Although there doesn't seem to be too much interest review-wise, I have a few people who pressed 'favorite' and are now following. Thanks for showing interest in a dying community! The story is all planned out, all I have to do is sit down and write it. Thank you for your patience these long three years.

And yes, I borrowed the space alien idea from the movie Family man.

His parents turned out to be a couple in their late fifties, his father with glasses and worry lines and his mother with large watery eyes. They didn't look much like they had when he had known them, but the way his mother gently reached over and touched the side of his head made him shiver with recognition. There had been many words spoken, most of which he barely understood, but the long story short was that they had decided to take him to their home to recover for a week, instead of to the apartment he shared with Hikou.

He didn't disagree. He couldn't have spoken his mind if his life depended on it. They had taken him downstairs by wheelchair and magic teleportation (which they called 'elevator') and then by magical rolly thingie (the same of which had caused on his trouble in the first place) to their home. It was dark when they'd arrived, and by that point he had been so exhausted with everything, so overwhelmed that when they'd given him his medication and shown him a bed, he'd fallen asleep the moment his head touched the pillow.

Now it was morning… or at least light out. There was a device by the bed that said 7:00 in glowing neon numbers, not that he knew what that meant. He laid in bed, staring at it as it made it's strange progression from :01 to :05, wondering what the numbers signified. Time of some sort, obviously, but then again, time seemed to pass differently here in Miaka's world.

Miaka… he'd been so sure he'd seen Keiske out there… although he'd never actually met her brother in person, the voice had sounded familiar, the same that had come from the sky at Hotohori-sama's funeral. Then again, he could be mistaken.

'Maybe I've died… maybe the vision of Suzaku killed me and I was reborn here… and got hit my a metal rolling thing and lost my memories and regained my former memories-' he was starting to getting a headache.

"Daaaa…." He sat up slowly. He peered around the room.

It was like nothing he had ever seen. Pictures, like the one Miaka had taken with her camera, adorned the room. But the subjects of the pictures were not the Suzaku seven, but rather what what the current Li Family. Hikou and himself, at various ages, but so obviously them that it made a lump form in his throat- an older picture of his parents, then another of just the four of them- his parents, Hikou and himself. Then, a smaller picture of a baby he could only assume was Katy and several pictures of her with Hikou, his mother, his father and…

Well himself. Two eyes, brown hair… not as short as his current haircut, but still, obviously and completely him. Slowly he inched his way off the bed, walking the circumference of the room, ignoring the strange furniture but staring in amazement at his own face.

He looked… happy. Inexplicably so.

'But… if these pictures are me… why don't I remember…'

At that moment, the room door opened.

In a de ja vu fashion, Katy entered without knocking, looked at the empty bed, then looked across the room. Seeing the older man, she placed her hands on her hips.

"What are you doing?"

Chichiri cleared his throat. "Sorry, I just woke up, no da. I was just looking at some of the pictures, no da."

The girl's eyes narrowed. Chichiri realized he had absently fell back into his former speech pattern and restrained himself from slapping his forehead in exasperation. The girl walked over and looked at the picture he'd been oogling.

"That's your picture from the competition," she said finally.

"Competition?"

"Yeah. Swimming."

"Swimming…?" well… it kind of made sense. He could swim rather well, as could all the children from his village. It had been a matter of necessity in a place where the river could rise at any time.

"Yeah," Katy looked at him again. Ignoring her piercing gaze, he made a small show out of looking at the other photographs, hanging in frames around the room. When she spoke again her accusing voice made him freeze.

"You're not my brother."

He looked down at her, at her arms crossed firmly over her chest and her glare fit to melt ice.

"Wha-what do you mean, no- I mean… why would you say that?" he said weakly.

"You don't know anything. You didn't know about Mr. Whiskers, you didn't know that Hikou isn't a doctor, just an intern, and you didn't correct me when I told you you won a swimming competition."

"You mean it wasn't for swimming?" he asked dumbly.

"No. It was a public speaking competition."

"Oh," he felt stupid. With a certain sense of trepidation, he stared down at the little girl.

"You know Katy…" he said finally. "I hit my head pretty hard back there-"

"Are you a space alien?" she interrupted.

"and…" Pause. "Am I a what?"

"Space alien. Or maybe someone stole you and experimented on you in a laboratory… I read that they do that to lab rats sometimes," said the little girl earnestly. Chichiri sweatdropped.

"No… No Katy, I'm none of those things, believe me…" he paused, unsure of how he could explain.

'Well of course, you can't explain,' his brain argued. 'for one thing, you don't really know what's going on either.'

'Still I've got to say something about this!' Chichiri sighed. He raised his good arm and gently put a hand on her shoulder.

"Katy, I am your brother," he said finally. "It's just… I'm…not your brother from this time period." Oh, very well explained.

Katy however, looked up at him, her eyes guarded and an expression on her face a little like Mitsukake's. Serious and stern, like, 'sure Tasuki, you go ahead and break an arm in a barfight. Maybe some other doctor will tend to you then.'

Suzaku, how he missed them.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The truth. The truth, or as close to it as he could get.

"I'm… I'm your brother from the past… from before." Chichiri sighed. He pulled out the chair that was at the desk and sat down carefully, one hand over his ribs. "You and Mom and Dad… we all lived in another place, another time. I was grown up and on my own… suddenly I was here and when I was trying to figure out what was going on, I got hit by… by…' Oh, what were they called? "I got hurt." Better.

Katy considered him carefully. "What do you mean, a different time?"

Good grief, she was smart. He'd forgotten just hot bright she used to be. 'She and Chiriko would make a good couple, no da.'

"I don't know," he replied hesitantly. "but I think it was in the past." That was Miaka had implied anyway. She'd called their land 'ancient China' more than once, though it seemed nothing but modern to Chichiri.

What he'd seen as of late was not modern, just… strange.

"So did you guys switch or something?" she asked, seeming not at all perturbed by the fact.

Switch… was that even possible? What if Houjun, the Houjun from this era was running around in the book somewhere, trying desperately to get home?

"I… don't think that's possible," he said hesitantly. "I mean… I'm fairly sure that we are one soul and one body… but our memories are broken up. But… I guess that's possible too. After all, I don't actually remember dying in my time."

Katy nodded as though this all made sense. Then she leaned in close, a mere two inches from his face and peered with intensity. He blinked at her, not certain if he should move.

"You look just like him," she said finally. "If they are space aliens, they did a really good job,"

He sweatdropped again, realizing that the whole 'reincarnation' talk had absolutely no affect on the girl whatsoever. Katy backed away and crossed her arms again. "And you seem nice and all… still…" she turned to him. "When… when is my brother coming back?"

The way she asked, the small catch of uncertainty and sadness made his heart clench. "I don't know," he admitted softly. "But I'd certainly like to find out, no da."

Katy looked scared for a brief moment. Then her bravo returned.

"Well… okay. In the meantime, I'll be your sensei!" she smiled. "You probably don't know much about our planet, having never been here, so I'll teach you what you need to know so you won't blow your cover!" she gave a little twirl as she went over to the closet. "And in return, you've got to find my brother, okay?"

Chichiri blinked a little, considering the proposition carefully. The little girl was right- he hadn't a clue on how he could fit in here- he didn't know half the information he should and there was no way he could have a normal conversation, not knowing anything about his past (or was it the future?). Biting his lip, he gave a small nod to the girl, wondering just how hard it would be to keep his end of the bargain.

She opened the closet and pulled out some strange looking clothing, "And before you get dressed there's something you should probably know,' she looked up, making sure her pupil was listening intently before saying, "The metal rolling things? They're called cars."