Hi, This story was written for a fanfic contest for Anime North. Hope you'll like it. I struggled with the 7 thousand word limit. Honest feed back is appreciated.

Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine. so on with the fanfic...

AnimeZing Race: Leg 1

Seven teams will embark on a race in different dimensions for individual wish fulfillment. Each wish is known only by the individual and Yuuko. Each team is made up of two people with an existing relationship. The seven teams are:

Yuki Eiri and Shindou Shuichi of Gravitation. Yuki is a famous novel author and Shuichi is the vocalist of "Bad Luck". Their wedding is coming up but felt they have grown apart and want the challenges/experiences to 'pull' them back together. Both wish for a "happily ever after".

Agatsuma Soubi and Aoyagi Ritsuka of Loveless. Soubi is Ritsuka's brother's fighter unit and Ritsuka is Soubi's second sacrifice unit. Ritsuka wishes to find out the truth behind his brother's "disappearance", Soubi wishes for his true name to be changed from Beloved to Loveless.

Souma Kyo and Souma Yuki (Yuki2 to prevent confusion) of Fruits Basket. Yuki2 is the rat and Kyo is the cat among the Juunishi members. They are part of cursed Juunishi family and would like to have the curse lifted.

Hitachiin Kaoru and Hikaru "Brotherly Love" of Ouran High School Host Club. These identical twins are fond of looking for things to amuse themselves. They have been forever searching for somebody that can tell them apart and would wish to meet that person.

L and Yagami Light of Death Note. Colleagues working together to apprehend Kira. L suspects Light to be Kira and Light is trying to convince L that he is not Kira. L wishes for a solid proof against Light and Light wishes for Shinigami Eyes without half of his remaining life taken.

Saotome Ranma and Tendo Akane of Ranma1/2. They've been engaged since birth but involved in an extremely complicated love polygon. Ranma wishes to have his curse lifted and Akane wishes for Ranma to confess his love for her.

Zaraki Kenpachi and Kusajika Yachiru of Bleach. Kenpachi is the captain and Yachiru is the vice-captain of the 11th squad in soul society. Kenpachi wishes to have a rematch with Kurosaki Ichigo and Yachiru wishes for Kenpachi to know his zanpakuto's name for greater power.

Who will withstand the stress or traveling together? Who will have the right combination of brains, brawn and teamwork to win their most hidden wish? We will find out in the future as they embark on the AnimeZing Race.

"I'm Yuko your host for this special race. Each of you will be provided one Mokona that will let you travel into different dimensions. The race is split into a number of legs and as you travel; you will need to complete various tasks. At the start of each leg of the race, you'll receive a small amount of cash local in the dimension that should cover your expenses.

At the end of each leg there's a pit stop. Four of these are elimination points, so you need to get to these pit stops as soon as you possibly can. If you're last, you will be eliminated. At the pit stop you will be given a gem Mokona will need for the next race. The first team that will cross the finish line will win their most hidden wish.

"Your first clue will be given by the White Mokona you can find with your bags. From here on in it's all up to you.

"Good Luck. Ready?" They nodded their heads. "Go!"

All seven teams raced to their bags a few feet away. Bleach reached their bags first, using shunpo to their advantage; closely followed by Ranma1/2 and Furuba, both teams made up of experienced martial artists. Last that arrived are the Hitachiin twins.

Each respective team's Mokona gave their first clue.

"Go to the temple and search for Domeki for your next clue. You have 15000 yen for this leg of the race." Read Yachiru.

"Let's go." Yachiru hopped on Kenpachi's back and started running without checking a map or asking for directions.

Akane rode Ranma's back and he started jumping over trees, buildings and houses; while the other teams are forced to hail a taxi.

"That's not fair." Shuichi complained to Yuki. "I wish we have abilities like those."

"Don't worry. I bet we can do something they cannot." Shuichi smiled at that and gave Yuki a quick kiss. A fangirl scream came from the driver for she's an avid YukiXShuichi fan.

Fruits Basket (Furuba) was the last team to get a taxi. "It's your fault." Yuki2 blamed Kyou

"You're the one that's slow. Besides, I never wished to be your partner. Damn that dog, he tricked us. Once we got home, I'll skin him alive."

"At least we agree on something. I just wish somebody got lost." Yuki2 replied as he checked the map he packed in his bag.

Ranma1/2 arrived first; they found Domeki at the entrance of the temple and gave their clue

"Detour" Read Akane.

A detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons. In this detour, teams must choose between Skilled Hands or Mind Games. In Skilled hands, teams need to make 1000 paper cranes. In Mind Games, each member will be given five different difficult logic problems they need to solve. They can help each other but each member needs to finish at least one puzzle on their own. After finishing the puzzles they will receive 1000 ready-made paper cranes and their next clue.

"Let's do Skilled Hands. It shouldn't be that hard." Akane agreed and they headed to the right of the temple. After carefully studying the instruction, they worked on it. They were already a third through it when Gravitation arrived with the screeching tires of the cab.

Shuichi kissed the ground as soon as he got out. "She drives worse than you. That was scary." Yuki just rolled his eyes and retrieved the clue from Domeki.

After a quick glance at the clue Yuki said, "Let's do Mind Games, I can help you out later." Shuichi ran after him to the left side of the temple.

Minutes later Loveless, Death Note (DN), Ouran and Furuba caught up.

"Let's do Mind Games." Ritsuka nodded and headed to the left. DN, Ouran and Furuba headed to the same direction.

Bleach came in last, thanks to Yachiru's 'helpful' directions. They chose Skilled Hands.

DN solved their own puzzles and finished at breakneck speed, oblivious to others' astonished faces, caught up in a contest of their own. At the same time, Ranma1/2 finished their cranes.

"Head to Yoto-do and look for the owner. He will give your next clue." L read as he held the clue at the edge with his thumb and index finger. They headed for their waiting taxi while Ranma1/2 continued jumping over houses.

Loveless finished with flying colors, followed by the Hitachiin Twins, Furuba and Gravitation. Shuichi had difficulty with the logic problems and Yuki ended up finishing 9 out of 10 problems.

Meanwhile, DN arrived at the shop. Ranma1/2 arrived a few minutes later.

"Roadblock: Who's fast on his feet with words? I'll do it." Light volunteered.

A roadblock is a task that only one person may perform. In this roadblock, that person must deliver a birdcage to Yuko's house however, with the full moon; spirits will be chasing them. They need to play Shiritori, a Japanese word game, uninterrupted with their Mokona to create wards against them.

"I'll do it." Akane said.

Gravitation followed, after their taxi driver broke all traffic rules to get them to the shop ASAP.

Yuki volunteered but Shuichi stopped him. "Let me do it. I'm fast besides I want to make up for taking too long at the temple." Yuki complied reluctantly.

In the temple, Bleach finished after a bit of a struggle with Yachiru doing most of the work. "To Yoto-do." Yachiru vanished in a flash, followed by Kenpachi. They got there the same time Loveless, Ouran and Furuba reached the shop.

"God those guys are fast." Ritsuka whispered in Soubi's ear. They agreed that Soubi will do the task, due to the 'words' part.

Kyou did it for Furuba, Kaoru for Ouran and Kenpachi for Bleach.

Utilizing his speed and gift with words, Shuichi reached Yuko's house first, Yuki already waiting for him there. Shuichi presented the birdcage to Yuko and received the next clue.

"Go on foot to the next pit stop. Search for Watanuki in the treasure room and give the birdcage and 1000 cranes. You'll receive the gem needed for the next leg." Yuki read.

"How come you're here?"

"There's a portal in the shop to this house."

"Oh, okay. C'mon let's go deliver these."

They quickly found Watanuki, who gave them the gem. "Shuichi and Yuki, you're team number one." Shuichi gave Yuki a big hug and a kiss.

Light is talking to Yachiru when Yuko met Light and Akane at the entrance. They were having an interesting conversation about apples and Shinigami in general. Both teammates headed to pit stop and ended up in second place.

Kyou entered panting, after exerting effort to get there faster for fear of running out of words, closely followed by a number of cats he passed along the way which followed him up to the pit stop. "Great were third place." Kyou said while trying to shoo away the cats.

Kenpachi appeared in a flash after ending up at several dead ends. He apparently didn't need to play shiritori since he can release a little of his reiatsu to ward them off. Yachiru jumped onto his back as he received the clue. They are the fourth team to arrive.

Soubi arrived minutes later in a hail of powerful words. Soubi didn't try to outrun the spirits chasing him; he used powerful words to fight them instead. Ritsuka found out as they headed to the treasure room. "For someone good with words, you didn't understand the instruction."

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. Won't happen again, Master."

Hikaru is waiting by the entrance with Yuko when Kaoru arrived. Yuko handed the clue and headed into the house, needing a drink after a long day of waiting at the entrance.

"Kaoru?!? Are you alright?"

"I'm okay. Are we the last team?" Hikaru asked as he read the clue. When Kaoru nodded, he sighed, "Puzzles, deliveries and running around with some childish games; this is boring. I thought this is going to be fun." Kaoru nodded his agreement. With that they arrived last and were eliminated from the race.

TBC