Baby won't you come my wayyyyy, got something I wany to sayyyy, cannot keep you out my brainnnn...
Walking down the busy streets of Kyoto, singing along to my iwatch, which are bluetoothed to my headphones, is my definition of a good day. i love to sing out loud, its quite obnoxious, or so im told.
My name is Ariana. I have long blonde hair, pale skin, and my eyes cant make up their mind whether they want to be blue, green, or grey. I know, i know, blonde hair? Blue eyes? Well, ya see, I'm from America. My parents transfered here a few years ago, teaching English at a university. So lucky me, I got to move to Japan. I have lived in Kyoto for 3 years now, the food is to die for, the fashion outrageous, and the music (my favorite subject of all) is cosmically incompareable.
However, for all of Kyoto's beauty and wonder, I dont have many friends here. Don't get me wrong, the Japanese people are super nice and respectful, however, I'm still an outsider. My American upbringing isn't always a good thing when it comes to living as a Japanese citizen. I'm occasionally loud, opinionated, and easily distracted. Bad combination. Especially here in Japan. But hey, I make the best of it. My parents actually just bought me this solar-powered iwatch to try and cheer me up. It wasn't even on the public market yet, but my parents know a guy in development over at Apple, so I got the hook-up. Now i could listen to music 24/7, without my battery dieing on me. Just leave it in the sun and voila! Fully charged.
It was my favorite time of day, right before the sun starts to go down. Some clouds had moved in earlier and gave me some early shade but I was just starting to worry if it might rain when I heard the rumble of thunder.
Great, i thought, maybe I can catch a ride with mom and dad home.
I duck through the entrance to a Memorial, if I cut straight through I would be at the university in minutes, it was a shortcut I had used many times.
I made a mad dash for the other side, trying to make it as close as I could before it started raining, so naturally I run straight into someone and fall back on my ass. She's beauty, she's grace, she's.. completley uncoordinated
"I'm sooooo so so sorry," i say rubbing my head.
"It's alright, here let me help you," replied a quiet but slightly amused voice.
I looked up to see a quite good-looking guy with light brown hair amd small rectangular glasses reaching out to help me up.
"Thanks," i said smiling as I got to my feet, "I should have been watching where I was going, I trip over air sometimes, so I knew better."
"No harm done," the cute guy said, "I'm Sasuke, I'm a student at the university about a block from here."
"Oh really, my parents teach there!" I said happily, "I'm guessing your major is science since your wearing a lab coat?"
"Yeah, I..." but he was cut off by the bottom dropping out of the sky and in seconds, we were both drenched.
"Perfect," i whined ripping off my headphones and watch and stuffing them in my backpack so they wouldn't get wet, "So much for trying to dodge the rain. I'm sorry, I guess I got you caught in the rain too."
"It would have caught me anyway, I visit this memorial often," he said gesturing to the memorial slab beside us.
It was the memorial made for Oda Nobunaga, known affectionatley as 'The Devil King", a famous warlord in the Sengoku period who died in a fire long ago.
"Why here?" I asked puzzled, "So your major is history? Not science?"
But before he could answer, lightening struck Oda Nobunaga's memorial, sending us flying into the air with a huge flash of burning white light. I braced my body for the impact of my fall..but it never came. Instead i feel as if I'm already on the ground, according to the hard wood floor i feel underneath the palm of my hands. Maybe I passed out...?
I open my eyes and find myself in a dark, quiet room. It was in the traditional Japanese style, where the hell was I..? I slowly stood up and rubbed my back, I seemed to be fine. That's when I smelled it. Smoke. Burning. Fire.
I quickly darted to the door and slid it open, only to find myself in yet another room. Only this time, I could see I was right. I could see the soft glow of fire through the fusuma door, inching towards the room, slowly burning the door seperating it from me. I run full speed to the only other door in the room, when for the second time that day I fell straight on my ass. Only this time, I didn't trip over just air, it was a person.
"What the hell.." the man said getting up from the futon I undoubtedly paid no attention to, "What are you doing in here wench?"
I stopped rubbing my butt as I stood up glareing at him, about to give him a piece of my mind, but immediatley my breath caught in my throat, despite the odd clothing, he was the sexiest guy I had ever seen. Tall, muscular but lean, with dark black shaggy hair and eyes the color of cherry wood.
I must have taken too long to answer because he grabbed a sword from his bedside and unsheathed it, pointing it at me.
"I suggest you find your voice quickly," he said coldly, snapping me out of my trance.
"Are you crazy!? This whole place is on fire! We don't have time for this!" i yelled at him, grabbing his free hand and pulling him to the door with me.
It was then he realized the glow of the fire, and started running with me.
We skidded into a long hallway and ran so hard my heart felt like it was in my throat, but I didn't dare stop, the smoke was thick out here and we had already started to cough from the ash entering our lungs. The guy I found had ended up in front of me, pulling me by the hand, I was hopeing that meant he knew the way out.
We rounded what seemed like the thousandth corner, and in front of us was another long hallway with a huge pair of double doors at the end, had to be the exit! The sexy stranger and I sprinted towards the doors like Death itself was at our heels. He put one arm out in front of us and slammed open the doors with his shoulder as we spilled out into a courtyard, gasping for breath.
I fell to my knees in the dirt and gravel trying to relearn how to breathe. I stole a glance at my mystery man, he was just stareing at the burning castle with an incredulous look.
Where the hell am I!? And who the hell is he!? i thought to myself, still trying to find my voice, but he beat me to the punch.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" he said rounding on me and fixing me with a cold stare.
I haughtily got to my feet and placed my hands on my hips.
"How about a 'Thank You' first, seeing as I just saved your ass!" i snapped flipping my hair back out of my face.
That startled him.
First his eyes widened in suprise but immediatley after, was replaced by a slightly amused but arragont smile.
"What is your name, girl?" he said crossing his arms over his chest, still wearing that sly smile.
"Excuse me, do you have ash stuck in your ears? I just saved your life buddy!"
"No, it all stuck to you," he said chuckling.
I finally looked down at myself to find my clothes covered in soot.
Great, i thought, Meet a hot guy and I look like absolute hell.
Suddenly shouts and the soft rumble of hoofbeats filled the air, a second later, two men rode up to us and dismounted quickly.
"Mi'lord! Thank Kami your alive!" cried the first man as he approached us. He had brown hair and golden eyes, no bullshit, they were gold.
"When we saw the flames, our hearts dropped. We thought it was too late," stated the other man worriedly. He had grey hair and a odd color eye color that can only be described as a deep violet.
"And it would have been, had it not been for this woman," the mystery guy said gesturing towards me.
The two men finally looked at me, like they had just noticed I was standing there.
What the HELL is going ON! I thought to myself furiously.
"Woman!" the brown haired guy snapped at me, "Identify yourself! Why are you here!?"
"Just hold on a damn minute!" I cried out angrily, placing my hands back on my hips, "I'll be the one asking the questions around here! Who the hell ARE you people?"
The brown haired guy unsheathed his sword that I hadn't noticed was at his side, "I suggest you answer, or forfeit your life wench."
"What is it with you people calling me that!?"
"Enough." the man I saved declared, finally stepping in, "This woman is the reason I'm alive."
"Or she started the fire," the brown haired guy said, looking uneasily at me.
"What reason would she have to start a fire to kill me, then save my life," he said stareing his comrade down.
"But mi'lord.."
"I said enough Hideyoshi," the mystery man said with a warning glare that immediatley silenced the other man.
"Now, back to my question. What is your name?"
It took me a second to realize he was now looking at me.
"Oh! Ariana...my name is Ariana," I said looking from one man to the other, finally a little scared.
"Ariana..." the man I saved said, almost to himself, "What a strange name."
"A strange name to go along with her strange clothes," the grey haired man said smiling slightly at me.
Strange clothes..? i thought looking down at myself. I was wearing a tight Falling In Reverse t-shirt, with tight black skinny jeans, and Converse sneakers. Considering it's me, this is pretty normal, i thought, thinking of some of my crazier ensembles.
"Well Ariana," the sexy mystery guy said taking a step towards me with his hands laced behind his back and coming to stand a little to close for comfort in front of me, "Thank you, I would be dead if you had not awoken me."
"Your welcome umm...?"
"Nobunaga. I am Lord Oda Nobunaga," he said with that sly smile of his.
Nobunaga...i thought, my blood freezing to a halt in my veins, No way..."Hold on just a minute," I said shaking my head and placing my hands on my temples, "What year is it..?" i said quietly looking up at Nobunaga in soft horror.
"1592, of course," he said raising an eyebrow at me.
I felt like I was spinning, either that or the whole world was. My heart felt like it would beat out of my chest and fall on the ground in front of me.
Nobunaga stepped even closer towards me, pulling me in by my waist, and whispering right above my ear, "Ariana...How would you like to rule the world by my side."