carry it on me for now on when, or even if, I escaped. (The teachers probably wouldn't be too keen on me keeping it, but I'd have to explain the situation. They would understand, wouldn't they?) Even so, that was a big if. Not even I could fight off a knife bearing lunatic.

"Come. Let's go on a walk," he suggested harshly, eyes glancing around.

My heart was pounding hard in my chest in an endless rhythm of fear and pusillanimous horror. Tears threatened to spill and I couldn't help but silently muse at the irony of my situation. After my mother had died protecting me in a similar situation a year ago, I'd taken martial arts in an effort to stop this from happening again. Yet, here I stood in near tears, threatened by a man such as this. I was pathetic.

I set my shoulders into a ready stance and sent the man my best withering glare, hoping my panic wouldn't show through the feigned bravery. I wasn't sure why this was happening again, but at least this time no one was here to be given my mother's fate - a fate I was sure to soon be accepting as my own. My eyes flickered to the nearby shrine. At least, I hoped nobody would appear and try to protect me. The last thing I needed was another death on my conscience.

The man's sneer grew as he took a step towards me and my courage quickly wavered amongst the onslaught of frightening memories. I stepped back and bounced off the hardened surface of a wall, my breath coming out in pants. I felt behind me where my hand grasped at nothing but air and realized I was reaching into a gap. The door! I flung it open further and jumped inside, slamming it shut behind me in spite of the man's furious exclamation.

"Stupid girl," he bit out through the thin barricade. I knew there was little chance he would remain on the other side for long. I had to hurry.

I slowly turned and took a breath. There was nowhere to hide. No where. Just an old set of stairs and a moss covered well. Tears threatened to fall once again. I could really do for some good luck about now. Maybe there was a crevice or a hidden chamber under the stairs? It was a futile effort, I knew, but I couldn't waste my last seconds of life not fighting to survive.

I frantically jumped down the stairs, too terror-stricken to notice the missing step near the bottom. My foot caught and I lost my balance. A shriek burst passed my lips as I fell face first into the well.

So this is how I die? At least I got away from that man.

I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for my impending fate, hoping with a desperation that astounded me that I would survive. My decent slowed to a near stop. I blinked in confusion as a celestial blue light broke through the darkness, blinding me. What the hell was that? Cool brown earth appeared beneath my fingers and I stood up quickly, fighting off the last wave of nausea that threatened to overtake me. I blinked away the fading smudge of light still blurring my vision and reached for the wall to steady myself.

What the heck? If I didn't know any better, I'd think I was on an intense acid trip. Maybe someone slipped a powerful drug into my drink at school and this was all some kind of vivid hallucination. Right? Right?

I tilted my head back to see an ominous stretch of darkness. Small white specks flickered here and there amongst the black and cast a faint eerie glow along the walls of the well. I was pretty certain that wasn't the shed' s ceiling. Okay . . .? That train of thought was shoved to the forefront of my mind as I looked down and pinched my arm, leaving behind a bright red mark on my skin. Yup. It hurt.

So I'm not dead then? Or having a hallucination?

I stretched out my hand and hesitantly touched a vine swaying gently along the wall, almost positive that it shouldn't possibly be growing inside of a building. Especially not in a dried out well like this. I listened for movement from outside but heard nothing except the shrill cry of an animal's call. Pure, blissful silence.

Maybe that man left? It was only a glimmer of hope, but I clung to it and willed it to be true.

I climbed up the wall carefully, grabbing at the vines for help. Most were about as thick around as my arm and clung to the wall in looping clusters so grabbing them was easy. It was the hope that they didn't detach or break that sent my stomach careening towards the ground every time I reached up.

Moron. Moron. Moron! Are you trying to get yourself killed? You couldn't possibly think going up there will be okay. If that man is still there, he will pounce the second he sees you appear, you idiot. You've got a friggan death wish - a serious hope to get a knife in your gut.

I tiredly ignored my inner voice as I reached over the side and pulled myself out of the well, sprawling along the ledge in exhaustion. A cooling breeze blew strands of hair out of my face. For a second, I basked in its comfort before realizing it seemed a bit out of character for the inside of a building. I brought my surroundings into focus and my mouth fell open.

All I could do was stare. Any intelligent thought fled out the hypothetical window as shock flooded my senses. I could feel my mouth opening and closing like a suffocating fish (honestly, at the time I was too astonished to care how stupid I probably looked) and I couldn't help but second guess myself on that acid trip theory. It was definitely looking more and more possible by the minute. What the fuck was going on?

To to, I don't think we're in Tokyo anymore.