The characters in this story belong not to myself but rather to the makers
of them. The story in itself however I claim as my own by right of law. Any
usage of characters made up by myself should be precipitated by notifying me
of this fact. As I undoubtedly would give full go ahead, this should not
pose a problem.
This is not a retelling of Tenchi. It is not even a story of how things
might have been. Rather it is the story of how things might be if someone
chose to see just that.
It must be noted that the poor author has not been sufficiently nourished in
a long time and a healthy offering should be sent. One of Comment, criticism
and affirmation.(C&C+A) Flames will be used to heat all things cold and are
generally frowned upon.
Tenchi... What!?
Part one: Changed destiny
The blades flashed back and forth. Blue and red flashing at different
intervals as their owners stopped for a millisecond. You could see a lot
more blue than red, showing a pattern that had been clear from the start.
The blue blade was in serious trouble. Red smiled viciously. "Why not just
give up Yosho. You can't win anyway." She thrust down to his left.
He parried. "I will not give up. You shall pay for killing my..." He struck.
"Lover" It was a blow to her temple. Luckily, not something she had
expected.
"My, my, Yosho." Her smile grew wider, blood trickling down one side of her
mouth. "You may actually be a challenge." She jumped up into the air and
slashed the sword in a wide frontal arc.
He dove to the side, "Demon! I don't care for you challenges." coming up,
sword ready. "I just want you dead."
She rushed forward, hacking wildly in the air. "I will never die." Before
she could change tactics, he cut off her sword arm. They both stopped as it
flew past his feet and bounced on the ground, before exploding.
The explosion was like a shot from a starting gun at a race. They went at
each other like madmen. On a slightly more even footing than before. When it
became obvious that killing Yosho would take too long, she flew up into the
air to get away. Up above the treetops, seeing far around. She saw something
big and gray in the distance that could be useful and fled towards it. Sword
held high, he followed.
They came to a big rock. A rather normal looking one. Big gray and very
uninteresting. She flew straight towards it, and at the last minute, she
teleported. Of course, Yosho didn't fall for it but stopped, just short of
the rock.
"Die!" Her voice came from behind him. Reacting before thought, he twirled
around and cut at her. Just barely reaching her. Not really missing, but not
enough. A small crack appeared on the orb on her throat. "Getting old?" He
grunted noncommittantly and backed away, slowly.
She made her energy sword longer. "Now just stand still. This won't hurt,
much." She jumped at him and he held his sword right in front of her, ready
for anything. Unexpectantly, she winked out. Yosho jumped away from the
rock. Keeping himself in guard position.
"What now?"
A speck of dust fell of the rock. It was the first sign of where she was so
Yosho inched closer. As he watched, the rock began to shake and then slowly
lift itself up in the air. Yosho steadied himself. In a moment, the perfect
kill would present itself.
The rock finally came off the ground, but no, he couldn't see Ryoko
anywhere. Still, he readied his sword. The rock moved inch by inch, still
slowly. The area around him grew darker but he continued his search for
Ryoko. When the ground around him was covered in blackness and almost
decided it was time to run, he saw Ryoko. She was hiding in a small upside
down hole. He threw his sword at her, meaning to cut off her head. She saw
him at the same time however and somehow managed to get her one arm in front
of her. Effectively cutting it off making the sword go in a different
direction.
Without enough strength to hold the rock up, it fell down pressing both
Yosho and Ryoko into the ground. Leaving only the birds twittering for miles
around. The blue sky shone, the trees swayed slightly in the wind and an
annoying alarm rang in the middle of everything.
* * * *
"Tenchi, Tenchi... Wake up buddy. It's time to eat."
"Huh?" Tenchi raised his head, looking around groggily. He looked around.
Tochou was in the desk beside him, so were most of their classmates. The
teacher was nowhere in sight. Tenchi sighed, another class he missed.
"Sorry, I haven't been sleeping well lately. This drea...:"
Tochou waved his hand around impatiently. "Excuses, excuses. So, what did
you pack for lunch today?"
"I don't know actua..." He looked down at his bag. "I think it's something
with fish."
Tochou chuckled. "Too busy dreaming about the girls you met during
summer-break huh?"
Tenchi frowned and looked away. "You know very well that the only girls
around there is my grandmother and Ryoki. Brrr."
Tochou chewed thoughtfully. "So nothing really happened? Pretty boring
summer Tenchi."
Tenchi smiled crookedly. "Yeah, Boring." Tochou continued to talk about this
and that, girls mostly. But Tenchi didn't listen anymore. He thought back to
the day before he left. His grandmother had just given him his new watch.
In exchange for a promise not to go near the statue and the cave.
Of course he ignored her. He hadn't even thought twice about it either. Too
bad too cause if he had...
"Tenchi?" Tochou waved a hand in front of his face. "Man, you're zoning out
a lot today. Are you sure you're okay?"
He nodded. "I'm fine. Couldn't be better."
Tochou nodded to himself. "Okay, that's it. I can tell that you're really
bad off. I'm taking you to the nurse right now."
"No, really. I'm okay."
"No. You're not. Besides it gives us an excuse to skip algebra." He came
closer, whispering in Tenchis ear. "I hear the new nurse is really cute
too."
Tenchi sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay."
Of course. If he had thought just a moment longer he might not have gone
along with it. Tochou practically bounced out of his chair, took a good hold
of Tenchi and then ran out of the room.
* * * *
The nurses office was small. Well perhaps not small. The waiting room could
have housed a small family. But then, there where enough people there to
make it look less than that. The nurse's office was also pink. Which meant
that a lot of people were put in a room that was a shade slightly below a
blush and most of them had the same color as the room.
Tochou sat down in line, putting Tenchi beside him. "Tenchi have you seen
the nurse yet?"
"Huh? Oh, the nurse. No, I haven't." He didn't move just staring down at his
lap, looking worried.
Tochou shook his head. "You have something alright."
The door opened and most of the people turned their heads to look at the
head poking out. She had yellow, wavy hair and a tan lesser girls could kill
for. "Uhm, next. I think?" She looked back and forth at the row of people
until... "Oh Tenchi! Did you come too? But why are you here? Oh, I get it!"
She took on a very serious face, as opposed to the confused one earlier.
"You must be hurt. Come in." She opened the door and hurried back in.
Stunned, Tochou pushed him inside the door. Carefully putting himself inside
before the door shut.
"Urmm, sit down." The nurse pushed Tochou out and pointed to the bed beside
her.
With a slight shrug, Tenchi did as he was asked. She was turned around,
fiddling with something on her desk. "What are you doing here? Are you
researching on the old shrine in the forest? When did you leave? I didn't
see you leave! I don't think I did. I really should have seen it. Oooh, to
think I missed it." Turning around, she changed her tone of voice. "Roll up
your shirt please." She brushed something across his arm. "There, all done."
He looked at her. "But you didn't do anything."
The nurse panicked and frantically searched her pockets and any other places
where something could be kept. "I didn't? I must have. I mean, I really
meant to use the thing. I did use it right. Oh no, where could I have put
it?..."
Tenchi sneaked out as quietly as possible. There was no sense in staying any
longer. Out side the office, Tochou kept asking him about what happened and
how she was like.
"She didn't do anything, just asked about my family's shrine and something
about missing it."
Tochou looked at him. "But was she pretty? No, I saw her. She was more than
that, she was awesome, gorgeous, a magnificent example of womanhood!" He
elbowed Tenchi. "Right?"
"Huh? Oh she just brushed something against me, nothing *yawn* much."
"Tenchi, Tenchi, Tenchi." He shook his head. "Didn't you see how she reacted
to you? She couldn't think straight. She could have been putty in you hands.
Pfhe, nothing much."
Tenchi yawned again, more deeply. "I don't think that *Yawn* she was
anything mu-- *YAwn* much. She just tried to *YAWn* tried to brush. What
were you saying?"
Tochou took him under the shoulder and helped him into the classroom. "We
better get you sitting before you hurt yourself."
*YAWN*
"Tenchi? Tenchi? Yuhooo?" He waved his fingers in front of Tenchis eyes.
"Hmmm, out like a light. Boy, she really wanted you man!"
* * * *
Tenchi was standing outside the memorial. According to the legend, the demon
had been so touched by the hero's bravery that it had built a grave for him.
Ever since that day, the demon had guarded the grave jealously, and Tenchis
family had guarded the demon. The legend said that, to wake the demon all
you needed to do was touch the sword inside.
He stepped in and looked around. It was dark and gloomy, spiderweb's hang
loosely up in the ceiling and some sort of plant's roots were claiming the
walls as it's own. There were no exits in any direction but the one he came,
no crypt, dead body or even any thing that might be interpreted as mark from
a demon.
There was of course the sword hilt lying on the ground. Looking like it had
just carelessly been dropped there by someone. Cautiously, thinking every
bit about the sort of traps he had seen in Indiana Jones movies, he bent
down and picked it up. Nothing rumbled, nothing shook, nothing made any sort
of weird noise at all. He breathed out a sigh of relief.
All that hocus pocus about a some demon that never really existed and a dead
hero that probably wasn't a hero. Tenchi examined the hilt. It was wooden,
but it looked nearly alive, it perfectly for his hand and he started
juggling it with both...
"Ouch!"
He rubbed his right hand. It had bitten him. Tenchi looked at where he had
thrown it. It was stuck in one of the roots. it was one of the bigger ones,
nearly as big as his arm. Wrapping it in his jacket, in case it decided to
give him another shock, he pulled it out of the root.
It gave way instantly and he came back a bit more than intended, which was
just as well, considering the fact that the wall started to move. Pressed
apart by the rootsystem they slowly gave way. Behind the wall was a slope
down and at the end of that, a golden light.
It was all getting very spooky, but without any hesitation whatsoever,
Tenchi started heading down the slope. It was muddy, but not more than that
you could retain your grip. Tenchi moved slowly and a full two minutes went
by before he came down at the end of it.
Here was where the root centered. It was a big hall of a muddy underground
room. It all looked like it was dug out by old roots that, by now, had
withered and dried. In the middle, there was some sort of gathering of the
roots. They twirled around a roundish shape, almost guarding it. Slowly, he
walked up to it and felt its bark.
Hard and tingly to the touch, he noted. He tapped the thing with the hilt
he'd picked up. Suddenly, everything wanted to happen at once. The roots
untwirled and shrank back. A hand shot out from the middle of the bundle and
grabbed his.
"TENCHI!"
-- - --- -- - -- - -- --- - --
Authors notes:
Guess�
Anyway, I might not be able to send anything to the ffml in a looooong
while. Still, I will be writing and as soon as possible I'll send something
in.