CINDERELLA: A Fushigi Yugi Parody
The rambunctious cast of Fushigi Yugi decides to perform the most beloved of Rodger and Hammerstein's plays. However, much to the chagrin of the director, not everything goes according to the script.
Written by Nashie
-à--à----
CHAPTER 5B: WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO MONKS
The stage is currently devoid of any cast members, and the worklights cast a dim, yellowed glow onto the crewmembers that are assembled on the set of the stepfamily's house. The director is sprawled on the couch, and doesn't look like she'll be moving any time soon, despite the ten-minute intermission. Teki is currently reviewing in her binder the presets for the last act of show, with Miku pointing out some different notes, wordlessly. Mitsukake discusses the last few scene changes with Chichiri, Sake, and Bob, while Chiriko helps MoonshadowJedi put out the props for the scene. And C-Guy…
"¡Habla espanol!"
"Go away."
"¡Por favor!"
"Go away!"
"Estas estupida."
"Sake-chan, I'm going to kill him. Swear to God, I will kill him!" The director shoots up from her comfortable position, and thwacks C-Guys across the head. The latino blinks, and then looks at Sake for more permission to speak in Spanish. Nashie shoots Sake a look that tells her that if she even thinks about letting this abuse continue, she'll be fired faster than she could say, "Uh-oh." Sake winces.
Chichiri comes and sits down on the arm of the couch. "Look on the bright side, Nashie. Nothing bad happened during the second act, na no da. Maybe she's decided to give us a break." Nashie sighs, waving a hand at him.
"You know as well as I do that that's not the case. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she was saving up all her energy just to ruin the ending." She glances at her watch. "And she only has another half hour anyway." She glances at the other crewmembers, who have all stopped their various activities to give their attention to the hassled director. "The big finale. This is whenever can go wrong will go wrong. And then I'm going to get sued. Yup, I know it. Me and my measly five dollars are going to be gone. And then what will I do? I won't be able to buy food, not even those twenty-five cent granola bars they sell at Walgreens. All because of a stupid mystery person and a stupid letter and a stupid Matrix couple who just can't let things be mysterious…"
Chichiri holds up his hand to cut into Nashie's rant. "Maybe you should take a moment to rest, Nashie. You're getting too stressed about this." He smiles soothingly. "After all, we've told you again and again – you have the Suzaku seishi on your side. I honestly doubt that something is going to be bad enough to take us out."
"You might get sued, but we can't help that."
"…"
"That probably didn't help, Sake…"
Mitsukake rises to his feet, as Tama crawls out from the hood of his sweatshirt. "Nashie, just don't panic. We'll be fine." Nashie frowns, gritting her teeth nervously. She doesn't look all too calmed by that statement. In fact, she seems to get even more tensed by this factor. But rather than continuing to mutter about it, she takes a very deep breath and gets to her feet.
"Okay, then. We can do this. Less than a half hour left. We're good, we're good." She glances at the assembled crew. "Okay, stage right, make sure that everyone is in their places and in their costumes for the last few scenes. Sake-chan, the sound has been going great – keep up the great work. Lights are also great, Teki-chan." She nods, and takes another deep breath. "We'll be fine, as long as we don't run into any really big glitches."
At that point, MoonshadowJedi and Chiriko join the group, the college student grinning happily as she settles herself down on the flamboyantly-colored couch. "Props are ready. We've been doing pretty well, you know." She holds up a glass slipper and gently tosses it up into the air. "After this, we're in smooth waters." She begins humming the theme to the Love Boat to herself as Nashie tosses a pillow at her. The brunette grins. "'The Loooove Boat…'" She pauses. "I don't remember what comes after that…" She frowns, then suddenly grins, and begins tapping out the beat to Hawaii Five-O. Nashie scowls.
"Must you keep doing that?"
"Da plane! Da plane!"
"Was that even in that series?"
"Probably not…"
The other members of the crew share looks, but no one says a single word as Nashie and MoonshadowJedi enter into an argument about where the infamous quote came from. No one notices Miaka approach them from behind, except for Teki, who gives the priestess a suffering look. Miaka giggles before clearing her throat. Everyone turns their attention towards her, except for the director and the prop manager. Miaka decides to ignore the two. "Does anyone have a cell phone I could use?" She holds up a piece of paper. "Yui gave this to me, and I guess someone wants me to call them…"
Sake reaches into her pocket, and pulls out a small flip-phone. "You can use mine. Just don't talk too long – I'm trying to keep low on minutes this month." She hands it to the leading lady who flashes a grateful smile before wandering off towards the shadows of the wings. She hears MoonshadowJedi and Nashie continuing to argue behind her, and she wonders when the two will ever just agree on a truce.
Besides, I thought Nashie didn't even like those seventies shows, Miaka thinks as she looks around. She is far enough back in the wings that nobody out on the stage would be able to hear her conversation. It could very well be a prank call, and be totally embarrassing. Her fingers fly over the keypad, and then she holds the tiny silver phone up to her ear.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Miaka's face crumples in disappointment, and she is about to cancel the call when she hears a very audible click on the other line. "Hello?"
"Oh! Um, hello…? This is Miaka…I was told to call this number?"
"So you got the message from your friend. That's good." There is a pause, long enough for Miaka to wonder if the person was still on the other line.
"Hello?"
"Yeah, I'm still here. I was wondering if you'd like some answers to what has been going on tonight. In fact, there may be a way for you to even stop anything else from happening." Miaka's green eyes light up, and she almost can't make a decent reply. The person on the other line plunges on. "There was only so far I was willing to take this. I just need to know the truth – I think this has gone a little far."
Miaka's mind races, and she blinks rapidly to catch up with her train of thought. It must be the figure! "Yes! I'll meet with you! But it's going to have to be after the first scene, or Nashie will have my hide. Just give me a meeting place."
"The front entrance. Outside."
"But it's coooold!"
"I don't want to risk anyone seeing us. You'll have to exit from the backstage doors. I'll see in a few." Without any warning, the mysterious person hangs up the phone. Miaka pulls the cellphone away from her ear, and stared at it angrily. She hated it when people did that…but still, someone was giving her a way to the save the show, and all of Nashie's hard work. She frowns, tapping the phone against her wrist.
Well, it was better than most offers that had been made that night.
She walks determinedly out towards the stage, where a handful of the crew is still relaxing. Teki and Miku had already gone back up to the light loft, and Bob was probably checking the rigging. She hands the phone back to Sake with a smile. "Thanks." The crewmembers share looks that obviously says that they were expecting more. Miaka offers an apologetic smile. "It was just a…um, fan. Yeah, a fan. Just wanted to say I was doing a great job. That was the information." Nashie lets out a disappointed mutter.
"Dang, I thought we almost had this thing solved."
"Let it go, Nashie. C'mon. Breathe in…breathe out."
"It's not working." Nashie rises to her feet, stuffing her hands into her pockets. "Well, might as well get this show on the road. We have three minutes before the curtains open back up. And I'd be willing to bet that our mysterious figure is not one to be kept waiting." She begins shooing the crewmembers off the set, while Miaka grabs a nearby broom and makes hersefl comfortable on the couch. Nashie shoots her a look. "Yeah, enjoy the couch while you can." Miaka grins.
"I will."
Chichiri gives her a nod of approval. "Break a leg, Miaka, na no da."
"That's even worse than saying 'good-'"
Nashie shoots her a look. "Don't you dare say it."
"Oops. Sorry." Chichiri shakes his head in amusement as Nashie grumpily stomps off towards stage left. He gives a confused Miaka a brief shrug of his shoulder before wandering over to stage right, glancing around at the set. Only a handful of scenes left, and then they'd be out of this nightmare. He frowns. Somehow, he had a feeling Nashie would still want to do more musicals and plays once Cinderella was over and done with. He makes a face as he passes MoonshadowJedi.
"I'm going to see if there are any stray actors in the make-up room and kick them out, no da" he says with small smile. MoonshadowJedi nods, and begins fussing over her camera. "You know, you could probably sell bootlegs of those, and make millions, no da." MoonshadowJedi gives him a playful look.
"And have Nashie murder me so that they don't find my body? No thank you, Chichiri."
"It was just a thought," the monk says with a chuckle before heading back towards the make-up room. It is oddly quiet in the wings, probably thanks to the somber mood of the usually cheerful director. In fact, all the energy from earlier in the evening seems to have drained away, and Chichiri frowns at the thought. Maybe that was the sole purpose of the figure – but what was her clear spite against the director? Okay, so she spoke without thinking many times, and was a bit of a pushover other times, and could be completely unemotional at the very wrong moments, and she did have a tendency to panic over little things…
"Thinking hard, or hardly thinking, Chichiri?" Chichiri stops dead in his tracks. The figure has suddenly shimmered out of nowhere, and is standing right in the middle of his path. Despite the shadows, he can see the slightly condescending smile appear on her face. "Are you worried about your director? Let me assure you, you have nothing to worry about." Chichiri frowns, yet he makes no move to go into a defensive stance. Instead, he stares impassively at the figure.
"I have reason to believe otherwise." The woman scowls.
"Don't act so high and mighty with me. You want to know about the letter too, don't you?"
"I don't think casting magical spells on people will make me know any faster, na no da."
"But you agree with me. You've been playing a very good part, Chichiri. A very good part. Don't let me down now."
Chichiri frowns at her. "I'm only doing this because I see the logic of what you're doing. However…" He crosses his arms. "I don't think the end justifies the means, no da. Making her angry will only increase her defenses. There's only so much I can do to keep her calm, and think that most of the danger is over."
The woman chuckles. "Well, we might just have to take away some of those defenses."
Chichiri is about to reply to that when he hears the sound of someone behind him. He turns slightly, and sees Sake staring at him in disbelief. He sighs as he glances at the figure. "And how long has she been standing there?"
"Around the time that it became obvious that you know something you shouldn't."
Sake stares at the two in complete shock. I can't believe this – Chichiri? Of all people…? "Chichiri…?"
The monk gives her a slightly sad smile. "I'm sorry, Sake, but you can't tell Nashie about this just yet. Some things still have to run their course."
"You-!"
Chichiri waves his hand, and his kasa appears from thin air. Without any warning, he tosses it towards Sake. The girl doesn't even have time to register what this means before the hat lands on her head, and completely encases her body, until Sake is gone. Chichiri sighs, walking over to pick up the kasa from the ground. The moment he touches it, it disappears back to where it came from. He glances over his shoulder. "I hope you know what you're doing, no da."
"You've trusted me this far. Why turn back now?"
"…what are you planning next?" The woman smiles.
"Well, that's where the bad news comes in…"
-à--à----
The curtains open to revived audience, to reveal the stepfamily's living room. Miaka is currently sweeping up around the couch, a bittersweet look on her face, quietly humming the strands of 'Do I Love You Because You're Wonderful?' She twirls the broom around as if it were Tamahome, obviously in a dream world of her own. The lightning is soft and dark, and it almost seems as if it any moment, she will be risked back to a few hours before when she was beautiful, dancing in Tamahome's arms.
But the spell is broken as the door slams open, emitting Subaru, Yui, and Nyan-Nyan, all of them looking positively exhausted. But the moment they see Miaka, their faces like up in fake pleasure. Subaru glides over to the couch, before gracefully collapsing into it, tossing her feathered hairpiece onto the table in front of her. "Oh, what a night! What a magnificent affair!" Yui and Nyan-Nyan chirp in with their agreements as Miaka smiles slightly.
"Did any of you get to dance with the prince?" she asks, picking up the boas and the scarves and the hairpieces the girls drop onto the floor. The three women share looks before Yui nods prissily.
"I danced about an hour with him."
"An hour?" Nyan-Nyan glares at her "sister". The blonde young woman gives Nyan-Nyan a pointed look.
"Didn't you?" Nyan-Nyan blinks.
"Well, of course I did…if you did." Subaru smiles at both of the girls, playing the part of the proud mother to a tee.
"I wouldn't be surprised if the Prince chose one of you as his bride!" Miaka smiles as she places all the fancy gaudy clothing into a chest behind the couch. The irony of the situation can be seen in the humour that glitters in her eyes. She walks from behind the couch to begin sweeping again.
"That sounds too good to be true. Did you know everyone at the ball?"
"Everyone who's anyone!" Subaru exclaimed, though her face clouded over suddenly. "Except some princess something or other…I never did quite catch her name…" Miaka turns her head away slightly, smiling at her own personal joke.
"A princess? Did she dance with the prince?"
"I didn't notice."
In the stage left wings, Nashie is currently playing a game of blackjack with Tasuki, Neko-ane, and Mitsukake. She grins cheerfully as she holds up her hands. "A queen of hearts, an ace, and a jack of spades. Eat my dust, you guys." A round of groans rises up from around her as the other lays down their cards. Neko-ane and Mitsukake went over the limit, and Tasuki only had a sum of eighteen. Nashie cheers quietly before grabbing up the deck and shuffling again.
"Sounds like you're having fun, Nashie," Teki teases over the headset.
"I always have fun when I'm winning."
"I think you're cheatin'."
"No one asked you Gen-chan. And don't blame me because you suck at blackjack."
She shuffles the deck one last time before dealing out the cards. Neko-ane picks up her cards and begins counting on her fingers, a look of concentration on her face. Mitsukake, of course, has the perfect poker face, the only clue what his cards might be could be told from Tama-neko's meowing. Tasuki, however, was an open book. He scowles at his hand, and then glares at Nashie. "Hit me." Nashie hands him a card, and he looks at it in anger. "Shit. Hit me again."
"You'd be terrible at poker, Gen-chan."
"Ha ha ha…shit! Hit me again."
"Five card bust, Gen-chan."
"Just do it!" Nashie shrugs, and hands Tasuki his last card. The flaming-haired bandit took one look his card, another look at this hand, and then scowled darkly. "I hate this game. I don't think you shuffle right."
"Let's see those cards everyone!"
Neko-ane displays her cards in front of her. "Nineteen." Mitsukake lays his cards down in front of him – twenty. Nashie glances over at Tasuki, who is grumbling darkly under his breath.
"Well?" Tasuki throws his cards down on the ground, and the other three players glance at the fallen cards and begin counting. After a moment, Nashie bursts into laughter. "An ace, a two, a three, a four, and a five? Wow, talk about bad luck. In poker, that wouldn't be too shabby – a flush like that."
"I don't think that's a flush, Nashie," MoonshadowJedi pipes up. "When was the last time you played poker?"
"Never. But it's sort of like cribbage, right?"
"…not really."
Back on stage, Miaka has stopped in her dancing with Yui and Nyan-Nyan to gaze somewhere out in the audience, her green eyes glistening with nostalgia. "And for a few precious moments, you're the only two people in the entire world…" The chiming noise comes from the bit as the piano begins to accompany Miaka with the last song of the evening that is not a reprise.
'A lovely night, a lovely night
A finer night you know you'll never see
You meet your prince, a charming prince
As charming as a prince could ever be'
She turns to begin dancing with Yui again.
'The stars in a hazy heaven tremble above you
While he is whispering, 'Darling I love you'
You say goodbye, away you fly
But on your lips you keep a kiss
All your life you'll dream of this
Lovely, lovely night'
Yui breaks away from Miaka and begins dancing with Subaru and Nyan-Nyan, as Miaka quietly hums the harmony of the song, her eyes closed as she twirls around with the broomstick. The two girls sing their own version of the song, which is slightly less romantic and more fun. Subaru also begins singing, as the four, for just that one moment, they forget their tense relationship and relive the glamorous night in their minds.
Miaka twirls Subaru before skipping up the stairs to the balcony area. She blows a kiss down to her two stepsisters before elegantly descending the stairs, waving behind her. 'You say good-bye, away you fly'
The two stepsisters run to the bottom of the staircase. "But on your lips you keep a kiss"
Subaru closes her eyes. 'All your life you'll dream of this'
"Lovely, lovely, lovely
Lovely night!"
As the stepsisters and Miaka sing the last part together, Subaru's eyes snap open as Miaka curtsies low to the ground. A look of fury spreads across her face as she realizes what just happened and she stands up quickly. "Stop this! Worst nonsense I've ever seen! Rubbish and dribble!" Yui and Nyan-Nyan share looks and immediately begin protesting. Subaru shoots them both dagger looks. "And you! Hanging on to her every word!" The two begin to complain again, but Subaru holds up her hand to stop them. "Enough! Go to your room – it's late."
The two "sisters" share looks before storming up the stairs and through the door in the balcony. Subaru sweeps past Miaka, ascending a few stairs before turning to glare down at her. "And the thought of you dancing with the prince! It's preposterous!" A look of hurt seeps into Miaka's eyes as Subaru turns her back to her.
"Why?" Miaka calls behind her, her voice sounding as if it were at the brink of tears. "Why is it so hard for you to imagine?" Subaru slowly turns, a dark look on her face.
"Because you're common, Cinderella," she whisperes, her voice dripping with loathing. "Your mother was common, and so are you. Oh, you can wash your face and put on a clean dress, but underneath you'll still be common. That a prince would even consider you as his bride…" She laughs. Miaka bites her lip.
"My father…" Subaru's eyes turn cold at the mention of her late husband.
"Your father was weak. He spoiled you rotten. He filled your head with silly thoughts and dreams that will never come true." She turns and marches up the stairs, turning only before she enters into the door. "Now clean up this place. It's a sty." With that, she exits, leaving behind an obviously heartbroken Miaka. She looks around the living room, a lost look on her face. The lights dim to a contemplative mix of blue and white as Miaka approaches the lip of the stage. She sinks to her knees and clasps her hands to her heart.
"Father…I know I promised I'd never leave here. But after tonight…I don't see how I can stay. If only you knew how much she's changed, you'd understand. I deserve better, Father. I deserve to be loved. And that's what I found out tonight. And that's that really matters…" Her voice trails off.
'My dream came true, away I flew
But on my lips he left a kiss
All my life I'll dream of this
Lovely, lovely night'
"Cinderella…" Miaka's head pops up, and she turns to see a shadowed figure walk towards her. A golden spotlight slowly lights up the figure – it's Tasuki. He gives her a small smile. "If you really love him, why don't you let him know?" Miaka shakes her head.
"How can I? Look at me…" Tasuki snorts, but the edge in the sound is softened by the amused shake his head.
"Do you really think we fell in love with your fancy gown and your pretty curls?"
Miaka gives a helpless shrug. "I don't know anymore. If you hadn't helped me…" Tasuki walks over to her and kneels down.
"You didn't need my help, okay? You just thought you did. Believe in yourself, Cinderella, and trust him to love you as you really are." Miaka looks up at Tasuki, who gives her friendly chuck to the shoulder. Miaka lets out a sigh, but a small smile begins to appears on her face. The lights dim to a blackout, and the curtains swing close.
Backstage, Tasuki stomps back to the wings, ignoring Miaka's poking and prodding. "What was that 'believe in yourself' shit? I said you should have taken my tessen and flamed those bastards." Subaru, who is waiting for the two off in the wings, gives him a look, and Tasuki flushes. "Not like that. I mean, y'know…don't let people push your around. Damn it! You know what I'm sayin'!" Subaru laughs lightly, shaking her head in amusement.
Nashie is about to open her mouth to start teasing him when a panicked voice catches her attention over the headset. "Huh? Slow down, MoonshadowJedi, you're talking too fast. I can't understand you." The others look at her, as her gaze turns inward, but slow worry starts to build in them as a look of disbelief, fear, and frustration washes over Nashie's face. "What? Please tell me you're joking…you're not joking? Oh, damn…oh, damn it all!" Another inward gaze and then her face fell. "Wait….C-Guy? Wait, I can't understand you…I can't understand you! MoonshadowJedi, can you translate?" She paused. "Uh-huh…uh-huh…oh, no…not her too…"
Tasuki turns to Mitsukake, who was slightly changing the volumes of his headset. "What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure…I think I accidentally turned this off…"
Nashie turns towards the gathered crew and cast, her eyes round in defeat. "We have some bad news." Tasuki winces. Anything that started off like that was liable to end up in disaster. "Sake-chan is missing."
"What?"
"And so is Chichiri."
-à--à----
Author's Note: (4-12-05) Oh, I'm just skipping what I said before. Subchapters WILL get author's notes. They're too tempting.
And I'm really, really, really, really, really, REALLY sorry. I know I promised this thing would be updated weeks ago. But we just finished my last musical in high school, and I got a job, and I'm working on an art portfolio for college – I just didn't have time to write anything. (Either that, or I was too busy surfing the net for Rent stuff and time just flew by). What's more, I have to get ready to leave for work in a few hours, but I guess that doesn't really matter since the time you guys will get this, it will be the weekend (that's something else too – my dad has said buh-bye to internet time during the weekdays, so there will be no updates from Nashie until then).
I'm so happy I finally say my butt down and finished this subchapter. I guess it's partly do to the fact that I snapped out of my FY-less funk, and got back to work on my fanfiction. Oi. It's been a hard few months. I can't believe it's been a year and a half since I started writing Cinderella. But I AM determined to get Pirates and Moulin Rouge done over the summer.
And I found it really difficult to write in present-tense for this chapter. Hmm…maybe it's just me.
And before anyone murders me about the new twist involving Chichiri – well, if you kill me, I won't be able to finish the story. There's one subchapter left to finish this chapter. I'm also cutting out a chapter since a majority of what was in that one and this one is going to be covered in the next subchapter and the finale chapter. So bear with me.
Once again, thanks, and I PROMISE to update within a month. I'm on a roll again.
See you in Chapter 5C – "Secrets, Threats, and Letters"!