Disclaimer time!! I don't own Tenchi, it's characters, or anything else about it. This story is a creative mark of respect for this impressive anime show's creators and distributors. I hope you and they (if they ever see it) enjoy it! I hope they enjoy it so much that they don't sue me... ^^;

Comments, reviews and suggestions are welcome as always. You can post them up over at Fanfiction.net or email me directly at mccpcorn@hotmail.com ^_^

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 getting drunk 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: As Kiyone and Mihoshe come to terms with a difficult situation, the others are closing in on the missing Ryoko. Time, though, is not on their side, and they still have their own private demons to face down...

Tenchi Muyo: Changing Faces
---------------------------

By Mccpcorn

Chapter 9: Search Lights
========================

Sasami marvelled at how swiftly a place she had known for so long could transform itself into something so unrecognisably hostile and dangerous. As she and Ayeka made their way through the forest they found it a nightmare thicket of trees, thorns and branches, cemented together by thick mud and rotting leaves. The air was stale and heavy, and the intermittent lightning cast uneven shadows in the gloom, making everything seem warped and distorted. The boughs rattled in the stiff wind and mingled with the rustling leaves and patter of rain to merge into a chorus of soft, unsettling whispers.

Not like Jurian trees, the young girl thought to herself sadly. They always seemed bright and warm and cheerful, holding both wisdom and compassion within their rich greens and browns. These trees, dark and cold and grey, seemed wizened, bare; brooding with evil thoughts. Sasami wondered how much of her dark mood was due to her surroundings and how much was due to being stuck in Kiyone's body. Whatever the cause, it took a great deal of effort to shake it off.

The lightning was finally tailing off, but the rain was still coming in heavy bursts. Between the showers the rain was an icy chill that dribbled down from the forest canopy above, clinging to Ayeka like a cold sweat. Ayeka desperately wished for something - anything - to give her at least some protection from the elements, but she knew an umbrella would have been torn to shreds amongst the thickets, and clawing her way through the tangled forest as she was Ayeka needed both hands just to keep her balance.

To make matters worse, Ayeka was convinced her eyes had started playing tricks on her.

For the past 20 minutes, something elusive had been bothering the Crown Princess, to the point that Ayeka worried about her state of mind. But even as she focused her will upon herself, as Washu had instructed, she caught the odd gleam decisively out the corner of her eye. 'There it is again,' she finally spoke aloud.

'What?' Sasami/Kiyone's response was as distracted as it was intense.

'A light of some sort, over to our left.' Even as the two princess' looked in that direction, the fuzzy glow came again. There was no telling what it was, but it clearly wasn't lightning. Ayeka/Washu found herself taking an instinctive step towards the glow when Sasami/Kiyone's firm grip latched onto her shoulder.

'Careful Ayeka! I've heard about them. It's a Yuurei.'

Ayeka/Washu's brows knitted together in annoyed confusion. 'What in Jurai's Stars is a Yuurei?' she demanded of her younger sister.

Sasami shrugged. 'That's what they're called in Japan. People in other parts of the world call them Will-o' the Wisps; Tenchi told me so. I think they'e like marsh light, or fireflies. People follow them and fall into marshes or rivers. We had best be careful; we're no good to anuone if we get trapped ourselves.'

Ayeka was reluctantly pulled away from the glow by Sasami but she found herself struggling to fit her sister's words to what she was seeing. 'Well if that is a Will-o' the Wisp, it's shaped like a person.'

'We can fit all kinds of images to the shapes we see,' Sasami said sternly. 'But we have to be very careful or Tenchi will have to rescue US before he can rescue Ryoko.'

* * *

Ryoko struggled like a wild animal within the web of thorny branches that had stopped her falling into the stream below. All thoughts of subtlety and planning had evaporated in one moment of blinding fear. Now only one thought dominated her mind.

Got to get out! Got to get away!

Get away, get away, get away, getaway, getaway...

The thorns tore at her everywhere. Her clothes; her hair; her skin.

Getaway, getaway, getaway, getaway getaway...

There was a soft plop in the water below as one of Sasami's hair bobbles fell into the rising water below. Drops of fresh blood seeped from a cut in Sasami's right leg; fabric clung to her scraped knees where old blood had dried.

GetawaygetawaygetawaygetawaygetawaygetawaygetawayGETAWAY!!

Ryoko screamed again.

* * *

Ayeka turned sharply, seeming to feel the thin, distant sound on her face rather than hear it. 'What was that?' she demanded.

'What was what?' Sasami replied absently.

'It sounded like a cry. Or a scream.'

Sasami gave her sister a hard look. 'Are you sure?'

Ayeka hesitated. 'Not really,' she admitted. 'That is what it sounded like, but it could have been anything.'

It was Sasami's turn to hesitate. 'Well it's all that we have,' she answered firmly. 'Where did it sound like it came from?'

Ayeka looked around for long moments before clenching her fists in frustration. 'It sounded like it came from over there,' she said, waving off east. 'But with the trees and the wind and other noise who knows for sure?'

'Well it is better than nothing.' Sasami started of in the direction indicated by her sister, halted when she realised Ayeka was not following her. 'Ayeka?'

Ayeka's body seemed to jerk slightly, as if jolted from a deep slumber. 'That pesky light again,' she replied sheepishly.

Sasami's face held concern. 'Be careful, Ayeka. I've told you: those Will-o'the Wisps can be killers.'

'I know, I know,' Ayeka replied in a thick sounding voice. 'But it is so entrancing...'

Ayeka gave a soft yelp as Sasami, rather roughly, turned her sister around to face her.

'Ayeka,' Sasami said sternly. 'This is difficult enough for me as it is. Please don't start losing track of yourself, now of all times. Try to concentrate on who you are and what we need to do here.'

Ayeka's face flushed in embarrassment as she remembered the reason she and Sasami were there in the first place, but then her expression hardened into one of grim determination.

'You're right. Let's end this nonsense and get Ryoko back. Before we all go insane.'

* * *

Ryoko had finally stopped struggling. She lay limp in her cradle of thorns and jagged, twisted twigs and branches; almost as if death had claimed her soul before her body surrendered to the water that still churned threateningly below. Her child-eyes were wide and fixed, the only hint of life in the small, still figure was the steady rising and falling of her chest.

The mind within was damaged, although not broken. In a last, futile effort to preserve its own sanity it had withdrawn deep within the shell of Sasami's body, leaving Ryoko aware, but numb. It wasn't happening to her; it was all just a bad dream, happening to someone else.

Make that TWO someone else's...

All that remained in Ryoko's conscious mind were a few tattered strands of thought, woven together in a fragile braid of awareness.

Please... Forgive me...

I'm so cold...

Please... PLEASE, Momma... don't leave me along. It's all dark and cold...

A single tear slipped from her left eye to run down her cheek.

'Mommy...'

I dun wanna be alone... not now... So cold...

Not alone in the dark...

Ryoko no longer knew where the cold came from; whether from within or without. She could no longer distinguish between the pulverising rain and aching tears that stung her face. She was just a shell within a shell. A shallow, empty creature that sought out its own selfish desires.

To be warm.

To be loved.

To be safe.

Just a demon... I'm only a demon. A construct - an artefact.

"All you ever do is hurt people I care about! You took EVERYTHING from me! And for once in your life you're going to care about that!"

'Please Ayeka... no more...'

From somewhere deep within herself, Ryoko summoned up the strength to sob.

* * *

Ayeka was almost sorry the lightning was petering out. The extra light had been greatly welcomed, despite the yellow-blue blobs it had left dancing in front of her eyes. The hideous, twisted shapes she had glimpsed in the uneven shadows could hardly have been any worse than her own, dark thoughts.

Perhaps it was some built-in ability of Washu's body, independent of the scientist's personality, but the memories of those last few moments with Ryoko were recorded in Ayeka's mind with a painfully crystal-clear precision. The Jurian had replayed her actions over and over again until she had found herself slapping her knuckles painfully against the passing trees in a vain attempt to shake the thoughts loose. She remembered every word she had said; how she had been blinded by her fury and the suppressed emotions that had tormented her soul for years.

But that was not the cause of her burning face and stinging eyes.

Ryoko had begun to believe Ayeka had forgiven her for her dark and terrible past, yet she had seen the Jurian had only buried her feelings, not released them. She had not let go of her past, as Ryoko had done; only suppressed the dark thoughts and lingering pain, striking out against her old rival when she was at her most vulnerable.

But it wasn't LIKE that! Ayeka protested to herself. I never MEANT it to happen...

"I'm GLAD I attacked Jurai. I'll NEVER regret it. It was the BEST thing I've EVER done."

Ryoko's words.

For Jurai's sake! How did Ryoko EXPECT me to react to a remark like that?!?

"Nothing gets under that precious skin of yours, demon! Well perhaps this will! It's all you understand. It's time your pride took a beating!"

"All you ever do is hurt people I care about! You took EVERYTHING from me! And for once in your life you're going to care about that!"

Ayeka's words.

"I - HATE - YOU."

No-one's words.

Just the natural reaction of a child pushed beyond the limits of their emotions.

The visage of those large pink eyes burned Ayeka's heart. HOW could I have missed it?! She demanded angrily of herself. HOW could I not see where it was going?

Had she truly forgiven Ryoko, she would've perceived the truth of the latter's words, no matter how confusing they sounded, and she would not have done such a terrible thing. The Crown Princess squeezed her eyes shut tightly, trying to drive out the mental image of when she had beaten her OWN sister, or at least her body.

But - but there was so much to let go... My beautiful world, so damaged. All those people - MY people - killed and injured. My flower garden - turned into a pit of ashes.

My beloved brother, taken from me.

My dear little sister... killed.

No.

Sasami was right beside her, in Kiyone's body. Ayeka could see her anxiously swinging her flashlight back and forth searching for any clue that may tell them where Ryoko was.

Sasami only survived because Tsunami joined with her... One day they must become one. Tsunami can say what she likes - I will still be losing a part of my sister.

Yet Ayeka had never noticed that Sasami was any different. She clearly remembered her little sister's efforts to revive her spirits after Yosho went away. And she was here, before Ayeka, totally dislocated from the physical shell that Tsunami had revived; alive and independent....

HAD Ryoko even forgiven herself for what happened? Had the Pirate allowed herself that luxury? Or had it lingered, festered as it had in Ayeka? Perhaps she needs me to forgive her before she can forgive herself...?

But if Ryoko had buried the thoughts as Ayeka had, then why had she not been poisoned by them as the Princess had?

Tenchi.

Of course.

Ryoko had watched the innocent boy grow into a compassionate young man - that was how feelings had arisen within her in the first place. Ryoko had not forgotten her crimes, but she had learned to accept she could only change the future, not the past. While her past grieved her, it did not torment her, nor did it dictate her actions. It did not drive her in the way it had driven Ayeka.

Yosho had forgiven Ryoko.

Funaho had forgiven Ryoko.

Mother forgave her... am I the only one left?

Sasami loved her, but then Sasami loved EVERYONE...

Even Father let her be here...

Who HAD been hurt the most from the events on Jurai?

I found my brother.

I found Tenchi.

I found a life that I could never have imagined.

Had she been hurt only because she had ALLOWED herself to be hurt?

Ayeka's life here could be difficult, especially living with a such a boisterous figure as Ryoko, but it was rewarding. One day she knew that she would have to say goodbye to Earth and her family here, with or without Tenchi. But her experiences of a simple, yet challenging life would surely make her a better person - perhaps a better Empress if she ever rose to that position.

But despite all that had happened since Ayeka came to Earth, a part of her had withered; there had been an emptiness that she had been unaware of, and yet desperate to fill. She had bled with her people, and shared in their loss, yet Jurai had been renewed whilst she had not. She had stayed the same.

Her search for Yosho; her battle to claim Tenchi; even the mundane tasks of her everyday life on this strange, beautiful planet that her brother and his mother called home - it was all only a distraction from herself.

Are my feelings just a sham? she asked herself worriedly.

No. Her feelings for Tenchi were true; THAT much she knew.

But you couldn't fill a void. You may as well hope to carry water around in a bucket that had no bottom.

Ayeka's pain had confined her to a prison within her own body for 700 years, as surely as Ryoko herself had been confined. She needed closure in her life; something to mark the end of one phase and the beginning of another. She needed to do what everyone else had done: draw a line under the past and let go.

Forgive and move on.

Everything Ayeka had done up to now had been tainted by a lingering, stubbornly held-to resentment that had trapped Ryoko in the guise of a demon. It was a guise in which Ryoko could never hope to improve herself, at least in Ayeka's eyes, so the Pirate had never bothered to try. Ryoko had made a meagre effort in Sasami's body, but without realising she was doing it Ayeka had fought to keep Ryoko bottled up, imprisoned within that visage of an irredeemable demon.

Ryoko may have accepted her role in events, but to truly move on she needed Ayeka's forgiveness. Only then could she forgive herself and finally move forward with her life and become that better person Ayeka had said she could never be.

And Ayeka needed to forgive Ryoko to finally heal her own life and truly start afresh. THAT'S what Ryoko had tried to tell her, even if the Pirate had not realised it herself.

And that was exactly what Ayeka WOULD do, happy and relieved to finally lay her past and her pain to rest.

Assuming she could FIND Ryoko...

* * *

Had she died?

Ryoko's consciousness peeked out reluctantly from the dark folds of despair it had wrapped around itself. The Pirate's eyes reported a bright glow. Not the cold, intermittent flash of lightning, but a warm, steady radiance. Although not uncomfortable , it's quiet, insistent presence was slowly but surely dragging Ryoko back to an unwelcome awareness.

I must've fallen asleep, Ryoko decided. Or passed out. If I'd died, there's no way I'd be waking up in heaven. This light - sheesh, is it morning?

With an effort, Ryoko opened her eyes. She was still in her cat's cradle of branches and twigs and thorns; she was still in Sasami's body. Ryoko realised a small part of her had actually hoped the whole thing had been nothing more than a horrid dream, but she was either too cynical or too tired to feel disappointed by the revelation of her reality.

Wearily, Ryoko looked around, struggling to turn her body. Twigs snapped and cracked dangerously, and the Pirate was acutely aware that should her cradle give way she would plunge head first into the freezing torrent of water below.

Is this it? Is THIS my real punishment? To die as a helpless child, as Sasami did, powerless to protect myself? Was 700 years in a cave just a down-payment?

Dimly, Ryoko trapped a stray memory in her mind; the image of Ry-ou being destroyed by Kagato's ship as Tenchi had attempted to turn it's Light Hawks Wings on the offence. She remembered how the sense of loss had torn through her like a knife made from ice stabbed clean through her heart.

It was at that moment she had finally understood what it was to have feelings - and to know what it was like when those feelings were hurt. She recalled the thick, rising panic as she had frantically searched the ruins drifting in space. How, clutching his bloodstained bandanna, she had thought Tenchi was lost forever.

Tenchi came for me that day. He fought his way all the way up to Kagato. He didn't have to; he did it for ME.

It had been there again when Kagato had arrogantly blasted Tenchi aboard his ship as he sought to protect Ryoko. The same feeling each time; an agonising sense of loss, aching like salt poured into an open wound.

Don't forget Clay. ANOTHER time he rescued me...

Ryoko suddenly felt a twinge of embarrassment that she - one of the most feared names in the galaxy! - had needed rescuing not once but TWICE by some farmboy kid on a dead-end backwater planet.

A soft, dreamy smile creased Ryoko/Sasami's lips, ever so slightly. That's why I love the guy... so much...

It was then that she realised that, oddly enough, even those tremendously powerful feelings didn't come close to what she was feeling now.

It was then that she understood. She was still smarting from Ayeka's assault upon her, but the princess had only hurt her pride. That was nothing - a drop in the interstellar ocean compared to had Ryoko had hurt the princess in return. And how she had hurt herself.

The thought that she could die, here, like this, failing to fulfil her potential, to become something truly better than she was, without Tenchi ever seeing that moment realised -

THAT hurt.

THAT was the pain she was experiencing now. The pain of knowledge; of revelation.

And knowing it could be too late to change that mistake.

Ryoko inwardly winced as she realised how she had squandered the gifts given to her since she had regained her freedom. How shallow and selfish and stupid she had been!

Her eyes darted from side to side and she fought down the sudden rush of panic that leaked into her mind. No, she told herself. It's only squandered if I die; it's still not too late to live.

The glow that had awoken her was no longer visible, but for some odd reason she felt better; she could actually FEEL herself again instead of a disjointed conscious trapped within a child's body.

Instead of a child's conscious trapped inside an ADULT'S body, she told herself wryly. How odd that she had had to end up in Sasami's body before she could realise what she was when she was in her OWN body: a mere child.

Well, she told herself, there is nothing mere about THIS child.

Ryoko had made peace with the child that was Sasami's body. In doing so, she had found a balance with the part of herself that was a full-grown woman. And she felt better for it - better than she had in a long while.

Now to get out of here, she told herself. I am sick and TIRED of panicking; I just want OUT.

But how?

The branch Ryoko/Sasami had fallen from was now a good half metre above her, well out of reach. In any case Sasami's body simply didn't have the strength to haul herself back up onto that slippery perch. On top of that the slightest shift in her body's weight sent Ryoko yawing from side to side, twisting and snapping the twigs and branches holding her. Already she was hanging much lower down than she had been earlier, and Ryoko knew any drastic movements would cause her safety net to give way.

The cradle that had saved Ryoko/Sasami had also trapped her. One false move and the whole thing would just collapse and pitch Ryoko feet first into her own personal flood, and as long as there was that danger, she was stuck.

She could of course just stay put and wait to be found, but that would mean hoping her cradle didn't give way before the waters subsided below - assuming it didn't rise high enough to drown her like a rat in a trap. But Ryoko felt she had been humiliated enough for one day, and the thought of Tenchi or Washu - or even worse, Ayeka or Sasami - finding her trapped, injured and helpless was just too much. Ayeka would go ballistic if she saw the condition of Sasami's body, and the thought of the child's hurt expression at Ryoko's perceived abuse and betrayal of her trust began to torment the Pirate.

Ryoko knew she couldn't allow further harm to come to Sasami's body; Tenchi would never forgive her, and HE would be the LEAST of her worries. She'd be lucky if Yosho didn't slam her back up in that cave for mistreating his little sister in this way.

Ryoko squeezed her eyes shut against the cold rush of panic that swept over her at the thought of going back to the cave. Her mind was at war with itself and barely holding it's own. But at least she knew that now - she was no longer at the helpless mercy of her own private demons. Ryoko knew now that every rogue thought or distraction lessened her chance of saving herself - AND Sasami. That realisation steeled her nerve and focused her mind with ever increasing strength.

Right then, I'm pretty sure the others will be looking for me, but I can't allow myself to be found like this. That means I need to at least get out of here. Ryoko looked around, searching for inspiration, but none was forthcoming. Dammit, what I wouldn't give to be able to teleport right now!

Ryoko looked down the length of her body. She noticed that when she had fallen into the net she had been pointing head first towards the water. Now, though, her struggling had caused the far end of the cradle to give way, leaving her at a shallow feet-first angle.

Seeing this, a plan began to form in Ryoko's mind. It was clear the cradle was going to give way sooner or later - sooner if she tried to climb out of it. But if she could just arrange for it to break a certain way - or a certain direction...?

She looked around. Yes, it might just work. If the lower end gave way, she would fall towards the far bank she had been trying to get to when she fell from the branch. The momentum of her own body-weight should carry her the remaining distance.

Just like Tarzan, Ryoko thought, actually smiling to herself as the old movies she had seen at Tenchi's house flashed through her mind.

Of course it wasn't without risk. The branches she held onto could also snap and pitch her into the water. And if the water below was too high her feet could dip into it as she fell, slowing her down and leaving her dangling mid air above the creek.

But as the cradle swayed threateningly in the wind, and Ryoko/Sasami's eyes narrowed in determination. I'd rather take the chance rather then risk having the decision taken out of my hands altogether.

With a grunt of effort, Ryoko began carefully twisting around in the net. She was working now, and allowed only one further stray thought to enter her head.

What a STUPID place to put a forest...

END OF CHAPTER 9