TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

CHAPTER 4: CONFUSION

by SHIN-CHAN

Kazuya and Shun met each other in the hall after their first hour classes.

"Suka-chan, are you still worried about that Kunou guy?" Shun asked worriedly. His roommate was looking upset for some reason.

Kazuya's head jerked up. "Huh? Oh no." He rapidly shook his head and glanced out the window. His eyes grew wide. "I... have you noticed anything... strange?" he whispered.

Shun frowned. Strange? At Ryukuin Academy? What kind of question was that? He brushed a strand of his long pink hair behind his ear. "Suka-chan..." he started, intending to ask what he meant, as he glanced out the window himself. His jaw dropped open in amazement. Suddenly eleven other students mob scened the window.

There was a beautiful young lady standing out the window. Her hair was long, light blue and spiked wildly behind her. She was wearing a jumpsuit that left no question about how she was built. She was standing with her arms on her hips, and was giving the surrounding area a searching look. Any of the above would grab any mans attention. But since this was Ryukuin Academy, no one seemed to pay any attention to the fact that they were on the second story, or that the above mentioned lady was floating a good ten feet off the ground.

"Amazing!" one of the boys whispered to his friends. "Would you just look at that!"

"I am, I am!" another one whispered. "You don't see girls built like that everyday."

"The entire package, ohhh..."

"Let me tell you Kou, I am so glad I didn't ditch today. It would have been a crime to have missed seeing her."

A thin trickle of blood ran out of Kazuya's nose as he bonked his head against the window in despair.

********

Seiji flagged down Ryo in the hall after class was over. "An emergency has come up. Go get Shu, I will grab Shin. Meet us at the front gate!"

Ryo watched in slacked jaw amazement as Seiji, Seiji mind you, ran down the hall, dodging students as he made for Shin's second hour class.

'Better get going,' Ryo thought as he spun around and started down the hall. Whatever was going on, it had to be important.

********

Sayuki had just reached her second hour class when she saw Seiji and Shin sprint past her. She blinked, stared down the hall, they were now out of sight, then frowned. "Now what is going on?" she murmured. Seiji and Shin running down the hall. Not a good sign. "And here I was hoping everything would go back to normal," she muttered as she started down the hall after them.

"Sayuki, where are you going?" A voice called after her.

She paused and turned. "Please take notes for me Kageno. There is something I have to check out."

********

Ryo and Shu joined up with Shin and Seiji at the gate a few minutes after they arrived. The first thing they noticed was that someone was missing.

"Where is Touma?"

"He didn't make it to school this morning, he or Arial." Shin told them in a soft, worried voice. They turned to Seiji, who nodded.

"Shin is right, but," he gave a quick glance about. No one was in sight, but it wouldn't pay to be caught out of class. "This is not an appropriate place to talk."

"Then lets go to the dojo."

The Troopers spun around. Sayuki had snuck up on them, and was now standing behind Seiji, tapping her foot impatiently. "The dojo is closed today, isn't it?" Seiji mutely nodded. "Fine, lets go!"

They looked at each other, then back at Sayuki. Ryo began to open his mouth, to tell her that maybe she should stay here at school, that what was going on did not concern her any, when she silenced him with a cold look.

"Once we are there," she said icily, "you can tell me what happened to my cousin."

********

Kunou ran down the hallway and tore open the door. "Where is Saotome Ranma!" The entire class stared at him.

The teacher, A stocky man with short cut hair, just looked at him. "Who?" he finally asked.

A brief look of irritation flashed across Kunou's face and he opened his mouth to repeat his demand when a rumbling sound down the hall distracted him.

"Lumu!" A giant tiger cow speed around the corner and down the hall. Kunou didn't have a chance to get out of the way before it plowed over him and entered the classroom.

"Eeee! It's Rei!" Lum immediately jumped out of her chair and started to fly around the room trying to avoid her ex-fiancé's embrace.

"Ohhh," Shinobu sighed and clasped her hands together. "It's Rei." All the girls in the class did a group sigh as the boys flattened themselves against the wall in an effort not to get trampled.

"Do not despair Lum," Mendou pulled out his katana and stood on one of the desks in a heroic pose. "I will save you."

Neither Lum or Rei heard him. On their next pass around the room, Mendou raised his sword and attacked.

"Hi!" A young red haired girl in a blue and white pinafore appeared out of nowhere in front of him, causing him to halt his attack.

"Ran-chan!" Ataru appeared next to her and glomped onto her arm. "Imagine seeing you here."

"Darling!" Everyone in the class turned to Lum, who was floating in the air. Her eyes narrowed, and electricity flashed from her horns. "Why... you..." she brought her hands above her and clasped them together. "Devine..."

Ran pried her arm out of Ataru's grasp and quickly slid out of the way. Mendou and Ataru were not so fortunate.

"...retribution!" She shot a high powered bolt of electricity at the two young men. Electricity danced across them, causing their hair to stand on end, and their limbs to contort in strange ways. A moment later, the electricity dissipated, leaving two fried young men laying on the floor, smoke wisping up from their ruined clothing.

Behind Lum, Ran had offered Rei the lunch she had brought him, and he had reverted to his humanoid form, much to the other girls delight, and the boys despair.

Kunou slowly closed the door, not bothering to repeat his question.

********

Tenchi and Ayeka were now looking for four missing people, (Well, to be totally honest, Tenchi was looking for four, Ayeka was looking for her sister, and possibly Ryo-ohki. She was feverently wishing that Mihoshi and Ryoko would never be found, leaving her in peace and with Tenchi.) when the ran across a dejected looking piglet pulling a backpack down the sidewalk towards them.

Surprised, they paused and let the little pig pass them. It looked up at them, then sqweed its thanks as it continued on its way.

********

Seiji unlocked the door and motioned for everyone to enter. His parents and sister were out of town until next weekend, so no classes were being held.

They entered the main room and seated themselves on the floormats.

"Okay," Shu looked around the small group. "What's goin' on?"

Shin inclined his head in Seiji's direction. "Seiji knows more than I do. All I know is that Arial and Touma never arrived at school this morning." All heads turned to Seiji.

He took a deep breath, then began. "Halfway through class this morning Touma contacted me, mentally. The connection was very weak. He said that he and Arial were in another dimension, and that he didn't dare risk an attempt to teleport back. Then I lost the contact. It was almost like," he paused and thought for a moment, "like there was some kind of interference drowning him out.

The other Troopers and Sayuki exchanged bewildered looks.

"An alternate dimension," Shu groaned. "Now what are we goin' to do?"

Shin frowned and turned back to Seiji. "Did you try to reach Touma?"

Wearily Seiji nodded and rubbed his temples. "I tried for the rest of the class period. Nothing. I couldn't get through whatever was causing the interference. I couldn't even get a firm feeling of his presence, just a vague *here* impression."

"Well, if you couldn't get through, no use for the rest of us to try." Ryo slammed his fist on the floor. "This is so stupid! How did this happen in the first place?"

No one had any suggestions.

Everyone fell silent, trying to think of something, anything, that could help them retrieve their friends. After several minutes, Sayuki stood up.

"I am going to call my mom and tell her that Arial and I are staying at Nasutei's tonight. I don't want her to find out what happened. At least," she muttered to herself as she walked over to the phone, "not until we get Arial back."

Seiji also stood up.

"What are you doing?"

Absently Seiji glanced at Shu. "I am going to meditate on this." Seiji didn't hear Shu groan as he walked away from them and sat down in the corner to meditate. The other Troopers watched him in resignation. They wouldn't be able to talk to him until he was ready to talk.

Sayuki hung up the phone and walked back. "She doesn't suspect a thing," she told them. "Mom thinks I called from school."

They sat around for ten or so minutes, watching Seiji, when Shin suddenly jumped up. "I can't take this!" he burst out.

Ryo, Shu and Sayuki gave him several highly nervous looks. Shin usually wasn't the type who made sudden, strong outbursts. But then, Arial was involved, and that changed everything. Shin was very protective of her, not that she really needed protection... but all the same...

Shin started towards the door.

"Hey!" Shu called out, springing to his feet. "Wait, I'll come with you!"

"If you find anything, call here or at Nasutei's," Ryo called after them. He and Sayuki watched as they both nodded, then left.

"Are you going to wait with Seiji?" Sayuki asked softly. Ryo nodded. "Okay then, I'll head back to school." She gave Ryo a half hearted smile. "Maybe they'll show up there. I'll check in with you guys after school lets out."

"Okay, we will see you then." Ryo watched as Sayuki left, then got to his feet. Sighing deeply, he walked over to the phone. Better let Nasutei know what was going on. Maybe she has some ideas.

********

"Seiji-love." A softly whispered voice broke into his trance. "What is the matter?"

Startled, Seiji looked up at the young girl standing in front of him. "Izumi? What are you doing here?" He quickly glanced around. The room was empty. Everyone, with the exception of Ryo, who was on the phone in the office, had left.

"I felt your distress, and came to see what was wrong."

Seiji closed his eyes for a moment, then looked up at her, eyes cloudy. "Touma and Arial are missing." Izumi blinked once, then waited for him to continue. It wasn't all that strange an occurrence for one of the Troopers to go missing, and both Touma and Arial were capable of taking care of themselves.

"Somehow," Seiji took a deep breath, "somehow they seemed to have entered a different dimension than ours... Izumi?" Seiji quickly stood up. "What is it? You have gone pale."

"Into another dimension?" She whispered softly, ignoring his question.

"Yes, Izumi..." Seiji reached out to her, but she backed away from him, holding out a hand to stop him.

"No Seiji." She was shaking her head. "Don't worry about me, I am fine. Touma and Arial... This is bad, very, very bad." Izumi frowned in concentration, then looked up at him. "Seiji, have you felt anything, well, strange this past week? Anything at all?"

Seiji gave a little start at the sudden subject change. "Felt anything?" He shook his head. "No."

"How have you been feeling this past week?"

"Izumi, what about Touma and Arial?"

"Seiji!" she snapped, instantly grabbing his attention. She had never spoken to him like that before. "Answer the question! It is more important than you think."

He swallowed hard. "I, uh, have been having bad headaches for the past several days... but I don't see..." his voice faded off as Izumi wearily shook her head.

"I had hoped..." she murmured softly to herself, then softly shook her head, "no, no point in belated hopes."

Seiji was now thoroughly confused. "Izumi?"

She took his hands in hers and sank to her knees, bringing him to the floor with her. "Seiji, listen. This is very important. The barriers between the multitude of dimensions are breaking down. It started last week. For some reason, you seem to be reacting to it. That is what is causing your headaches."

"And what of Touma and Arial? This has something to do with them as well, doesn't it?"

She solemnly nodded. "The integrity of the barriers are maintained by five seals. Something must have happened to them, causing the barriers to begin to break down. This would cause weak spots. I believe that Touma and Arial must have found one of those spots.

"Touma can't teleport back," Seiji told her. "He said there was too much interference, that he and Arial were going to try to walk back."

"That's not a bad idea." Izumi nodded. "Not a bad idea at all. With the barriers breaking down, it would be hard to pinpoint our dimension. Walking through another weak point will be their best chance of getting home again."

"But," Seiji stood up, bringing Izumi up with him, "why just them? Why not the rest of us?"

"Seiji, unless whatever is wrong is corrected, there will be more weak spots. You are all at risk of walking through one. It is just a matter of time."

********

"Uh, shouldn't we have reached Touma's house by now?"

Shin looked around, just now starting to pay attention to his surroundings. A small frown appeared. "Yesss," he glanced down at his watch, they left the dojo nearly twenty minutes ago, "we should have. A while ago."

"Hey!" Shu spun around so that he was walking backwards, and was now face to face with Shin. "Do yo think that we might have walked into another dimension?"

Shin continued walking. "I don't quite see how. Nothing strange happened. And this," he waved his hand around, "doesn't look any different... Watch out!"

"Wha..." Shu spun around, but was unable to act in time. Before he quite knew what was happening, he had knocked down a lovely young lady with long red hair onto the ground.

"Ah! Sorry, sorry. Forgive me!" Shu babbled as the lady stared up at him with huge green eyes. "I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going!"

"Hmph!" The ladies companion, a young boy with spiky black hair glared at Shu.

"No, It was not all your fault." Shu and Shin watched as she gracefully got to her feet and gave them a soft smile. "I was also not paying attention to where I was going. Part of the responsibility is mine."

"He was walking backwards," the boy growled out.

She turned to the boy. "Hiei, no harm was done."

The boy turned away with a derisive snort. "We are wasting time. Stupid humans."

Shin's eyebrows rose up. He was quite sure he wasn't suppose to have heard that last, softly spoken sentence.

The lady sighed. "He is right. Please excuse us, we must be going."

"No problem," Shin smiled at her. "We are also in a bit of a hurry." Shin turned to Shu, who was still staring at the young lady. "Right Shu?"

"Uh, yeah, right Shin. Gotta go."

"Sayonara."

Kuruma inclined his head. "Sayonara." They watched as the two teenagers quickly walked down the street, the stockily built one now paying close attention to what was in front of him.

"Did you feel that Hiei?" He curtly nodded.

"Such high rekai readings," Kuruma continued thoughtfully. "And the one with the auburn hair... something different about him..." He shook his head in puzzlement, then turned to Hiei, a small smile playing across his lips. "Didn't he sound familiar to you..." his voice faded off as the two teenagers stopped and looked up and across the street. A plaintive wail filled the air.

"Teeeenchiiiiii..."

They looked up as well. A young lady with spiky blue hair was flying down the street. They watched curiously as she stopped and floated in the air.

"Teeeenchiiiiii..."

The lady looked around one last time, then continued on her way. By now everyone on the sidewalk was staring up at her.

Hiei's red eyes locked with Kuruma's green ones. "What was that?" he asked flatly.

Kuruma shook his head. "I do not know, but," a sudden smile flashed across his face, "things were bound to get interesting." Hiei gave his companion a very cold look, and spun around. Kuruma laughed softly to himself as he followed.

********

A long black cape billowed as Tuxedo Kamen looked down at the street. Today was not a good day. Simply put, he was lost. Now that wouldn't have been so bad, he was still in Tokyo after all, if it wasn't for the small, seemingly insignificant fact that this was not his Tokyo. Which turned the little problem of being lost into a very bid deal.

And he had no idea how it happened.

From the rooftop he was on, he watched as a Chinese teenager accidentally backed into a young lady. They spoke to each other for a couple of minutes, apologizing to each other, then started on their way again. He shook his head. Why was he watching this? He had more important things to be doing. Like getting back to his own world. What if this was an attack aimed at the sailor senshi? Presently there was no way he could go to Sailor Moon's aid if she needed his help.

He grabbed the edge of his cape and spun around, then turned right back around at the sound of a soft wail.

"Teeeenchiiiiii..."

Tuxedo Kamen's eyes grew wide as he watched a young lady, one of the ones he had seen earlier, flying down the street. She paused, floated in the air for a moment, then repeated her call. A moment later, she continued on her way, all eyes on her as she flew out of sight.

"Ah... okay." He took a deep breath and then released it. It was defiantly time for him to find his way back home. Before anything else strange happened.

********

At the newly founded UDF (Unexplained Disaster Force), a branch of the JSDF (Japanese Self Defense Force) all was seemingly quiet.

Shion Amade was peacefully reading in his office when his chief, and best friend called him up to his office. Sighing, he sat down his book, a reference book called 100 Ways to Know Your Oni that his sister recommended, and reluctantly got to his feet. A few minutes later (and a quick stop at the espresso machine) he entered Captain Hoshi Takashi's office. His friend was sitting at his desk, holding a file up in front of him.

Hoshi peered at Shion over the file. "Have you seen this?"

Shion shook his head and walked around the desk. "What is it?"

Hoshi handed Shion the file. "It is a collection of reports about strange calls the police have received this morning. Of strange occurrences that people have witnessed. The police keep sending them here."

"Hmmm," Shion started leafing through the papers. Six reports of seeing a blue haired lady flying through the air. Two reports of a strange man dressed in a suit and cape jumping from rooftop to rooftop. A report of a young man turning into a pig after a child splashed him with water. Three schools reported that a young man waving a bokkan was looking for someone named Saotome. And a group of school children had been frightened by a small Buddhist monk. He had appeared in the middle of the group, with a six foot cat. The report stated that the children liked the cat, which they shared fish crackers with.

"You have got to be kidding," Shion finally said after he finished the reports. "This has to be a bad joke."

"No joke," Hoshi opened a bottle of aspirin and shook out three. He popped them into his mouth and washed them down with Shion's espresso. "Most of those were from reliable sources. Businessmen, teachers, even a couple of police officers. They seem to be real incidents."

"And what do they expect us to do about it?" Shion set the file back on the desk. "Since when do we deal with this kind of stuff."

"Now, since there is no other organizations geared towards anything like this."

"Sir?" Hoshi and Shion turned to the office door, which Shion had not closed behind him. "We just had an interesting call. There are reports of a UFO flying across the city, headed our way."

"UFO's." Hoshi nodded. "Why am I not surprised."

"Is this any more real than these other reports, you think?" Shion asked lightly.

Miss Funo peered over her glasses at him, her lips twitching in amusement. "Well, Mr. Amade, I suggest you look out the window. That will answer all your questions."

Shion arched an eyebrow at her, then looked out the window. "Oh my..."

Hoshi spun around, and nearly fell out of his chair. Slowly cruising past his window was a streamline silver UFO. They watched as it quietly flew by, then vanish in thin air.

"Hoshi?" Shion whispered.

"Yes?"

"Do you have anymore aspirin. I have a feeling that today is going to be a bad day."

********

Inside the UFO, really a Galaxy Police spaceship, Washu turned to Detective Kiyone. "I really appreciate you letting me borrow your ship like this."

Kiyone gave the scientist a curt nod. "If it helps to find Mihoshi, I am all for it." Her eyes flashed dangerously, and her hands clenched into fists. "I really, really want to find her."

Absently Washu nodded, paying close attention to her computer screen. They had just passed through another dimensional abnormality, a weak spot in the dimensional barriers. Quickly she checked the sensors readings. Strange.

The abnormalities were fluxuating, but that was not overly unusual. She had noted that earlier in her lab. What was unusual was the fact that they shouldn't have been able to pass through it. The abnormalities had not yet reached the critical point in which matter would be able to travel from dimension to dimension through them.

She typed in several equations, then cross referenced the results with the data she had receive earlier. The result was the same. They should not have been able to passed through. Washu grimly smiled, and started typing again. Something was wrong. She had to have missed something. And she, Washu, the greatest scientist in the universe, would figure it out.

(to be continued...)