"Damia!" A pretty blonde headed woman screamed joyfully from the door. Quickly running down the steps she threw her arms around 18 year old Damia Ao, successfully tackling her to the ground.
"Oh my gods! I missed you so much! You look gorgeous! You grew your hair out and dyed it blue! And, holy monkeys, you're still short!"
Damia chuckled dryly at her exuberant friend. Looking down into Nariel's green eyes, she patted her thick gold hair that was pooled on the ground.
"You do realize, darling, that your hair is so long it's ridicules? Not to mention no 18 year old I know has that long of hair!"
Grinning up at her, Nariel smirked.
"Yeah, but it's not as long as Sesshomarus'!"
Throwing her head back, Damia shock with laughter.
"A die-hard Inuyasha fun down to your core, huh?"
"Oh, please like you aren't just obsessed with Inuyasha as I am! In fact you cosplay as Sesshomaru, or Kanna or Sango every year! And, not to mention with your strange eye color you really do pull it off."
Damia's trademark silver eyes, known to change colors with her emotions, reflected blue in the light the sun provided.
"Yeah, yeah I know. Can you get up now? In case you forgot it's almost Thanksgiving and I'm freezing my butt off. This isn't the South it's New York City!"
"Oops, yeah sorry!"
Quickly climbing off, Nariel stood retching out a hand to pull her up.
"C'mon let's go inside! Aunt Alice, Uncle Ron and even Cousin Hale is here!"
Damia eyes lit up at the mention of Cousin Hale. He was a 26 year old website designer, with a passion for animation. Like Nariel, Hale was into Inuyasha and wanted to be a manga writer. He had already writing and drawn a series, though it was only about half done and has never seen by anyone save Hale.
Climbing the steps and entering into the spacious apartment, the smell of apple pie and chocolate permeated the air. Inhaling deeply, both girls smiled at each other before racing into the kitchen.
"Hey, y'all!" Damia said, waving at Uncle Ron who was reading a newspaper at the table, and Aunt Alice who had just poked her head from the kitchen to see who had come it.
"Aunt Alice, Damia's here!"
"Yes, Sharky I can see that. Hello, Bluebird!"
'Bluebird', was a well-known nickname for Damia mostly used by her friend's close family, much like the use of Nariel's nickname Sharky since she only allowed her family to use it.
Not that anyone (except Damia) actually knew the origin of that name.
"Hey, Auntie A and R.J.! What's cooking?"
Aunt Alice laughed, as she quickly disappeared, then reappeared with a plate full of cookies. Setting it on the table and winked at them.
"Hale bought another Inuyasha item and is waiting for you two upstairs. You may each take 3 cookies, dinner will be ready in about 3 hours and until then you are free."
Barely containing their excitement, they grasped each other's hand and squealed. Rushing forward they grabbed the cookies and shot upstairs with a hollered, "Thanks, Auntie A!"
Ron looked up from his newspaper to chuckle quietly.
"I still remember the day Nariel brought that girl home soaking wet and clutching a stuffed white puppy. Who knew that she would be such a joy?"
Aunt Alice smiled softly, her eyes misting over.
"She was a good thing for our girl. So mature and childish, insisting she didn't care what people thought of her and convinced she was crazy. Little Bluebird sure had grown up."
"They're getting to the age where they should be interested in boys by now. It won't be too long before they're walking down the aisle."
Quickly wiping her eyes, Alice swatted Ron with a dishtowel.
"Oh please they still have plenty of time for that! Granted, they're both beautiful young women but they're still young women!"
Grinning, he returned to his newspaper.
"Hale!!"
Quickly stepping out of the way of two fangirls, Hale watched as they tripped over each other's feet and crashed into his room.
"Hey, Ao! Hey Snarky!"
"Yo, Hale!" Damia gave him the peace sign as Nariel snarled at him.
"It's Sharky, not Snarky!!"
He laughed.
"If ya wanna see what I got, it's Snarky!"
Immediately, both girls were giving him puppy eyes.
"PLEASE, please show us!"
Crossing his arms and presenting them with his back, he stuck his nose in the air.
"Humph."
The silence stretched until he glanced back, only to find them already rifling through his stuff. Quickly dropping his act of superiority, he shouted, "Hey!"
They barely spared him a glance before going back to their search.
Sighing in defeat, he smiled.
"it's over here!"
As he regained their attention he reached for a simple wooden box from his shelf. Nariel quickly left the book she was going though and stood at his shoulder. Tugging on his brown hair, she let out a small breath.
Damia simply sat down on the bed know he would present his item there. And sure enough sitting down next to her, he pulled on a pair of white latex gloves.
"What are those for?" Nariel asked.
Hale grinning. "This mirror is over 500 years old. Most otaku think it was the inspiration for Kanna's Mirror."
"Ohmigod! Where did you get that?!"
"It's amazing really, I was looking for some stuff at this garage sale and found it! It was only priced for $100 bucks! I took it to a friend of mine and he verified the age and put a picture of it out on the internet!"
Damia gasped. "This belongs to you!? I've seen this mirror plastered all over anime and manga sites with most people saying it was Kanna's Mirror! I can't believe it belongs to you!"
Hale's green eyes sparkled as he scratched the back of his head.
"Well, I guess it was just luck."
Nariel held out her hand covered with a latex glove.
"Can I hold it?"
"Sure! Just be very careful with it."
Setting the mirror carefully on her lap she studied it. With it's circular shape, and it's extensions on the side it certainly was perfect for holding onto the way Kanna did in the manga. Care fully flipping it over, she noticed the faint line running through it.
"Here, let me see it when you're done," Damia whispered.
Nariel instantly reached around Hale to hand it to her, but as Damia's finger's touched the outer rim an electric shock made her drop it. Noticing at the same time Damia also let go she quickly stretched out her hand for the mirror. Also the same time as Damia.
"No!" They both said as their hands touch the their reflections.
A shine quickly moved over the face of the mirror as their fingers slipped through the glass.
Feeling as something grasped their fingers and pulled, they fell headfirst from the bed into the mirror with a scream.