Chapter 1: A new start

The little white car drove down the avenue lined with tall pink blossom trees that drooped down over the car. Riko aroused from her doze and looked out the window with a glazy look. Her deep, short purple fell across her face. She tied it up in the spiky way she always fashioned.

"How do you like it dear?" Her Mother asked.

Riko gave her a blank stare and returned to gazing out the window.

"There's your new high school, up there on that hill, do you see it dear? And the sports center over there…"

Her Mother was acting like a child in a chocolate factory, getting excited over every little thing she saw, whereas her Father was smiling nonstop as he drove the car. Riko seemed like the only one unhappy about the move, even her little brother, Shouta, was excited. But Riko didn't want a new school, she didn't want a new house, she didn't want a new life! All she wanted was to stay in the city forever. The reason she was leaving her city life was simple, almost too simple, her Father was being transferred to a higher position inside his company, as he had explained to her.

They turned off the empty main road onto a lane behind the last row of shops and houses, with glossy green playing fields on both sides. The road wound up the steep hill and at the top, a temple stood against the sky. It was split into four buildings in each compass direction and a much smaller building in the middle. The buildings were all one story high with wooden walls and decking running around each building except the middle one.

"A temple?" exclaimed Shouta.

A smug look crossed their Father's face.

"That's right; it's one of the biggest temples in Japan. It has stood here for nearly three hundred years." He explained. "We're renting the east wing from a colleague of mine."

A tall skinny man in a suit with short, light brown hair stood under the towering entrance arches, decorated with paper charms hanging from the top. As they got out of the car, he came over and greeted them.

"Welcome to my estate, Mr. Yamamoto." The man in the suit said with a small bow.

"Thank you for letting us rent your rooms Mr. Kobayashi. I have never seen such a beautifully restored temple."

"Well you wouldn't normally in Tokyo, Mrs. Yamamoto. It was built in…"

Riko walked away to take a closer look at the temple. Shouta jumped up and grabbed Riko's hair.

"Come explore with me, big sis!"

Without waiting for a reply, he shot off behind the nearest building.

"Shouta wait!" she yelled after him.

She thought about telling her parents but decided against it. It's not that big an estate, she told herself. She slipped her trainers off and stepped onto the wooden decking of the building Shouta had run around.

She walked around the temple until she reached the edge of a sand garden. It was about fifty square meters had squares raked into the sand around various shrubs and rocks in the garden. In the middle there was four, tall grey oval rocks. Each of the rocks were taller than Riko and had indents carved into them. Swirls and curls run all along the surface of the rocks. Riko ran her fingers along the indents of the rock she was facing. As she rounded it she noticed there was another rock in the middle, except this one was black and only up to Riko's hips. Crouched by the black rock was Shouta.

"Shouta? Shouta! What are you doing?" Riko called out.

Shouta slowly stood up and turned around. He's eyes had lost they're colour and it was like he was staring past Riko. Riko noticed he was clutching something in his hands and rushed over to him.

"Shouta are you alright?" she asked softly.

He didn't reply. Riko gently opened up his hands to find a small shining crystal, just big enough to fit in his hand. The crystal was a beautiful azure blue. It had a flat, rounded bottom and a tear drop point. As soon as it left his hands the deep brown returned to his eyes.

"Big sis!" he exclaimed with glee.

"Riko! Shouta! Where did you go?" a voice from the front called.

"I'm coming Mother!" Shouta sprang up and ran back to the front of the temple.

Riko stared down at the faintly glowing crystal in her hand. She turned towards the small black rock and examined it closely. On top it had a round indent, about two or three centimetres deep.

'I guess this must go here' she thought.

She placed the crystal in the indent on top of the rock. Instantly the crystal turned black and cloudy, as if it was sucking the entire colour from its surroundings. Riko jumped in surprise and tried to remove her hands, but she couldn't move. Then, the crystal burst into light, blinding Riko.

'I've been waiting for you... For a long time.' A soft, almost childish girls voice said inside Riko's head.

"What? Who's there?"

Bright lines appeared, moving and swirling along the rock. The lines close to Riko's hands began to peel off the rock like paper. They reached up and touched her hands. Instantly the light was crawling up her body. She closed her eyes, wanting to scream out but she could no longer even open her eyes. Lights were flashing inside her head, she felt weak and then... everything went black.

Riko's eyes flickered open as she woke up. Her body was covered in orange and red leaves, a sign of autumn, which fell away when she stood up. She was stood in a wood that continued on all around her, except right in front of her. The trees thinned and strong sun light could be seen. She walked towards the light and stepped out of the woods. Beyond the woods there was a vast grassy land that stretched on as far as she could see. There was no trace of the temple or the town. To the left of her there was a tall hill. As she looked to her right, Riko was shocked to see a large army of men marching about eight hundred metres away. Riko thought she was seeing things but she could clearly hear the sound of hundreds of feet hit the floor as they got closer to her. They were all wearing heavy chainmail shirts with plate armour on their chest, arms and legs. Every few soldiers there was someone holding up a flag. Riko recognised the soldiers from history class. They were samurai.

"Is this some sort of battle re-enactment?" she laughed to herself.

But it wasn't. All the weapons looked very real and the men looked like they were ready to kill. The army stopped and split down the middle, making a pathway. A man on a horse came charging out to the front. The man was wearing a long blue coat with a gold chainmail shirt underneath. He also had a black eye patch over his right eye and an upside down crescent moon on the front of his helmet. He turned his horse around so that he was facing the army with his back to Riko. Riko recognised the man on the horse, but she couldn't remember where from. Then it came to her. He looked like the One Eyed Dragon, Date Masamura from the Sengoku Era. Riko couldn't believe what she was seeing. The Sengoku Era ended over three hundred years ago!