CINDERELLA: A Fushigi Yugi Parody
Written by Nashie
-à-à-
Disclaimer: Nashie no own. Only thing Nashie own is Milky Way. Milky Way gets eaten. Now Nashie no own anything. Nashie sad.
Random Inside Joke of the Day: "CHEESEBURGER!"
Random Quote of the Day: "You must be crrrrazy!"
Note: The speaking format for this chapter is weird. I won't be doing the 'body/mind' or the 'mind/body'. I'm sticking with using just one name – the body. For example: ("Tamahome: This sucks!") – it looks as if Miaka's actually saying it, but in truth it's Tamahome. It's a little more hassle on you the readers, but don't worry. It's sort of like a contest. Whoever can match all the cast and crew's mind to whatever body their in CORRECTLY, you receive one hundred points which you can redeem at Wendy's for a free pickle burger.
-à-à-
CHAPTER 4:A – WHEN DARKNESS FALLS
The work lights behind the curtains give off an eerie glow to the palace backdrop. The butter yellow lights, placed at various intervals, make the set look deserted, dark, and straight out of a really cheesy 40s movie, where the gangsters with fedoras are waiting in a damp, cold alleyway. There is no sound on the set, and one may think that the musical closed early that night. The flowers still tilt their lovely crowed heads heavenwards, and the windows are polished to a proud shine. But the thrones sit empty, and the grand staircase is devoid of life.
After a few more of these sullen moments, a small figure emerges from the shadows. If the hypothetical observer is still around, they will automatically realize that the figure is a boy, perhaps in his early teens, though looking a bit younger. Wide green eyes stare around the empty set in a mixture of shock and horror, and he looks around two seconds away from just plopping down on the ground and fainting dead away. He crosses over to stage left, slips behind one of the flats, and emerges in the wings behind the curtains.
"Um...hello? Anyone? I thought I heard someone scream..."
As if to qualify this statement, a pissed off Miaka suddenly storms from the shadows, the gossamer train on her gown flowing after her, making her appear like some sort of temperamental goddess. Following her is a slightly bereaved Tasuki, whose look of confusion seems to appropriately fit the raging priestess' anger.
"I don't BELIEVE this! Who the hell did this? I'm going to strangle the freakin' life outta him!"
"A few more minutes, and he'll start going into Tasuki-esque rants, no da..."
For a moment, Chiriko looks up at the red-haired bandit in stunned awe. Then, finally, he manages to clear his throat. "Chichiri...?" Tasuki nods.
"Hai, no da." He holds up his hand. "And before you even ask, I don't know how to undo this spell, na no da." Tasuki...um, that is, Chichiri...looked down at Chiriko and gave him a small brief smile. "And you're not Chiriko, no da." Chiriko pouts.
"No. I'm not. I mean, whoever did this...why couldn't they have put me in a taller body? I'm already short as it is, now I'm even shorter! Argh!"
"You're either Sake-chan or MoonshadowJedi..."
"The latter." MoonshadowJedi shudders. "If Miaka doesn't kill this person first, then I will." Chichiri hestitates, and then sighs.
"That's not Miaka, no da…" At MoonshadowJedi's questioning look, Chichiri gives her a weak grin. "That's Tamahome."
MoonshadowJedi blinks at the preposterous switch, and finally decides that she just can't take it anymore. She sits down hard on the ground, brings her knees to her chest, and just shakes her head in defeat. Chichiri watches as Tamahome, in his girlfriend's body, paces back and forth on the set, his arms crossed over his recently acquired bosom, muttering obscenities beneath his breath. Chichiri sighs quietly, and sits down next to MoonshadowJedi, deciding just to wait until more angered seishi and crew arrive on the set, just as furious as Tamahome.
He doesn't have to wait long.
At that moment, the tall silhouette of the local healer steps from the shadows, a frown formed on his features. He stops at seeing the fuming Tamahome, and looks towards Chichiri and MoonshadowJedi, who wave at his appearance. He gives Tamahome one final confused look before joining the pair on the other side of the stage, kneeling down to rest next to them.
"Strange, isn't it?" He looks at Chichiri. "Will it be too much to presume that you're still Tasuki?"
"Unfortunately yes, no da. And this is MoonshadowJedi. If I were Tasuki, I think I'd be cursing up a storm. Which makes me wonder exactly which body our bandit got dumped into, no da."
"As long as it's not mine, I'll be very happy," MoonshadowJedi mutters, looks at Mitsukake. "And you're not Mits-san, are you?"
Mitsukake shakes his head. "No. I'm Bob. One minute I'm at the rigging station, the next I'm on the floor of the stage on stage right. A very peculiar experience, if you ask me." He cocks his head to the side. "Do you know what the source of the problem is, Chichiri?"
"No. I can't trace it, no da."
"Which totally sucks for us." MoonshadowJedi gestures towards Tamahome. "We need to find a way to calm Tama-chan down, or else he's going to go on a murder streak."
The trio nods in agreement, and prepare to rise to their feet when a long string of curses flow from stage right, leaving everyone on the stage bleeding from the ears. After another minute of the continuing incredulous cursing, MoonshadowJedi claps her hands over her ears to prevent them from being permanently damaged. Even Tamahome stops in the middle of his rant to stare over into the recesses of stage right, eyes wide and staring. Chichiri and Bob flinch as the tirade continues, before sharing looks.
"Tasuki?" Bob asks weakly.
"Those are words Tasuki would use, no da. But it sounds like...
Before he can finish, there is a sound of repeated crashes in the shadows of stage right, followed by various yelling, muffled cries of pain, and then more crashes. A few seconds later, three people tumble out from behind one of the flats – Bob, Nuriko, and Hotohori. Subaru and Yui emerge behind them, both of them looking stunned and perplexed at the reactions of their three friends.
Chichiri rises to his feet and darts over stage right, an uneasy feeling rising at the nape of his neck. He peers down at the pile of young people, and then looks up to meet the gaze of the unaffected girls. "What happened here, no da?"
"Chichiri?" Yui asks in surprise.
Hotohori managed to untangle himself from the small pile-up, rolling onto his back and staring up into the rigging above him, his hazel eyes dark in misery. Chichiri kneels down next him, just out of his visual range.
"This has got t'be the worst fuckin' openin' night ever..."
Subaru crosses her arms. "What's going on here? One of you must know. I have never known Hotohori-sama to use such derogatory language, and this is certainly not acceptable." She points to Chichiri. "Now, are you Tasuki...or Chichiri?"
Hotohori glares at Subaru. "What the fuck are you talkin' about...I'm Tasuki! Anybody else is just a fuckin' imposter..." He trails off as he looks up at Chichiri.
Chichiri waves. "Hi, Tasuki." Tasuki jumps to his feet, stunned.
"Holy shit! You're me!"
"No, you're you and I'm me, na no da. You're just you in Hotohori's body, no da." Chichiri offers a wan smile.
"Chichiri..." He glares. "What the hell are you doin' in my body? Get out." MoonshadowJedi shakes her, stunned and obviously disconcerted.
"Tasuki...can you stop cussing? It sounds weird coming from Hotohori-sama."
At this point, Nuriko climbs to his feet, wiping off the dust from his dress, and glares at the group while he helps Bob to his feet. The other Bob joins them and stares disconcertingly at his body that is currently occupied by someone else.
Nuriko crosses his arms. "Can we maintain some sort of decorum here, people? I mean, I know it's not everyday we go switching bodies, but I'm sure we can have some sense of dignity here."
Bob frowns at him. "Speak for yourself...you try keeping sane while someone in your body acts the way they do...it's not right..."
Chichiri puts up a hand to stop them from talking. "Wait. Wait." He points to Nuriko. "You are?"
"Teki." Chichiri looks towards Bob.
"And you?"
"Nuriko." Chichiri looks at the two young people, hesitates, and then shakes his head, looking absolutely floored.
"Oh, boy."
Tasuki scowls. "Whatdya mean, 'oh, boy'? We've got a fuckin' situation goin' on here, and all you can say is 'oh, boy!' This is a pain in the ass, Chichiri!" Some of the people gathered on the stage winced at hearing the cursing coming from the usually reserved Hotohori. Nuriko glares daggers at Tasuki.
"Enough with the imaginative cursing already, Tasuki. Subaru is right. It sounds really weird coming from Hotohori-sama." Tasuki mutters something unintelligible, and crosses his arms, but says nothing else. Chichiri gives him a slightly concerned look before scratching his head.
"I wonder how much the audience will appreciate yet another extended delay, no da…"
-à-à-
Neko-ane shifts nervously back and forth, biting her lower lip anxiously. She had just been running down the hallway with Chichiri and Nashie when they both had suddenly stopped and fainted dead away on the carpet. Her attempts to revive them had been futile for the past few minutes, and she wasn't sure whether or not to run out and get some help. The thought of the Matrix people coming to her aid scared her to no end, so she decided to wait just a few more minutes before taking action, hoping that she wasn't endangering their lives.
She crouches down next to Chichiri and decides to try once again to wake him up. She gently shakes his shoulder, hoping he won't immediately panic and go into SD-form before she can get a word in edgewise.
"Chichiri…Chichiri, wake up…please…" Chichiri groans quietly, and turns his back to the small redheaded girl.
"Fimominiss…"
Neko-ane blinks. "Huh?"
"Five more minutes…" Neko-ane hesitates at the request, wondering why Chichiri would ask for five more minutes to be unconscious.
"Um…Chichiri…?" At this, Nashie stirs on the ground, and slowly lifts her head, blinking in confusion at her surroundings. She sits up quickly, taking in her surroundings with a frown on her face.
"How did I get out here?" Neko-ane, now thoroughly confused, stares at the tall direction.
"Um…you dragged us out…?" Nashie looks over at Neko-ane, frowning as if trying to place where the girl was from. There's a moment of silence before Nashie cocks her head to the side.
"Who are you?"
At the inane question, Neko-ane begins to panic slightly and she rubs her suddenly moist palms against her jeans. She really hoped that the two didn't have some form of amnesia, which would only serve to completely make her feel terrible for not acting sooner.
"I'm Neko-ane…remember?" Nashie eyes suddenly go wide, and Neko-ane has a sinking feeling in her stomach that not everything is as it was only a few moments earlier. She is proven correctly when Nashie scoots away from her.
"Oh, my god…did you kidnap me and Chichiri? Is that what's going on? You made me and Tasuki fall asleep and then you kidnapped me?" She jumps to her feet. "Well, don't underestimate me just because I'm a girl! I saw the wrestling matches last night and I'm ready to do anything!" She demonstrates a few punches in Neko-ane's direction, but the girl just sits there, stunned. As Nashie continues to glare furiously in Neko-ane's direction, Chichiri groans and begins to wake up.
"Can't people ever be quiet when others are trying to sleep…? I mean, no courtesy at all towards other people's…feelings…" He trails off. Neko-ane turns to her love interest and catches sight of him looking at Nashie with a dumbfounded look on his face. He takes one glance at Neko-ane and then looks back at Nashie.
"Neko-ane?"
"Yes?"
"…why is there another me right there?" Neko-ane does a double take, considering the monk's words very slowly.
"Um…Nashie?"
"Yeah…?"
"Oh, crap." She sweatdrops. "You may not want to hear what I have to tell you."
"Why not…?"
"Because you're in Chichiri's body."
There's a long moment of silence as Nashie considers this. The moment stretches on and on, so long that the OTHER Nashie drops from her fighting stance and stares at the blue-haired director, also waiting for an answer. Neko-ane begins to have a sinking feeling in her stomach as Nashie quietly rises to her feet, removes the mask across her face, and blinks one eye. She looks over at her doppelganger.
"Miaka?"
"Hai?" Nashie blinks a few more times, and suddenly begins to laugh.
"Hahaha…of course this would happen! I mean, after all, everything else is getting screwed over tonight, why not have us all switch bodies as well? Hahahahahahaha!" She doubles over in hysterical laughter. Miaka blinks and approaches the two warily, still giving Neko-ane the evil eye.
"What? Chichiri…are you okay?" Neko-ane sighs, and rubs the back of her neck.
"Miaka, that's not Chichiri. That's Nashie. And you are currently in her body." Miaka hesitates at this and glances down at her hands, noticing the cinnamon-coloring of them, and realizes that her white ball gown had been replaced by black stage crew clothing. She looks back up at Neko-ane with a stunned look on her face.
"So…if I'm in Nashie's body…then who's in mine and where the heck is Chichiri?"
"Probably stuck in someone else's body! Oh, this is too good! Hehehehehe…" Nashie seems to find the situation too amusing, and Neko-ane isn't the least bit amused by the near hysterical laughter coming from her eye candy. She grabs Nashie around the shoulders and shakes her.
"Nashie! This is no time to lose your head. Plus, it's super scary when it comes from Chichiri! You're the director – you have to fix this!" Nashie stops laughing, and scowls – but the scowl is more directed at herself than at Neko-ane. She nods and takes a deep breath, trying to collect her wits.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. It's just that everything that could go wrong tonight is going wrong. And it's really starting to piss me off." She puts a hand on her forehead. "Okay, the first thing we have to do is get back to the stage and calm down the chaos happening back there. Hopefully no one had killed each other yet. And when I find out who's been playing tricks on us like this, there will be revenge!"
Neko-ane sweatdrops. "Let's not think about revenge in your state of mind right now."
"I wonder who got switched with who," wonders Miaka outloud with a shudder. "Some pairs I don't even want to THINK about."
The group of three head towards the stage entrance door, Neko-ane slightly hanging back to make sure that neither of the two young women makes a break for it. Miaka is walking awkwardly, trying to adjust to stronger muscles and longer bones while Nashie is trying to cope with only having one eye to see out of. They reach the door, and swing it open, immediately being greeted by darkness.
"This is the stage right entrance," Nashie explains to a baffled Neko-ane.
"It's so dark…how can you guys see where you're going?"
"The black lights help. We usually have practice before we have opening night. No one has broken anything yet. Besides there aren't any stairs and…"
She suddenly goes quiet and stops dead in her tracks. Miaka and Neko-ane collide with her back and stumble backwards. Miaka rubs the bridge of her nose, and gives Nashie a weird look. Nashie frowns and gestures for the two girls to follow her. They continue down the hallway until they stop at the dressing room door which is slightly ajar. Miaka is about to put her hand on it to open it when Nashie shakes her head. "It's too quiet. I don't think anyone's in there."
She turns and continues towards the wings of the stage, climbing up the small set of steps and emerging into the long open area behind the black tabs that separate the stage from the deserted wings. Even from their distance, they can hear the arguing on the stage. Neko-ane grimaces and casts a look at Nashie and Miaka who both share surprised expressions. They move the black curtain aside and step onto the stage.
The stage is currently occupied by the entire crew and the major cast, all them in various states of arguing. The few people who are simply watching the fighting are sitting on the grand staircase. Nashie blinks as one of the quiet ones, Sake, lifts her head slowly and catches her eye. Nashie waves, and walks further out onto the set, trailed by Miaka and Neko-ane. She sits down with the rest of the various cast and crew on the staircase and sighs.
"I suppose it would be too much to assume that you are Nashie?" asks Sake, giving Miaka a long, questioning look. Miaka gives the girl an embarrassed grin.
"Sorry. Can't say that I am. I'm Miaka." Sake's dark eyes widen in surprise.
"Miaka?" She turns to Nashie. "Then you must be…?"
"The Supreme Director," Nashie says with a bow and a slight wink. "Have you guys figured out who's been switched with who?"
"I suppose." A few bells go off in Nashie's head, and she hesitates.
"You're not Sake. You're talking way too…" She pauses, and suddenly realizes who she's talking to. "Hotohori?" The girl…no, the emperor…nods.
"Yes. I'm in Sake's body." Teki, who is trying to figure out how to sit comfortably, in Nuriko's dress, wipes a strand of violet hair from her eyes.
"And I'm Teki. Nashie, I hope you have some idea who to fix this. We can't continue if we're all stuck like this. I don't know about you, but I don't know any of Nuriko's lines. " Nashie nods in agreement, and looks out to where everyone else is arguing.
"Alright then. The first thing we can do is call this meeting to order! ORDER!" Her yell brings all the arguments to a standstill. Thanks to the fact that she's in Chichiri's body, she now is as imposing as she had hoped to be in her regular body. Nashie gives a brief wave, grinning, though her mind is quickly assessing the damage done. By some people's stances, she can tell already who was switched with who… "Alright, guys! We're doing a roll call! If you haven't guessed it, I'm Nashie, the Supreme Director. And no matter what body I'm in, you will all listen to me! Get it? Got it? Good. Let's start by calling off random names…" She hesitates. "Wait. I need a piece of paper and a pen."
She searches her pockets, only to realize that it's a costume, and sighs dramatically. At that moment, a certain red-haired monk approaches her, handing her a pen and a piece of paper that have magically appeared out of thin air. Nashie raises an eyebrow, already guessing who is currently stuck in Tasuki's body. "Thank you, Chichiri." Chichiri smiles.
"No problem, no da!"
Nashie looks out to the assembled cast and crew, and taps the pen against her nose. "Okay." She quickly scribbles everyone's names down and then turns back. "This is going to be like school. I say your name, you say 'present' or 'here.' I think we can manage that." She looks down at her list. "Tamahome!"
A disgruntled Tamahome mutters something under his breath, and then calls out, "Here." Miaka whirls around, only to see her own emerald green eyes peering back up at her. Never in a million years would she have thought the love of her life would get stuck in her body!
"My boyfriend is stuck in my body!" Nashie wrinkles her nose, and chews her bottom lip.
"You know how perverted that just sounded? And you're saying it in my voice. Knock it off, Miaka." Tamahome is also having the same reaction, especially considering the fact that his girlfriend is now in a body taller than his.
"Holy-"
Nashie scowls at him. "Don't finish that thought. Back to the roll call. Hotohori, I already know you're in Sake-chan's body…and…Nuriko?" Nuriko looks up from where he sprawled on the floor, glaring up at the work lights high above in the rigging.
"Hai?" Nashie quickly scribbles something down and then continues down the list.
"Nuriko's in Bob's body…okay…Chichiri, I already know where you are. Gen-chan?" Out in the middle of the stage, Tasuki mutters something incorrigible. Nashie glares when all she can hear is a half-decent mumble. "Gen-chan?"
"I'm right here." Nuriko rolls his eyes.
"Your first statement without an expletive in it. You're improving."
"Shut the hell up."
Nashie bites her bottom lip and tries to ignore Hotohori's wince behind her. "Oookay, that sounded just plain wrong coming from Hotohori-sama. But…" She shakes her head. "Anyway, do we have Mitsukake in here anywhere?" A tap on the shoulder sends the blue-haired director spinning and she gazes into the gray eyes of a certain celestial warrior… "Mits-san…you got stuck in Tama-chan's body?"
"It would appear to be that way." Nashie scratches her head with the pen, and then just shrugs it off.
"Alrighty then…we're just going to keep going. Chiriko?"
"Present. And I'm currently discovering that C-Guy perhaps has pockets to other dimensions in this coat of his." He takes off C-Guy's windbreaker and begins searching through it.
"Um…well, I know whose body I'm in, and I know where Teki is. Sake-chan?"
Sake waves, though because of her change in height, Nashie can really own see a hand waving from the midst of the cast and crew on stage. "I'm in Miku's body! And I'm never gonna shut up 'cause now we can finally hear what she sounds like! Isn't that karma? Totally cool!" Nashie gives her a look – at least, she sends a look in Sake's general direction.
"Oi vay. MJ? Where are you, hon?"
MoonshadowJedi lifts her head, and gives Nashie a tired look. "Right here. And wondering why I didn't get to be in a taller body."
"Hey, this should inspire you to revenge. Keep thinking that thought, and we'll be out of this predicament-a-roonie any moment." She pauses at the stares she gets and catches a blushing Chichiri's eyes. "Ah, right. Chichiri wouldn't say a predicament-a-rooonie. My bad. Bob?"
"Present."
"C-Guy?"
"Aqui!" Nashie grins.
"Nice to here Teki-chan finally speaking Spanish. Finally. Miku?" Silence. "Miku? More silence.
Nuriko nudges Miku. "I don't think she's going to say anything. Which is really weird because usually you can't get MoonshadowJedi to hush up."
"Hey!"
"Hey, now!" Nashie interrupts before a good-natured bicker can start. "No fighting. Alright, let me get this straight." She glances down at the list. "Miaka's in me, I'm in Chichiri, who's in Tasuki, who's in Hotohori, who's in Sake-chan, who's in Miku, who's in MJ, who's in Chiriko, who's in C-Guy, who's in Teki-chan, who's in Nuriko, who's in Bob, who's in Mitsukake, who's in Tamahome, who's in Miaka." The direction lifts her head as her brow furrows slightly. "Damn. Sounds like a circular orgy."
There's a long dramatic pause.
"That's not good, is it?" asks Neko-ane. Teki shakes her head.
"No. I really don't think so."
"Do you just want to cancel the rest of the show, Nashie?" Subaru questions, coming down from the stairs to give Nashie a pointed, worried look. Nashie's eyes flare at the thought.
"No!" She strikes a dramatic pose. "The show must go on!" MoonshadowJedi smirks and begins to sing a song by that very title.
'On and on, does anyone know what we are living for?
Whatever happened, we leave it all to chance
Another heartache, another failed romance
On and on, does anybody know what we are living for?'
Nashie suddenly grins at the recognizable song, and she jumps down next to her friend to perform the duet, ignoring all the weird looks shot their way.
"The show must go on!
The show must go on!
Outside the dawn is breaking on the stage
That holds our final destiny!"
There's a beat, interrupted by an embarrassed cough from Miaka. Chichiri and Chiriko are both blushing something terrible at having seen themselves sing the Moulin Rouge song. Nashie gives an apologetic grin, scratching her neck. "Sorry. It was irresistible."
"That was disturbing in more ways than one," mutters Tamahome, turning his head away.
Tasuki frowns, trying to get back to the subject. "Not to burst your bubble, Nashie, but that'll be kinda difficult if we don't know each other's fuckin' parts." Nashie scowls, and looks very tempted to hit Tasuki in the back of the head.
"You burst it. You really burst it."
"There must be a way to fix this, no da." Nashie throws her arms out, and gives the assembled cast and crew a pleading, exasperated look.
"I'm open to ANY suggestions."
Yui looks thoughtful. "How strong is the spell anyway?"
"Strong enough, no da," responds Chichiri. "I can't break it."
"Does it only work when the user is conscious?"
Tasuki scoffs. "How would that help…oh…" He pauses and gives Nashie a thoughtful look. "Do y'think that'd work?"
Nashie is about to respond when the loud, heavy footsteps interrupt the conversation. All eyes swing to the stage left wings where a tall, muscular youth steps from the shadows on the stage. His lips are turned downwards in a permanent frown, while one eyebrow is cocked sardonically. His swagger is complete with swinging arms, and a head held high in the air. He gives a bright, quick grin, before going right back to his normal placid expression.
Nashie pales. "You've got to be kidding me."
It's Big Brother.
-à-à-
Up in the balcony, the current Kenshin party is wondering why in the world the intermission is starting to extend its fifteen-minute limit. Sano has taken to chewing a random straw in his mouth (though none of his other party members have any idea where the straw came from), while Yahiko throws down tiny wads of paper onto the heads of unsuspecting theatre goers before ducking behind the safety of the balcony banister. Kaoru gives the young man the evil eye, as Kenshin laughs nervously, trying in vain to stop the impending fight looming over the horizon.
Megumi, trying to divert Kenshin's attention, links her arm through his. "Do you suppose they had another accident as they did earlier in the evening?"
Kenshin blushes slightly. "I'm not sure, de gozaru. I honestly hope not. Nashie put much effort into making opening night a success, de gozaru ka."
"I think the Director just has some issues to work out," Sano mutters, stuffing his hands in his pocket. "It's not like it's a good musical or anything." Kenshin shakes his head, giving Sano a gentle, reprimanding look.
"You shouldn't say that, Sano. This production is very well planned out, and it's being executed quite nicely, de gozaru ka."
Kaoru suddenly grabs the shredded playbill out of Yahiko's hand. "Would you stop doing that already? People paid good money to see this show, and you're ruining it for them." Yahiko sticks out his tongue.
"Why do you think I'm going to listen to an old hag like you?" Kaoru's eyes flash dangerously.
"WHY YOU…!"
Kenshin jumps in between the two youngest members of the party. "Now, now, now. You shouldn't be so quick to get angry, Kaoru-san! And Yahiko, these people did pay money to see this musical, de gozaru ka. You must respect that."
Yahiko sits in his seat, crossing his arms. "But this intermission is so long." Kenshin frowns, and the nods in agreement.
"Yes. It is." He pauses. "I'm going to go see if they need any help backstage."
Sano jumps to his feet. "You're too scrawny. If they needed any help, then they're going to need me."
"I'm going too!" Yahiko volunteers, causing Kenshin to smile.
"That won't be necessary, de gozaru ka. It may turn out they don't need any help at all. You should stay up here with Megumi-san and Kaoru-san, and enjoy the musical if it comes back onto stage before we return."
"Don't be long!" Megumi gives them a small wave as they make their way out of the balcony. Yahiko watches them leave in disappointment before returning to his shredded playbill and starting to toss paper over the side again. Kaoru immediately notices it, and grabs her own playbill, thwacking him upside the head with it.
"OW! What was that for?"
"For behaving indecently in a theatre. Hmph!"
-à-à-
Backstage, Nashie nervously watches her brother approach Miaka. She wants to step up and talk to him herself, but she knows that Big Brother doesn't even know Chichiri. She lets out a hesitant breath, but manages to sidle up next to Miaka anyway, as if she were only pretending to be a curious observer. "So…Nashie, this is your brother?"
"Eh…?"
"Just wanted to say hi," Big Brother says with a grin. "We came."
Nashie raises an eyebrow. "We? Wait. Don't tell me you brought K-Rod and Al." Big Brother gives Nashie an odd look, and she curses mentally, realizing that Chichiri would not know who the latter two were. She scratches behind her head and puts on a very vapid smile, hoping that the taller youth wouldn't take her seriously. "Your sister talks about them a lot."
"What does she say?"
"That they're all dorks."
"Why do you always talk about my friends that way?" Big Brother asks, glaring at Miaka, who is now looking downright confused. "Maybe you should get some of your own."
"Hey, you shouldn't insult people like that!" snaps Miaka, pointing a finger in his face. "It's rude!"
"Face."
Nashie scowls. "Maybe you should leave. We have a performance to get back to, you know?"
Big Brother shrugs. "Whatever." He looks at Nashie. "Who are you anyway?"
"You idiot! I'm your…ah, shoot! I'm Chichiri." She squirms, trying to ignore the daggers the real Chichiri is shooting at her. "My bad." Big Brother looks aptly confused at the sudden switch in reactions, and just shrugs. He turns around, his brief interlude done, and walks off the stage, his heavy, solid footsteps echoing after him. As soon as the cast and crew hear the door leading to the hallway shut, these is a loud sigh of relief. Miaka nearly collapses to the ground, as Nashie doubles over, hands on her knees, shaking her head in stunned disbelief. "THAT was too close."
Tasuki frowns thoughtfully. "So that's Big Brother…y'know, you and he coulda been twins."
"Shut. Up. Tasuki." Nashie turns to Chichiri." C'mon. We have a show to save. If it can be saved. What kind of spell will knock everyone in the audience out?"
Chichiri gives her a thoughtful shrug. "Whoever's casting this type of magic is very powerful, no da. I'm not sure my magic would be able to counter theirs, na no da." Nashie looks none too pleased to hear from her favourite red-haired magician that he possibly could not save the day. She frowns, rubbing the bridge of her nose in frustration, shifting from one foot to the next. The other members of the cast and crew give her their undivided attention, waiting for the Supreme Director to rule what would be the best course of action for the group to take.
Finally, Nashie sighs, rubbing the back of her head and giving the group a very Chichiri-esque grin. "Alright, then! Chichiri, I'm gonna ask you to do your best on this – we need a sleeping spell. A quick one and fast. I'm really sorry if I hurt anybody out in the audience, but this must be done. Track down the source of the magical energy. Tamahome…since you're in Miaka's body, I'm going to have to ask you to stay here. Tasuki, Chichiri…you're both with me. MoonshadowJedi and Teki – make sure that no one enters into the backstage area unless they say the password. Everyone knows what the password is, right?"
"Yeah…" comes the unanimous sullen reply.
"Great! Okay, then. Miku, Bob, and Mitsukake, stay up in the light loft. If I give the signal, turn off all the power on the stage. No lights, no nothing. Everyone else should be in the make-up room. Sake-chan, you know where the flashlights are. Dump the box of them in there with everyone. All crew members, if you don't have a headset, get one now." She laughs evilly. "We're about to go on an adventure Indiana Jones himself would chicken out of!"
"Don't say that," Sake criticizes. "Indiana Jones is really cool."
"Yeah, well…" She trails off, a look of confusion appearing on her face. Her head swivels to the wings of stage right as two figures emerge from the shadows. Almost everyone goes into defensive stances, as the two walk out into the dimly lit stage. Nashie blinks at seeing the two familiar faces, before breaking out into a wide smile. "Hi, guys! Enjoying the musical?"
"Hai, de gozaru ka. But we were worried, since intermission is almost five minutes longer than it's supposed to last. We were wondering if you need any help backstage, de gozaru ka."
"Well…we're kind of having…out-of-body experiences back here. You know, typical us. Anything that can go wrong is going wrong." She sighs. "By the way, in case you didn't know, I'm not Chichiri. I'm Nashie. Chichiri's stuck in Tasuki's body." Kenshin gives her a dumbfounded look while Sano crosses his arms and gives the smaller man a long look.
"See? I told you they had everything under control." He scuffs his foot against the stage.
"Nice to know you're concerned," Tasuki grumbles.
"Oro…still…is there anything we can do?"
Nashie hesitates for a moment. "You know…there just might be a little something that'll help out. Besides, we need to get this show on the road as soon as possible. Cinderella will be finished before midnight! We will complete this no matter what it takes! Or my name isn't Nashie! And it is!"
For a moment, the rest of cast and crew almost see the American flag waving Nashie, which is extremely absurd because they can almost hear "The Star-Spangled Banner" playing too. Those who can understand the meanings shake their heads in confusion, while the others give each other shrugging looks. But the moment is quickly shaken, and Miaka hands Nashie her rightful headset. Nashie places it over her head, and then grabs Tasuki, Chichiri, Kenshin, and Sano and makes a break for the stage right exit.
"Neko-ane, you're involved in this now too! No more audience for you! Consider it a reward for helping us out! Backstage access!" She grins and then disappears.
"Cool…" Neko-ane manages to say.
Teki frowns. "Alright…you guys heard Nashie. MoonshadowJedi, you watch over stage right, I'll watch over stage left. Miku, Bob, and Mitsukake – head up to the light loft. Sake-chan, I want you to join them after you put the flashlights in the make-up room. Everyone else, in the make-up room."
"There's something extremely odd about getting orders from Nuriko," notes Tamahome, earning him a glare from Nuriko.
"Care to repeat that, Tama-chan?"
Teki sighs. "Not here, people. Please. Whatever they're planning, I don't want to see the mess resulting from it. Now come on. Lets get out of here." Teki quickly ushers everyone off the stage and towards the make-up room, ignoring the complaints she gets from most of the seishi. When things need to get done, no one, not even Nashie, can compare to Teki-chan in making sure they do indeed get done.
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