Hello! I'm Etsumi J. It's my 1st time writing a story like this! Please give your comments after reading! Onegai! This story is a fantasy, legend with a bit of adventure and also friendship…( Sounds a bit like FY?) I'll try to write new chapters soon. Hope you'll like it. Even if you don't, please also tell me..as I said it's my 1st time, so please feel free to give your reviews. Anyway, I got a bit of idea from " Kimi to mirai tame ni" a Japanese dorama by Tsuyoshi Domoto and maybe some anime, but it adds up to something unlike them….Thank you and hope you enjoy reading!

Yoroshikuonegaishimasu!

Toki-Mahou no Houseki 13 Jewels of Time--- Chapter 1~ Kirin's disappearance

"Sorry Chika, I'm going to watch a movie with my cousin. Then? Ok! Bye!"

" Ahhhhhhhh! I'm late again! She's going to kill me…for sure"

Mai muttered under her breath as she rushed out of her house. At 16, Mai Nakayama's height was just right for her age. With shoulder length crispy brown hair, she was like any other 17 year old top student with normal looks. Wearing a white blouse and brown skirt, her colourless plastic pendant, with a sling bag, Mai ran all the way to the cinema.

Mai was right. Her cousin, Kirin had a stern look on her face that would scare everyone away.

Kirin at 18, 1 year older than Mai, had long black shiny hair and beautiful almond-shaped eyes. Tall for her age, it was surprising to her relatives that she was close to Mai, especially that she was always so cold to everyone else. Not only intelligent, she was also skilled at martial arts, being a black belt for judo. Her icy cold stares make people avoid her. Not many people could associate Kirin with Mai.

" Sorry……I was helping Mum to wash up Rutaro……" Mai stammered.

" Let's go in! It's starting soon", Kirin sighed as she gave up reprimanding Mai.

 "She had been like that since time started", she thought. "

The movie " The Lost City" started. It was Kirin's choice. Mai had wanted to watch a romance comedy but Kirin strongly insisted watching " The Lost City", about a mission of 2 princesses in returning the 13 jewels of time to save a fantasy ancient world. Kirin was watching with interest during the fighting scenes while Mai was finding it hard for her eyes to open.

Unknown to Mai and Kirin, the pendant on the necklace around Kirin neck started to flash with purple light. The pendant was thought  to be a precious jewel passed down from her ancestors. She had thought that its colour had faded and could not understand the tradition making her to wear it till she becomes 20. Mai too, has an almost and identical one she wore at all times. The two of them had thought it to be a lucky charm.

It was during the movie, when one of the characters, the elder princess took out her purple pendant necklace., Kirin was much fascinated at the story of the 2 princesses while Mai noticed the purple glow on Kirin's neck.

" Don't you think that a story about a city lost in time is so interesting?" Kirin said to Mai. Suddenly, Kirin's face wrenched with pain. Time froze and everyone around them stopped moving. However, there was a strange light shining on them from the theater screen. Mai, shocked, immediately went to Kirin's aid.

" It's hot! Something pulling me away…!"

 Kirin shouted as she took out her once transparent " plastic" pendant. It had turned into an amethyst pendant with a strange sign. Mai held on firmly to Kirin. Something was indeed pulling her away. Thr bright purple light shone unto Kirin.

A loud voice boomed, " She doesn't belong here. Let her go. You have the power to hold her back but please let her go, we need her. Please return our princess to us!"

Mai was afraid but she would not let go of Kirin. Kirin started to fade way. Mai was shocked. " It's taking me away!" Kirin screamed.

Suddenly, Mai realized that she was holding on to nothing. Kirin had disappeared, vanished. Time returned and she found herself outside the cinema. everyone was back to normal. Mai was all  alone without Kirin. The movie poster was also gone……

Mai could not understand it.

 " It's my fault, I didn't hold on to her….." Mai blamed herself while searching around the cinema for Kirin in vain. Tears welled up in her eyes that fell as big round pearls on her cheeks. Although she felt weak, Mai found strength to walk all the way to Kirin's house.

There she saw Yoichi, Kirin's younger brother, whom she had secretly liked for many years, cleaning his bike outside the house. Mai had thought that he had thrown away that bike last month….

 Seeing Mai's red eyes, Yoichi was very concerned. Before he could ask her what happened, Mai burst into tears, " Kirin 's gone! She'd disappeared." " Mai-chan. What's wrong?"

 " Kirin's gone. She's gone and it's all my fault!"

 " Who is Kirin?" Yoichi asked.

" Had his memory of Kirin disappeared too?" Mai thought.

She stopped crying and rushed up the house into Kirin's room…………. It was an empty room. " What happened?" Yoichi asked again as she ran after him. Mai understood what had happened. Kirin was erased from this world. But how could that happened? Mai began to hope that it was only a trick of Kirin and Yoichi. She did not answer the puzzled Yoichi as she left in a hurry.

She rushed all the way home…… Her mother would not lie to her.

Rutaro looked smaller as he woofed to greet Mai at the door…..

 " Where did you go?" her mother asked.

 "I told you I went to catch a movie with Kirin!" answered Mai as she rummaged through the photo albums to find a photo of Kirin and her, but she could not find any. Just when she was going to ask her mother where the photos were, her mother asked,"  Hmm….is Kirin your new friend? You've never told me about her…."  She looked up to the photo frame. She was only by herself in the photo. Kirin wasn't there anymore.

Mai fell to sit down on the ground…she would never let it happen, never let Kirin disappeared. She was her best cousin, friend and companion. She had not realize time had rewinded itself…… With her great inner strength, a force in Mai started to grow as the pendant around her neck started to shake……………

    
~ End of Chapter 1 ~