I don't own the characters. I don't own the idea of Tenchi Muyo. The only thing that's mine is the story itself. I'm not doing this for money. I'm putting off my philosophy paper for this. I do have a question though. Are people enjoying the chaptering or am I making a big mistake? The Interval By Kenzie Kennedy It was just another spring-like day at the Masaki residence. The cherry trees were beginning to bloom. Tenchi was out in the fields, Sasami was trying a new recipe, Mihoshi was helping her, Washu was in the lab working on a low-fat chocolate that actually tasted good, and Ayeka was out walking. Ayeka sighed. Earth was lovely. It would be a sorrow to leave. Her thoughts drifted in the direction they had been taking now for some time. Tenchi didn't seem to prefer her. He was kind and polite, but he wouldn't show anything more than that. He did however seem to think fondly of Ryoko. Since Washu's experiment a few weeks ago, they had laughed together more. Ayeka's eyes narrowed. I should have been the one... "Hey, princess. What are you doing out here all by yourself? There are dangerous people around." Ryoko smirked from the tree branch above Ayeka's head. "The only one dangerous enough to give me even an ounce of trouble is you." Ayeka smirked back. Ryoko's face fell. This wasn't how she wanted this conversation to go at all! She dropped down from the branch to land in front of Ayeka. "Ayeka, we've got to talk." "Oh, about what?" Ayeka tried to blow her off, but Ryoko was persistent. "About Tenchi." Ayeka's hands clenched. "I can already guess. It's you and him and you want me to leave." "Huh?" Ryoko face-faulted. "I've seen the way he's been acting around you lately. You've spent more time with him than I have. I haven't been able to get a moment alone with him. You're not fighting with me anymore because you're always with him." "Ayeka, are you jealous?" Ryoko asked. "Of me spending my time with him and not with you?" "Of course not!" Ayeka shouted. "I don't want you to have him! He belongs to me!" "He belongs to himself, Ayeka." "Of course he does!" she yelled. Her chest heaved with her anger and Ryoko stared at her. Could it be that Ayeka...missed having her around? "Hey, um..." Ryoko started. Ayeka's eyes bored holes into hers. "Um, did you want to..." "Want to what?" Ayeka asked warily. "Want to do something?" Ryoko asked weakly. "Like what, rob a bank?" Ayeka asked sarcastically. "No! I meant, like do something normal. Go shopping or talk or hitchhike." Ryoko caught the look in her eye. "Just kidding." "No tricks?" Ayeka asked finally. Ryoko nodded. "Why don't we talk?" Ayeka said finally. "Sure, what do you want to talk about?" "I don't know. What do you want to talk about?" Ayeka and Ryoko looked at each and burst out into giggles. Wiping tears out of their eyes, they looked at each other and started giggling again. When they were through, Ryoko held her aching sides and said, "Well, that was fun. Hey, I didn't know you were so much fun to be around, princess." "I didn't know you were so funny, pirate." Ayeka returned with a smile. *** An hour later, they walked back toward the house, walking side by side with no explosive behavior. Sasami was out on the porch and she stared at them. "Oh, are you two friends now?" she asked eagerly. They looked at each other. "More than acquaintances," Ayeka ventured. Ryoko finished, "Little less than friends. More like honored enemies." Ayeka looked at her and nodded gracefully. Sasami looked back and forth at both of them and shrugged. She went back inside with Ayeka and Ryoko following her. *** "Yes, Ryoko?" Washu inclined her head from where she sat on her throne to listen to her daughter. "Lady Washu, you summoned me." Ryoko grinned. Tenchi stood beside her. "Oh, yes. I wanted to know how many galaxies you'd like to rule." Washu asked and displayed a map on the wall. Ryoko considered it. "What do you think Tenchi dear?" Ryoko asked. "I don't know, snugglebuns, do you have a preference?" Tenchi gazed adoringly at his wife. *** Washu's head came up off the laptop from where she had fallen asleep. Shaking it gently, she blinked her eyes several times for good measure. "Snugglebuns?" she said out loud and laughed. "That's even crazier than thinking I'd rule the universe. Why would I want it?" "I'm happy to hear you say that." Tsunami said from behind her. "I thought you'd show up sooner." Washu said with a grin, turning around. Tsunami bowed her head slightly. "I thought you'd like a little time to sort out your memories. Have you found anything interesting?" "What exactly did I do?" Washu asked. "All I can remember are scattered events of this planet or that solar system blowing up." "You haven't read the readme file, have you?" "Ha, ha, very funny." Washu grimaced. Computer humor from a goddess who transforms into a tree. Tsunami sighed. "You have two sisters, me and Tokimi. Tokimi is the eldest, then you, then I am the youngest. She is more evil than good, I am more good than evil, and you are both." "So I'm both good and evil. You're saying I'm the goddess of chaos?" Washu shrieked. Tsunami nodded. "Essentially. Think about it. Even now do your inventions do anything purely good without something naughty in them?" Washu grimaced. "All right, so science isn't exactly perfect. I'm working on it." "Washu, you left because your balance wasn't right." "What's that supposed to mean?" Washu said. "You couldn't stand Tokimi and I wanting you to take sides. You wanted to be left alone to work as you pleased. I let you leave because I knew it was what you truly wanted." Tsunami paused. "Tokimi let you go because she thought it was either a plot to get more concessions out of her or because you'd come crawling back after being human. She didn't count on you wiping your memories after you enrolled." "And where exactly is this going?" Washu asked. "Are you saying that I'm going to become completely human again and wipe my memories? No, I've got too many things going at the moment to worry about it." "No, but you have several problems." Washu listened patiently to the problems that Tsunami listed and she admitted that they were indeed problems. Nothing that the number one scientific genius in the universe couldn't handle, though. After Washu said that, Tsunami rolled her eyes and left. *** Ryoko and Tenchi went for a walk after dinner. Ayeka, Mihoshi, and Sasami sat down and watched TV with Nobuyuki. Katsuhito was being mysterious up on the mountain as usual. Washu was in her lab when she decided to go see what everyone else was doing. "Oh, Miss Washu," Ayeka began. "Have you found a low-fat chocolate yet?" Washu shook her head. Ayeka drooped. All these lovely chocolates were very fattening, but sooo good. Ryoko and Tenchi came back in the house at this point. "Well, princess, we could always work the chocolate off with a good practice after we gorge ourselves silly." Ayeka looked at her. "I think it's too late for you, pirate." "Oh, is that right?" "Yeah, that right." Ayeka said making fun of Ryoko. "Come on, you two, don't fight." Sasami pleaded. Both Ryoko and Ayeka looked at her and then looked at each other. "We're not going to fight." Ryoko said finally. Ayeka nodded. "We're going to..." Ayeka started. "Ooh, look! Space Police Policeman is on!" Mihoshi squealed. All eyes turned back to the TV, catastrophe averted. *** The next morning, everyone had a nice breakfast. Tenchi went to work in the fields, Sasami went to the grocery store with Ayeka for something she needed for dinner, Ryoko and Mihoshi hung around together for a bit, then Ryoko resolved that she'd rather leave than kill the blonde out of self defense. Mihoshi shrugged and didn't notice Ryoko's disappearance until an hour later. And then she didn't do anything about it. *** Ryoko went to her garden through Washu's lab. I need to ask Washu for a portal that leads there automatically, she thought. Then her brain spoke to her and said, uh-huh. You want anyone to come in here and enjoy your garden? Ryoko resigned herself to walking to the garden forever. As she crossed the threshold into the garden, Ryoko felt a peace come over her. The scent of the flowers was heavenly. Ryoko silently thanked Washu for making sure there weren't any bees in here. Ever. Ryoko got her gloves on and started to weed again. If this is a garden that has access to the number one scientific genius in the universe, why do I still have to pull weeds she mentally grumbled. *** After two hours of pulling weeds, she found her way to Washu's library. Opening one of the books on gardening flowers with lovely full page color pictures (very important) she studied it. There were many flowers she didn't know, but the ones she did know where beautiful and ones she had worked with before. Closing the book, she searched for a book on American flowers. When she didn't find any, she frowned. "Washu?" she called just outside the library's door. "Over here, Little Ryoko!" came Washu's voice. Ryoko found her working on a diagram on her laptop. "Do you have any books on American flowers? I couldn't find one." Ryoko told her. "Hmm, no I don't." Washu considered turning away from her laptop. "I have something to tell you, though." Washu reached up into mid-air and pulled an envelope out of nothingness. "I checked my mail from the academy and I found this. I thought it might interest you." Ryoko took the envelope and scanned the contents of the notice. Washu continued. "It's the annual garden exposition. They offered me a spot in the display like they always have. I could give the spot to you if you'd like. Of course, you'd only have two days to come up with something..." Ryoko's eyes sparkled. Her mind was already whirling with ideas. "What would I have to do? "Just build a garden, show up, and tell people about your garden. Maybe some kind of pamphlet..." Washu trailed off. Ryoko was already thinking of what to do with her spot. Maybe a small stream like that one exhibit, some shrubs, maybe do it all in American-style, or mix it with American and some other flowers in her garden. Then she hit a problem. Where would she get the money? I don't think the academy would pay everyone to have them set up a garden. Washu noticed her daughter's shoulders droop and through the link felt her disappointment. Washu looked confused as she asked her daughter, "Why so glum?" Ryoko looked at the floor. "I don't have any money to buy things to make it with." Washu laughed. Teasing her daughter, she said, "Oh, that's a real shame. I guess my little daughter will have to knock over a bank or mortgage Ryo-ohki." "It's not funny, Mom!" Ryoko snarled. "Come on, you think I'd offer you an opportunity like this and not pay for it?" Washu asked bluntly. "You did, didn't you? Ah, it's a sad day when a daughter doesn't trust her mother." Ryoko sulked. Washu tapped her finger under Ryoko's chin. "I got you something." Washu tossed her a wallet. Ryoko caught it and opened it. Inside was a license to drive Ryo-ohki. "That's so you don't get pulled over and have to pay a fine for a license." Washu commented. Insurance card was next. "Yup, Ryo-ohki's insured up to her cabbit eyeballs." Washu giggled. In the money portion of the wallet was both American money and Juraian money. Ryoko raised an eyebrow. Washu spread her hands and said, "A pirate has to have spending money." Pausing for dramatics, Washu said, "You haven't looked behind the license yet." Ryoko pulled another piece of plastic out of the pocket. "A credit card?" Ryoko choked out. "And you wouldn't believe how hard it was to get that company to extend credit to a pirate. You'd think they'd want a paper trail, honestly. I had to personally vouch for everything that card's used for." Washu shook her head. Washu didn't say anything because a very happy Ryoko gave her a very enthusiastic hug. Washu shoved her away after a couple minutes. "Don't you have shopping to do if you're going to get it ready? I'm not going to cook up a garden for you; it's against the rules." Ryoko stuffed the card back in the wallet and put it in her back pocket. "Where do I go?" she wondered out loud. "You've got a couple choices. You can take Ryo-ohki or you can take the portal and be back in a couple hours. Why don't you take Ryo-ohki as a cabbit. I think she'd enjoy it. I'll let you use the portal to the place you went last time if that's okay." Ryoko nodded. She was just about to ask Washu if she'd like to come with her, when Washu spoke up. "We could make this a family outing. Tenchi's never been to a mall that's outside Japan. Ayeka, Sasami, and Mihoshi would probably like to go. I'll go with you to the garden store and use the storage system to make sure no one sees what you're up to." "How'd you know that I don't want everyone to know about the garden?" Ryoko asked. Washu grinned. "Simple. You didn't invite anyone up to the garden before except me." Washu kept her secret until Ryoko was well enough to deal with it. Ryoko was coming along in her memories.