<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #FF80BF">"How annoying,"</span></span>Amari grumbled to herself as she walked through the crowded streets, followed closely by three men who failed to look truly inconspicuous. She had succeeded in talking her father into allowing her to come to the festival in Kyoto, arguing that she hadn't come with him on his business trip to sit in a room all day, or even to accompany him to meetings. She had wanted to enjoy yourself. He'd eventually agreed, on the condition that she take some bodyguards with her. She'd been so excited that she hadn't argued his condition. Instead, she'd set about preparing herself to blend in, at least as much as was possible, and get into the festive spirit. She'd had a beautiful kimono hand-made, picked out a gorgeous hairpin, and had her hair done just for the occasion. Yet, despite these things, she was still not quite happy. If only she could get rid of her shadows, she could really explore and enjoy herself. That, however, was easier said than done.<br/><br/>She made a point of not giving away her intentions to the three men by doing anything foolish like repeatedly making unsuccessful attempts to slip away. She would lull them into a false sense of comfort, then when the time was right, when an opportunity presented itself, she would make her move. Until then, she had to deal with the men keeping her in what felt like a little bubble where others could not get close to her, tasting everything she ate before she could eat anything from any of the stalls and stands around, and otherwise doing what they thought necessary to keep her safe, but really just got on her nerves.<br/><br/>As the evening wore on, her chances began to slip away. Luckily, she had one last hope for escape: the fireworks. It would be dark and crowded and they would no doubt be at least somewhat distracted by the fireworks. After all, Japan was known for some impressive fireworks displays, and she doubted her father often gave his men such a chance to view them up close.<br/><br/>As the evening light faded to darkness and the fireworks began, they found a spot to watch that was close without being too crowded. Even so, there were still a number of people, and as she had hoped, they allowed themselves to be temporarily distracted by the bright, pretty fireworks that lit up the otherwise dark sky. The moment she saw an opportunity, she took it. She slipped into the crowd, running up a nearby hill where trees lined the paths that had been made for pedestrians to travel. Eventually she came upon a small shrine. It appeared to have hosted some sort of small event during the festival but was now deserted.<br/><br/>She climbed the steps to the shrine and turned towards the fireworks. Some could be seen above the trees, but it was far from an ideal location from which to view the display. She guessed that was the reason it had been deserted. There didn't appear to be anything of value for anyone to steal, so it wasn't as though they had to worry about leaving it for a short time. Not that it mattered, at any rate. She hadn't come here to steal, nor to socialize with anyone, but to get away from the three ball-and-chains she had been lugging around all day. Whether there was anyone here or not hardly mattered.<br/><br/>She decided to take a quick look around the shrine, as she had never been in one. She wanted to watch the fireworks, so she decided that she would only take a quick look around, rather than thoroughly exploring the small shrine.<span style="color: #FF80BF"> "Hmm?"</span>she bent over and picked up a magazine that someone had left behind.<span style="color: #FF80BF"> "Sengoku's hottest warlords?"</span>she read the title out loud. She flipped through the magazine that was obviously meant for young women and eventually found the article from the cover. It featured what was obviously a modern artist's rendition of a portrait containing the warlords from the Sengoku period that they had deemed to be the hottest, although she wondered how they decided who to place on the list when they had clearly never met any of them in person, and true historical portraits were unlikely to be anything close to as flattering as the portrait they presented. Oh well. In the grand scheme of things, did it really matter? It was obviously an article meant to entertain young women, not to provide a historic account of events, so she guessed she couldn't criticize it too much.<br/><br/>She read over the "fun facts" section and then closed magazine when she saw a flash of light.<span style="font-style: italic"> <span style="color: #FF80BF">"What was that?"</span> </span>she looked back, assuming it was likely a large firework that had made it high enough to be clearly seen above the trees. But what she saw was a different sight altogether. Initially, what she saw was a huge storm that seemed to have rolled it all at once, with bright flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder.<span style="color: #40BFFF">"Hey! Get down!"</span>she heard the voice of a man as he ran towards her, but it was too late. A moment later, a particularly bright streak of lightning cracked across the sky, striking entirely too close to her and painting the world white. The man, and the world she knew both faded away.<br/><br/>She instinctively closed her eyes in response to the flash of light before hesitantly opening them moments later.<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #FF80BF">"What the..."</span></span>her green eyes widened in surprise as the scenery that now unfolded before her was very different than what she had seen moments before. Where there had been large city blanketed by darkness and sound-tracked by the sounds of fireworks, there was now a field littered with the bodies of men and horses, the afternoon sun hung high in the sky, and the sound of fireworks had been replaced by the sound of clashing swords, battle cries, moan, screams, and the sounds of bowstrings.<br/><br/>She felt her heart race and panic threatened to set in as anxiety and confusion rose up inside of her. What the hell was going on? Where was she? Or perhaps the better question was, when was she? She didn't have an answer to these questions, but it quickly became evident that she had more pressing concerns as an arrow flew by barely a meter from where she stood. She looked around for a safe place to hide but there was not one nearby.<span style="font-style: italic"> <span style="color: #FF80BF">"Damn it,"</span></span>she muttered as she lifted the kimono up and ran towards the tree line about half a kilometer from where she had stood. As she ran for the tree line she took in the scene around her, the sights of skirmishes all around her, the sounds of battle, the scent of blood and burning vegetation. It was all so new to her, yet despite being new, it wasn't exciting to her. It was, perhaps, less terrifying than she might have expected, but she couldn't rule out the possibility that she was numb from the shock of it all and that the horrified feeling would set in later.<br/><br/>As she looked around, observing the battles, looking for threats to her own safety, her eyes landed on a man who looked surprisingly familiar, clashing swords with someone else. Several meters behind him stood another man with a bow aimed at the familiar-looking man. She couldn't really say why she acted, but she instinctively grabbed the only object nearby, a rock, and threw it at the archer, while yelling for the other man to look out. The rock hit the archer hard enough to alter the trajectory of his arrow just enough that it narrowly missed lodging itself into the flesh of his target.<br/><br/>It occurred to her at this moment that the man looked familiar because she had seen his face in the magazine only minutes before. Apparently, the portrait had portrayed their likeness more accurately than she had thought. But that wasn't really the issue here, was it? No. The issue was that she was, evidently, in the Sengoku period.<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #FF80BF">"Fuuuuuuu...."</span> </span>she started before ducking down with a slight<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #FF80BF">"Eep!"</span></span>sound as an arrow whizzed over her head. Apparently, the archer wasn't too happy about her interrupting his shot.<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #FF80BF">"Great. Just great. You've gone and ticked off an armed man when you have, what? Rocks to defend yourself with? That's just great, Amari. Great thinking,"</span></span>she muttered to herself as the man geared up for another shot.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF80BF">"Now would be a great time for you to thank me for saving you by returning the favor!"</span>she called out to the man the archer had previously targeted whilst she removed the sandals she had worn with the kimono and dashed towards the tree line with renewed determination, once again barely managing not to get herself shot.<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #FF80BF">"It's a good thing he has a bow and not a gun," </span></span>she mumbled to herself as she ran. She didn't bother to look back until she'd made it to the trees, not wanting to hesitate and end up with an arrow through her...well, anything.