Disclaimer: I do not own, nor claim ownership of, any and all characters portrayed in this writing. I am using them without permission from their owners and therefore am risking having legal business being taken against me. So you better appreciated it. Authors note: Originally I wasn't planning to write a sequel to The Light in the Darkness, which is why I wrote the ending in such a way as to leave a feeling of suspense but also completion. There was more to come, but the story could stand without it. That was my plan, but everyone who wrote me demanded a sequel, so I guess I might as well. I just hope I can figure out where I was taking the story. Tainted Intent " We have a problem Washu." The speaker was uncharacteristically nervous. Normally she was full of confidence, but this was hardly a normal event. After all, how do you approach to someone you haven't spoken to in over twenty thousand years. " Do we Tsunami?" Unlike her sister, Washu was calmed and focused. She was however, also out of character. Usually cheerful and eccentric, she now quiet and spoke almost in monotone. She hadn't even turned away from her holo- computer to acknowledge her sister's presence. " Yes," Tsunami tried not to let Washu's attitude affect her, but it was very difficult. "Tokimi, she has...seduced Tenchi." " I know." " What!?" Washu briefly glanced over her shoulder at Tsunami. " I was aware of it before you were. Tokimi didn't even bother to trick me like she did you." Washu turned back to her work. " She knew I wouldn't do anything." " You...you knew what she was planning?" " Of course, it was fairly obvious." " Then why didn't you stop her!?" Tsunami was almost screeching in frustration. " All our plans, those centuries of preparation. We might have lost everything because of last night and you did nothing to stop it! Don't you care!?" Washu's head snapped around and her eyes locked with Tsunami. It was all the goddess could do not to flinch from that gaze. Washu slowly stood up, never taking her eyes off Tsunami. She stepped right up to her sister, somehow dwarfing her despite the difference in their physical size. Tsunami knew Washu couldn't hurt her, not as she was now, but that knowledge did little to help calm her. She knew how deadly Washu could be with words. " Stop her?" Washu began. " And how do you think I should have gone about doing that? I suppose I could have tried to control Tenchi, as you have. Try to influence him, brainwash perhaps, until he believes whatever he is told. That is what you've been doing all along, haven't you? Trying to get close to him, get him to trust you so he'll listen to what you say." " No! I-I would never..." " Of course you wouldn't," Washu interrupted. " Your too sweet and nice for that, aren't you?" Washu's tone turned cold as ice. She began to circle around Tsunami, eyeing her like one would a car wreak, something too disturbing to look at, but too interesting to ignore. " No, I suppose it's all been a huge coincidence, just my imagination running away with itself. The assimilating with Sasami, saving Tenchi from Kagato, making Sasami question who she was so you got to come across as so noble." Tsunami was struggling to hold back the tears that were threatening to pour from her eyes. " Oh, look at me, I saved Sasami, she should be dead. Of course I didn't bother to explain it to her, she was too young to understand, much better to let her imagination try and figure out who and what she is," Washu mocked. " But enough about you, this is about me right? How I was suppose to keep an eye on Tenchi? That's what you thought I would do, isn't it!? That I would nursemaid him, oh no Tenchi don't do that. Why? I can't tell you, you'll just have to trust me because I know better." Washu suddenly changed, growing into her adult body. She stepped right up to Tsunami, standing uncomfortably close. Tsunami couldn't help but back away. Washu's face twisted into a sneer and her voice was filled with anger. She poked a finger into Tsunami's chest. " Well let me tell you something, sister, Tenchi is not mine, nor yours, nor Tokimi's." She gave Tsunami a shove that pushed her back a step. "He is his own self, and no one can control him. I'm not even going to try because you know what, he is my friend." Washu was practically screaming. " He trusts me, maybe not completely, I have pulled a few tricks on him, but with the things that truly matter he has faith in me! He would trust me with his life, and yet he would give that life away to protect me if he could! And I will not break that trust, I will not tell him what he can and can't do, just because of some bullshit idea we came up with before his race even existed!" Tsunami wasn't the only one crying now. Twin rivers of tears ran down Washu's cheeks as she verbally tore into her sister. " You pretend to be so good and holy, but you've never even been down here among the people you pledge so hold so dearly! How can you do anything for them if you don't know how they think!? How can you help them when all they know of you is myth and legend!? You were always so naive! You want to help, but your not living in the same world as everyone else! You stay cuddled up inside your dream world where everything is either good or bad and every decision is obvious! Well it doesn't work that way! If you want to help then get out there and see what life really is! Until then I don't want to see your face! Now get out hell of my lab!" Tsunami gave a cry of grief as she fled, leaving the Earth and eventually the entire galaxy, hoping somehow the distance would shield her from the pain. Alone, Washu collapsed. She pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her head in her arms. It hurt to breath, to think. She wanted to go find Tsunami and apologize, take back everything she had just said. She want to go back, back to when she and Tsunami and Tokimi had all been one and the same. However there are just some things that even the greatest scientist in the universe can't do. Tenchi was a bit surprised to wake up and find Tokimi was still in his room. She was standing by the window, staring out over the hills. " Tokimi?" The goddess stiffened, but did not turn around. " Tokimi, is something wrong?" Tenchi got up and walked over to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and gently turned her toward him. He was startled to see she was crying. " What's wrong?" " Washu, oh Washu," Tokimi whispered. " Washu?" Tenchi asked. " What about Washu? Tokimi, what is it?" " She needs you Tenchi. You have to go help her." " Help her, with what? I don't understand." " You will." Tokimi took Tenchi's hand in her's. " I have to go, but I'll be back. Tenchi, remember what I told you. Be strong." " Tokimi, I...." " Shh..." Tokimi put a single finger to his lips. " Just go." With that she vanished. " Why can't anyone ever tell me what going around here?" Tenchi asked himself. He got dressed quickly and headed for Washu's lab. He was about to knock on the door to the lab when a sound stopped him, Ryoko's laugh. He glanced over and saw her laying on the couch, watching TV. Tenchi suddenly realized she had no idea he was up. In fact, she obviously had no idea what had happened last night. If she had...Tenchi felt like kicking himself. What the hell had he been thinking last night? Sure Tokimi was a beautiful woman and certainly seemed nice enough, but he realized he barely knew her. What could possibly have come over him? And what about Ryoko, and Ayeka? He hadn't given a second thought about them, of their feelings. Everything he did last night was so unlike him. Ryoko sat up and stretched. She got up and Tenchi panicked. While he knew she didn't know what was going on, the idea of what she might do when she did find out freaked him out. He quickly opened the door to Washu's lab and jumped inside before Ryoko could see him. Tenchi leaned against the door while he waited for his heart to slow down. " Oh man, what am I going to do about this?" Tenchi's thoughts were interrupted by what sounded like muffled crying. Leaving the door to investigate, he was completely shocked to find Washu sitting on the floor, in her adult from, crying. " Washu?" Hearing his voice, Washu stood up in surprise. For a moment she just looked at him, her eyes locked onto his face. Then she turned away, her body shaking. " Go away Tenchi," she ordered. The shock of seeing her so upset left Tenchi stuck in place. The only time he'd seen her like this was when she had told him about her family, how they were taken away from her. However that had been mild compared to the condition she was in now. He took a few steps toward her. " What's wrong Washu?" He saw her stiffen up, her head shook slowly back and forth. " Please, go away," her voice shook, sounding far too weak to belong to the scientist he knew. " Washu..." " Go away!" Tenchi took a quick step back. He hadn't missed the anger in her voice, and an angry, upset Washu was not something to mess with. He felt a strong urge to flee, but looking at her, he knew he couldn't leave her in such pain. " No," Tenchi responded, putting as much stubbornness as he could into the word. That brought Washu's head around, a look of shock on her face. That had definitely not been what she had expected him to say. " I'm not going anywhere. I don't know what it is about this house, but no one here tells me anything it seems. I don't know what the hell is going on right now, but it's big, and it has something to do with you, Tsunami, and Tokimi. What is it?" When Washu didn't respond Tenchi walked up to her and grasped her by the shoulders. " Washu please. What is going on? Why can't you tell me? Do you not trust me, is that it?" " No! No no no Tenchi," Washu almost looked panicked. " I trust you, I do. Please, you go to believe me." " Then what? Why can't you tell me? I want to help you, but I can't do anything if you won't tell me what this is all about." " Oh Tenchi, I....I just..." Washu couldn't hold back any more. She fell into Tenchi, wrapping her arms around him as she cried on his shoulder. Tenchi held her tightly. He blinked back the tears that were starting to form in his eyes. For several minutes he just held her, waiting for her to regain control. Slowly her sobs lessened and she started to pull herself back together. " Tenchi," Washu spoke, her voice slightly muffled by his shoulder. " I'm...sorry. I wish I could have told you, I really do, but...I never thought things would turn out this way." Tenchi loosened his embrace on her. He gently tilted her head up so he could look at her face. " What things? What's going on?" " Tokimi, Tsunami. I never thought...never thought it would hurt so much...seeing them again. We had such great plans, so much we were going to accomplish. Now though, I don't know what to do. Everything's gone wrong. We never planned on this." " On what? Washu please, your not making any sense." " On you Tenchi, everything was suppose to revolve around you." " Me? I don't understand." " I know, and that's my fault. I should have explained this all to you long ago, but I couldn't. You weren't suppose to be like this." " What?" Washu took a step back, breaking away from him. She took a deep breath before speaking. " Tenchi, what I'm about to say isn't going to be pleasant to hear, but please wait until I've told you everything before you say anything." " Alright." " Tenchi, you were suppose to be...oh hell, I hate to use this word but...you were suppose to be an instrument for us, Tokimi, Tsunami, and myself. A tool for our purposes. We originally designed the idea of you over three million years ago. You see, our powers were fading. Something big was forming, and it was sapping our strength. A confrontation was coming. We weren't sure if we could handle it on our own, so we designed you to be capable of great power. You've seen some of that power, when you defeated Kagato, and later when you managed to overcome the gravity of a black-hole. However, that was but a sample of what you are truly capable of. Anyway, that was our plan, what we wanted to create. It was Tsunami that discovered the potential of the Jurains. Some of them were unnaturally powerful, and we knew they would make the perfect template for our creation. So Tsunami created the ship-trees and gave them to the Jurains. The trees extended their life spans and slowly increased their natural abilities. Eventually the most powerful of them took control of the planet, becoming the first of the Jurain royalty. We let Tsunami keep watch over them, while Tokimi and myself concerned ourselves with other things. Unfortunately, things began to fall apart between us. As our powers faded, we began to drift apart, becoming more and more different. Soon we began to disagree about how to finally bring about our plans. I won't go into all the details now, but in the end, I just stopped caring. I left, turning myself into a normal person. Well, more or less normal. And to be truthful, I didn't really stop caring. That's why I created Ryoko. She was my, replacement for you I guess. Certainly not as capable as you, but she was better than nothing. However in making Ryoko, I discover something amazing. To create her gems, I used the power I had forsaken, storing the vast energy within them. Afterward I was captured by Kagato and placed in suspended animation. When I awoke, I found that Ryoko had only one of her original gems, yet her power was almost as if she had all three. While I had slept, my power had returned. At first I thought that the great event had come and past, but no. It was still coming, and growing stronger. Yet my power, sealed as it was within the gems, had grown, and still continues to grow. I hate to admit this, but I don't know why. I'm not the only one who figured this out either. Tsunami had persevered her power by placing it in the ship which shares her name. Tokimi has likewise saved her power by removing herself from this universe almost completely. She interacts with this reality by sending tiny pieces of her being here. But I'm getting off track here. As I said, I created Ryoko as my own version of you. Tsunami however, went ahead and created you, using the, forgive me, 'blueprint' we had come up with. Tokimi took a different path toward personal survival. She gathered an army of followers, a great gathering of powerful and wise beings. She chose quantity over quality. In the end, we have all been preparing. But now we know, it's been in vain. The great event is even bigger than we anticipated. It will take all of us to face it. However there is one big problem, something I never took into account when all the planning began." Washu suddenly fell silent, turning her gaze away from Tenchi. Several minutes passed. Finally he pressed her on. " What? What happened Washu?" " I..." Washu glance back at Tenchi, and he saw tears in her eyes again. " I....fell in love with you." Tenchi just stared. He couldn't do anything else at the moment. Washu kept talking. " I never thought you would be...like you are. Your so damned sweet and kind and thoughtful. Your so...good. I look at you and, I can't see you as just some creation. You and Ryoko. I care about you two. I never imagined that I would, but I do. Ryoko truly is like a daughter to me, and you..." Washu reached out and grasped Tenchi's hand, pulling him to her. " I don't know what it is, but I can't stand being away from you. I've never felt this way, even when I was married. Even as strongly as I felt for my husband and child, it is nothing to what I feel for you." "Washu, I..." Tenchi began, only to be cut off as Washu placed her fingers to his lips. " Please just...just hold me Tenchi," she said as she laid her head on his shoulder. " Just hold me, for a little while." Far away, more distant than the best minds on Earth could even imagine, Tsunami floated in the void of space. She embraced the darkness, the cold. It numbed her mind and body to the pain she felt. Today was suppose to be the day, the moment when she and Washu would put aside the bad feelings of the past. The day when they would join together against the coming evil, as she had planned for so long. But it didn't happen. Everything went wrong. Tokimi had stolen Tenchi from her, taken him for herself. Washu had rejected her. Everything was falling apart. All her plans had been smashed to dust and blown away. And worst of all, it was all her fault. Washu had been right. Tsunami tried to take council in her sister's words, but it was too painful to think of them. She couldn't do so without remembering the venom in the words, the angry, mocking tone. So she drifted, staring thoughtlessly into the void. " Why must you be so dramatic about everything?" Tsunami whirled around in shock, gasping as her eyes came to rest on Tokimi. " What are you doing all the way out here? Your like a little girl who runs away from home to cry when things don't go her way." Tsunami felt a burning rage start to build within her, but it quickly died. Anger had never been her way. Inside, she just collapsed. " Please go away," her voice was so weak she barely even noticed that she had spoken. " Tsunami..." " Please! You got what you wanted, I don't need to hear you brag about it. Just go." Tsunami turned away as she spoke, and in doing so, missed the pain that flashed in her sister''s eyes. " Is that what you think I came here for? Tsunami, you have forgotten who I am if you truly think that." " Forgotten?" Tsunami spoke lightly, as if pondering the meaning of the word. " Was is there to forget? The sister I remember no longer exists. She passed into the darkness ages ago. All that is left of her, is but a shadow that carries her name." " Stop it!" Tokimi cried. " Tsunami how can you say that? You won't even listen to me, will you? Dammit, why must you be so childish!?" " Why must you be so demanding?" Tsunami shot back. " Childish you say? I would rather be regarded as a spoiled brat, than as an heartless monster." " Is...is that how you see me?" Tokimi whispered. For the first time in her life, Tsunami ignored her core feelings, pushing past that inner voice that was telling her to be nice. Instead, she said what she felt. " Oh no Tokimi. Your not a monster. Your much more than that. You are the very core of evil. On Earth, I would call you Satan. On Jurai, I call you Termona. You are the ultimate evil. Satan, Termona, Tokimi, they all mean the same thing to me." Tokimi was stunned. She had never heard such hate in Tsunami's voice, never seen such scorn on her face. She had thought her sister unable to express such emotion. " Now do as I ask. Go. Leave me alone." Spoken with as much indifference as possible to her sister's obvious pain, Tsunami turned away. Tokimi did as she was asked. She headed back to Earth, back to Tenchi's room. There she sat upon his bed, and for the first time ever, truly cried. She sobbed until it felt like she would collapse in on herself, but the pain wouldn't go away. End...until next time Man that was depressing to write, but it had to be done. I'll try to make the next part happier, but I can't guarantee anything. You know, the only problem with this story is when the third OAV comes out, it's not going to be true to the series anymore. Then again, so will a lot of fanfics so, what the hell.