============================================ Chap 7 - Homeward ============================================ All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players. - William Shakespeare, "As You Like It" "Hey, do you want to get me out of here?" yelled Washu. Ryoko could hear her mother's voice hollering throughout the lab. "Coming..." replied a worn-out Ryoko. Exhausted from her battle with Kagato, she lifted herself off the ground and shuffled over to the far corner. "Are you ok?" With the little strength she had, Ryoko lifted off the steel that had fallen on Washu. A thick layer of dust and soot covered most of Washu's body. The few cuts and bruises Washu had were blackened over with dried blood and soot. "I think I'm in one piece." Bowing her hair back into a normal shape, Washu took her time looked up at Ryoko. "I never had a daughter who was a god before! How exciting!" "Mom!" snapped Ryoko. "Can I run some tests on you before you go?" questioned Washu, her eyes wide like giant saucers. "No!" yelled back Ryoko. She sighed in exhaustion. "You very well know I can't stay." Ryoko grabbed a hold of her mother's arm and pulled her closer. Ryoko turned around to the far side of the lab, looking for answers. Tenchi's broken body lay on the table, still visible in the dim light. Washu turned toward her daughter, she reached out and held her by the arms. answered Washu. "But...But I..." stuttered Ryoko, her voice strained beyond her belief. Washu paused a second and continued her stream of thoughts, now out load. "I cannot help you here. Please. It's hard enough for me to face you as well." Washu was tearing now, her eyes red with sorrow. "I understand." said Ryoko, flat with pain. Washu nodded in response to her daughter's wishes. "Ryoko..." More tears fell from Washu's eyes in defiance. She grabbed tighter around Ryoko, looking up into her eyes. "Will you do something for me. I'm in such pain for not trying hard enough." "Anything." responded Ryoko, petting the top of Washu's red curls." "Please, try to make up with your Washu." Ryoko took and hugged her mother for a long time. Whispering very gently into Washu's ear, Ryoko spoke, "I will, mom..." They broke their embrace and walked over to the Dimensional Tuner. The central node lay on the ground, slashed to pieces from the battle. Most of the other gear was intact. "I can't send you home right away, Ryoko. The tuner is damaged beyond repair. I could build a new one, but I don't know how long-" Washu looked down at her broken equipment, shaking her head. "Let me try," asked Ryoko. She settled and cleared her mind for the task at hand. Then, Ryoko focused all of her thought like a fine crafted lens into the tasks of restoring the tuner. Diagrams and schematics flashed thought Ryoko's mind. She took knowledge images and knowledge and projected the thoughts out into reality. Come on! thought Ryoko. Her thoughts sunk deeper into the design of the tuner. She put Washu's and her own will into the task as it sapped their strength in the process. A low glow quickly engulfed the corner of the lab. It brightened for a second, flashed, and disappeared. At the feet of Washu and Ryoko was the now intact tuner. At seeing their task completed, they both tumbled to the ground, mentality exhausted from their procedure. It took a few minutes for Washu to help Ryoko back onto her feet. Washu proceeded to check the rest of the Digital Tuner equipment. "Well, that worked rather well." answered Washu. "It looks ok to me. Are you ready?" "Yea, I'm ready as I'll ever be." stamped Ryoko. "Now, stand over here." ordered Washu, as she cleared up her face. "What's going to happen to this existence once I leave, Mom?" Washu paused to think of the consequences. She was sure that this universe would not be able to flow once her daughter left, but for once she wasn't so sure. "I don't know. But you know I'd give up everything for my daughter to live again." Ryoko just smiled. Washu activated the tuner. Familiar green and blue lights lit the corner of the room. Thoughts danced in Ryoko's mind. Of the rolling hills of Earth. Of the Masaki shrine, her home. Of Yosho, Mihoshi, Sasami, and even Ayeka. Of her companion forever, Ryo-ohki. Of her Mom, Washu. And at last, of her Tenchi Masaki. Behind Washu, two more figures came into appearance from a cloud of energy. "Do you think she succeeded?" asked Tsunami. "She will have to wait until she is home." answered Tokimi. "But I believe she did. As long as I get it back." The machine, once again called to duty, fulfilled the thoughts and dreams from its scan. And with great energy and pride, it sent its passenger home. Ryoko was again on her back, looking up, except this time it was the ceiling of Washu's lab. The licking of her cabbit had awakened her from her sleeping position. "Miya!" "Ryo-ohki, there you are..." Ryoko answered as she hugged her surprised long-time companion. The room was still spinning quite a bit from her trip. Washu was now looking down at her daughter. "So, what happened to you!" were her mother's first words, but she had her mind elsewhere. Washu had an small extinguisher in one hand and was spraying a small electrical file behind Ryoko's view, trying to rescue some of her lab equipment. Ryoko didn't really know what to think, but she got up quickly off the floor. But she could not maintain her balance, the shock of an intact lab and of noticing she had only one gem shook at her soul. She fell to the floor in a jumbled heap just as quickly. "Ryoko!" Washu threw the now empty extinguisher aside and ran to her daughter's side. "Mom..." Ryoko whispered, her eyes lids barely open as she lay on the floor Concerned at Ryoko's tone and words, Washu keeled down and carefully examine Ryoko closer. Though Ryoko had a slight shock and a second nasty spill, Washu thought her daughter would recover quickly. But her mind link with Ryoko told her otherwise. Ryoko was a full boatload of emotions. Washu attempted to dive deeper into the mind of her daughter, and her head was instantly filled with lush memories unknown to her. "Washu," Ryoko asked dizzily, "how long have I been knocked out?" "Oh, about ten minutes." Washu lifted her daughter from the floor. "Well done, you have quite a bump on your head, huh." "Where's Tenchi?" "At the carrot fields, where else would he be," commented Washu. Something was up but she couldn't pinpoint it. "You really are out of it, aren't you. Well, up to bed with you, I'll put you in the Tenchi's room for now..." And Ryoko just smiled. She made it, through all the emotion and pain. Relieved as last, Ryoko let herself back into unconsciousness. Yummmm, thought Ryoko, Sasami's craft had never tasted so good. Even though Ryoko didn't need the food, Washu must have thought a plate of home cooking would help her. And as usual, she was right. *Knock* *Knock* "Come in!" Washu came in to a bedside Ryoko. "How are you, my little one?" "Umm..." as Ryoko finished off some tempura, "I'm much better, now..." she said between gulps of food, finishing up her dinner. "What do you want?" asked a suspicious Ryoko. "Oh, I just wanted to see how you were doing..." "No tests!" shot back Ryoko. "Umm...", was the male voice from behind the door frame, waving around the side of the door. "Sorry...I wanted to see how you were doing..." "Tenchi!" exclaimed Ryoko as Tenchi walked in and he walked up to Ryoko's bed next to Washu. "I got to check on an experiment, I'll be back..." announced Washu as she left her daughter as quickly as Tenchi had walked in. Tenchi sat down, holding onto Ryoko's outstretched arm. "I was worried about you, Ryoko. I heard the story from Washu on how you got hurt." Tenchi plodded though his statements and he sat down on the bed next to Ryoko. "Are you ok?" Ryoko nodded at Tenchi's words. "I missed you, Tenchi...I..." She didn't know if she could tell her whole story to Tenchi. Instead, Ryoko could only look up and smile. Tenchi leaned over to look into the sagging eyes of Ryoko. It was the first time he had ever seen her so vulnerable. Ryoko was very tired from a lack of energy. The binging of food had finally tipped her over the edge. As for Tenchi, he helped tuck the space pirate into her sheets a bit tighter. "Tenchi..." were the only whispers from Ryoko. "Now you get some rest now. I'll see you in the morning." Before Tenchi could shut off the lights and close the door, Ryoko was fast asleep. Ryoko was laying in one of favorite spots on the roof of the Masaki house. The sun beat down on her skin, marvelously warming her body to a touch. The weather was still a bit brisk, but the sun did help. A lot. She was again dreaming of the last year's events, at least the last year that nobody knew about. Slowly but surely, everything had come back to normal. She was home, back with the shy Tenchi she once knew. Ryoko could hear the tiny footsteps from behind her. Her mother Washu had come out of the attic window. She had on a large stylish pair of sunglasses which reflected the long red tails of her hair. "So, this is where my little Ryoko has been hiding all this time. I've been wondering about you," asked her mother. Ryoko didn't say a word, she continued to look up into the cloudless sky. "I know something is up." Washu had removed the sunglasses from her face to look at Ryoko more closely. "Tenchi says you haven't wrestled him out of bed in days. And you haven't got into a tussle with Ayeka for over a week." Avoiding the words of her mother, Ryoko turned her head away. The memories had been so painful. The loss of Ayeka. Sasami. Tenchi. The fighting with her alternate mother. The discovery of it all. She was definitely tearing her eyes now. Not caring, Ryoko started to sob quietly in front of her mother. "There...there..." as Washu brought her daughter closer to her to hold her hand and comfort her. "You can tell me, my little Ryoko. What has happened to you?" "Washu..." Ryoko whispered. She started into her story. "Remember a week ago in your lab..." And Ryoko started her tale for the next hour. Washu listened to the story carefully yet quietly, not interrupting her daughter. Her face changed emotions constantly, from happiness to fear, from joy to sadness. To Washu, the details of her daughter's story were truly fascinating. But the emotions that rained from her daughter were full of pain and love, with such hope and despair. It was a torturous story. And when Ryoko ended her tale, Washu took it in deeply, paused for quite a while, chuckled and then laughed. "Washu!!!" Ryoko was really mad that Washu had misunderstood her story as well as her inner feelings. "You have quite an imagination, my little Ryoko," Washu commented. "MOM!!!" "Come on, Ryoko. It's a wonderful chronicle. I'm sure that you reflected on it for quite a while. But it just can't be true. I checked and rechecked all my equipment. There was no dimensional shift during the accident." Ryoko could only whimper to her mother's words. Washu stopped to put her fingers on her chin, pondering. "I mean, I made sure you were special, but to dream like that. Not in my wildest fantasizes did I think you would sprout such a touching story..." "But..." Ryoko swallowed her mother's words in pain. "Well, do you have any proof it happened?" asked the scientific Washu. "No..." said Ryoko, wiping away her emotional outburst. Petting the hair of her daughter's mane, Washu looked into her daughter's eyes for answers. She has truly grown up right before my eyes. And she didn't even know it, until now. "Shhhh..." was the soft voice of Washu, soothing her little one as she padded her hair. "I'm sorry, Ryoko." Acceptance had been so hard for Washu. She was going to have to put some of her projects aside for the next few days. There was something much more important to take care of. Like her daughter. "How about a bath. OK?" asked Washu, cupping Ryoko face via her chin. Ryoko could only nod her head in agreement. "I'll be back in a little while now...I have to stop a few projects. Don't want the accidentally blow up the Earth or something like that." Ryoko snickered at her mother's comments and smiled. "I'll see you soon." as Washu kissed her daughter on her forehead. She then nimbly disappeared from sight. Ryoko laid out alone for a few more minutes, complementing her mother's earlier words. Was it a dream? A nightmare? A personal agonizing delusion? The truth hurt. But Ryoko now knew of her mistakes. She knew of her character, her soul. The time had pushed her mind to the other limits of her emotions. The memories of what she had been had scarred her, so much that she took a hard look at what she was. And it frightened her. Being in love with Tenchi brought out the true strength of her feelings. Those emotions were so strong, they took her demon body and powered it to new levels she could no longer control. And in a state of reminiscing, she reached into her robe and pulled it out. The Jurdain locket had loss some of its luster over the past few weeks. Melted burn marks from when she rescued Tenchi from Kagato. A few stains of blood as he had held onto the locket, passing it to her when her alternate Tenchi had died. The locket was with her now, in this place, in reality. For once, she knew her mother, the greatest scientific genius was wrong. Oh, would she like to show Washu up for once! But it no longer mattered. Ryoko gripped the locket strongly in her hand, knowing of the path that it had lead her on. She would never let her demons take over her emotions again. The consequences were too severe. Her life without Tenchi. Ryo-ohki. Sasami. Ayeka. Her mother Washu. The rest of the family, even Mihoshi. It was unimaginable to her. For Ryoko knew she was going to change. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she slipped the locket from her grasps, letting it rest onto the roof. The locket had been an offering; from one part of herself to another. Now the time came to return it as freely as it had been given. Laying the locket onto the roof, Ryoko slowly flew off into the now setting sun. It laid there sparkling in the dimming light. Ryoko looked back to see the locket stare back at her...and without understanding how she knew, she also realized it would not be there in the morning. It was the connection between her reality and her dreams, a connection Ryoko no longer needed. Never again would her unconscious dictate her life. Never. All Ryoko wanted was for that door to be closed. And she flew like she had never done before, on a path that had never been on in her two thousands years of life. It was a thrilling time to say at least. So full of unexpected pleasures. The future was going to be a interesting time indeed. Spotting Tenchi from the far corner of her eye, Ryoko could see he was wrapping up his daily work at the carrot patch. And instead of sneaking up to him, she landed softly on the road toward the Masaki household. Ryoko decided to stop by to see if Tenchi would walk her home. ~Fin~ --------- Weah - all done. I hope you enjoyed my little story... Please leave me comments at dbrown10028@hotmail.com. Thanx again. - Incantrix