Heaven and Eternity

by K'thardin

Standard Disclaimer:  If you don't know what these say by now, you probably
never will, but here goes.  You will never win!  Muhuhahahahah!  Sorry.
Anyway I don't own Tenchi Muyo!  I do own my characters!  There!  Oh, by the
way; feel free to reprint this, just remember to credit me.

Authors Forward:  Soon.  Soon will things start happening that will change the
face of Tenchi Muyo forever!  Muhuhahahahah!  Sorry, got a little god complex
there.  Happens when you are an author.  There will be two more before the
shit hits the fan and that one I can't wait to write.  Anyway this one details
a few of the events that Washuu and Hayes go through on their little journey
together, but don't ask for a complete synopsis.  That is not something I am
willing to tackle.

Washuu and Hayes

"Most powerful is hate that came from love, and most deep is love that came
back from such hate."
  -Russell Loyd Cross

 Hayes laid there prone on the examination table.  Had been laying there
for the past two hours while various probes and test devices scanned him.
Funny thing was he still remembered what some of them were; he had kept up,
even though he was no longer at the academy or a practicing scientist.  That
was something he had to remedy, but for now he had to endure this.  That was
fine, seeing as who was doing this was someone...well let's just say he would
sacrifice and had sacrificed everything for her.  Compared to some of the
things he had done, this was not even a minor inconvenience.
 "So what's the prognosis, doc?" he asked finally.
 Washuu looked up from her terminal.  "You'll live if that's what you are
asking."  Jeez, don't sound too enthused.  Then he chided himself on that
thought.  She has every right to be pissed at you for all eternity.  You ought
to be lucky she is even speaking to you at all.
 Finally the devices retracted and he sat up; giving himself a once over.
Well nothing appears to be missing, he thought wryly.
 He walked over and looked over the shoulder of his...don't even think
it.  You don't deserve it.
 "So, you get all you need?"
 She said nothing.
 "Nice of our...that is, nice of Cyraqs to loan us his starship."
 She looked over at him.  "Your thinly veiled attempts to engage me in
conversation are recognized."
 He tried to maintain his half smile.  "I don't know.  I would think we
would have much to discuss."
 "You would." then she softened a little.  "Still, I suppose it's why we
agreed to come up here."
 "I don't remember any such conversation." then she gave him her you are
such a fucking idiot look.  He barked a small laugh.  Yeah right, like we
really needed to talk about this Hayes, he thought to himself.
 Then he tried to talk.  So did she.  They both stopped.  Then tried
again.  Still no luck.
 "Do we still have anything in common?" she finally asked.
 "We have at least one thing." he looked meaningfully around the ship.
 "Well let's check him out then."

 They had been walking around the ship; marveling at how much of his life
was contained within.  Every little piece; even the living force of the
Ranger, had a little bit of him inside of it.
 They really didn't speak at this time.  At least not until they finally
got to Cyraqs' personal quarters.  Both entered and looked around.  Inside was
a bed; messed up as he never made it.  Only other thing in there was a large
dresser; with a simple mirror attached.  On the dresser were many pictures.
 Both walked up and looked at them.
 "Wow!  Remember this?" he asked.
 "Hmm?" she walked over and looked at it.  On it was a picture of Hayes
and her in their earlier years.  They were hanging on each other, both
obviously deliriously happy.  "Yeah, that was at the galactic science fair
wasn't it?"
 He nodded his head.
 "Oh check this one out." she picked up another.
 He looked at it with her.  It was a picture of her noticeably pregnant.
She's so beautiful, he thought.  Then and now.  He said nothing.
 "Who was this?" she asked.  It was a picture of Cyraqs and a few others.
One was very strange looking as she (you could definitely tell it was a she)
looked like a being of pure light.  That was whom she was referring too.
 "That was a friend of his I haven't seen for awhile.  Her name's
Tsunami."  She started laughing.  "Something wrong?"
 "No.  She just looks a little differently now." she laughed.
 "Oh."
 "Look at this." she said picking up another picture.  On it was a
picture of Cyraqs and a green haired, green skinned lady.  Both in their
wedding clothes.  "I've been wondering; when did his hair go white and spiked
like mine?"
 Hayes thought back for a moment.  "His hair turned white around the time
he was five, and when he was about twenty three his hair went from curly to
spiky like yours." He barked a laugh. "It always reminded me of you."
 "I don't remember it like that at the academy."
 "You'd be surprised what the right kind of Shampoo will do." he grinned.
 "I remember this." she continued on.  "I didn't know who he was at the
time, but I was there at his wedding." she said sadly.  "Damnit."
 "It happened a lot."  It was what I saved you and him from.  But he...he
never should have been a target.
 She looked at him, and saw the sadness and regret there.  And she
really didn't know what to say.
 "Hey look at this." he said; changing the subject.  He walked over to
the nightstand above his bed and picked something off and tossed it to her.
 She smiled as she caught it.  "I remember.  This was his first toy.  The
same one you won for me at the Todainian amusement park." she said petting the
plush cabbit.
 "Do you know who this is?" he asked picking a picture off the wall.
 "That's how Tsunami looks now." she said.
 Oh.  "Looks kind of like that little girl Sasami."  Her eyes looked away
for a moment, and a grin crossed her features.  He'll figure it out
eventually.  "Wanna check the rest of this place out."  She nodded her head.
Together they walked out; the stuffed cabbit was still tucked under her arm.

 "I was wondering what all this space was for." she commented checking
out the storage bay.  It was packed to the rafters with boxes and boxes of
cargo, yet still had enough room for a ship the size of Tsunami inside.  She
walked over and opened one of the boxes.
 "Jeeesuus!" she cried, pulling out a BFG.  "What does he do in his spare
time?"
 "A lot of this was for the plan." he explained.
 "Your plan." she said simply.
 "Yeah.  At least I think it is."  he looked around, "This seems rather
excessive.  Ranger?"
 "Yo!" a disembodied voice answered.
 "What's with all of this?"
 "Well...Umm...Errr...hmmm..."  Hayes crossed his arms; drumming his
fingers on his shoulders in impatience, "Err...He occasionally runs the odd
late night load." Ranger finished in embarrassment.
 Washuu burst out laughing.  "He runs guns?" she asked when she caught
her breath.
 "As well as technologies, information, mind altering...no one of the
others asked him not to do that anymore, cutting into his profits he said...as
well as almost anything else not exactly legal."
 "My son does that?"  Hayes bowed his head in shame.
 Washuu's eyes were lit in amusement.  "Now I know where Ryouko gets her
tendencies from."
 "Must be a genetic thing." he looked at her meaningfully.
 "Hey, I only made the occasional weapon to destroy the universe.  Won't
anybody ever let me live that down?"
 "No." he said flatly.  "Ranger exactly why does he do this?  With his
power he could make anything he wants to."
 "Something to do."
 "I see."
 "How much is he worth?"  Washuu asked.
 "He could probably buy this entire galaxy if he wanted too."  Ranger
replied smugly.
 Her eyes lit up even more if at all possible.  "COOL!"
 Hayes bowed his head again and muttered quietly, "My son is a criminal."
 "If it's any consolation, most of this is surplus from when he was
running intelligence ops and industrial espionage for the plan."  the Ranger
thought of Cyraqs as his friend(though you wouldn't know it by the way it
treats him) and it really didn't want Cyraqs' father to think any less of him.
Then again Cyraqs was making a lot of money on the side...
 "You mean all that stuff he told me not to ask about."
 "mmmhmm." Ranger confirmed.
 "What exactly was this plan?"  Washuu asked.
 From there he started talking.  Trying to convey over 20,000 years of
pain and strife in as short a time as he could.  She too, talked.  Attempting
the same thing.  They continued for what was it...days?  Weeks?  Months?  They
didn't know as they ate little and slept less.  Time blurred for them, one
minute into the next.

 "I was wondering..." he started one day as they were enjoying tea
together.
 "Wondering what?" she asked him across the coffee table.
 "What ever happened to some of the guys we used to hang out with?"
 She thought for a moment.  "Well most have died.  Some are still at the
academy.  The rest disappeared for parts unknown."  She smiled wickedly. "But
I know where one of our favorite targets is."
 "Where?"
 She smiled in reply.

 A GP security guard walked into his cell.  "You have a visitor Dr.
Clay."  A visitor he wondered.  Who could this be?  I don't have any friends
that I'm aware of.
 So out of morbid curiosity and nothing else he accepted the visit, and
was escorted outside.  There he beheld his visitor behind a pane of what
looked like Plexiglas.
 "Washuu!" he spat with as much venom as he could muster.
 "Hi there.  Just wondering how you were doing."
 "You should know you put me here."
 "Well after the stunt you pulled with my friends it was the least I
could do for you." she smiled.
 He still wasn't sure why he did that anyway.  He did remember it seemed
like a good idea at the time.  "So why are you here?  I know you never make
social calls." he asked.
 "Actually I thought I'd do a strip tease for you since you like little
girls so much."  She said still grinning like a motherfucker.  He turned a
very dark shade of red; causing her to smile more.  "Actually I just thought
you would like to become reacquainted with another of our long time
associates."
 "Get this over with."
 "As you will." a disembodied voice said.  Clay turned ghost white.  No,
it can't be!  He left never to return!  Suddenly a tall man with long white
hair and purple within purple eyes decloaked beside the child like scientist.
And if you thought her grin was something; you ought to see the one on his
face.  "I always said you'd look better on display, Clay.  You know I was
right." he grinned most not nice.
 "Hay...Hay...Hay..."
 "No, Hay is for horses Clay." (author: Doh!)
 "Hayes..." he managed to stammer out.
 "That's right."  His smile lost its humor. "Didn't I say something a
long time ago about the course you were on professor?"  Clay was sweating
profusely, "And in that conversation I remember saying something about what
would happen if you tried anything like you recently tried with my..."  Washuu
looked up at him, almost with an affectionate look, but he caught himself
before he finished the statement.  "...With Washuu-san."     She looked a
little downcast at his correction.  His humor returned.  "Feel lucky the GP
got you first."  Washuu and Hayes started walking out of the room.  "Oh one
more thing," Hayes added before he left, "Watch your back when you get out.
You never know when I might turn up."  He added a really evil laugh as he
walked through the door.
 "Now that was fun!" he chuckled as they left the prison.
 "Tell me about it."  she agreed.  Tentatively she grabbed his hand,
surprising him for a moment, before he gently returned her grip.

 "So this is your world huh?" she asked.
 He looked around the field where they had teleported down.  There wasn't
much there; just some overgrown cattail like things from horizon to
horizon; with a set of mountains in the distance.
 "Yes, this was my world."  she noticed the 'was' but did not say
anything.
 "Why does it look like that set of mountains has a gap in it?"
 He looked to where she was referring.  "That would be where my
ancestral home used to be.  It was destroyed as we left." he replied
emotionlessly.
 She looked at him sympathetically, "I'm sorry."
 "Don't be.  I'm not." he barked a laugh.  "I'd have helped them if I
could."  she raised her eyebrow quizzically.  "I had no love for this place."
 "I was wondering why did you...I mean why...this?" she raised her hands
and motioned all around her.  "Why all this?"  He understood.  It was strange
how their form of communication still worked even after all this time.
 "Cyraqs did it because they hurt me.  He has a big problem with people
who hurt those he cares for, but then so do I.  Ryuken did it so our people
could become better than they were.  Ymir did it because he could not bear the
dishonour that our people visited on each other daily.  And as for me...I did
it for revenge."  She watched him eyes wide as he continued, "No lofty ideals,
Not because I was protecting something.  Just plain, simple, unadulterated,
revenge."  He looked at her a strange...anger was it?...in his eyes. "They
hurt you.  They made me hurt you.  For that they all are destroying each other
now.  For that...they die."
 She couldn't think of anything to say.  This man, all he had been doing,
everything he had done, was in one degree or another, for her.  It kind of
made her afraid that she could be...would loved be a good description?  As
good as any...loved enough that he would do THIS!  Just because they had hurt
her; made him hurt her.  She knew he stayed away; to protect her.  To keep her
away from the families, and from what he was doing.
 Then she looked at him again.  And she saw in every little movement,
every little look, that he still loved her, and she, for once in her life,
didn't know what to feel.  Did she still love him?  It had been over 20,000
years.  Yet men like him NEVER EVER forget; nor had she for that matter.  Our
son is a lot like us, she thought wryly.  Her son...she once claimed to her
son that she would give her soul to have her family back.  Now she was being
given that chance; Cyraqs had given it to her.  Could she take it?  Did she
have the courage to take it?  Is that what she wanted?

 Three weeks later.

 <You Angel You-Manfried Mann>

 Hayes watched entranced as all seven of the moons reflected off the face
of the red haired goddess who held his arm as they walked slowly around a
beautiful lake.
 "Remember this place?" she asked.
 "How could I not?" he replied wryly.
 "I always loved it here." she said a warm feeling going through her.
Though it was more the company that I loved, she sighed to herself.
 He took a chance and pulled her smaller form to him.  She did not
resist, even held him close; surprising him.  Must be the moons, this night
always did make strange things happen.
 She stopped them and turned to look at him.  He looked back into her
glorious green eyes; seeing a strange longing there.  He reached out, but
stopped himself when he realized what he was about to do.  She reached out and
grasped his hand before he could pull away and brought it to her face;
allowing him to trace its outline.  It was tentative, for both of them this
was strange.  For some reason it seemed to complete them.  In that act was
more communicated than could ever be in words.
 He bent down to her level and kissed her lightly on the lips.
 "Are you sure we're ready for this?" he asked.
 "Are we sure we want this?" she asked.
 They're souls finally had enough of this and took over.  An eternity
later they broke apart; lack of oxygen does that you know.
 "Oh one thing," she said.  She decked him. "Welcome back."
 He rubbed his jaw a little.  Then he laughed.
 "What?"
 "I was just thinking that you are below the age of consent right at the
moment." he managed to say between laughs.
 "Bastard." she growled; tackling him.  Rolling on the ground she resumed
her more natural form, and felt his arms snake around her and embrace her.
She wasn't sure which one of them pulled the other first, but it really didn't
matter.  Pulling each other close they kissed.
 Soon 20,000 years of pent up desires, frustration, sadness, joy, and
other things, too many to name over came them both.  And with the ferocity
those emotions unleashed they made love there on the night of moons, of the
planet Todain, by the lake where their child was conceived; the same night and
place over 23,000 years ago.  It almost seemed the universe paused on that
night to pay homage to one of it's most beautiful accomplishments, and
congratulate itself on a job well done.  Not that it would have mattered to
them; their universe was each other; nothing else was important right then.
 They took their time getting back to Earth (read: around a month).  On
their way back they paused at some remote planet, known for it's beautiful
artwork, for something; he wouldn't say what; just that he needed something
there.  She couldn't care less as long as she was with him.  She had forgotten
what it was like to be with someone she cared this much about.  Now she could
truly understand what Tsunami and her son must feel.  What her own daughter
must feel when she is with Tenchi.  Somehow she knew she had to make sure that
things turned out the way they should between them, but if what she suspected
was true, that probably wouldn't be necessary.  That made her laugh a little
as they orbited Earth.
 They had both been very reluctant to go back.  Well the kids were
probably worried to death right now, so I suppose we really should be getting
back.  Her hands folded over her middle almost of their own accord, and she
smiled at what she felt.  We really have to quit being around Todain on the
night of the moons, she thought wryly.
 She felt very powerful arms reach around her and a set of lips kissing
her neck.  "mmmmmmmm. That feels good." she hummed.  She was twisted around in
her seat to stare in the face a very serious and determined man.  One that
would not settle for anything less than achieving his goal.  She idly wondered
what this was about (though she suspected like you wouldn't believe).
 "This time I have fantasized, dreamt about, thought about every day of
my life these past twenty thousand years.  I find the reality to surpass every
one of those."  Oh keep talking, I love these little speeches.  She would have
to have ranger make many copies of this so she could give them to everyone.
"I don't know who I have to thank for all this; actually I do, and I'll thank
him later.  I am with you now, and that's what matters.  You who are the other
piece of me."  He grasped her hands; placing something inside as he held them.
"And I swear on my life and my soul that nothing will ever come between us
again.  I won't let it!  I know I don't deserve this, I did something that I
can never be forgiven for.  Something that I cannot ask you to forgive me for.
Something I can never forgive myself for."
 "Would you believe I never really blamed you." a tear blessed her
beautiful cheek;  though she wasn't too sure whose tear it was.  "I never
hated you." She smiled at him; a smile she had given to only two other men in
her life, but this time she knew that something good would come of it.  She
now finished it; she gave this man the one last thing he needed from her, "I
forgive you.  I did a long time ago."
 The last of his guilt; the last of his hatred for himself left then.
And in it's place she saw the light; the great light that was his love for
her.  He laughed then; and cried; for she had done something only she could
do.  She had saved his soul from his self-imposed damnation.  Now I can do
this properly. "Then hear me:  I can't bear the thought of not doing this now;
not knowing.  And if there is one thing I have learned it's to take advantage
of opportunities when they present themselves." he opened her hands to reveal
a red diamond cut like to look like a crab (her favorite animal; don't ask me
why, I don't know.  Maybe it's the hair?) and shaped to be a ring.  Her eyes
widened and she gasped.  She had a feeling where he was going with this, but
the reality...
 "I can't make it like it was, and it would be a mistake for me to even
try.  But I can try to make it better,"  He then took on a state of being that
he only went to when he was about to go to war, "and I'll protect you forever,
love you with all my being, and I'll die before I betray you.  That will never
happen again.  I have made sure of that."  Jeez don't be so morbid, she
thought in exasperation.  "So with that all said:  I love you Washuu.  Will
you marry me?"  She didn't even hesitate, and threw herself into his arms
crying tears of joy.   "So is this a yes?" Hayes asked; highly amused, and
happy at the same time.
 "Yes damn you, yes!" she yelled squeezing him in happiness.  "I love
you."  And that admission was the last thing she needed.  And now she let go
of all the bitterness that had become part of her.  That bitterness was
replaced by love; the love that had never really left her, even after all this
time.

 They teleported down later that day.  Only to find them all waiting for
them already.  Or to be more accurate waiting for Cyraqs and Tenchi; who was
subtly, but profoundly, changed.  Ryuken, Cyraqs, and Tenchi started laughing
at them almost immediately.  The rest had no clue.
 "Everyone, guess what?" she said, they all looked on cluelessly "I'm
engaged!" she yelled holding up her hand to show her ring.
 The facefalls of those who had no clue, rivaled the one when they
learned who Cyraqs really was.

<End Theme:  Dreams-VanHalen>

Authors afterward:  Redemption, I have noticed, comes in strange ways.  Anyway
these were only a few of the things that went on during their 3-month trip.
What you don't think Washuu should have a happy ending?  I don�t care!  She
deserves it!  I'm at kthardin@geocities.com