I am on a video game/anime high right now. I just finished the first Kingdom Hearts game, and I'm so excited for the next one!

Anyway… This story was inspired by a dream I had last night. (That I'm thinking was probably influenced by my playing so much Kingdom Hearts…)

I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

Summary: Haruhi never would have considered her life to be normal… until now. "This is worse than the Wonderland dream," she muttered. "I hate to be the one to tell you this," said the old man, "but that wasn't a dream."

Chapter One

Haruhi leaned back from the small table in their equally small apartment. Participating in all the Host Club activities often left her with an insufficient amount of time to do her homework, but she was determined to push through it. She wasn't an honor student for nothing, after all. And besides, who would Hikaru and Kaoru copy off of if they'd been so careless as to forget to ask their maids to do it for them again?

Personally, Haruhi found the very concept of having maids ridiculous, and not from a case of sour grapes. But then, she supposed that if one was going to live their entire life like the Hitachiin twins, they wouldn't really need to learn how to take care of themselves.

She smiled down at the pen she'd been absentmindedly twirling through her fingers. She could clearly read 'Made in France' engraved along the side. Though she had considered the matter over and done with, Tamaki had insisted on giving her this pen as compensation. Oh well. At least it didn't have a teddy bear on it.

She was torn away from any further musings when her dad walked through door. He looked tired; Ranka was actually looking his age for once. But he made an effort to smile when he saw her.

His daughter hurriedly got up to retrieve the tea she'd made for them from the stove. "How was work, Dad?" she asked, setting the cups down in front of them.

"Tiring," he answered honestly, taking a sip. Then he looked around at the mess on the table and put on his falsetto voice. "Oh my. You always have so much work to do. And on a Sunday, too! How awful."

Haruhi smiled. "It's fine. I would have done it yesterday, but Tamaki-senpai insisted on the entire Host Club going to the beach for a bonding day." Her tone suggested that she found this ridiculous, though in all honesty, it had been fun. An entire day without the club's clients. Before high school, she'd never had a close group of friends. It was a new experience, but it was one she was enjoying.

"Well, I'm glad you're having fun." This knowledge seemed to visibly take some of the stress off her dad's shoulders. Ranka looked about to say something more when a very peculiar thing happened.

A rumbling sound filled the air. The two looked up in surprise as the lights flickered and the walls began to shake. A picture fell from the wall and the glass shattered. Her mother's shrine toppled over, and Haruhi jumped to her feet, as did her father.

"Haruhi, don't-!"

But she didn't get to hear what she wasn't supposed to do. For the next second, the ground fell out from underneath them. The only thing she remembered before succumbing to darkness was hoping that her tea didn't spill over onto her homework.

…

When she awoke she was dazed, lying on her back. Where am I? she wondered. Lights were flashing overhead. Slowly, it faded to a sort of bluish glow and her eyes adjusted. She shot up into a sitting position, the events of the previous moments returning to her.

"Finally awake, I see."

The high-pitched voice startled her, and she whirled around to see an old man staring at her. He had a tuft of wild, snow-white hair on his head and a long, scraggly beard of the same color. Large, dark glasses made his turquoise eyes appear a deep purple. She immediately thought of Tamaki but brushed the thought away just as quickly.

She observed her surroundings and found herself to be in a large, metal, topless box of some sort. Standing up, the top of the walls were eye-level. She hoisted herself up so that she could peer over the top and saw that it was running along train tracks. How strange.

She turned back to the equally strange man who was sitting atop one of the box's walls, watching her. "Haruhi Fujioka," he murmured.

"How do you know my name?" she asked, surprised.

He chuckled. "You'll find that I know much more than that. You may call me Jijou," he added though she hadn't asked.

"Jijou-san…" she said slowly. "Where are we?"

"We, my dear, are in the DreamWorld."

Haruhi let out a held breath, relieved that at least none of this bizarreness was real. She must have fallen asleep doing her homework.

"This is worse than the Wonderland dream," she muttered.

"I hate to be the one to tell you this," said the old man, "but that wasn't a dream. And neither is this. This world is every bit as real as the one you've left behind. We just call it by that name because the body is most vulnerable to entering this world when unconscious."

Haruhi sighed at the madness. A small voice in the back of her mind told her that she should be a little more concerned, but even her normal life was so strange… perhaps she'd become immune to madness.

She took another look around and made out the walls of a tunnel surrounding them. Suddenly, she began to worry that this cart-thing was going to run into one of them.

"Hey… is someone driving this thing?" she asked.

"Oh, don't worry. Bardos knows the way," replied Jijou.

Seeing that she was no less confused, Jijou gestured behind him and as she looked, a red tail flicked up over his head. She peered over his shoulder to see a maroon-colored dragon-looking thing sprinting down the path, pulling them in his wake. Haruhi sucked in a breath and took a step back, thinking that maybe she wasn't so immune to madness after all.

In an attempt to calm herself, Haruhi asked the obvious question. "I wasn't asleep… so how did I get here?"

"I said being unconcsious made it more likely, I never said it was necessary. Either way, you were summoned here," he replied, winking at her.

Haruhi blinked in confusion. "Summoned? By who?"

"Why, your mother, of course."

Review please!

I don't own Ouran, but the rest of the characters should be making their way into the story soon.