Here's the usual disclaimer: I don't own Tenchi, it's characters, or anything else about it. This story comes out of respect for the creator's and distributors of this impressive anime show. Please don't sue me, 'cos I'm kinda broke. ^^;
Reviews, thoughts and opinions, comments and suggestions, can be posted up at Fanfiction.net or sent to me direct at mccpcorn@hotmail.com. Enjoy!!
A QUICK RECAP:
Washu's latest scheme to extract a 'sample' from Tenchi has gone haywire thanks to a last minute intervention by Ryoko. The result has been everyone in the house having their personality transplanted into someone else's body:
Ryoko is now in Sasami's body. (Ryoko/Sasami)
Sasami is in Kiyone's body. (Sasami/Kiyone)
Kiyone has found herself stuck in Tenchi's body. (Kiyone/Tenchi)
Tenchi now occupies Mihoshe's body. (Tenchi/Mihoshe)
Mihoshe is sobering up in Ryoko's body. (Mihoshe/Ryoko)
Washu has swapped bodies with Ayeka. (Washu/Ayeka & Ayeka/Washu)
Noboyuki was - rather fortunately - out of town after driving Katsuhito to a conference, and Ryo-Ohki was out in the Carrot Field raiding the harvest.
The Story so Far: Ryoko and Ayeka have had a major argument resulting in the Space Pirate leaving the house. As the others decide what to do, Washu reveals they may all be in much greater danger than first thought...
Tenchi Muyo: Changing Faces
---------------------------
By Mccpcorn
CHAPTER 6: Hunted Soul
======================
A small figure tore it's way through, the gathering gloom of dusk. Dark. Hunted.
Scared...
The trees loomed large about Ryoko when she finally stopped running. In Sasami's small body, they towered threateningly above her, and without her ability to fly Ryoko could assume no dominance.
So she started running again.
She wanted to be as far away from Ayeka as possible.
And the others.
HOW could she have been so stupid? HOW could she have fooled herself into thinking that anybody in that house cared for her? She was all bravado, and they knew it. They'd just been waiting for the right moment; the chance to pierce her armour.
Ryoko didn't hear the sobs rising from her own throat. She didn't feel the tears stinging her eyes. The wind was cold - THAT'S what was blurring her vision she told herself. The high pitched moan of her own voice was lost in the rising wind.
The trees towered over her, rattling in the wind, but Ryoko didn't seem them. All she saw were hundreds of Jurians, standing tall and proud, bruising her with mocking laughter.
Jurians! I don't need you OR your damn trees!
Ryoko paused a moment and looked up; she spun herself around, glaring at gnarled, hated trees.
'You can take you Light Hawk Wings and SHOVE 'EM!!!'
* * *
Washu - or rather her body - sat on the couch. Her eyes held a grief-stricken, yet dazed expression. Her right arm was outstretched. Ayeka, kneeling beside her, held a regenerative probe against a deep gash between the ring and forefingers.
Kiyone stood behind the couch, her arms wrapped protectively around Washu's shoulders. Ryo-Ohki was perched anxiously on Kiyone's right shoulder. Ryoko sat at the foot of the couch by Washu's feet, her legs drawn up and her arms drawn tightly about them. By the glass doors, Tenchi and Mihoshe had finished securing some plywood to a shattered frame; a box of broken glass shards stood nearby. On the table sat several bowls of rice, all untouched.
Washu/Ayeka finished with the probe. 'That's it,' she announced. 'It'll be a bit stiff for a few days; Ryoko almost bit clean through the ligaments.' The scientist sighed. 'I guess that's payback for me ruining your manicure,' she muttered under her breath.
Ayeka/Washu just stared vacantly out into space. 'I just don't understand it,' she said quietly, for at least the dozenth time. 'I am just not like that; how could I have acted so? What kind of monster is hiding inside of me that I could do such a thing...?'
'Ayeka, it wasn't your fault,' Sasami/Kiyone said, pulling her arms tighter around her sister. 'It's just one of those things; stuff like this - well, it just happens sometimes.'
'Of course it's my fault,' Ayeka snapped. 'I should've known better; I should not have lost my temper.'
Washu sighed again as she got to her feet. 'Ayeka, You've never had a reason NOT to lose you temper with Ryoko. Arguing with her is as natural to you as breathing; you do it without thinking.' The scientist stretched.
'It's not Ryoko as she is, but Ryoko as she WAS. That image of her in your mind, laying waste to Jurai, it represents a deep trauma. But the Ryoko you encountered here isn't the Ryoko who attacked Jurai. This Ryoko is passionate, loyal, loving and caring in her own way; even protective.'
'But why NOW?' Ayeka pleaded weakly. 'Why attack Ryoko's personality if that was not what I resented!?'
'Because she never gave you something that you could seriously react to before, to allow that lingering resentment it's release. What she said, it wasn't the cause, it was just the trigger.' Washu glanced over to where Tenchi/Mihoshe was gazing out into the gathering darkness. 'Anything?'
'Nothing,' Kiyone/Tenchi reported neutrally. 'She could be miles away by now.'
Washu snorted defiantly. 'Not on those little legs she wont be. We'll find her.' Washu cast a sudden, sheepish look at Sasami/Kiyone. 'No offence.'
Sasami/Kiyone smiled. 'That's okay.'
Tenchi continued to stare through the glass door into the fading light, but always one eye was fixed on the reflection of the living room, where Ayeka was sitting. As he studied her, he could perceive the deep guilt and shame she was experiencing.
He found himself wondering: What HAD driven Ayeka to take such an action, one so completely out of character?
The answer was obvious enough; Ayeka was no longer COMPLETELY Ayeka.
It was something they had all experienced. The emotional 'masks' they all usually wore had slipped, leaving them vulnerable.
But in Ayeka's case the mask had come completely apart. Her long buried feelings of resentment had no longer been constrained by their usual barriers. And if Washu was right, Ryoko could soon follow suit - with disastrous results.
Whereas Sasami and her mother, Misaki, were very similar (though Sasami was slightly more level-headed), Ayeka was the product of her life; a life of loss and loneliness; perhaps even torment. Tenchi believed that the Crown Princess had not always been as she now was; assuming the title of heir apparent in the absence of her elder brother was just one of the forces that had influenced her behaviour.
Ayeka was a young woman; desperate to be desirable, yet fearful of growing outside the shell that had partly been built up about her by others, and which she had partly drawn around herself. Tenchi himself knew that Ayeka longed for a sense of freedom and normalcy, just as Yosho had. Must run in the family.
Perhaps Ryoko had sensed that. Perhaps the pirate had known that, beneath the duty and the decorum, the protocol and the responsibility, there WAS a someone with a life to lead.
They're sisters, Tenchi realised. Who else but sisters could fight and bicker so? How else would they know EXACTLY how to get under each others' skin? Tenchi knew that only the closest of people could that.
Ryoko and Ayeka fought because they cared; more than that, it was the only way they could SHOW that they cared.
Ryoko constantly tried to get Ayeka to let go and live. The space pirate always played things fast and loose and must've felt Ayeka was missing out on too much fun.
In contrast Ayeka believed Ryoko was TOO fast, and was constantly trying to get the pirate to slow down. The Jurian didn't think Ryoko stopped long enough to appreciate the depth and texture of life and what it had to offer. Ryoko wasn't doing herself justice, and by failing to explore her true potential she was short changing herself.
Ryoko was broad, but shallow. Ayeka was deep, but closed.
And they were BOTH right.
It was a revelation for Tenchi, but it did precious little to solve the problem at hand.
'The process is starting to reverse itself naturally,' Washu was saying. Kiyone/Tenchi folded her/his arms. 'I take it from your expression that this is not good?'
The scientist shook her head vigorously, sending Ayeka's hair splashing from side to side like a cascade of water. 'No, it is NOT good. It seems our brains have retained a sub-conscious imprint of our personalities. This is battling with our conscious minds, trying to surface.
Kiyone was looking less and less pleased. 'You're saying the bodies we inhabit are rejecting us, our personalities?'
Washu nodded. 'We're losing track of who we are as our identity blurs into the personality imprint of the host brain. Our personalities are being eroded; we're developing personality disorders.' Washu gave the group an ominous look. 'And out of all of us, Ryoko is in the gravest danger.'
'Ryoko?'
'Yes. She has the least developed emotions of anyone else here, and being inside a child's body will only blur the lines for her even more. If we don't get her back into her own body soon, she could suffer a massive mental trauma.'
'What's that in plainspeak?' Tenchi/Mihoshe asked.
Washu gritted her teeth. 'Ryoko has an extremely fragile ego,' she explained with clearly strained patience. 'You've seen the way she acts; You've seen the way she behaves. It's not that she doesn't care; she's just selfish; irresponsible.
'Ryoko's still a child Tenchi; a great big playful child. She's still coming to terms with having feelings and emotions, and being trapped in Sasami's body is causing her sense of self - her very identity - to be destroyed. Under this kind of pressure, her entire personality could disintegrate if we don't find her soon. She could even have a nervous breakdown.'
Ayeka flushed. 'Washu, please! I feel guilty enough already.'
Washu grimaced with embarrassment. 'I'm sorry; I didn't mean to upset you. It's not your fault; your outburst was a symptom of exactly the same thing. It was a mix of your own feelings - meaning your own interpretation of Ryoko's behaviour - and what I KNOW about Ryoko.' Washu's gaze swept over the group. 'We're ALL suffering from the same thing, except that our sense of self - our egos - are strong enough to withstand it, at least for now.'
'But Ryoko's...' Kiyone began softly.
Washu nodded. 'It could take years to put right if we're too late. We'd have to rebuild her personality from scratch. And you know,' Washu's voice almost cracked, 'she'd never be quite the same again.'
It didn't take much skill to read Washu's thoughts; she was deeply shaken by all of this. But again Tenchi's thoughts were for Ayeka.
If Tenchi's earlier thoughts were true then Ayeka had been suffering an identity crisis of her own, even before all this had happened, that had left her especially vulnerable to Ryoko's outburst. There would be the Ayeka who was Crown Princess of Jurai, then the Miss Ayeka who had built a life for herself on Earth, and had developed a certain degree of trust, respect, and even fondness for Ryoko.
The thought that both Ayeka AND Ryoko were in danger galvanised Tenchi. 'We can't wait,' he said firmly - or at least as firmly as he could with Mihoshe's voice. 'If Ryoko's in that much danger then we have to go look for her - right now.'
'I agree completely,' Washu said. 'With Ryoko as distraught as she is-' Ayeka winced '-she wont be able to protect her self-identity. And there are many PHYSICAL dangers out there a child needs to beware of.'
'Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves in the meantime?' Kiyone asked.
'Just focus your mental energies on yourselves: who you are, what you do, and how you do it. Also knowledge, wisdom, experience; ANYTHING that defines who you are can be used to reinforce your self-identity.
'We can overcome a lot of the symptoms if we concentrate, and when we get Ryoko back I'll run us all through the Personality Transference Transceiver. No offence Ayeka, but I don't fancy taking an imprint of your personality back with me into my OWN body - that would be almost as bad as the situation we're already in.
'I reckon we should spilt up into 3 teams. Ayeka and Sasami can search the forest around the steps and up to the shrine. Kiyone and Mihoshe would be best checking the cave. Me and Tenchi will check stuff out by the lake.'
* * *
Six figures emerged from the Masaki household just as the last glow of day faded from the sky. The moon was high and waxing; it's light reflected eerily against the gathering clouds in the east. The air was hot and thick with suspense and tension. The trees stood like a brittle grim wall, about half a mile away, and in the silver light Funaho could be glimpsed in the distance on their left. Far on the right was the rugged, tree strewn slope the led up to Ryoko's cave.
'When do we meet back up?' Kiyone asked.
'As soon as one of us finds a sign of Ryoko,' Washu reported.
'What if we don't find anything?' Sasami asked. Perched on her shoulder, Ryo-Ohki stared sadly out into the gloom.
'We don't quit until we find SOME sign of her,' Tenchi replied flatly.
With that last comment, the group broke up into pairs and dispersed.
-----
END OF CHAPTER 6
Reviews, thoughts and opinions, comments and suggestions, can be posted up at Fanfiction.net or sent to me direct at mccpcorn@hotmail.com. Enjoy!!
A QUICK RECAP:
Washu's latest scheme to extract a 'sample' from Tenchi has gone haywire thanks to a last minute intervention by Ryoko. The result has been everyone in the house having their personality transplanted into someone else's body:
Ryoko is now in Sasami's body. (Ryoko/Sasami)
Sasami is in Kiyone's body. (Sasami/Kiyone)
Kiyone has found herself stuck in Tenchi's body. (Kiyone/Tenchi)
Tenchi now occupies Mihoshe's body. (Tenchi/Mihoshe)
Mihoshe is sobering up in Ryoko's body. (Mihoshe/Ryoko)
Washu has swapped bodies with Ayeka. (Washu/Ayeka & Ayeka/Washu)
Noboyuki was - rather fortunately - out of town after driving Katsuhito to a conference, and Ryo-Ohki was out in the Carrot Field raiding the harvest.
The Story so Far: Ryoko and Ayeka have had a major argument resulting in the Space Pirate leaving the house. As the others decide what to do, Washu reveals they may all be in much greater danger than first thought...
Tenchi Muyo: Changing Faces
---------------------------
By Mccpcorn
CHAPTER 6: Hunted Soul
======================
A small figure tore it's way through, the gathering gloom of dusk. Dark. Hunted.
Scared...
The trees loomed large about Ryoko when she finally stopped running. In Sasami's small body, they towered threateningly above her, and without her ability to fly Ryoko could assume no dominance.
So she started running again.
She wanted to be as far away from Ayeka as possible.
And the others.
HOW could she have been so stupid? HOW could she have fooled herself into thinking that anybody in that house cared for her? She was all bravado, and they knew it. They'd just been waiting for the right moment; the chance to pierce her armour.
Ryoko didn't hear the sobs rising from her own throat. She didn't feel the tears stinging her eyes. The wind was cold - THAT'S what was blurring her vision she told herself. The high pitched moan of her own voice was lost in the rising wind.
The trees towered over her, rattling in the wind, but Ryoko didn't seem them. All she saw were hundreds of Jurians, standing tall and proud, bruising her with mocking laughter.
Jurians! I don't need you OR your damn trees!
Ryoko paused a moment and looked up; she spun herself around, glaring at gnarled, hated trees.
'You can take you Light Hawk Wings and SHOVE 'EM!!!'
* * *
Washu - or rather her body - sat on the couch. Her eyes held a grief-stricken, yet dazed expression. Her right arm was outstretched. Ayeka, kneeling beside her, held a regenerative probe against a deep gash between the ring and forefingers.
Kiyone stood behind the couch, her arms wrapped protectively around Washu's shoulders. Ryo-Ohki was perched anxiously on Kiyone's right shoulder. Ryoko sat at the foot of the couch by Washu's feet, her legs drawn up and her arms drawn tightly about them. By the glass doors, Tenchi and Mihoshe had finished securing some plywood to a shattered frame; a box of broken glass shards stood nearby. On the table sat several bowls of rice, all untouched.
Washu/Ayeka finished with the probe. 'That's it,' she announced. 'It'll be a bit stiff for a few days; Ryoko almost bit clean through the ligaments.' The scientist sighed. 'I guess that's payback for me ruining your manicure,' she muttered under her breath.
Ayeka/Washu just stared vacantly out into space. 'I just don't understand it,' she said quietly, for at least the dozenth time. 'I am just not like that; how could I have acted so? What kind of monster is hiding inside of me that I could do such a thing...?'
'Ayeka, it wasn't your fault,' Sasami/Kiyone said, pulling her arms tighter around her sister. 'It's just one of those things; stuff like this - well, it just happens sometimes.'
'Of course it's my fault,' Ayeka snapped. 'I should've known better; I should not have lost my temper.'
Washu sighed again as she got to her feet. 'Ayeka, You've never had a reason NOT to lose you temper with Ryoko. Arguing with her is as natural to you as breathing; you do it without thinking.' The scientist stretched.
'It's not Ryoko as she is, but Ryoko as she WAS. That image of her in your mind, laying waste to Jurai, it represents a deep trauma. But the Ryoko you encountered here isn't the Ryoko who attacked Jurai. This Ryoko is passionate, loyal, loving and caring in her own way; even protective.'
'But why NOW?' Ayeka pleaded weakly. 'Why attack Ryoko's personality if that was not what I resented!?'
'Because she never gave you something that you could seriously react to before, to allow that lingering resentment it's release. What she said, it wasn't the cause, it was just the trigger.' Washu glanced over to where Tenchi/Mihoshe was gazing out into the gathering darkness. 'Anything?'
'Nothing,' Kiyone/Tenchi reported neutrally. 'She could be miles away by now.'
Washu snorted defiantly. 'Not on those little legs she wont be. We'll find her.' Washu cast a sudden, sheepish look at Sasami/Kiyone. 'No offence.'
Sasami/Kiyone smiled. 'That's okay.'
Tenchi continued to stare through the glass door into the fading light, but always one eye was fixed on the reflection of the living room, where Ayeka was sitting. As he studied her, he could perceive the deep guilt and shame she was experiencing.
He found himself wondering: What HAD driven Ayeka to take such an action, one so completely out of character?
The answer was obvious enough; Ayeka was no longer COMPLETELY Ayeka.
It was something they had all experienced. The emotional 'masks' they all usually wore had slipped, leaving them vulnerable.
But in Ayeka's case the mask had come completely apart. Her long buried feelings of resentment had no longer been constrained by their usual barriers. And if Washu was right, Ryoko could soon follow suit - with disastrous results.
Whereas Sasami and her mother, Misaki, were very similar (though Sasami was slightly more level-headed), Ayeka was the product of her life; a life of loss and loneliness; perhaps even torment. Tenchi believed that the Crown Princess had not always been as she now was; assuming the title of heir apparent in the absence of her elder brother was just one of the forces that had influenced her behaviour.
Ayeka was a young woman; desperate to be desirable, yet fearful of growing outside the shell that had partly been built up about her by others, and which she had partly drawn around herself. Tenchi himself knew that Ayeka longed for a sense of freedom and normalcy, just as Yosho had. Must run in the family.
Perhaps Ryoko had sensed that. Perhaps the pirate had known that, beneath the duty and the decorum, the protocol and the responsibility, there WAS a someone with a life to lead.
They're sisters, Tenchi realised. Who else but sisters could fight and bicker so? How else would they know EXACTLY how to get under each others' skin? Tenchi knew that only the closest of people could that.
Ryoko and Ayeka fought because they cared; more than that, it was the only way they could SHOW that they cared.
Ryoko constantly tried to get Ayeka to let go and live. The space pirate always played things fast and loose and must've felt Ayeka was missing out on too much fun.
In contrast Ayeka believed Ryoko was TOO fast, and was constantly trying to get the pirate to slow down. The Jurian didn't think Ryoko stopped long enough to appreciate the depth and texture of life and what it had to offer. Ryoko wasn't doing herself justice, and by failing to explore her true potential she was short changing herself.
Ryoko was broad, but shallow. Ayeka was deep, but closed.
And they were BOTH right.
It was a revelation for Tenchi, but it did precious little to solve the problem at hand.
'The process is starting to reverse itself naturally,' Washu was saying. Kiyone/Tenchi folded her/his arms. 'I take it from your expression that this is not good?'
The scientist shook her head vigorously, sending Ayeka's hair splashing from side to side like a cascade of water. 'No, it is NOT good. It seems our brains have retained a sub-conscious imprint of our personalities. This is battling with our conscious minds, trying to surface.
Kiyone was looking less and less pleased. 'You're saying the bodies we inhabit are rejecting us, our personalities?'
Washu nodded. 'We're losing track of who we are as our identity blurs into the personality imprint of the host brain. Our personalities are being eroded; we're developing personality disorders.' Washu gave the group an ominous look. 'And out of all of us, Ryoko is in the gravest danger.'
'Ryoko?'
'Yes. She has the least developed emotions of anyone else here, and being inside a child's body will only blur the lines for her even more. If we don't get her back into her own body soon, she could suffer a massive mental trauma.'
'What's that in plainspeak?' Tenchi/Mihoshe asked.
Washu gritted her teeth. 'Ryoko has an extremely fragile ego,' she explained with clearly strained patience. 'You've seen the way she acts; You've seen the way she behaves. It's not that she doesn't care; she's just selfish; irresponsible.
'Ryoko's still a child Tenchi; a great big playful child. She's still coming to terms with having feelings and emotions, and being trapped in Sasami's body is causing her sense of self - her very identity - to be destroyed. Under this kind of pressure, her entire personality could disintegrate if we don't find her soon. She could even have a nervous breakdown.'
Ayeka flushed. 'Washu, please! I feel guilty enough already.'
Washu grimaced with embarrassment. 'I'm sorry; I didn't mean to upset you. It's not your fault; your outburst was a symptom of exactly the same thing. It was a mix of your own feelings - meaning your own interpretation of Ryoko's behaviour - and what I KNOW about Ryoko.' Washu's gaze swept over the group. 'We're ALL suffering from the same thing, except that our sense of self - our egos - are strong enough to withstand it, at least for now.'
'But Ryoko's...' Kiyone began softly.
Washu nodded. 'It could take years to put right if we're too late. We'd have to rebuild her personality from scratch. And you know,' Washu's voice almost cracked, 'she'd never be quite the same again.'
It didn't take much skill to read Washu's thoughts; she was deeply shaken by all of this. But again Tenchi's thoughts were for Ayeka.
If Tenchi's earlier thoughts were true then Ayeka had been suffering an identity crisis of her own, even before all this had happened, that had left her especially vulnerable to Ryoko's outburst. There would be the Ayeka who was Crown Princess of Jurai, then the Miss Ayeka who had built a life for herself on Earth, and had developed a certain degree of trust, respect, and even fondness for Ryoko.
The thought that both Ayeka AND Ryoko were in danger galvanised Tenchi. 'We can't wait,' he said firmly - or at least as firmly as he could with Mihoshe's voice. 'If Ryoko's in that much danger then we have to go look for her - right now.'
'I agree completely,' Washu said. 'With Ryoko as distraught as she is-' Ayeka winced '-she wont be able to protect her self-identity. And there are many PHYSICAL dangers out there a child needs to beware of.'
'Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves in the meantime?' Kiyone asked.
'Just focus your mental energies on yourselves: who you are, what you do, and how you do it. Also knowledge, wisdom, experience; ANYTHING that defines who you are can be used to reinforce your self-identity.
'We can overcome a lot of the symptoms if we concentrate, and when we get Ryoko back I'll run us all through the Personality Transference Transceiver. No offence Ayeka, but I don't fancy taking an imprint of your personality back with me into my OWN body - that would be almost as bad as the situation we're already in.
'I reckon we should spilt up into 3 teams. Ayeka and Sasami can search the forest around the steps and up to the shrine. Kiyone and Mihoshe would be best checking the cave. Me and Tenchi will check stuff out by the lake.'
* * *
Six figures emerged from the Masaki household just as the last glow of day faded from the sky. The moon was high and waxing; it's light reflected eerily against the gathering clouds in the east. The air was hot and thick with suspense and tension. The trees stood like a brittle grim wall, about half a mile away, and in the silver light Funaho could be glimpsed in the distance on their left. Far on the right was the rugged, tree strewn slope the led up to Ryoko's cave.
'When do we meet back up?' Kiyone asked.
'As soon as one of us finds a sign of Ryoko,' Washu reported.
'What if we don't find anything?' Sasami asked. Perched on her shoulder, Ryo-Ohki stared sadly out into the gloom.
'We don't quit until we find SOME sign of her,' Tenchi replied flatly.
With that last comment, the group broke up into pairs and dispersed.
-----
END OF CHAPTER 6
