Eight


 Tenchi had just left Kiyone and Mihoshi in the woods and was going back to the 
house with Sasami walking next to him. Ryo-oki let out a cheer as she was 
chewing on a carrot Tenchi gave her. 

 "So do you think Jaaku is really a bad guy?" Sasami inquires. Tenchi shrugs a 
bit and walks for a moment in silence.

 "Well, he did try and attack Mihoshi and Kiyone. But he also saved us from 
those stone things. I really don't know what to think." He rubs his head and 
looks down at her, "What do you think, Sasami?"

 "I think he is nice." She cheers and smiles up at him.

 "Well, at least somebody around her does." The voice makes both of them look up 
at a figure standing on the path in front of them. Jaaku runs his hand through 
his spiky, green hair and smiles at them both, showing his fangs a bit. "But you 
really should listen to the others, Princess. I am not nice." 

 "Oh, it's you, Jaaku." Tenchi says. Sasami blinks at what he says then shrieks 
a bit when Ryo-oki leaps off her head. Ryo-oki runs over to Jaaku and sniffs at 
his leg. Jaaku blinks and looks down at the cabbit.

 "Hello there, who are you?" Ryo-oki speaks cheerfully and jumps up on his 
shoulder. Jaaku closes one eye and laughs a bit as Ryo-oki plants her front two 
feet on his cheek and starts talking to him. "Yes, I see. So you too are one of 
Washu's creations." 

 "Her name is Ryo-oki. She's a cabbit!" Sasami giggles and watches Ryo-oki and 
Jaaku.

 "Well, nice to meet you, Ryo-oki. My name is Jaaku." Jaaku says and reaches up, 
shaking Ryo-oki's paw playfully. Ryo-oki smiles happily and starts talking to 
Jaaku quickly. "No. Is that so? Really? That is interesting." Jaaku says with a 
grin and looks at Sasami. 

 "Oh, can you understand Ryo-oki?" Sasami asks in awe. Jaaku nods and looks back 
to Ryo-oki.

 "I can. She says that you are her favorite person because you are so nice. She 
also says Lord Tenchi is her favorite also because he gives her carrots." He 
explains and glances at Tenchi. Tenchi grins sheepishly and rubs his head. 
Sasami giggles and runs up to Jaaku with a smile.

 "My name is Sasami."

 Jaaku looks down at her and nods. "I know. You may not know this but I have 
seen you when you were just a small child, Princess." Sasami's eyes widen in awe 
and she looks up at him.

 "Really?" 

 "Yes, back on Jurai. I did serve the Jurai Emperor for those many years, after 
all." He explains and runs two fingers over Ryo-oki's back.

 "Wow! But that was Sento right?" Jaaku nods and she clasps her hands in front 
of her. "Are you really Jaaku? The one the Galaxy Police want to arrest?"

 "I see you have been speaking to those detectives. Yes, I am Jaaku. But don't 
you worry, Princess, I am only about half as bad as they say I am." He says and 
winks at her. She giggles at him and smiles. He returns the smile but then looks 
toward Tenchi and speaks more sternly. "However you do not think so, do you?" 
Tenchi blinks and looks around to see who he is talking about. "You can't hide 
it from me. I already know how you feel about me so you might as well come out 
with it." 

 "Wha.....me?" Tenchi asks and points to himself. 

 Jaaku laughs and sets his hand on Sasami's head, "She thinks I do not know she 
is here." He looks down at her and winks again, "Watch this, Sasami." She blinks 
at him and suddenly he disappears in a flash of blue light. She looks around as 
both he and Ryo-oki disappeared. Tenchi looks around too and they are left 
wondering what is going on. After a moment, a figure raises up from the ground 
behind Tenchi.

 "Is he gone?" 

 Tenchi jumps a foot and whips around to find Ryoko peering around. "Ryoko! 
Don't scare me like that!" 

 "Shhhh, he is still here somewhere. I can almost.....feel him." She says 
quietly and looks around. Suddenly they hear loud yelling and all look above 
Ryoko to find Jaaku coming down at them. Shibo-Ken-bo's upper blade is fully 
grown and speeding towards Ryoko. "Look out!" Ryoko yells and pushes Tenchi out 
of the way. She closes her fist and her own sword appears in her hand just in 
time to stop Jaaku's blade. Jaaku lands on the ground and grins at her, holding 
her blade against hers. Ryo-oki just looks at them both oddly from atop of 
Jaaku's shoulder.

 "Hello, Ryoko." 

 "Ugh, I knew you couldn't be trusted." She growls and pushes him back, holding 
her sword ready again. He chuckles and spins his hilt, then brings it to a stop 
with the blade pointed at her. 

 "Jaaku, what are you doing?!" Tenchi yells and stands up from being pushed by 
Ryoko.

 Jaaku blinks and looks at him, "You two are far too uptight. I want to see how 
powerful Ryoko is. What better way than to see for myself."

 "What?" Ryoko demands and glares at him.

 "Come on, Ryoko, you know your blood boils to see just what I can do also. 
Don't you even want to see how you would fare against your big brother?" Jaaku 
says with a smirk.

 Ryoko looks at him for a moment, then grins and nods, "Maybe I do. Kicking your 
butt might just make my day. But not here." 

 "Goooood, then where would you suggest?"

 "How about Washu's lab. Plenty of space and things to break." Ryoko says 
devilishly. 

 "I like the way you think, Ryoko. Then by all means, lead the way." Jaaku grins 
back. Ryoko lets out a small chuckle and fades away from view. Jaaku's blade 
disappears from his hilt and he looks at Ryo-oki, "You may want to sit this one 
out." Ryo-oki nods and jumps from his shoulder, running back over to Sasami. 
Jaaku grins and closes his eyes, disappearing in a flash of blue light. Tenchi 
and Sasami blink and look at each other.


 Washu is typing in her computer with a smile on her face. The information about 
Jaaku runs down the panel in front of her and she leans back to read it. If not 
for the huge explosion rocking her off her chair, she would have been able to 
finish. 

 "What the!?" She jumps to her feet and sees a dying light in the distance of 
her lab. She breaks into a run towards it and fears one of her experiments might 
have gotten lose. She arrives in a portion of her lab and finds her equipment in 
ruins. Pieces of metal, scorch marks and long gashes in the floor dot what she 
sees and her jaw drops. "What in the worl....." She is interrupted by Ryoko 
skidding on her feet back next to her and slamming back into a huge piece of 
machinery. Ryoko shakes it off and doesn't see Washu standing there. "Ryoko! 
What are you doing!?" Suddenly a blue blast of energy comes flying at Ryoko and 
she leans quickly the other way to avoid it. The blast freezes the machine she 
flew into and she looks at it for a moment. Washu is about to yell again when 
Ryoko suddenly jumps away just in time to avoid Jaaku's fist. Instead his fist 
connects with the machine and shatters the frozen metal. "Jaaku!?" He doesn't 
notice her either and looks up after Ryoko. He grips Shibo-Ken-bo with both 
hands and leaps into the air after her. Washu looks at the chaos in her lab and 
looks to see where they went. Jaaku brings his blade right at Ryoko but she 
blocks it with her own sword. Not being able to fly, Jaaku falls to the ground 
with a thud and quickly looks up at her. Ryoko dives down at him and raises one 
hand out, firing orange energy blasts at him. Jaaku hops from side to side to 
avoid them and gets a grin. He raises his right hand up and a small blue energy 
ball appears behind his palm. The energy channels through the orb in his hand 
and comes out a fire ball in the palm of his hand. He thrusts his hand forward 
and hurls the fireball at the approaching Ryoko. She fades and reappears to the 
side of it. The fireball keeps going until it hits a large holding tank. The 
glass shatters and sends a giant squid-like creature onto the lab floor along 
with hundred gallons of liquid. Washu's face starts to get red as she looks at 
them destroying her lab. Ryoko keep flying at Jaaku and gets a grin herself. 
Suddenly her image splits into two and both of them now speed towards him. Jaaku 
winces at them then grins himself. A blur of energy raises off him and in 
between the two Ryoko's. They both stop midair and look up to see another Jaaku 
right above them. 

 "What the...." Both Ryokos start to say in unison when the one Jaaku kicks both 
legs out and knock them away from each other. One of the Ryokos lands on a ledge 
of a huge machine while the other lands with a hard thud on her feet in front of 
the other Jaaku, cracking the floor. The airborne Jaaku lands over on the 
machine with the other Ryoko while the one holding Shibo-Ken-bo looks at the 
other Ryoko.

 "You are not the only one who has a doppleganger." He grins and tosses Shibo-
Ken-bo up into the air. The other Jaaku holds his hands behind him and catches 
it, spinning it around to the other Ryoko. Both Ryokos grin again and both 
create their swords. Both blades erupts from Shibo-Ken-bo and the other Jaaku 
holds up his hands, both orbs glowing brightly. They are about to resume their 
fight when Washu finally explodes in rage.

 "Would you two not destroy my lab!? This is not a sparring ring! What do you 
two think you are doing!? Look at my poor equipment! You two are ruining it!" 
She roars and heaves deep breaths, glaring at them both. All four of them blink 
and peer at her. Then the two Ryokos look back to the distracted Jaaku and 
smirk. The one on the machine swings her sword down in the middle of Shibo-Ken-
bo and knocks the surprised Jaaku off the side. At the same time, the other 
Ryoko grabs Jaaku's wrists and steps forward, headbutting him in the face. He 
winces and snaps his head back but she isn't done. She lets out a demented laugh 
and lifts him off the ground by the wrists. Then she slings him down onto the 
ground with a hard thud, making the floor crack again. Right as she jumps back, 
the other Jaaku hits the one on the ground and they merge back together again. 
Shibo-Ken-bo hits the ground with a loud clang next to his hand. Both Ryokos 
appear as one over him and puts a sword to his throat. Jaaku opens his eyes 
weakly and groans. 

 "Well, I guess I win. What do you think about that?" She proclaims triumphantly 
and looks down at him. He looks at her sword and then starts to laugh.

 "All right, I give. I must admit, you really are good, Ryoko." 

 She chuckles to herself, "I know it. You aren't so bad yourself, Jaaku." She 
pulls her sword away and holds her hand out to him. He looks at her for a 
moment, then takes her hand and picks up Shibo-Ken-bo at the same time. She 
pulls him to his feet but they keep their hands locked. They both laugh and look 
at each other, a look of mischief on their faces.

 "Look at my lab! Who is going to clean this mess up!?" Washu roars again and 
they both look at her. 

 "Oh uhm, sorry." Jaaku says sheepishly and smiles innocently at her. 

 "Yeah, just get Ayeka to do it." Ryoko adds and gives her own innocent smile. 
Before Washu can scream back at them, they both disappear in a flash of blue 
light. She steams for a moment, then lets out a sigh and drops to her knees in 
the rubble. 

 "My lab....."


 Laughter filled the woods as a cool wind whipped through the trees. Ryoko is 
sitting crossed legged in a small clearing with a red face from laughing so 
much. Jaaku is leaning on a tree and his hilt behind his back. He is laughing 
just as hard and rubbing his head.

 "That was a hoot! I don't think I have ever seen Washu so angry before. Wow, we 
should do that more often." Ryoko says, wiping tears from her eyes.

 "I haven't had that much fun in a millennia." Jaaku admits and looks at Ryoko. 
"You fight very well, Ryoko. For only being a kid." He smirks and laughs a bit 
at her.

 "Yeah well, you fight pretty good for an old guy." Ryoko quips back and grins 
back at him. He stifles a laugh and smiles at her for a moment. She just looks 
back at him and there is a dead silence for a moment.

 "My little sister. It's a bit odd. I don't exactly know what to think about 
you, Ryoko." 

 She blinks a bit, "You don't? Well, I don't really know what to think of you, 
either." Neither of them say anything else. They just sit in silence looking at 
each other, gathering their thoughts.