Episode One begins in the early afternoon of July, 9th in San Francisco California.  It looks to be a beautiful summer day: sunny, peaceful; but everything is not as it should be.  A trolley car is climbing a hill when it is jolted to a halt.  All the trolley lines have mysteriously stopped functioning.  Two workmen are sent in to investigate at the central cable station.  Once inside, they find all of the main circuits covered in giant plant-like tentacles, which is why the trolleys won't move.  What's even worse, is the plants are moving; as if they're alive.  One of the workman picks up one of the thick, trailing vines, wondering how they could have gotten into the control room, and of course, he gets attacked almost immediately, yanked off of the main platform and into the circuitry where the tentacles quickly dispatch him.  After that, the plants become more aggressive, and begin shaking the huge pieces of equipment they're wrapped around while the one remaining worker tries to understand what is going on.  Like an idiot, he steps over to the platform where the other man was yanked off and looks down.  The equipment explodes and a giant creature comes surging up out of the ground.  The man watches it in a stupor and is quickly stomped out of existence for not having the good sense to try and flee.  A closed circuit camer catches the monster as it begins moving around, and  a bright red mitama flashes into view: a new breed of Aragami has arisen.
    Five days later, Mr. Kunikida and Ms. Matsudaira are analyzing the footage from the camera.  They hone in on the red mitama.  Mr. Kunikida wonders how it can be happening.  As far as they know, Susano-oh is still in a deep sleep and as long as he stays that way, then the Aragami should be slumbering as well.  Now, Mr. Kunikda worries that Susano-oh has awakened, and  wonders why the Aragami are in America instead of Japan.  Mr. Kunikida asks Ms. Matsudaira what her instincts tell her about what they've found, but Ms. Matsudaira doesn't want to rely on her instincts.  She wants to analyze the data further before reaching a conclusion, although it is highly obvious that she knows what it is they've found, and is very upset by it too.
    Mr. Kunikida silently broods about the troubling turn of events, looking out over the city, and as he turns back to face his computer where the video footage from San Francisco is still playing, he sees a girl with red hair run by and take the camer out with a whip.  He stops the footage, and rolls it back to blow the image up, wondering who this girl could be.  As he stares at her image, the power in his office suddenly goes off.  There is a moment of silence and then the building begins to shake.  Mr. Kunikida's office floor explodes as a giant monster with a red mitama erupts through his floor.  Then the building collapses.
    The scene switches to Momiji inside the lab, analyzing data on the blue mitamas.  Ms. Matsudaira comes out of her office and watches Momiji for a moment or two before she goes down to talk to her.  She says that Momiji has always said that she wanted to use the Kushinada's power as energy, but Matsu then charges that all the research that Momiji is doing is really for Kusanagi.  Both she and Momji leave the building and head out to the plaza, talking about Kusanagi.  Momiji is worried because he seems to have distanced himself from her, telling Matsu that they haven't been on a date in a while and the last time they were, he didn't seem to be having any fun.  Matsu assures her it's just because Kusanagi is anxious about Momiji's exams and that he husband acted the same way her last year of school. In essence, Matsu thinks Kusanagi is trying to show reserve so that Momiji might concentrate more on her school work.  Then Matsu tells her not to worry, that Kusanagi won't leave her, and points across the plaza to where Kusanagi has appeared and is watching them.
    Momiji runs to greet him and as he watches her, he is thinking to himself that he couldn't help but come, even though he knew he should have stayed away.  As Momiji reaches him, the scene breaks away to another character who has appeared.  It is the same red-headed girl that was in San Francisco.  She takes out a pair of high tech binoculars and starts watching Momiji and Kusanagi.  Momiji and Kusanagi leave the hospital plaza and Matsudaira watches them, her mind still on the information from earlier.  As she concludes that it is better not to tell them yet, since nothing has been confirmed, her phone rings. 
    At the same moment that Matsu phone rings, Ryoko, who is at the Self - Defense Air Force base, receives an emergency phone call from Sugishita.  He tells her that the TAC building was completely destroyed with Kunikida still inside.  At this point, the only one who knows that it was an Aragami is Kunikida - and he is unconscious.    The next phone call that Sugishita makes is to Yaegashi who is sitting at his computer studying the same data as Kunikida and Matsudaira.  Together they discuss the possibilities of what could have cause the building to collapse, and even thought they aren't sure of the cause, Sugishita still considers it an attack and not an accident.  At this point, Yaegashi asks if Momiji knows as he gets up and goes over to the wall where he has collected data on the giant cherry tree under which Susano-oh sleeps.  Sugishita tells him the incident occured after she left the lab, but that he left a message on her answering machine.  Staring at the picture of the cherry tree, Yaegashi silently wonders if the cause of the collapse is Aragami.
      Meanwhile, Momiji and Kusanagi are in the same park where the giant cherry tree is growing.  The weather is beautiful and Momiji is extremely content, glad to be there with Kusanagi.  She makes the comment that she wished it could be "like this" forever and looks at Kusanagi who echoes her words, but doesn't seemed as content to be there as she is.  His reaction bothers her, but she doesn't seem to know what to say.  She is completely absorbed with how  Kusanagi is behaving that off in the distance, the same girl that was at the plaza outside the lab is also here; watching them.
    After a few minutes of silence between them, Momiji finally manages to address the question that has been bother her.  She asks Kusanagi if he's happy with her.  He doesn't answer her at first, only wanting to know why she is suddenly asking him that question.  Momiji tells him that she's happy to be with him and she just wants to know if he's happy too.  His lack of emotion is less than reassuring even though he tells her that he wouldn't have invited her if he wasn't happy to be with her.  Abruptly ending the conversation, he moves away from her and says, "Let's go".  For a moment, Momiji looks sad, but then she pulls herself together and goes after Kusanagi, asking him if he'll take her back to "his place".  She tells him that she'll clean his apartment for him.  She doesn't give him a chance to say no, and off they go together, leaving the park at the same time that Yaegashi arrives.  He watches them leave and then turns his attention to the giant cherry tree.  He is here to check the readings on the tree, concerned that Susano-oh might be re-awakening and causing the new Aragami activity to be occuring.  As he looks up at the tree, he reflects that it's been two years since the day it appeared and in all that time, nothing has changed - absolutely nothing [ -_-;;]. 
    The scene switches to Kusanagi's apartment building and Momiji and Kusanagi are in a heated discussion about the cleanliness of his apartment.  Kusanagi tries to tell her that it's clean but she doesn't believe him until she opens the door and sees for herself that it , indeed it is clean.  Momiji goes over to his bed and sits down, disappointed that it's so clean.  Kusanagi follows her and offers her his hand, telling her that he'll make her some coffee.  He tries to pull her up, but they slip and they topple over backwards, Kusanagi on top of Momiji as they land on the bed.  There is a long moment where there eyes meet, and Momiji sees something besides indifference on Kusanagi's face.  She closes her eyes, wanting him to react on his emotions, but he pulls away, again putting distance between them, calling her stupid and telling her not to stretch their relationship.  He tells her she's still just a kid.  She disagrees with him, vehemently telling him that she's not a kid anymore.  Upset with him, she calls him stupid and runs from his apartment.  Kusanagi clenches his fists together, but he doesn't go after her.
    The scene switches to the rubble of the TAC building.  Ryoko is talking with Sugishita and he confirms that it was definitely a monster attack.  Sugishita is quite certain that the monster was Aragami, but Yaegashi comes in and says that it wasn't - or at least not the kind of Aragami that they've seen before.  He tells them that Susano-oh's mitama is still at rest and that the only Aragami that he knows of that's still active is Kusanagi. He claims that it's impossible for an Aragami to appear while Susano-oh is at rest, but Sugishita is satisfied with the answer, because it doesn't explain what happened to the TAC building.
    Ryoko breaks into the conversation at this point and tells them that the Kushinada data was stolen via a data cable (modem) and now they know that the enemy's target is the Kushinada.  Ryoko wants to know if they have gotten in touch with Momiji yet.  They haven't, but Sugishita tells her he thinks she will be all right as long as she is with Kusanagi.  The only problem is, Momiji is no longer with Kusanagi.  Instead she's on a a subway train thinking about Kusanagi and Kusanagi is walking the streets in a really foul mood.  He runs into someone and they take offense when he doesn't apologize.  A fight starts and Kusanagi punches the guy out.  Another guy jumps on Kusanagi and he punches that one too.  A crowd starts to gather, and from its depths, the red-headed girl from before emerges and watches Kusanagi fight.
    Kusanagi throws the two guys into an alley and one of them pulls a knife and threatens to kill Kusanagi.  Kusanagi tells him to shut up.  His mitamas start to glow and the blades in his arms come out.  He asks which one wants to be first in fighting, but the two men run off, terrified, calling him a monster.  Kusanagi watches them go with a scowl on his face, agreeing with them that he is a monster, and adding that his presence will only bring "her" (Momiji) misfortune.  At this point the red-headed girl steps into the alley, but Kusanagi, who is in a really foul mood now, yells at her to get away unless she wants to get hurt.
    The red-headed girl doesn't listen to his threats, but calls his name instead and tells him that although he possesses a mitama, he didn't become Aragami.  Her comments startle Kusanagi.  He turns around and demands to know who she is.  She tells him she understand how he feels and before she can give him a reason for her understanding she senses Aragami - and the fact that Momiji is in danger. 
    Unaware that she is being pursued, Momiji goes to the park.  She's thinking about Kusanagi (and how stupid he is) when a giant Aragami comes up out of the pond she is standing next to.  She takes off running and it takes off running after her.  Another Aragami appears in front of her, cutting off her escape.  It reaches out and  knocks her out and into the air where Kusanagi appears to catch her and put her safely on the ground.
    While Kusanagi turns to confront the two Aragami monsters, Matsu is talking to Sugishita and Yaegashi about artificial chimera Aragami out there: created through the manipulation of science.  They speculate that a human created them and that Susano-oh has no control over their mitamas.
    After this short piece of information, the scene switches back to the battle between the chimera Aragami and Kusanagi, who has been joined by the red-headed girl.  The girl explains that the mitamas were taken out of Japan a long time ago as treasures.  The girl then tells Kusanagi that the mitamas were implanted into living organisms by a person and what they are fighting must be one of those organisms.  The red-head gets hit by one of the Aragami and she goes flying, much the same way that Momiji did.  Kusanagi runs over to her to see if she's okay and he sees a mitama on her chest that's been exposed due to a rip in her clothing and realizes that she is the same as him. 
    Sugishita arrives with back up before anything else happens and they start firing on the Aragami, driving it away.  Momiji wakes up as the Aragami is fleeing and sees Kusanagi holding this other girl.  She wonders who this other girl is before drifting back into unconsciousness.  Matsu, Yaegashi and Sugishita travel to the hospital to check on Kunikida.  Ryoko tells them that with rest he will recover, adding that they will need Kome's help.  She asks Yaegashi where Kome is, but he can't tell her.  Ryoko apologizes, having forgotten that he and Kome had already broken up, so he doesn't know where she is.  Matsu changes the subject by asking about Momiji and Sugishita tells her that he put Momiji in a safe place.
    That safe place is a pool inside a sports center, surrounding by shiki-gami talismans.  Momiji is floating in an innertube in the middle of the pool, staring up at the moon through the glass roof and thinking about (what else) Kusanagi.  Sakura comes up out of the water and grabs Momiji's.... breasts, interrupting her musings and Momiji begins to struggle  Sakura is impressed that Momiji is getting "bigger" but Momiji tells her she should be more serious with the Aragami around.  Later, Momiji is telling Sakura that she doesn't understand why Kusanagi is avoiding her, and Sakura makes the flippant suggestion that perhaps he has a new girlfriend.  This really upsets Momiji, because she immediately thinks back to when she saw the unconscious red-headed girl in Kusanagi's arms.  Before she can get too seriously bent out of shape over it, Sakura pulls her into the pool and tells her to straighten up, asking her if she trusts Kusanagi.  Before Momiji can reply the building begins to shake.  An Aragami breaks into the building and captures both Sakura and Momiji, latching them to it's body.
    The TAC members are informed of the incident and rush to help Momiji and Sakura.  Kusanagi and the red-headed girl are also rushing to help the two girls.  The red-head jumps off the back of Kusanagi's bike and heads towards the giant Aragami, transforming (and losing all of her clothes) much the same way the Kusanagi's does in the process.  Once her transformation is complete, she cuts, Momiji and Sakura free with a handy, dandy, laser attachment, which is one of her weapons (^_^).  They both begin to slide off and in jumps Kusanagi to save them from falling to the ground with a splat.  He deposits both of the girls on the ground with the TAC members who have just arrived and then takes off after the monster.  Together and with the help of Kome, who arrives via a Self-Defense Force chopper, Kusanagi and the red-headed girl take out the Aragami monsters.
    A few days later, the team reassembles, the girls complaining heavily about their new uniforms which sport a very short skirt, thanks to Sugishita who designed them.  He is in charge of the TAC until Kunikida recovers.  After a bit of complaining they get down to serious talk regarding the Aragami. Kunikida tells them via teleconference that this new breed of Aragami is grown only in America.  At this point Kuasnagi comes in and tells them that the new enemy is in San Francisco.  He then tells them that the red-headed girl can help them.  Momiji recognizes her, as Kusanagi explains that she is like him: she has a mitama but didn't turn into an Aragami.  This information does not please Momiji, and as she stares at the new girl, we finally get a name to go with the face: Valencia Tachibana.  After her introduction, Kunikida tells the team that they must not allow any more Aragami incidents.  Valencia says they should head for San Francisco - which is what they do - in the next episode. =)

HOME

EPISODE GUIDE

PICTURE GALLERY

FAN FICTION

E-MAIL: rurihoshi@mail.com