AN: This is one of the shortest chapters of the fic so far, but it's because I expect the next one to be a longer chapter, and this is a good set up chapter for next chapter..

The Next Dimension Over

Chapter Ten

She studied the small group of competitors in the room with her. Conspicuously missing were Goku and Krillin...but she'd heard them celebrating a bit earlier over making it into the tournament proper. Knowing them, they were probably taking part of the break to train or to find their old master.

Considering the rules of the competition, she wasn't all that surprised that the mass of filth made it into the tournament...but she also wasn't pleased by it, if only because this room was considerably smaller than the large hall from before. Ninja tried to keep their senses keen, but it required a small amount of chakra just to numb her sense of smell with the hulking brute.

Just for that, she wanted to demand some kind of payment from the old man, but from what she could tell he didn't have much to offer her.

"Do you come here often?"

She turned toward the unfamiliar voice, and squinted up at the young man in front of her. Had she seen any of his fights in the preliminaries? She didn't think she had, but then she'd mostly only paid any attention to the two boys. It was very unlikely, from what little she'd seen, there would be any need for her to pay attention to anyone else.

Before she could respond, he blinked in surprise, and held up his hands, stuttering nervously. "W-w-wait, that came out wrong! I didn't mean to hit on you, you just look comfortable here! Don't worry about it, though, I-I'll just leave you be, no problem!"

Had she given him a particularly unpleasant look...? She didn't mean to-she hadn't even fully processed what he said yet.

"No, it's my first time here." She didn't see why she'd need to lie about that. A strange opponent who came out of nowhere was exactly what they needed.

"Ah...well...there you go." He rubbed at the back of his head and stared down at the ground.

She frowned. It hadn't occurred to her when he first spoke to her, but now she was beginning to think he really was trying to flirt with her. The few who had made such attempts with her had been much bolder...but then again...she looked like Ino now. Ino always had boys trying to get her attention. Even when they were young she'd been beautiful, and as she'd grown up she'd only become moreso. She hadn't even thought of that when she'd chosen her old best friend as her disguise.

"I'm sorry, but I already have someone-"

"Uh! No!" He coughed loudly, and shook his head, face turning red. "That's what I mean! I wasn't trying to do that! I've got a girlfriend already! Really!"

He was shouting, and the other competitors were starting to stare. Honestly, he was just making it more difficult for both of them. She...sighed. "My name's...Ino." Some time in the future, her friend was going to really get on her for stealing her identity.

"Er..." He scratched at his cheek, still somewhat red-faced. "...Yamcha. Sorry. I was just trying to get to know some of the competitors while we wait, and you're..." He glanced toward the unpleasant figure on the far side of the room. "The one furthest from him..."

Despite the confusion and awkward introduction attempts, she found herself offering him a small smile. "Your introductions need work."

He gave a self-deprecating laugh, and shook his head. "Yeah...well..."

He trailed off suddenly, and his expression brightened. Not at her, but at something he looked at in the distance. Just as she turned to look at the center of attention, she heard him speak again. "Ah! Goku!"

(*)

Between the two of them, Goku introducing him to his old friends went better than him introducing Goku to his own...'friends'. It must have been nice to have such a large group of supporters and friends everywhere. For now...he had to start from scratch. His master, Goku...and that was all. Considering Sakura a 'friend' would be too generous, especially since she'd apparently already wandered off to do whatever it was she'd actually come along for in the first place.

Goku waved excitedly at-what was his name?-Yamcha, who'd apparently also made it to the tournament. "Yamcha! You made it too!"

The tall man scoffed. "Well, of course I did. You're not gonna get to try for first without getting a good fight out of me first."

"I can't wait!" Goku grinned in excitement, and then glanced over at the blonde who'd been standing next to Yamcha. "Oh, you were the one who threw things at Krillin's old friends, right?'

"I guess so." She glanced between them both. "Those weren't the kind of people I'd call friends, though."

He huffed and crossed his arms. "I don't call them friends..."

"Good for you."

"Oh! We went and saw Bulma and Master Roshi!" Goku spoke over him before he could say anything in response to the cool-headed blonde. "Puar and Oolong were there, too!"

Yamcha seemed to relaxed somewhat, and placed a hand on his hip, turning his attention entirely to Goku. "So that's where you two guys went, huh? I figured it must have been something like that when I didn't see you two in here."

"Uh huh! We wanted to tell him right away that we made it into the tournament!"

"Well...I thought maybe we could surprise him..." He coughed. It was totally okay to lie to a perfect stranger to look cool. It wasn't like it mattered, since he probably wouldn't see much more of this fighter after today anyway.

"Please come up and pull a number for your position in the tournament!"

(*)

This wasn't the normal world, it might not even have been a real world. She understood that.

She still didn't really understand why that world would have such strange looking creatures wandering around everywhere in one city. There had been a minimal amount of strange looking people on the island that she'd spent the majority of her time on so far, but this tournament...almost half of the competitors looked like some form of animal instead of people. Or...at least people-shaped animals.

She found it more than a little bizarre. They didn't seem to be summons or creatures that could be contracted, and yet...they behaved with intelligence regular animals shouldn't have, and most certainly weren't treated as anything of the sort. Honestly, it was probably a small blessing that Goku had been paired against the one that had made it through to the quarter-finals instead of her. She might have stared too obviously if she'd been forced to fight it.

"Man..." Yamcha sighed, leaning against the doorway opposite to where she stood. By his tone, she wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or to her. "I can't believe there's two women in this tournament..."

She stared over her shoulder at him as the tournament coordinator rattled off his opening announcements to the crowd. "Have you got something against women in a tournament?'

"Uh! No!" He shook his head quickly. "I just...don't like fighting women, is all." He trailed off again, then, but she almost made out the word 'terrifying' in his quiet mumbling.

"Without any further ado, let the tournament begin!" The blond coordinator on the stage sent his voice booming across the crowds, and turned back toward the door. "Contestants for battle one, please come out!"

"Krillin is the youngest competitor in this tournament, give him a hand, everyone!"

The small bald child patted his cheeks to psych himself up, and then ran out of the building, still looking much more nervous than confident.

"For our second competitor, the hulking monstrosity of strength, Bacterian! He boasts never having had a bath in his life, so give him...uh..." The man hesitated a moment, voice already muffled by hand or kerchief already held up to his nose in anticipation. "Warm welcome...!"

She stepped aside from the door just in time to avoid being shoved (and therefore touched) by the hairy brute as he walked through the door. She couldn't tell whether her company and future opponent managed to do the same. His expression was a sickened one, but simply standing so near to the brute without proper preparation would engender that reaction in anyone without need for contact.

Goku stood in the doorway next to them for only a moment before dashing forward.

"Hey-!" Yamcha called out in warning, but as she'd suspected, Goku had only wanted to get a view of the fight himself, and simply climbed up on of the walls separating the stage from the waiting competitors.

She was somewhat tempted to at least move around the primary screen so that she could see the battle, too. But it would be difficult to explain why she'd want to see that battle, of all of them. It wasn't likely to look pleasant if Krillin didn't knock the unpleasant creature out of the ring immediately.

"...I don't think that's legal..." Yamcha gave an exasperated sigh and shook his head. "Guess there's no point telling Goku that, though."

She glanced over at him, having little better to look at anyway. "Are you sure? If he doesn't want to be disqualified, he'd probably listen."

"Yeah...probably." He grimaced slightly, staring up at where Goku had managed to perch himself on a wall. "But I'm not sure I wanna spoil his fun. He really seems to like that kid."

"Yeah..." Her lips curled up into a slight smile despite herself, and she turned her attention to the figure of the small child as well. "They really do seem to have made good friends with each other."

"Yeah? So you can see it too." He nodded and smiled to himself. "That's good though. The kid could use all the friends he can get. It might not look like it now, but that kid...up until a little while ago, I guess he used to live all alone in the wilderness. My girlfriend...Bulma...was the first person he'd seen since his grandfather died when he was a really small kid."

She blinked, and turned her attention over to the other man. "He what?"

"Uh?" He startled a little, as if he'd thought somehow she wasn't listening, and looked over at her, expression as nervous as before. (She was beginning to wonder if the only person in the world not suspicious of her for some reason was Goku) "Y-Yeah...I guess, anyway. It's what Bulma told me."

So...he'd grown up all alone, too.

She glanced up at the small child, who waved and frantically shouted at his friend's battle.

Maybe he really was like Naruto, not just because she missed her team. So...wherever she was, however she'd ended up here, maybe she'd somehow found another Team 7 to look after, at least until she could find her way back to her own.

She gave a soft huff.

Or maybe she was still being ridiculous after all.

Goku vaulted over the wall with a sudden cheer, and disappeared onto the platform, just before she heard the announcement of Krillin's victory. She crossed her arms and leaned her shoulder against the wall of the door, watching the shadows of Goku and Krillin dance across the semi-sheer screen in front of her.

At least she didn't need to worry about the two of them becoming bitter rivals.

"...So I guess it's time for our battle now, huh?" Yamcha sighed, and ruffled a hand through his hair. "Just so you know, I've got a girlfriend to impress so...I can't hold back out there."

She offered him a small smile as the two boys trotted back toward the waiting room. "If that's the case, maybe I won't hold back either."