Disclaimer: sigh As much as I'd LOVE these characters to be mine, I cannot legally and/or truthfully say that. So there you have it. Oh, and I can proudly say that this is my first 'official' fanfic, since NONE of these characters are mine!! triumphant grin So, enjoy the madness.

Note: I'm just going to make this clear; each chapter is narrated in first person, and as he and the people in his world talk about who is missing, it leads into the next chapter which is narrated by who is missing from that directly previous world. And so on and so forth. It might get a bit confusing because of the complication of it all, but yeah, it'll be fun, and you'll probably be able to tell who's talking most of the time, if you catch on. Enjoy!

It began like any other normal day at the Kamiya Dojo.

"KENSHIN!!"

With myself being loudly summoned to the presence of Miss Kaoru. Stuck in the process of washing the weekly laundry, I immediately set the soapy clothes down and rushed into the kendo room.

"What is it, Miss Kaoru?" I inquired as I sped into the room, slipping off my sandals as I went, expecting the worst.

"Guess what?" the young female assistant master asked excitedly, her eyes glowing.

"Wh-what?" My idle, wet, and soapy hands dripped onto the wooden floor.

"I just found some money! We should go out and get something to eat for lunch!!"

This was not quite what I had expected. "L-lunch?"

"Yes, lunch! Go get Yahiko, and then-what the heck-we'll go see if Sano wants to come!"

"But . . . Miss Kaoru . . . the laundry-?"

"Forget about the laundry! Let's go!!"

So that's how we ended up making our way to the residence of our good friend, Sanosuke Sagara. I had no doubt he would jump at the proposition of a free lunch; that is, if her were awake enough to do it. He had a history of sleeping well past noon after staying out quite late. Hoping to find him already awake, I tapped lightly on the fragile sliding door.

"Sano? You awake?"

A slightly muffled groan came from inside. Smiling, I slid the door open.

"Do you think you could wake up enough to-?"

I trailed off as I stared into the room. There was a lanky figure under a dark blanket, but upon noticing black boot-like shoes protruding out of the bottom and an amount of shaggy green hair poking out of the top, the conclusion was drawn that whoever this was, it wasn't Sano.

Another mumble came from under the blanket. "Five more minutes, Jet . . ."

I wondered if we'd gotten the wrong room. "E-excuse me sir? I'm sorry, I think we got the wrong room . . . can you tell me where Sanosuke Sagara lives?"

"H-huh? What're you talking-?" the man began to ask as he sat up, the blanket flopping off him. He trailed off as he stared back at myself, Miss Kaoru, and Yahiko, obviously confused. "Who-who are you?! What're you doing on my ship?!?"

I blinked, trying to make sense of what he was saying. "W-we're not on a ship . . . we're on land . . ."

"Wha-?!?" He glanced frantically around him, taking in his surroundings completely now. "Where the crap am I?!?"

"Um . . . Tokyo, Japan," I offered, though part of my mind was still musing about Sano's whereabouts.

"What planet is this?!"

"Earth?" Kaoru piped up.

"Wow!" Yahiko put his two cents in, "you must really be lost, mister! You related to Sanosuke?"

"Earth? This is Earth?! But I thought it was-!" He stopped. "Wait, what year is it?"

"The 11th year of the Meiji Era . . . about 1865 or so by Western standards . . ."

"Great," he muttered, "time travel. Or I somehow ate some of those mushrooms again . . ."

"So you're from the future?" Yahiko asked wonderingly.

"Yeah, I guess so . . ." the man said, running his fingers through his large amount of shaggy green hair.

"So . . . the name Sanosuke Sagara doesn't mean anything to you?" I asked, determined to find out where he had gone.

"Nope." He glanced around the room. "This his place?"

"Yes . . . um . . ."

"My guess is, him and I switched places. Why . . . I have no idea, but that's the theory I've got from all this."

"So, Sano's probably back on . . . your ship?"

"Probably. Judging from the situation. Don't worry, I'm sure Jet'll take care of him."

A smile reached my lips. "If Sano will let him. He's rather . . . independent."

The man snorted. "Then he'll fit right in."

There was an awkward moment of silence as I contemplated Sano 'fitting right in' on a ship, of all things, with who knows what kind of people.

The man suddenly started. "Oh. Uh, I'm Spike, by the way."

"I'm Yahiko Miyojin!" the young boy eagerly stated.

"Kaoru Kamiya," Kaoru said with a smile.

"Pleased to meet you Spike. I'm Kenshin Himura." I found the absence of the immediate flicker of the addressed person's eyes from my left cheek to my hair rather refreshing. "I'm sure it would be all right if you stayed with us for a while, that it would . . ."

Spike shrugged. "Okay . . . thanks . . ."

Kaoru grinned. "So let's all go to lunch then! I'm sure you're much better mannered than Sanosuke!"

The man blinked. "Uh . . ."

Thus began what was to be a rather . . . interesting experience. In this one's opinion, anyway. x