Andrea and Brian's Crazy Cross Over Anime

CH. 7: A TIME OF SEPARATION (and it’s not what you think – well, some of it might be)

           “I’m tired!” Joey whined.

           The others looked at him incredulously. 

           “We just started walking you baby!” Yahiko rolled his eyes.

           “Yeah, well, you try walking through a forest with a fainted guy in your arms.” Joey said defensively.

           “Whimp.” Kero taunted him, knowing Joey couldn’t come after him as long as he was holding James.

           “Arhg! Shaddup!” Joey yelled.

           Shizeru gritted her teeth.  Those idiots were way too loud.  She kicked at a small rock to let out her frustrations.  Why had she even come one this mission with them?  She was no spirit detective.

           She glanced at Yukina.  Oh yeah… that was why.  She couldn’t leave Yukina at the mercy of her obsessed brother, and she couldn’t leave Kazuma in Hiei’s clutches either.  She sighed.  This whole trip stunk!

           She kicked the rock a little too hard and it rolled off the path.  Following after it absently she suddenly jerked to a stop.  The rock seemed to be shimmering.  She looked more closely. No wait, it wasn’t the rock, it was… it was like a curtain of shimmering blue.

           <Now that’s weird> She stretched out a hand toward the curtain.  Maybe it wasn’t a curtain, maybe it extended farther than that.  Maybe it was like a cloud or something.  As her hand passed through it the glittering blue began to swirl and it slowly began to move around her feet.  It was rolling kind of like fog.  And it was headed toward the rest of the group.

           She wanted to turn and warn the others, after all, who knew what this stuff was or what it could do, but she found herself unable to move, or even speak.  <Well that answers one question>  Somehow she wasn’t frightened though, and it wasn’t just because she was a cold girl who kept her emotions locked away.

           The other stopped moving as the shimmering fog swirled around their feet.  They all stared down at it, uncertain.  A few tried to move, but found they could not – most didn’t even want to try.  Something about this substance was comforting… peaceful. 

           They all watched it until it faded away. When it was gone they released a collective melancholy sigh – though they had no idea why.  It just seemed sad for something so wonderful to go. They didn’t want to leave, so they all just stood there, staring at their feet. (weird huh?  But very tame)

           Kurama was the first to look up - they did have a mission after all - (Yea! Kurama! He’s so responsible. *swoons* oh sorry!) which of course meant he was the first to notice what the fog had really done.

           He did a double take.  One, two, three,… twenty seven.

           TWENTY SEVEN!

           Even with the new additions there should only be, he made a quick calculation, twenty three.  Where had they picked up four people!

           “Um… guys.” He began, but he never finished.  Just then Kuwabara looked up and found himself face to face with two Spiky haired boys in blue. (and no, they weren’t cops) 

            He totally freaked, “There are TWO of him!  See! I knew he was weird.”

           Kurama’s brows lifted slightly as he observed the two Yugi’s, “It would appear you were correct.”

           “That’s new.” Hiei and Yusuke said in chorus. But then they too looked up, and were shocked.

            “Look Seto,” a small boy pointed at the newly liberated Yami, “that must be the spirit of Yugi’s millennium puzzle.”

           The tall young man beside him grunted and glared toward the spirit, “There are no such things as spirits, Mokuba.” he said firmly

           “If you say so big brother.” Mokuba didn’t sound particularly convinced.

           “Ahhaha.” Botan laughed nervously and moved to stand in front of the two newcomers, blocking them from the others’ view.  “Thank you so much for your input – goodbye!”

           Ignoring their protests she quickly herded them out of the fiction, glancing around to make sure no one (especially the author) noticed.  When they were gone she let out a sigh of relief.  She didn’t want to have to keep track of any more people. (And neither do I! Hee hee ^_^) 

          “What’s going on?” Joey was confused.  For that matter, so was everyone else.  Standing before them were two Yugi’s (though there were several obvious differences between the two), two Bakura’s, a strange looking boy in a one piece spandex suit and a helmet (who looked suspiciously like the guy in the pet “It’s P E T darnit!” – sorry Lan), and a serene man with wings and long white hair.   

           Joey looked at Yami in question. “Don’t look at me Joey.  I have no idea what’s happened.” Yami was a little shocked (course, would you really expect anything else, after all he’s been a spirit for five thousand years.)  He and Yami Bakura were looking at their arms and legs in wonder.

           Then Joey looked to Kurama.  The centuries old spirit fox just shrugged, he had no idea.

           Professor Elm popped his head in, “They’ve been separated from their hosts by some sort of supernatural energy.”

           “We can SEE THAT!” Yusuke snapped. “We want to know how!”

           Professor Elm pushed his glasses up on his nose.  “A very good question.”

           “Hey!” Joey eyed him suspiciously, “Didn’t I get rid of you already?” Professor Elm laughed nervously.  “I DID!” Joey exclaimed his eyes widening, “Now get out and STAY OUT!” he pushed Professor Elm roughly out of the fiction (again!) then nodded giving a satisfied grunt.  “There.” Everyone uneasily returned their attention to the new members of their party. (and they didn't even notice a professor agreed that something supernatural existed :( bummer.)

           “Megaman.” Lan said in wonder.

           Megaman nodded, “Hey Lan.” He scratched the back of his head in confusion.

           Lan suddenly grinned, “This is GREAT!  I wish everyone back home could see this!” Megaman gave a nervous laugh and sweat dropped.

           “Hello, Yugi.” Yami approached Yugi slowly, as if afraid to frighten him.

           Yugi’s eyes were wide.  Then he too smiled.  “YAMI!” the small boy hugged his partner.  Yami chuckled, a deep warm sound.

           “At least you’re not afraid of me.” He pulled back with a smile.

           Bakura started to turn to his own Yami, but when the tomb robber growled he backed away.  “Uh, hello.  I take it you are the spirit who has been living in my ring?” He asked uncertainly.  He’d never met his Yami before.

           “Know anyone else who’d look almost exactly like you?” Yami Bakura snapped.

           “Um, no, I guess not.” Bakura turned away from him.

           “Yue?” Sakura asked, “What are you doing separate from Julian?”

           “I’ve no idea Sakura.” Yue’s normally expressionless face clouded over for just a moment.

           “Well, this is certainly interesting.” Botan remarked.  The others nodded.

           “Hey,” Kero pouted, “how come I didn’t get to be both my forms?”

            “Because both of you are you!” Li snapped.

           A low voice interrupted, barely audible, “Umm, guys, I hate to be a bother, but-” The others turned toward Julian just as he collapsed.  Yue rushed to catch his false form.

           “JULIAN!” Sakura cried, rushing to him.  “What’s wrong?” she looked up at Yue, tears in her eyes.

           Yue looked at her sorrowfully, “He is but a vessel, Sakura.  A unique one, separate from myself in many ways, but the energy that sustains him is my own.”  He looked away from her, down at his false form’s still face, “I’m afraid he cannot remain conscious apart from me.”

           “Will he,” Sakura’s breath caught in her throat, as she choked back a sob, “Will he be alright?”

           Yue held her gaze gently, “I’ve no idea.”  Li placed an arm around her and she leaned into him.

           “He’ll be alright, Sakura.” Li assured her, “He just can’t wake up.  When we get home everything will go back to how it was.”

           Sakura nodded and pulled away, wiping her tears.

           “Do you think he’s right?” Yugi asked.

           Yami smiled, “I don’t know.  But I hope so.  I don’t know how we’d explain this to your grandfather!” He and Yugi both smiled.

           “Ha! I’d just as soon never see any of you again.” Yami Bakura snorted, turning away.

           “Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” Yusuke asked, “You can’t stay in our world! You have to go home!”

           “Watch me.” Yami Bakura just kept walking.  Suddenly Hiei appeared before him.  “Out of my way fool!” Yami Bakura snapped impatiently.

           Hiei’s eyes narrowed and his hand twitched, longing for his sword, “I don’t know what’s going on, but you’re staying here.” He commanded.

            Yami Bakura’s eyes flickered to Hiei’s sword.  He grinned, “Or what?  You’ll slice me in two?”

           “As much as I’d like to, no.” Hiei said, “But I won’t allow you to leave.  The last thing I need is another fool to chase after.”

           Now Yami Bakura’s eyes narrowed.

           “I’d suggest you do as he says.” Kurama said softly, from behind Yami Bakura.  Yami Bakura whirled uneasily.  Why hadn’t he heard the red head come up?  Kurama held his gaze and Yami Bakura sighed.

           “Fine.” He growled, returning to the group.

           “So… now what?” Takuya asked after an uncomfortable silence.

           “An explanation might be nice!” Yusuke snapped, eyeing Yami and Yugi. “Why are there two of you?  There aren’t two of me!”

           “Uh, it’s a long story…” Yugi said uneasily.

           Kurama crossed his arms and leaned against a tree, “We’ve got time.”

           Yugi gulped as twenty some odd pairs of eyes bore into him, he cleared his throat, “Well, it all started…”

 ***

          Many, many minutes later (Yugi was right, the story was long.  And then the other three groups had to give their stories as well, although Lan’s was pretty short) a dazed group sat trying to take in all that they had heard.  Ancient spirits dwelling within Egyptian artifacts, sharing the minds of teenage boys?  A centuries old magic guardian inhabiting the body of a sixteen year old orphan? (they had left out the part about Sakura and Li having magic though.  Li still wanted to have an edge. Though I don't see what good it did.  Didn't Kurama and Kuwabara already mention their auras? Oh well, they still don't know what the kids could do.)

          It was all a little hard to swallow, but then, Yusuke was a boy who came back from the dead to capture vicious soul-eating demons so…

          “Ookay.” Yusuke stood slowly, shaking his head. (not sure if he was trying to absorb the information, get it out of his head, or just scramble it but…)  “Well, now that that’s all cleared up.  Maybe we should, umm, get started again.”  The others nodded and quietly stood to follow. It was going to take them a while to process all of this.   

          Yue lifted Julian gently and began to walk, Sakura very close to his side.  With a sigh Joey hefted James and began to walk as well.  <Why couldn’t that blue fog have woken this loser up?> he wondered.

          After a few moments Yue stopped, looking at Sakura closely.  “You are tired.” He stated.

          She shook her head, “I’m fine Yue.”

          “No.” he insisted, “I can sense your weariness.  You should not be walking.”

          “I don’t really have any other options.” Sakura smiled lightly, nodding toward Li.

          “But now that my true form is revealed, I could assist you.” Yue insisted.

          Sakura sighed, “That’s very sweet, but you’ve got Julian to take care of.  You can’t carry us both.”  Yue looked very unhappy.  She placed a hand on his arm, “I’ll be fine.”

          Yue nodded, but continued to watch her.  A few times she stumbled, and Li had to support her. She wasn’t used to such long treks, and this place made her magic feel drained.  Finally Yue stopped once again.

          “I’m going to carry you.”

          “No,” Sakura waved him away weakly, “Julian needs you.” It felt funny to say that he needed himself, but it was true. 

          Yue shook his head firmly, “Someone else will have to take care of him.”  He looked around and his eyes settled on Kuwabara.  “You.” He called.

          “Who? Me?” Kuwabara turned uneasily.

          Yue nodded, “Yes, you.  The tall one.  Come carry Julian.”  In a daze Kuwabara came to Yue and took Julian’s still form.  It wasn’t that Yue scared him, but his voice held such authority.  “Thank you.” Yue positioned Julian in Kuwabara’s arms and then turned to Sakura. “Now then,” he lifted her gently.  She flushed a little.  She knew she wasn’t in love with him, but still…

          For a short while there was peace again.  But that was not to be. 

          Joey stumbled over a rock and bumped into Yahiko.

          “Hey, watch where you’re going old man!” Yahiko snapped.  Fortunately for him Kenshin was talking to Yami and Kurama (who seemed to have a lot in common) and couldn’t hear him be so disrespectful.

          “Old man!?” Joey growled, “Listen you pug nosed brat.  If you weren’t so little I’d-”

          “You’d what?!” Yahiko taunted, “Come on, I can take it.  Don’t let my age stop you, you sissy!”

          “WHAT!?” Joey dropped James.  “Say that to my face you little punk!”

          “What?” Yahiko glared at him, “That you’re a sissy?  Well you are!  All you’ve done this whole time is complain, complain.  You’re a baby, a sissy, a-”

          “Grrrrr.  SHUT UP!” Joey lunged at Yahiko and the two landed with a thud on the ground.

          “Hey!” An enraged Kero dive bombed them. “You nearly crushed me!”

          Joey swung at Kero. “Stay outta dis bear!” He warned.  This only made Kero angrier and he dive bombed Joey once more.

          “Joey!  Come on you guys.” Yugi was a little worried.

          The others were starting to gather around as well.

          “Joey.  Let them go.” Yami said sternly.

          “Stay outta dis Yug, and uh… you too Yami.” He didn’t even look at them.

          “Keroberos, you are behaving like a child.” Yue calmly told his fellow guardian.

          “Leave me alone Yue!” Kero yelled.  Yue looked away in disgust.

          “Yahiko! What would Miss Kaoru say if she saw you?” Kenshin shook his head.

          “I DON’T CARE!” Yahiko and Joey were a tangle of arms and legs now. 

          Kenshin and Yami sighed, and (with a quick glance at one another) pulled the two boys apart.  Kero would have still gone after them, but Li grabbed him by a small stuffed wing, bringing him to a painful halt.

          Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to stop them.  They continued to hurl insults at one another until Hiei had finally had enough.  He wanted this mission over with – and they were definitely in the way.

          Walking over to them (they had managed to get right in each other’s faces, pulling their respective restrainers with them) he picked the arguing boys (and bear) up (and out of their friends’ grasps) easily and walked to the edge of the page, casually dropping them over the side.

          “Hiei!” Botan scolded him.

          “Hn. Can we go now?” Hiei started walking, ignoring the startled looks being thrown toward him.  Having no real choice the others followed.

          “Oh, no!” Misty exclaimed, looking over at James who was still sitting limply where Joey had set him before the fight. “Now Joey’s gone!  Who’s gonna carry James?”

          They all stopped.  That was a very good question.

          They looked at Hiei, who made no move to help (even though he had exacerbated the problem- that means made it worse)

          “Hey, maybe we could put my skates on him and pull him!” Lan said helpfully.

          “It wouldn’t work.” Kurama shook his head

          “I might be able to carry him.” Megaman offered.  They looked at him skeptically, “Hey! I’m stronger than I look!” he defended.

          “I guess I could-” Sakura began, but Li cut her off with a look.  He still didn’t trust these people, and now that they knew about Yue, he was even more determined to keep his and Sakura’s magic a secret.    

           Kenshin studied James and then looked thoughtfully at Kuwabara.  Shizeru noticed and turned to him expectantly. “Kuwabara…”       

          Kuwabara looked up and could practically see what they were thinking.  He backed up, “Hu uh, don’t look at me.  I’m already carrying this guy.” he indicated Julian.

            “Well, somebody had better carry him, we can’t stay here.” Yusuke said.

           “Why don’t you do it?” Keiko asked.

           “WHAT!?” Yusuke didn’t like that idea.

           “I can settle this.” Hiei walked up casually and threw James out of the fic.

           “You really need to stop doing that Hiei.” Kurama said, shaking his head.  But his green eyes shone with amusement. 

          “They’re all getting home aren’t they?” Hiei said flatly. 

           Yusuke snapped his fingers, “Oh that’s right! Hey, Kurama, why don’t we just toss them all out?  They’ll go home right?” 

            “That’s inhumane!” Misty exclaimed

            “But we aren’t humans, we’re cartoons.” Yusuke insisted.    

            “No, wouldn’t work, we’ll have to find another way.” Kurama said firmly.

            Yusuke sighed.  He had been hoping…

 ***

           Kurama was doing a final head count (really! I promise).  His whole crew was still there.  Ash and Misty were still there.  Takuya and Lan were still there.  That made thirteen.  Then there was Yugi.  And that was all from the original bunch.  Fourteen.  Then there were Yami and Megaman.  Plus Bakura, Yami Bakura, Yue, Julian, Kenshin, Sakura, and Li. So nine new (and semi new – Yami and Megaman had technically been there from the beginning) people.  That was twenty three.  He sighed, only one more than when they had started, though they had gone through quite a few people since then.

           “Stop that!” 

           Kurama turned to find the source of the disruption.  So far they had had a peaceful night (of course, since the three loud mouths were gone… well, you get it right?)  Sakura had made another wonderful dinner (and Kenshin had told her so, as had Bakura and Kurama.  It was nice to finally have someone else with manners around – even if they were both from an alternate universe, and one from about a hundred and fifty years earlier.)

           “Misty!  I said stop it!” Ash jerked away from her.  Kurama couldn’t tell what she had done, but it evidently bothered the boy immensely.

           “No Ash! Not until you tell me!” She insisted.

           “NO!” he yelled, right in her face.  She pulled back – he hadn’t yelled at her in a long time.

           “Don’t you yell at me, ASH KETCHUM!” She was in his face now.  He turned away.

           “Why can’t you just go away.”

           Misty bit her lip, tears forming in her eyes, “What?” she whispered.

           “You heard me,” Ash turned to look at her.  “Sometimes I wish you’d just disappear.”

           And as soon as he said it, she did!  She was gone, right before his eyes.

           <Hm, twenty two> Kurama thought.

           “No! Misty!” Ash reached for where she had been. “Misty!” he whimpered.

           “Well, you told her to go away didn’t you?” Hiei asked.

           “Yeah, but I didn’t mean it.” Ash protested. 

           “Too late for that now.” Takuya stared wide-eyed at the place the red headed girl had been just moments before.

           “She can’t be gone!” Ash wailed.  The others eyed him uneasily.  “Misty.” He said softly, burying his face in his hands.

           “Yes, Ash?” Ash looked up, startled by the familiar voice.  It was Misty!

           “M-misty?” he asked in disbelief.

           “Ash.” She said blankly, clearly she had no clue what had just happened.

           He looked around wildly, “Where were you?”

            She quirked a brow, “Where was I?”

           Ash studied her for a moment, then looked at the others, trying to decide if he was crazy.

           They shook their heads.  No – they had seen it too.  She had disappeared.

           “Um, never mind.” Ash said quickly, no need to worry her.  She was back now.  “We’d better get some sleep.” He said hastily.

           “Okay.” Misty shrugged as she pulled out her sleeping bag and laid down.  <He sure is being weird> she thought just before falling asleep.

           Kurama chuckled, before settling his head against the tree once more.  <Twenty three>

    ~~~~ 

 [A/N sorry I keep getting rid of the girls.  Truth is, the guys are just so much more fun ^_^  But hey! I brought Misty back, and I promise not to get rid of any of the YYH girls.  Plus, Sakura is here to stay. So that’s what… six girls.  Six out of twenty three… hehe – guess I have the same problem most other writers do, too many men!]

Go Hiei! The stupid people are gone!

Umm, okay.

But you should have got rid of Misty.

You didn't tell me Kaiba would be in this story.

He isn't, not really.

Hey, how come Botan can get rid of people without getting yelled at?

Uhhhhh.... bye now! runs

WAIT! Come back! I wanna know!

David watches them running around and shakes his head

Stupid siblings.