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(Chapter 1: No, Yohji-kun! Don’t Destroy My Lungs!)

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“We have a problem.” ‘Ken’ (or rather Omi) said. The men of Weiß had made it back to the flower shop on time. Other than the few bruises and cuts from their mission, their physical injuries were minimal. However, the switch in bodies and minds were another story. Right now, ‘Ken’ was recapping what had happened on the mission.

“As you can see, we’ve switched bodies and minds with each other.” He continued.

“No, really?” ‘Omi’ (Yohji) snapped. He looked over himself. “I’m in a seventeen-year old body! I went from being the tallest to the smallest! Dammit, I need a smoke! Hey, Aya... no, not you, Kenken...I’m talking to the icicle in my body. Yeah, you! Hand me my cigarettes!”

‘Ken’s’ (Omi’s) eyes widened in horror. “No! No, you are not smoking while you are in my body! It’s bad enough you’re destroying your own health!”

“I’m *not* destroying my health!” ‘Omi’ shot back. “My head is pounding and if I don’t get some nicotine in my body, I’m going to go crazy!”

“Well, it looks like you’ll have to do without them for a while.” ‘Ken’ suggested. “I don’t want lungs as bad as yours, Yohji-kun. That means no cigarettes.”

‘Omi’s’ mouth dropped open. “No cigarettes?! What the hell?! Chibi! I’m more likely to die on a mission than I am to die of cancer! You can’t be serious about me not smoking!”

“I’m afraid I am, Yohji-kun. I want to keep my lungs healthy and clean.”

“First, I have Aya going on my dates and now I can’t smoke! I hate life now!” ‘Omi’ moaned. However, when he said that, ‘Aya’ (Ken) was suddenly reminded of that. Surely his lover couldn’t be serious about going out with strange women! After all, they had each other! Aya would never, ever take anyone other than him out! He couldn’t!

“Don’t shi-ne my dates if they refuse to pay the bill.” ‘Omi’ warned ‘Yohji’ now. ‘Yohji’ didn’t look up or say anything. ‘Aya’ decided to confront him as ‘Omi’ and ‘Ken’ argued about the no-smoking-while-you’re-in-my -body rule. He still didn’t like that idea of his lover going out with someone else. Oh, he was sure the real Aya Fujimiya would not shi-ne the women for not paying the bill. He may be cold but he wasn’t *that* cruel. What he didn’t like was the possible outcomes of these dates...one that included leaving Ken forever.

“Were you serious?” He asked, his now violet eyes softening with worry and concern. ‘Yohji’ turned in his direction, his green eyes now cold and emotionless.

“Serious about what?” He wanted to know. It was strange listening to Yohji’s voice now. Instead of that teasing tone, it was more dull and quiet. Of course, now that he was talking to his lover, it was softer.

“Going on Yohji’s dates. You’re not serious about that, are you?”

‘Yohji’ turned away. “I am. I don’t want the rest of the world to know what happened.”

“I...I don‘t like the idea, koi.” ‘Aya’ admitted.

“You don’t trust me?”

“I do! I just don’t trust...”

“You’re afraid I’m going to leave you.” ‘Yohji’ realized. “I won’t. It’s only a favor. We have to hide what happened from everyone else.”

“But how long can we keep it up? What if we *never* get changed back? I’m going to miss holding *your* body and kissing *your* lips. It may be you in Yohji’s body but I will still feel like I’m making love to Yohji. It won’t feel right, koi.” ‘Aya’ sighed.

“Never say never.” ‘Yohji’ smirked. Then he whispered. “Don’t worry, Ken. I am doing this for Yohji. Nothing will happen.”

‘Aya’ smiled. It felt funny, considering that the real Aya normally didn’t smile as much. “Well, if it’s a favor, I guess it can’t hurt. Just don’t fall in love with one of them. Promise?”

“Promise.” ‘Yohji’ agreed. Finally, ‘Omi’ and ‘Ken’ stopped arguing. It seemed that ‘Ken’ had won because he had a satisfied look on his face and ‘Omi’ was sulking right now.

“Yohji-kun has finally agreed not to smoke for the time that he’s in my body.” ‘Ken’ announced. “And with that finally fixed, we have to go to bed. I can’t do anything about our problem now.”

“But Omittichi”, ‘Aya’ began, “what about work tomorrow? What will the customers say if they see we’re acting...strange?”

“We’ll just have to play pretend.” ‘Ken’ decided. “We’ve lived with each other long enough to know what we’re like. And Aya-kun is your boyfriend, Ken-kun. You won’t have a problem being him. We just have to fool the world until we come up with a solution.”

“Great! Now I have to be all perky and cute!” ‘Omi’ moaned. “And Aya’s gonna get to smoke my cigarettes! I really hate life!”

“You’ll survive.” ‘Yohji’ replied, not caring too much about ‘Omi’s’ plight and heading upstairs. One by one, the others did the same. Except for ‘Omi’s’ suspenders straps getting stuck on the doorknob and dragging him down (‘Ken’ came to the rescue for that), the rest of the night was quiet and uneventful. Once they found the right rooms to be in, they went in and stayed there. Who knew what surprises and threats tomorrow held?

_ _ _

The next day...

The morning had not started off that well for Omi (the real one). He forgot he was in Ken’s body for starters. So imagine his surprise when he couldn’t find any of his clothes in the closet. Also, Ken must have been gaining weight because his pants now fit a little too tight. Either that or he purposely wore tight clothes these days to please Aya. Omi hoped it was the first choice but found himself leaning more towards the latter. Once he got cleaned and dressed, he tried to remember how Ken acted.

*Must start singing old songs.* He remembered Ken crooning “Teddy Bear” for the past few days and he hated the song now. Did he have to sing the damn song again? And would he have to flirt with Aya (who was the real Kenken now)? Being clumsy like him would not be easy. Neither would trying to play soccer with the children today.

“Put a chain around my neck...” He began singing to himself. “Oh let me be...your teddy bear!”

When he finally came down, he found Yohji (or rather, himself) already dressed for the day ahead. He had managed to find something he liked even though he hadn’t brushed his hair properly. But it was what he was doing that horrified Omi. He saw Yohji (himself) leaning against a wall and smoking a cigarette, smoke hovering above him like a halo.

That was enough to cause ‘Ken’ (Omi) to explode. “Yohji-kun! What did I say last night?!”

‘Omi’ (Yohji) turned around, cigarette clamped between his teeth. “Oh...Ohayou Omittichi.” He blew out some more smoke.

“Don’t ‘Ohayou Omittichi’ me! Why are you smoking?!”

‘Omi’ had never seen ‘Ken’ so pissed off in his life. He looked innocently at the small cylinder in between his small fingers. “Huh? You mean this?”

“Yes, I mean that! Put it out now!”

“Aw, chibi! Can’t I have *one* cigarette? No one’s here yet. No one’s gonna care.”

“ You‘re wrong. *I* care! You can destroy your body all you want when we switch back! But need I remind you that those are my teeth, my lungs, and my body you are going to destroy with your nasty habit? Besides you promised that you would not smoke for the whole time you were in my body.”

“But what if I’m in your body forever?” ‘Omi’ (Yohji) pointed out. “Can’t I just have one last cigarette?”

“No!” ‘Ken’ plucked the cigarette out of ‘Omi’s’ mouth and ground it ‘til it was out. “You’re not Yohji-kun right now. You’re me so act like me. If anyone is going to smoke, it’s Aya-kun.”

“Oh, so you’re not worried if Aya destroys his body?”

“It’s your body, not his. His mind is in your body.”

“Fine, fine!” ‘Omi’ gave up and handed the pack of cigarettes over. “And you better stop putting ‘kun’ at the end of our names, chibi. Or else people will think you’ve lost it.”

“Right...Yohji.” ‘Ken’ nodded.

“Omi. I’m Omi.”

“Right...Omi.” ‘Ken’ tried again and then he started to sing those silly songs. He finally picked the one that hadn‘t been half as annoying as the others. “And we can build this dream together. Standing strong forever. Nothing’s gonna stop us now!”

“And if this world runs out of lovers. We’ll still have each other. Nothing’s gonna stop us, nothing’s gonna stop us now!” [1] A beautiful new voice sang coming down the stairs. Looking up, they saw ‘Aya’ humming and singing to himself, straightening out that unmistakable orange turtleneck of his. ‘Omi’ and ‘Ken’ exchanged looks. They may have been in different bodies but they were thinking the same thing. The real Aya Fujimiya needed to sing more. He sounded phenomenal!

“I’m so glad I found you! I’m not gonna lose you. Whatever it takes, I will stay here with you! Take it to the good times, see it through the bad times, whatever it takes is what I’m gonna do!” ‘Aya’ belted out and bounced to song. He smiled at ‘Ken’ and ‘Omi’ before going back to his song and putting on his apron.

“A star is born.” ‘Omi’ joked watching ‘Aya’ groove and sing.

“Let them say we’re crazy! What do they know? Put your arms around me, baby, don’t ever let go! Let the world around us...just fall apart! Baby, we can make it if we’re heart to heart!” ‘Aya’ went on.

“You’re not supposed to be singing.” ‘Yohji’ (Aya) said, coming downstairs and putting up his blond hair into a ponytail. ‘Aya’ stopped singing and sighed. He’d forgotten that he had switched bodies.

“Well, we’re here.” ‘Omi’ said. “What do we do?”

“What we normally do.” ‘Yohji’ replied, taking his apron and putting it on.

“He’s right.” ‘Ken’ agreed. “Aya-kun...no, Yohji...is right! We go about business like usual. Try not to do anything that will draw attention. Play pretend, remember?”

“So that means you have to sing, Ken.” ‘Aya’ said, pleased that he finally got the hang of the pretending to be someone else deal. He had practiced his lover’s ever so famous death glare and saying all last night. Now he showed it off, crossing his arms and glaring at the others. “If you’re not buying anything, then get out!”

‘Omi’ clapped. “Now that’s more like the Aya we’re used to!”

‘Ken’ nodded with approval.

‘Yohji’, however, just fumed at him. ‘Aya’ blushed with embarrassment. What had he done wrong? Did he not like the way he was acting or something? As the other two went to get ready to open shop, ‘Aya’ approached ‘Yohji’.

“What’s wrong?” He whispered.

“I don’t like you mocking me.” ‘Yohji’ replied simply but the anger was in his voice.

“I’m not mocking you, koi. That’s the way you always act towards customers who are just hanging around. And I suggest you get into character soon. They’ll be coming in.”

“I’m not flirting with anyone.”

“I know you don’t like it and I don’t like it but you have to. I mean, you promised Yohji...or rather, Omi... you’d go on his dates. Just be nice to girls at least.”

“Ken...” ‘Yohji’ purposely called ‘Aya’ by his real name. It was his way of getting personal now.

“Please, koi? Just be nice to them...for me?”

‘Yohji’ sighed. “Fine. Only because you insist. But no singing!”

“Five...four...” ‘Omi’ began counting down. “Three...two...”

All at once the hoard of girls came in. ‘Yohji’ forced a smile, not a big one, but it still looked sweet. ‘Aya’ made his face hard and cold, ignoring anyone who came his way. ‘Omi’ grinned at the girls while ‘Ken’ just welcomed them all into the shop. They would fool the girls and then work on their problem, provided Kritiker didn’t come in with a mission. Things wouldn’t get worse. They couldn’t be allowed to.

Then again, the day had just started...

TBC...

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[1] Hee hee hee...the song that ‘Aya’ was singing is Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us” now and no, it’s not mine either.


Whoa! One more chapter that made my head spin and probably did with you guys too. To clarify everything, here’s a list of who’s in who:

Aya’s body- Ken’s mind
Ken’s body- Omi’s mind
Omi’s body- Yohji’s mind
Yohji’s body- Aya’s mind.

When I refer to ‘Aya’, it’s actually Ken, ‘Yohji’ is actually Aya, and so forth. (I think I just succeeded in confusing you guys even more-_-0) And I promise, the RanKen is still coming! Next up...he he he...‘Yohji’s first date and ‘Aya‘ spies on them! Also, he tries his first cigarette! The story has only begun.

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