The next morning I played with my hair. It was still pink, that was for sure, but it was more of a baby pink than neon. Frankly, I liked it a lot better like this so I spent some time fixing it. Finally, I braided it loosely, leaving two strays in front. I nodded towards my reflection and turned back towards my bed.

My Furinkan uniform lay next to my kaki skirt and camo-shirt. Choices, choices, what to wear today? The ugly blue uniform and fit in, or the more comfortable outfit and stick out like a sore thumb? Did I want people to talk about me and my inability to conform to the uniform or did I want to walk around in an outfit that absolutely clashed with my hair? I decided on comfort and put on my skirt and shirt.

I walked down the stairs, kicking out my feet a little as I hummed a Beatles tune. "Woke up, fell outta bed, dragged a comb across my head." Today was going to be a good day, I could feel it.

"Hey Kotori," I said, looking out over the courtyard. Lunch time was a fairly laid back occasion at the high-school, for now anyway. "Do you do Martial Arts?"

Kotori looked up at me from her lunch. "Yeah sure," she said.

"What belt are you?"

"Blue in Tae Kwon Do. My parents like the Korean style better."

"Does everyone here know martial arts?"

"Everyone except Gosunkugi."

I groaned and clutched my head. "Please, don't ever, ever say that again." Great, I had about as much martial experience as Gosunkugi. Way to boost my morale. "Why can't these people just aspire to a Pokemon Master and be done with it?"

Kotori giggled. "That's what the drop-outs do," she said. "Why, don't you do Martial Arts?"

I shook my head sadly. "No, I've never liked it much. I'm more of a 'make them punch themselves' type of person."

Kotori nodded as though she understood, which I appreciated. "Either that or blow them up," I said.

Kotori chuckled. "Yeah, I've always liked that better too," she said. "Why does it matter anyway? It's not like anybody uses it. Except Akane that is."

I smirked. If she only knew… "Let's just say I have a feeling. It's just, I don't wanna be really different from everybody."

"Rizu, I hate to tell you this but you have pink hair and refuse to wear the uniform. You can't get much more different than that," Kotori said.

Hehe, if she only knew. "Good point. Wait, how'd you know I had the uniform?"

She gave me a dry look and I nodded. "Right, never mind. Stupid question." The school bell rang loudly, signifying the beginning of class. "I'll see you later then."

"Bye Rizu!" Kotori said as I walked back into the building.

Well lunch wasn't a total waste. I now knew that I was a much of a loser as Gosunkugi. Wonderful. Maybe I would have to learn Martial Arts.

"Hey Rizu!" Sayuri said from behind me. "Wait up!"

I turned around and smiled. "Hey."

"Rizu, did you do your physics homework?" she asked as we walked into the classroom. "I lost mine on the way to school."

"Oh yeah sure," I said. "It's in my…" It was at that moment that I had an epiphany. "That's it!"

Sayuri looked at me with a skeptical eye. "What's it?"

"Sorry, I've got to go!" I ran past the incoming students into the hallway, then turned back momentarily. "It's in the science book in my bag. Make sure to put it back!" I yelled to a bewildered Sayuri.

I ran down the hallways, ignoring the angry teachers yelling at me to slow down. I had a destination: The library.

Kotori's eyes grew big when she saw me at the gate. "Physic's project?" she asked.

I grunted and adjusted the giant pile of books in my arms. "Kinda," I said. "Just doing a little studying on the side."

"Really? You never seemed to be the extra study type of person," she said as we walked along the street to the apartment building.

"I'm not. I just get kinda bored sometimes," I said.

"Well then, why don't you come down to visit me? It's not like I have anything to do," Kotori said nonchalantly.

I smiled and adjusted the books. "That'd be cool; I'd love to visit!"

Kotori smiled widely, a bit of relief in her face. "Alright," she said.

"Same goes for you, you know," I said. "My place is still a mess but if you need to escape the rents, you know where to go."

"That's good to know," Kotori said, smiling broadly. "I'll see you later then," she said as I began to walk up the stairs to my apartment.

"Yeah, I'll see ya!" I said. A happy glowing feeling filled my chest. I knew why I saw relief in her face; inviting someone over is always a hard thing to do, especially for me. Before I moved to where I was in the real world, it was three months before I had a sleepover, and a year before I went to anyone's house besides my neighbors.

I moved the huge stack of books to my hip and dug into my pocket for my keys. "Good times," I said. But now, I was going to have to study.

In my world, I was only in ninth grade, so being suddenly promoted to tenth grade was a bit of a headache. I was never in the advanced science mostly because I spent most of my time doodling in the back of my notebook.

So there I sat, with six advanced physics books on both sides of me, trying to cram at least two years of physics into my easily distracted brain. I was starting to understand what the seniors were talking about when they said they had to re-learn everything for the SATs. Only I had never learned this stuff. However, this was going to be a hell of a lot easier for me than learning some abstract form of martial arts.

"I don't understand," I grumbled as I let my head bang on the table. "How does it work?" I thought back hard to every cartoon I had ever seen, wracking my brain to try to figure out a rule, a pattern, anything! "Comedic physics are a bitch man," I mumbled.

Okay, all I had to do was go over the Ranma ½ section of it. Akane never tried to kill Ranma with a mallet before Kasumi gave it to her, indicating that you couldn't pull out something that you didn't have in your possession. Also, most of the time it was used as a prop in comedic timing, and it never worked when the characters needed it. But I still didn't understand how on earth anime characters were just able to pull big ass shit out of nowhere in the span of a second.

"Scientific process," I mumbled as I pulled out my notebook from my bag.

State a hypothesis: Objects can only be pulled out of thin air when being used as a comedic prop.

Research: Watch lots and lots of anime. I could defiantly do that.

Well, it looks like I had lots of studying to do. Nothing a trip to the video store couldn't cure.

Over the next few days, I did the tedious job of balancing homework and anime, something I had failed at previously. But this time, I was wasting my life away in front of a TV for research. I had rented several volumes of Rumiko's one and only "Urusei Yatsura", only I had to stop watching it after a while. It only warned me of what was to come. I also rented several American comedies, "The Mask", "Best of Bugs Bunny", "Abbot and Costello"; just to get the general jist of things.

I figured out straight off the bat that waiting for a comedic situation was not going to be hard here, however for all those serious fight scenes (which I highly doubted I was going to partake in) I needed to be prepared. So how to be able to call forth comedic props? Make the situation a slapstick routine.

Of course this was all provided I could actually pull out stuff from where ever the hell it came from.

The first time I tried to do it was an accident. I was sitting in my apartment, doing my homework when a giant wolf spider crawled up the table and across my –HAND-! I freaked out and pulled a hammer out of nowhere and killed that spider! And my hand, which now had spider guts and legs and eye juice all over it. Ewwww…

My hand was in bandages for two days after, but by some miraculous occurrence, it was fine by the third day. As soon as I could look past the fact that I had spider eye juice on my hand, I tried to recall how I was able to pull out the hammer. I remember that I had borrowed the hammer from Kotori to fix my cabinets. Last I remembered, I had left it by the mini fridge… so that meant it worked!

Over the next few weeks, I spent a lot of time loosing objects around the apartment, creating a comical situation, taking notes, and nursing my wounds from said comical situations. It sucked. I decided then that I really need to try to pull things out without a slapstick routine. The question was how.

So one fine Saturday evening, I put all of my cleaning supplies in the cabinet under the sink, a bucket full of warm soapy water by the fridge, and all the boxes in the closet with my table and bed. I French-braided my pink hair and tied a white cloth around my head. I put on my long rubber gloves, cleaning apron, and dust mask. I was ready.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. First up… the duster! I removed my hand from my back and began dusting the apartment with a vengeance, never stopping to make sure what I actually held was the duster.

Next was the broom. I scurried around the small apartment sweeping like a mad woman, then reached behind my back for the mop and bucket. All in all, the cleaning process took me half-an-hour, and by the end of that half-an-hour, I was tired and nasty. My apartment though was spotless.

Over the next few days, I found the odd cleaning tool in the odd place (duster in the fridge, dust pan in the microwave). I had mastered the call, just not the return.

The day I met the Tendo's was the day I locked myself out of my apartment. I was working some more on the comedic physics and decided, "Hey, why don't I see if I can call out my apartment keys? Yeah, that's a smart idea!" So I set my keys next to my textbooks and walked out the door, not even bothering to put on my shoes, and closed the locked door behind me.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and stuck my hand in my pocket. Not even pocket lint. I reached behind me and what'd I get? Nadda. A few more tries proved to be a fruitless effort. So there I was, outside my apartment in my bare feet banging my head against the door. "Why bang why bang why bang why bang"

Somewhere along the line it occurs to me that I should go ask my manager to help me open the door. Low and behold, guess who wasn't home? I shrugged and walked over to Kotori's house, hoping maybe I could crash there until the manager got back. I knocked on the door three times to no avail. What was this? A damn vacation for the entire building?

"Grrr…" I was bored and slightly peeved. "This shit ain't funny no more," I muttered under my breath. I sighed, and started to walk down the street, not even sure where I was going. I just watched the asphalt pass under my bare feet. The black, hot asphalt, running underneath my sensitive feet.

In my world, I went for walks in my bare feet all the time, so my feet had really tough callous. Not the most attractive thing for a girl to have but honestly, I wasn't really into impressing people. It always seemed so stupid to me, I'd always worry what people thought of me, what I looked like. Bah on that.

But now that I was here, in this new body that hadn't been on a thousand bare foot walks, the hot asphalt hurt. A lot. "YEOW!" I shouted, jumping off to the side of the road. I sat down quickly, trying to keep my feet off the ground as well as my hands. I can tell you right now, I looked like a damn fool, sitting there balancing in the air on my butt while cursing my idiocy.

"Stupid idiot… damn it… stupid, stupid…my poor feetsies."

"Need any help?" a voice said above me. I looked up to see Akane standing there, holding a bag of groceries.

"Uh yeah," I said stupidly. I mean, come on, it was Akane for crying out loud! One of the main characters in my favorite manga series. It was like being saved from a speeding bus by Spiderman, only not as dangerous. "I kinda locked myself outta my apartment," I said.

"Where are your shoes?" she asked.

"In my apartment. With my keys."

"Did you talk to your manager?"

"Not there."

"Oh. It's Rizu right? Rizu Arumigufuchi?" she asked, eyes flashing towards my hair quickly.

"Yeah. You're Akane Tendo, right?" I said. "Aren't you the one that fights through all the guys in the morning?"

Akane sighed. "Yeah, that's me. Hey, are your feet alright?"

I looked down at my two feet, which had still been smarting. "I'm not really sure actually. They're not used to walking barefoot."

"Well then why were you doing it?" Akane asked.

I sighed, still trying to keep my balance. "A slip of the mind. So could you help me out?"

"You forgot that you have sensitive feet?"

I took a deep breath and counted to three. "Yes, yes I did. I'm not as smart as I look. Now can you please help me out?" I asked. The amazing balance act wasn't doing so well by now.

"Oh yeah sure. Here, hold this stuff would you?" she said, handing me her bags. She turned around and leaned over. "Hop on."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're gonna carry me?" I said, a little shocked.

"Sure. There's a doctor's office not far from here. He can help you out, no problem," she said.

"If you're sure," I said nervously, looping the bag around my arm. I stood up, the heat searing my feet, I carefully climbed on her back.

"Are you really sure about this?" I asked. "I mean really, I could walk there…"

"Oh come on, I'm strong enough to carry you. You're pretty light anyway," she said. I had never heard that, ever, and it made me feel really, really good.

Only a few minutes later, we approached the clinic, which I immediately recognized as Dr. Tofu's clinic. "Here we are," Akane said, walking in.

"Thanks, you can put me down if you want now," I said.

"It's okay, really," Akane said as she sat me down in a waiting chair. "I'm just here to help."

Dr. Tofu walked in and smiled. "Akane, it's good to see you," he said cheerfully. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He was really cute, kinda like the doctor that helped me when I had my concussion. "What can I do for you?"

"Actually, uh, I need you to help a friend of mine," Akane said. I watched her closely to see her reaction to Tofu. Yep, she defiantly liked the man, the way she was acting all demure and stuff. Wouldn't even look the guy in the eye.

"I'm Rizu Arumigufuchi," I said reaching out my hand. He looked at my hand for a second before shaking it heartily.

"I'm Dr. Tofu. Are you from the west?" he asked. I blushed and withdrew my hand.

"Actually, I've been living in the states for a while," I said.

He nodded. "So what can I help you with?"

"Rizu was out walking barefooted and burned her feet," Akane said. Dr. Tofu looked at me quizzically.

"I'm not as smart as I look," I said with a laugh. "Which isn't saying much."

"I see. Well, come on back and I'll take a look," he said. He walked back into the room and Akane held out a hand for me.

"Here, I'll help you in," she said cheerfully. I took her hand and leaned on her while I walked on the balls of my feet. Not fun, but it helped that I had a balanced person helping me.

"Well let's look at those feet," Dr. Tofu said as I sat down. In the end, he told me that I had some pretty bad blisters, so he gave me some herbal ointment and told me to stay off my feet. "And here are some shoes for you to get home on," he said, showing up with a pair of flip-flops. I squealed with happiness and slipped them on. I love flip-flops.

Akane looked at me suspiciously while Tofu just smiled. "Come back if you have any more problems," Dr. Tofu said as we walked out the door.

"Bye Dr. Tofu! And thanks for the shoes!" I said, waving goodbye enthusiastically. Akane bowed and we went on our way.

I quickly walked in front of her and bowed. "Thanks for helping me out back there. I really appreciate it," I said, standing up.

Akane waved her hand nonchalantly and smiled. "It's no problem, really."

"No really, I woulda been toast. What dya say we get a snack? My treat!" I said. I stuck my hand inside my pocket to see how much money I had only to find I had no wallet. "Uh, or at least we will. I kinda left my wallet in my apartment."

Akane laughed. "It's okay, really. Where is your apartment anyway?"

I chewed my thumb as I looked around me. "I uh, live that way," I said, pointing back towards the doctor's office. "Just a little ways from where you found me."

"You live by yourself?" she asked.

I smiled widely. "Yep, s'my little happy pad!" Akane looked at me with a funny look. "Sorry, I'm just a little hyper."

"Riiight," she said as we began to walk again.

I shrugged and stuck my hands deep in my pockets. "So what's up with you and that doc dude?" I asked. "You like him?" I've never been one for tact.

Akane blushed, then looked indignant. "No! I hate men!"

I laughed and clapped my hands. "Amen sister, the guys here are such idiots!" I said. "I mean ahem that's what I think too."

She laughed and switched the groceries to the other hand. "Yeah, I'm not too fond of them either," she said. "I just wish they'd leave me alone, you know?"

"Bah, who knows?" I said, putting my hands behind my head. "Maybe a mysterious handsome stranger will come to town and sweep you off your feet. Then all the guys will have to leave you alone, else they'll get pummeled."

Akane snorted. "I'd rather not have a mysterious stranger. Besides, Kuno wouldn't leave me alone, I know that," she said.

"Is he that idiot in the upper class? The one with the bokken?"

Akane nodded ruefully. "Yes, yes he is. He's the worst one really, I can't stand him," she said.

"Ah, maybe he'll fall in love with someone else, ya know?" I said. I was seriously having fun with this now.

"I wish," she muttered. "Hey, you want to come to my house? It's not too far away," she said.

"Yeah, sure," I said cheerfully. "S'not like I'm gonna get into my house anytime soon."

We continued on our way, talking about things girls talk about: boys (we had some of the same view points although I wasn't a man hater like she was), movies (I only knew anime and American movies), friends (I had no idea who half the people she was talking about were), and just random other things.

I thought it was kinda funny, talking to Akane like I'd talk to one of my friends back home. She was a normal person for the most part, she was just in a really odd situation.

We arrived at the dojo soon after we began talking. I can tell you right now, I was impressed. The only dojo I'd ever seen in person was the ones my brother went to, which were usually in a warehouse looking thing of some type. But this was an honest to god dojo, and what was cool was that it had a house built right next to it. A nice, traditional Japanese house to boot. "Whoa," I said as we walked inside. "Cool place."

Akane walked inside the little shoe area (I still didn't know what it was called) and smiled. "Thanks. It's a nice place to live," she said, bending over to take off her shoes. I kicked off my shoes easily, wincing when my blistered feet touched the hard wood floor. At least it was cold.

"Akane? Is that you?" a voice called from somewhere else in the house.

"Yes Kasumi, I'm home!" Akane called as we walked in. "I brought a friend home too," she said.

I followed Akane apprehensively, not sure where to go in the huge house. She walked into a room that sort of resembled a living room/coffee room to me. Kasumi poked her head out of the kitchen and smiled brightly at me.

"Hello, I'm Kasumi Tendo," she said, stepping out into the living room.

"I'm Rizu Arumigufuchi," I said, bowing slightly. "Thanks for having me over."

"It's no problem really. We're about to have lunch, would you like to stay?" Kasumi said.

I nodded eagerly, knowing that Kasumi's food was as legendary as Akane's was infamous. "Alright, it'll be ready in a little while," she said cheerfully.

"Oh Kasumi," Akane said as she held out the groceries. "Here are those things you wanted."

"Thank you Akane," Kasumi said.

"Uh, is there anything I can do to help?" I said.

"No, no it's fine," Kasumi said. Turning to her sister, she said "Akane, could you go upstairs and get Nabiki? She's in her room I think."

"No sis, I'm right here," a voice said from behind us. I turned around to see Nabiki sitting down at the table, giving me the critical eye. "Rizu Arumigufuchi I presume?"

"Uh yeah," I said, only slightly surprised she knew who I was. I mean, the Info Queen would defiantly know about the new girl with the strange clothes and scary hair.

"Rizu, this is my sister Nabiki," Akane said, pushing her long hair behind her ears. "Go ahead and sit down, your feet must be hurting," she said.

I nodded and sat down awkwardly on the floor. Nabiki smirked at me as she watched me squirm. "So where are you from?" she asked.

"Uh, I've been living in the states for a long time," I said. "I just moved back to Japan a little while ago."

"Where in the US did you live?" Akane asked from my left.

"Mississippi, Oklahoma, Iowa, New York, bout half the country really," I said. It was true really, I had moved around a lot in my previous life.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow at me. "That's odd for a foreign family," she said. "What did you parents do?"

"Uh," I stammered. "My dad was a professer of theater. He just never really like where ever we lived, so we moved."

"So you're pretty used to being the new girl?" she asked coolly.

"Yeah, pretty much," I said, shifting uncomfortably. I really wasn't used to sitting like this.

"I don't get it," Akane said. "Why did you move back to Japan?"

I shrugged. "My dad kicked me out of the house," I said. Why not tell her that? It was true… on some levels. Just not every level. Besides, she was going to find out something anyway, and I figured it should be from me.

"Really?" Nabiki asked, thouroughly interested now. "What happened?" she said.

"Nabiki! It's her business," Akane began but was cut off by Kasumi coming into the room with a tray of food.

"Here we go everyone. Rizu, would you like some thing to drink?"

"Uh no, I'm good," I said. "Thanks though."

"Where's daddy?" Akane asked as Kasumi sat down.

"He's out at the groceries getting some things," Nabiki said as she picked up her chopsticks. "Said he won't be back for a while."

Now, when everyone says Kasumi's cooking is wonderful, they are not kidding. I wasn't really accustomed to Japanese cuisine yet, but I had a feeling that nothing was going to be anything like Kasumi's food. While I was thoroughly enjoying my lunch (beats PB&J any day!) Nabiki commented on my hair.

"So is that your real hair color?" she said coolly.

"Hmm?" I commented through a mouthful of rice. I covered my mouth out of politeness and shook my head no.

"Really? I thought you said it was," Akane said.

"Oh my, why on earth did you dye it pink?" Kasumi said.

I gulped down my rice and laughed. "No, no, I died it blonde to tone down the pink. It was brighter originally, a little too scary for my taste."

"Your hair is pink?" Nabiki asked.

I nodded and shrugged. "Don't ask me, I just ended up like this."

"Any chance it was genetics?" Akane asked.

I laughed and answered "No way, my mom said that my hair is not found in nature! I'm just the odd one in the family."

"Is that why they kicked you out?" Nabiki said.

Kasumi covered her mouth in shock. "They kicked you out?"

I shrugged and continued to eat. "Dad just said I need to get out more," I said.

"So he sent you to Japan?" Akane asked incrediously.

"Nah, I'm not really sure how I ended up here in first place." I would like to point out right now that technically, I was not lying about any of this. I just wasn't telling the whole truth.

Nabiki apparently decided that she had enough information for today, and the rest of the meal was fairly quiet. By the time I was done, I was stuffed. "That was great," I said to Kasumi. "Where did you learn to cook like that?"

"Oh my mother taught me when I was little," she said as she collected the dishes. I already knew the "Mother Situation" in the family, so I didn't press any further.

"Can I help clean up?" I said, trying my best to be polite. I wasn't used to being a guest in someone's house, my parents usually did all the talking and the polite-ness.

"I'll help too," Akane said. Kasumi smiled and thanked us as we collected the rest of the plates and walked into the kitchen.

As I dried the plates, I rocked on my heels, trying to avoid the blisters. When asked about my strange mannerism, my pathetic feet story had to be explained.

"So your manager wasn't home? How are you going to get back into your apartment?" Kasumi asked.

"I figured I'd go back and see if she was back. I think she would be back by now," I said.

"You lost your keys right?" Kasumi said. She reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a key ring with a shiny metal key on it. "I found this out in the living room. Are they yours?"

…

"Well, I feel stupid."

I lay in my bed and sighed. Today was a really good day. After Kasumi found my keys, I had spent the remainder of the day at the Tendo's just kind of hanging out. I even had dinner there, which I enjoyed. I left after dinner, a little box of leftovers that Kasumi packed for me in my hand. My feet still hurt like hell, but knowing this universe, I'd be fine in no time.

The one thing that bugged me though were my keys. How on earth did I get a hold of them? Maybe the call had a delayed reaction, a really, really, really delayed reaction. That defiantly wouldn't do, considering where I suddenly found myself resident of. I sighed heavily and banged my head on my pillow in frustration. Back to the drawing board.

Lyrics by The Beatles