Selena had her headphones on while on the train with her host family going into the city the next day, she tuned out all the others one the train still thinking of the words Yuko told her and the man's voice she heard last night. Suddenly she was jolted out of thought when the train stopped at her families destination. Selena stepped off the train with others, once she did she took off her headphones and turned off her MP3 player then put them both in her bag and followed her host family.

She had been to Toyama before but was always amazed at how large it was and saw so many people, nothing like where she lived in America where she felt somewhat out of place. Every time Selena would see something new and different whenever she came and would never get tired of it, she felt like she really belonged here.

As the four of them walked down the street, Selena lagged behind her family a little bit looking in some store windows they past by when she saw something the window of a clothing store, it was a the most lovely dress that had ever caught her eye. It was little over knee length powder blue with an off the shoulder cut and sheer white bell sleeves, a train trailed behind the dress barely touching the ground that was a midnight blue and the dress and sleeves glimmered with some light glitter. Selena sighed as she eyed the dress.

"Even if I wore something like that, what guy would find me attractive in it," Selena told herself in a whisper.

"Selena come on!" she heard Ikuko calling back to her, Selena broke away from the window to catch up to her host family.

"You were lagging behind again dear, did you get distracted by cute boy?" joked Toushirou.

"Toushirou!" yelled Selena as she blushed a bit.

"Honestly dear," sighed Ikuko, Selena got a head of them for bit then turned back to them.

"Listen guys, I missed dance practice yesterday due to work so I'm going to slip by the dance studio and get a quick practice or two in, I'll meet you guys before dinner, just have fun doing a little shopping without me for a bit," Selena told them.

"Alright just don't be late, we'll do a little shopping before dinner," Ikuko called after her.

Selena's parents had rented her a flat that was once a real dance studio in the city so she could keep practicing her dancing while she was in Japan, she came from a very wealthy family and could afford the rent on the flat, but she always felt somewhat safe there it was a sanctuary for her, she could be herself. She didn't know it would be shelter in days to come.

When Selena turned on her music nothing else mattered, she danced to the beat, remembering the lessons she had been taught, she felt so free when she danced. Nothing could stand in her way when the right beat came along, But Selena couldn't stay long, she practiced with a few songs, changed back into her skirt, grabbed her bag and locking up as she left.

Selena saw she had some messages on her cell phone, a few from Adreanna and Mary, she saw one from her mother, standard check in, she made her way through a crowd, when she heard a familiar voice shouting out to her from people freaking out about something.

"Selena look out!" shouted Yuli, she saw him on a skateboard.

"What?!" Before Selena had a chance to react the child wiped out crashing into her, both of them fell to the ground, Selena was slightly dazed by what had just happened.

"In the name of the Blue Ridge Parkway!" yelled Selena, the two were groaning and whining from pain.

"Sorry, there was a crowd and I lost control," Yuli told her trying to apologize, Selena had a bit of a temper but tried her hardest not to lose it if was his fault.

"And of all the people in the crowd you run me down, you do know you'll be the death of me kiddo," scolded Selena as she sat up.

"I said sor..." Yuli started to say when he looked behind Selena his eye widen. "What's with you, cat got your tongue?" Selena asked him, she suddenly felt something nudge her arm, she thought it was a stray dog or Mary taken one of her cat forms.

"Mary not now, go bug..." Selena started to say as she looked to see who or what nudged her. "You're not..." she added once she saw what rubbed against her, a large white tiger. She saw it walk pass her and licked Yuli. Selena let out a yell and grabbed Yuli pulling him behind her.

"Heh, I don't know who Mary is, but you two really did wipe out there, you both alright? You two aren't hurt or anything?" a voice asked, Selena saw someone standing next to the tiger. It was a teenage boy about her age, he had black hair and the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen.

"Y...ye...yeah...we're fine," Selena stammered as she blushed a light pink and straightened herself out some.

`Oh my luck just turned around, knew this trip would be worth it,` thought Selena as she kept starring at the black haired boy.

"Is she alright?" the black hair teenager asked.

"She sometimes stares off like this sometimes, is that a real tiger mister?" replied Yuli still looking at the large cat.

"He sure is, and my name is Ryo if you were wondering," answered the teen, "He seems...wait.." Selena told herself softly as she started to get a good look at Ryo. Then something clicked in her memory about this guy.

"Wait I know you! You hang outside my dance studio! Are you stalking me or something?!" exclaimed Selena, Ryo put his hands up to settle her down a bit before she went crazy.

"Whoa calm down, I'm not stalking you, I don't even know you. I just walked by there one day and saw how you dance, you're really good," Ryo commented, Selena relaxed herself a bit when she heard his comment, she didn't think anyone outside her family saw her a descent dancer.

"Y...you..think..?" asked Selena sounding nervous, she wasn't really use to getting comments for her talent, but when she hid it from others it was no surprise.

"Yeah, I've been wanting to talk to you but I never work up the nerve, and by the time I do you're gone," answered Ryo, he must have been watching her for a good while but never really noticed him, Selena felt a little bad for not giving him the time day.

"It's not your fault, I'm shy mostly so...yeah," Selena told Ryo, she pulled her hair back behind her ear as she felt Ryo's tiger rubbing up against her like a house cat, she placed her hand on the tiger and rubbed his fur some while Yuli stood next to her.

"Ah, at least I know it's not my fault, sort of," said Ryo.

"Maybe we should tell each other our names, before we pull a Cinderella on each other, I really spaced out when I heard you tell my brother your name," replied Selena. Yuli looked up at her.

"Do you like this guy sis?" Yuli asked her, Selena turned bright red and looked down at him. "Sis?" questioned Ryo looking at the two of them.

"Remind me to have a talk with you about being discrete and teach you the meaning of that word!" Selena said through her teeth in a harsh tone.

"You're his sister?" Ryo asked her.

"Heh, long story short, his folks and my folks are family friends and I'm staying with them while I'm here visiting from America," she answered.

"Oh, so you're like a sister to him and that's why he calls you that, and you do speak very beautiful Japanese," replied Ryo, Selena lightly blushed once more.

"Yeah and thanks," said Selena. The two of them heard very familiar voices through the crowd, right away Selena knew who they were.

"Careful! Selena!" Ikuko called out in a panicked tone when she saw the tiger near the two two them.

"Son! Both of you!" Toushirou shouted to them.

"And that would be his folks and my host family," sighed Selena, then Ryo heard Selena's name but yet she still didn't know his name, she would find it out sooner or later, but he didn't know if he would see her again he didn't know how long she would be in Japan, but at least she wouldn't be hard to find if he really did want and need to see her again.

"Selena is it? You'd better get the kid back to his mom and dad, they sound pretty worried," Ryo told her as he walked past them with his tiger right beside him.

`He heard my name and he knows it! But there's something about that guy, I can't...I just can't explain it...but...` thought Selena as she saw him leave. "Selena?" Yuli asked tugging on her hand, she looked down at him and smiled then back over to Ikuko and Toushirou.

"We better get back over to your folks before your mom has a heart attack," said Selena as she started to lead him back to his parents, she didn't notice that Ryo looked over his shoulder back at her.

`That girl, she wasn't scared of White Blaze but for a second, and he warmed right up to her, I've never seen him do that with anyone before, is it possible, could she be...` thought Ryo as he kept walking. Selena and Yuli made their way through the crowd back over to Toushirou and Ikuko.

"OK that was some excitement for my day and a cute guy to boot," Selena told herself softly. Ikuko threw her arms around her young son.

"There you two are! I can't believe you let him get that close to a wild animal!" Toushirou yelled at Selena.

"Me?! I didn't..." Selena was about to get into an argument with him when Yuli stepped in.

"It's not her fault dad! I ran into her when I lost control in the crowd," Yuli told his dad.

"And the tiger didn't hurt us! If anything I saw it lick him and it nuzzled up to me, it didn't want to attack us," Selena pointed out, Ikuko sighed and rubbed her head.

"Be that as it may you two could've really gotten hurt, we've told you not to run off like that!" scolded Ikuko. "Sorry," both Selena and Yuli told her, Selena knew most of Ikuko's scolding was more towards Yuli, she didn't get why she would sometimes be blamed also, she thought because she was with him most of the time. But Ikuko couldn't stay mad at them for long even if it wasn't Selena's fault.

"You both are alright that's all I care about, just promise me you won't do something like that again," Ikuko told them.

"No promises if I didn't cause it," said Selena.

"Dear did you bring an umbrella, looks like rain," Toushirou told them noticing the sky, dark clouds filled the sky from what seemed like no where. Selena gave notice to the sky and something wasn't sitting right with her.

"That's strange, there wasn't a chance of rain in the weather forecast last night," said Ikuko.

Selena had a very terrible feeling when she saw the dark clouds, a feeling of dread came over her and she could feel a chill in the air, something was going to happen and it wasn't going to be good Selena felt her stomach drop, she had the same feeling last night. Something bad was going to happen then she remembered what Yuko told her. `If things start to get strange, come straight to my house` She had to get to Yuko's but she didn't want to leave her host family alone.

"Selena dear, are you alright?" Ikuko asked her.

"You guys get somewhere safe, something's come up at work I have to go!" stated Selena.

"What?" all three of them asked sounding a bit confused.

"Look no matter what happens you guys stay together and if you get separated I won't stop looking for any of you," Selena told them in panicked tone.

"Is she having a nervous breakdown again? I'm a bit worried," Toushirou asked his wife a bit concerned, Selena was getting a bit frustrated with this.

"This is not a nervous breakdown!" yelled Selena.

"Selena?" Ikuko asked her once again. The girl took deep breathes to clam herself then with a very serious look in her eyes stared at them.

"Look please trust me on this, get somewhere safe and you guys know if Yuli get's separated from you both I will look out for him and protect him until I find you two," Selena added as she gripped her cross body bag strap tightly, they knew it was a bit of nervous habit for her if she felt something was going to happen.

"We know Selena we trust you with his life but what dose..." Toushirou started to ask when a rumble of thunder came around. Selena was more one edge than ever, she couldn't wait any longer.

"Just promise me you guys will stay safe! I have to go!" exclaimed Selena as she took off down the street.

"Selena! Wait!" Yuli called after she started to run. As she ran she saw lights cutting out all over the city, she heard people saying electric devices stopped working, even cars were at a dead stop in road. People started to complain, while others started to get worried.

`Don't stop, keep running, keep going! Get to Yuko's, find Mary and Anne!` thought Selena as she kept trying to run. Suddenly a helicopter crashed into a near by building, she hear people sounding scared and worried. Selena could only hope that her host family would be safe. "This can't be real! This can't be real!" Selena told herself as she rounded a corner with even more people.

Suddenly a large ear splitting crash of thunder rang out and lighting shot down, this was not ordinary lighting, it struck the near by buildings Selena counted at least four times. When she heard the glass shattering and breaking Selena took her `Tornado drill` pose, crouched low and hands covering her neck and head, she could hear the people screaming and panicking.

Selena held back a wave fear and tears as she tried to stand up and pulled herself out of the way when a wave of people came out of no where, she ran away from the crowd when three voices made her blood run cold as she headed down and alley.

"Papa! Mama!"

"Son!"

"No!"

Selena stopped for a second when she heard those voices and turned to see a fog come around and people running into it, they almost seem to vanish, something inside Selena told her to keep running, away from the fog, she ran until everything became so silent then she remembered the voices.

"Toushirou! Ikuko! Yuli! I have to go back for them! I can't just..." Selena started to tell herself when she felt a tug on her skirt, she had gotten caught on bit of steel frame from a collapsed building, she rolled her eyes.

"Are you kidding me!? I don't have time for this!" shouted Selena as she tried to free her skirt, then a sudden heaviness in the air and the slight sound of foot steps. Not a good thing if you're alone in a sudden empty city and she had seen too many horror movies to know what would happen next, Selena kept tugging at her skirt and it wouldn't come lose! Then she saw what the foot steps belonged to, a yoroi musha, a soldier in armor, but not like the kind she had read about or seen in museums this type of soldier was very different.

"Can my day get any worse!?" shouted Selena, the soldier turned and saw her. Panic set in as she tried even more to get her skirt lose as the soldier drew closer and had a sword out.

"When am I going to learn to keep my panic voice to a low roar! Get lose! Get lose!" Selena told herself, she panicked even more when the skirt still wouldn't come lose, she could hear the solider getting closer.

"S...stay back...! I'm warning you! I have a taser and I'll use it!" yelled Selena, she thought the solider would buy the bluff but it didn't work it still kept coming, she still tugged at her skirt.

"Get away! Stay back!" she screamed once again as it was mere inches from her. Now more than ever she hoped her skirt would come free, she felt the soldier right next to her, sword raise. "Someone help, it's going to kill me!" Selena screamed at the top of her lungs, hands raised to protect herself and eyes shut tight when something happened. A kanji appeared on her forehead and a sliverly blue light shone from her body, the light seemed to be protecting her.

When Selena opened her eyes again she saw that soldier had become nothing more than a pile of armor, she kicked a bit of the foot to make sure it wouldn't spring back to life and to her relief it didn't, all she could do was let out a sigh of relief and feel like she was going to pass out.

"Some light show there," a voice said next to Selena, she screamed once more.

"Take it easy there love, I'm not going to hurt you, thought I was hearing things when I heard a scream, guess I was wrong," she saw a other boy around her age with a British accent and light brown hair standing next to her.

"Sorry, you nearly scared the life out of me, uhhh your name?" replied Selena.

"Oh it's Cye, I take it the soldier wasn't your main problem?" he answered.

"N...no, I was running and my skirt got caught on this wire framing, I tried to get it lose before that soldier showed up, and well it's stuck on good it won't come lose," replied Selena. Cye nodded.

"I see, maybe I can help you then, it isn't safe out here anyway uhh..." said Cye as he worked at the hem of Selena's skirt.

"Selena, my name is Selena, thanks for the help," she told him.

"There, you're unhooked, now then Selena you best get out of here, as I said it's not very safe here and remember I'm on your side in the future but best be off now," Cye told her.

"Thanks again trust me I'm finding my girlfriends and making a b-line out of here, oh and Cye was it? If you see a little boy in a light yellow sweater, let him know I'm looking for him, he's my little brother," said Selena.

"No worries luv, I'll watch out for him and send your way when I can, be careful," Cye told her as he left.

Selena looked back one more time in hopes to at least catch a glimpse of her hero but he was long gone.

"Hope he'll be alright with what evers going on, but I need to focus on getting to Yuko's maybe find the girls along the way if it's possible, hope Twilight wasn't caught in this, her flight was suppose to land today," she told herself.

Everything was now deathly quite, the only sound was her running through empty streets. Selena stopped for a little bit to catch her breath and pulled out her cell phone to at least try and find Anne and Mary, but no signal. A second `not a good thing horror movie play,` she looked around then turned down a street and ran into something or someone.

"AH! Not a other one! Don't kill me!" Selena yelled once again.

"Unless you did something do get me mad at you for whatever reason Lena," said a voice, Selena knew who it was right away.

"Mary! Oh thank gods! You're not one of those solider things from earlier!" exclaimed Selena as she hugged her friend tightly.

"Happy to see you...too Lena but...hugging too...tight...can't...breathe..." gasped Mary.

"Oh sorry, Mary, your ears and tails are out," noticed Selena as she let her friend go to see her better. One thing about Mary she was fused with cat demon DNA due to an incident she went through when she was very small, and every now and then she had cat ears and two cat tails pop out, but she did her best to hide them.

"I know, got into a fight I couldn't avoid, and the guys I fought along side with you would not believe me if I told you," said Mary.

"Try me, I've seen much stranger things, but right now focus on getting to Yuko's," Selena told her friend as they started to run down the street.

"Wait, your host family, are they..." Mary started to ask.

"I...I..I had to leave them behind, I don't know if they're alright," answered Selena.

"We'll find them Lena, and Yuko will be able to help, if we can get there in one piece," Mary tried to at least relax her friends mind as they still ran.

The two came around a corner and knew the street they were on was Yuko's street, when they could see the fence of Yuko's house and started to run even harder, Selena made a tiny mistake of looking back and when she saw what was in the sky, a scream left her mouth, Mary turned to see what her friend was screaming at and saw it also, a large castle was in the sky! It looked very threatening.

"Tell me you're seeing this Mary?" asked Selena.

"Yeah, I think this is what Yuko meant by if things got strange! Let's book it to her place, she'll tell us what's going on and maybe she has a way to stop it if there is a way to stop it," Mary told Selena as she started to pull her along, but Selena couldn't help but stare at the huge castle but an jolt from a near trip got her back on track. The two could feel a sort of darkness closing in around them.

"We need to push it! We're almost to Yuko's!" shouted Mary.

"This darkness! Mary I don't know if..." before Selena could finish, the two friends tripped into the front yard of their mentor, the closing darkness seem to disburse once it got close to Yuko's fence. The two looked back at the fence and looked up to see Yuko, the two girls caught their breath.

"Mary! Selena! There you guys are! I was starting to get worried!" exclaimed Anne.

"You were worried?! There's a castle in the sky! And every living person in this city just up and vanished! Nothing is working! I lost my family friends! Just what the hell is going on?!" screamed Selena. "Silence!" Yuko yelled, the three girls became quite and looked at her.

"I thought I'd have more time, seems he decide to arrive early, but then again after being imprisoned for a thousand years I'd want to get out some too," said Yuko, the friends became a bit confused.

"What is she talking about, who's he? And what is all this?" asked Anne. Yuko turned to them.

"This is what I've been training you girls for, what you must face if you want to save the world, and those you love, if not stopped this darkness will spread like a virus," Yuko told them as she turned back to the sky castle.

"So it begins," added Yuko.

"Begins what? What are we going to face?" asked Selena, Yuko again turned back to them.

"The war with the Dynasty," answered Yuko.

The three friends stood next to their mentor and saw the castle, they were unsure about what they had just been thrust into, but they had no idea where to start.

"So much for a normal vacation," said Mary.