Disclaimer time!! I am not getting paid for this and I have nothing to do with any offical Tenchi franchise. This story is purely a labour of love (some might say a grudge match by now!) and a creative mark of respect for this impressive anime show's creators and distributors. Enjoy!

As always, reviews, comments and feedback are welcome. You can post reviews up at Fanfiction.net, The Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction Archive, or email 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's 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 is trapped and in desperate trouble. While Ayeka and Sasami delve ever deeper into the forest in search of the Space Pirate, help is at hand as Tenchi and Washu arrive on the scene...

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

By Mccpcorn

Chapter 10: Sibling Rivalry
===========================

Kamadake continued to monitor the progress of his royal charges as they made their search; their faint, distorted Infra-Red images bobbing around on his scanner as they changed direction and headed further west.

The Jurian Guardian had registered several unusal energy emissions coming from that direction and felt concern that the princess' were heading towards it. He debated abandoning his position momentarily to clarify the situation, but then he detected the familiar carrier-signal that marked his counterpart's approach, and he turned his attention to the new arrivals.

For the third time, Tenchi/Mihoshe squrimed out of Washu/Ayeka's grip. He had almost fallen off Azaka twice during their ride in, and Washu had taken a somewhat perverse pleasure in holding onto him to stop him falling.

'Will you cut that out!?' Tenchi demanded as Washu snuggled close again.

Washu/Ayeka gave Tenchi/Mihoshe a beautifully bewitching smile. 'Ah, come on!' she said, making Ayeka's voice sound vibrant, strong and free. 'Aren't you a little bit interested?'

This would normally be the point where Tenchi would get a nosebleed; this time he was rather glad he didn't. 'No!' he said as firmly as he could in Mihoshe's voice as he squirmed his/her way up away from Washu/Ayeka.

'Not even a teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy bit?' Washu/Ayeka implored with wobbling eyes.

'ESPECIALLY not a teeny-tiny itty-bitty bit,' Tenchi rejoined hotly. Mihoshe's body had a lower centre of gravity than his own, which should've made him/her more stable, but she was also... topheavy. As Azaka changed altitude and reduced speed, Tenchi again found himself flailing for balance before Ayeka/Washu gleefully drew him back into her embrace. 'Now you know why I prefer my OWN body,' Washu said coyly before waving to the approaching Kamadake. 'Yo, Kamadake! How goes it?'

'I have been monitoring the princess' progress, Your Highness - I mean, Lady Washu,' Kamadake reported. (As far as the Guardians were concerned, the whole situation was just as confusing for THEM as it was for everyone else.)

'And?' Tenchi asked in an voice uncharacteristically professional for Mihoshe.

'They've just altered direction towards an unusual, sporadic energy emission I've been detecting.'

Kamadake didn't have to add anything further. Tenchi and Washu merely exchanged a look. 'We'd best get down there,' Washu answered.

* * *

'Really, this is becoming intolerable!' Ayeka fumed aloud to herself. She had no idea how long they had been stuck in the forest, but it felt like days.

She shivered, soaked clean through to the skin. Washu's hair was plastered to her face and head and the dank, wet odur as cold water met bodyheat was everywhere. Sasami, in Kiyone's body, didn't look much better, but at least her teal hair looked graceful when wet; Ayeka felt she looked like a drowned rat.

Not that rats HAD red hair, but still...

She sighed, trying to shrug off a moment's dizziness as the great weariness that had come across her back at the house returned, seemingly multiplied tenfold.

Back at the house...

Back with Ryoko...

Ayeka slipped suddenly in the mud. As she stumbled to her knees she flung her hands out in front of her to break her fall. She succeeded, but caught her - Washu's - right leg against a potrusion of stone. A curse hissed through the Crown Princesses lips and her eyes squeezed shut as sparks of pain shot through her right knee.

Sasami/Kiyone gave her sister a hard, unfriendly look. 'Will you QUIT complaining?' she demanded, in a dead-ringer for Kiyone's stern, no-nonsense approach. 'You've not shut up since we came out here. It's really starting to BUG me.'

Ayeka gave her younger sister an equally unfriendly look. 'Don't be so cheeky!' she admonished. 'Since when were you put in charge?'

'And since when did you learn to swear like that?' Sasami threw Ayeka a murderous look. But even as Sasami spoke the sterness faded from her eyes and the heat died in her features, leaving a profound embarrassment in it's wake.

'We're changing, aren't we?' she said softly. 'I mean, there was no way that was me....'

'No,' Ayeka agreed. 'You are not speaking like - well, you are too... strident.'

Sasami/Kiyone flushed, not knowing whether to feel disturbed or complimented by her sister's words.

Ayeka saw the confusion in her sister's face and forced a weak smile. 'Don't worry, Sasami,' she said. 'There are far worse things you can be in this universe other than strident.'

Sasami actually giggled, which prompted Ayeka to laugh. Which in turn...

It may have been an unwise distraction. It could've been hysteria. It could've been the effects of the personality transfer. Or it could simply have been an unconscious desire to hear something beautiful and happy, and so ease the pain of a traumatic day.

Whatever the reason, in a matter of moments they were both laughing uncontrollably.

Sasami's head snapped around. 'If that wasn't a scream then I've never heard one before,' she said in a tight voice.

Ayeka spun with her sister; there was absolutely no doubt about it this time. Her voice was equally tight as she raised her hand. 'It came from over there for sure-'

Ayeka seemed to suddenly freeze in place. Sasami/Kiyone's eyes narrowed. 'What?' she demanded.

The young princess followed her sister's gaze. Up ahead, faint but umistakeable, was a blue glow.

Sasami's eyes widened in alarm, grabbing hold of Ayeka's arm with both hands, even as the Crown Princess moved towards it. 'Ayeka, how many times do I have to tell you-'

'It's the same direction,' Ayeka insisted, trying to shake herself free of Sasami's grip. 'It CAN'T be a coincidence-'

'You're not being rational!' Sasami's voice climbed in pitch and volume as she struggled with Ayeka. The adrenalin rush kicking into Sasami's brain would have turned Kiyone into the perfect tactical weapon; all it was doing to the young princess was rapidly edging her into uncontrolled panic.

Sasami's spun around as a thunderous crash echoed around the small clearing they had stumbled into. 'What was that?' she demanded in a trembling voice.

Ayeka found her balance as her sister's hands dropped away. 'I don't know,' she panted. 'Maybe someone's coming?' The Crown Princess glanced back nervously over her shoulder at the light that continued to shine with a dull but steady radiance.

Up above, Kamadake had begun a rapid descent into the forest canopy, shielding Azaka and his human cargo from an abuse of smashed branches, twigs and leaves and allowing them to reach the ground quickly and safely.

But Sasami's senses had gone into overdrive; things were happening too fast for her to adjust easily and she was unable to sort through the sensory overload pouring into her brain. The brief conflict with Ayeka had Sasami's legs trembling violently and she felt a sickening mixture of fear and excitement in her
tomach.

Nervously, Sasami reached her hand back towards Ayeka, seeking some kind of mental and physical support as she tried to focus her will. 'Come on Ayeka,' Sasami said, her voice sounding as though she had just finished a four day maration. 'If we can link up with Tenchi-'

Ayeka said nothing. Sasami turned to her-

'Ayeka-'

But Ayeka was gone.

'Ayekaaaa!!!!!' The shout bordered on a scream, and carried far in Kiyone's rich, powerful voice. It should've brought Ayeka back immediately but there was no response from her sister.

To add to that, the mysterious light that had so hyptonised Ayeka had vanished.

A rapid, thudding, crashing sound echoed behind Sasami/Kiyone. She turned, eyes wide in fear, the GP issue blaster seeming to materialise in her hand out of nowhere.

'Don't shoot!!' It was Mihoshe's voice.

'Sasami?' THAT was definitely Ayeka's voice.

Except Ayeka was in Washu's body...

'Washu!' with a soft 'flop' noise, the blaster fell into the mud. Sasami threw her arms around the body of her sister, needed at least to be close to some part of Ayeka. The child struggled to breathe as the sobs began.

'She - she's gone,' Sasami gasped out between choking tears. 'I turned for a moment, and - and she just vanished. She's following a Yuurei -'

'Marsh light.' Washu/Ayeka's jaw hardened in anxiety.

'We've got to get after her,' Tenchi stated. 'There's no telling what trouble Ayeka could get into if she's out there bouncing around after a Will-o' the Wisp.'

'Agreed,' Washu replied. 'But get Azaka and Kamadake to scan the terrain ahead of us; I don't fancy drinking any marsh water myself.' Washu gave Tenchi a pointed look. 'And whaddya mean, "bouncing"??'

* * *

Over a hundred miles away, An elderly gentleman suddenly awoke from a deep sleep. He sprang lightly from his hotel bed and moved swiftly to the window with all the stealth and speed of a Samurai. The blinds were quickly drawn back, and he found himself staring towards the place he had called home for many, many years.

Yosho's eyes narrowed. 'Tsunami,' he said softly to himself, 'What are you playing at now...?'

END OF CHAPTER 10