Opening Author's Note:: In case anyone has any questions about the storyline or characters, please e-mail them to fy_whatif(at)ymail. com (without spaces, obviously) and that IS ymail. com, not yahoo. com
Chapter 1: A Mysterious Gift (This can't be happening!)
The girl sat lazily on the couch, petting the head of the calmer of her two Chihuahuas as she flipped through the channels on her HDTV. It seemed like nothing good was ever on anymore, even in the anime sections on OnDemand which she had grown to love. She found herself re-watching episodes from 'Utena' and 'To Heart' instead of the badly made horror films on the FearNet channel she might typically enjoy. She sighed and looked at the time on the guide; 7:32pm. Where was he? Sure he was late sometimes, but it had been a while since she'd been to his house and she thought he would be on time since he had apparently missed her so much. Her mother sat at the computer in the adjacent, doorless sunroom on the computer, probably typing something for her class.
"Ma, what time did he say he'd be here again?" Her mother sighed, aggravated; this was the fifth time the girl had asked her that, and she was growing impatient.
"He said 6:30, but you know how your father can be."
"I know…" the girl grumbled. She perked up at the sound of yet another car pulling into the parking lot at their apartment complex, hoping it was him. Soon the phone rang and a knock on the door moments after. Her dogs went nuts; the one that had been in her lap, Abel, who was normally silent let out a yelp-like bark before his brother, coincidentally named Cain, yipped until someone opened the door. The teenager pressed the talk button on her phone and explained to her disappointed friend that she would have to call her back later, and opened the door.
"Bye, Onee-sama!" click.
"Hello, daughter. I expect you have your things ready?" He was in a happy mood-that was good; she giggled at his silly accent and words and nodded, grabbing her duffel bag.
"Bye, Ma! See you in a couple of weeks!"
"Bye, Baby, have fun!"
She scratched behind her dogs' ears one last time before closing the door and following her dad to the car. The ride to his house wasn't very long, but it was filled with her father's ranting about politicians and gas prices. She just sat silently, happy that he was so talkative; she herself never knew what to say, and was glad to be relieved of her end of the conversation.
When they arrived, it was cold and she could see her own breath in the air. She followed her dad to the front door and upstairs once they were inside, stopping momentarily to greet her grandparents, who she hadn't seen in many months. She relaxed on her bed upstairs in what should have been an office, laying her bag on the floor next to her, leaving the light off. She stared at the ceiling fan, about to start daydreaming when she heard a thumping noise coming from somewhere in the house. It was only once, but it was too loud for anyone not to notice.
"Dad, was that you?" No response. She sat up slowly. Maybe he went downstairs again? Or maybe he was in the bathroom.. Regardless, she found herself intrigued, and couldn't stop herself from going to investigate. She saw nothing wrong in the computer room that led to her bedroom, and walked into the hallway. She didn't think it came from her father's room, and no one was in the upstairs bathroom. Her eyes flicked to the room that would have been hers. It was her grandmother's rarely used study. She pushed the door open and turned on the light. She saw a wrapped gift on the floor with a small card attached to it. She picked it up.
"'Happy early Christmas. To: Ayako' Huh…it doesn't say who it's from." She held it more lightly, trying to weigh it. It was slightly heavy, and it was shaped like a novel. "It's probably from my grandmother." Satisfied that this was the cause of the noise, she turned off the light and returned to her room. She untied the purple ribbon around the red and green plaid wrapping paper, and carefully opened it, trying not to rip the pretty paper. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she realized what it was.
"ShiJinTenChiSho!" she nearly shrieked, and her face flushed before she took deep breaths to calm herself. Of course it was just a replica; there was no way this could be real, and she knew for a fact that it had no powers or dimensional doorways in its pages. She sighed, almost disappointed.
"Maybe it's a journal or something, or maybe it's a written version of Fushigi Yuugi!" She opened the book and saw the all-too-familiar picture of the phoenix-god, Suzaku. The writing on the page beside it was in Chinese, but she knew all too well what it said.
" 'This is the story of a girl who had her wishes granted and was given many powers once she possessed the seven Suzaku stars. The story itself is a spell, and the one who reads it to the end will be granted a wish just like the main character because the tale begins and is real the moment the first page is turned…'" She could hardly contain herself; normally, she was relatively calm compared to most people around items from their favorite anime, but when it came to Fushigi Yuugi, she was a rabid fan girl! She stared at the corner of the page. What harm could it do to pretend? She smiled widely, and gently turned the page.
"…" Nothing. She sighed; she knew nothing would happen, but still she had hoped… Then..!
"Oh my gawd..!" A red light shined brightly from the tome, and soon she could see nothing else around her. This couldn't be happening…right?
Author's note:: Please forgive the shortness of this chapter. I recently edited it, but took away more than adding to it... Either way, please note the following, as it's important if you wanna understand the upcoming chapters in the story: all names are derived from the manga series, not the anime. For example, Sou Kishuku becomes Xong Gui-siu, Konan becomes Hong-nan, and -ya know becomes -no da. And I wonder where that book came from..an early Christmas gift from Sandy Claws, mebe? xD