Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Back Through the Book ❯ Chapter One - 'As the Page Turns' ( Chapter 1 )

Author's Note: This is a fan fiction about my friends and I heading into yet another of our favorite animes. Although written by us, the characters in this story belong to their original creator, Yu Watase, with the exception of our characters, Kuri, Kitsune & Kitanna. We keep to our true personalities so you can even look at this, in a way, as getting to us better…if you'd want to…or…yeah. Also, this fic is rated PG-13 because of possibly upcoming violent scenes and referrals to things such as rape, although we can assure you it will go no further. Enjoy ^^

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Chapter One: `As the Page Turns'

It was a day like any other; hot, humid and ultimately one best spent at the beach. Of course, this was not the case for the three young stars of this story. It never is. Following their usual summer routine, the girls headed off for the downtown area of their city in the boredom-induced hopes that their usual stops would present them with something new and exciting.

Kitanna dug hopelessly through her pockets. Pulling out a mere three pennies and a dime, she groaned. "Damn it…" She held her stomach. "If I don't get some food, or at least a drink, I swear, I'm going to die." A five-dollar bill was suddenly waved in front of her face causing her to look over at one of her two friends.

"It's only `cause you'll just end up whining if I don't…" Kuri huffed indignantly, stuffing the money back into her pocket.

"I don't whine!" Kitanna protested, clenching her fists angrily. Smiling, Kuri merely rolled in eyes in response. It was response enough, as always. "You always say that, but I don't whine all the…"

"Guys…can you please stop arguing?" The `til-now-silent Kitsune spoke up, walking up in between them. Kitanna pouted.

"It's always her who starts it anyway…" Abruptly changing the subject to avoid another head-splitting confrontation, Kuri repositioned her hat and suggested their next plan of action.

"I say we go to the library…since we're kinda already here anyway," she stated, referring to the crowded building only across the street from them. "Then we can go the mall and get poor little Kitanna some food. That, and I could really go for a chocolate milk right now."

Kitsune couldn't help but smile and state all-knowingly, "You could always go for a chocolate milk!"

"I know."

Walking up the stairs, Kuri opened the main door, holding it open. "After you." She motioned with her hand. Kitsune and Kitanna smirked, stepping through before their friend closed the door behind them, following them, in turn, downstairs to the youth department.

"Hold on you guys, I have some books on hold here I need to pick up." Kitsune piped up, reaching into her shoulder bag for her library card. Kuri grinned an almost vengeful smile.

"You always have something on hold at the library." Kitsune's tail frizzed slightly at the sarcastic statement.

"Well…nyah!" she spat, sticking her tongue out. She redirected her attention as one of the female librarians came out from the backroom.

"Good afternoon, Kitsune." She said with a smile. Because of Kitsune's frequent visits to the library, she was a familiar face to a few of those who worked there. Stacking a few books, the librarian scrolled down a few files on the computer. "Here to pick up your books?"

"Uh huh," the young fox-tailed girl nodded cheerfully. She was suddenly caused to move slightly to the side by a few young children who eagerly awaited checking out their books and videos. The woman pointed to where on the desk the children could place their books before returning to Kitsune.

"I figured you'd be coming today so I stacked your books together somewhere around here," she said, looking through some of the books on the rack beside her. "Hmmm… I don't see them here; I must've left them downstairs in the basement." Kitsune's ears dropped slightly at the idea of not being able to get her novels and manga out today. "I know," the librarian perked up. "I'm pretty sure I just left them at the bottom of the stairs on the table so why don't you just run down there and pick them up?" Usually only the staff was allowed downstairs in the special-book storage area, so Kitsune was pretty happy to feel worthy…even if it was only going to the bottom of the stairs.

"Okay," she pointed down the stairs meekly, suddenly feeling the slightest bit unsure of something. "They're just on a table near the bottom of the table, right?" The librarian nodded before turning to attend to the line of people waiting with their arms full of books. Kuri and Kitanna walked over beside her. Kitanna looked down the stairs.

"I've always wanted to know what it looks like down there." She said, grasping the rail and beginning her way down. Kitsune and Kuri followed. Arriving at the bottom in no time, the room was large and dimly lit. There were stacks and stacks and stacks of books everywhere. The place smelled kinda musty and a lot of stuff seemed to have a layer of dust on it.

"Don't everyone get too excited at once…" Kitanna said sarcastically. Kitsune, however, had already retrieved her books from the table as she was instructed and was ready to go back upstairs.

"You're going back upstairs already?" Kuri questioned, already reading some of the book titles along the wall.

"Huh? What? Me? Well…yeah, I mean, I got my books already. See?" she held up her books as confirmation. Kuri and Kitanna both sighed.

"We noticed but look at all these old books… don't tell me you don't wanna look around?" It was obvious Kitsune was uneasy about staying down there longer then the librarian knew was necessary. "Only a quick look around then we'll go, alright?"

Suddenly a rather large surge of wind blew through the room from an unknown source, flipping over several book covers and blowing up clouds of dust and dirt. As Kitanna struggled to catch a few books that teetered off tables around her, Kitsune coughed and held strong to the stair-banister to keep her balance. Kuri, on the other hand, attempted to rescue her hat from a sure hat-napping but was unsuccessful as it was pulled gently from her head and blown down the corridor of stacks. Only lasting a total of about fifteen seconds, the wind was gone as abruptly as it had started.

"O-okay…what was that?" Kitsune stammered, pushing her blown hair out of her face.

"Felt like someone just left the window open to me," Kitanna pointed out. "A really big window. What do you think K-…Kuri?" Kitanna looked around, spotting Kuri a few stacks down, looking side to side. "What're you doing? Didn't you just feel that wind?" Kuri looked back at her.

"Of course I felt it… and it stole my hat!" She continued looking, walking out of sight. After a few moments and a few more randomly taken turns, she spotted her white bucket hat squashed underneath a book. "The book must have fallen on it as the wind dropped it there…convenient," she thought to herself. Bending down, she removed the book and pulled out her flatten headwear, brushing the dust of it. Scowling, Kuri stood up unfortunately knocking her head against a book jutting out from the shelf. This triggered a small avalanche of books, which…well…fell.

"Kuri? Kuri, didja find your hat?" Kitsune hollered. Sure it had only been a few seconds, but she wanted to go back upstairs before the librarian got mad. An obvious `eep' coming from the general direction which her friend had headed and a cloud of dust that blew out from one of the corridors was a clear indication of at least something. Running down the corridor, the two girls saw Kuri sitting on the ground, holding hat in one hand and holding a lump on her head with the other. The four books lying on the floor around her were a slight give away as to the little situation.

"Ow…" she said flatly, standing up and brushing the dust off her pants which took no time to collect there. She picked up one of the books, coincidentally the one that had squashed her hat in the first place.

"Are you alright?" Kitanna asked, picking up the remainder of the books and replacing them on the shelf.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine but I blame my dirty jeans and my sore head on this book!" she said, almost in a jokingly manner, presenting the book she held in her hand. Kitsune took it from her, preparing to put it back on the shelf. She read the title.

"Universe of the Four Gods." Kitsune scratched her head. "Does that sound familiar to you guys?"

"Yeah, that's the book from `Fushigi Yugi' isn't it? The book Miaka and Yui found in their library…" Kuri explained, taking the book back. "Only that book was Japanese translated from Chinese," she opened the book to the first page. "This is obviously English." She began to read. "And as the pages were turned, so began the tale…"

"Why does that sound freakishly kinda, sorta familiar…?" Kitanna stated, moving over beside the other two.

"I think it's because…" she couldn't finish; the wind, stronger than before, bellowed around them, flipping the pages of the book and swirling the dust like small tornadoes. The sound of footsteps on the stairs suddenly echoed through the room as the wind, creeping away like a discovered animal, retreated into nothingness.

"Are you girls still down there?" came the voice of the librarian. She walked down the corridor, looking through the stacks of books. Silence. She stopped at one corridor, spotting someone's dirty white hat and a pile of knocked over novels. The only open book, lying seemingly unsettled on the floor, was titled "Universe of the Four Gods", open to the first page of a new chapter simply called `From An Unknown Land'.

--End of Chapter 1--