Warning: This is based off a manga called Sengoku Strays. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend that you do! I don't own anything but my OC, and I will probably end up using artistic license to butcher Japanese history, so I would just like to apologize in advance, and I don't mean to offend anyone!

[Narration]

{setting/stage directions}

"Speech."

'Thoughts.'

"English speech."

—¡–!–¡–!–¡— Scene shift/passage of time.

A whole line of text like this without quotes is a written letter or something similar.

WORDS IN ALL CAPS AND NO QUOTATION MARKS ARE SOUND EFFECTS.

Flashbacks and changes in POV will be labeled.

Unless stated otherwise, the POV will be third person omniscient.

If you ever have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Previously:

A bright flash of blue light suddenly shot out of the open windows of the storehouse.

"!" Isshin said in surprise as he started running towards the storehouse, concerned for his niece. "Ayako!" Isshin yelled as he threw open the storehouse's door. The blue light disappeared just as suddenly as it had come, but it wasn't the only thing that was gone. Ayako had disappeared as well. "Ayako…?" Isshin said, stunned. His niece had definitely been in there. One of the shelves had been knocked over. Isshin noticed one of his master's favorite items, an antique wooden box from the Sengoku era, had been smashed in the fall. Isshin knelt down to pick the pieces of the box up, but froze when he saw the contents that had been spill out of it. "This is…! It can't be!" Isshin said, stunned. The key to the lock on that box had been lost long ago, and it's contents forgotten, but now that the box was destroyed, the five hundred-year-old secret it had hidden… had finally been revealed.

[Right after Ayako was whisked away to the past...]

{April 2011—Saionji Temple, Kyoto}

Isshin stared at the spilled contents of the ancient, now broken, box, shocked. The contents had included a very familiar white ribbon, Ayako's hair ribbon. Only, it had a stain on it that looked suspiciously like faded blood someone had tried to wash out long ago. There was also a cracked and slightly warped compact mirror, a hand bound book that was made the same way they kept the records of the temple bound, and what could only be an extremely worn version of Ayako's cell phone.

"What the hell—!?" Isshin said, stunned. At first, he had assumed that Ayako had dropped them, but all of the items looked extremely worn and ancient, despite the fact that the cell phone and mirror were definitely modern appliances. They definitely didn't have smart phones and Hello Kitty compact mirrors five hundred years ago, but these items were so old, that the plastic cases of both the mirror and the cell phone had started flaking. The battery was also completely dead, despite the fact that he knew Ayako had charged it last night. The cell phones battery was corroded, and covered in a strange green gunk. It was amazing the batter acid hadn't destroyed any of the other items over the years. The most normal thing in the box was probably the book... until you considered the fact that they didn't bind books like this in the Sengoku era. Also, unlike how the books in the temple were bound on the right side, since it made it easier to read the way the Japanese language was read, this book had been bound on the left side—like a western book. Isshin opened the book. His eyes widened in shock at what he saw. There, in a five-hundred-year-old book, was what was undeniably Ayako's handwriting—in English. It was a little messy since the words were scratched onto the paper with what was probably some kind of crude quill and ink. Plus, as far as Isshin was concerned, Ayako's handwriting was crappy enough even on a good day. It always looked like chicken scratch, but this was definitely Ayako's chicken scratch. Isshin flipped through it, and saw that she had included sumi ink paintings of different people and places. He really couldn't deny that it belonged to Ayako after seeing the nearly photographic portraits. Ayako's handwriting might've sucked, but her artistic talent was sickeningly amazing, and she had labeled and signed the portraits in the bottom right hand corner, just like she always did... There was also an inscription written in ancient kanji, in the very back of the book, in what was clearly a man's handwriting. It read: This book is the property of Himura Ayako Louise 'Onihime,' Second wife of Oda Nobunaga. It is now mine since she never returned after her disappearance. This book is to be delivered to the 'smaller' Saionji temple in Kyoto, once it is founded, and handed down to the Himura Isshin described in her writings—Oda Kazusanosuke Nobunaga, Lord of Owari. Isshin could feel his hair falling out. He flipped back to one of the portraits he had seen before. There he was, a young man with fierce eyes and a wild mane of dark hair was smirking up at him from the page of the book. According to Ayako's label at the bottom of the page, this cocky teenager was Oda Nobunaga, and it was dated 1552—Tenbun year 21. Isshin hung his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel a migraine coming on from stress and worry for Ayako.

'What in the world have you gotten yourself into now, Ayako...!?' Isshin thought.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

"Isshin-sama! What on earth was that blue light!?" One of the more annoying monks, Setsu, asked as Isshin emerged from the storehouse. "Hmph, I'm sure it's just that brat messing around. I don't understand why Isshin-sama bothered to take in such a nuisance." An older monk, that was in his sixties, Shiketsu, muttered rudely. Isshin narrowed his eyes at both of them. Apparently, they had seen it too, but hadn't been concerned enough for Ayako to enter. He wasn't exactly the perfect example of what a virtuous monk should be, but at least Isshin hadn't sat back while a young girl was possibly in danger.

'I'll remember this, you bastards.' Isshin thought as a vein mark throbbed on his head. He wasn't in the mood for their nonsense. "What I pick up or throw away is none of your business. Now, call the police! Ayako is missing." Isshin said sternly.

"What!?" They heard Hiroshi cry anxiously as the eighteen-year-old ran up to see what the fuss was about. "Have you checked—" Isshin cut Hiroshi off.

"I'm sure, now go call the police! You're just wasting time standing here." Isshin snapped. He knew Hiroshi was probably just as worried a he was, but he couldn't explain what he had found just yet. Hiroshi, seeing how serious Isshin was, immediately ran into the house to phone the police. If Isshin was worried, then Ayako was probably in serious danger.

"Really, what a problem child... Are you sure that girl didn't just run off somewhere, Isshin-sama?" Shiketsu asked. Isshin glared coldly at the monk. He really had a lot of guts to talk about Ayako like that, especially to his face. Shiketsu was the only monk who was still actively against Ayako being there. The others had grown much more tolerant of her over time, especially once they had her cooking. Shiketsu flinched under Isshin's steely gaze.

"If you look inside the storehouse, you can see clear signs of a struggle. Wherever Ayako is, she didn't go there willingly." Isshin said coldly. "Get back to work, the show's over, you old vulture." He said coldly as he left them to wait with Hiroshi for the policemen to arrive.

"I hope Ayako-kun is alright..." Setsu said, worried. He didn't even what to think about what might happen if Ayako was harmed in anyway... Isshin would probably explode and go on a bloody rampage.

"Hmph, I say good riddance. We should never have let a woman into the temple anyway." Shiketsu said, snobbishly.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

"I just can't believe someone took her! If they were strong enough to beat Ayako, they have to be someone really dangerous!" Hiroshi said anxiously as he paced back and forth in the living room. Ayako was like a little sister to him. Isshin was smoking a cigarette... his fifth one in the last ten minutes. If Ayako knew he was relapsing, she would definitely kick up a fuss. She had finally gotten Isshin down to only one pack a week. "And you're not even bothering to hide your smoking—just how bad is it!?" Hiroshi asked. He hadn't seen the storehouse, since the local police had been unusually fast in their response to his call. They had swooped in and declared the storehouse off limits until they were done canvassing the 'crime scene.' They had already interviewed everyone at the temple. So, now Isshin and Hiroshi were waiting to hear what the police had to say once they were done.

"There was no blood, so wherever she is, she can't be too badly injured—If that's what you're asking." Isshin said, sounding much calmer than he actually felt. If Isshin's theory on what had happened to Ayako was correct, the cops probably wouldn't be able to find her.

"Isshin-sama." One of the police officers greeted as he entered the room. It was Sasagawa-san, one of their regular worshippers. Ayako had even babysat his children for him a few times. "We've finished inspecting the storehouse. I sorry, but I'm afraid we haven't found much to go on for our search for Ayako-chan." Officer Sasagawa said regretfully. "But I want you to know that we will do everything we can to find her." Isshin nodded his head in thanks.

"Keep me updated." Isshin said. Officer Sasagawa bowed and said goodbye as he left to rejoin his partner and the other police. They had to leave and move onto other calls. "..." Isshin said as he stared after the man. He put his cigarette out and turned to Hiroshi. "Come with me, there's something I want to show you." Isshin told him.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

"So, let me get this straight... some of Ayako's things—three items that she always carries around with her—were in a box that's supposedly been sealed for about five hundred years, because the key was lost...?" Hiroshi asked, stunned as he looked at Ayako's mirror, phone, and ribbon, and the book. Isshin had swiped them and hidden them in his monk's robes before he had left the storehouse. It would be awfully hard to explain, after all, and Isshin didn't want them confiscated as evidence before he had a chance to look at everything better. "This stuff looks like it's older than dirt, despite being new technology... What the heck is that supposed to mean...!? And where's her wallet?"

"Calm down. Panicking won't help the situation." Isshin said firmly. "—And who cares about her wallet at this point? I only had enough time to flip through the pages, but this is definitely Ayako's handwriting. I'm going to send in a piece of the paper to have Kinoshita take a look at it. Maybe he can date it for us." Kinoshita Masahiro was one of Isshin's old friends who would often analyze different artifacts for the temple and test their authenticity for Isshin, so it wouldn't seem too weird if he asked him for this favor. "Although, I don't know how someone could fake making these things look so old."

"Isshin-sama... you said there was a flash of blue light before Ayako disappeared, right...?" Hiroshi asked thoughtfully as he paced the room.

"Yeah, so? If you keep pacing like that, you're going to wear a hole in the tatami mats." Isshin said, frowning, wondering were the teenager was going with this.

"I know this might sound crazy, but... do you think that maybe, rather that being kidnapped, Ayako was sent back in time somehow?" Hiroshi asked seriously. Isshin stared at him.

"Yeah, you do sound crazy. Maybe you're the one I should be worried about." Isshin deadpanned. Honestly, Isshin was thinking something along the same lines, but it was so crazy, he hadn't wanted to say it out loud until he heard the results from Kinoshita, and if he didn't report his niece's disappearance, it could look suspicious and possibly let the people who had her get away if he was wrong. Plus, teasing Hiroshi was a good stress reliever.

"Just hear me out, okay!? We have items that Ayako always carries around with her, and they've suddenly and inexplicable aged—not to mention they were locked in side of a box that's been sealed for hundreds of years—And a lot of sci-fi movies use a bright blue light when a character travels back in time!" Hiroshi explained. He had watched a lot of American movies with Ayako over the years, and they tended to be flashy.

"... So, basically, you're basing your theory on Hollywood's special effects, really?" Isshin said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. Hiroshi sweat dropped and rubbed the back of his head. Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned that part. "Well, whatever. We'll know soon enough once Kinoshita analyzes this. I'll send a piece of one of the pages that doesn't have her handwriting on it." Isshin glanced at the book. 'While I'm waiting, I might as well see what she wrote... maybe it'll give me a clue about what happened to her...' He thought.