Disclaimer: I do not own Tenchi Muyo. AIC/Pioneer owns it.

A/N: This is an interpretation of how the first episode of the OAV 
should have been in my opinion. Tenchi will release Ryoko from the cave 
one day earlier in this story. Enjoy!




Teardrops Will Dry And Happiness Will Come


It was evening and it looked so beautiful outside. Everything seemed 
perfect that night, but it wasn't. One poor, tormented soul trapped 
inside of a cave was crying.

The demon and space pirate, Ryoko was as sad as ever. She felt that no 
one would ever release her from the hellhole she had lived in for over 
seven hundred years. She had thought that the boy she had fallen in 
love with would save her, but now, he couldn't even see her anymore.

"Damn that Kagato," she muttered under her breath. "Why couldn't you 
just let me be? Why?"

She continued crying until she heard something. Something or someone 
was coming inside of her cave.

"I'd better transport myself back into my mummified form," she sighed 
as she dissolved her astral body and out herself back into her original 
body.

Tenchi Masaki walked into Ryoko's cave with the keys he had stolen from 
his grandfather.

"Oh, I sure hope that grandpa won't start searching for his keys 
tonight because if he does.I'm in big trouble," he said to himself as 
he made his way further into the cave.

Ryoko's ears perked up as they heard the sounds come nearer.

"It sounds like a voice. A male voice to be exact. What could this 
person want in here?" she asked herself.

Tenchi was looking at something, which looked like a small dollhouse to 
him. He opened it up and found a sword's hilt, which was very rusty.

"This is a joke!" he snickered to himself. "Why was grandpa making such 
a big deal over some piece of junk?"

He lifted the hilt and saw the sword. He nearly laughed at it; thinking 
about how something like that could cut through a rock.

"Well, let's try it," he said to himself, amused.

Tenchi found a large bolder and hit it with the sword. The sword 
cracked and so did the bolder.

"Oh boy," said Tenchi. "Grandpa's going to have my head for this."

Tenchi then saw a passageway open up. 

'I wonder what's in there,' he thought as he walked through it, the 
hilt of the sword still in his hand.

Ryoko could hear the person's footsteps becoming louder and louder.

'I wonder who it is,' she thought.

She then heard the person scream and fall right down into her tomb.

'Hmm.this is probably the part of the cave where the demon is 
imprisoned in,' thought Tenchi as he looked around the tomb.

Ryoko heard the footsteps walk around her tomb. She was tempted to get 
out of her casket to see who was there, but she didn't want to scare 
the person away.

Tenchi looked towards the casket and asked himself, "Hmm.what's this?"

Ryoko held her breath as she saw the boy that she fell in love with 
look inside of her casket.

Tenchi looked at Ryoko's mummified body, but he wasn't scared of it. He 
was actually curious about it.

"So, the legend is true," Tenchi said quietly to himself.

He looked at her closer and noticed that she was wearing a mask over 
her face. He gently removed the mask and then noticed something utterly 
recognizable to him.

Her eyes.

Tenchi's own eyes widened as they saw the beautiful gold, which they 
held.

"Have I met you somewhere before? It feels as though I've known you all 
my life," he whispered to Ryoko.

Ryoko wanted to tell him who she was. She wanted to hold him and kiss 
him, but she didn't want to scare him away. Instead she felt one of his 
hands on her left cheek.

"I'm sure that I know you. I wish that you would wake up, so that I can 
talk to you," he continued to whisper to her.

Ryoko tried to open her mouth to say something, but nothing came. It 
was torture for her to just lie there and hear her beloved Tenchi speak 
to her, while she couldn't respond.

'Maybe I should just flesh out my body,' she thought. 'He won't be 
scared to talk to me in person if I do that.'

Ryoko then moved away from Tenchi's hand. Tenchi looked at her and his 
eyes grew even larger than before.

'She's moving,' he observed.

Ryoko rose up from her casket and then looked at Tenchi. He looked back 
at her, too stunned to actually move or speak for that matter.

Tenchi then noticed that Ryoko's skin and texture began to transform 
and fill out. Once she had finished transforming she got out of the 
casket and knelt down right beside Tenchi. He looked at her nervously.

"What is your name?" he asked, stammering.

Ryoko giggled at his nervousness and said, "My name is Ryoko."

"Ryoko, huh? That's nice," he replied.

"Are you afraid of me, Tenchi?" she asked, quietly.

Tenchi looked at her strangely. 'Why would I ever be afraid of such a 
beautiful creature?'

"Well.are you?" she asked, again.

 Tenchi shook his head and said, "No, Ryoko. I'm not."

Ryoko smiled and then hugged him tenderly. Tenchi was as nervous as 
ever as this beautiful and very naked woman hugged him.

"How did you know my name?" he asked, curiously.

"I know your name because I've known you from ever since you were a 
baby," she replied, softly.

"You have?" he asked.

"Yes, well.I didn't exactly meet you in the flesh the first time I saw 
you," she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, the first time I saw you, your grandmother was carrying you in 
some sort of bag on her back and you pointed to my astral body. Your 
grandmother had asked if you saw a monster. I was a little offended, 
but I knew that she was telling the truth when she called me that," she 
said in tears.

Tenchi rubbed her back soothingly and said, "That's not true, Ryoko. 
You are not a monster."

"I'm not?" she asked, still in tears.

"Of course not," he replied, tenderly.

"Thank you, Tenchi," she said, softly.

Tenchi looked at her and asked, "May I ask you something else 
concerning this?"

"Sure," said Ryoko.

"Why and when did I stop having the ability of being able to see you?" 
he asked.

Ryoko sighed and said, "I can't answer the why part of your question, 
but I can answer the when part."

"Okay, so.when did that happen?" he asked.

"On the day that your grandmother died," she said, sadly.

"It happened on that day, huh?" asked Tenchi.

"Yes, Tenchi. You came to the cave on that day with her umbrella in 
hand and you were crying on a large rock. I was there in my astral form 
and when you didn't even acknowledge my presence and that was when I 
knew that you couldn't see me anymore. I did try to comfort you on that 
day, but it didn't work because you had lost the ability to see me," 
said Ryoko.

"You tried to comfort me on that day," he whispered in awe.

"There is something I must tell you, Tenchi. Something that you should 
know," she said.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I'm in love with you, Tenchi," she said, quickly and quietly.

"You are?" he asked.

"I am," she replied.

Tenchi then cupped her face in his hands and looked into her golden 
eyes and suddenly a flood of memories came back to him. He remembered 
her again and he felt the warmth and the love that she was giving him. 
He also felt himself wanting to love her as well. He needed to love 
her. It was almost like they were fated to be.

Tenchi drew her face nearer to his and said, "I love you too."

Ryoko felt like she could have died happy right then. 'He loves me!'

Tenchi then leaned forward and kissed her. Ryoko returned the kiss 
passionately. Tenchi began to kiss her back with the same amount of 
passion that she was mustering upon him. After a nice long kiss, they 
both broke away from each other at the same time. Tenchi was out of 
breath and Ryoko was letting out happy sighs.

"I need to get you out of this cave," said Tenchi after he had regained 
his breath.

"I can do that myself," she said. "Well.at least now I can."

"Okay, then let's go," said Tenchi.

"Hold on then," said Ryoko as she put a hand on one of Tenchi's 
shoulders and teleported them outside.

When they reached the outside of the cave, Tenchi noticed that Ryoko 
was now wearing clothes.

"Nice outfit," Tenchi commented.

"Why thank you, Tenchi," she said with a grin.

"You know what, Ryoko?" he asked.

"What, Tenchi?" she asked back.

"How would you like to live at my house?" he asked.

Ryoko's eyes widened. "Do you mean it, Tenchi?"

"Of course I mean it," said Tenchi.

"Then I accept!" she said, happily as she pulled him into a hug.

"Shall we go then?" he asked.

"Let's go," said Ryoko with a smile that was refusing to leave her 
face.

They walked back to the house, hand in hand, with a new life ahead of 
them. Nothing would ever be the same.




End




A/N: I know that I need to be working on To Rule Or To Love, but I just 
had to write this. Well, I hope that you all liked it. Ja ne!