Author's Note: Hello everyone! This is my first Saiyuki fanfiction! I worked on it a long time before posting… the original document is about 97 pages long right now, and I haven't even thought of an ending yet… Coincidentally, if you see my old English teacher, don't tell her that. Anywhoot, to the point. Please, only constructive reviews. I do my best to ensure quality, but sometimes my beta is lazy.

Technicolor: Hey. I'm not…wait, yes I am.

Kinnikinnick: Yes, TC. Yes you are. Anyway, I can take flames (if I REALLY don't like them I send them to burn in cyber hell, a.k.a. the trash bin) but please keep them nice. I'll post as much as I have, but reviews will keep me going! Feel free to help inspire me!

Technicolor: Oh, by the way, we're far more psychotic in real life. We try and tone it down though for fanfiction. Unless we get requests to let our psychosis free.

Kinnikinnick: Ah-hem.

Technicolor: Oh, yeah. We don't own anything except for Miranda and Renate. We don't own Saiyuki or Caribou and we only temporarily own caramel coolers.

Kinnikinnick: Yeah. Until the cup is empty… looks sadly at empty cup

Technicolor: rolls eyes Anyway… and we only own the one ice scraper. And we don't meet the Saiyuki guys until Chapter Two. And in case you couldn't tell, I'm pretty sure the title should give you a pretty good idea of what you're looking at.

Kinnikinnick: So! On to the story!

Chapter 1:

Miranda sprawled in the backseat of her friend's car, her caramel cooler clutched in one hand, her feet sticking out of the door. Renate sat in the driver's seat with the door propped open to the cool night air, swinging her feet, sipping her drink. The car itself was parked in front of the local Caribou Coffee.

"I'm so freaking bored," Miranda moaned, "Where is everyone lately?"

"Stop whining," growled Renate, "I've had about enough of that from my sister."

"But I'm booooooored!"

WHACK!

"Gah!" Miranda said as the ice scrapper slammed down next to her on the seat. She sat up and jumped out of the car.

"Shut up!" Renate bellowed.

Miranda stuck out her tongue and danced out of reach of the ice scrapper. Renate climbed out of the car and swung it menacingly in one hand. "Frick!" Miranda said, taking off around the side of the building. Despite being roughly twice Renate's size, she definitely had the advantage of speed.

"Come back here, you caffeine-addicted freak!" Renate bellowed, following her track athlete friend.

"No way, you tiny-handed freak!" Miranda shouted back. Suddenly she skidded to a halt behind the dumpster in the back of the building.

"What is it?" Renate asked, coming to a halt. She still had the ice scrapper raised up, ready for any trick that the other girl might pull.

"I thought I saw something… like a ripple in the air," Miranda asked, squinting at the front of the dumpster. She dropped to her knees and began to look closer.

"Like… like a dimensional rip?" Renate asked, excitement making her voice ratchet up a few notches.

"Yeah…" Miranda said slowly, the fangirl in her becoming enthused. She saw the ripple again. With a yell, Miranda shot out her hand, shoving it into the center of the ripple. There was a strange sucking sound, and Miranda's hand disappeared.

"Oh, that's so weird," Renate said, crouching back on her heels.

"Yeah. Okay, so… how do we proceed from here?" Miranda asked, keeping her hand where it was. She didn't want to lose it again.

"Should I get my car?" Renate asked. Miranda shook her head.

"I don't think we should risk it. We have no idea where this comes out. We could end up smashing up your car," she pointed out.

"True," Renate said, "Well then…"

The girls looked at each other. Miranda plunged her other hand in, just as Renate stuck out both of hers.

"Here goes nothing."

Both girls rocked backwards to build up momentum, and then catapulted themselves forward, through the strange ripple in the air.

For a moment, everything went black.

I can't breathe, Renate thought, more pissed off than anything.

Me neither! came a reply. However, Renate had heard it more in her mind than through her ears.

Can we thought-speak? Renate thought tentatively.

I guess so… at least for now, Miranda thought back at her.

Suddenly there was a blinding light, and both girls felt themselves drop. With a thud, they landed one on top of the other.

"Get off me!" Renate barked.

"Sorry."

As Miranda stood up, she looked at Renate and gasped. Renate craned her neck to look up at her friend at had the same reaction, gasping as she jumped to her feet.

"Oh, my God, look at you!" the two girls shouted at each other, disbelief clearly sketched on the each others' faces.

The first thing Miranda noticed was that, although Renate retained her curvy figure, she was much leaner. Renate's swinging bob of blond hair had developed indigo-colored streaks that glinted in the sun, and she was wearing very different clothes. Instead of her jeans, jacket and t-shirt, Renate was now wearing a baggy burnt-orange tunic with long sleeves that tapered to her wrists, and instead of her jeans, she wore a pair of fitted brown trousers tucked into the tops of knee-height black boots. She was also wearing a small brown backpack.

As Miranda was giving Renate a once-over, Renate was returning the favor. Miranda's long blonde hair had gotten even longer and was now braided neatly, laying flat against her spine. Miranda had lost most of her pudgy figure, and instead had more of an athletic form, the way Renate guessed Miranda would look back in their world if she dropped a ton of weight. Instead of her purple ¾ length scoop neck, she now wore a sleeveless red tunic, and in lieu of her black jeans, she was wearing a pair of brown capris that flared at her knee, and a pair of brown ankle boots. She too was wearing a small brown backpack.

"Holy hell," Miranda said, "We're skinny." She craned her head to look at her backside. "Dammit, I still have no butt!"

"I think your butt is the least of our worries," Renate pointed out, "I think our biggest worry is figuring out where the hell we are."

"Oh yeah," Miranda said thoughtfully, glancing around. They were surrounded by trees on all sides. It looked like they had landed in some sort of clearing in the middle of a forest.

"Okay. Well. I suppose our best bet would be to head that way, and hope to find a town," Renate said, pointing. The sun had just begun to descend, and they were headed for where it would set.

"Good idea. At least that way, we'll have some sort of marker to follow for awhile," Miranda commented.

"Well…" Renate said, feeling as if there should be more ceremony in this decision, "Let's go."

The two girls set off, guided by the setting sun.