Chapter One: "It's Nice to Meet You Too, Now Please Step Away from the Book!"

"Hello, earth to Miaka. Are you even awake right now?" Snapping out of her daze, Miaka's eyes focused on her friend Yui who was waving her hand in front of her face.

"Oh, sorry Yui-chan. I was just thinking about something and my mind wandered off I suppose." she replied, ending with a strained giggle. Miaka never liked hiding things from her best friend, but she didn't want to burden Yui with her thoughts. Everything was going so well for her friend now. She was working on becoming an English major, she had a part time job at a bookshop, and her relationship with Tetsuya grew stronger everyday. Informing Yui of the nightmares that had been frequenting her would only cause unnecessary worrying for her friend, and Miaka didn't want that. She gave Yui one of her classic bright smiles, hoping the look of skepticism would disappear from her friend's face.

"It's all right Miaka. You don't have to tell me. I know what you're thinking about."

"Yo-You do?" Miaka stuttered.

"Of course I do." Yui replied, her look changing from one of superiority to a sly smile. "I swear Miaka, do you think you could try and keep you're mind off Taka for even a few seconds? I know you're still considered newlyweds, but it's been almost four months and you're acting like you're still on your honeymoon!" she finished with a teasing smile. Miaka breathed an inward sigh of relief before replying.

"You're right Yui. This is the first time we've been able to get together like this in a long time. I should at least try and listen to you when you tell me about what's going on in your life." A short giggle from Yui followed.

"It's all right Miaka. I understand. We do need to have more get-togethers like this though. It feels like we haven't talked like this in ages. I only wish today's didn't have to end so soon."

"Where is it you have to go again?"

"I made a study date with my partner from my global studies for a project we have to do. We're meeting at the library at 2:30."

"Well we've got a while 'til then, so let's make the best of it! Oh, here comes our waiter with the appetizers!" Yui let out another laugh as she watched Miaka begin to inhale her food, much to their unsuspecting waiter's shock, and wished that their lunch date didn't have to end quite so soon.

************************************************************************

"Ugh! This has quite possibly been the most terrible day I've ever had in my twenty-some odd years on this wretched planet!" Most people ignored the complaints of the angry young woman as she struggled to make her way through the crowd in the train station. From missing her breakfast to nearly being hit by a bicyclist, having her new bag dropped into the mud and trampled on by a good number of people before she was able to retrieve it, her train being late, and other unpleasant events, it was understandable why this girl was quite angry. No one at the train station seemed to care as she haphazardly tried to dodge around the people in an attempt to get out of the masses blocking the exit.

"Can't people be a little more considerate when someone's running late!" she shouted to no one in particular. Finally exiting the over populated exit area, she proceeded to plop down on a bench. "If I'm already running this late, I don't suppose my partner would mind if I took a short breather here." she muttered to herself. "I am so damn exhausted." After a few minutes of rest, she stood up and took off for the campus library where she was to meet her partner for a project they'd been assigned in one of their classes. Upon arriving, she saw another young woman with shoulder length blonde hair, dressed rather properly in a matching skirt and blouse ensemble, which made her feel rather self-conscious about her jeans and baggy shit combination and hair thrown up in a messy bun. The nicely dressed woman finally sensed her observer and gave her a warm smile, which made the girl feel even more uncomfortable.

"Hi, I'm Hongo Yui. You're my partner for the global studies class project right?" the pretty girl said, extending her hand.

"Yeah, I'm Chikara. Noai Chikara. Nice to meet you." the other girl replied, hesitantly placing her hand in Yui's. After a quick handshake, the two headed into the library.

************************************************************************

Silence was something Yui usually welcomed in a library, but the quiet that had settled when she and Chikara had began to work was becoming more and more unnerving to her. Chikara seemed like a nice enough person from what Yui could gather, which wasn't much. The duo had barley spoken since they entered the library over an hour ago, Chikara had her nose buried in a book the majority of the time. Unable to stand the silence anymore, Yui began to speak.

"I've found some really good information in this book, have you found anything in yours?" Silence. She tried again. "We could ask the librarian if she has any suggestions if you haven't been able to find anything." More silence. Feeling frustrated, Yui reached over to tap Chikara's hand. By accident, she tipped the book Chikara had been reading over and it landed on the quiet girl's head with a loud thud.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" Yui cried as she quickly picked the book up. Upon the book's removal, Yui discovered the reason her partner had been quite for so long; Chikara had been dozing behind the book she was supposed to be reading. One hand was holding her head up while the other was still in the position it was while holding the book Yui now grasped. Anger was Yui's first reaction, but as she looked at the sleeping girl, she couldn't help smiling. How many times had Miaka ended up in that same position when they were working on a project together? Yui stretched her arm out and gently shook Chikara. The girl's eyes snapped open and she leapt from her chair, head twirling as she looked around the room as if some hidden enemy was about to attack her. Her eyes finally landed on Yui who had fallen back into her chair with a shocked expression on her face. After one more glance around the room, Chikara settled back into her chair. When she saw Yui's face, her eyes quickly averted to the ground.

"Sorry about that." she mumbled. "I haven't been sleeping well lately and, every time I do, I always have these freaky nightmares and wake up all frenzied like that." Yui's gaze changed from surprise to sympathy.

"It's o.k." she replied. "I have a friend who used to do almost the exact same thing every time we used to work together, but she just fell asleep because she was lazy." Chikara's eyes shifted from the floor back to her companion, a small smile forming on her lips.

"She sounds interesting."

"Interesting doesn't even begin to describe her." Now both girls were smiling at each other. "If you're feeling that tired, we could call it a day."

"Nah, I'll be all right. Besides, we've barely started. Now that I think about it, I found a book earlier at this bookshop I frequent that I think will really help us, I just have to dig it out of my backpack." Yui watched, somewhat amazed, at the number of things Chikara began to pull out of her bag. There was a set of keys with multiple key chains attached, three bags of strawberry pocky, a notebook, various odd colored pens, a cell phone, a book that looked almost exactly like The Universe Four Gods, another notebook, some text books, a c.d. player, and...

"Wait a second!" Yui's mind screamed as alarms began to go off in her head. Glancing down again to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, Yui automatically gulped when she saw the book that sat inches away from her. It looked exactly like The Universe of the Four Gods, but it was black instead of red and the writing on the cover stamped in faded blood red ink. Yui was so caught up in staring at the book before her that she didn't notice Chikara gazing at her with a quizzical look on her face.

"Um, are you feeling o.k.? If this is about my key chain about hiding the bodies of people who piss me off, that's just something I carry around to scare people." Yui continued to stare. "...And apparently it works better than I thought." Chikara mumbled. "Oh look, I found the book." Upon hearing the word book, Yui awoke from her trance.

"Book? What book? I'm not looking at any book!"

"...O.k.," Chikara thought, "this just got really weird." Regaining her senses, Yui gave Chikara a feeble smile.

"Um, can I ask you were you got that book?" she asked as she pointed to the black one.

"Hm, I think I got it from this library actually. My ancient literature class is doing a study on Chinese novels and this was the best looking one I found."

"Oh. Um, what's the title?"

"Let's see, it's called The Universe of the Four: Suzaku's Love. Pretty cheesy sounding, huh?" However Yui was no longer listening to Chikara. Her only thought was about getting out of this library and finding Miaka, or Tetsuya, or anyone that would be able to help her. She hurriedly began to gather her things as Chikara watched on, her confusion growing by the second.

"You know I just remembered an appointment I have so maybe we can reschedule this for another time. Besides, it seems like you really need your rest. In fact, it seems like you need a lot of rest so maybe you should refrain from doing anything strenuous, like reading. Especially that little black book. It looks utterly dull so I wouldn't read it at all if I was you. I have to be going now. It was nice meeting you. Bye-bye." Yui was gone before Chikara even had a chance to blink.

"And mom wonders why I'm not big on being around people." she muttered to herself as she began to gather her things so she could head home.

************************************************************************

Yui arrived at her boyfriend Tetsuya's apartment fifteen minutes after she left the library. After explaining the situation to him, it took another thirty minutes for their familiar group of friends to assemble around Tetsuya's living room. Miaka, Taka, and Keisuke all shared equal looks of concern as Yui related all that had happened at the library, from her introduction to Chikara to her discovery of the book. Only Taka noticed Miaka cringe when Yui told of Chikara's mentioning of her odd dreams, but he remained quite as Yui finished her story.

"Maybe we're just jumping to conclusions." Keisuke said. "I mean, after all that research we did about the first book, don't you think we would have found something that at least hinted at a second book? And even if it is related to The Universe of the Four Gods, that doesn't mean it's got the say kind of powers the original has."

"Perhaps not, but is that really a chance we want to take?" Yui replied.

"I think we should just go to this girl's apartment and take it from her." Keisuke continued.

"And just what are we going to say to her?" countered Tetsuya. "Oh, excuse me miss, but we think this book may have the power to take you inside of it and make you part of the story because another book with almost the same title did so to these two girls here. Would you mind if we take it from you so we can run some tests and make sure it's safe."

"I don't see why not."

"Keisuke, you moron, she'd probably call the police!"

"That'd be better than having another Universe of the Four Gods to deal with!"

"Will both of you just calm down!" Taka shouted, interrupting the impending brawl between the two boys. "Why don't we just go this girl's apartment and make up some story so we can get the book from her and bring it back here. That way, no one will get offended and no one will try to have us all committed."

"So what will we say to her?" huffed Keisuke.

"I don't know! We'll have Yui go in and say something like she recognized it as a book her grandmother owned when she was a child and she thought it had been lost when her grandmother died, and she'd like to borrow it to try and confirm if this really is the book." Everyone remained silent for a few moments.

"All right." Tetsuya finally said. "We'll take me car. Let's get going everybody. We might have a crisis to advert."

************************************************************************

A long sigh escaped from Chikara's lips when she finally opened the door to her apartment. Tossing her book bag on a chair, she headed toward the kitchenette to try and find something to appease her growling stomach.

"Boy, this day sure went from bad to strange." she thought as she searched through the refrigerator for something edible. Settling on a bagel, she popped it into the toaster before going to look for some toppings. After grabbing a soda and putting the finishing touches on her bagel sandwich, she plopped down into the chair next to her backpack.

"Wow, another Saturday night and I have absolutely nothing to do!" she said to herself. The empty apartment gave no reply. "I figured you'd have nothing to say." she mumbled as she closed her eyes.

"You know, you could have something to do if you wanted."

"Oh shut up brain. I don't need to hear it from you right now." Chikara replied to her subconscious thought.

"Well, it's true you know. If you just put a little effort into making some friends, you'd have loads of stuff to do instead of being stuck at home on a Saturday night being lonely."

"I'm not lonely and I don't need any friends. People are too weird and judgmental. I don't want nor need to deal with them."

"That Yui girl seemed rather nice. You could call her up some time and ask if she'd like to go shopping or something."

"Since when do I go shopping for fun? She did seem nice though. That whole book thing was weird though. Nah, I'd rather just stay home."

"You shouldn't let the pains of the past affect your relationships in present. There are some nice people in this world who..."

"And I'm sure they're all having lots of fun with each other as we speak. I don't need anybody thank you very much. I have plenty to do here. In fact," she reached over for her book bag. "I think I'll see what the big deal with this book is that got Yui-san all worked up."

"Suit yourself." her subconscious replied.

"Let's see here, The Book of the Universe of the Four Gods: Suzaku's Love. I wonder if this is some kind of romance novel." she thought. Then she began to read aloud. "This is the tale of a young priestess with whom Suzaku, the phoenix god of the south, fell in love and the love she had for him in return. There love was so great that...Hey! What the hell?" Before her eyes, the writing on the page seemed to melt away. New writing began to appear in the book, messier than the previous writing, and in a substance that looked more like blood than ink. Chikara gulped and continued to read.

"However, their love was not meant to be for jealousy and hatred came between them. To this day their attempts to reconcile are always thwarted. Each time the book is read, another chapter to their tragic tale is added. The book itself is an incantation. It is a story that will never end, for nothing is able to conquer the hate, which has divided the lovers for centuries past. When the first page is turned, the story will become the truth and begin, only to end in death once again." Eyes gaping wide, Chikara slowly closed the book and placed it on a nearby coffee table. "That is really creepy." she said, though it came out as a whisper. "Maybe I will go out tonight. I don't feel like staying home with that thing." Just as she was about to open the door, someone began to pound on it. Scared out of her wits, Chikara did the only thing she could think to do. She screamed.

"Hey Chikara! Open up! It's me, Yui!" Gasping for breath, Chikara reached out her trembling hand and slowly turned the doorknob. Behind the door was not only Yui, but also four unknown strangers.

"Wow, it looks like you've brought a whole gang of people here Yui-san. What's the occasion? I didn't think our project was something that worthy of a party." she said with a nervous giggle.

"Actually, we're here about a book. That little black book from earlier."

"Black...book? Oh! That book! You want it?" The whole group began shaking their heads. "Well you can have it. I'm normally into dark love stories and stuff, but this one's a little too much for me. I'm not really used to books that rewrite themselves while you're reading them, ya know?" she continued in a stained voice as she retrieved the book. Wanting to get it out of her possession as soon as possible, Chikara shoved the book into the hands of the nearest person. "Here ya go. I hope you enjoy it more than I did." Gazing into the person's eyes, Chikara did a double take, as did Miaka, the person she handed the book too.

"You!" they both quietly gasped at the same time. Suddenly, the book seemed to take on a life of its own. It shot out of Miaka's hands as if something had repelled it, and it flew with such a force that it knocked Chikara, who had been standing right in front of Miaka, backward a few feet and onto the floor, landing in her lap. Unable to control herself, Chikara picked up the book.

"What are you doing?!" Keisuke shouted.

"I don't know! I'm not exactly in control of myself right now!"

"Oh shit! She's gonna turn the first page!" Tetsuya cried. Following his outburst, there was a mad dash by everyone to dog pile on Chikara in attempt to stop her from turning the page. Unfortunately, Miaka was leading the group and, in her typical fashion, she tripped and landed sprawled flat on her face in front of Chikara's feet. Yui, Taka, Tetsuya, and Keisuke followed. As much as she resisted, Chikara couldn't stop herself from turning the first page of the book. Everyone sucked in their breaths and waited for the inevitable. Nothing happed. Loud sighs of relief came from the five-body pile.

"I guess we really were worried over nothing." Yui sighed. "Now could all you guys please get up before Miaka and I are crushed to death!"

"Ha ha, you've got some really odd friends there Yui-san. I bet nothing's ever dull for you guys." Chikara said meekly. "Why were you all so worked up over a book anyway?" A large sounding gulp could be heard from Miaka.

"That's why!" she exclaimed as she pointed to the book, which was now emitting a deep crimson light. Before anyone could react, the light had enveloped the room. When things became clear again, Tetsuya and Keisuke were the only ones remaining. The book was lying on the floor, open to the first page, still faintly glowing.

"Damn it!" Tetsuya cried. "What are we going to do now?!"

"The same thing we did last time." Keisuke replied. "Do you want to read first, or shall I?"

************************************************************************

Somewhere in an unknown location, an unusually small demon was running through a long, dark corridor. Its frantic nature suggested something bad had happened or was about to happen. Reaching its destination, a large set of double doors, it hesitated before shoving them open and bursting into the hall within.

"My lady! My lady!" it cried. "I have urgent news for you!" Halting in front of a black throne, the creature quickly bowed down to the figure sitting upon it that was hidden in the shadows.

"My lady," it continued. "I'm afraid I have some bad news!"

"Now now my little dorei tenma, with all our fun just beginning, what could possibly be so bad?" A sultry, yet amused sounding voice replied.

"Well, my mistress, it seems that more people besides the intended girl have entered the book."

"Silly little creature. I know this already. This world is my domain. I know all who enter it."

"Of course my lady, but it has been confirmed that one of the mistaken entries is the former priestess of Suzaku! The other two are the former Suzaku seishi Tamahome and the former priestess of Seriyu."

"Really? How interesting. Could that silly little bird actually be trying to put up a fight this time? I don't suppose he'll ever learn."

"Does my lady have any orders for her legions?"

"No Aishou. That will be all." As the demon left the hall, the echo of his mistress's evil laughter followed him as it rang through out the grand hall in which she resided.

SumPunkAkari says: Well, there's chapter one. I hope it was as suspenseful as the prologue. It was definitely a lot longer. What did you think of Chikara? She wasn't really introduced except in bits and pieces, but you'll learn more about her in upcoming chapters, along with the big bad evil (too much Buffy for me lol). As always, comments and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated. I'll try and have chapter two up tomorrow.