Chapter 2

When she opened her eyes she didn't recognize where she was. She wasn't standing but laying on something cold and hard, her shoulders and knees hurt as if she had fallen. She slowly pushed herself up looking around the dark room. A single window to her right let a small slip of white light glow across the ceiling. Around her were large crates filled with who knows what. "Where am I?" She wondered. The last thing she remembered was being in the basement with her brother. What happened? Where was Zakai?

"Zak?" she asked softly. There was no answer. "Zak?" she said again a little bit louder, still no response.

She slowly stood onto her bare feet, immediately noticing she still had her socks on but no shoes.

"Where are my shoes?" she wondered.

The floor was cold yet smooth like some kind of tile or hardwood. The walls were tall and bare with only a door on the other side of the room. As she made her way towards it the hair on the back of her neck raised. She was being watched. She slightly quickened her steps but as she did she could hear the pitter-patter of feet behind her. Instinctively she turned to face it and when she did she almost didn't recognize the scream she heard. In front of her was a kind of beast she had never seen before. It towered over her easily three times her size, red slimy skin and four large black eyes on each side of its head. It's head was twisted at a 360 degree angle with disgusting yellow teeth poking out of its lip, slobber drooling down its body. Its scrawny arms had lumps that had long thick fingers sticking out at odd angles and seemed to be positioned backwards on the body. It had a thick body with four spiderlike feet sharp enough to cut into the concrete.

Her eyes frantically searched the room looking for some kind of weapon. Finally she found a crate near the door that had a loose board. Without thinking she ran to it, prying the board free. She noticed that the end of the board had multiple nails sticking out of the end. Maybe if she could hit it in a weak spot, it would give her enough time to escape. She could hear the monster running towards her. She turned to face it and as she did it let out a terrifying cry reaching its scrawny arm out to grab her.

"Take this!" She screamed as she swung the board with all her might. Every muscle inside her was putting its full effort into this swing. She could feel the energy flowing from her body through her hands to this board. To her amazement, as she felt this the board began glow with a blue fire thrashing against the wind of her force. It connected right where she wanted it, in the cold black eye positioned on the left side of its head. Something she couldn't understand happened. When the nails in the board hit the beasts eye the blue fire simmered down then exploded into an overwhelming burst of heat sending Tezuka flying backwards into the wall and the headless body of the monster onto the floor.

~

(A/N: For the remainder of the story they will be speaking in Japanese but I will be typing it in English)

"Hey," She heard in a familiar accent though the deep voice wasn't familiar to her as a warm hand slightly shook her shoulder. "Hey wake up." The language the voice was speaking in was not English but Japanese, though she understood it perfectly. After her parents died and Zak left she lived with her grandparents, both of which spoke fluent English, however were more comfortable speaking in Japanese. She loved the language and learning it made her feel closer to her parents.

"We should take her to the school," an older male voice said still speaking in Japanese. School?

"How the hell did she take out that curse?" the younger male voice asked. Curse?

"Maybe she's a curse user," the older voice said.

"Wouldn't that make her a student at one of the schools here?" the younger voice answered.

"She doesn't seem to be wearing a uniform," the older voice said.

She slowly opened her eyes and immediately felt throbbing in the back of her head. She winced as she lifted her hand to her head. She was still laying in the dark room though the door was now opened letting more light in though it cast many shadows across the room. She saw the dark silhouette hovering above her and panicked. She crawled away as fast as she could and jumped to her feet which she instantly regretted because it caused her to get light headed. She fought through it and held out her fists. For all she knew these creeps could've been the ones who brought her here. She had watched enough episodes of Criminal Minds to know that some people got off on pretending to be their victims friends.

"Hey it's okay," the younger man's voice that she had heard was coming from the dark silhouette. "We're not here to hurt you," the dark silhouette walked closer. The other man was standing by the door though she couldn't see his face either. "My name is Yuji," she heard the young man say as he lifted his arms to her. Her eyes began to focus more and she could make out the red hood attached to his dark clothes, tan skin, and pink hair. Pink hair? Yuji? Why was this all familiar to her? Soon she could see his face. He was a handsome boy, probably about her own age. His thin chiseled features cast soft shadows across his face. His large light brown eyes didn't move from her own eyes giving her a sense of comfort. "What's your name?" he asked lifting his hand reaching for her clenched fist. She watched him carefully. If he grabbed her fist she could still sweep his leg from underneath him.

"Tezuka," she responded using her Japanese name.

"Tezuka," he smirked. "That's a really pretty name,"

"Thank you," she responded.

"That wound on your head needs medical attention, let me help you get medical attention." he said taking another step forward and she took another step back.

"Where am I?" she asked. "How did I get here? What is that thing?"

"I don't know how you got here, my sensei and I were called here to take out that curse that was seen in this building. See I'm a student at Jujutsu Tech here in Sendai City." he responded pointing to a small pin on the chest of his jacket.

Sendai City? If she remembered correctly that was the capital of the Miyagi prefecture of Japan. She only knew because her grandparents had lived just outside the city before moving to America. She was in Japan?! Curse? What the hell was a curse?!

"No that's not possible," she spoke lowering her fists. How long had she been unconscious? How the hell was she in Japan? "You're lying,"

"What?" he asked confused. "No, I'm not,"

"Yes you are!" she exclaimed. "An hour ago I was at my house in San Digeo, now tell me where I am before I put you on the floor!"

"San Diego?" the older man said walking over to the two. "You're from America?"

"Yes," she said.

"We need to get her to the academy and report to Gojo," the older man said.

"What do you think happened?" Yuji asked.

"Maybe some kind of innate domain malfunction or dimensional cross. Either way, we need to tell Gojo." the older man said he then turned and walked out the door.

She looked over at Yuji, something in his face told her he wasn't lying even though she didn't want to believe it. She let down her fists.

"What is that thing?" She nodded at the lifeless body of the monster, its head lodged into the wall to their left.

"That is a cursed spirit, a nasty one too. You're really brave for fighting it how did you kill it?" he responded.

"I-I don't know, I had a two by four and then there was a blue fire and next thing I knew I was flung across the room." she responded.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Physically or mentally?" she asked in a quiet sarcastic tone.

"Both," he responded. She looked at him surprised he heard her.

"I don't know," she answered.

"Don't worry," he said with a smirk. "Gojo sensei will figure it out, come on. The school nurses can take a look at you."

Tezuka nodded grabbing her bare arms. She was still in the outfit she had been wearing at the party and the temperature was cold here. Not to mention, the only thing she was wearing was a tube top and small skirt. Now that her blood wasn't burning with adrenaline, she could feel goose bumps on her skin.

"Here, you must be cold," he said unbuttoning his jacket. He took it off exposing large muscular shoulders and ripped biceps with veins bulging out of his skin. He opened the jacket and walked towards her laying it on her shoulders. As soon as he did, she got a whiff of something she'd never smelt before. It was a sweet musky scent but different than anything she'd ever smelt before. After he set the jacket on her shoulders he stood next to her. He was a couple inches taller than her and his body radiated a heat that welcomed her. The black muscle top he had been wearing under the jacket fit his body nicely and showed every cut of muscle.

"Come on," he said putting a large hand on her back. She followed him out of the room and down a labyrinth of hallways until they finally reached an entrance. Before them was a paved street full of overgrown weeds poking out of the cracks. It was bright out though the sky was covered in clouds. All around them were tall trees that she had never seen before. Everything was so green and healthy compared to California. Anything that was green was an artificial cover up to convince the masses there wasn't a massive drought going on.

"Here," Yuji said holding open the door of a black Toyota Camry. When she got into the vehicle it took her a minute to realize that she was not going crazy and that the steering wheel was indeed on the right side of the vehicle instead of the left. She grabbed her head massaging her temples. She desperately hoped that this was all just a crazy dream. She hoped that if she laid her head against this window she'd wake up in her own bed in her own house in her own country.