Ichigoichie

A Once In A Life Time Encounter

What the…What am I doing here? I can hardly remember a thing! I thought as I raised my head up. A strange noise awoke me, it almost sounded like two people arguing. I raised up from the bed, that I had managed to get into, and looked around. I could see the red walls with writing on them but couldn't tell what it said or meant. There were roses in every corner, this made the room smell sweet. I looked down at the bed I was sitting on and saw that it was a dark purple with white roses. Then there was another bed on the other side of the room with a dark red almost brown cover and a dark orange sun in the background. There was no doubt in my mind that it was expensive, but as I looked to the door, no one was in sight. That's odd I could have sworn I heard fighting, or at least arguing near by. Then, out of no where the door cracked open a bit. I turned my head to look and saw several people coming in. I found human intelligence! At least I can rule out being on a different planet, I thought while laughing at myself for such a crazy thought. One of the men had dark brown hair and a ponytail on the back of his head. After the guy with the ponytail, was a girl following him. She too, had brown hair but it was a lighter shade. Following the two was another guy with strawberry- blonde hair sticking up everywhere. As I watched him come in, I could see something about him that made my heart ache. I'm not to sure what it is, but I felt like I'm on cloud nine!

The trio came into the room and started arguing again. Ha! I'm not losing my mind after all…ok… maybe a little by not remembering anything, but that's beside the point, I thought to myself. Finally, strawberry boy (only nickname I could think of), looked up from the arguing and noticed I was there. He came over and the others followed close behind staring at me. " Hello." the guy with the ponytail said in a friendly voice standing beside the bed.

I rose from the bed and stood to greet them. " Hello I'm Ashleigh or as most people call me Ash," I greeted to each of them. I know I'm not in heaven cause of all the arguing going around. I observed thoughtfully, Where am I then? Well you don't know until you ask. I thought.

" I'm Tamahome," the guy with the ponytail explained.

" I'm Miaka," the girl explained, then looked over to strawberry boy waiting for him to speak. When he didn't, she did, " Well, I can see grumps over there isn't going to introduce himself," she joked.

" Ok fine! I'm Tasuki and we're glad to meet you." he said with a phony smile on his face that was obviously fake, and had his arms crossed in front of him. What a selfish jerk. Forget what I said about me liking him somehow. Who needs someone as selfish as he is?

" Oh come on don't be mad at her cause you can't win an argument against us," Tamahome teased pulling Miaka close. Tasuki's face started to turn bright red and we all laughed.

" Where are you from anyways?" Miaka asked after the laughing had stopped.

" I don't really remember. The last thing that I can remember is the horse that I was exercising went through the rail and had fallen to its knees, sending me flying in the air to landed on the dirt track." they just stared at me in amazement. My guess is that I lost them in the middle of my explanation. If I want to know where I am, right now would be a great time to ask. " Um...where am I anyways, and how did I get here?"

" Your at Hong-Nan, China in the emperor's house." Tasuki answered then continued, " I found you unconscious in an alley where a bunch of robbers where arguing over who was to have you."

" In other words he saved your life." Miaka shortened when she saw my confused face.

" Thanks. I guess I owe you," I said looking at him. He gave me a sincere smile that was real this time. My heart melted into it.

" Just don't get use to me protecting you. I have bigger problems then baby-sitting some horse person." he replied. I couldn't tell if he was joking or being serious.

My face burned with irritation as I stared at him straight in eyes, " I hadn't planed on having a baby-sitter, I can take care of myself, thank you very much, and so what if I ride horses?" I turned around and sprinted out the door. I wasn't to sure were I was going to go and still had no idea about what this place was. They said that I was in China but it looks to old fashion to be China now a days, or have I managed to get into ancient China somehow? I took a left down a long hallway, almost running into another guy. I looked up and saw that he had blue hair and a part of it over to the side. He was carrying a small kitten on his shoulder. " I'm sorry I didn't see you coming." I explained coming to a sudden halt.

" It's all good ..no da.." he answered. " Hey! I haven't seen you around before, are you new to these parts?"

" Um… yeah I guess you could say that." after thinking for a while weather or not to explain what had happened, I decided to, and continued, "To tell you the honest truth I don't know how I managed to get here or anything."

" That's a problem, no da. I'm Chichiri."

" I'm Ashleigh or Ash."

" I was headed to meet the emperor and some of the others. Would you like to come with me? I can introduce you and maybe with all of us together we can help you. No da."

" Ok just as long…" I was cut short of words as Miaka's voice came through the hallway.

" Good we finally found you. Don't listen to Tasuki he's a sore "hero"," Miaka told me with Tamahome running close behind. " Oh, hi Chichiri, I can see you met Ashleigh." she added when she looked up at him.

" Yep, no da! I was going to take her to meet the emperor." We all walked quickly down the long hallway together to meet the emperor. Man this place is HUGE! I thought as I looked around. To my right was the end of a balcony, which over looked a pool, pond, several people in training, a stable, and many other activities.

Once we made a turn to the left I saw two big doors that went from floor to ceiling. I stared at it in amazement as they opened. I followed along behind Miaka and the other two until we reached a man in a big chair and two others surrounding him. I looked at Tamahome with a questioning look. He looked down and lead me to them.

"Hey guys, I would like for you to meet your new comer Ashleigh or Ash, Ashleigh this is Keisuke," he said pointing to a guy in girl clothes. I think that's a guy… or is it a girl? I thought as Tamahome paused then continued. " You've already met Tasuki." he finished with a laugh as he looked at my face when he introduced Tasuki again.

" I'm glad to meet you Ash." he said bowing in front of me.

" Same here." I flowed his example and bowed.

"And this Ash," Tamahome started with a big glowing grin on his face as he motioned me to the guy in the big chair, " Is Hotohori, the emperor of Hong Nan." He stood and started to walk towards me.

" Nice to meet you Ashleigh." he said standing in front of me. He was very tall and had a bit of a tan, or either that was how most of China's people were. He had long black hair and very fancy clothes on. He had a very caring softness in he's voice.

" The pleaser is mine." I said looking up at him.

" You don't look like someone from around here." he told me.

" No, I'm not from around here, but I don't really remember where I'm from." I explained hoping that it didn't sound like I was crazy. Which I guess I am a little crazy considering the facts I have no idea what's going on.

" Well, I have an idea," he said then continued, " Why don't we go to the most beautiful part of the empire and talk. Maybe we can figure it out there." We all followed him around a bunch of turns. I wonder if I will ever be able to find my way around. I thought as we made another turn. Finally we came to a stop in front of double doors. Hotohoiri opened the door and a sudden blast of light came rushing through. I put my arms across my eyes to try to shield it out, but it was to bright. Once my eyes cleared out, I could see a bundle of flowers flooding over the balcony rails, swinging chairs on both sides, and a fountain in the middle, forming a small puddle of water and a rainbow in side. Oh my gosh! This is so pretty! I turned around to a seat and sat down. Miaka sat next to me, along with Tamahome next to her. In the next swing across from us was Hotohoiri, Tasuki, and Chichiri.

" I think I might know why you're here Ash," he said taking sip of the tea that his maids had made us. Me, on the other hand, had never tasted tea before. I took a sip, hey this isn't half bad! I thought as I took another sip, and he continued, " I think that you may be the next Priestess of Suzuki."

To Be Continued…

Thanks for reading..I have no idea what I'm doing and my peepz or should I say critizers are major help. MEOW and you to Snowball… no that's not food Snowball come back here…well I hope u liked it and fyi I'll always try to have a hang off. Time to critize! Oh critzers runs after them in the dark. SMACK! and runs into a wall. Oh and I know theres probably some grammer mistakes, but my computer went crazy and I can't fix them. Please review!