Disclaimers: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or Trigun, nor do I own Himura Kenshin, Kamiya Kaoru, Myojin Yahiko, Takani Megumi, Sagara Sanosuke, Alice in Wonderland (or any of its characters and concepts), The Wizard of Oz (or any of its characters and concepts), Meryl Strife, Vash the Stampede, Takeda Kanryuu, Millie Thompson, the sakabatou, or Bernardelli Insurance Company. All I own is the authorglue used to bind these series together in my first crossover fic. This fic is nonprofit, shared solely for the purpose of enjoyment. I get nothing out of posting this except happiness to share with my reviewers and other fans.
Curiouser and CuriouserThe movement is so dauntingly fast Kenshin hasn't the time to shout before being sucked into the maelstrom of twilight whimsy. Kaoru, on the other hand, isn't so paralyzed. Her screams echo throughout the Kamiya complex, waking Myojin Yahiko -- along with half of the block. Stumbling in utter horror towards the well, she peers inside in shock. I've lost him.
Yahiko comes trudging to the well, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Hey, busu, 'the hell you screaming about in the middle of the night?" He stands to her side, following her gaze inside the well, noting her silence with no small measure of discomfort. Where's Kenshin, anyways? He is always the first to Kaoru's side, and not without reason. "What're you looking at anyways? This had better not be some dumb way to get me to do something."
Yahiko pinches off his words, watching as a tear slowly rolls down Kaoru's cheek, dripping into the endless inky depths of the well. I asked Kenshin to do something, actually. And… "He's gone. Kenshin…. It… it sucked him in."
The well? Oh please. "Yeah right, busu. You can't expect me to believe that. Didja eat some bad tofu or something? Maybe I'd better go get Megumi-san…." Cleaning her vomit isn't appealing. Neither is doing all her chores himself. He turns on his heel to head towards the front gate, but Kaoru's fist stops him. Well, at least she snapped out of it. That's a plus, isn't it?
"Then where's the water, huh Yahiko? Everything's…gone." Her voice slips off into introspective quiet. "I lost him." The air all but cracks in a solid boom of finality with her words; her throat constricts tightly, and she's unable to say another word.
Yahiko leans back over the edge of the well, peering inside as if the well holds all the answers. His eyes widen. "It's true…usually you can see the water's surface by the bucket floating there, but I can't see it anywhere." Wait. He turns towards Kaoru, glowering. "You sure this isn't some dumb prank you and Kenshin cooked up? Ha ha." Last thing he needs is to have Kenshin come roaring out of the well's shadows, grabbing him up and throwing him down into the cold waters below. He's not going to play along with that.
His mouth earns him another mini-beating, breaking Kaoru of the static pain of her evident loss. "I'm serious, Yahiko! Kenshin's gone! Go look for him. I'd asked him to fetch some water, and when he didn't come back, I saw…." Cue the tears, dripping unheeded from sparkling sapphires. "The well sucked Kenshin in, and I couldn't do anything." Helpless.
Her heartbreak is visible; Yahiko feels suddenly ill at ease, pushing his toe around in the dirt. Much as he's loath to admit it, he hates to see Kaoru like this. And Kenshin – something must be done. "I'm gonna go find Sano and Megumi. Stay here…and don't go near the well. If it really got Kenshin, it'll get you too, and I'm not going in after your ugly butt!" Such sentimentalism is rare in a young boy.
The well is indeed deep and quite dark inside. From somewhere above Kenshin, the voices of his worried family come swarming down around him, bodiless, groundless marks of the unearthly peril surrounding him. He reaches upwards, trying to grab a hold of the rope, the bucket, the sidewall, anything, but only the gut-wrenching sound of Kaoru's tears greet his palms. "Oro? Kaoru-dono!" And that's about all the well will get as far as screams go. Confused, Kenshin looks around. I seem to be floating…I'm not falling, and I can still breathe, so I'm not swimming. Where am I?
Curiouser and curiouser. But Alice, this is only the beginning.
Suddenly, the well bottoms out into a rather wide expanse of dry, dusty sand. Kenshin meets with immediately suffocating, dry heat pounding into his lungs. It doesn't smell like Tokyo, and it certainly isn't the Kamiya dojo. Kenshin floats to a graceful crouch between an outcropping of sand dunes, his hands embedding themselves in generous quantities of the coarse grit. Ground, wonderful ground! If he didn't know better, he'd kiss it.
Gunshots ringing through the steamy, warped air give him little time to reminisce on the thought, however. His muscles tensing, Kenshin drops to a defensive crouch, his hand reaching for the comforting grip of the sakabatou. Turning about, searching for the source of the sounds, his brilliant red hair whips about the nape of his neck, making the tiny hairs stand on end. Caught in crossfire in the middle of an unknown desert. Just what he needed.
Toto, we're not having fun anymore.
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Suddenly, an immensely tall figure comes running up a far sand dune, his lips flapping in the breeze. "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Ok, ok, Meryl! I give! Stop shooting at me, will ya?" The tall gaijin doesn't even see the small swordsman, nor does he note the shrill singing of the blade as Kenshin draws his trusty sakabatou, dropping back into an attack stance. Surely this idiot isn't the cause of the gunfire!
Vash never had a chance. He hits the ground like a ton of red longcoated bricks, a purplish welt rising on his forehead. So much for the threat.
A young woman, nearly the same height as Kaoru, stalks over the crest of the dune towards her fallen target, fuming. Did he walk in on her bath, too? Kenshin thinks, incredulous violet eyes widening in disbelief. Another woman with a rather large gun resembling Takeda Kanryuu's gattling gun follows the smaller woman.
"Mister Vash? Meryl, did you shoot him?"
The short woman turns back to her incredulous partner. "No, I wasn't aiming for his head." She kneels down beside the fallen man, touching gentle fingertips to the angry welt covering his forehead. "This looks nasty. I hope he wakes up soon, because there's no way we can carry him!" Surprisingly, a look of concern flashes in Meryl's eyes as she looks up – then freezes. "M-Millie? Who's that?" The taller girl turns, gasping. "Oh, my! I don't know, Meryl! I've never seen anyone like him."
Kenshin must've made quite the sight, crouched in defense, sakabatou still drawn, held at the ready. Amber clouds his otherwise violet vision; he's not convinced that these people aren't a threat to him. Lifting the sakabatou in their direction, his voice booms, carrying ominous tones on the wind. "You will lower your weapons, de gozaru yo."
Meryl laughs nervously, dropping the derringers she'd been clutching as a safety in white-knuckled fists. "Millie, we'd better do what he says." Her voice trembles slightly in singsong variety, glancing sidelong at her partner, who drops the stun gun, smiling at the swordsman, raising her empty hands in silent surrender.
"Who are you?" Kenshin demands, not backing down.
"Eh heh, I'm Meryl Strife of the Bernardelli Insurance Society. My partner here is Millie Thompson, and that man," pointing to the coming-to Vash, "is none other than Vash the Stampede."