It was chaos. The dance was stopped halfway before she could even finish sealing the Byakko within her. There were opposition against her being the one to seal Byakko and found her unsuitable to be the High Priestess. Fuko scoffed at such thoughts; only fools would go against the word of Byakko.

She watched as the retainers and monks around her ponder on how the problem must be dealt with. Because of the failed ritual, Byakko had descended to Earth and began creating chaos. It was not because the ritual failed that the Tiger turned to just a beast. Just like the teachings instilled upon her the moment she took up the mantle of future High Priestess; there was no malice in the Tiger's action, but more of an extension of his fierce nature.

She had enough of the bickering old coots and stood from her seat. "I will go and subject the White Tiger to control." The people surrounding her began to shout protests on her choice of actions. She raised her hand high up and commanded them to be silent. It was her duty as the successor Priestess to keep Byakko in balance with the realm and she saw it was necessary that the belief of balance within nature be kept.

"I will retrieve the White Tiger and return hither to conduct my duties as Priestess. Leave the room now and let me prepare." All the people within the room filed out and she was left in peace to calm her nerves. In order to seal the Tiger after a failed ritual; it would take a lot of determination because the pain would be too great to ignore.

She stood up and opened the closet that held the Priestess's ritual clothes. She admired the way the kimono shimmered and put it on her. She took out the black obi and tied it around her waist to hold together the kimono. She then walked towards the other side of the room and looked at the white jade pendant and fan display. The fan was essential to the ritual and it holds great power; it was a gift from Byakko.

She put on the necklace around her and took a deep breath. She held the fan in her hand and looked at it—she had never seen it up close. The fan was plain white with the exception of the guard that was decorated with carvings Byakko and yellow strings knotted intricately to hold a white jade ball at the pin of the fan. She tucked the fan safely in her obi and left the room.

Byakko was a supposed to be a part of her soul. She was not about to let some people who believed she was unsuitable to be High Priestess stop her. One of the monks stuttered that she should be careful on Earth. That it wasn't safe. The young girl just gave the monk a smile and walked through the silver door.

The Celestial Heaven was the place she knew of since she was just five. Anything before that was just a blur. She would return and become the medium for Byakko. She walked out of the door and heard it close behind her. The place she was in was dark and that darkness was suffocating. She heard a growl ahead of her and saw Byakko.

Calming her nerves she took out her fan and flicked it open. There was no need to fear Byakko. The Tiger was meant to be a part of her and it only reacted so hostilely because of the lingering darkness of the place she was in. "Byakko, thy actions art naught but destroying this city. I bid thou to return to me." Byakko gave her a growl.

She cleared her mind and summoned her energy to begin the sealing process. The pendant glowed and she felt her soul connect to it. "I bind thou by contract of the soul. Witness'd by the seven constellations; Tokaki, Tatara, Ekie, Subaru, Amefuri, Toroki, Kagasuki." She felt the energy from the seven constellation coursing around her and felt the warmth glow of power. "I hereby hest you, the White Tiger of the Western Winds, to return to whence thou belong and serve in thy rightful place by my side. Become mine weapon and shield until my life is taken from me. Come to me, Byakko!"

Byakko's soul entered the pendant and slowly merged with her. There was no mistake that the ritual was powerful and that the White Tiger's summoned element could blow her off her feet. She stood her ground and remembered that determination was needed to control the Tiger. She gritted her teeth in order to fight the pain of having her soul ripped apart and put together with Byakko's. The wind grew stronger the more their soul merged. She felt she was almost at wit's end when the pain subsided and the wind died down. She looked down at the pendant that gave her a low glow.

The sealing process took up a lot of energy and she felt the world around her begin to darken. Before she knew it she fell to the ground and closed her eyes. Her last thought was a voice telling her to rest.

"Shuhitou Fuko, open your eyes."

She awoke with a gasp and sat upright at the command. She looked around her and saw that she was in white room and with many strange mechanics she could not understand. She heard a beeping noise and saw a wall slide open to let in a man in a bat-suit with a boy in a strange red, green and yellow costume.

Fuko began asking them where she was and they replied with a language she did not understand. She was about to run when the man who looked like a bat began speaking her language. Though some of it was unintelligible she understood the gist of it: she was in a city called Gotham and was placed in the room when she fainted after what she did to the Tiger.

The man began asking her who she was and what she was doing in such a place. She in turn explained that she is Fuko Shuhitou, High Priestess of the Western Celestial Palace. Her goal was to seal Byakko within her to stop his rampage after an earlier failed ritual due to rebels.

"And the pendant?"

"It is just a medium for merging my soul with the Tiger. Enough of that however, I must return to the Celestial Palace. We do not like to meddle with affairs of the Earth." She summoned power from inside her and the door leading back to her home appeared. She turned to look at the people in the room and bowed in gratitude. It would be good to return to her home.

She pushed the door and it did not budge open. Fuko looked puzzlingly at the door and tried once more to open it to no avail. She took out her fan and flipped it open; she felt the energy surrounding the door and noticed that it was locked from the inside. That would mean that she could not return until the door was unlocked.

Fuko was shocked at the idea of never returning to the Celestial Palace. It was all she had ever known and what she thought would only know. The Palace was her place to feel connected to nature itself. Her determination broke at the idea of being locked out of her own home. Her lips trembled and she began to cry.

She felt the man-bat ask her what was wrong. She let out a sob and cried how she won't be able to return home and was stuck in Earth. The young boy began trying to calm her down in that language she did not know and it only made her cry harder. She was now stuck in a foreign world because of her arrogant action.

After about of five minutes of sobbing and crying over heaven being fools for locking her out, she heard a voice telling her to calm down. She had a feeling that it was Byakko trying to soothe her soul. The radiating calmness from within her slowed down her crying and she began to take deep slow breaths. She felt a large and warm hand ruffling her hair. She looked up at the man-bat and stopped her sniffling.

Fuko calmed down considerably and rubbed away the tears. Now was not the time to be crying. It was time to decide on her next course of action. She could stay on Earth and wait until the door to the Celestial Heaven opened. The man-bat asked her if she had any abilities at all. Fuko knew that she could summon the Seven Great swords at will and that being one with Byakko allows her to move with the wind.

She showed the two people just that. Fuko summoned her swords and felt the seven of them surround her in protection. She took one in her hand and threw the sword as far as possible and it landed into a wall. As if it was second nature to her she closed her eyes and felt the power coursing through her as she moved from her previous spot to land on top of the sword to face the two people.

There were more to Byakko's ability than just that, but she did not have the time to learn them before her predecessor passed and she had to take the mantle of High Priestess. The man-bat seemed impressed and afterwards went to discuss something with the young boy. She stood atop the sword and waited for them to finish talking.

The man-bat then turned to her and asked if she would like to stay in his household and help him with his work to keep peace in his city. Fuko accepted in a heartbeat; being stuck in an unknown world would be troublesome if she has to figure everything on her own. Besides, Byakko's principles were that of virtue of righteousness and what better way than to keep peace.

The man-bat took off his mask and so did the boy beside him and introduced themselves as Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson respectively. Fuko bowed her head in acknowledgment and asked how things work in this world. The next few hours was then used to explain the workings of Earth and discuss the differences with the Celestial Heavens. Bruce told her that she would be under his tutelage to learn the 'English Language' and once she mastered the language she would be free to explore the world. At the same time training would be done to prepare her against the villains of Earth.

It took her roughly three months to master the language and by that time Bruce had prepared a history for her. She is Fuko Shuhitou, ward of Bruce Wayne who was orphaned at the age of ten. Her parents were illegal immigrants and seeing the small girl lurking in the dark alley compelled the billionaire philanthropist to take her under his wing like he did for Dick.

After learning the language she was then home-schooled to understand the Earth and everything about it. Fuko wanted to protest about how there may be no point because the door to the Heavens may open before school even starts, but Bruce insisted and so she listened. Anytime she didn't understand anything she would go to Dick and ask for help; the boy was good at maths and she wasn't.

Between home school and Batman's patrol, he taught Fuko how to find various martial arts from Earth. She in turn taught him some basic fighting skills she knew form the Celestial Heavens. During her sleep, Byakko would come to her and spar with her to improve her fighting skills. Those were the only times the Tiger talked to her; he was eerily silent for anything else.

Fuko rarely had time to go out to see Gotham because she was too busy studying and learning, but there were times that she had to show face at certain events that Bruce held. Those ceremonies were boring and a droll; Dick often elevated the boredom by making them play games. Her favourite times outside was when they went to see rides and carnivals that popped around the city. Sometimes Bruce couldn't go because he was too busy with work but Dick accompanied her and she was happy enough with that.

Over the time there she felt happy being with Bruce, Dick and Alfred. Sometimes she often thought that she was just a normal Earth girl. There was just something about Earth that called to her soul. Though sometimes Dick would tease and call her an old soul when she began to talk of the Celestial Palace and her views on the world.

It was during summer that Bruce decided she was ready enough to begin patrol with him and Dick. She begged Bruce that she didn't want a cape and that would only get in the way. Bruce gave her a lovely yellow scarf to use instead of a cape and her costume consists of a tight fitting black crew neck top, black tight fitting pants, dark red combat boots, dark red gloves and a yellow utility belt. Her mask was a black and on her chest was a yellow eight-petal flower.

"Decided on your name yet?" Bruce asked her.

Fuko nodded and smiled, "yup! Vega. During autumn you can see the star shining brightly. Orihime's name is also Vega and I love her story."

Dick chuckled at her, "just admit you chose that name cause you secretly want to be a princess."

Fuko punched Dick on the shoulder not so lightly, "Stop being a Richard."

Dick only winced in pain for a bit before continuing his chuckling.

She was so excited for her first night of patrol that Bruce had to constantly remind her of her duty and that one mistake could cost everything. By the time she fought her first bad guys she used a combination of what Bruce taught her and what Byakko did. She managed to take down four men on her own. Dick said that he was impressed and she couldn't help but smile widely at the comment.

Bruce said that school would be good for her because then she could find a hobby she could do. Something other than crime fighting that she could enjoy. She didn't know what could be better than fighting though. Every time she fought her blood boiled and she gets an adrenaline rush; it was as though all her pent up energy was put to good use.

"Miss Fuko, it's time to wake up now. I've given you your five minutes, any longer and I'll be forced to make Master Dick wake you up."

Fuko rolled in her sleep and sluggishly sat up. She yawned and then grumbled, "I got it. I'm getting ready." Dick waking her up means shoving her out of her bed and stealing her blanket away.

She saw Alfred nod and say that today's breakfast was pancake. At the mention of her favourite food on Earth she quickly got off the bed and went to the en-suite bathroom to have her shower. By the time she got out of the shower, her school clothes were neatly folded onto her made up bed along with a brown wig she was to wear outside. She dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen to eat her breakfast.

She saw Dick sitting on the kitchen counter already starting to eat breakfast. "Morning," she said happily to Dick and Alfred. "Where's Bruce?"

"In the cave. Going over some notes before he leaves."

Alfred reprimanded Dick for talking while his mouth was full of food.

Fuko began eating her food and felt a fluttering feeling in her stomach. She was excited for her first day of school. Bruce had enrolled her in the Gotham Academy and she was told that she would be starting the last year of elementary school before heading to Junior Highschool. Bruce tried to pair up most of her lessons with Dick, but she opted out on taking economics and instead took up cultural studies.

Fuko saw Dick finish his food and turned to look at her, "excited for your first day?"

"You kidding? I so totally am! Wonder if I'll make any friends. Also you think classes would be hard? I don't think I'd do very well in Science and Math."

Dick just shrugged. "Hey if you ever got a problem you can ask for help from big brother Dick."

She pouted at him. It always annoyed her when he brings up the big brother thing. "You're only a month older than me. Don't get too ahead of yourself. Bet you I can wipe the floor with you."

Dick laughed and accepted her challenge; "it is so on when we get back."

Fuko saw Bruce enter the kitchen and waved at him. "Excited for school?" he asked her.

Fuko nodded at him and ate a mouthful of pancake. Once breakfast was finished all four of them head out to the limo. She and Dick were going to be dropped off first and then Bruce would get to work. It always amazed her what an amazing city Gotham is—even with the pressuring darkness that lingers around.

The city centre was filled with tall building and elevated train tracks while roads and subway stations surrounded the more suburban area. Fuko couldn't stop bouncing on her chair and Bruce needed to tell her to calm down a few times. "But Bruce! It's going to be my first time spending time with other kids my age."

"Hey! What about me? I'm your age!" Dick told her.

Fuko turned around to look at Dick and smirked, "what happened to being an older brother?"

Dick poked her shoulder and a game of trying to out poke each other began. Fuko felt the car come to a stop and flicked her finger against Dick's forehead and jumped out of the car. "Bye Bruce," she then pulled Dick's hand, "come on, you said you'd show me around."

She saw the car leave and waved away before turning to face Dick. "You going to show me around or not?" she asked him.

"Maybe is you drop the im- from impatient, you'll get what you want."

Fuko rolled her eyes, "I can't believe your weird habit stayed even after I managed to learn English just fine."

Dick shrugged her shoulders at her, "hey, it worked all those times right?"

She grudgingly agreed and Dick began to show her around the school. Some people stopped by to talk to Dick and were introduced to Fuko. Apparently all those kids were from one of his classes or another. "Aren't you just a social butterfly?"

Dick smirked at her, "what can I say, I'm just that charismatic."

Fuko punched his shoulder lightly for the sass. They then finished the tour around the school and Fuko waved him goodbye to head off to her first class; cultural studies. The teacher was a bit boring and droll, but the subject was interesting enough that it didn't bother her too much. She sat next to a girl with blonde hair and green eyes and introduced herself as Leona Wallace. The girl seemed friendly enough that she said who she was.

"Oh! You're Bruce Wayne's ward!"

Fuko nodded and Leona asked what it was like to live with the billionaire.

"Well, I guess we're as normal of a family we can get." With nightly excursions of patrolling Gotham and saving the world on occasion, she added mentally.

"Yeah, but I bet you get spoilt rotten! Anything you want he'll buy!"

Fuko thought on the statement. She didn't know about being spoilt rotten but because of her good behaviour lately and after weeks of begging, Bruce finally relented to let her learn how to drive a motorcycle. "I guess."

"Man, it must so nice to be you. To get everything that you want."

Fuko only nodded. She never understood the concept of just getting what she wanted. If she wanted something she needed to work for it. The same thing happened in the Celestial Palace and so did it happen with Bruce. Her favourite presents from him were new items to add to the utility belt.

The bell rang and Leona asked Fuko if she wanted to switch numbers so they can contact each other. Fuko nodded and told Leona to tell her phone number. Technology was something she needed to get used to. The Celestial Palace didn't have any mobile phones, computer or other devices for her use. Even to this point, she couldn't hack a single thing and those jobs were left to Batman and Robin—at least she can still manage to use the Internet.

Leona and Fuko parted ways. Fuko had Math next and she was glad that it was in the same class as Dick's. She saw Dick standing next to a red headed girl and assumed it was the Barbara Gordon he often talked about. Fuko smiled at Dick and the girl next to him. She introduced herself as Fuko and the girl replied that she was Barbara Gordon.

"Dick told me loads about you."

Barbara raised her eyebrows and looked at Dick, "what did he mention about me?"

"Just how if I ever came to school, you would be a great friend."

Barbara smiled, "flattered."

Dick sighed and told the two to get to class already. "So how was your first lesson?" Dick asked Fuko.

"Met a girl named Leona. She thinks I get spoiled rotten by Bruce and that I can get anything I want."

Dick laughed. "Yeah right, the day Bruce sells Wayne Enterprise is when I believe that."

"Well, I guess that means he's a good person to be taking care of you then. You won't turn into a selfish brat that way," Barbara said.

Fuko nodded in agreement. Dick however decided it was the best moment to tease her, "yeah right. You should see the way she hogs all the pancakes to herself during breakfast."

Fuko punched Dick's arm and mumbled, "says the guy who ate over half of today's breakfast."

Barbara laughed and told Fuko, "this will be the start of a great friendship."

Fuko couldn't disagree more.

xxx

Endnote: Thanks for the review Guest, I'm glad you like the fact that I research my shit. Also, I agree with you; chapter one does feels rushed. However, this is will eventually end up as a DickxOC story no matter how cliché of a pairing people may think of it.

Also to the anon who left me those long ass three review that looked like you copy pasted off a message board, I haven't a clue what you're on about. As much as I love DC, I do not have in depth knowledge of it (I only watch the DC Animations and own a few Teen Titans comics). So, sorry I can't reply or understand what you're on about.

Hope this chapter was entertaining. It is more of a character background for Fuko. Symbolism in this chapter is Fuko's outfit. The yellow represents her high status; black represents the colour of heaven (as based from the Book of Changes—I Ching); and red represents her crime fighting because in Japanese Buddhism and Shintoism it is often related to banishing evil spirits.