If you recognize it, I don't own it.

Find a way to my heart

1. Beyond the pages

Sen woke up with a start.

"Whatta..?" Blue eyes stared at the wall in front of her desk. The computer screen shed eerie green light to the dark room. Her neighbor was listening to hard rock and the music came through the wall, making her sigh in annoyance; some people…

"What time is it?"

It wasn't the first time she fell asleep while doing her homework. The books lay scattered on the desk, with papers and pens and half eaten pizza. "Owww." She moaned as her back protested the sudden movements. Joints popped as she reached out to her alarm clock, 4 am. "Great." She muttered, while unconsciously reaching out for her book bag.

"Hmmm.." Sen felt a tingling on her hand. It must be the blood starting to flow again, she thought. Her fingers found a leather-bound book cover.

"Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho? I don't remember taking this?" She wondered out loud when she read the title of the book. "Aww man, it's in Chinese, I can't read this… Shit…" She frowned and flipped through the pages. "Hoo, there's English in here.. Chichiri.. What's that suppose to mean? Oh, it's a name." Her head snapped up when she realized she was talking to herself. How stupid can you get, she thought, not out loud.

Sen flipped the through the pages and placed it on her nightstand. I'm so tired, and I still have few hours left before I should really wake up, she thought. Peter's going to kill me if I miss classes again… She smiled as she thought of her overprotective friend. "Oh well…" Sen collapsed on to her bed. Except there was no bed. "WhattaHeeeeeeeeell?" She shrieked. And then there was nothing.

---

Her eyes snapped open when she felt something tugging her hair. It was dark around her. Not to mention very wet. Then she noticed she couldn't breathe. She squinted her eyes to see better. There was a blurry image of rocks and sand. I'm under water, she thought. Shit! I'm under water! I can't swim! Just when she was starting really to panic something pulled her up. She coughed hard and grasped the thing that was pulling her up. And the next thing that her brains registered was that she was lying on a riverbank and somebody was shaking her to wake up.

"Ok, ok, I'm awake." Sen groaned, swatting the hands that were holding her away as she sat up.

"Daijobu desu ka, no da?" Her rescuer said as she turned to look at him.

"Wha..?" She tilted her head to the side. He looked kind of funny, with his cerulean hair and cat like smile. He was wearing a straw hat of some sort and his white shirt was dripping water all over the sand. Did he dive after me? Sen thought, and what did he just say? Better yet, in what language did he say it?

"Daijobu desu ka, no da?" He said again, only he was speaking much slower pace. He reached out and started to pat her arms and then down to her sides. Sen was just about to smack him down for good when she realized he wasn't feeling her up, but checking for broken bones.

"Sorry, I don't understand." She shrugged and then squirmed when he hit a ticklish spot. "Have I seen you before? You seem sorta familiar?" She asked. He just tilted his head to the side and sat down next to her.

"I guess you can't understand me either.. Oh well.." She sighed and then thought of something. "My name is Sen." She said and offered her hand to him. He looked at the hand for a while. She sighed and pointed a finger to herself. "Sen."

"Ah.. Watashi wa Chichiri, no da." He said and shook her hand. He had surprisingly soft hands, with long fingers. Ahhh, what am I thinking, need to focus girl, focus!

"Chichiri? That's a weird name.." 'She commented as she stood up and took few steps back. "I don't.. Where am I? What is this place?" She was wet and miserable and cold, her pink pajamas clung to her skin. Sen let out a small, hysterical, laughter. "Ok, officially panicking now," the man obviously can't understand a word of English. And I don't recognize the river or anything else around me. Panicpanicpanic.

"Ano…" He said.

"Shut up, I'm trying to think." She said. "Oh that was rude of me.. Sorry." Sen cringed, biting down to her thumbnail. Ok, just calm down girl, he's probably speaking in Japanese, probably. You've heard it before in anime and few very funky movies, Ichi the Killer was nice.. Focus girl, focus. Sen cursed inside her mind. This place looks like it's from a history book, nothing like my hometown anyway. I hope there's a phone somewhere near, people will be worried when they don't find me in the morning. Heh, who am I kidding, I won't be missed until Monday if I don't show up to the University. Am I dreaming, whatta hell is going on here?

"Ano.."

"What!" She yelled. Chichiri pointed at her feet. She was standing on sharp rocks, with no shoes. It was like standing on glass shards.

"Ow ow..Shit.." She could feel the sharp edges cut into her flesh took few steps ahead so that she was standing on the sand again.

---

What a funny girl, he thought as he patted the sand next to him. He couldn't understand a word she was saying. She wobbled next to him and sank down, whining miserably. Poor thing.

"You should be more careful no da." He smiled and rummaged around his kasa for bandages. I know there here somewhere, he thought. She asked him something, but he still couldn't understand a word of it. She has a nice voice though. He just smiled in a comforting way and took a hold of her right foot.

Damn, he frowned; the cuts were pretty deep, with ragged edges. But they were not bleeding so much. That was good.

"Ow..ow.. Be careful, it hurts like hell.." Sen hissed between clenched teeth.

Chichiri looked up, surprised that she actually spoke something he could understand. He smiled in relief, it would be so much easier to get her to town now. She smiled back to him, but he could see her wince every time he moved her foot.

"This is not so bad. You shouldn't walk for a while thought, no da." He said softly as he wrapped the bandage up.

"Are you sure.. It hurts like h…whaaat? You can speak English!" She stared at him, blue eyes wide as saucers.

English?

"No, I'm pretty sure I can't, no da." He answered and looked at her left foot. She just stared at him as he wrapped the other foot in bandages. It was getting rather annoying. Not like he wasn't used to people staring at him, but she did it in a way that really got on to his nerves. She reminds me of Tasuki, he thought as he got up and dusted his pants.

"Well, I think you will be ok. Just don't stand up in a while or the wounds will bleed through, no da." He said as he walked to the riverbank to wash his hands and to get his fishing pole. As he walked past her she grasped a hold the end of his staff. He curiously looked down at her.

"Where are you going?" Sen asked.

"I.."

"Where you going to just leave me here?"¨

"I…"

"With my feet like this. I can't even walk."

"I.."

"What kinda asshole are you anyway?"

"Will you let me speak, no da?" He finally asked when she was catching her breath. She just nodded.

"I was going to say that if you will wait for a while I will get us some sort of transportation no da." He sighed.

"But if you would rather sit here on the riverbank in your wet clothes, cold and miserable…." He left the sentence linger in the air. Sen blushed deep red and mumbled sorry. Chichiri smiled again, obviously somewhat amused by her embarrassment.

"But then again I don't think it would be very good for you to move with those cuts, no da. So maybe we should go and visit Tasuki-kun at mount Reikaku."

"Err.. That's sounds like a long walk uphill. You just said I should not walk.. Or are you going to carry me there?" Oh yeah, sarcasm, that'll work.

"Something like that, no da." He answered and the next thing she knew she was being sucked inside a blue cape. She screamed as she wrapped her arms around him. In seconds she was weightless. And everything around her became blurred.

---

They popped out from the blue cape. Wicked, she thought as she clung to Chichiri for support. He helped her to sit down and went to collect the blue cape. She looked up to his smiling face and felt a grin tug her lips.

"What was that?" She asked breathlessly. "Did we fly?" She was grinning like an idiot.

"Teleportation." He answered. "But I miscalculated a bit so we still need to walk for about half a mile, no da. I'll carry you no da."

"Oh goodie, just what I need, a piggyback ride." Sen laughed for the first time since she met him. "An absurd idea. I'm 23 years old, I don't do piggyback rides anymore." She scoffed at him and tried to stand up. Chichiri frowned and tilted his head to the side as he watched her progress. She took one, wobbly step and sat back down.

"Ok, you can give me a piggyback ride." She grimaced. He just sighed as he rubbed his temples.

"I swear, you are a female Tasuki, no da."

He helped her up and they were off. Settling into a steady pace was easy, finding out that she was much heavier than he though was not. Not that he had thought the she was skinny in the first place. The wet pajamas left little if nothing to imagination. Curvy, would have been the word, if he had had to use one. She was holding his kasa and staff, and that made her loose her balance in every second step he took. This was going to be one long walk uphill.

---

He smells nice, Sen thought. She was holding his funny looking walking stick and hat as he carried her uphill. From time to time he stopped and shifted her weight, it took some balancing from her since her hands were occupied, but he didn't let her fall once. She finally got tired of all the balancing so she just placed the funny looking hat to her head and wrapped her free hand around his neck.

After about five minutes she saw something that resembled a fortress.

"Wow, Chichiri, look at that!" She pointed a finger to the fortress. He turned his head slightly to look at what she was pointing.

"That's were we are going, no da." He answered without stopping. She could hear the strain on his voice. No wonder there, I'm not so thin I used to be, she mentally grimaced. How Embarrassing, with a capital E.

"Are you ok?" Sen asked with a hint of worry in my voice, well yeah, if he collapses, then I'm all alone in this weird place, she reasoned to herself. It's not that I care or anything… "Do you need to take a break?"

"Yes, but since it's such a short walk I think we can make it without breaks." He smiled at her and shifted her weight again.

"Ok." Sen nodded and rested her chin to his shoulder and enjoyed the warmth of the sun. Funny, how things seem to always work out for me. Well, almost always anyway. Her eyes fluttered close.

---

The sun was shining when she opened her eyes, but it was on the wrong side of the sky. Oh shit, she blushed; I fell asleep on him, literally.

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TBC

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AN: Re-writing my old stuff.

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