rini - hello everyone! i know, i'm so bad at sticking with one story….: scratches head embarrassed :….but the ideas won't stop!
english teacher - : smacks rini with a ruler : i've taught you better than that.
rini - : shrinks down into mini rini : i'm so sorry sensei.
english teacher - : evil stare : BOW TO YOUR SENSEI!
rini - : kisses teachers feet : i hope you guys like this one, it's a
new style. Less descriptive – more plot. tell me what you think. Oh yea! i don't own any of the Fushigi Yuugi characters.
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Chapter 1: The Mirror from another World
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"Uh, Mina," Etsumi whispered, "What's up with the tin foil on your head?"
It was ninth period at Mizumoto Junior High School, and Tanaka Mina sat up right in her seat, ignoring her friend's quizzical look. Pretty much, she was disregarding all her classmates that stared at her.
"Tanaka-sama, if you would please come up to the front of the class and share your report," Mr. Suzuki said while motioning her to come forward with his index finger. Mina abruptly jumped out of her seat, forehead wrinkled in concentration. Triumphantly, she made her way through the isles of desks, all focus targeted at the goal. With a turn on her heel she faced the class full on.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," she began, "I am an American college student of the early 1960's fearing brain control from the al mighty Sputnik from Russia."
She stood with hands on hip in a heroic stance, while everyone else sweatdropped, realizing that Mina's over dramatics had taken the best of her once again. Etsumi banged her head against the desk in exasperation.
/I should've seen it coming./
…40 minutes later…
"And that my friend," she cried from the top of the teacher's desk, "is the story of Sputnik, an item both admired and dreaded."
Mina looked out into the sea of students; all but one was sprawled across their desk in slumber. A girl with short black hair gave a raving applause even though the dazed look in her eyes was evidence that even she was bored out of her mind.
/Good ol' Etsumi, always there for me./
Still with a smile on her face, the girl swirled around to confront her teacher who was sitting in his chair behind her. To Mina's surprise Mr. Suzuki was definitely paying attention to her…but in the wrong direction. Within moments, the violated teen was on the floor, holding her skirt close to her legs.
"Aiiie! Pervert!" Mina shouted from her spot on the ground, but the old, disgusting sensei just laid back in his chair, Mina could only imagine what he was thinking. All the most distorted images popped into her head, making a shiver run down her spine.
Etsumi ran over to Mina and helped her up. Both of them stood in front of Mr. Suzuki's desk, a look of repulsion on their faces. The two friends then glanced back at their sleeping class with another look of distaste towards the dozing students.
"This is pointless, let's get the hell out of here," Etsumi suggested while walking towards the door.
"Um," Mina took a glimpse of the room, rethinking her decision to follow the stubborn girl.
"IKU ZE!" shouted Etsumi down the hall.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" her friend yelled back. She frantically threw open the door and scurried down the hall to join her aggravated companion. The corridors were empty, not a soul walk passed as they made their journey towards the lobby. Before long they walked briskly beside complete strangers occupying the streets of Tokyo that sunny day. Etsumi had taken control of the afternoon plans as she held onto Mina's hand, making sure she wasn't lost in the mob of people.
The confused teen was tugged into the back alley of a food market, where gangs usually held their daily meetings. Not exactly the best place for the duo to be, right? Mina stared at the trouble coming in and out of the building Etsumi was observing.
"Etsumi-chan," Mina whimpered, "My gut is saying this isn't a good idea."
"You're probably just hungry like always you moron."
Mina moved to the middle of the alley and held her stomach, hearing the echoing of emptiness. She stuck her tongue out, desperately wanting some food to just fall into her lap. In time, Mina was swaying back and forth, growing dizzier from the lack of food.
/Ugh, maybe she's right./ The famished girl perked up when the scent of baking rolls reached her nose, gradually showing her the way to them. She crawled up behind a wooden box and with a few side glances to make sure the coast was clear, grabbed a hand full of warm biscuits. To prevent the food from scorching her hands, Mina juggled (well at least attempted) them in the air until she arrived back at the door Etsumi was standing in front of.
Just before Mina's friend started banging on the entrance outside of the building, she showed up beside her with the food as a gift.
"Look Etsumi-chan, I found food," she beamed.
"Really, where did you buy it?"
"Uh…," Mina looked down at her shoes, kicking the dirt in hesitation to answer the question, "Well, I think I kind of stole them?"
Etsumi immediately stopped her uncontrollable hammering on the wooden door and instead gazed down at Mina with a worried expression. The girl knew she must have heard wrong, only a moron….
/Uh oh/
Mina locked gazes with her best friend, watching as those familiar brown eyes grew wider and her skin slowly turning pale.
"What's wrong," Mina asked, leaning forward to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "you look as if you have seen a ghost. Hey where'd the sun go?" Mina tilted her head up to see what was going on, but it was not the sun above her.
A rough hand grabbed hold of Mina's wrist, causing her to wail in pain. The fresh bread fell to the ground, landing in a puddle of muck, destroying any reason of eating it. She recognized the towering attacker as the owner of the bakery she had stolen the food from earlier.
"I'm so sorry!" Mina winced as his grip grew tighter. All the people that dwelled within the alley turned to look at the scene. The man was angry, that was for sure. With his free hand he reached into the apron he wore and brought out a cutting knife. The fuming baker lifted Mina off the ground, making her hang there and stare into his piercing stare.
"You know the price you must pay, you little thief!" he accused, bringing the sharp object close to her cheek and softly letting the blade run against her skin. There was no blood shed, but Mina was sure he would get her the next time around.
/Ouch, my arm is going to fly out of its socket if I he keeps me up here any longer/ Mina closed her eyes, releasing a cry of agony, while hot tears streamed down her face as the man's torture overwhelmed her body.
"Hey you senseless asshole, let go of my friend."
A piece of brick was thrown in the baker's direction, which quickly clonked him on the back of the head. He dropped Mina to the ground and put the knife back into his apron. Mina opened her eyes to find Etsumi standing a few feet away, tossing another piece of brick in her hand. The brave teen knew stones were no good as ammo, but it would have to do. Her arm went back far, an attempt to gather up as much energy as possible. But before she could let loose her power, someone grabbed her by the waist and rushed the fighter into the building. At the same exact moment someone had thrust Mina into the room along with Etsumi.
Mina sat cross legged on the floor, whining like a child as her arm throbbed. Etsumi ignored her crying, what was on her mind was who had saved them from the backer's wrath? Mina stopped her tears and looked around the blank room, not a thing inhabited the space.
"Where did those people go that saved us?" Mina asked while wiping the remaining tears from her face.
"I don't know Mina-chan, kind of creepy ain't it," Etsumi kept her eyes darting around the room, trying to find something suspicious.
"Hey, Etsumi-chan, why did we come here in the first place? It's kind of odd, you know?" Her friend said as she hoisted herself up from the ground, but still clung to her arm protectively.
"Well, this is where an old antique shop used to be, and I thought maybe we could find some interesting stuff. Doesn't look like it's here anymore," Etsumi replied as she paced the length of the white painted walls.
"No, you really think so?" Her companion teased, "Well, hey what's this?" Mina walked up to one of the walls and noticed the faint image of a mirror. The image grew sharper and suddenly became solid; the mirror had appeared right in front of her eyes!
"Aiie," Mina yelped, jumping back from the ghostly image that became a reality.
/Wow/ she thought while looking at a reflection of herself in the traditional blue sailor uniform of Mizumoto Junior High /It looks just like the mirror in 'Snow White' that that evil queen had./ Without realizing it, Mina leaned in to touch its shiny surface.
"Whoa…Etsumi-chan."
Etsumi had been watching the whole time, her best friend's arm was half way though the mirror and she was going deeper in it every second.
"ETSUMI!" Mina cried, begging for her to help. After the shock wore off, Etsumi lunged at the struggling teen, pulling as hard as she could to free her from the mirrors grasp.
"AIIEE!" They shrieked before disappearing into their reflections. Outside the building everything had gone back to normal, the baker had completely forgotten about the incident with Mina and was now onto his next victim. No one in Tokyo had heard the shouts from the young girls and the doors that were previously there had miraculously vanished.
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Mina awoke in a cold sweat that had soaked through her uniform.
/O gosh, that was a horrible dream./
The startled girl sat up from the cool marble floor, touching her face to make sure that she wasn't delusional.
"There's only one way to know," she said.
With her thumb and index finger she pinched her skin, hard!
"Ouchhh, ok I'm not asleep anymore," she concluded to herself out loud, "Then where am I?" The tone in her voice was filled with panic. Her surroundings were not at all familiar. Fountains? Marble? A stupid statue?
All of Mina's attention was taken by the large statue in front of her. It was of a bird, a pretty bird too.
"Oh wow," she said in awe as the fascinated girl bent over the edge of one of the large fountains and stared at the mirrored image of her self. She had to be dreaming, there was no way she wasn't! Mina turned around, focused on finding her way home.
/That stupid mirror, what did it…/
Her thoughts were interrupted by a smiling man with blue hair popping up in front of her.
"AIIEE!" The startled girl screeched, flying back from the unfamiliar person. It might have been Mina's tendency to forget things, but she landed right into the fountain behind her with a splash. Once she surfaced from her unexpected swim, the mystery man sat on the stone wall around the fountain with an amused smile. Mina hesitated.
/Mommy always told me not to trust strangers…he's no different./
With high alert on, the girl came out of the water, all her garments soaking wet. She took a seat next to the blue haired man who generously handed her a towel.
"Thank you," Mina murmured, still suspicious of the fellow.
"No problem, no da," he replied, smiling sweetly at Mina, "My names Chichiri, no da. May I learn yours?"
Mina wavered on whether or not she should tell him, "My name is Tanaka Mina, I'm sure you've seen my friend Ito Etsumi around." Chichiri gave her a puzzled look.
Mina got up from her spot and twirled around, "A girl wearing the same outfit as me? Except black hair, instead of brown, and it's a lot shorter."
"No, I'm sorry Mina. I haven't seen anyone like that, but you, no da," Chichiri responded, the look on his face not changing a bit.
"Then where could she be," Mina sighed, plunking back down on the wall, resting her elbows on her knees and cupping her chin in her hands.
"Oh, ouch," she whispered, lifting her head and rubbing her hurt arm. Chichiri glanced over and noticed how red it was.
"Here, come with me, no da," he said, walking towards the exit of the fountain room.
"Um, alright," Mina answered back, holding her injured arm, trying to calm the returning aches.
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"Where's Mina," Etsumi hollered at the guards outside her room. No response.
"You have got to be kidding me," she howled, throwing her hands up in the air in dissatisfaction. Etsumi fell back onto the bed, recalling what had happened before she woke up here.
/That mirror, it split us up. O man, Mina can't take care of her self! She'll be like a lost puppy, turning to anyone that will take her in./
"Mina, I promise I will find you," the girl swore out loud.
"But first," she sat up, yelling to the open door, "I wanna know WHERE THE HELL I AM?"
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rini - o dear, poor little mina!
mina - yea, tell me about it! i'm all wet!
etsumi - : grabs huge fan and puts it on full blast : that should dry you off!
mina - weee i'm flying!
rini - wow…till next time, please r&r.