Title - -"Time and Time again"

Sum - - Fushigi Yuugi - Genbu Kaiden Gaiden: Kagami no Miko fic . . . Kobayashi Asuka (Mariko) and her childhood friend Mochitsuki Takumi are forced into "The Universe of the Four Gods" through an antique tiny hand-held silver mirror. There, they must deal not only their own problems but those of Takiko and her Seishi.

Disclaimer-- I don't own the anime/manga series 'Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden' or any of its characters. I own the videogame! --gets shot by copyright lawyer-- But...not like Idea Factory owns it... All original characters belong to me.

((IMPORTANT NOTE!)) - - - in this fic, Kobayashi Mariko is instead known as "Kobayashi Asuka"

Even though it was intentional, I hate it when characters names sound and are spelled the same. Mariko sounds too much like Takiko, and don't get me wrong it's a cute name. . .but it irritates me!! And I think that Asuka works just fine!

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Chapter One - - "Wonderland"

--While reading this, keep in mind that this is based off a Japanese simulation game, where when you hang out with a certain character you build a relationship with them. Starting first with acquaintances, close friends, and then the relationship turns romantic. So, while Asuka will be good friends with all of them, she especially takes a shine to both Hikitsu and Tomite. That's all.

In modern day Tokyo, a high school student ventured down the bustlingly city streets with her black school shoulder bag dragging behind her solemnly. Across the street from her a few young girls about her age were giggling at a passerby boy who'd smiled at them. In the next moment, she peered down at her wrist watch, completely irritated by her so called best friends lack of attendance.

Letting out a relieved breath, the high school student smiled as her childhood friend came sprinting toward her, with a brown paper shopping bag in hand. She peered questioningly down at him as he hunched over to catch his breath.

Asuka brought her bag up to her shoulder, then folded her arms over her chest. "You're late Takumi. You told me to wait for you after school and you just disappeared after Biology!"

Asuka hadn't truly been mad at Takumi for ditching her after school, she actually was more upset about the fact that today was her seventeenth birthday and no one had remembered. But she decided since today was seventeenth birthday acting childish wasn't really the way to go, so instead she decided to vent about him ditching her instead.

It was beautiful day today, surprisingly. And it was really peaceful, more so than Tokyo should have been in the late afternoon. He held up his hand signaling for her to wait, then took a deep breath, exhaled then handed her the bag.

"H-Happy B-Birthday, Asuka-chan." He panted, loosening his red school uniform tie.

She took the bag from his hands, reached down inside it, and removed a silver hand mirror. She ran her finger gingerly across the glassy surface of the mirror then flipped it over sensing the grooves of the chiseled picture on the back of it. " A turtle and a snake?"

Takumi ran his free hand through his shaggy black hair then straightened out his wrinkled uniform. "Yeah, I saw it in an antique shop and thought it looked like something that you were into. So, I got it for you."

Asuka gave him a skeptical look, it was a last minute gift, but a thoughtful one nonetheless. She placed the mirror back into the bag and smiled. "Thanks Takumi-kun. Hey, are you still coming over for cake and ice cream? My mom made mochi."

"Do you even have to ask!"

Asuka smiled, then took the mirror folded it within the shopping bag, then stuck it in her backpack. "Well, then, let's go!"

After shouting to her mother that she was home, Asuka ushered Takumi upstairs, and in the haste forgetting to take off their shoes on the way up. She threw aside her book-bag, plopped down on her bed, then moaned loudly in her exasperation.

Takumi settled in Asuka office chair. "Do you know how late your dad is going to be?" he spun around in the chair to face her. Comparatively to his own home and room, Asuka's apartment was average sized, but still relatively smaller than his own. Her parents didn't make as much as his parents, Asuka's mother owned a local laundry mat, while her father was in small time advertisement. Asuka looked up at him giving him a strange expression, "N-not that I'm in any rush or anything! I just was going to meet someone later."

Asuka jumped and pointed an accusatory finger at Takumi. "You're going to meet a girl aren't you!" It honestly wasn't that big of a deal, Takumi had many admirers and he was a handsome guy, more so along the lines of smoking hot than handsome actually. But for some reason the thought of him meeting and spending his spare time with another girl angered her.

"W-What? No! I-I wasn't!" he shouted back, looking away from her.

Asuka pulled Takumi off the chair and pushed him down to her carpet. And it was then that she noticed the earring stud dangling from his right ear. "And what's this?! When did you get your ear pierced?"

Asuka was forcing him to the ground, she had him pinned by his shoulders so he couldn't struggle or wriggle away. Although he was much stronger than her, she knew he would forcefully move her. So she continued on with her prodding and poking. And somehow in all the chaos of trying to get a better look at his ear, he began to crawl away, and she was pulling at his cardigan to get him to sit still.

"Just tell me! Did she suggest you to get that?" Asuka hissed, still tugging at his uniform cardigan.

"Get off of me Asuka-chan! No one told me to get it." He retaliated, as he crawled backward from her.

They both froze upon hearing a knock on the door. "Sweetie! Your father's here, we're ready to light the candles if you. . ." once Asuka's mother stepped in the room she took a deep startling pause. "Asuka! What in heaven's name are you doing?!"

Asuka and Takumi looked at one another blankly, they both were in a suggestive position where Takumi's bare tone chest was exposed, one of which would give someone the wrong idea if they didn't know what was going one. Asuka's mother just so happened to be that someone.

"Dear! You're far too young!" she screamed franticly, "Reiji! Reiji! Dear come quick. Your daughter is having sex!"

Asuka blushed and instantly flung herself in the opposite direction of Takumi. "N-No! Mom, it's not like that! You've got the wrong idea!"

"Mrs. Kobayashi really! This whole thing is a misunderstanding, we weren't having sex!" Takumi said, attempting but failing horribly to defend himself.

"Yukino, sweetie what's wrong?" Reiji, Asuka's father asked stepping into the room. He turned to see an embarrassed Asuka and a blushing Takumi and knew without asking what was wrong. He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "I sure hope you two were going to use protection!"

"I wasn't like that, dad!" Asuka screamed, hands tightened into fist and franticly shaking her caramel brown ponytailed hair.

This can't be happening, this can't be happening. . . .She chanted in her mind.

She stood quickly, snatched up her backpack, reached for Takumi hand then sprinted for the front door. "Ah, be back soon, got something to do! Bye!"

After leaving that awkward situation behind, Asuka turned onto the corner of the street that led directly onto the train-station platform. She led them there accidentally, this was obviously the last place that they should have gone, but after that extremely embarrassing moment, anywhere was better than home.

"Well, that sure was interesting." Takumi half laughed, as they hopped onto the docked train. "Your birthday beats mine, hands down."

Takumi was a year older than Asuka, but they were in the same grade. Last year, a bunch of his guy friends, after P.E had swapped his school uniform with that of a spare girl uniform. And so, Takumi had to wander around the rest of the day wearing the required brown sailor skirt.

"Thanks. . .. A lot." She mumbled quietly, as she snuggled into her seat.

He laughed again then settled into a peaceful silence. His natural butterscotch eyes fell on the window and watched as the city fell away in a platelet of blended colors. "So, are we going to the hide-out?" he asked, resting his chin in his palm as he propped it against the window.

Asuka didn't respond. She went into her bag and pulled out the mirror, wanting to have something to focus on other than Takumi's face. She caught a glimpse of disheveled appearance, her face was still slightly red from the previous incident, her hair was tousled and tangled in the ponytails, and her bangs were sticky with sweat from running.

But in that moment, the mirror flashed, and the reflection changed. A girl about her age with raven black hair and a large red bow was staring back at her expressionless. She strangle looked a lot like Asuka, aside from the dark hair and her old style clothes she could pass as Asuka's twin. Asuka gasped, as the mirror flashed once more and her own reflection appeared.

"What's wrong?" Takumi asked, leaning over to get a better look.

"N-nothing." She mumbled, shoving the mirror back into her backpack. "It's nothing."

About two hours had passed since they gotten on the train, they arrived at Tokyo's outer national park. They called this small acre their "hide-out" because there was as secret cavern behind the park's central area. When they were younger they'd always sit within the cavern to think, or just hangout.

Asuka trailed behind Takumi as he led the way to the rock cavern. Once safely behind a wall of trees, Takumi moved the bolder that they'd pushed in front of the entrance to block its existence.

Inside Asuka moved toward the back wall of the cave. She ran her hand along the wall and realized that all their "cave-drawings" from their childhood were still there. "You know, we need a symbol t remember today." Takumi suggested, noticing Asuka's wandering eyes.

"Yeah. . . .Oh! I know." She said, reaching into her bag again. She pulled out the mirror once again, and flipped it over. "We can use this. See?" she showed him the picture of the giant turtle fighting off a snake. "Something personal, you know?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Sounds good."

As she reached for the old knife that they'd left in the cave ages ago, she felt a slight tingling sensation coming from the hand that was gripping the mirror. "Nami?" she mumbled.

She flipped it over to the glass side and there was the reflection of the strange girl again. Takumi peered over Asuka's shoulder and stood gaping at the mysterious girl as well. "What's going on?!"

A blinding pure white light suddenly started spewing from the mirror, flooding the dim cave in complete wave of light.

"EEEEEEEYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH--!"

"Asuka! Asuka get up." Takumi urged, shake her lightly to rouse her from unconsciousness.

Asuka groaned as she rolled over onto her side. The ground was cold and wet, and felt soft under her body. Where were they? She blinked the sleep away as she came to. As she finally did open her eyes before her was a desolate wasteland blanketed in miles and miles of snow.

She shakily got to her feet and gazed out onto the range of mountains that peaked up from the snow. "Uh. . .Takumi. Does this hurt?" Asuka asked, reaching for his arm and pinching it.

He yelped then pulled away. "Oh course! This isn't a dream!!"

Asuka wrapped her arms around herself to bear against the majority of the blowing wind. If they were stranded here, where ever here was, her school uniform wasn't going to keep her warm. Asuka was terrified, that much was obvious, but Takumi didn't seem in the least bit fazed. He still held his great composure and calm as he always did in sticky situations.

Crunching snow caught their attention. A cloaked man appeared behind them, draped in strange cloths, like something you might find in an . . .. Antique shop. His striking blue eyes were a direct contrast to that of his deep brown hair, and stood out visibly behind it.

"My master has been expecting you." He said in a hollow voice. "Come and I shall take you to him."

Takumi took a defensive position and pushed a frightened Asuka behind him. Although he wasn't a fighter, he knew a little about defending himself, and protecting Asuka was a top priority. He glanced around him quickly, searching for anything he could use as a weapon. His eyes landed of a rotting branch, being all that he could find, he picked it up and held it out in front of his as if it were a sword.

"What's taking you so long, Isamu?" demanded an approaching voice, "The master is waiting!"

Asuka coward as far behind Takumi as she could, as another cloak man walked toward them. He was taller, and his eyes were shrouded by his messy cream colored hair, and with only his mouth visible it gave him a ghost like appearance.

"Kagami no miko, come with us!" they both chanted.

Mirror priestess. .?Wait. . . .Are they talking about me?! She squealed in thought drooping behind Takumi. This can't be happening!

The two figures began to close in around them hands extended and eyes leering intensely and unfalteringly at Asuka. She closed her eyes to flinch away from the incoming pain.

Moments passed and nothing happened. A massive gust of wind had knocked the two men to the ground and had sent them crawling back toward their horses.

"Are you two alright?"

A lot had happened in the past few hours. One, somehow they'd been transported somewhere, two, they were attacked, and three they were rescued by a crude flying armored girl. Things just couldn't get any better.

It seems that during the fight Asuka had blacked out, but now she was fully awake and aware of everything that was being said about her and Takumi. She opened her eyes slightly and peered over at Takumi limp body. He was still unconscious, but he didn't seem troubled.

"No! I just found them in the wasteland." Growled a male voice. "You're an idiot! Why would I kidnap anyone?"

"I didn't say you kidnapped them. I merely asked where they came from." A female state matter-of-factly.

"Well, then, don't imply things. Otherwise people will get the wrong idea!"

"-Then why don't you help me?! Give me a serious answer, you idiot!"

"Uh, excuse me?" Asuka asked, speaking up above their voices.

There were four people gathered around a fire, three males, and then that strange girl Asuka recognize from the mirror.

"She looks just like. . . " The girl started.

"Me?" Asuka finished, as the two stood face to face.

The young girl told Asuka all she knew about where they were. She introduced herself as Okuda Takiko, and explained how she was transported into this world from a book that her father created, about 500 hundred years before Asuka herself was even born. Her companions, the three males, are her Seishi, for she is the priestess of Genbu, for all intensive purposes.

The youngest being Tomite, a sixteen year old bounty hunter from the Ha tribe. He was only a little taller than Asuka herself, but he didn't seem any different from the boys back home. Well at least everything but his clothes. He has the power over ice.

Next was Hikitsu, a childhood friend of Tomite and also a member of the Ha tribe. His left eye is covered by that of bandages because his celestial symbol is within in it. He has the power to control water in the shape of snakes.

And lastly is Rimudo, the sixteen year old crowned prince of Hokkan, the country which everyone was so remotely located, and the only son of the emperor's brother. Although his celestial symbol is women, that takes no hindrance on his power which is control over the wind.

"Wow. . . ." Asuka breathed, after all the introductions were finished. "It's like we've fallen into a manga! Like Alice in Wonderland."

She received blank stares from every member of the party other than the awaken Takumi. Blinking, Asuka remembered how she was always a bit dramatic when around new people, but it was just a way to get the jitters out. . . .Just like when she transferred to a new high school. She felt her mood sinking, faster than she could keep up, but she immediately shook her head to think of something else other than home. She needed to keep a positive attitude.

"What about getting us home?" Takumi asked, speaking up.

Takiko's small smile vanished quickly and was replaced with a solemn look of sympathy. "You see that's just it. We don't know how to get you home. I don't even know how I'm going to get home."

Asuka hugged herself, a forlorn feeling making her seem cold, though it was barely chilly outside, even for dying autumn. Something, and she didn't know how dire that feeling was, was drawing her back within herself. And it scared her. How would she get home? Would she ever?

Takiko placed a reassuring hand on Asuka's frail shoulder, she turned towards her and smiled. "Everything will be alright. You'll see." She said. Asuka merely nodded and returned to her position near Takumi. She wasn't prepared for the reality of this at all, she brushed a few strands of fallen bangs from her face then finally settled into the fire warmth.

"Try not to dwell on it too much." Tomite said brusquely, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

Asuka stole a secret glance in Takumi direction, but he had already fallen into a stiff sleep. Exhausted from today's events, she half expected herself to collapse. But she was still going strong, somehow, and she needed to remain doing so until they went home.

"Tomorrow we'll get an early head start. There's a village just on the edge of the forest east from here. We'll go there first for supplies."

Asuka watched as everyone settled into their own comfort near the fire. Now, that she was fully awake and exposed to the elements of the open world, she'd never go back to sleep. And in her weary state her mind couldn't help but wonder how she had suddenly turned into Alice. Maybe, if I go to sleep this will all be some very imaginative dream. . .she thought with a sigh.

She tug on her yellow cardigan sweater, stretch the cotton fabric around her chilled hands, and then attempted to find some ease of mind as she lost herself in a deep sleep.