AUTHOR'S NOTES:

This is what happens when you read too many crossovers. You start one yourself. This is an offshoot of my main storyline, which follows YST, and it is going to be long. Every character used, with the exception of my YST characters are copywrited by their many creators. Please enjoy. And yes Jeri, I will work on the rest of the chapters for you.

Ja ne,

Shin-Chan

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

(a multi-dimension anime crossover)

CHAPTER 1: A PEACEFUL SATURDAY

by SHIN-CHAN

The sun dawned on a peaceful Saturday morning. The birds were singing, fluffy clouds danced high in the sky, and children were on their way to school. It was a quiet, misleading morning, showing no hints of the events about to unfold.

Touma sighed and burrowed his head into his pillow. He was having the most wonderful dream. For the first time ever, he was preparing a meal, and nothing bad had happened. A wish come true.

As he placed the meal he had cooked in front of his friends, a faint droning sound invaded his dream. Without waking up, he reached over and turned off the alarm clock.

With an expectant look on his face, he watched as his friends prepared to eat the meal he had made for them. But, before anyone had a chance to take a bite, reality once again invaded on his dream, with a vengeance this time.

Faintly, in the distance, he realized someone had pulled the covers off of him. And he heard someone calling his name, shaking his shoulders. None of these events bothered him any. What grabbed his immediate attention, and woke him up, was the simultaneous events of someone screeching his name at the top of their lungs, and the sudden splash of ice cold water on his face and chest.

"TOUMA!!! WAKE UP!!!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

Touma, startled into full awareness, instantly and sat straight up in bed. Ice cold water dripped down his face and hair, dripping off his forelock and onto his legs. He shivered and glared through his wet hair at the incredibly heartless, cruel person who had awaken him in such a horribly abrupt manner.

"Arial!" Touma growled in a threatening voice. "Why did you do that!?" Touma continued to glare at the young girl standing at his bedside, waiting for her excuse.

Arial. She was a cute girl with extremely long blond hair reaching almost to her knees, and large bright purple eyes. A girl who was not going to make it to her next birthday if she pulled another stunt like this again. She was Shin's girlfriend, fiancee actually, and his unofficial little sister, her decision, not his.

When he moved out of Nasutei's house to live with his mother, she had volunteered to wake him in the morning, so he wouldn't be late for school, as his mother could not be trusted to do so. Arial had discovered that Touma was near impossible to wake up in the morning, and had even threatened him that, if all else fails, she would wake him up with a cold shower in bed. He should have known she was serious.

Arial returned the glare with interest. She had just spent the last forty-five minutes in a futile effort to wake him up. She had planned to get to school early today.

"Do you know what time it is?" she demanded crossly. Touma shook his head, spraying water droplets across the room, and glanced at his clock.

"Gee-wiz!" He jumped out of bed, giving Arial a good look at his white jammies, covered with blue and gold shooting stars and crescent moons. "School starts in twenty minutes!" He hadn't slept in this late for almost two weeks!

Arial looked up and shook her head. "No kidding!" she growled. "You have ten minutes to get ready." She turned and started for the door, her lips twitching as soon as Touma could no longer see her face. "Then I'm out the door. If I am late for class, I get automatic detention."

She slammed the door behind her and leaned against it, her eyes shining, giggling softly. Those pajamas... how silly.

Touma quickly pulled off his wet shirt and tossed it at his hamper. It landed with a wet thump on the lid. He knew he should have gone to sleep earlier the night before, but it had been such an interesting book... 'From now on Touma, no more reading after midnight, unless it is school related.'

After a quick shower, a very quick shower, Touma rapidly put on his school uniform and grabbed his schoolbag. He met Arial at the door with one minute to spare, his school jacket hanging open.

She opened the door, and they started to leave the house, when Touma's mother called after him.

"Touma-kun, Darling, please be home at seven tonight." Touma rolled his eyes. "Yes Mother." And they bolted out the door.

As they ran down the street, Arial glanced at Touma. "Touma," she gasped out, "this has got to stop. Turning a twenty-five minute walk to school into a less than ten minute run is a joke."

Touma nodded. They generally left to late to catch the train to school, and had to make their way on foot. If only he could get up earlier... 'But it is so hard to wake up, even if I get to sleep early.'

At least this time they wouldn't have to resort to drastic measures. On a couple of occasions, he had to change into his sub-armor to make it to school on time. After that had happened twice, Arial put her foot down and created the ten minute rule to get to school on time. She was very against the use of his armor for this. And against using her own abilities. High speed travel messed up her hair, she claimed. If he wasn't ready in ten minutes, she said she would leave on her own, and he could get to school however he felt. He had offered to teleport them to school once, and she looked at him as though he was crazy. Arial couldn't stand teleporting.

They rounded a corner, and saw that coming towards them at high speed was another student, apparently also running late for school. She was wearing an unfamiliar blue and white school uniform and she had the most ridiculous hair style, two balls of hair high on her head, with ponytails trailing out from them.

All three of them were going too fast too stop, and they crashed into each other, falling into a tangle of arms, legs and long blond hair.

After a short struggle, the three of them managed to get themselves untangled, with a minimum amount of pulled hair and elbows in the ribs.

"Sorry! Sorry!" the other girl cried out. She bowed down to them in apology. "I wasn't watching where I was going... aaahhhh!" She had just glanced at her watch, she was going to get detention, again!

She reached down and grabbed a schoolbag. "Please forgive me, but I'm going to be late!" The blond girl ran down the street, her ponytails waving behind her.

"Come on Touma, or we are going to be late also!" They grabbed their schoolbags and started to run the direction the other girl had came from.

********

Kuruma was halfway down the walk when he heard his mothers voice.

"Suuichi..." Kuruma's mother called after him, please don't forget to call if you are going to be late tonight." She gave him a mock glare. "I need to know whether or not you are going to be here for dinner."

Kuruma smiled at his mother. "If I am going to be late, I'll call, promise." She smiled back at him and Kuruma started for school.

Things had been peaceful for the Reikai Detective Agency lately, too peaceful. Nothing strange had happened for months now. Generally, with their luck, that meant a big disaster would soon be looming over the horizon. Through numerous past experiences, Kuruma had learned that things invariably took a turn for the worst when things were going right for a change.

After he turned a corner, he froze. This street was totally unfamiliar to him. Frowning, he spun around. The street behind him was not the street he had just been walking down.

Wryly, he shook his head. He had known that it was too peaceful.

In the distance, he heard a muffled explosion, and the sounds of a girl screaming. Without hesitation, he started to run down the street.

He was halfway to the corner when a young man with brown hair and an average looking face ran around the corner as though his life depended on his speed. Kuruma stopped and stared at the girl chasing after the young man.

She had appeared around the corner a moment after the young man. "Darling!" she screamed. Kuruma blinked his eyes. She was quite lovely, with a nice figure, and long green hair. What had caught his attention, however, was the fact she was flying.

As the two of them raced past Kuruma, paying him no mind, he noticed that the girl had horns, an oni.

"How dare you!" the oni-girl cried after the young man. "And this early in the morning. I can't let you out of my sight for a moment!" She paused, floating in the air, and put her hand together over her head. "Divine Retribution!" she screamed and threw a bolt of electricity at the young man.

With previously unseen agility, the young man dodged the lightning and turned to the girl. "But Lum..." he whined.

"No buts. My husband, once again making passes at other girls..." She was at a loss for words for a moment, and then, "Ataru no BAKA!" And she prepared to launch another lightning bolt at the unfortunate Ataru.

He sped around the corner with Lum right behind him. A few moments later was the sound of another explosion, and the sounds of male screams.

The wind softly blew through Kuruma's long red hair. He was looking down the street in amazement. Never had he seen anything like that, and in four hundred plus years, he had seen quite a bit.

Turning back towards the direction he had been traveling in, his thoughts wandered to a more immediate problem than the hapless youth with the oni wife, where was he?

He took a step forward, and the scenery changed. With wide, startled eyes, he looked around. He was now on the street he was suppose to be on, the one he always walked down on his way to school.

"Kuruma, this looks as if it is going to be the start of an interesting day."

As he continued to school, he frowned. But, what had just happened? He hadn't felt anything, and there were no portals here. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn he had stepped through a barrier and into an alternate version of Tokyo, but that was impossible. He shook his head. He would figure it out later.

********

Mamoru paused on his way to collage. He lowered his sunglasses down his nose and peered over them in amazement at the strange group of people coming towards him.

Five young people were walking down the street. The only male of the group was wearing a baggy jacket and had spiked hair. Walking on either side of him were two strangely dressed young ladies.

The one on the right had a cocky attitude. She had longish light blue hair that stood up in the back. She was several inches taller than the young man, and had a happy smile on her face as she clung determinedly to his arm. She was wearing a strange, multi-colored jumpsuit in lime and pink, cut extremely low in front.

On his left side walked a young lady whose every step spoke of a genteel background. She had dark purple hair, cut short around her face, and in the back two long rat tails. She had a decidedly put out expression on her face, and kept glaring at the other girl through the corners of her eyes. Her outfit was also a type of jumpsuit, more elaborate than the other girls, and looked like it was modeled after a kimono.

They young man, it must be noted, wore a look of long term suffering on his downcast face.

A bit behind them and to the side were the two other girls. One was a tall girl with dark skin, curly blond hair tied in a ponytail, and a vague look in her eyes. She was staring at everything in vapid eyed amazement. She was dressed normally.

The last person in this strange group was a young girl around ten or so. She wore her hair in two long blue ponytails, which reminded him a bit of his girlfriend's hairstyle. The little girl did not have her hair tied up into little balls, though. Her outfit was a miniature replica of the one the purple haired teenager was wearing.

As they passed him, a small brown and white creature with long ears and a fuzzy white bunny tail jumped onto the girls head and sat between the ponytails. The creature looked at him and meowed questionably at him.

The child turned her head and looked back at him, giving him a searching look. As she did so, he noticed two small green triangles on her forehead. Their eyes meet for a moment, and she gave him a charming smile, her pink eyes shining. In the distance, a clock rang the time, it was eight thirty.

He looked away from the girl and readjusted his sunglasses. He had to be going, or he would be late.

********

"Ranma! Hurry or we are going to be late!"

"Hold your horses, Akane. We'll get there in time."

The two of them ran side by side, Akane on the sidewalk, Ranma on the top of a fence. He jumped off the fence as Akane rounded a corner.

When he ran around the corner right behind her, he saw a man waiting for them at the end of the street. His eyes narrowed. Kunou, dressed in his blue kempo outfit.

"Out of the way Kunou, we don't have time for this."

"I had not planned to see you this morning, Saotome," Kunou stated." I am standing here, waiting for my Pony-tailed Goddess to appear. Today, I will ask her to date me."

"Great!" Akane hollered, "Have a nice time," and she hurriedly speed past Kunou before he really noticed that she was there.

Ranma looked at Kunou with disgust. "Don't bother, Jerk!" And for the heck of it, because Kunou made him so sick, Ranma kicked him out of the way. Ranma didn't pause to watch Kunou soar high into the sky, Akane was ahead of him by half a block, and they only had two minutes left before the bell rang.

Kunou patently crossed his arms and waited to land. "Saotome," he intoned, a cross look on his face. "you will pay for this. No longer will I stand your insolence and interference as I seek the hearts and hands of Akane Tendo and the Pony-tailed Girl. Nothing will stop me!"

"HEY! WATCH IT!!!"

Kunou's eyes widened in amazement as he flew past a cute young lady with blue hair sitting on an oar. The young lady glared at Kunou as he flew out of sight.

"Well, I never!" Botan huffed. "How stupid can people get? He wasn't even watching where he was going."

Ah well, back to her mission. It looked as if Koenma-Sama's suspicions were correct. Frowning, she directed her oar upwards, past the fluffy white clouds. Koenma-Sama was not going to like her report.

(to be continued...)