DISCLAIMER:

This story is based off of the Tenchi Muyo! anime series,
produced by AIC and released by Pioneer Anime America.  All
characters from said series are the property of such.  The
characters Hikaru Moriyata, and any Argelians (which will be
discussed in a later chapter) are the product of the imagination
of Dennis Carr, and belong to same.  The character Trakal,
insofar as he is developed, is the intellectual property of
Karmin St. Jean.

The persons and many events in this fanfic are fictitious.  Any
resemblance to any person, living or dead, or any event other
than what has obviously happened, is a coincidence.

Any military or police procedure outlined throughout the fic does
not necessarily depict any real life procedure or scenario.  Any
similarity to real life procedure/scenarios is, again,
coincidental.


Tenchi Muyo: Unfinished Business

A fanfic by Dennis Carr and Karmin St. Jean

Chapter 1:5 - Life?

Somewhere in the Orochi system, on a planet called Roen, one of
its sattelites were being occupied by the Argelians.  All for
some mineral used in the manufacture of a popular upset stomach
remedy.

*Well, there was titanium, too,* decided Steki.

As far as anyone was concerned, this was just another day, and
another stake on property that was rightfully somebody elses.  It
seemed like forever to some that they had been doing this, but
they had, in fact, only been doing this for a decade.  Take
hostages, negotiate using that chip.  Some didn't agree, such as
the Kazakians - however, such as the case of the Roenese, they
sometimes did agree.  The hostages were released, and the moon
they wanted was now theirs.  Granted, it was by criminal means,
but it was theirs.

And it was Steki's paycheck, to boot.

And yet, he hated every credit he earned as an Argelian - even if
he was part of a race who was dedicated to interstellar mining.
Especially because he remembered having a home some twenty years
prior, that had to be abandoned due to the complete waste of all
available resources.

They were peaceful times that did not know the meaning of the
words hostage or piracy, he remembered as he boarded his drop
ship....

---

October 18, 1998 at 12:15 PDT

Hikaru walked out of his condominium, wearing a tank top and
bicycle shorts, and carrying a shinai and a small inflatale raft,
eye peeled for one Tenchi Masaki - who was nowhere to be found.

He was, however, to be found in his current home, the subject of
yet another argument.

"Tenchi, you must decide now," Aeka said, an almost pleading look
in her eyes.  "It's either her or me."

"Oh, why would he want a hussy like you?"

"And what's that supposed to mean, demon?"

"Um, guys--"

"This isn't about you, Tenchi!"

Amidst the bickering, somehow, Tenchi was forgotten, and he used
this to sneak out from between the two now very angry women to
the front door, just as Hikaru walked back into his living room
and closed the door.  Tenchi, in turn, reached back to an end
table, collected a check for rent and his own shinai which was
strategically placed near said table, closed his door to a point
where it wasn't quite closed, and opened Hikaru's door, which its
namesake was exiting, with the ED in his right hand.  Tenchi
walked into Hikaru's home, closed the door, Hikaru opened
Tenchi's door, activated the ED, threw it in between the two
women, and closed the door all the way.  As if on cue, his own
door then re-opened, and Tenchi exited and closed it, now also
carrying a wire basket of golf balls, while Aeka made a rather
venomous comment about Ryoko scaring him off.

As the two men walked down the stairs to the swimming pool, only
one thing was on Hikaru's mind: "Tenchi, how the hell do you live
with that on a daily basis?"

He pondered for just a moment in thought, and then said, "I have
no idea," just as the familiar *woosh* of an activating ED
sounded, causing a draft in the balcony curtains and bringing two
rather exasperated screams from the adjacent living room.  "By
the way," he added, "I'm surprised the neighbors haven't been
complaining about all the noise."

"Yeah, I wonder why."

---

Somewhere in another dimension, Washu sat, monitoring two
real-time analyzers - one marked "modulation", one marked
"countermodulation" - and smiled as they remained in sync with
each other.

*Sometimes,* she thought, *the simplest of sonic physics are the
best.*  Satisfied that the destructive interference generator was
still operational, she stood up and walked through the door, into
a dark home - the Masaki residence, back in Japan.  It was about
4:30 in the morning - and there was the distinctive sound of a
woman vomiting upstairs, to which she changed directions in that
confident fashion that only Washu was capable of maintaining.

As she approached the bathroom door, she saw a very bedraggled
Tanaka, who had finished emptying her stomach, and was now
leaning on the counter, head planted in her hands.

"Mind if I take a look at you?"

Tanaka slowly removed her head from her hands, looked towards the
now not diminuitive redhead, and nodded.  "Sure."

The two walked out, Washu following behind, who quickly took a
sample from the toilet as she walked out, and only after
reassuring a tired-looking Trakal that yes, his wife is fine,
she'll see what's wrong with her, she took the lead, and the two
women walked into the lab.

As was the usual routine, Tanaka placed herself on the table, as
Washu deposited the tube of vile whatever-it-was in a machine,
and picked up a device to scan her patient.

And again, as was the usual routine, Washu made a few odd grunts
as she studied her patient, finding nothing critically wrong, and
took a look at the specimin of vomit, and nodded in realization
of what the problem was - and paused to ask a question.

"Tanaka, are you allergic to aspirin?"

"Um, no, why?"

She then pressed a few buttons, and a pair of pink ovoid tablets
were produced by a machine, and dropped into a small cup, which
the scientist carried over to Tanaka.

"Here, take these."

"Um, Washu, last time you told me to do that, my hair turned
green for twenty-four hours, I grew horns, and I found myself
wearing a tiger-print bikini with matching gogo boots."

"Sorry, sorry, but this is compatible.  Besides, that was for
last Halloween, remember?"

She smiled slightly at the memory of the western holiday.  "What
is it?"

"Bismuth subsalicylate."

"Huh?!"

"I think you call it `peputo bisumoru' here," she said, handing
her a glass of electrolyte.  "Anyway, you have a slight case of
stomach flu, so it's really nothing I can do something about
except to give you something to settle your stomach.  Swallow
those, wait a few minutes, then go back to bed.  You'll feel
better in the morning. By the way, how are you?"

"Other than sick to my stomach and tired all of the time, with a
sore back to boot and feet to match, just fine."

"No no no, how are *you*?"

Tanaka popped the pills, chased it with the electrolyte cocktail,
and carefully laid herself down on the table, moaning all the
way.  "Just...blah.  I haven't really been off of the property in
a month-GAH!"

Washu had used this opportunity to smear her distended belly
with grease and apply a device resembling an ultrasound wand, as
to check on the fetuses, and satisfied that all was well, removed
the wand.  "Want a picture?"

Tanaka went from absolutely scared to morbidly angry to gleefully
happy in about the space of three seconds.  "Sure!"

As she ran off the sonogram to paper, she produced another device
out of a dimensional pocket - this one small and rectangular,
with a black stripe across the back of its flat white body.  "By
the way, when I was pregnant years - nay, millenia - ago,
something I noted is that if I went out to the markets, it
actually helped to relax me. So," she said, pulling a piece of
paper out of nowhere that had the familiar Rx insignia on it and
scribbling something in unintelligible Japanese thereon, "my
prescription for you is to take yourself shopping when you wake
up.  You'll feel better."

She took the credit card, and nearly freaked out as she saw the
name embossed on it:

HAKUBI NAOKI

"Wash-!!"

She quickly stopped her.  "It's my money, and it's completely
legal.  I saved up a few credits when I was in the academy, and
that will give you access to it in the form of yen.  As for the
name," she added, "since Trakal doesn't really have a surname, I
figured mine would work just fine, with his terran pseudonym to
go with it.  Spend it how you like."

She looked at the card, then at Washu, and then promptly hugged
the mad scientist. "Washu, you're a genius!"

Washu returned the embrace, smiling gleefully at her comment.
"Of course I am!  Now go to bed, you'll need the energy
tomorrow."

As Makiya walked out of the lab, she looked at the sonogram, and
noted idly that one of the fetuses were placed rather low in the
womb, despite the fact that she was not due to go full term for
another six weeks.

---

October 19, 1998 at 11:45 Tokyo Time Yaohan Plaza, Osaka, Japan

A kimono would be more feasible for a pregnant woman, however,
they were just so expensive.  Figuring on this, one would only be
able to resort to western "maternity fashion", even if the two
words were oxymoronic in nature.  It was actually quite rare to
find something that looked half way decent - or for that matter,
didn't come in color schemes that any human could not look at
without specially protective glasses.

*Oh, the hell with it,* she decided.  *Get a few kimonos, I'll at
least be able to reuse them after I give birth.  Just getting the
obi around here will have to wait.*

After buying a few of the traditional dresses, she wandered into
the main concourse of the mall, and decided that she was rather
hungry, since the stomach flu from earlier had subsided, and
found her way to the elevator to go to the food level.

"Hungry?" She asked the swell in her belly with a smile.

As she disembarked from the elevator, she selected the food
counter she wanted and got in line, and fought back the slight
nausea that resulted from the peculiar odor of Japanese food with
a hint of western food mixed in.

---

At home, a lesson in patience was in progress - over tea.  Since
becoming smitten with his wife, Trakal had all but forgotten the
meaning of the word `patience'.

Maybe it didn't help that he was drinking tea, and had consumed
several cups of the beverage, increasing his nervousness.

"She should've been home by now," He muttered, punctuating his
comment with a sip. "She's been gone all morning."

Yosho merely sipped his tea, having said very little all day.

"How can you be so calm?" Trakal stood up.

"Sit down," Yosho instructed.

Trakal sat back down. 

"When a woman shops," Yosho said, "time does not pass.  She may
be gone all day."

Trakal took another sip, finishing off the cup. "I hope not."

"Miss her already?"  Yosho picked up the pot and refilled for
him.

Trakal nodded. "I started missing her as soon as she left."

---

Tanaka started to order, then grabbed her stomach. She felt a
wave of pain like she'd never felt before as she contracted once,
and a look of horrified realization came over her.  The pain
subsided promptly, however, so this was dismissed as a false
labor pain, and she ordered, and sat down to wait for her food.

This didn't last long however - after retrieving her bowl of hot
Tanuki udon without egg - about the only thing that didn't make
her sick these days - and placing it on the table, another
contraction hit.

Tanaka staggered out of the mall, and flagged down a taxi.  Had
Trakal been human, she would've rushed herself to the hospital.
But he wasn't - and she couldn't risk the doctors finding out the
children inside her weren't fully human - so the only person she
could trust was Washu, therefore she had only one place she
could go.

Tanaka hobbled into the cab, and instructed the driver to take
her home.  He looked back, in turn, and a thought crossed his
mind.  This fare is a pregnant woman, and she is clutching her
stomach.  "Lady, are you sure you don't want to go to the
hospital?"

He must have been a new driver.  You never even *think* of saying
"no" to a woman in labor, especially one who boards your cab.

A much more vicious expression crossed Tanaka's face, as she
tried to grab the seat to bring herself closer to the driver -
and failed.  "I said, take me home, and step on it!  I will
direct you."

"Alright, alright."

A short fifteen minutes later, Tanaka paid her fare, clambered
out of the cab, and despite the pain, decided the driver was more
qualified as a...oh, what did they call it in America?  Oh yeah,
an Indy Car driver.

She promptly barged through the door with the day's plunderings,
paused only to remove her shoes and drop her purchases, and ran
over to the kitchen - or as much as you can call it a run when
one is in labor.

"Somebody call Washu NOW!"

Both men looked toward the entrance to the kitchen, Trakal
immediately took in the scene, and while Yosho sat calmly, Trakal
jumped up and ran toward the phone, kicking the pillow he was
sitting on in the process, and picked it up.  "Um, Washu?"

*Waitasecond, I should dial first.*  He rifled through the paper
that was stacked near the phone, found the contact number for the
lot of them across the Pacific, and dialed it.

---

October 18, 1998 at 21:00 PDT
Masaki Condo

As was customary in California, most people didn't go to bed till
later than necessary.  This nurtured the addiction that many
Californians thought they had to caffeine, thus making
institutions that sold coffee quite profitable.

And thus was the case in this particular condominium.  It was a
typical evening, with most of everybody sitting in the living
room, glued to the TV, riveted to a Japanese drama that was badly
subtitled - and both Tenchi and Washu knew it, as he smiled a
little every time somebody spoke, since whenever this happened,
their words were accompanied by said bad translation.

The surprisingly sedate mood of the evening was then broken by a
ringing phone.

"I'll get it!"  Sasami was the first to jump up, expecting a
phone call at any hour.  After all, most girls just *had* to
discuss cute boys at the mature age of "twelve".

She was, however, quite discouraged when she heard Trakal's voice
over the phone.  "Sasami, tell Washu I need her immediately."

She was visibly upset.  "Washu, it's Trakal.  Sounds important."

Among the various comments that all the women made about how it
must've been Makiya, since she was seemingly the only thing in
his life that mattered anymore, but it was so romantic, why
wasn't Tenchi like that with Ryoko, and what's that supposed to
mean, you demon, Washu got up, and took the phone.

"Hello?...What's going on?...Now?!...Right, I'll be there
in...oh, eight seconds."  She promptly disconnected, briefly
announced her departure, ran through her door, which promptly
disappeared from the condo, instructed her computers to prep for
a childbirth, grabbed a small medical kit, and reopened the door,
which now let her into the Masaki compound.

"Never fear," she said, walking out of the hallway, now in her
adult form, "*I* is *here*.  Where's the patient?"

Makiya moaned in agony, announcing her location, albeit
involuntarily.  She pinpointed the location, and jogged over to
her quarry, finding Trakal offering some comforting words.

"I got Washu like you asked, love, just try to relax."

"I'm in premature labor, and you want me to *RELAX*?!"

"Listen, Makiya, he's right, you need to relax.  How far apart
are you?"

"Five."

"Trakal, has her water broken?"

"No."

"Good, then we have nothing to worry about."

As if on cue, Makiya's water broke, and Trakal and Washu
exchanged worried glances as they collected Makiya and hauled her
into the laboratory.  Upon entry, Washu called up a multitude of
monitors, inclusive of which were an EKG monitor to keep an eye
on babies and mother, and a sonograph.

While this happened, Washu briefed Trakal as she loaded her
patient onto an OB/GYN table.  "Something you'll need to keep in
mind is that she will probably say things she doesn't mean while
she's in labor."  She paused to make sure that one woman in labor
was on the table, wired a saline/electrolyte IV to said woman in
labor, and continued.  "I'm going to try to stop the
contractions, but I can't guarantee that I can.  If anything, one
will come out."

For what seemed to be the third time in his life, Trakal lost his
cool.  "Oh gods," he expleted, a pleading look on his face.
"Please, Washu, don't let it be."

"Relax," she said, "other than about a month and a half early,
both are perfectly healthy!"  She wondered, somewhat amusedly, if
all new fathers were like this.  *I guess I can't blame him
though,* she thought as Trakal continued to attempt to comfort
his wife and she watched the sonogram, *childbirth *is* a painful
process.*

"Washu, would you please stop watching TV and help us?!"

Finally, Tanaka spoke - no, yelled, and none too politely.  "I
hate you both!"

At this, Trakal could only look perplexed.  "Yeah.  I love you
too.  Washu, do something!"

Washu, however, kept her cool, fifty thousand years of genius
working overtime.  "I know, honey, it's OK.  Do you want some
painkillers?"

She contracted again, and could only feebly shake her head as her
body painfully prepared itself to release a child.

Trakal casually looked over at the ultrasound monitor.  "You
know, it looks like the draalthi child is emerging."

"Um...." Washu glanced behind her to watch the monitor.  "It
is."

---

15:00 Tokyo time

Had the lab not been between dimensions, thereby unable to
release sound into any given dimension, the casual observer would
assume that there was some sort of inquisition style torture in
progress.  Those who knew Washu, if they could hear, would think
that she'd finally snapped, and move away from the door *very
quickly*, lest they become a victim of the diminuitive red-head -
or for that matter, whatever was screaming bloody murder in
there.

In this case, however, it was simply Tanaka, going through what
some consider a form of inquisition style torture induced by God
Almighty, nature, or the diety/force/whatever of your choice -
childbirth.  The best comparison I can think of to describe her
pain, under the circumstances, is to quote Carol Burnett:  "Take
your lower lip and wrap it all the way around your head."

She was very lucky however - the labor had only lasted since the
mall, roughly three or four hours, and she was already pushing.

She was still in pain, but at least it was almost over for now.

But as most logical thought processes were overriden by
excruciating pain such as this, she didn't consider this as she
screamed and pushed yet again, and stopped to breathe, as Trakal
encouraged her along with a "You're doing beautiful, darling."

"We're crowning," Washu announced, and then directed her
attention to the computer.  "Incubator, stat!"

"Washu, how's she doing?"

"Great," she replied, noting that the incubator had appeared to
her left.  "Won't be much longer.  Regenerator!"

An odd device appeared over the bed, settling roughly one meter
over Makiya's abdomen.

"Um, that's not going to hurt her is it?"

"No.  It's supposed to regenerate the amniotic fluid, so the
other child will continue to full term."

"Oh. Okay."  *They didn't train me for this,* he thought.  "One
more push, love."

She pushed, screaming bloody murder all the way, and the
premature child came out just enough for Washu to grab her and
announce its exit, as she transferred it to the incubator.

Trakal was still worried.  "Is it alive?"

She watched as a new monitor appeared over the artificial womb,
indicating life, confirmed that it was definitely breathing, and
put her head down on the top of the clear box, made sure that
Tanaka was going out of labor, and only then visibly relaxing.
"Yes, he is."

"Washu? What... he... I...." he ran to the opposite side of the
incubator, still in the middle of the lab floor.  "I have a
son?!"

She looked up at him, smiling, and observing what most would
think impossible - Trakal smiling.  "Congratulations.  Computer,
safelight on the incubator, standard red, and isolate."

All at once, the room transformed into something resembling a
Terran hospital room, a tube attached itself to the arm of the
premature child, and for about one meter around the incubator,
there was a shaft of red light that only existed in said radius.
After gaining his bearings, Trakal ran over to his wife
excitedly.  "Did you hear that? It's a boy!"

She simply nodded wordlessly, and fell asleep, still tired from
the move.

"I take it you altered the light to keep his eyes from being
damaged before they're properly formed?"

Washu was a little re-energized at this - he was at her level,
if only for the moment.  "You're good," she replied, retrieving
two glasses of ice water out of nowhere, and offering one to
Trakal.

"Washu, be honest with me," he said softly, swirling around his
water around and watching it. "Is he going to make it?"

"He'll be just fine.  Odds of survival are roughly...oh,
ninety-nine percent."  She took the other glass of water to
Tanaka, and realized she had fallen asleep - so drank the water
herself with a shrug.

After a moment of silence, he finally spoke up again.  "Is it OK
if I sit by him?"

"Sure, go ahead," she said, and pulled a chair out of
hammerspace.  "I'll leave you three alone for a bit.  Once I pass
through, the door will let you back into your home." With that,
she walked back into the condominium in California, leaving
Trakal to watch his son sleep.

Which he did.  For hours.

---

October 19, 1998 at 01:00 PDT
Masaki Condo

Working swing does strange things to a person.  Such as make them
maintain bizarre waking hours.

So it was that at this hour, Mihoshi found herself staring dumbly
at the television, wondering what this show on the public station
was about, but these people driving around in this archaic
vehicle were living in, what was it, Beverly Hills, and talking
something weird, it was just so funny!  Through this, Sasami had
emerged from the hall to retrieve a glass of water; at the table,
Kiyone was finishing up a report on her laptop, Aeka was sitting
opposite her, playing with that repulsive cabbit (and enjoying
it, no less!), and Tenchi was placed between the two at his side
of the table, wrapping up his homework for the next day, and
deciding that he'd seen more entertaining television programming
in Japan.  Admittedly, Bugs Bunny and the like were great fun, as
were, oh what was it called, they looked like deranged puppies,
one spoke fluent Japanese, oh yeah, Animaniacs, but the live
action stuff was just...overdone.

And then Mihoshi spoke.  "Washu's not here, is she?"

"You just noticed?" Kiyone looked at her eternal partner
incredulously.

"She ran out to her lab around nine," Sasami chimed in, filling
her glass from the water cooler.  "I think she mentioned
something about Tanaka going into labor."

"She's not due for over a month," Kiyone commented, closing her
laptop.  "I hope she's OK."

Washu walked in at that moment, looking very worn, but
otherwise...well, like Washu.  Ryoko chose this moment to phase
in through the roof.

"How's Tanaka?" Tenchi asked, packing his books for the morning
bicycle and bus journey to Fullerton.

"Just fine.  So's the baby."

This comment captured the attention of everybody in the condo.

"Which one was it?"

"Is it a boy?"

"He must be really happy!"

"Is he going to be-"

"Ryoko!"

Washu stopped them all.  "It's the draalthi, he's a boy."  She
collapsed on the sofa.  "Exactly like his father, except I can't
tell anything about the eyes...."  Her eyes closed, and she dozed
off.