It all started when Miaka, an always hungry 14 year-old, who went to the library with her best friend, Yui. She noticed a red phoenix as she was buying something from the vending machine, so she decided to follow it. She entered a secret room and stumbled upon a book called the 'Universe of the Four Gods.' She and her friend was sucked into the book when they opened it and started reading it. They ended up in ancient China and was immediately harrassed by bandits. Fortunately, a young man with a 'Ghost' symbol on his forehead saved them. In return, he asked them to reward him with money in return for his service. Unfortunately, both Miaka and Yui didn't have any ancient Chinese money, but Miaka did offer to pay him with Japanese money. The young man was disappointed to hear that they didn't have any money, so he left. At this moment, Yui was sucked back out to the real world in a red glow of light. Miaka was then left all by herself in search of Yui. She decided to look for the young man with the 'Ghost' symbol to ask him for help.
During her search for the young man, she was tricked by another bandit. Luckily, she was saved once again by the young man. She found out that his name was Tamahome. She asked him to help her look for Yui but told him that she had no money. At that moment, the king was parading around the village in his carriage, and Miaka decided to go ask him to lend her some of his jewels so that she could pay Tamahome to help her. The carriage was moving too fast and Miaka tripped, pulling and tearing the curtain on the carriage. Tamahome quickly jumped in next to Miaka and told her that he was going to help for free in return for a kiss. Miaka began to glow with a red light, and she flickered back and forth between the real world and the book world. Everyone was shocked to see what had just happened. Both Miaka and Tamahome were arrested and locked up in jail for disrespecting the king. They managed to escaped from the cell when Miaka tricked one of the guards with her bubble gum. Miaka was caught by the aroma of food and disappeared from Tamahome's sight. She stumbled upon a beautiful maiden sitting on the porch, and she was later surprised to find out that the she was actually a he. Not only that, he was Hotohori, the king. Miaka was then made into the......