Hi! Finally found the time to re-edit and continue the story. Hopefully, there's a few who look forward to seeing this story as I plan to finish writing this within the year.

Happy Reading!

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Splash!

A raven-haired girl slipped into the tub gratefully. Kagome Higurashi had a tough day. With entrance exams coming up, her usually hectic schedule of studies and drama club had gotten even more hectic now that she's got cram school too.

She rested her head against the edge of the tub, closing her eyes and sighing in contentment as she felt the hot water start to work its magic on her tired body. It's good to be home, she thought to herself happily.

Crashes and pounding footfalls outside the bathroom door had her popped her eyes open in exasperation. Trying her best to ignore the noise, she closed her eyes and flung her mind to the script she had memorized for the upcoming play.

Her role for the play is that of a princess. Although a bit cliché with the fairy tale view of how princesses should act. Even though it's hardly a challenge having acted plenty of the same roles, it was still such fun dressing up in ball gowns for costumes.

Are you okay? Kagome practiced in her mind, losing herself in her character, Princess Amelie, as she comes to the aid of a wounded traveler. She tried the phrase in her mind again and again until she finally managed the right combination of curiosity and concern.

Satisfied with her practice, she opened her eyes and went to stand before the fogged up mirror and took a deep breath. Reaching behind the partition for the towel she placed there, she prepared herself mentally and emotionally to step into her character.

With a swipe of the towel, the clear surface revealed Princess Amelie in all her regal glory. Her long mane of black hair cascading down her back in a wave, she stood with her head held back, her brown eyes filled with kindness and wisdom. She counted a bit in her mind, waiting for the cue when the traveler would burst forth from the castle's door. They had practiced the scene just that afternoon and managed to get the timing right, if not the scene itself.

Kagome imagined the scene unfolding beyond her mirror. She was walking along with her ladies' maids when a sudden pounding on the big wooden doors of the castle caught their attention, as one, they turned at the sound, eyes filled with undisguised curiosity. With a wave of her satin-enclosed hand, the sentries rushed forth to do her bidding, opening the heavy gate blocking the entryway to admit the insistent traveler.

That's weird. She frowned as she expected that the supposed pounding would have ceased with the opening of the gate and the light will shine on a fallen man, played by Hojo, a fellow drama club member from the other class. Instead of stopping, the banging got even more insistent that her concentration broke. She stood from where she was kneeling and clutched the towel a bit closer to her breasts.

Kagome slid the sliding door open and peered around it. Immediately, the noise became more distinct and voices can be heard shouting outside the bathroom door. Without any warning, the door burst open and admitted a lone boy of eight or ten with a head of tawny locks.

Caught by surprise, the boy slid and fell right before her feet. The weight he had used to lean against the door pitched him forward across the narrow expanse between the door and the sliding door leading to the tub.

Automatically, Kagome secured the towel around her naked form and reached out towards the boy. Her face the way she had envisioned it to be for the play, her manner that of her character.

She knelt beside the child and reached out to place a hand on his shoulder when he suddenly jerked away. Her words of concern got lodged in her throat by the unprecedented reaction.

"Hime!" the boy exclaimed in fright and embarrassment.

Kagome frowned at the use of the term, for she never heard it outside of the stage. "Hime? Um… I think you must have hurt yourself very badly that you're hallucinating." She tried gently, unsure of how to handle a child undergoing shock.

The boy scrambled away from her hand, looking at her as if she was a big bad monster about to eat him up, or at least that's how Kagome felt. "I won't hurt you. Please, tell me what's wrong. Are you okay?"

Hurrying footsteps sounded on the hallway outside the door, and as sudden as the sound, a head poked through. It was a woman with a maid's hat like the ones the costume people had designed for the maid roles. The woman looked crossly at the boy, having not noticed her.

"Shippou, I told you do not rush about the castle so. The princess had only just returned from her journey abroad. We mustn't disturb her rest." Finally noticing that the child paid her no mind, she glanced about the room and her startled gaze fell upon the maiden clad only in a cloth, with long raven hair floating down her back. Realization dawned quickly and she hurriedly lifted up her skirts and took a low curtsy. "Forgive me milady. The lad had just recently been placed in our employ as a stable boy and had yet to learn manners in front of her highness."

Kagome looked more puzzled than ever. She pulled her hand back and laughed a bit shakily to hide the anxiety that's beginning to mount. "Oh I'm sorry. I think you got the wrong person. I'm no princess." To feel more in control, she stood up from her position on the floor.

"My word! Kagome-hime, are you ill perhaps? Shall I get the doctor to examine you?" The maid exclaimed frantically.

"I don't think so. And never mind. But please, you must believe me. I'm not a princess. I'm just an ordinary girl taking a bath in my family's…" she turned to gesture towards the tub she had vacated for her practice, and what she saw astounded her, "tub." Kagome felt her jaw dropped, but was too preoccupied taking in the surroundings that had replaced the tiled tub she had been in just a few minutes passed to do anything about it. The bathtub that was anchored to the floor and covered with tiles to hide the concrete was replaced by a gold claw-footed porcelain tub. The sliding glass windows that resembled black holes because of the dark night, had become arched windows showing a beautiful cerulean sky dotted with cottony clouds and the rousing song of birds. The walls melted to become rough-hewn stone, resembling that of fairy tale castles she had seen in many picture books. Almost afraid of what she might see, she turned to her left in what she recalled was the steamed-up mirror she had wiped with her towel for practice, and found herself standing in front of an equally fogged up three-way mirror set in lacquered gold. Her knees felt weak, and she reached out her hand to what used to be a frosted glass sliding door that separates the bath from the clothes bin and found herself touching rough cloth. Bewildered, she swung her gaze at the thing her hand has a hold of and felt like her world dropped beneath her feet.

The maid, apparently troubled by the weird behavior her mistress is showing spoke up. "Mistress, you are positively ill. I shall have Carmen dress you before you catch your death. The journey back must have disoriented you so, I shall inform Ms. Sango of your condition, milady."

"Wha…?" The concerned and nearly panicky voice of the maid broke through the fog of confusion that currently played havoc with her mind. She glanced down at herself to find not a towel, nor the same rough cloth that shields her from the door, but a semi-sheer piece of silk!