Author's Note - I'm sorry I haven't written for a while. We all
know how much every one of you missed me! After a very boring Father's
Day fic, I present to you what I believe will be the best in the Holiday
Saga! This fic will give a new meaning to walking in another person's
shoes! Okay, I sound like cheap advertising, so I'll shut up.
One more thing though, if you think I own Tenchi Muyo, you are off your
rocker!
"Do you think there is a costume of Aeka in there?" Ryoko
asked. "I'm sure she's scary enough for this holiday!"
"You shut up Ryoko!" Aeka screeched through clenched teeth.
"Why don't you make me!" Ryoko said sticking her tongue
out at Aeka, who stuck out her own in return.
Everyone was gathered around a big dusty trunk in the kitchen.
The brown trunk contained a mountain of various costumes. Seeing
as it was Halloween, the trunk had been brought up for everyone to choose
their costumes.
"Well, let's open the trunk and see what we have got."
Washu suggested, eager to get back to her lab, but excited to pick out
a costume.
Tenchi, who was sitting on the trunk, waiting for everyone to
calm down, stood up and lifted the lid of the trunk. He began pulling
everything out and throwing it into a pile on the floor.
When he was finished, everyone immediatly began to sort through
the pile, throwing things aside and picking up other things. It didn't
tale long for the whole floor to be covered in multi-colored fabrics.
"How did so many costumes fit into that trunk?" Sasami
asked.
"You could wear this Ryoko." Noboyuki said, holding up a black
swimsuit and a bunny ear headband.
"Dad!" Tenchi cried out, embarrassed.
"Don't worry Tenchi! That is just the kind of thing Ryoko
would wear!" Aeka sneered.
"You're just mad because I look better in this kind of thing
than you do!" Ryoko countered, snatching the costume from Noboyuki.
Giving Aeka a perfectly evil look, she left the room.
Aeka shrugged the insult off and continued to pick through the
pile of costumes. It didn't take long for her to find one that suited
her tastes. It was a long, silky white gown...perfect for what she
had in mind.
Sasami dug through the pile at lightning speed. She knew
just what she wanted and she wasn't going to stop until she found it.
When she did, she held it high above her head in triumph.
"Are you ready Sasami?" Aeka, who had been waiting for
the small princess, asked.
"Yes Aeka. Let's go!" Sasami grabbed Aeka's hand
a pulled her out of the kitchen.
"Aren't you going to dress up Tenchi?" Mihoshi asked, as
she held her costume to her chest.
"No Mihoshi...I'm a little too old..."
"Oh come on Tenchi...everyone else is..." Noboyuki pointed out.
"Yeah! No one is ever too old to dress up! Please?"
Mihoshi whined.
"Oh all right." Tenchi gave in reluctantly.
"Yippee!" Mihoshi dropped the accessories to her costume
in the corner of the kitchen. She pushed the sleeves of her pastel
sweater up and prepared to go through the pile yet again. It seemed
like forever until she found something to her liking.
"Arms out Tenchi."
Tenchi obediently stuck his arms out so they were parallel to
the ground. Mihoshi began to dress him up with precise speed.
She fit a floor length tan overcoat on him and adorned his head with a
brown hat. She stuck a fake pipe in his mouth and a magnifying glass
in his hand.
"Arms down." Tenchi obeyed. Mihoshi crossed her arms,
surveying her work from all angles. "Perfect! You're a detective!"
Mihoshi clapped her hands twice before grabbing her costume and running
out of the room.
Tenchi took the pipe out of his mouth and let out his breath.
He looked around the room at the bits of costumes flung all over the floor.
He noticed someone was missing. "Where did Little Washu go?"
"She left while Mihoshi was dressing you." Noboyuki said
with a sly smile.
"She muttered something about going to her lab and finishing
an experiment." Lord Katsuhito added.
"Did she find a costume?" Tenchi asked.
"Yes. She grabbed it and left."
"Well, I'd better go and finish getting ready..." Tenchi
said.
"Do you need help with your whiskers Sasami?" Aeka asked.
"Yes please."
"Come over here and sit down and I'll help you."
Sasami was dressed in a black sweater with black sweatpants.
Curved around the top of her head was a black head band, sporting black
and pink cat's ears. All she needed was the face paint.
Aeka picked up a small case from off the bathroom counter.
It contained several different colors of face paints: black, red, blue,
yellow, pink, white, and green. Taking a small brush, Aeka dabbed
it into the black and drew six whiskers on Sasami; three on each side of
her delicate nose. Then she dipped the reverse side in the pink paint
and rubbed it on the tip of Sasami's nose.
"All set Sasami!"
"Thanks Aeka!" Sasami admired in the job in the bathroom
mirror.
"You're very welcome Sasami. Do you think you could help
me with my hair?"
"Sure! How do you want it done?"
"Well, I would like two spiraled buns covering up my ears please."
Sasami looked at Aeka in confusion. "Who are you going
to be?"
"Princess Leia."
Sasami nodded. It all made sense now. Aeka would
make a very good Princess Leia. She had on the simple, flowing white
dress that was tied at the waist with a cloth belt. Sasami would
take care of the hair part. She brushed the tangles from Aeka's purple
hair and parted it into two equal halves. She brushed and styled
until Aeka had two pigtails, one snuggled on the tips of each of her ears.
From then on, Sasami used the helped of several hundred bobby pins to get
the right hairstyle, careful to count how many she put in so they would
get them all back.
"You look just like Princess Leia, Aeka!" Sasami said when
she was finished.
"Thank you Sasami." Aeka said, looking in the mirror at
her perfect replica hairdo. "Let's go get everyone else."
"I wonder what Prissy Princess Aeka will be." Ryoko snickered
to herself. "She'll probably dress up in some Barney costume!"
Ryoko laughed. "Come on kids, let's pretend!" She laughed even
harder. She was walking into the living room, wearing the exact costume
Noboyuki had suggested. This was her chance to show Aeka up, show
her that she wasn't intimidated, and there was no way she would let it
pass her by.
Everyone had planned to meet in the living room and Ryoko was
the first one there. She sat down sideways in a chair, throwing her
legs over the side.
"Hi Ryoko!" An all too familiar voice called from the doorway.
"Hello Mihoshi." Ryoko said, blinking her eyes twice.
The blonde Galaxy Police Officer walked into the room, looking
more radiant than ever. Her hair had been straightened and set into
an impossibly high ponytail. There was a huge, pink butterfly clip
sitting daintily on the left side of her head. She was wearing bright
pink blush, lipstick, eye shadow, and body glitter.
The makeup is a little overdone, Ryoko thought.
Mihoshi was wearing a bright pink gown adorned with silver sparkles.
On her back, a pair of sheer pink wings lined with silver, were set.
"What in the world are you supposed to be?" Ryoko asked,
surpressing the urge to laugh.
"Butterfly Princess Barbie!" Mihoshi said happily.
"Really now? I expected Aeka to dress in something like
that!"
"I heard that!" Aeka said from behind Ryoko's chair.
Ryoko jumped slightly and flipped around in her chair until she
faced Aeka. She took in Aeka's gown and hair. It was definitly
the hair that gave it all away. "Princess Leia?" Ryoko asked.
"Good guess." Aeka offered.
"This is going to be so much fun!" Sasami said, entering
the room.
"Myaw!" Ryo-oh-ki said from her spot atop Sasami's head.
"Meow to you to Ryo-oh-ki!"
"Where's Kiyone?" Tenchi asked, walking into the room in
his detective costume.
"She was right with me." Mihoshi claimed. "I'll go
find her." There was silence until she returned.
"Here she is!"
"What are you supposed to be Kiyone?" Tenchi asked.
Kiyone was wearing a white shirt with a bright orange flower
on the front, which matched her pants. She had on a waist length
brown wig.
"Mihoshi kept trying to get me to be Skipper, but there was no
way. But she convinced me to be Courtney, one of Skipper's friends
I guess."
"Tacky dresser...wasn't she?" Ryoko asked.
Everyone laughed.
"Are we ready?" Sasami asked, eager to learn more about
Earth's traditions and holidays.
"I think so..." Tenchi looked around the room. "Wait...where's
Little Washu?"
As soon as her name was spoken, the lights when out, as if on
cue. The group half expected this to be one of Washu's grand entrances.
"I don't think she's coming." came Mihoshi's voice out
of the darkness.
"We might as well go down to her lab and find out what happened
then." Tenchi suggested.
"I agree Tenchi!" Ryoko said, immediatly appearing at his
left side.
"Wonderful idea Tenchi!" Aeka said, amking her way blindly to
a person she assumed was Tenchi and looping her arm through another.
"Lord Tenchi? I thought your arm was much more...ahem...firm..."
she squeezed the upper arm of the person
she was clinging to.
"Owie!" Mihoshi called. "That hurt!"
Aeka toop a step back, mortified. "M....Mihoshi?"
"Yes?" Mihoshi answered, sniffling.
Ryoko made a small coughing noise before breaking out into a
humongous fit of laughter. "Let's go Tenchi." she said between
giggles. She pulled Tenchi in what she assumed was the direction
of Washu's laboratory.
Tenchi slid his arm from Ryoko's grip and stretched both arms
out wide so he could touch both walls and feel his way down the hallway.
"I think this is it." Tenchi said, feeling a door beneath his fingertips.
He groped around until he felt the cold brass of the doorknob. He
turned it hastily.
As soon as the entire group was inside the cramped little space,
they were transported directly to Little Washu's subspace lab. Entering
her lab was like entering another world (and they practically did!).
There was something different about the atmosphere...there was electricity
in the air...lots of it. Strands of everyone's hair stood up on end
in a unique and unkempt fashion.
"What is going on down here?" Aeka asked. Her voice
seemed oddly distorted. No one answered her.
"Tenchi I'm scared." Ryoko said, clinging once again to
Tenchi's arm.
A shriek that could only be Washu's darted through the air in
front of them. As one, the group ran toward the sound. As they got
nearer and nearer, the distortion became more intense.
After what seemed like hours of running, Washu came into view.
She was dressed in a vampiress costume with a long black dress with sheer
sleeves. She wore her hair in a spiked pink upsweep and even had
the fangs to go with it.
Even more bizarre than the authenticity of Washu's costume was
the entire scene before them. Washu had her back pressed up against
the wall looking uncharacteristically frightened. Before her was
a machine; clearly malfunctioning. There were sparks flying everywhere
and there was a deep rumbling coming from inside the machine.
"Oh no...." Washu moaned, sinking to the ground.
"Everyone duck!" No one had to be told twice. They all threw
themselves to the ground.
What followed was a massive explosion. Bits and pieces
of the machine flew every which way. The room became clouded with
dust.
When the falling objects ceased, Washu stood up and ran to her
machine, crying like a baby, but she tripped and fell. Getting back
up again, she noticed something very peculiar: the ground was farther away
than it should be. Something was very wrong. She pulled a mirror
out of a dimensional pocket and dared to look at it. She screamed
and dropped the mirror when she did. "AAAAAAAAH! NO NONONONONONONO!"
The person who had looked back at her in the mirror was not Little
Washu. Her red hair and creamy skin had been replaced by blonde hair
and naturally tan skin. Her vampiress costume was gone. In
its place was a bright pink ball gown.
"I'm...I'm Mihoshi!" Washu wailed.
"Wha?" Aeka moaned, getting up. She reached up to
scratch her head and hit something with her hand. A white bunny headband
fell to the floor. "What in the...?!" Aeka screeched.
"Shut up you twit! I oughta..." Ryoko stopped her
threat as she was overcome by a funny feeling of having her ears covered.
She gulped and reached up with her hands, feeling two spiral buns.
"Oh God no! Aeka I'm you!"
"And I'm a monster!"
"Hey! I resent that!"
"What's going on?" Mihoshi asked, not realizing the body
she was inhabiting.
"I have a feeling we don't want to know." Tenchi moaned
as the lights flickered back on. Tenchi looked down. "Tell
me this isn't happening! I'm...I'm Sasami!"
"Then who does that make me?" Sasami pondered, looking
down at her new body. She pulled a clump of hair in front of her
face. It was a dark brunette wig. "I must be Kiyone."
Sasami said, happy to be older and more mature.
Kiyone sighed. "That leaves me to be Tenchi."
Aeka looked down, appalled at the fact she was in Ryoko's body.
"I'm so UGLY!" she sobbed.
"I think its a big improvement on your part." Ryoko said
smoothly. "But look at me! I look like the back end of a baboon!"
"What happened?" Mihoshi asked. "I'm so tiny!"
Washu sobbed. "Why me? Why did I have to be put in
this body of all bodies?!"
"Washu! Pull yourself together!" Kiyone said, shaking
Washu. "Tell us what happened! Tell me why I'm a male!"
Washu took a deep breath and sniffled. "I was working on
a new experiment. This machine I was building could monitor the brain
waves of everyone in the house. Just before you guys got down here,
the machine went haywire and began malfunctioning. When it exploded,
everyone's brain waves were switched around."
"You've got to be kidding me. How are we supposed to get
out of these bodies?" Ryoko asked.
"I'll have to develop another machine." Washu said.
"How long will it take Miss....Little Washu?" Aeka questioned.
"Who knows." Washu shrugged her shoulders. "But for
a genius like me, it should be quick and easy!" Washu began to walk
away, but tripped again. "Or not with a clutsy body like this."
she muttered.
Ryoko stood in the living room looking up at her favorite perch:
the rafter. She had her hands on her hips, her expression dark and
annoyed. In Aeka's body she couldn't teleport and it was driving
her insane.
"Oh, do you want up here Ryoko?" Aeka asked in a mocking
tone.
Ryoko's eyes slid down the rafter until they landed on her body...inhabited
by her worst enemy. "Shut up Aeka."
"I didn't think I could have such a wonderful time in this horrendous
body, but I find this teleporting thing rather amusing."
Ryoko smirked. "But how about your balance?"
"What do you mean?" Aeka asked. She put her hand
down on the rafter, but she didn't feel the smooth wood beneath her fingers.
In fact, she didn't feel anything. Confused she looked down, seeing
nothing but the floor below her. "Uh-oh." Aeka fell straight
down onto the floor. She had rolled off of the rafter.
Ryoko laughed and approached kitchen. The sight that greeted
her made her laugh even harder. Mihoshi in Washu's body was asleep
with her head on the table and Kiyone in Tenchi's body was trying to shake
her awake. Sasami in Kiyone's body had her carrot apron on (which
was a little too small) and was trying to prepare dinner. As much
as Ryoko despised being in Aeka's body, the whole role reversal thing was
pretty funny.
"Come on!" Washu worked at top speed. She would do
anything at that point just to get out of that body. It was just
her luck that she ended up in Mihoshi's body when she could have ended
up in Tenchi's body...then it would have been simple for her to get that
last sample she needed...
Washu wiped the sweat from her brow. "Finally done!"
She picked up the television sized machine and started out of her lab.
Just as she was almost out the doorway, she slipped, throwing the machine
up in the air. "Aaaaah nooooooo!" Suddenly, a dimensional pocket
appeared out of nowhere and swallowed the machine. "Phew."
Washu got back up and picked the machine up and out of the dimensional
pocket. Now all she had to do was get the machine to the family safely.
"What happened to you Washu?" Sasami asked when Washu came
through the broomcloset door. Washu had developed many bruises and
she was limping. Her hair was matted to one side.
"I'll.....I'll do anything..." she said, out of breath, "just
get me out of this stupid body!"
"Did you get the machine done?" Ryoko asked hopefully, looking
up at Aeka's sleeping figure on the rafter.
"Yes, get everyone in here.....HURRY!"
Ryoko ran into the kitchen and called to everybody. Mihoshi
refused to wake up. Ryoko grabbed her by the arm and half shook her
awake, half pulled her stumbling into the room.
"Okay Washu, get us back to ourselves..." Tenchi said.
"I don't think Tenchi likes having boobs," Ryoko said with
a touch of dry humor.
"Ryoko!" Tenchi's face turned a bright hue of red.
"Calm down guys!" Washu coaxed. "Here we go..."
Washu pressed several buttons on the machine and then set it
down, jumping in front of it. A great beam of light filled the room.
Tenchi had the distant feeling of his brain being pulled out of his head.
"All finished!" Washu called. "Uh....oh.....um...."
Washu looked around her. "This doesn't seem right."
"Washu! What did you do this time?" Mihoshi asked
sleepily....or at least, Washu though it was Mihoshi.
The scene around Washu was quite bizarre. Everyone's entire
bodies had been mixed up. The person who had once been Tenchi was
now Washu's torso, Mihoshi's legs, Sasami's arms, and Tenchi's head.
"Here we go again..." Washu muttered.
THE END!
I know it was a little short and probably the stupidest thing you've
ever read, but its been awhile since I've put anything up, so I was hurrying
a lil' bit. Toodles!