Balance of Power
A Tenchi Muyo Fan fiction

The characters of Tenchi Muyo are the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC.
They are used without permission.

"Love is the master key, which opens the gates of happiness."
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes ~

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Part III:
Black and White
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'How long has it been since I was last here?' she wondered before
laughing at her own question. 'When I was last here, I had no idea of
the human concept of time,' the goddess Tsunami thought with a smile on
her face, enjoying the feeling of the wind in her hair. As she rode the
circular disc toward the hall of her sister, she watched the splendor
and beauty of her surroundings pass by with the wondrous eye of a child.
She had to force herself to remember the reason she had come and the
expression on this normally joyful being became grim.

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"Ryoko, it was Kagato who came for Tenchi," Katsuhito explained to her,
carefully watching and gauging her reaction.

At first she stood perfectly still, then Ryoko's expression became lost
as if she no longer knew who or where she was. With confused eyes she
looked over at Yosho.

"Ryoko, did you hear what I said?" Katsuhito asked, putting a hand on
her shoulder. After a moment without an answer, he was about to repeat
his question, when Ryoko's face began to darken with a slowly building
rage. Suddenly, her legs lost the will to stand and she fell to her
knees. Her fists were tightly clenched and she appeared to be whispering
quietly to herself.

Katsuhito feared that she was not ready for this but he really had no
one else he could turn to. So he watched and waited.

"What was I thinking? What made me think that I could be happy?" Ryoko
said quietly to herself, but the volume of her voice was rising parallel
with her anger. Her three gems began to give off a dull glow and her
eyes burned. "He has controlled my life for as long as can I remember,
what made me think now would be different?" Fiercely she stood, her
eyes bearing down on Katsuhito. "This is my fault... If it weren't for
me, Tenchi would still be safe. Kagato must have come to retrieve
me and Tenchi got in the way somehow, but I *swear to you this!*"
Ryoko's eyes and three gems sparked with power and anger. "He will
*not* get away with it! If it cost me my life I will make him pay for
taking Tenchi!"

Katsuhito tried to calm her down and explain how it was Tenchi came to
be traveling with Kagato. "Ryoko, it was not your fault. If there is
anyone to blame it is Tenchi for his brashness and myself for my
arrogance..."

Ryoko wasn't listening. The one person who had given her hope after
seven hundred years of despair was in the hands of the man who had
corrupted her very being. She wouldn't allow such an innocent and pure
person like Tenchi to stay in that thing's presence a moment longer. She
held her hands before herself so that both palms faced each other and
concentrated her will. 'RYO-OHKI!'

"Ryoko!"

Ryoko's face was a mask of fury. Katsuhito's pleas fell on deaf ears as
the only thing Ryoko could hear were an imaginary Tenchi's cries for
help. A noise not unlike the rumbling of thunder made its way over the
lush hills and through the teeming forests, causing animals to scatter
in fear and birds to take flight. "RYO-OHKI!" Ryoko screamed aloud, her
eyes alight with an anger that boarded on madness. She was answered by a
howl not heard in seven hundred years. The sound of it was almost enough
to break through the nightmare and bring a smile to Ryoko's face.

"MMMRREEEOOOOWWW"

Still stiff from his earlier injuries, Katsuhito stood and again tried
to gain Ryoko's attention. She had to know the whole story if she were
going to succeed. If she proceeded in this state and attacked the Souja,
Kagato would take control over her again or merely destroy her and
Ryo-Ohki with Tenchi never even knowing that she ever existed. He had to
stop her from leaving. Words having failed, Katsuhito resorted to more
desperate means.

Ryoko's eyes focused on the huge form of Ryo-Ohki as the black
crystalline ship flew just above the treetops and came to a stop over
the heads of her mistress and Katsuhito, dripping wet from its rebirth.
With the distraction, Ryoko never noticed Katsuhito approach her from
behind and touch the hilt of tenchiken to her back. She fell to her
knees as the air was filled with the smell of ozone and the sound of her
scream.

Katsuhito had briefly touched Ryoko with his sword before quickly
pulling it away, merely trying to break through her rage. He closed his
eyes in sympathy for her pain, but she had to be made to listen. He had
to *make* her listen; too much was riding on this. He prayed that his
desperate action hadn't destroyed what rationality Ryoko had left and
that she would allow him to explain.

"I'm truly sorry, I had to do that," he began to say to the recovering
Ryoko. "But you must list..."

An explosion blew Katsuhito off his feet and threw him back several
meters.  As he attempted to stand, Ryo-Ohki's angry howl filled his
ears.  The sentient ship apparently took exception to the way he chose
to regain Ryoko's attention and came to the defense of its mistress.
Ryo-Ohki continued her assault, the fact that Ryoko was recovering
nearby, the only thing that kept the cabbit from incinerating the whole
area.

Through the translucent shield that his tree ship, Funaho, produced to
protect him from Ryo-Ohki's attack, Katsuhito saw the look of betrayal
and hatred on Ryoko's face. With a pained expression, Katsuhito began to
realize that a battle started seven hundred years ago had resumed.

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The air in the station was abnormally cold as Mihoshi's visible breath
made abundantly clear. In her mind, she took that as the cause of the
shivers randomly shooting through her body. No, it wasn't fear.  She was
just cold. Nope, not fear. Assured of herself once more, she hugged one
of the corners of the T-shaped corridor and glanced down at her sensor
watch again. The humanoid and crystalline based life forms were making
slow but steady progress towards her position.

<>

At that moment, in another pocket of reality, Tsunami appeared in the
darkened hall of her sister, Tokimi. The room was empty save for the
large round platform on which the blue haired goddess stood.

"Tokimi, sister, I would speak with you," Tsunami said rather formally.

For a time there was silence. "Do you think he will kill her?" A voice
asked from out of the darkness with a tone of curiosity.

"What?" Tsunami replied confused.

"Will he kill her?" The voice asked again.

The platform on which Tsunami stood became translucent, before finally
revealing a scene of a tall blond woman in Galaxy Police combat dress
pressed flat against a wall, waiting in ambush. Just a round the corner
from which she stood, a young man wearing a backpack was slowly walking
down a perpendicular hallway carrying a wooden bokken. The two were
still some distance apart.

"Tenchi will do no such thing! I do not know what it is you..." Tsunami
began.

"I agree. He will not kill the Galaxy Police officer," Tokimi
interrupted, appearing next to her sister.

Tsunami looked over at her "little sister". "What are you doing here in
this dimension?"

Not looking away from the scene beneath her feet, Tokimi answered. "I
could ask the same of you, sister, but I believe our answers would be
the same."

On the station, Mihoshi took a quick peek around the corner. Seeing the
humanoid about to reach her, she released the safety on her service
revolver, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 'One... Two...'

"THREE!" She quickly executed a forward roll, coming up into a crouch
position with weapon ready. "FREEZE! DROP YOUR WEAPON, RAISE YOUR HANDS
IN THE AIR AND GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!" Mihoshi commanded, too bad no
one was there.

"Huh?" Mihoshi wondered standing up. "Where did he go?" She looked to
her left and then her right. 'Damn!' She thought and instantly swung her
gun around.

Though he had been looking for the Galaxy Police officer, Tenchi's mind
kept drifting back to the man he had killed. Looking down at his bluish
stained hands he didn't notice the blond haired police woman slowly
counting to herself as he took the corner right and began walking away
from her. "THREE" he suddenly heard someone shout cutting through his
inattention. Rapidly pivoting, Tenchi turned to face his adversary,
bring down his bokken in a downward stroke in the same motion.

Mihoshi screamed in pain as the wooden bokken struck across both wrists.
Her armor kept her bones from breaking, but the simple wooden sword
proved to be far more damaging then its appearance would allow.

Her scream was quickly followed by Tenchi's, as the blaster he had
struck from Mihoshi's hand, clattered to the ground and fired, stunning
him in the right arm. It became completely numb, his bokken joining the
blaster on the ground.

The two stood motionless, measuring the other.

There was a glimpse of a smile on Lady Tokimi's face. "What an
interesting dimension."

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The blasts poured down like rain on the three weakening Light Hawk Wings
Funaho was using to protect Yosho. With the three gems no longer in the
hilt of tenchiken, this output of power was quickly draining the ancient
tree. Then the blasts stopped. Yosho turned his gaze to Ryoko.

The look on Ryoko's face said one thing: You are going to die in the
worst way imaginable. Her three gems glowed brighter than stars as she
saved up the energy for a final blast to shatter Yosho's fluttering
shield. "How dare you," she said accusingly. "You cowardly bastard, HOW
DARE YOU USE HIM AGAINST ME!" She yelled and thrusted her arms forward.

He had beaten her once, but he held no misconception of being able to do
it again. Before she was fighting for a man she despised. Now she was
fighting for her what she believed was her only chance at love. Further
more, Yosho was still smarting from his earlier injuries. He had
precious few options left to him.

Electricity arced from Ryoko's body causing small fires where they
danced along the ground. She grinned devilishly at him. "Rest assured,
Yosho. I *will* find Tenchi and I'll tell him how you wanted me to tell
him goodbye for you before you spontaneously combusted."

Yosho sighed and had Funaho drop her shield. It wouldn't have blocked
Ryoko's attack anyway. He stood and turned his back to Ryoko. "Do as you
please, demon. I tire of your company. Tenchi maybe a fool, running off
as he did with Kagato, but at least I can go to my eternal rest knowing
he will not be burden with the likes of you as well. You will not find
him. You were a slave to Kagato seven hundred years ago and you're still
slave. This time to your emotions"

"Humph, I will not fall for your talk this time, Prince," Ryoko scoffed.

"Then fire. Tenchi has enough problems without adding you to them. I
just pray that he has the strength he needs to resists Kagato's evil."
Yosho closed his eyes and clasped his hands together in prayer. "But
before you do fire, join me in praying for the man you claim to care
for. He will need it, if he is not to become a slave to Kagato and his
emotions as you are."

Ryoko's arms began to shake. "You're lying! You're trying to trick me!
Just tell me where Tenchi is!"

"I've already told you," Yosho said in an even voice.

"YOU'RE LYING! TELL ME OR I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Then kill me."

The tears again began to flow freely down Ryoko's cheeks and her whole
frame shook. "TELL ME!"

Yosho was silent.

"TELL ME!" Ryoko screamed, forming a huge ball of energy between her
quivering hands. The large ship hovering in the sky disappeared, in its
place a small cabbit hopped to the side of her mistress. Ryo-Ohki meowed
worriedly at Ryoko's feet.

Still Yosho said nothing and stood motionless, waiting for Ryoko's
blast. It finally came, incinerating everything its path.

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Mihoshi moved first, instinct taking over where intellect was paralyzed.
With her left leg, she lashed out with a crescent kick. His right arm
paralyzed, Tenchi was unable to bring his left arm around in time to
block. The blow to his chin spun him around. With his back to her
Mihoshi followed instantly with a roundhouse kick of her right leg. The
kick impacted on Tenchi's right cheek and forced his head into the
adjoining wall. He fell to the floor unconscious. Mihoshi let out the
breath she had been holding.

"You, sir, are under arrest."

In Lady Tokimi's realm, a smile returned to Tsunami's face. True, having
the person she had planned on grooming for the throne of Jurai
having a jail record wasn't it a good thing, but it wasn't something she
couldn't work around. And it was infinitely better than having him stay
in Kagato's company. Tsunami turned to her sister, her smile even larger
now.

"And that is that. I do not know why you sent Kagato after Tenchi,"
Tsunami began. "Yes, I know it was you," she added noticing Tokimi's
smallish grin. "But they end now."

"Patience, Sister, not all the pawns are in play yet."

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Tapping into the station's internal security system, Kagato laughed at
Tenchi's pitiful attempt to delay the officer. "Well boy, I guess that
is one way of going about it," he mused as he saw the officer place
restraints around Tenchi's hands and with a grunt of pain lift the
unconscious boy on to her shoulders. Kagato having finished his search
of the GP database for information on Tsunami and Jurai had returned to
the Souja with ease.  Now he turned his attention to his lab rat,
Tenchi, being carried threw the maze of corridors toward the waiting
GP cruiser.

It was time for his next experiment.

Mihoshi, despite the pain in both wrists, was making good time back to
her shuttle. Reaching the shuttle bay, she placed the still unconscious
man down and keyed for the hatch release for her shuttle. As the gears
and servos of the door whined, she took a moment to appraise her
captive. He didn't look like the typical space pirate or felon. In fact,
he was kind of cute... for a murderous cop killer. It was with that
strange thought going through her mind that her shuttle exploded.

Kagato ceased the Souja's firing on the station. The continuous chain of
cascading explosions told him that the station was doomed. No point in
wasting any more energy there. If the boy could be defeated by one lone
police officer, he was hardly worth Kagato's time. No better than that
defective Ryoko. Kagato would give him one more test.

Mihoshi scrambled away from the falling debris of the crumbling shuttle
bay, dragging Tenchi behind her with her aching wrists. Reaching the
structural security of the room's doorway, she reached into her back
pocket for her control cube in hopes of transporting herself and her
prisoner to the waiting Yukinojo.

"What's going on?" Tenchi said groggily trying to stand.

"Shh... don't confuse me," Mihoshi chastised, turning sections of the
small cube in this and that direction. Another explosion shook the room.

"Hey! This place is gonna blow! We have to get out here! Quick, take
these cuffs off, I'm no good to you like this!" Tenchi yelled.

"Whose fault is that Mr. Criminal? And anyway it is against Galaxy
Police regulation 62... 6... 26... anyway it is against the rules to
unrestraint a prisoner before they are booked."

Finally, the bulkhead they were under began to collapse. Dashing
forward, Tenchi shouldered Mihoshi out of the way, ramming her out of
harms way and into the far wall. She slumped to the ground dazed. Tenchi
thought furiously of how best to escape. There would be no going through
the now destroyed shuttle bay. He could run deeper into the station, but
that would probably be just delaying the inevitable. He looked down at
the woozy Mihoshi. He couldn't just leave her to die either, but with
his hands clasped behind his back and his right arm still numb...

He screamed in frustration, the sounds of ever increasing explosions
echoing in his ears. He couldn't die here. He just couldn't!

"MOTHER!"

>From his vantage point, a safe distance away aboard Souja, Kagato viewed
the scene before him with the dispassionate and analytical eyes of a
scientist; measuring the structural integrity of the stations
construction, the tensile strength and boiling points of the various
materials. All the while he waited to see if his lab rat would find his
way out of his burning maze.

The station exploded in a huge ball of fire, showering the Souja with
debris.

"Oh well," Kagato mused.

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The blast completely vaporized the waters of the lake and added another
twenty meters to its depth. Yosho could still feel its searing heat on
the skin of both his arms as at the last moment, Ryoko parted her arms
allowing twins streams of energy to pass on either side of the
unwavering Yosho.

Mentally and physically exhausted, Ryoko crumbled to her knees and
sobbed uncontrollably. Ryo-Ohki tried to soothe her the best she could
scrambling up into Ryoko's lap, where Ryoko scooped her up and cradled
her to her chest.

Yosho walked up to her and knelt down to the crying young woman. Despite
her thousands of years, she looked like a small child holding a stuffed
animal to her breast. Yosho didn't know if she was ready for the story
he was about to tell or the quest he was about to send her on, but he
had little choice.

"Ryoko, listen very closely to what I'm about to say..."

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Both Tsunami and Tokimi watched silently as the expanding ball of fire
consumed the station. Finally, Tokimi turned off the display.

Tsunami looked at her incredulously for a moment, before calming
herself. She was fairly certain where that chain of events would lead,
no point in tipping off her sister.

"What is the point of this? Why did you want Tenchi Masaki dead?"
Tsunami asked.

Tokimi looked at Tsunami confused, then smiled. "Dead? I thought you
would be pleased. In fact I'm certain that you will be..."

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