AN: Hey guys! Sorry it took so long for me to update, I've been bogged down by schoolwork and work and other such fun activities. Enjoy, tell me what you think!

Thank you to Heiwa P, Asmodel, NobleAngel015, and BlackMoonTiger for reviewing! Keep it up, reviews are fanfiction crack!

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Aoi Misato blinked. The girl before her looked like she'd been through something. Her uniform was tattered and dirty, her black hair was matted and soaked. Her eyes…there was something familiar about the girl's eyes, but Aoi couldn't quite place it.

"I'm sorry?" She asked politely.

"You're—you're—oh my God," The girl moaned collapsing to her knees. Concerned, Aoi knelt next to her.

"Are you okay?" Aoi asked worriedly.

"No!" The girl said, beginning to sob. "I'm not where I'm supposed to be…I don't know how this happened!"

"Calm down," Aoi said putting an arm around her. It was a gesture of comfort, but it only succeeded in making the girl cry louder.

XXXXXX

Ai knew her mom meant well, but any words of sympathy from her seventeen-year-old mom only made her feel sick. If she was back home, she knew her mom would fix her some ramen and tea, smooth away her hair and Ai would be able to tell her all of her worries. Aoi Houraiji—make that Misato, was no different in the year 2007. The only difference was that Ai couldn't tell her anything.

The worst thing was, she looked so damned concerned.

Ai tried to staunch her sniffling. She wasn't a baby, after all. If her dad was here, he'd tell her to get a grip, stop bawling, and DO something. She shuddered. Scratch that…her dad was here.

Before Ai could think of anything else to do, the antique shop doors opened. In walked Tatsuma Hiyuu…and her dad.

"Aoi, we had something we wanted to talk—" Tatsuma stopped, doing a double take at Ai. "Hey…it's you!"

"Do you know her, Tatsuma?" Aoi asked curiously.

"Vaguely," Tatsuma said looking at her. Kyouichi grunted impatiently.

Ai gulped. She choked out something and shoved her way past the two of them, hearing Tatsuma's surprised cry and Kyouichi's irritated one.

"Come back!" Ai heard her mother call out worriedly. Ai ignored her plowing on.

"Oi! You stupid moron, get back here!" Her father bellowed. Ai paid no heed to either one of them.

That is, till a demon obstructed her path.

Ai let out a sharp wail. Why did they constantly seem to come after her? This one reminded her of a silverfish, a silver fish with a boar's head. It snarled at her and charged.

Before it could attack, she saw her bokuto flash through the air and clonk it hard on the head. Make that her dad's bokuto. Kyouichi kicked the fiend hard and shot her a nasty glare.

"Get out of here!" He snapped.

Ai blinked. She heard the others coming out of the antique shop, rushing to help. She screamed when the monster raised up a claw to stab her teenage father. She couldn't…she couldn't let this happen! Not again!

Power surged through her. Her arms became marked with red stripes and her eyes went white. Kyouichi stared at her, startled. He then turned to best the beast. But to his surprise, the demon had frozen.

Aoi and Tatsuma rushed forward. Aoi gaped at the demon. "Why…why isn't it moving?"

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!" Kyouichi yelled. He leaped into the air and destroyed the monster in one fell swoop of his bokuto.

A great calm passed through Ai. The marks disappeared and she fell to her knees, panting. Her energy had been completely spent. She fainted.

"What…what was that?" Aoi asked quietly. She knelt next to her, cupping Ai's head in her arms. "She…she has the power too!"

"Not just any power, Lady Misato," Kisaragi caught up to them. "She has a very dangerous power…she can manipulate time."

"Manipulate time?" Kyouichi snorted. "Like Back to the Future and all that crap?"

"Precisely," Kisaragi said crisply. "And it's not a joking matter. That's a very dangerous power to have, even with the power of the Dragon Veins."

"First things first," Aoi said. "Let's get her inside. When she wakes up she can explain everything. I'll call Komaki and Daigo as well."

XXXXX

Ai groaned. Something cool was placed on her forehead. It felt heavenly. She opened her eyes.

Aoi Misato was leaning over her, dabbing her with a cool cloth. She glanced to her other side, hoping to see Kyouichi, but instead saw Tatsuma. He gave her a comforting smile. She attempted to sit up. She saw a girl about Aoi's age with burgundy hair. She looked somewhat familiar to Ai. She also noticed a large burly guy, very wrestler-esque standing somewhat close to the redhead. Ai blinked blearily.

"Careful, now," Aoi said warningly. "Not too fast. Why don't you start out by telling us your name?"

"Ai Ho—Honda," Ai replied, quickly recovering her wits. She heard a loud snort.

"Thought it was 'Hoshiko'," Kyouichi muttered. Aoi shot him a look.

"It's all right if you don't want to tell us your real name," Aoi said soothingly. "How about we introduce ourselves? You already know me, I'm Aoi Misato."

Ai whimpered. She nodded.

"Tatsuma Hiyuu," Tatsuma said pleasantly. "We've met." He added for Aoi's benefit.

"Kyouichi Houraiji," Kyouichi said darkly, still looking at her with great suspicion.

"Komaki Sakurai," The redhead said in a friendly enough voice, but there was a warning inflection to her voice. She looked to Ai the type of girl who could kick her ass with no trouble.

"Yuuya Daigo," the burly one said. His voice was very deep.

Ai gasped. "Daigo?!" Holy crap, this guy was Tetsushi's dad!

Daigo blinked. "Do I know you?"

"Um…" Ai said nervously. Her parents had been close friends with the Daigos. It was how she'd met Tetsushi, they were family friends.

"Why don't you start telling us where the hell you came from?" Kyouichi demanded.

"I can't," Ai said miserably.

"Why not?" Kyouichi snarled.

"Kyouichi, please," Aoi said to him.

Ai took a deep breath. "Because I'm from the future."

XXXXXX

At twilight, the group gathered outside the antique shop. The girl named Ai had given a very vague account of what happened to her. Apparently, she was from the year 2028. She couldn't tell them much, she seemed to be afraid of screwing up her present. Aoi sighed and took a deep breath.

"What do you all think?" She asked her friends.

"I think she's nuts," Kyouichi said bluntly. "Crackerdoodles. We've seen the Dragon Veins do a lot of shit, but come on, time travel? She's hiding something."

"Course she is," Daigo grunted. "If she really is from the future, telling us too much could screw up whatever home she knows."

"Oh, come on," Kyouichi threw up his hands. "This isn't Back to the Future. If what's happened has happened, then there's no changing it."

"But now she's back here, so what's happened hasn't happened," Komaki pointed out.

Kyouichi groaned. "Shit. This is giving me a headache."

Tatsuma said nothing.

"It's pretty evident that she has some kind of manipulative affect on time," Komaki said. "But from the year 2028? She's not even from our generation. For all we know…"

Komaki gulped and continued. "For all we know…she could be one of our kids."

This had an interesting affect on all of them. Tatsuma looked thoughtful and glanced at Kyouichi. Aoi furrowed her brow, as if she was trying to remember something. Komaki looked queasy, and Daigo blushed furiously.

The only one who didn't react was Kyouichi. "Maybe for you guys," He said breezily. "I ain't having kids."

Komaki rolled her eyes. Tatsuma began to snicker.

"What are you laughing at?" Kyouichi said challengingly to his best friend.

"Nothing," Tatsuma said innocently. He took out a packet of strawberry milk from his hood and began to sip.

"She looks familiar," Aoi said quietly.

They all looked at her.

Aoi blushed. "I'm just saying…when I look at her…it feels like I've met her before. Or dreamed about her. Her eyes are really familiar to me."

The group chewed on this for a bit.

Kyouichi didn't want to admit it, but the girl, Ai, had had a similar affect on him. There was something about her that gave him the disconcerting feeling that he was looking into a mirror. She did seem familiar to him. Not that he'd admit this to anyone, least of all to himself.

"Let's let her rest here," Tatsuma said finally. "I'll talk to her in the morning."

The rest agreed and parted ways.