Chapter one, "Mother of the Daughter of Darkness"
By Henry J. Cobb
$Id: mother_darkness.txt,v 1.2 1998/10/03 13:29:39 hcobb Exp $

    [Revised and extended from when last seen, working on how to extend
    this into multiple chapters.]

The New Years party had wound down and now Ayeka, Ryoko and Mihoshi lay
against each other on one couch, snoring heavily.

Tenchi looked down sadly at the infant he held.

"Is something the matter Tenchi?"  The self-proclaimed greatest scientist
in the galaxy asked as she sat next to him.  She seemed to be an
eleven-year old girl in a frilly dress and party hat, but she was actually
more than a thousand times older than Tenchi's seventeen years.

"I'm just worried that Mayuka will be like her mother was, Washu-chan."

"I wouldn't worry about that Tenchi.  The demon destroyed her daughter by
removing her own contribution.  There isn't any trace of the demon left in
this Mayuka."

"Oh."  Tenchi sat and looked at his daughter for a moment.  "Then how?"

"Well Tenchi, your DNA remained in the crystal, so it was a simple matter
to add in my own.  But, if you're worried about Mayuka, maybe we should
get married and raise her together as proper parents should."

"You What!?!"  Ayeka, Ryoko and Mihoshi were now wide awake, their eyes
terribly bloodshot.

"What do you think of your new step-father Ryoko?"  Washu reached up to put
an arm around Tenchi's shoulder as he sat there stunned.

"You are no longer my mother!"

"What an ungrateful child.  Please try to set a better example for your
little sister."

"Do you expect us to take your word for this?"  The eldest princess of
Jurai asked.

"Have I ever been less than honest with any of you, Ayeka?  Go ahead and run
independent genetic tests, but please go easy on Mayuka as she doesn't have
all that much blood yet."

"How?" Mihoshi looked at Washu with obvious hurt.

"Well, I asked all of you if you had any objection to my bringing Mayuka
back and none of you did.  Nobody asked me what it would take.  So I
made a preliminary investigation and found that genetic material was
missing.  What was I supposed to do then, start asking for ovum donors?"

"You could have at least determined which of us was the most suitable
mother for such a child,"  Ayeka pointed her folded fan at Washu.

"I already knew the outlines of everybody's genetic codes and I was clearly
the most suitable.  This demon seems to have been a close relative of mine
or perhaps one of my creations.  I'll need to look that up sometime."

"Well, that much was obvious,"  Ayeka folded her arms.

"Since I'm your daughter, that means I'm just as suitable."

"I thought you weren't my daughter anymore, but sorry Ryoko I kinda messed
up on your genetics, throwing in the kitchen sink and all that.  I'm afraid
that any child of yours would wind up looking like a cabbit."

"How dare you!"  Ryoko stood up and shook with rage then teleported away.

"Niyow?"  Ryo-o-ki jumped up to the top of the couch.

"It seems that Mayuka is Washu-chan's and Tenchi's daughter,"  Mihoshi
explained.

"Niyow?!?"

    [Then the rest of the girls get inventive.]

	Henry J. Cobb	hcobb@slip.net          http://www.io.com/~hcobb
    It's the Microsoft way or the Information Superhighway.