Arising Shadows

Chapter 1: The Letter

By Kitty, Jallana, and Sifirela

August 19th

The early morning dew shinned in the deep sunlight as the sun hung partially in the sky from the east. The morning sky was a beautiful auburn color with swishing birds flying above, singing their tune to the new and fresh day.

Mia Koji walked out of her mansion, smelling the dew with a smile. She was dressed in sports clothes for her morning run as Katie and Christine came from behind, also wearing jogging gear.

They were fighting over who could run the fastest when Mia saw a postal man coming towards the mail box just outside the yard. Mia ran up to the guy and got the mail from him, giving him her thanks. He nodded with a welcome and got on his way. Katie and Christine came from behind again to see what mail they had.

"Hmm, it seems that you have some mail, Katie," Mia handed Katie an envelope before rummaging through the other mail and handing Christine some mail too. Christine looked at her magazine with interest and was about to turn the other page when Katie let out a gasp and a screech, making Mia and Christine to look up at Katie like she was crazy. Katie was jumping up and down with joy and screaming...

"They're coming! Oh, my goodness, they're actually coming! Yay!" Katie started doing a dance, swinging her arms and tapping her feet. Christine rolled her eyes as she tried to grab the paper out of her best friend's hands. But she couldn't at the way Katie was flinging her arms.

"Katie! Calm down!" Mia suggested with a loud voice, causing Katie to stop dancing mid way. Christine finally got the chance to take the letter out of Katie's hands. She read it out loud...

"Dear Katie,

Hola chica, how are you doing! Hey, guess what! I've finally got enough money from my dad, *more like begged snicker, snicker* and I'm coming to Japan on the fourth of November along with a friend. Her name is Callista Sanders. She is cool but she thinks that sometimes she is God's gift to men! She wanted to come and begged me for the longest time. So I gave in and said okay. Well, I'm sure by the time you get this I'll be on my way to the airport. Hmm, how does the time zone work again? Eh well, but you can expect me to be even going to your school! SURPRISE NUMBER TWO! AHAHA I'm an exchange student over at Han 'a High Callista is too. Well, I hope we can finally meet b/c I've been dying to meet you in person along with your best friend Christine! Well...

Adios, till next time, my friend

Rhianne Dawns..."

Christine's eyes began to slowly become big as she looked at Katie with sparkles in her eyes.

"Are they really coming?"

Katie nodded with a smile.

"OH YAY!" Christine shouted, as she then started to dance like Katie was just a few minutes ago. Mia watched as the two crazed teenage friends began to jump up and down. She shook her head and was about to say something, when all of a sudden the sound of water hitting bodies could be heard. Screams from girls then followed the first sound. Mia looked up to see Ryo spraying the two crazed teenagers down. She put a hand to her forehead and laughed some to herself.

"RYO!" Katie and Christine shouted as Katie chased after her hot head brother. Christine following close behind her, both soaking wet from the bath they had both just involuntarily got from Ryo. Mia just shook her head and walked back towards the house as sounds of a hose being used and more screams were heard.

~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***

Rhianne Dawns stood at the airport with her friend Callista Sanders as they both waited for their luggage to be checked and to get through security. Callista was busy chatting with someone on her cell phone and every once in a while Rhianne would hear a squeal or a gasp come from her. She shook her head as her blonde friend squealed and a few people turned to look at her. What on earth possessed me to let her come along? She thought to herself.

After finally getting through baggage and security they got ready to board their flight to Japan. Callista had finally got off her phone after crying for about ten minutes with whomever she was talking to and saying her good-byes.

"Come on, Callista. I don't want to miss my flight. Could you be any slower?" Rhianne asked as she turned around to look at her slow friend.

"Well, I'm hurrying, but I'm not going to run." Callista said as she was wiping her eyes with kleenex, being careful to not smear or smudge her makeup in any way.

Rhianne sighed and continued to walk towards the boarding gate. She was almost there when she heard a thud and then yelling. She turned around and hurriedly walked back over to her friend. She tried not to laugh as she saw what all the fuss was about. Callista not watching where she was going had run into a poor girl.

"I am so sorry." The girl with blue hair said as she got up and tried to help Callista up.

"Well you should be!" Callista yelled at her. "Do you have any idea how much this skirt cost me?"

"Hey! Callista chill out. She said she was sorry." Rhianne said as she helped the other girl up. "I'm sorry for my friend's behavior. I'm Rhianne Dawns." Rhianne said as she held her hand out for her to take.

"Kiara Jennings." She said as she took her hand. Kiara had a very unusual combination of blue hair and pink eyes. She began to dust off her clothes as Rhianne helped the still fussing Callista up.

"I hope you know that I will be sending you the bill for my dry cleaning." Callista said angrily as she surveyed her clothes.

"I said I was sorry, I will pay for the dry cleaning." Kiara said as she looked at Rhianne and Callista.

Callista was about to say more to her when Rhianne put a hand over mouth, stopping her. "That won't be necessary. It was probably Callista's fault anyway." Callista seemed to not like what Rhianne had said since she started to try and yell things at her that just came out as mumbled sounds.

"FLIGHT 139 TO JAPAN IS NOW BOARDING. PLEASE HEAD TOWARDS THE GATES NOW. LAST CALL FOR FLIGHT 139 TO JAPAN."

"Dang, that's our flight." Rhianne said as she started to pull Callista along behind her.

"Really? Well it's mine too." Kiara said as she began to walk along with them.

Rhianne turned and smiled at her as she continued to pull Callista along beside her. "How cool. Can I ask what you're going to Japan for? Callista and me are exchange students."

"So am I. I'm supposed to be staying with Amaya Ume." Kiara said as she handed the lady at the gate her ticket and walked through.

"So are Callista and I." Rhianne replied and she too, handed the lady her ticket and waited for Callista to do the same. "This is really weird. Who would have thought that we would meet another person who was an exchange student and staying at Amaya's?"

"Yea, yea, it's very sweet and touching." Callista said as she looked over her nails.

"Is she always like that?" Kiara asked as she put her things in the cabinet above her seat.

"Yea, pretty much." Rhianne said as she too, put her stuff above her seat and sat down.

"So, were you just picked to be an exchange student or did you decide to be one." Kiara asked as she got comfortable in her seat.

"Well, I guess I kinda decided to be one. I'm meeting my pen pal Katie Sanada over in Japan." Rhianne said as she looked over at Callista who had seemed to get over her fall.

"I see. Well that's cool." Kiara said as she nodded. "I hope you don't mind me sitting here."

"No, not at all. I at least have a normal person to talk to while we're on this flight." Rhianne said and Kiara laughed. The seat belt sign came on and then the captain's voice could be heard over the loud speaker.

ATTENTION EVERYONE, WE WILL BE TAKING OFF HERE IN A FEW MINUTES. I WOULD LIKE TO ASK THAT YOU PUT YOUR SEAT BELTS ON NOW AND LEAVE THEM ON UNTIL THE SEAT BELT SIGN HAS GONE OFF. THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING AMERICAN FLORIDA AIRLINES.

Kiara, Rhianne and Callista all sat back and got ready for what was to be a very long flight.

~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***

"Gorou, have you captured the Seasonals and the last Ancient miko?" A dark and empty power seemed to sear through the darkness as a figure kneeled through the massive room. The figure rose from his kneeling position and looked directly to the dark figure sitting possessively in the deep black throne.

"Yes, Lord Draconis, we have been successful through our battle between them. Other from the tough fight they gave, the new dynasty regime will be utterly impossible to stop." Gorou stated, smiling, "I've also looked upon the force we will be up against and asked the ancient miko for information. She refused, so now she is in the black pit of torment and death! She will eventually come around."

"Good, good," Draconis sounded pleased. His red eyes cased a strong aura of evil and emptiness that could make the most braved person to crack under all the immense poison it raided off. "I shall talk with her later. Gorou!"

"Yes, Lord Draconis?"

"You and Zillius will go and start taking over the Northern Hemisphere off the island called America. Japan will later come when all of the Northern Hemisphere is under our control. Also, you will find those medallions. Without those medallions, we will never be able to get our full powers back."

"As you wish, my master." Gorou bowed and slowly faded into the darkness.

~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***

"Aw man," Callista complained for the thousandth time in the last hour. Rhianne snuggled closer to her pillow the flight attendant had offered and given to her when she nodded yes. She rolled her eyes again as Callista looked out into the window of the airplane once more and began to complain that she couldn't get to the person she was talking to when they were first boarding the plane.

"Grr, I can't believe that bozo of a boyfriend would even think of going out with that two-timing girl! I can't believe it! I mean, she isn't all that pretty! All she even thinks about is planting flowers, hardly of what I would do!" Callista let out an exasperated sigh and began again about the girl Rhianne had no idea who she was. "And her hair! Yuck, like try dying it blonde or something! Ick, like totally out of style with that fading black hair going on and did you know she had contacts! She is such a fake loser! I, on the other hand, am the real type of girl he should get with! I've been dating him like what, two days?"

"Although I really love hearing your gossiping about someone who I really don't know, could you tone it down a little and think to yourself! Some of us are trying to sleep!" Snapped Kiara from the left seat side of Rhianne and Callista were seated. Callista looked suddenly fazed and got angry. She huffed and got up to go to the bathroom.

"Boy, what a girl!" Kiara stated after she knew was out of hearing range. "And we've got to put up with that for the next year!"

Rhianne giggled while trying to get comfortable in her seat, but to no avail, it was worthless. She would just have to let jetlag get the better of her when they would land. Say, when were they about to land, Rhianne thought as an attendant passed a food cart through the aisle

"Excuse me miss, but what time is it and how many more hours do we have until we land?" Rhianne asked sweetly to the young attendant. The attendant smiled and from what Rhianne could see on the nametag, it was Gloria.

"Well, suga, we have about six more hours to go until we land and it is a quarter to eight in the morning." Gloria's sweet New Jersey swinging voice made Rhianne smile. Rhianne studied her for a while. She had beautiful tanned skin with peach hair and hazel eyes that beamed a light in them that made Rhianne think of her mother. Oh my mother! Rhianne thought as tears welled in her eyes. Flashes and memories came to her but she was suddenly thrown out of her thoughts when Kiara asked her a question. She noticed that the attendant named Gloria was gone, so she looked at Kiara's concerned face.

"What did you say?" Rhianne asked Kiara who looked relieved that nothing was wrong with her new friend.

"I asked you what grade are you entering at Han 'a High?"

"Oh, since I'm sixteen, I guess that I'll be a sophomore. What about you?"

"Ah, a year older, I might say, and I'm going to the eleventh, suppose ably..." Kiara said that kind of faint, which made Rhianne curious.

"Why did you say that in a monotone voice?"

"Uh, well, heh, well, you see, I'm not sure if I passed English." Kiara laughed nervously as Rhianne fell out of her chair in surprise.

"You mean to tell me, that you flunked your native language?" Rhianne sputtered out.

"Yea, you've got a problem with that!" Kiara said defensively.

"Uh, no, no problem." Rhianne said, holding up her hands in utter confusion. "Math isn't one of my trademarks either. So I kinda feel the same like you about a certain subject."

Kiara looked at Rhianne and smiled. "You know, I think this will be an exciting trip."

Callista finally got out of the bathroom, looking refreshed and was now talking on the cell-phone. Kiara and Rhianne continued to talk about slow things, such as what they liked and what they disliked, sometimes Callista would join in but soon was arguing over the phone and ending up gossiping about some girl or another.

Time flew slowly, but then quickly regained its speed as the seatbelt light turned on.

"ATTENTION PASSENGERS! PLEASE PUT ON YOUR SEATBELT UNTIL WE LAND! ALL CELL PHONES! COMPUTERS, AND OTHER BATTERY POWERED USAGES SHOULD BE TURNED OFF. THANK YOU FOR FLYING WITH AMERICAN FLORIDA AIRLINES." The captain spoke over the loud intercom and soon after everything that was said to do was done, the plane lowered in decent and soon landed, letting passengers off a few minutes later...