[NOTE:  The introduction is done with a voice imitation of "Rod
Sterling"]

Ryoko.

"Tenchi Muyo’s" bad girl.  Strong, smart, nearly invincible.  Space
pirate.  Destroyer of worlds.  Bane of peace, and joy.  Puppet for a
madman, bent on universal domination.  Daughter of a scientist, stuck in
a "Peter Pan" syndrome.  Protector of a young man who will either
ultimately love her, or destroy her.  In both cases, unintentionally.
Hunted for crimes both real, exaggerated, and outright imagined.

She is this way for a number of reasons, but all are connected to one
reason in particular.  What if that reason were to be one day, fixed?
What if due to one simple twist of fate, she were to change her
personality, for the better?  And how would her family and friends
cope?  Would they too, change?  Would IT be for the better?

Ladies and gentlemen, I submit for your approval…

A Tenchi Muyo, Fan Fiction.
Little Demon.
By Peter Suzuki.

The series "Tenchi Muyo" is owned by Pioneer LDCA, Pioneer-Anime.  This
Fan Fiction also borrows elements form the comic-series "No Need For
Tenchi", By Hitoshi Okuda.
All rights reserved.

Chapter 1.
The Accident.

        It was night at the Masaki house.  Ryoko silently hovered down the
hall, finishing the last button on her top.  No sense in parading around
the house with what she had on before.  Those things were only good for
seducing people, and the moment had been ruined after what happened in
Tenchi’s room.
        Ryoko cursed about several dozen things, as she made her way into the
living room.  Mostly about Ayeka, and the cursed dark, but what she also
mumbled about was Sasami’s little joke, played on her.  The younger
Jurian princess had to have known about Tenchi not being in his room.
        Ryoko looked at the main den, of the house.  The lack of lighting made
the room look very dreary.  Almost as bad as that stupid cave she had
been locked up in, for over seven hundred years.  She shook her head
free of those thoughts.  Those days were over now, she had to keep
telling herself.  She would never admit to anyone else, but those were
the most terrible years of her life.  For the first six-hundred and
something years she did not know how to use her astral-body.  So all she
could do was lay in the water the Yosho had rested her body in, not
having the strength to even move her eyes, all she could do was wait,
and listen.
        And did she listen.  The water allowed her to hear all of the sounds
around her, and magnified no less.  Often times she would hear a small
thumping noise, and wonder if it was just a rat slowly plodding by, or
Yosho coming back to finish the job he started.
        No, no more!  She was free from that hell.  She would never be forced
into that cave again.  Finally putting those thoughts out of her mind,
she decided to occupy her time somehow.
        "Lets see…  Ayeka is still probably mad about what had happened.
Sasami is most likely having a good laugh about her little joke.  Kiyone
and Mihoshi are at their apartment.  Ryo-oh-ki is passed out in the
carrot shed.  Tenchi and his grandfather are most likely taking care of
Mayuka.  Tenchi’s dad is still at work…"  Ryoko scratched her head.
"Does that mean that I’m alone?"  She then noticed that she was right
next to the closet door.  "May as well see what Washu is up to."
        Ryoko knocked on the door twice, and phased through.

        Washu made yet another adjustment to the small plasmatic oscillator
device, that would allow her to test the evaporation ratio in her
study.  Tonight’s project was to solve the mystery why the Jurian
Water-of-Life lengthened the life-spans of humanoids to twenty five
times their normal time.  Solving that mystery would undoubtedly lead to
ways in increasing it’s potency, thus allowing them to live even longer.
        "THEN they would have to call me the ‘Greatest Scientist in the
Universe’." She then let loose a laugh, that was somewhere between
pleasure and madness.  Getting herself under control once more, she
resumed her work.  "I’ll just increase the power a bit, and"
*FOOOOOM!!*
        A column of fire shot out at Washu’s head, blasting into the ceiling of
the laboratory.  Just a quickly as the blast started, it stopped.
Leaving Washu still sitting at the workbench…without a head.  Staying
still for a few minuets to make sure the coast was clear, Washu popped
her head back out of her clothing, and stared at the oscillator,
wide-eyed.
        "Perhaps I have increased the power, a bit TOO much."  She then looked
at her reflection in a mirror that was not there a second ago.  "Gee,
that was close!" Said Washu, looking at the new parting in her hair.

        Ryoko flew overhead, in the lab.  She knew that when Washu moved her
studies deeper into the lab, it was to keep the explosions from going
into the house, should there be an accident.  But still, it made it
harder to find the three foot tall red-head, in a laboratory that
spanned to three times the length of planet Earth.  She would just have
to keep looking until SOMETHING told her of Washu’s whereabouts.
        *FOOOOOM!!*  A small column of light appeared off to her left,
originating from near a glass enclosure the size of a small bus.
        "Bingo." Said Ryoko, as she flew off toward the place.

        Washu just finished readying her equipment, when Ryoko landed behind
her.  "Why, little Ryoko.  You’re certainly up way past your bedtime."
        Ryoko grimaced.  Little Ryoko?  Washu was more of a mother to Taro,
than to her.  Washu treated their mother/daughter relationship like some
sort of game.  Ryoko was not about to give that crab-hared Dr. Dolittle
the respect of being referred to as mother, until she would be like a
mother to her.
        "Don’t you dare ever refer to me as ‘Little Ryoko’, Washu!"
        Washu put on a hurt expression, but smiled inwardly about the game she
was playing with her ‘daughter’.  She decided to put her experiment on
hold for the time being, so she could have some fun with the former
pirate.
        "You shouldn’t talk to your mommie like that, little Ryoko.  You should
know better than to talk that way to your parents." She gave a slightly
evil smile.  "You should have more respect for them."
        "And why should I show any respect for you, and those brown blobs in
the tank?"
        Washu decided to pull yet another trick from her sleeve.  "We’ll just
have to find the reason for your anger toward your mother." Ryoko was
suddenly laying on a psychiatric couch, with Washu standing beside her
in a ‘Zigmund Froid’ costume.  "Now, little Ryoko.  I want you to tell
me what you es feeling." Said Washu, in a fake German accent.
        "That you are not taking me at all seriously."
        Washu frowned.  She had not expected Ryoko to answer, especially
intelligently.  She shrugged her shoulders, and continued.  "I believe
that your condition stems from a poor childhood."
        Ryoko smiled.  "You know what?  You’re absolutely right."
        "Now there’s no use denying it little Ryo-…" she stopped, as she
realized what Ryoko had said.
        "It does stem from a poor childhood, because the time that I had that
resembled a childhood consisted of me being formed in one machine,
cruelly tortured by another machine, and then being handed to your
assistant where he BRAINWASHED me!"
        "…" Washu was for once, speechless.
        "In case your wondering.  YES, I did regain my memories of those four
days, back on Jurai." Ryoko then stared at Washu, with a piercing stair
that looked into her soul.  "The big reason why I had a bad childhood,
was because I was NEVER a child to begin with.  I was BORN fully grown,
remember?  No first steps.  No first words.  No time to find my likes
and dislikes.  I was just there." Ryoko turned away from Washu.  "And
the worst part is that I’m only a replacement, for your son."
        Washu gasped slightly, as she realized that the last part was not
spoken by Ryoko.  And she was not sure that the comment was even thought
her, either.
        Washu shook her head.  This was the first time that she had
been…outsmarted?  No, that could not be right.  She was the Greatest
Scientist in the Universe.  How could she be wrong?  But Ryoko was
right.  In only four days after her creation, Kagato had brainwashed
her, and sealed Washu in that alternate dimension.  Bah, she needed to
stop this game.  It was no longer fun, anymore.
        Ryoko smiled as Washu turned away, back to her work.  Ryoko had finally
bested the red-hared bitch at her own game, AND got Washu to realize
something that she should have a long time ago.
        "So, why are you here?" asked Washu, trying to change the subject.
        "Sasami pulled another one of her jokes."
        "By the way, Sasami was supposed to tell you that Tenchi was spending
the night in Mayuka’s room, to help his grandfather take care of her."
        "Right.  That is what Sasami’s joke was all about."  She could still
remember what had happened.  She sneaked into Tenchi’s room, nearly
naked, just in time to see Ayeka sneak into Tenchi’s room COMPLETELY
naked.  Caught between being angry at Ayeka, and laughing at her, Ryoko
left Tenchi’s room before any actual fighting started.
        "I see." Said Washu, who was reading Ryoko’s thoughts the entire time.
        Ryoko was slightly angry about her ‘mental rape’, but decided not to
pursue the matter.  She noticed Washu’s experiment occurring in the
glass enclosure.  It involved a glowing pool of water, in the center of
a ring of machinery.
        "So that’s what you wanted the Water-of-Life for." Said Ryoko.
        "But of course.  What did you think I was going to do with it, make
myself younger?" joked Washu.
        Ryoko smirked.  "Well, you do seem to be going bald."
        Washu cursed slightly.  She thought she had hid her new ‘bald spot’
under the rest of her hair.  She decided to retort.  "And just why are
you so interested in it?  Maybe you want to do something about your
sagging breasts, perhaps?"
        Ryoko was about to yell back that she was not sagging, when
*BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!*
        "Not again!" exclaimed Washu, as she rushed back to the control board.
"I thought I fixed it."
        Ryoko hovered about two feet above Washu’s head, and stared confusedly
at the scientist.  "What’s wrong?"
        "I have a screw loose!"
        "So?  We all know that."
        "I mean on the arm that’s holding the plasmatic oscillator!"
        "The what?"
        "That thing that’s going to fall into the- OH S**T!!  GET DOWN!!" Washu
ducked under the control board.
        "Wha-" Ryoko looked up just in time to see a bright white light come at
her.  "GAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Ryoko was engulfed in the blast of steam and
energy, as it spread throughout the lab.
        Washu could not see or hear any of this as she had her hands over her
ears, and her face buried into her knees.  As far as she knew, Ryoko had
ducked when she was told to.

        The explosion was felt even in the house.  Sasami was the first to
react.  "Ayeka?  Was that you?"
        *ZZZZZzzzzz…* No, it wasn’t Ayeka.
        Tenchi shot up from the floor.  He thought that he felt the house
rumbling.  Could it have been his imagination?  He then saw his
grandfather trying to comfort the crying Mayuka.
        "Tenchi, what do you think that noise was?" asked Yosho.
        Tenchi considered what could cause the entire house to shake, and still
be standing…  Then they both realized, "Washu!"

        Washu pulled herself up from t her hiding spot.  Her lab was engulfed
in a white haze of steam and smoke.  Broken glass and machinery lay
about the ground.
        "*KOFF! KOFF!*  What a *KOFF!* day." Said Washu.
        Then a small voice came from another part of the lab.  "Mommie…?"
        Washu realized that it was Ryoko, and that she had not escaped the
blast.
        "Ryoko?  Are you all right!?"
        "Mommie, where are you!?  I can’t see you, mommie! *KOFF! KOFF!*  Ow,
my leg!"
        Upon hearing that the one who was the closest thing she had to family
was hurt, a part of her was reawakened.  A part of her that was dormant
for all but a couple of times in the last twenty thousand years.  A part
of her that only showed itself when she had taken care of Taro.  The
feelings of a mother caring about her child.
        "Ryoko, stay where you are!  I’ll find you!"
        "Mommie?  *KOFF!  KOFF!*"
        Washu finally found Ryoko, about thirty feet away.  Washu immediately
embraced her daughter.
        "There, there.  It’s all right, now.  I’m here."
        "Mommie, I was so scared."
        About this time, Washu realized some things that were wrong; Ryoko’s
voice was a few octaves higher than usual, she was crying because she
was scared, she was actually referring to Washu a her mother, and one
thing that stood out beyond all of the other reasons.
        "Ryoko, why aren’t you standing up?"
        "Mommie…I am standing."
        Washu looked down at Ryoko, and her eyes went wide in shock.
        "Mommie what’s wrong?…Mommie?"

TO BE CONTINUED.

NEXT TIME:  A small change is a big problem.

Peter Suzuki.