When Two Lives Cross
chapter 7
by Rin

Title:When Two Lives Cross
Chapter: Seven
Category: Crossovers
by: Rin =`^.^`=


Yes, it's finally here. *sheepish grin* And for all those fantasy book lovers out there, bonus points if you see the fantasy book I've patterned after in one of the chapter scenes.

Page updates sometime this week. Can't tonight, cause I'm tired and lazy and I like procrastinating. ^___^

Enjoyeth this!

Disclaimer: YYH - Yoshihiro Togashi. Ranma 1/2 - Rumiko Takahashi. Need I say more?


When Two Lives Cross Chapter Seven
>> "Was this suppose to happen?"

Hiei came to slowly, his head throbbing and feeling like it's being ferociously jabbed with hot pokers. His face felt like it's been treaded on by a grotesquely large and undeniably pink elephant, and his body felt no better. With a loud groan - and a feeble attempt to hide it - Hiei staggered up on his elbows, blinking furiously and struggling to stand. Satisfied that he had came through with his body more or less intact, he took a quick glance around to see if everyone else was alright.

And stared.

This wasn't the Tendo Dojo. Neither was it China, Tokyo, Kurama's school, Makai, Reikai, or that odd place Kurama had taken him to called "Disneyland", where he once burned down a mountain because the bears had the habit of jumping out at him one too many times. In fact, it didn't look like any place he had ever been to in his life, and he had been to a *lot* of places. Hiei rubbed his eyes again, disbelief of what he was seeing, and stared wordlessly at the sight before him.

He was standing in space, with no apparent floor or ground to hold him up. Doors of all shapes and sizes lined his vision; some lopsided and narrow, wide and small, wooden and stone. All seemed to be defying gravity as they floated slowly past him, and stretched out into the horizon as far as the eye could see. Briefly, he wondered if he was dreaming; this was madness.

Keeping his calm, he tried to remember what had happened shortly before he had blacked out. He had been at the Tendo Dojo, sitting to one side of the table and listening silently to the conversation with the strange being who had called herself Tammy. He tried to remember what he had been doing then.

Staring at Kurama. A silent voice answered at the back of his head.

Hiei flushed hard. He had NOT been staring at the kitsune. He was merely trying to figure out the sudden marked change in the redhead's behavior towards him, shortly after that drastic incident in Juusenkyo Springs. Though he had refused to admit it aloud, he was more than just a little hurt at the other man's attitude.

You were staring at Kurama. Admit it. The voice, sounding much like his own, mocked.

Hiei forced it away. Had he done something wrong? Did Kurama dislike him - he couldn't bring himself to say the word 'hate' - because he messed up and is now forced to live in a girl's body at a drop of cold water? That didn't make any sense; Kurama was logical enough not to stay angry at him over something like that, smart enough to realize he wasn't at fault, caring enough to try and cheer him up during the initial stages of his gender transformation..... A sudden image flashed across his eyes, of what had transpired just that morning: waking up to find a sleepy and decidedly naked Kurama next to his female form. What the hell really happened? Hiei tried hard not to remember the other boy's warmth, his muscled shoulders and arms......

At any rate, he hadn't been staring.

Liar.

"Arrrrgghhhh!" Hiei roared at the darkness. Did having a female body give him a female's perception of Kurama as well? Unfortunately, his male form was starting to think of Kurama much in the same way that he knew his female side did.

No. Can't think about it now. Find a way out of this damn place first, then think about it. Relieved at finally coming into a sensible conclusion, he tried to remember again what his other teammates had been talking about before waking up here. Something about the crystal they had originally set out to find, that it was dangerous in the wrong hands and had the power to shape and destroy worlds if one allowed it.

First premise. The Tammy...deity....whoever she is, would be resurrected if the Crystal was in danger, or close to being used. He could assume that the Crystal *had* been used, since the woman had been with them until only seconds before.

Second premise. Since he hadn't offended any god as of late, he can assume further that this wasn't a personal vengeance against him alone, which would also follow that wherever the Reikai Tantei and his hosts are, they would be in a place much like this one.

Third premise. Since there was really no point in resurrecting Tammy if there wasn't any way to counterattack the repercussions of using the crystal, he could surmise that there was a way to restore everything back to their proper order, and it included the strange woman.

Last premise. Doors were often in abundance in the Ningenkai, and Hiei had learned soon of their use. A door implied another room behind it, or at least another place. There were several of those wooden implements around him right now, so he can suppose that each door would lead to their own specific locations.

Proposition? He could start trying out the doors to see where they would lead, and hopefully hit upon the right one to get out of this hellhole.

Conclusion?

He was in a helluva lot of trouble.

Sighing, Hiei decided that he may as well start searching. Walking over to the nearest door he could reach, stomping down onto the empty space as if telling himself he wasn't going to fall, he jerked it open, hesitated, and entered.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-

Ranma was in hell.

Trying hard not to go crazy, he clutched both hands to the side of his head and screamed, in an effort to drown out the noise that was resounding around him, everywhere. But try as he might, those cruel, taunting voices grew louder and matched him octave for octave.

This is the song that doesn't eeeennnndd
....yes it goes on and on my frieeennnnd.
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was
And they'll continue singing it forever just because
This is the song that doesn't eeeennnndd.........

Miserably, he tried to remember what happened; came up with a blank. He remembered struggling to get out of the wall Akane had thrown him into; then the whole world went black, and when he had come to, he was on his hands and knees in a world he could only call pink, had been greeted by a bunch of talking stuffed animals now dancing around him, and that ceaseless, never-ending song. All in all, the place looked like a horrible kiddie show gone wrong.

Some people started singing it not knowing what it was
And they'll continue singing it forever just because.....

Ranma screamed again. This was worse than being wrapped in fish paste and being thrown into a roomful of hungry cats, as his father had once done to him. Shaking his head from side to side to try and drown out the noise, he began to run, bowling over a squirrel and a sheep in an effort to get away. Frantically now, he gazed about wildly; escape didn't seem to be anywhere. His eyes lighted upon a strange-looking door, set apart from the childish and sunny backdrop by its intricate wood carvings and glossy shine. Where did it go to? He automatically decided it would lead to even more trouble and more song. Gods, what if they were singing "It's a Small World" over and over again on the other side this time? The voices drew closer.

This is the song that doesn't eeeennnndd
....yes it goes on and on my frieeennnnd......

Who cared?

With one last war cry, Ranma swung the door open, nearly tearing it off its hinges. Wait; there weren't any hinges, the door looked like it had been standing up on its own without support, but the poor pigtailed boy was too tired and too exhausted to wonder. With one leap, he dove through the opening.............

....straight into Akane's arms.

"Ranma!" Akane cried with alarm, staring down at him; for once, without a sharp retort for her fiance.

As the door swung shut behind him, Ranma clutched onto her fiercely, telling himself that she was real, and beside him. He started to half-cry, half-laugh, his shoulders shaking from his hours-long ordeal.

"This is the song.....ahehehehe *sob* th' doesn't end......heehee....on and on and on and on and on......"

Concerned now, Akane forgot her usual angry composure and rocked Ranma back and forth, an unexpected wave of protectiveness rushing through her as she stared at the now closed door in front of her. What untold evil had Ranma suffered beyond that wooden frame?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Keiko!" Yuusuke yelled, hearing his own echoes rushing back to answer him.

He wasn't entirely sure where he was; the last thing he could remember was gathering around the Tendo Dojo's table when a sudden splintering sound broke through. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of a small village on a mountain, without Keiko or anyone else nearby.

From what timetable he could fashion, he assumed he had been there for nearly a week now. A week too long, in his opinion, but he was finally able to leave, thanks to the compass he had garnered from the village elder. That accursed compass.

He had been told that he would have to work for the compass, as it was one of the village's prized possessions, not one to be given lightly to a stranger with even stranger clothes. Told through sign language, anyway; the people here did not seem to know how to speak Japanese. Yuusuke had been desperate enough to do anything; he knew that if he remained in this village, or ventured out and gotten lost, he would never see his girlfriend or friends again. Especially Keiko; he was extremely worried for her safety, and the thought of something happened to her was enough to haunt him.

His first task had been to collect eggs from the village chickens, nestled snugly inside a makeshift shack at the end of the village. That had seemed easy enough.

Unfortunately, the chickens in this world had been the size of lions, and extremely protective of their young.

After managing to hand the elder over with a basketful of eggs despite the aching bruises and cuts on his hands and face (and at least two in some unmentionable places), he had been ordered to dive into a nearby pond to fish for underwater plants living at the bottom, which the people used as ingredient in herbal medicines. The elder had neglected to tell him that the 'pond' was a little over thirty foot deep, and freezing cold. After countless hours of diving and finding enough to fill the basket he had been provided with, Yuusuke had returned, shivering uncontrollably, to the village - only to watch the elder look into the basket and declare that the plants were too old to be of much use as medicine.

The elder would have given him more tasks, if Yuusuke hadn't lose his patience and started glowing with enough ki to make a Saiyan-jin envious, before promptly obliterating a nearby tree with a patented Shotgun. He had been shocked; Keiko had told him much of his training and Reiki abilities, but he'd never been able to try them out for himself. That little display was enough for the frazzled old man. Deciding then and there that the stranger had worked enough to be given the ownership of the compass, the elder had cheerfully bid him adieu, gave hasty hand instructions on how to use the metallic device, personally ushered him out of the city, and then firmly bolted the gates shut behind him.

Now, Yuusuke stared at the compass, wondering which way he was to go next. The elder had recommended traveling to a large temple some leagues away from the village to ask for guidance from one of the priestesses, but this wasn't like any compass he had ever seen before, with three arrows and six directions instead of four. Desperately trying to remember the hurried instructions the old man had been giving him while he was being ushered out, Yuusuke examined the symbols once more. A crane, something resembling a drop of water, a jagged line, a circle within a square, a strange animal that looked to be a rat of some sort, and a star with one end longer than the rest. That's right; the old man had said that the star was the symbol he should follow to lead him to the temple.

Squaring his shoulders and slinging together a small pack of what he had been able to find during his week's stay in the weird land, Yuusuke started to walk disconsolately, pausing every now and then to call out Keiko's name. But all that answered his calls were faint echoes of his own, and the occasional cry of a lonely bird.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The security garrison at the outskirts of Tyr-og was not the happiest of places to be given duty in; few passed through the gates at that time of the month, and those manning the post were more likely to die of boredom than anything else. The grizzle-faced guard on hand was, to the new recruit, not making things any better. He'd originally wanted duty at Rillanon, where almost everything happened and was bound to be quite exciting, but because of the lack of guards, found himself stationed here instead, with who was probably the least friendly guard of the whole district.

"So," The novice began. "Gone to any good wars lately? I'm sure there's been some."

"Not since the rifts closed." Was the curt reply.

Crestfallen but far from giving up, the novice tried again. "Was on guard yesterday while you were eating; well of course I was guarding yesterday, since that's what I'm supposed to be here for." When the older guard made no comment, he hurried on. "Don't too many people pass by this area, on account that we're so far away from most anything, but someone did pass through here then."

"Hunh."

"Well, it's kinda a surprise too, cause she didn't look like a warrior or anything; she reminded me of my younger sister Mellie, actually. Did you know she's the best cook this side of the land? And always so meek and demure, too. She'd make someone a fine wife, that's for sure."

The veteran, uninterested in Mellie's exploits, kept his silence.

"So anyway, there she was, looking all lost and asking me where this place was. Quite surprised when I told her too, said this wasn't any place she's ever heard about before." He shook his head. "Couldn't even tell me how she came all the way here with barely anything on her back. Said she dropped down from Nerima - wherever that is - and she was here all of a sudden. Pretty she was, though why she was wearing an apron I don't really know. Say," the soldier finished, as an idea hit him. "You don't think one of the rifts got opened again, do you?"

"No." The older soldier said brusquely.

And that was that.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

He came to slowly, his vision misted. For a moment, he was puzzled. Where was he? After much thought, he remembered. He was in the Tendo Dojo with his friends and hosts, before he was knocked out flat. He couldn't explain it, but just before he had blacked out, a sudden feeling had came over him, the realization that something was wrong, that things weren't as they should be. His sight finally clearing, he struggled to sit, then looked over at the others to see if everyone was safe.

Only there weren't any other people in the room. He wasn't even in the Tendo Dojo. Whatever it was, it bore a good resemblance to the Tendo structure; another dojo, but definitely not for the Anything Goes Martial Arts. Abruptly, he realized he was sitting on a futon, the blanket tossed aside when he had struggled upright. He tensed. He knew for a fact that he hadn't been sleeping on a bed before being rendered unconscious. His mind proceeded to inform him of the last time he had been in a bed, and he felt his cheeks color. He didn't know what Hiei had been doing in his futon then, and in lieu of their fast fading friendship, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

As if by magic, the door to the room slid open, and Hiei appeared.

Stunned, Kurama could do nothing but gape. He didn't know when Hiei had changed once more to her female form; even if she had, he knew that nothing could have forced Hiei to wear a light blue kimono of yellow flower patterns (that looked quite adorable on her, his mind whispered), short of another Makai war. Three Makai wars. And fifty Yomis.

"What.....what..." Kurama began to stutter, only to be silenced when Hiei kneeled and scooted forward, then planted a long lingering kiss on his lips. "Good morning, anata. I was wondering when you would get up."

Anata? Kurama wondered dazedly. What in the name of the three worlds was going on? "Hiei?"

"Hai?" Hiei wrapped her arms around the shocked redhead's neck. "Something wrong? Whatever it is, you'd best hurry; I've already made breakfast, and I don't want it getting cold."

Hiei? Make breakfast? The oddness of that idea caused him to stare down at the woman, who frowned curiously. "Anata, are you sure you're okay? Are you coming down with a fever? Don't keep it from me again, we've been married too long for me not to know." She felt his forehead lightly.

Married?!! "I-I'm okay." Kurama managed to make out. "Hiei? Are we....are we...how long have we been married?"

Startled, Hiei looked back at him, then laughed, her brown eyes dancing. "Oh, you really are out of it this morning, aren't you 'Rama-chan?" She smiled mischievously. "Was I that good last night, that you would forget come the morning?" She giggled naughtily at Kurama's stricken expression. "How can you forget we've been married for nearly seven years now?"

Kurama fainted.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Quite a surprise to find such a similar game in this land, like the one we normally play eh?"

Oh. Quite.

"What a stroke of luck too; to find it washed ashore on a place like this. But the kanji is all wrong, of course. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any kanji characters of this kind before."

Adequate, though.

"Yes, you're right there, old friend. Shall we start a fresh board?"

You call.

In reply, the man bent down to move a small wooden piece across the board, while his opponent, a large overbearing panda with a wooden signboard tucked under his arm, watched with avid interest, before taking his turn. The waves crashed peacefully against the shore; there was no sign of storms coming, which was a relief for the two castaways sitting down on the sand.

"I still think there might be some people in the island if we looked hard enough, Genma."

Looked hard enough. Nobody here.

"It can't be helped, I suppose." A pause. "And after all, Akane, Ranma and those strange guests of ours will find us sooner or later, won't they?"

Of course they will.

"Of course, of course. Why did I even doubt that? They're probably on their way here right now as we speak. Your move."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

He was running towards the Tendo Dojo to seek out the beautiful orange-haired lady once more when it suddenly occurred to him that he was running, but no longer towards his original destination. Gone were the familiar kanji signs, neighboring gardens, and even his high school. It was almost as if the old world he knew and excelled in had disappeared, and had been replaced with something new. But it did not matter to him where he was, or what he was doing here, or why he was here. After the initial image that screamed out BEAUTIFUL GIRLS in big block letters in his head, he could think of little else.

"Come to me, my beauties! Together we shall bask in awe at my lyrical poetry that the gods of heaven shall grow envious of our mirth!"

Wonder of wonders, the women here were just as beautiful as they had been in the world he had once knew. And they could run just as fast.

"I shall regale you all with stories and prose of my heroic deeds and endeavors. Sweet ladies!"

Somewhere, a tiny voice resounded at the back of his mind, murmuring of something gone wrong; from that very moment the world had changed at the sound of the tinkling of glass.

But as he had often wont, Tatewaki Kuno promptly ignored cold, hard logic and continued on with his pursuit.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Yukina blinked, then looked around curiously. The place was freezing cold, but she paid no heed, having grown up with such a climate for most of her life. But the landscape was different, nothing that she had ever encountered. She knew instantly that this was not the Ningenkai, but this was not the Makai either. The lair of the Koorime were one of the only places in the demon world where temperatures were this cold, but that what should have been familiar to her was not. This was definitely not the floating mountain where she had been born and grew up in. The land stretched on for miles without end, dotted only by snow caps.

She wondered uneasily where everyone else was. It had happened all too fast, too sudden, for her to react other than hear that strange shattering of glass before the world went mad. She dusted what snow was in her kimono, her hand catching on to the brooch she was wearing, the now-brittle clasp, unable to withstand the cold, snapped free. She watched as the small trinket bounced down a small slope; considered going after it, then changed her mind. The brooch wasn't important; right now her main priority was to find the others. She remembered that most of her companions were human and would not be able to withstand this cold for long, and felt a sudden chill not brought about by the weather.

She started to walk. As she did, she found her thoughts reverting back to Kuwabara. Strange, but she couldn't remember the last time she had talked to him when they had been invited to stay on at the Tendo Dojo.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sechibbar Andralya Letttin-Groemer Burning Feet eyed the young man in front of him with interest. Strangers were not uncommon in these parts, but this was stranger than even most. Adjusting the small skaal that knotted at his collar, he cleared his throat and focused his mind on the boy again. The boy spoke an unusual language as well, but the device in his hand created psychic wavelengths that could go far beyond words. Such great technology the scientists of the Great Empire could come up with these days. "Do you mean to tell me lad, that you do not know where you are, and that you do not know where you are going?"

The boy shuffled uncomfortably. "Something like that. I'm new here, and I don't really know anything. And I don't have a head for places, so....."

Sechibbar cocked a green eyebrow. The Great Empire was known throughout the four corners of Lairshrie and beyond; the boy must truly be a simpleton. "I'm afraid I won't be able to help you with such meager information. You're not like anything of a kind that I've seen before. Perhaps you can tell me where you come from, instead?"

"Nerima, Japan."

"I don't recall a place with that name. Nee-reema, Jah-pan. Perhaps the Holy Order would be of more help to you." He pointed towards the distance. "Its located straight from here, and it shouldn't take you more than a day to reach it."

"Oh, well. Thank you anyway, sir." The boy tried a clumsy attempt at a bow, then turned to leave.

Shaking his head, Sechibbar turned to other concerns. The boy must have taken too much sakhi during the previous night's festivities. What was the name he had said again? He tried out the unusual words.

"Let's see, how did it go? Ah, yes. Ree-oga Heebeki. What will those kids think of next?"




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