Brace yourselves, folks, the ride's just beginning...
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----- "Guard your secrets well."
Morning dawned on the Masaki residence, sunlight poking over the
mountains and illuminating every corner of the home with light. The
birds chirped in unison outdoors; the wind began to pick up, its light
breeze invigorating the grass and the trees; and the Guardians, Azaka
and Kamidake, stood contently at the gate, taking in the sights with
their usual stoicism. It was a day much like any other in the Okayama
Prefecture in summer; quiet, sunny, and cheerful.
On an upper support beam in the house, though, there was an
unmistakable cloud of darkness.
Ryouko sat curled up on the beam, her head buried deep between her
knees; she could not bear to let anybody see her like this. The night
before, she had been asked by Washuu to participate in one of her
experiments; this resulted in her, semi-nude, being suspended from a
tangle of mechanical arms and fitted with a mind probe, a cloth tied
over her mouth to prevent her from yelling. Later, when Washuu left,
the spirit caller found herself alone in the darkness, suspended in
midair like a fly caught in a spider's web. At first she was intensely
furious, screaming for Washuu to come back and untie her.
The screaming quickly became worry. Worry evolved into despair, and
despair turned into sadness. Within a short amount of time, Ryouko
called out for her mother, tears flowing from her eyes as the memories
of the other enclosed dark space flooded her mind; that other dark
space which had held her captive for some seven centuries, cut off
from everything which she had been before Youshou had stripped her
of her power.
Fortunately for her sanity, Ryouko wiggled herself free of the mecha-
arms and ran as fast as her legs could take her out of the lab; she
zipped instantly to the support beam that was her territory and wept,
her tears streaming endlessly from her golden eyes. She'd called out
for her mother in her moment of need, and her mother did not come; it
was a child's worst nightmare.
Washuu? Her mother?
Despite the neglect she felt Washuu had towards her, Ryouko knew
instinctively that she did have a mother.
She just wasn't sure who it was.
* * *
Sasami was the first of the other girls to awaken; as usual, she was
making breakfast -- Aeka and Ryouko were awful cooks, and nobody
wanted Mihoshi to make anything unsupervised for fear that it would
destroy some part of Tenchi's house... again.
Opening the fridge, the younger princess of Jurai reached inside and
pulled out a bag of carrots, specially chilled. Today she would make
Ryououki's favorite carrot dish: carrot cake, prepared with care over
several hours. Smiling, Sasami hummed to herself as she placed the bag
on the kitchen counter and moved towards the pantry to retrieve some
flour.
The sliding door to the kitchen began to open.
Sasami continued to cook diligently; out here in the virtual middle of
nowhere, there was no danger of being attacked by anyone, whether she
knew them or not.
"Ohayou, Sasami-chan..." came a low voice.
For a moment, a chill overcame Sasami. Ryouko had *never* used the
door; she always teleported in on her own whim. Dismissing it as a
fluke, she turned back to breakfast.
"Ohayou, Ryouko-neechan. I'm making your favorite dish for you!"
Slowly and quietly, Ryouko, now wearing her blue-and-yellow-striped
dress, walked to the kitchen counter and slumped herself onto it with
a sigh. The attached tail was completely limp.
Noticing this out of the corner of her eye, Sasami put down her
utensils, walked over to Ryouko, and tugged on her skirt.
"Ryouko-neechan... what's wrong?"
"I... had a nightmare. I was hanging in the dark, and I was alone,"
came the former space pirate's muffled reply through badly-covered
sobbing; her mental processes at this point were trying to get her
to dismiss the experience as a bad dream.
"Alone?"
Ryouko nodded her head. "Alone... cold... lonely... I can't stop
thinking about it. My body's so tense..."
"Ryouko-neechan... I think you could use a nice, warm bath. It'll
help you forget all your troubles."
Instinctively, Ryouko knew that Sasami was right. It had always been
the way she'd cooled off in the past anyway.
The former pirate lifted her head off her arms, looking into the pink
eyes of the only other friend she thought she had.
"Arigatou, Sasami-chan."
The blue-haired princess smiled.
* * *
Thousands of feet up in the skies over Kurashiki, the builder of the
flying onsen rested in its primary hot spring, clearing her thoughts
as she allowed the soothing waters to loosen up every square inch of
her perfect body. ...At least she considered it perfect, regardless of
what Washuu said.
Washuu.
Clearing that thought from her mind, Ryouko slid farther into the
soothing waters, letting the currents reach the base of her neck
before she stilled herself once again. The heat now was intense, but
it was a good intense... with a sigh of half-pleasure, she let herself
flex out. She hadn't felt this hot since she had been blasted aside by
the Mass, used as a decoy by Washuu.
Washuu.
Ryouko's eyes snapped open at the unpleasant memory. She frowned; what
was causing her to think of these things in a place where she came to
get away from it all?
Was it the fact that the vile woman who called her "daughter" hadn't
been there for her like a true mother should? The fact that this woman
could intrude on her thoughts at any time, listen in, and comment on
it, while she could not do the same back to her? The fact that she was
cooped up in her lab all the time, doing nothing, while she herself
was at a worthwile pursuit: the pursuit of love?
Or was it the simple wish that she had been given somebody else for a
mother, and not this red-haired freak named Washuu
Washuu.
in a child's body?
With a grunt, she laid her head back against the tree at the side of
the main pool, closed her eyes, and tried to concentrate on how to
lift herself out of her blue funk.
*Harass Aeka? No, that isn't fun at the moment. Trick Mihoshi into
leaving? Already did that, and it didn't work anyway. Visit the onsen?
Wait, I'm already here. Find Tenchi? Hell, Washuu's probably harassing
him ag-*
Washuu.
Ryouko stood up out of the onsen's waters, beaded drops rolling off
her skin as she headed for the exit.
It was time to resolve everything.
* * *
The door to Washuu's subspace laboratory swung open, tripping the crab
bell alarm. Ryouko was far from caring, though; she just wanted to see
Washuu.
"Washuu? Washuu? Are you here?"
Ryouko's voice seemed to echo in the massive space of the lab.
"Washuu? Washuu! Listen up! I have something to tell you!"
Still no answer; just the silent humming of gears and electricity.
Deciding firmly to look for the scientist herself, Ryouko stepped into
the lab, shutting the door behind her. As the flow of air behind her
heralded the door's phasing out, she headed straight for the place she
had seen in her dream
- had BEEN in, she reminded herself -
going in
reverse from the route she remembered taking while escaping the
laboratory the other night.
Within minutes, she was there. Just as she remembered it; cold, dimly
lit, and cramped. Like all the other rooms in the laboratory, however,
it was eerily silent, save for the omnipresent hum of electricity.
Ryouko stood in contemplation for a few moments; where was Washuu? She
normally didn't leave her lab, and if she did leave, it was always to
run some tests which she could easily do in her lab anyway.
As was to be expected of Washuu, everything was neat and orderly...
Except for one thing sitting near a console.
A small black videocassette, not unlike the ones used in the Masaki
household. However, this one was unmarked.
Ryouko picked up the fusion of plastic and magnetic ribbon. *Why would
Washuu even need something like this? She probably remembers
everything she sees, anyway.* Then she thought for a moment longer.
*Maybe it's so special to her that she didn't want to risk forgetting
it...* Curiosity began to overwhelm the so-called demon princess.
Within her mind, a struggle momentarily raged: respect Washuu's
privacy, or take a peek inside?
It took all of a nanosecond for Ryouko to decide to look.
* * *
Exiting the laboratory with tape in hand, Ryouko floated over to the
nearby TV/VCR. With the flick of a wrist, she nearly jammed the VCR's
auto-loading mechanism, but the machine eventually took the tape into
its confines.
After checking the adjoining rooms to ensure nobody was sitting
around - she wanted to see this for herself and herself only - she
nestled herself into the couch, took hold of the remote control, and
rewound the tape to the beginning (it took all of seven seconds, which
Ryouko noticed as unusual) before pressing in the PLAY button.
* * *
u n f o r g i v a b l e s i n a tale of ryouko and washuu hakubi
a Tenchi Muyo! Ryououki fanfiction set immediately after OAV 13.5
written by Navaash Fenwylde navaash@mail.wsu.edu
* * *
Due out soon.
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Navaash @ http://www.demoness.com/navaash/kthardin.html
his first attempt at ficcage is there, and it's eminently MSTable