A/N: Thanks to my beta Azzie for going over this for me! Please R&R!
Melting the Ice:
Prologue: The Way Things Used to Be:
Red light changed to gold, falling softly through the leaves. A young teenage girl picked up her pace, eager to see the sunrise. Breaking into a full-out run, she was grateful none of the children from the village had tagged along. She could wear the clothes of her native land without worrying about propriety.
Several months ago, Melody had been driving home from practice with her father when a speeding semi ran a red light and slammed into the car. It had caught the back end and the car had swung around, the bumper sliding under the back of the semi. Strapped to a support on the side was an odd-looking staff. When she regained consciousness amidst the flashing lights of emergency vehicles, she was clutching the piece of wood as if her life depended on it. She could hear voices, some in English, some in a language that sounded Asian. Maybe Japanese. She didn't know. She hurt too much to care.
"There's a girl over here!"
"She's hurt! Bring a stretcher!"
"He's dead..."
"Her father?"
"Poor girl."
"Stand back, please!"
Opening her eyes, she saw two worlds. One was full of flashing lights and screaming voices, the other a quiet forest clearing. Shying away from the lights, she followed the staff in her hand to the clearing, lying down under a bush at the edge to rest.
She'd been awoken by voices nearby. She couldn't understand the language, but was sure now that it was Japanese, and the same one she'd heard before.
Once again forcing her eyes open, she saw a group of women staring down at her. One of them said something, and she blinked.
"I don't speak Japanese." she told them, hoping they'd understand that since she spoke a different language, she couldn't understand them. They talked amongst themselves for a little while, then one of them picked up the staff, yelped, and dropped it in pain. The woman nearest Melody tugged on her arm, helping her sit up before gesturing to the staff. Melody picked it up easily, and the women gasped. They huddled together once more, talking urgently. Finally, the woman who had helped her sit up came over, gently taking her hand and leading her with the others, out of the clearing.
They walked for a while, maybe an hour, before they reached the edge of the forest. Down a little slope was a village, straight out of ancient Japan. Wooden houses and primitively irrigated fields. Melody's eyes opened wide as she followed the women into the village. People gathered around, and they all talked, but Melody couldn't understand anything they said. Finally, the woman who had led her there came over, and pointed at herself. "Chihiro."
Recognizing that that was the woman's name, Melody nodded, pointing at her. "Chihiro-san?" The woman nodded happily. Melody pointed back at herself. "Melody."
"Merodi." they repeated, happy to have achieved some sort of verbal communication. Chihiro pulled on Melody's arm again, leading her away from the others.
"Koi." Melody nodded, following her to one of the houses. Chihiro gave her food and a change of clothes, taking her to a pond to bathe and pointing out everything they saw, teaching her the words for them. They had a lot of fun exchanging languages. Melody came up with the idea for teaching verbs-doing the action while saying 'I do', and when the other repeated it saying 'you do'.
They stayed out fairly late, but Chihiro practically ran for home once the sun went down. Melody didn't understand 'yokai' but followed anyway, finding it difficult to run in the traditional Japanese dress.
This went on for four months. Melody picked up the language quickly, and within a month started learning to write it from the local priestess. She helped Chihiro and the women with daily work, and once they found out that she was sixteen and unmarried, they had quite a bit of fun trying to set her up with the single men in the village. Chihiro ended up being the one engaged, however. Melody remained acutely aware that she didn't belong there.
Her first encounter with demons occurred when the village was attacked. The whole place was burnt down two months after she'd arrived. She helped rebuild, even taking on the men's jobs, to the shock of the villagers. It didn't matter to her. These people had been so kind, she'd wanted to repay them.
Now, four months after her arrival, she wanted to know more. Why was she here? What was the staff? It was just a plain stick to her. One end slid into the other, making it half its size and easy to tuck into a sash tied around her waist. Chihiro guessed that it was a weapon of some sort, but no one knew what or how to wield it.
Turning back, she ran back towards the village, only to pause as she heard voices. A young girl sang along with a very frog-like voice, croaking out a tune many children used in their games. Melody ducked and crept closer, coming to a clearing where a frog-demon rested together with a young human girl. A two-headed dragon watched over them, huffing in Melody's direction. The frog-demon stood up, silencing the song.
"Stay back, Rin." he ordered. The girl nodded, backing against the dragon guard. Melody stepped forward, knowing full well now how dangerous it was to approach a demon, but he was tiny, and he traveled with a young human girl.
"I mean you no harm." she said carefully. "My name is Merodi, and I belong to the village at the edge of the forest. I am just returning home."
The frog-demon glanced at Rin before waving his two-headed staff around in front of him. He really looked rather harmless, but Melody still played it careful. "Go on home, then, human!" he snapped. Melody turned and left quietly.
Reaching Chihiro's house, she announced her arrival and slid inside, settling easily back into their routine, for now.