InuYasha Fan Fiction / Blue Seed Fan Fiction / El Hazard Fan Fiction / Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction / Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction / Fruits Basket Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ A Long Way From Home ❯ Chapter Three: Welcome to Wonderland ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: So, Ya’ll enjoying so far? I hope so. Ya breathing? Hello?I know you're there. I can hear you breathing. One hundred and Eleven people have read this. Anyone like it? Ah well... Here we go, New Chappie!



Chapter Three: Welcome to Wonderland
Tenchi

Tenchi’s collar felt awfully tight. Really. He wanted to raise a finger to loosen it a little. Tingles of discomfort skittered up his spine. Yet he smiled awkwardly at the lunatics staring at him.

Seven of them. GODS what had he gotten himself into?

A pale boy with shifty eyes was standing almost nose to nose with a slightly older looking, but shorter boy with brown hair. They were obviously frozen mid-argument. Their bodies were still angled towards one and other, the dynamic energies cut with the interruption. A short brown haired, green eyed girl had her hands on her hips, and was attempting to mediate. Beside her was a pretty long black haired girl, also trying to quell the outburst. Then there was an orange haired boy, his hands thrust between the first two boys, looking quite peevish. Finally another pretty, black-short haired girl who looked kinda pissed was sitting, watching. Beside her, a concerned looking brunette. Tenchi was accustomed to pretty alien women, but it was sort of strange to see so many good looking and totally human women in one place.

“Eh…eh-heh...Hi.” Tenchi offered to the utter and total silence.

The brunette recovered swiftest. She bounced to her feet and bounded up to him- Tenchi took a step back from the Ryoko-esque exuberance…only to find he’d run into Nurse Nanako’s excessive front. He went red while the girl introduced herself, oblivious to his timidity.

“Hello Tenchi! I’m Momiji Fujimia and this is, well everyone. We’re not normally this…um...violent.”

“Yes we are.” Grumbled the short black haired girl.

Whatever the altercation had been it dissipated and the residents were taking their seats.

“There now!” Nurse Nanako just smiled blithely. She gave Tenchi a little push toward the empty chair apparently reserved for him between Short-black-haired girl and annoyed orange haired boy. Whoo boy...just feel the tension.

Nurse Nanako fetched a clipboard and took her seat, crossing her legs. “I’m glad you’ve seemed to have gotten the fighting out of your system. Now why don’t you all introduce yourselves to Tenchi?”

They must have rehearsed what followed, though it really was amusing, was quite informative. Starting with Akane it went something like this:

“Akane Tendo; water-triggered-curses-including-sex-changing-martial-artist-fiancé. ”
“Momiji Fujimia; Ancient-family-line-of-sacrifces-for-stopping-big-plant-monsters.”
“Keiichi Morisato. Engaged-to-a-goddess-and-living-with-her-and-her-two-sisters”
“Hitomi Kanzaki; inter-dimensional-traveler-and-precognitive-world-saver.”
“I am Katsuhiko Jinnai am the ruler of the might Bugrum nation! Soon we will rise up and conquer all of El hazard, And take the eye of God!! Then I shall squash my deadly rival Makoto Mizuhara into nothing! OHO- OHO-OHO-OHOHOHOHAHAHAH!!!!”
“Kagome Higurashi; fuedal-age-time-traveler-and-youkai-fighter-and-shard-detector.”
“Kyo Sohma: Opposite-sex-triggered-Chinese-zodiac-cursed-family.”

Two inter-dimensional travelers, one time traveler, two cursed families, a human sacrifice and a man living with some goddesses. What a combination. Tenchi wondered at the comparative wackiness of his own life.

“Well, Tenchi...would you like to tell us where you come from..?”

Tenchi blanched at the Nurses suggestion. Where he came from a month ago or now?
“Uhh...well..”

“Don’t be shy! Everyone here understands...”

“Well...I...was living with my Father and Grandfather until I accidentally woke up the demon in the family shrine-only it wasn’t a demon, it was an alien. An alien space pirate named Ryoko who was sealed in by a great warrior, Yosho...she kinda moved in. Then Yosho’s sisters Sasami and Ayeaka came...only...they were princesses of the planet Jurai...and their ship got trashed and…they had to move in too. Then Mihoshi, a galaxy police woman arrived and crashed her ship...then...we were all attacked by Kagato- it turned out he was controlling Ryoko while she was a Space Pirate, and he wanted the Jurai power-And My Grandfather turned out to be Yosho...then…well…Kagato took Ryoko...and we all went to rescue her on Kagatos space ship-Only I got killed-Then Sasami (who turned out to be melded with the Jurai goddess Tsunami) resurrected me and…well...we rescued Ryoko, and her Mom, little Washu, the greatest scientific genius in the Universe who was a prisoner of Kagato...and...they...all came to live with us...plus Ryo-Ohki, this little…cabbit that turns into a space ship...Then…Dr. Clay came to kidnap little Washu….but we sto..pped…him…”

Silence. They were all staring at him.

“Yo, Hitomi, hand over the weirdest story trophy to Tenchi here.” Kyo called.

“Aren’t my aliens as valid as his?” Hitomi shot back.

“His really were aliens-yours are technically displaced earthlings.” Kagome reasoned.

This warranted an eye rolling from Miss Kanzaki “ What about the anthropomorphic people?”

“Nah-Tenchi still wins- He says he’s a quarter alien.” Kyo insisted.

Momiji leaned closer “Really? Are you?” None of the others had claimed a bloodline outside of being completely human. Kyo insisted that he changed forms, but only because of a curse.

“Well…” Tenchi shirked back as the brunette centered in on him again.

She got up and examined him, looking for any tell tale signs of alien heritage like...extra limbs...or a tail, or something like the mitamas on Kusanagi’s hands. Finding none she sat back down and sighed, looking rather dejected. Tenchi almost felt sorry for her.

“I am-was...I’m not sure...”

Tenchi ducked his head. The Jurai power he felt before didn’t seem to be...here. Which really put a damper on trying to prove he’d ever had it to begin with. Not that he’d attempted creating the Lighthawk wings. He didn’t even have the Tenchi-ken. It was a state of being highly confused. Had he dreamed alien women? Had all those crazy events been a fake?

“It only gets more confusing.” Keiichi said helpfully, startling Tenchi.

“Oh...Really?” If that was true, he wasn’t looking forward to it. Things were already tough enough to figure out.

There was a nodding all around.

“Don’t worry” That was the pretty black haired one, Kagome. She smiled reassuringly at him. “We’ll help you. We were all where you are now.”

The conversation took a turn then, gently guided by the Nurses hand. For the most part very little was asked of Tenchi, they simply let him listen. They talked about how they felt for the most part. Emotions they had been experiencing. Some were more active conversationalists than others, though Akane spoke nearly none at all.
When the group dispersed the chairs were returned to normal, and every seemed to drift off with different objectives in mind. It was very informal.

Tenchi discovered he was going to be sharing a room with Keiichi Morisato, and was pleased to find that Keiichi was quite low key. He’d been afraid of bunking up with that absolute psychopath Jinnai, who spent most of the session either laughing, going on about being evil or babbling incoherently about ultimate weapons. Sohma Clinic was not what he expected in the slightest. The place sort of looked more like mutated hospice. The atmosphere was friendly, if tense.

Everyone had rooms off of the same main hall. Girls rooms were on the left (he saw most of them retreating there) and boys were on the right. It was to one such room that Keiichi lead him.

“Here’s your closet and drawers, plenty of space.” The brown haired boy said kindly to the displaced Crown Prince who was pleased to see his luggage had been left on his newly made bed. He began to methodically unpack.

“So…uh…how long have you been here?”

Keiichi’s face screwed up with thought “ About a year now. I used to want time to slow down, but now I can’t wait for things to speed up! What I wouldn’t give for a distraction!”

“You lived with Goddesses, right?” Tenchi wondered if after a week he too would miss women battling over him, or appearing out of walls or...any number of things the various members of his household were prone to do. Plus the people who appeared and wanted one of his women. Well they weren’t his, but…they were in his house.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“ Is it a little...hard?”

Keiichi shrugged “ I love Belldandy...and her sisters only want what’s best for her. We’re...sort of like a family. Sure there are disagreements, but usually things work out well.”

“I wish mine were like that” Tenchi shook his head, piling shirts in a drawer. “ Ryoko and Ayeaka are always fighting over me, and Washu likes to run tests on me. It seems like there’s conflict every second- I do love them all, but I think I could use a little break!”

“Washu-which one is Washu?”

“Little Washu is the greatest scientific genius in the Universe. She’s also Ryoko’s Mom- although she made herself a child’s body because she doesn’t like being an adult.”

“Sounds like she and Skuld would get along real well.”

Tenchi slid the drawer shut, and eyed the room. “What is this place like..?” Then he continued placed his meager belongings in a tidy fashion about his half of the room.

Keiichi flopped onto his back upon the bed. “This place or this world?”

“Err...just the clinic.”

“Foods not bad. Other inmates are nice, expect for Jinnai-but I think you guessed that. We have classes and stuff...The Doctors don’t really know what they’re doing...we’re just…experimental guinea pigs.”

“No matter where I go I’m a guinea pig” Tenchi sighed. He had noted the way Keiichi worded the clarification. “This place or this world’ and Tenchi felt a spark of hope rise within him.

“ What kind of tests does Washu run on you anyway?”

Tenchi was saved blessedly by a knock on the door and Momiji stuck her head in. She smiled at Tenchi and he smiled back...she was just so...so contagiously gleeful. Sort of like Sasami, but Momiji was more like an adult who’d seen the face of the world and decided she was going to be happy anyway. Teal eyes shot back to Keiichi and gave him an intense look.

“Do you think all eight of us will be there for dinner?”

“Well Tenchi and I might eat in here.” Keiichi responded after a moment.

“If I save you a desert do you want one or two?”

“One.”

“Great!” Then the brown head popped back out and the door was shut.

“What was that??” Tenchi asked after a few moments.

“Nothing. Just Momiji” Keiichi gave a bit of a smile that promised Tenchi there was something more to it.


There was something much more to the bland statement. There were eight for dinner, and some fairly normal conversation about movies and food, and about Tenchi’s life pre-psychotic episode. He couldn’t quite understand what was up, and Keiichi made it quite clear he wasn’t answering questions. He was even evasive in addressing him period. After eating Tenchi and Keiichi returned to their room and spent a good part of the night talking amiably or reading. At ten it was lights out and Tenchi curled up in his new bed and tried to think about sleep.
For some reason, it wasn’t imminent. No amount of rolling or readjusting his position made it so, either. Rolling onto his back, and staring at the ceiling made him feel better. Goodnight Mihoshi. Goodnight Sasami. Goodnight Ryoko, Goodnight Washu. Goodnight Ayeaka, Goodnight Dad, and Grandpa. He wished to the ceiling and out into the stars beyond. I hope you’re all looking for me, and not killing one and other. That made him feel better, and Tenchi allowed his eyes to shut, thinking of them all pulling together. They really could work together when the situation called for it. Even Ryoko and Ayeaka. Yes…

Tenchi was roused from sleep rudely about two hours later by Keiichi. A hand clapped over his mouth to keep him from protesting as his squinted gaze at the clock told him it was twelve fifty. Keiichi signaled Tenchi to be quiet then lifted his hand from his mouth.

“There, we can talk freely now.” He smiled. “ Sorry-sometimes Hatori or one of the nurses or orderlies listen outside the doors…if we want to talk and be sure no one can hear us we have to be a little sneaky.”

“So earlier that was..?”

“Code…yeah…lame, huh?”

There came a whisper of fingertips against the door and in swift succession the room filled up. Momiji in her pink and white striped pajamas sat next to Keiichi on his bed, Akane and Kagome at the foot. Hitomi opted to sit on the floor. Kyo leaned against the wall and Jinnai took the chair from Keiichi’s desk.

It was pretty weird to say the least-sleepy eyed kids in their pajamas stuffing themselves into a small room. Tenchi wondered again at the chain of events that had lead him to this very position.

“Sorry for all the mystery- We just don’t want our meetings to become public.”

Tenchi rubbed his eyes and tried to wrap his brain around the concept of
adults listening into the conversations of young adults they thought were crazy. It was difficult, considering they had the same kids in intensive therapy. Her Father had said treatment at Sohma Clinic was unorthodox

Momiji picked at a loose thread in the arm of her pajama top. “We try to have meetings like these for all the new people-plus to think about what we’re going to do.”

Hitomi further explained. “We think that somehow we got switched dimensionally from Universes where the things we claimed happened to us are possible. We don’t know how, or even why but it’s the only thing that explains all that we know.”

To Tenchi this was an enormous relief. Dimensions! Alternate dimensions! That was Washu Speak! If Washu knew it, Washu could find him and Tenchi was quite sure there were only a limited number of things Washu could not do. Traversing Dimensions couldn’t be hard-Hell her LAB was a pocket dimension-So was the bathroom! Just give her a few days and she’d have it solved! Tenchi’s brain restarted when the meaning of the conversation impacted on his brain.
“Still, we have to wait for them to find us. If it’s taken this long…” Akane laid her head on her knees and gave a sight.

“My family wouldn’t know what a dimension was if it bit them in the ass. Back home they probably think the other me is crazy” Said Kyo dismally. “So we can’t count my twenty months as a starting point for how long they’ve been looking.”

“The Goddesses are our best bet- The TAC mostly know about biology and defense, not inter dimensional travel-How long have you been here Keiichi?” That was Momiji.

Keiichi sighed “ A year and a half.”

“Wait, Wait.” Tenchi held out his hands to quell the stream of conversation. “Other yous?” He was met with a round of blinking-and then they all looked at Keiichi. Apparently he was the designated speaker, being that he was the new guys roommate and all. He seemed to consider how he was going to explain it.

“Logically, there have to be. Take you, Tenchi. Your family was here- there might have been some differences in how they got where they are, or their circumstances they live in, but they were there, and there WAS a Tenchi, right? You woke up in his bed, not wandering the city somewhere. All of us woke up in beds that belonged to people with the same names as us, the same faces, but they aren’t us. Since we didn’t live the lives that we’re now in, we have to assume that there were other Tenchis and Kyos and Momijis, that what has happened is that we’ve switched places with them.” Keiichi stroked his fingers through Momiji’s hair in an absent gesture of brotherly affection.

Tenchi tried to picture another him, suddenly thrust into a household of unfamiliar women who all wanted him. Unfamiliar super powered space women of which two were princesses, one a space pirate, another a cop and the last a Scientific Mad woman who attempted to collect sperm samples. It was disconcerting. If the poor guy didn’t go comatose it would be some sort of miracle. He felt another leap in his heart.

“Look-Guys…Washu, Washu will find us! If she has the Tenchi that belongs here, and he doesn’t have any Juari blood in him, she’ll know what happened right away and find us! She is the greatest scientific genius in the universe! She’s made space ships and Ryoko and-and all kinds of weird things in her lab-And THAT’S a sub-dimension!” The room seemed to lift and lighten from its gloom. Eyes that had previously been dark with the beginnings of despair were now kindling the failing light of hope until it was burning strong once again. Most of them were leaning forward excitedly. Except for Jinnai. He was looking at Tenchi with intense scrutiny.

“Really, Really?” Kagome whispered in excited disbelief.

“We could be home...soon?” added Momiji.

“Well, Washu has to find us, then build something to get us here, but she’s a hard worker. I’m sure she’s doing things as quickly as she can.” Tenchi smiled in assurance. He was almost positive that it wouldn’t take Washu more than a week to-
“How long have you already been here?” That was Jinnai. Unlike the cackling of the afternoon he sounded almost rational. Tenchi counted the days and responded that it had been nine days since he appropriated someone else’s life. To the surprise of all surprise shook his head, expression grim.

“That’s already a week and two days. If she’s such a genius why hasn’t she found us?” Tenchi could only shrug hopelessly.

“It’s still better than trying to accept the fact that we’re crazy.” Kagome shot back at Katsuhiko.

“Umm…I heard,” Momiji spoke up “I heard they were trying to find people- like...like Ranma and Tohru…the TAC-People who weren’t our friends before in this life, to disprove us.” Her voice was soft, almost fearful. That was as it should be. The implications of coming face to face with people you had memories of, people who had affected change in your life and have them remember nothing were unpleasant. It would also bring thoughts about what those real people they remembered were doing during the long absences.

Tenchi felt upset ripple through each member of the room, disturbing them. One moment they were overjoyed at potential rescue, the next saddened by potentially having to face-face who?

“That...would put the nail in our crazy coffins.” Momiji frowned.

“It’s already happened to most of us- our families...but...I don’t think I could face a Ranma who didn’t remember me.” Akane murmured.

“Personally I would be nothing but pleased if Makoto no longer remembe-”

“It’s just more facts stacked against things we already can’t prove.” Kyo interrupted Jinnai, and received a dirty look for the effort. Kyo made a noise in his throat and jerked away from the group. “I’m going to bed. If that Scientist finds us, great. But I don’t need to hear all this false hope crap.” And he retreated out of the room, visibly depressed.

“It’s not false hope!” Momiji valiantly persisted. “Is it..?”” her teals flicked to Tenchi who shook his head, expression determined.

“No. It just might take time. I don’t always understand the things Washu says, but there are all sorts of parameters and fluctuations she has to take into account. I mean, she has to find us, then build something that won’t hurt us when she uses it.” He smiled reassuringly, and that seemed to calm Momiji who nodded. “The first thing I’m going to do when I get home is give everyone a big hug! What about the rest of you..?”

“Hmmm…I want to hug everyone too…but then I’d have to go back to the past and convince Inu Yasha it wasn’t my fault.” Kagome’s eyes glittered. ‘He’ll probably yell at me.”

“If they haven’t forgotten you.” That was Jinnai. “And moved on. Now what a shame that would be.” He too got up, and followed Kyo out.

“No one will have forgotten anyone.” Keiichi assured them. Though Tenchi noticed Hitomi frowned.

Final words and ideas were exchanged before they all trickled out, to their beds. Tenchi watched Keiichi climb back into bed before laying down himself.
The whole thing was too disturbing. He tried to imagine things from Kyo’s angle. Twenty months was a long time. It must have hurt knowing the people in their true dimension had been confused, maybe tried to fix things...but ultimately settled down with the new version of Kyo. Even just the thought of his parents or Ayeaka or Ryoko giving up, of not knowing what else to do was sobering. Being forgotten. Let go. It made Tenchi’s stomach hurt. He blinked at the ceiling and accused it silently.

“Hey...Keiichi..?” he whispered into the darkness, and was met by a grunt from the other male.

“How long has everyone been here?”

Keiichi sighed. He must not have wanted to think about that. The bed sheets hissed as he rolled towards the Jurain Prince, and few moments passed while he tried to remember them all. “Kyo...twenty months...Momiji and I...a year and a half. Jinnai and Akane… ele- no, a whole year, Hitomi...she’s been here for maybe nine months, and Kagome only six.”

“That’s a long time.”

“Yeah. There’s another girl, Usagi Tsukino...I guess...she’s been here two years. She really did go crazy. She talked to people who weren’t there, got hysterical a lot...Then one morning she attacked Nurse Nanako. She had to be taken away.”

“Away?”

“To a real institution.”

“Will…she get better?”

“Maybe. If...Washu comes for us, and she’s returned home to where everything she knew was true. It’s hard to tell. Whatever happens, we have to get Usagi out. She’s supposed to rule Neo-Tokyo.”

“Neo-Tokyo?”

“Or…Crystal Tokyo...something like that. As Neo-Queen Serenity. She was pretty rough on the details.”

“What happens if she doesn’t?”

“I don’t know. Is predestination fallible?”

Tenchi didn’t have an answer for that. Was predestination fallible? What would happen if none of them got home? If they did have destinies in their real world would it fall apart if they weren’t there to fulfill them..? It made his head hurt.
He rolled over, and offered another plea to the sky Please Washu, Please hurry. It’s not just our happiness…Maybe the whole world that would suffer.

A silence stretched on before Keiichi spoke again.

“You don’t know it Tenchi, but you’re hope to some desperate people.”



There was a sort of schedule to Sohma Clinic, and Tenchi found he didn’t mind the place. It was sort of like summer camp. First you got up, obviously. Classes began at eight, so there was time to breakfast in the dining room. Keiichi was usually first, and Tenchi tended to go with him. Hitomi was next, usually fresh off her run. Kagome, Akane and Kyo were next, and Momiji last. Jinnai would wait until they had all gone. The menu changed. Sometimes there was an American breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon and toast. Sometimes there was a traditional menu of rice, miso and fish.
Classes went until four with the three cycling teachers and a lunch break in the middle. There were various private appointments with Hatori sprinkled through the week during this time. Afterward they had free time and group therapy to be spent as they liked.

He was not allowed to practice with his sword, but to stay in shape he made the same use of the track as Hitomi, sometimes in the mornings with her, or sometimes in the evenings. Actually it became sort of a manly guy thing, for Keiichi, Kyo and Tenchi to run at night. Sometimes the girls came out to watch them, occasionally jog with them, especially Akane.

On Thursday though Kyo made the mistake of telling the girls that women were no match for male runners, and thus it was obviously that nature ordained they could beat them- which meant there had to be a challenge. Hitomi of course beat them all, Kyo was second, then Akane and Tenchi at a tie and Keiichi last. It was decided that there would be no more running competitions.

He liked his fellow inmates. They weren’t as crazy as his initial impression lead him to believe. In fact, they were a pretty charming bunch. Never a dull moment as they say, although whereas Tenchi was accustomed to a definition of the phrase which involved intergalactic violence and energy blasts the residents tended toward petty squabbling. Err.. Not that the tiffs between Ryoko and Ayeaka weren’t the height of pettiness...

It was inevitable that once a day Kyo and Akane would find something to argue about, and while occasionally it came to a sparring match , most often it was ceased in the early stages by a well placed word from Kagome or Hitomi. They often excused the literal blows they came to as a martial artists duty to stay in shape. They both pointed each other, but since (as Tenchi could see) they both lacked speed and agility to accompany their strength progression could only be minimal.

It was also inevitable that Jinnai would burst into that frightening laughter, although Tenchi suspected a good deal of his theatrics were for show only. However the frequent outbursts were probably giving poor Keiichi an ulcer, as he tried weakly to defend himself with a pained expression on his face when he was the target.
The girls were a friendly bunch. Tenchi had almost forgotten what earth girls could be like. Momiji was happy go lucky and smiling, a blend of Mihoshi and Sasami. Kagome could both tease and be practical. She was serious about her school work, and very friendly. Akane could be hostile, and Hitomi seemed to get on with everyone.

Classes were at least more interesting here, with only three teachers and frequent distractions. On the other hand he couldn’t dream off as he sometimes did at home, and he found himself more prone to do here. Ritsuko was especially attentive to those drifting off, and liked to catch people so they would guiltily admit they weren’t aware of the last ten minutes . On the other hand, Misato tried to stay as off topic as possible. Any opportunity for distraction was taken. They spent entire periods thinking creative ways of connecting interesting topics such as Anime or music to class subjects while evading discovery. There were a few things Misato did teach, and quite well- She was passionate about court intrigue and complex government procedures.

The food wasn’t bad either. With only eight people to serve they were never relegated to cardboard microwave foodstuffs. There was an episode of unspeakable badness when Akane tried to cook them something, and they all ended up fairly sick. Tenchi was pretty amazed there was someone on earth who could cook on par with Ryoko.

It was a great shock when he realized a week had passed. The days seemed to blur together into a surreal fiction. He drifted through his activities...just....waiting. It felt as if he had always been here.

Perhaps that was part of what bothered Tenchi. The place felt so calm and lulling- but under that there was such a sense of…of wrongness. There were nurses and orderlies everywhere, but most of the time he really did not seem to notice them. He just tuned them out, because they weren’t important. In fact they were almost never, truly alone. There was always someone watching.