Rito ½

Chapter 1: The Vial from Jusenkyo

HeroSpirit: "Those of you who are reading this, congratulations, you have just opened a Ramna ½ fan fiction. I'm inexperienced at this for the time being, but I do hope to tickle your fancy with it. *clears throat* here goes."

The day was morning, and it was Sunday... oh wait, sorry I got that reversed. The day was Sunday, and it was morning. I sat in front of the telephone waiting for my call. I was awaiting the call of a close friend of mine, Brayden Ganslea. He was currently stationed in china where he'd be staying for a few weeks to visit some relatives of his. I sighed, sitting back waiting for it to ring, he promised that he would call me once he was on his way back. I started to recall the day he left.

"You're going to china?" I asked in disbelieve.

"Yeah, my folks are going to see some distant relatives there, I'm actually pretty excited. It'll give me a chance to practice my Chinese." Brayden replied as he started to pack his bag.

"You speak Chinese?" I hadn't known this about Brayden before, however if he did it wouldn't surprise me. I've given the nickname of 'Einstein' to Brayden, mostly because of his advanced intellect. If you wanted to know something, Brayden would always give you a straight answer, it's never just 'I'm not sure' or 'I don't know'

"Yeah, I've always spoken it, my grandma is ¼ Chinese, and apparently she has something of ours, but I'm exciting regardless."

"Why is that? It's just china."

"Yeah, but there's this tourist spot in china that I've been dying to see."

"Dying to see? What is it?"

Brayden leaned in closer, and looked around to make sure nobody would listen. Which was stupid because we were the only ones in his room.

"It's called Jusenkyo." Brayden smiled.

"Ju-...Jusen-...Jusenk-...what?" I tried to pronounce that word, but really I couldn't.

"Jeu-sen-key-oh" Brayden corrected me. "It's also known as the field of cursed springs."

"Cursed springs?" I arched my eyebrow. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Apparently, there are 103 cursed springs in Jusenkyo, and each spring had a tragic death occur inside of them. Exactly 103 living creatures drowned in each one of the springs. Legend has it that if you fall into one of the cursed springs, you'll turn into the thing that drowned there long ago." Brayden explained to me. All I could say was.

"You're a geek for researching that stuff." I shook my head in disapproval of the things that Brayden believed in.

Anyway, that was the story, and Brayden's been gone for about two weeks now, he said he'd call me when he arrived home, and I've been waiting all day. Then suddenly, the phone started to ring. I immediately picked it up without looking at who it was.

"Hello?" I hastily answered, I wonder why I was so eager to hear about Brayden's trip to china and that one Jusenkyo place.

"Dude, I just got out of the airport, I told my folks that I was heading to your place. That OK?" Brayden asked over the phone, I could hear a car's engine in the background.

"Yeah, it's fine, but why are you coming to my place?"

"I got something for ya."

That made me wonder what he was bringing me in the first place, I hope it wasn't one of those cliche tourist souvenirs like a cup that said "I heart china" or something. If that was the case I might have to just keep it in my closet and tell him that I use it every day.

"Fine." I sighed, Brayden hung up the phone and arrived at my house about an hour later. He knocked on my door like he was desperate. It was as though he was bleeding and I was the only one who could give him stitches.

"What's your problem?" I asked opening up the door and Brayden rushed on through.

"You're never gana guess what I got." Einstein ignored my question and sat himself on my couch making himself at home. Brayden was both intelligent and impulsive, that what I liked about him. I guess what I was wondering was what he was doing at my house instead of relaxing at home.

"An 'I heart china' cup?" I expected, knowing Einstein that is.

"Even better." Brayden insisted, I scratched my head on this matter.

"A souvenir T-shirt?" I guessed again. Brayden gave me a funny look.

"Far, far better than that." Brayden sighed, he reached into the inside of his shirt to pull out a necklace... no... it wasn't a necklace. It was some sort of container, a test tube maybe? No, it was a vial, A vial of water. I tilted my head at this strange thing.

"That's it? A couple of drops of water?" I questioned, this puny thing was my gift? I think I might have preferred a souvenir coffee mug... and I don't even drink coffee.

"This isn't just any old water my friend. This is water directly from one of Jusenkyo's springs. This is cursed water.." Brayden explained, my mouth dropped.

"You stole water from a tourist attraction!" I gasped stepping away from the vial of supposedly cursed water.

"What's the big deal, It's like a few drops, they're not gana miss it. You have no idea what I had to go through to get this." Einstein defended. What he said was true, the vial of water was almost the exact size of an average index finger, and the vial itself took up half it's volume. I stared at this vial. It was surprisingly detailed. It had the water floating inside it as though it were magic, the water seemed to bubble and fizz as though it were carbonated. The vial itself had a golden dragon design on it, and the vial hung from a string that was tied around a loop. This loop was welded to it's metal lid, which seemed to be firmly in place and permitting the water from escaping.

"Huh, now that you mention it, It's kinda cool." I started to warm up to his gift quite fast, I mean even if the cursed springs thing is just a gag to lore tourists in, what's the harm in keeping it? At least I can claim that I have a vial of cursed water in my position. I grabbed the vial from my intelligent friend and examined it a bit further.

"Cool huh?" Brayden asked me staring at the vial.

"As cool as a couple of drops of water can get, I suppose." I answered, untangling the string and wrapping it around my neck. It was like a good luck charm from a close friend of mine.

What I didn't realize was that vial of supposedly cursed water was going to bring me more trouble than I had ever wanted, and looking back on the situation, I probably shouldn't have taken it in the first place.

Please allow me to skip ahead a little to the next day. It was about 8 a.m. and class was going to start soon. I usually like to hang out with Brayden before class though, mostly due to our different schedules. Oh! Sorry, I guess I should explain a little deeper. I go to Brights Woods High school, it's a high school located where... well... for social security purposes I probably shouldn't tell you, but anyway. The school is divided into two sections, a boys side, and a girls side. The principal now and even the principals before him had the notion that students could learn better without the distractions of the opposite gender. Personally I think that theory it's a load of …. something that rhymes with 'it'.

In my lifetime I haven't had a single girlfriend, and that's pretty sad considering I'm 15 years old. However there is someone I've had my eye on for quite some time, Darlyne Quartez. She's a sight for even the most tearful eyes. Her lush black hair practically flows with the wind, and anyone could easily get lose in those green eyes of hers. Now if you're wondering how I know her considering that the girls and boys are separated at our school, the reason is that both boys and girls have access to both sides of the school during lunch period. Apparently it was a rule passed by a principal that felt sorry for the students who wanted to see their girlfriends during a regular school day. I always sit far away from Darlyne at lunch though, I mean how could I? She was incredibly popular and she already sat with some of her own friends. I would much rather gaze at her beauty from a distance rather than be humiliated if I approached her. Hmph... my life is pathetic.

HeroSpirit: "I suppose I should stop there, I mean that is pretty good for a first chapter, and I'm afraid if I make this one too long the readers will get bored."

Brayden: "When will we get to see Rito fall into the..."

HeroSpirit smacks Brayden upside the head with a newspaper

HeroSpirit : "NO SPOILERS!"

Brayden rubs the spot where he was hit "Shesh, you didn't even get anywhere with the story..."

HeroSpirit: "I had to introduce most of the main characters before the main plot began, if I go to fast with this it's gana turn out like that one horror movie I saw called 'Sight'..."

Brayden turns his head. "I've never heard of that movie."

HeroSpirit: "Exactly."