"Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change."

~Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Today was going to be a glorious day. She was finally going to meet her long-distance friend of my years. She had traveled from America to come here to the nation of Japan to finally meet her pen pal. Someone she had first written to when she was in elementary school. Back when times were simpler; before she lost her innocence.

Her wild curly mane, falling just below her shoulders, she called hair moved slightly as a nice warm breeze blew by. Most would call it a nice natural look, she calls it a disaster that can be slightly tamed. She would have cut it by now but a fond distant memory from long ago prevents her from doing so. Even then if she were to cut it now it would come back twice as thick and possibly take years to get back to this length.

Japan wasn't so bad. The food smelled nice, and the food also tasted nice. And did she forget to mention the food? And yeah, the stares were a little nerve-wracking but she was kind of used to it by now. She knew her appearance wasn't the standard here, but when will it ever be? After all, a black girl with natural amber-colored eyes isn't something yousee every day. Eyes she didn't inherit from her mother or father.

Or it could be the fact she ordered ten sticks of yakitori and was eating two at once. But can you blame her? It was something new to her that tasted way better than she thought it would.

After walking around and sightseeing for a good hour and a half, she soon got to her destination where her pen pal was supposed to meet her. The place they were supposed to meet was a shrine, that just so happened to be up a long flight of stone stairs. And she so happens to be carrying a giant brown backpack on her back and two heavy black suitcases with her name stitched into them. With a quiet sigh, she begrudgingly took the journey up, lugging her stuff along with her up the many, many stairs.

By the time she reached the top her grey t-shirt and ridiculous grey cat-eared pullover hoodie were covered in sweat. Her black sweatpants felt like they were sticking to her legs while the black steel-toed boots she decided to wear felt wet and uncomfortable on the inside. Her breath was labored and her face had by now gained a reddish hue.

A little way over from the entrance she saw a giant ancient-looking tree, its size compared to a three-story building. Her beingtired decided that leaning against it would her catch her lost breath.A feeling of comfort and security washed through her body as soon as her sweaty back made contact with the tree. The rough bark dug into her but she didn't care as she slowly started to relax from that mini-workout.

Suddenly she felt a soft pulse from the tree. It started slowly before going into a steady rhythm. It was strong and she felt something inside of her resonate with it. Then out of nowhere, abright flash of pinkish/purplish light blinded her and the area.

It was so sudden. One moment she was leaning against the giant tree (its presence was comforting and gentle) the next moment she was free-falling through the air only to land on top of a two-headed lizard creature thing.

Rolling off of the creature the girl landed on the ground, her clothes ruffled and now slightly dirty. Even though the landing was rough she didn't feel much pain at all. Slowly she sat up from the grassy ground only to come nose to muzzle with one of the heads of the lizard, the other staring boredly at her. It puffed out a burst of air from its nostrils before turning to eat some grass. Sighing in relief that she wasn't in immediate danger the girl inspected her surroundings.

She and the lizards were in a clearing with tall trees surrounding the area. From what she could tell, it was a thick forest. Sounds of wildlife (songbirds chirping, a rabbit foraging) and the munching of grass permitted the somewhat silent air. It was daytime since the sun was high up in the clear blue sky. If she were to guess, it was probably high noon or somewhere around that time. With it being late spring it was mildly warm, but she knew sooner or later she would need to seek shelter from the cold night.

Looking around again she saw her backpack lying at least three feet over to her right. The top zipper was slightly undone so a few of her belongings lay about on the grass and none of her other stuff seemed to be in sight. Slowly but carefully she got to her feet, shuffling over to her bag while also checking herself over for injuries. She found none concerning, just a few light scratches here and there, but otherwise, she was fine. Running her fingers through her hair she found a twig and a few pieces of grass. But just to be sure she shook her head to dislodge any other debris.

Upon getting to her bag she noticed the only things out of it were one of her sketchbooks and a brush pen she bought not long ago while sightseeing. The sleek black design of the pen and the shiny brown leather of the sketchbook appealed to her taste in vintage-looking art tools. She bent down and slung her backpack on before grabbing the sketchbook and pen. As she got up, and examined her things for damage, her gaze slowly landed on a man standing right in front of her.

In fright, she squeaked before quickly backing away, her back meeting the side of the two-headed dragon. The creature feeling the girl against its side breathing heavily nudged her with one of its heads before going back to grazing. The man who seemed to appear out of nowhere showed no outward expression as he blankly gazed upon the girl. She didn't even hear him come up.

He had silvery white hair that was long and cascaded down to the back of his knees with short bangs covering his forehead. It looked silking in texture but she wasn't about to walk up to him to find out. Tall and slender he was, with a fair complexion and a set of slanted golden orbs and slit pupils. On each of his cheeks were two magenta stripes along with a magenta stripe on each of his eyelids and a noticeable purple crescent moon upon his forehead. His ears were pointed and seemed to twitch just slightly when she took a step closer to the dragon.

His clothes were questionable though. From what she knows extensively from all the Asian history and culture she looked up to, it was obvious his style of clothing was ancient. He had armor, a spiked pauldron that covered his left shoulder which was attached to the top of what she knew to be called a cuirass with lotus petal faulds. He wore a kimono, which was mostly white with a red and white cherry blossom flower crest at the collar and sleeves, along with sashinuki hakama which were gathered at the ankles, producing a "ballooning" effect, and black ankle-high boots.

All in all, he looked handsome with a slight feminine charm to his appearance. His facial expression still hadn't changed as he stood staring at the girl for what felt like forever but had been about two minutes. She contemplated if she should run or not and if it was possible to outrun the man. She probably couldn't but it wouldn't hurt to try. Just as she was about to make her decision, the man finally, after staring for so long, as if assessing her and her appearance, spoke.

"You are trespassing on this Sesshomaru's land. Leave now or else I will end your life." he coldly ordered. Owlishly she blinked, not fully understanding what she was hearing.

"What? I don't understand what you're saying," she asked cluelessly in English. Hearing her speak something that sounded like gibberish, but vaguely like actual words, caused the man to glare at her, but curiosity did spark a little in him. He didn't understand the small spark of feeling he felt briefly light up inside of him. Her appearance was foreign to him but he also felt that he vaguely knew this female.

"I will not repeat myself, girl. Leave or face the consequences," he warned as he took a step towards her. Something in his tone must have clued the girl in that something was wrong. That he was threatening her. And to an extent he was treating her.

"I'm sorry! I don't know how to speak much Japanese! Uh...uh..uh...He-Hello! My name is Ao Kohaku! I don't know much Japanese, s-sorry!" she rushed in English before stammering in broken Japanese. She then bowed deeply, hands fidgeting at her sides. Standing up straight quickly the girl noticed the man looking at her with his blank face again, but his eyes showed slight interest and curiosity. It was small enough that if anyone else looked they wouldn't see it but she knew better. It was almost scary to her, especially since her fight or flight was quickly kicking in.

By now shock seemed to be finally settling into the girl. This man isn't normal, his overall look and presence made it obvious. A two-headed giant lizard isn't normal unless this creature was just sadly an inbred that didn't win the genetic lottery. Falling from the sky wasn't normal. Well it was, cause you know sky diving and cliff jumping, but that wasn't the point. It wasn't normal to fall from the sky after resting on a damn tree. That freakishly squawking gremlin by the man's feet wasn't normal either. No matter what plausible excuse she thought of, none of this was normal.

With that final thought, her vision started to fade black. Her limbs got heavy, her mind took a rest, and her body collapsed to the ground. The man stared at the collapsed girl boredly, and then after weighing the pros and cons, gently picked her up. With her in his arms, he signaled for his company to follow. He had questions for the girl, and she better answer truthfully, or else he would show her what happens to those who lie to him.