Hello everyone! This is a fanfic that was inspired by pictures drawn by Mutt99 on Deviantart that I absolutely loved! Yes, I know I have other works, well, in the works, but I will not abandon them. I shall finish them all! Even if it takes a few days…weeks…months…years but it shall happen! Anyway, I do not own any characters from the Sly Cooper series; the character of Ashia & basic plot line belong to Mutt99 who has graciously given me permission to use his images for this fanfiction series.
The Adventures of a Time-Traveling Librarian Part 1- Land of the Rising Sun
Chapter 1: The Librarian
Today was looking to be a normal winter day. Just the way she liked it. Ashia Suresh loved quiet, uneventful days for these were the days that she could truly enjoy her library.
For Ashia was the assistant librarian of the New York Public library. Every book, every manuscript, every record was lovingly tended to by the 26-year old albino tigress. To say that she knew every inch of the library and the contents of a vast majority of the works stored there better than the back of her hand was not an exaggeration. Though she was technically an assistant, any and all regular library users knew to ask her for help, as the head librarian was rarely there due to traveling around the world in search of new, wonderful texts to be sent back to the library. Her chocolate brown eyes were quick to notice anything out of place or a text being snuck out (damn cheap college students thinking they could get away with anything).
Originally, the young woman was from the UK, her parents having immigrated from Bangladesh just before her birth. Growing up in a hard-working family had ingrained a sense of responsibility and maturity that she brought with her to New York when she came to complete her undergraduate degree in literature. In the summer of her sophomore year (AN: 2nd year of an undergraduate degree for those unfamiliar with the American system), a listing for a summer job at the New York Public library had caught her interest as an avid book lover. The head librarian, a middle-aged aardvark who was spending more and more of his time traveling to obtain literature for the library, had been impressed by the quiet, clean-cut tigress and her obvious enthusiasm for the treasures held here. Ever since then, Ashia had found her niche in this literary haven and made it her home.
It was a haven for her as she was not the most social person around. Quiet and stern, she tended to look severe. Previous classmates would describe her as a "stick-in-the-mud" sort of person as she tended to avoid many activities such as parties and football games, finding them rather boring since she didn't drink. Nor was she a dare-devil. The day she did something like bungee-jumping or parachuting would be the day after the world ended. As a result, she was often excluded, not out of any sort of ill-will from her colleagues, but because they either forgot she was there or simply assumed that she wouldn't enjoy it.
At the moment, her haven was empty of everyone except Ashia who was busily tending to the cultural section. She was in the middle of organizing different tomes discussing Japanese cuisine and etiquette which had been entirely undone by local students scrambling to find information before their semester abroad; when a slender book fell out. Not recognizing it, the tigress picked up to read the title Mixing beauty and cuisine by a Rioichi Cooper. Shrugging her shoulders, she set the volume on her desk then resumed organizing. She wanted to read it as it was new and, really, she didn't have much better to do at the moment (once she had finished rearranging everything that is).
Once she was done, she returned to her desk and sat down to flip through the book. She was quickly entranced by colorful illustrations not only of sushi but also of Japanese landscapes with short but beautiful descriptions of how these vistas inspired his recipes. She was so engulfed in the beauty of the information that she was shocked upon reaching the final page. Not only had she reached the end in the short hour but this page was different. For the author here had included no illustrations, just a short, simple message that ran: The worst crime of all is not seeing the flower.
Puzzled, she made to close the book only to stop upon seeing the engraving of a strange symbol. A sharp C shape that ended with a long line, almost like a staff or cane of some sort. She ran her fingers along the shape as she pondered what it could mean. But as she did so, things began to get very strange.
The book started to glow. It actually started glowing with a blue aura. "What the bloody-?!" But before she could finish the statement, the glow spread from the book to her and with a bang, she vanished, the only evidence of her previous presence was the now silent book left at the empty desk.
Thank you all for reading. Please leave reviews as it inspires me to keep going! If anyone is curious about Rioichi's quote at the end (which btw I got off a website for inspirational Japanese quotes), it will be explained by the story & I will not spoil it (mwahaha).