I make no claim on the characters depicted in these stories and am not
making any money off of it.


Childhood memories
By, Clayton Overstreet


  Tenchi's mother walked with him to the cave, holding his hand to keep him
from stumbling. She didn't know why but her son never liked to play any of
his games anywhere but the cave. So as they topped the hill leading to the
Misaki shrine he let go of her hand and ran ahead. Achika laughed as he
got there and bowed to his invisible playmate.
  Tenchi smiled up at his friend. She was a girl, which was a strike against 
her,
but she lived in a demon cave so that made her cool. Achika sat on a rock
several feet away and watched her son play. Tenchi turned to his friend and
said, "Today can we play 'Rescue the princess from the castle'?" She nodded
and sat on a rock, watching as Tenchi picked up a stick and fought a 
'dragon'
she had fashioned for him as an illusion. He always loved it when she made
animals for him to play with, his favorite beint the kitten with the bell 
around
it's neck.
  After Tenchi beat the dragon he ran around in the bushes for a while,
fighting his way to the castle gates. Finaly his friend lay down and 
pretended
to sleep. Tenchi looked at her and said, "Bleh! Do i have to kiss you? I 
know
it's how the story goes but..." His friend just smiled and lay asleep. He 
tried
to wake her up by slpashing water on her, by banging rocks together, and
by waving his hands in her face, but she wouldn't budge. Finaly with a
resigned sigh he bent down and kissed her. A cammer flash goes off and he
see's his father taking pictures of him.
  Blushing Tenchi hides behind a rock. Achika laughed, "Aww Nobiyuki, you
know Tenchi doeswn't like you taking pictures when he's playing with his
imaginary friend." Tenchi was about to say, 'She is not imaginary,' when he
saw her waving for him to follow. Sneaking out from behind the rock so his
parents couldn't see, he followed her to the gate outside the cave. He was
pretty sure he could squeese through the bars if he realy tried, but just 
befor
he did he felt a hand on his shoulder.
  Tenchi turned and saw his grandfather standing behind him. "Tenchi you
know better than to go there. A demon sleeps in that cave. Long ago a
prince chased the demon here and imprisoned it with a magical sword. If
the demon ever got out who knows what trouble it might cause." Tenchi bit
his lip and walked out of the cave. When he was gone Yosho turned to the
phantom his grandson had been following. "He is not ready for you Ryoko.
One day maybe, but not today." Ryoko let her head sink to her chest as she
floated back into the cave.

  A month later Achika lay dieing. Tenchi came to see her. "Momma, are you
going to get better soon?" Achika looked down at her son. "No Tenchi I will
not get better. But no matter what, I want you to promise that my passing 
will
not stop you from doing what is right for your friends and family. Promise
that you will cherish every moment with them as if I were there, because I
will be watching over you Tenchi..." Her eyes closed and he hand fell to the
floor beside the bed. "Momma? Momma?" Tenchi tried to wake her up but
she wouldn't. "I promise momma..." The Tenchi turned and ran from the
house. Nobiyuki watched him go and then went to see his wife.
  Tenchi didn't know why afterwards, but he ran straight to the cave. 
Calling
out to his friend, his tears clouding his vision, he called out again and 
again.
But for some reason he couldn't see her. Only feel a slight presence from
somwhere around him. New tears replaced the ones for his mother. he had
lost them both. His friend and his mother. Crying onto the rock he didn't 
even
see Ryoko trying to comfort him.

  Yosho watched his grandson. "So, it was Achika's unused power that
allowed him to see her..." He walked up and put a hand on his grandson's
shoulder. Tenchi looked up at his grandfather still crying. "Tenchi, come 
with
me. Today we start your training." Tenchi thought about it, then nodded.
Glancing towards the cave he made another promise. One day he would
free his friend from the cave, demon or no...

The end

Author's note.
Ok, we know Ryoko watched Tenchi from the cave and played with him
when he was young, but until now we never knew exactly what they did
together. Well here it is. Feel free to make up whatever games you ant for
future fan fics. Tell me what you think about this at clayton_n@hotmail.com