Hello, everyone! I'm Vance "Civanfan" Benson! This is my first ever fanfic, And I hope you'll enjoy it. Positive C&C is always welcome, though I doubt I'll get any. And if anyone's planning on MSTing this fic.If it's that bad, I'll MST it myself, ok? After all it's my fault. Now for the lowfat, lowcal, wholesome, and tasty. LEGAL STUFF: These characters aren't mine. If they were, I'd be very happy, `cause I'd have money. Well, I made one of the characters, Civ the zombie. He's MY avatar, and I'm planning on using him and my other avatar to MST fics. As for Tenchi Muyo! it, and all the characters therein, belong to the nice people at AIC and Pioneer. If they sue me, they'll soon find out that I have absolutely no money. Zip. However, in lieu of money, I'll willingly become Aeka's love slave to work it off. All comments, Criticisms, and yes, even flames, go to Civanfan@Aol.com. Unlike some AOL authors, I went to the trouble of making a profile, though It's for Civ, and not me. Any resemblance between this story, and any good fanfiction is purely coincidental. If it sounds like I stole something from you, send me an example of your work, and I'll see what I can do. This story contains material that could be considered to be adult, though it's merely hinted at, so you might not wanna read this if you're under 18, though that won't stop you. If you feel the "Civ" segments detract from the story, feel free to ignore them, as they aren't particularly integral parts of the story. That said, enjoy this story, and I bid you peace. Remember, that's Civanfan@aol.com +_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ You walk to the juncture, a point within space where all thoughts meet. You were told of a guide. One who would lead you to the story. You sit on a bench and stare into the shadows, waiting. Soon a young man, no more than 16, walks out of the darkness. He walks to the bench and bows. "Are the one who I was sent to guide?" he asks, grey/green eyes curious. To your affirmative response, he holds out his hand. "I'm Civan the zombie, pleased to meet you." Taking his hand, you are surprised to find that it's not clammy, cold or even slimy, despite it's greenness. "I'm not a typical zombie. Come, we must be going." He leads you into the dark. Ghostly images flicker throughout the impenetrable emptiness, doors of light and creatures from myths that died long before memory flit about, slowly collecting until your view seems to be naught but ghostly images reflecting a nightmare world, yet still Civ walks, unerring, until in the distance you see the light which banishes the shadows before you. "Huh. Well, I was PRETTY sure I knew the way here. Good thing I was right, huh?" After you facefault, he picks you up and dusts you off. "Oh come now, you're here, aren't you?" The zombie shakes his head, bemused. "Well, do you recognize this place?" You look around and see a largish house with a red roof. "That's right." Civ says, reaching into his pocket. "It's the Masaki residence, where Tenchi and the others live. It's also 2:00 AM and everyone's asleep, but for two people." With his left hand still in his pocket, he gestures with his right to a large window. "Now, just let me check.." He walks to the window and peeks in. "D'ahh! What the." He ducks back down, shuddering slightly. "Ok, we'll just leave him alone for a few more minutes.by the way the focus for this story is Noboyuki, I should have realized there were a couple of inherent risks involved in checking on him.ick..Soon, you'll go into a first person view, through Noboyuki's eyes. I can't say I envy you." Finally he finds what he was looking in his pocket for and gets ready to pull it out. He looks through the window again. "Okay, he's gone into the kitchen to wash his hands. Now's the best time to start. Ready? Good!" He begins to pull a sign out of his pocket. As he does, you feel yourself being pulled into the story, breaking the boundary known to the world as the fourth wall, and shattering and reforming your reality until you ARE Noboyuki. In the distance you hear a faint cry of "Good luck!" as the zombie plunks the sign into the ground and says grandly, "This story is titled: Hands A Tenchi Muyo! Story Written by Civanfan, the CIVil ANime FAN I am just about to forget you Once there was summer of color crimson lake All it took to confess was a word All it took to express was a kiss* +_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_ Pain. That's probably the first thing I'd feel. As I wash my hands, they glisten in the moonlight, like the knife next to the sink. They'll never be clean.no matter how many times I wash them, they'll always be tainted. Every night now, they betray me. Every night is a curse to me. An insult to your memory. I pick up the knife and simply lay it across my wrist. It looks so vulgar there, and yet so appropriate. If pain is the first thing I'd feel, I welcome it. I deserve every last second of agony, for my betrayal. On this night, just like every other night, the knife falls into the sink, as I turn away once more. I am a coward. Tonight, I should be asleep, but something keeps me awake. I take the knife out of the sink and sit at the table. The sink would be easier to clean. Achika, you used to hold these hands.now you'd shy away from them, would be revolted by what I've become. The memories return to torture me. I thought I'd forgotten them long ago, even before the girls came to this house. +_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ "Oh, Noboyuki!" It was a carnival.you were radiant, as you always were. I'd won a teddy bear in a simple game. .it took 2000 yen to get that bear, but when I saw your eyes light up with laughter, I just, I dunno, had to give it to you. Our hands brushed as I handed it to you. I looked up into your face, and it was then that I found myself falling in love. The bright lights accented your face beautifully and I stared into your endless violet-brown eyes until I noticed the blush spreading across your face. I realized I was holding your hand, so pristine, so beautiful., in mine, and I quickly let go. You smiled the smile that still haunts my dreams and took my hand again. Then you laughed that beautiful laugh, like bells singing in joy, and we walked To a bluff over the town and watched the sun sink below the clouds. I still remember what you said to me, Achika, as night covered our corner of the world in darkness.darkness as empty as my soul, as the facade that I placed to block off my grief. You said in your soft, sweet voice. "Oh, Noboyuki, I wish I could live this day I've had with you forever." With all my heart, Achika, I believe you are in Heaven, living our too-brief life forever in an endless dream. I pray that you'll never forget me. +_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ I'm glad you can't see me now. I know what I must do. I will not shy away. Even though I may never see you again in this life or the next, I cannot live without you. Another memory rises in my mind..I try to block it off, but it won't be denied. +_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ No, not this! Please! Anything but. No. Not again. Tenchi was spending the night at a friend's house. And we had the night to ourselves. You'd been so vibrant and hyper that night. After dinner, you'd insisted on dancing with me for hours, then we looked over the photo album and laughed at the pictures. Did you know it was going to happen? Could you tell? After we went to bed early for once, and slept for a few hours I rolled over and awoke to find an empty place where you once were. Sometimes, even after all these years, I'm still surprised, in the night, to find you gone. I remember hearing broken sobbing from downstairs. I seemed to fly down the steps to your side. You were watching the movie of our trip to Tokyo and crying your eyes out. I reached over and stroked your soft hair. It seemed to shimmer as brightly as the tears upon your face. I kissed you and asked what was wrong. I would chase away the demons that haunted you. I'd die a thousand times to wipe the tears from your eyes. I'd do so, even now, to have you back for one more day. You said nothing, merely wailed and fell into my arms, sobbing. I kissed you and held you close, inhaling the scent of your hair. Strawberries and cinnamon. If I concentrate, I can still smell it today. I lost the scent of it on your pillow, after trying vainly to keep Sasami from washing it. I've forgiven her. I couldn't help it. She cried for hours after I privately told her what that scent meant to me. You'd love her, she's so sweet. So much like you, though she is a slightly better cook. Forgive me, I let my mind wander. Eventually, after what seemed an eternity your sobbing quieted and you looked up at me and said, with your eyes shining, "I love you. I always will. I will be yours forever." +_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ If I could live a moment over and over, for all time I'd pick that one, my forever love, my lost one. I'd freeze that moment in time. That moment before I lost you, and with you, a part of my soul itself. +_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ Eventually, you cried yourself to sleep as I sat there, with tears running down my own cheeks, helpless to save you. Maybe it was then that I knew you'd slip away from me. I carried you up the stairs, holding you close to me. I could feel your heart beating rapidly, like a scared animal's, against my chest. I placed you in the bed and laid beside you, watching you breathe. I looked at the clock. 2:00AM. I fell asleep, knowing you'd feel better in the morning. At 4:17, I awoke to find you shaking and wailing in agony, tears pouring down your face. I tried to get out of bed and call a doctor, but you screamed and clutched my hand. This hand. This repulsive thing. I didn't leave you, while you were leaving me. At 4:20, you opened your eyes, looked at me, smiled, and quietly passed away. +_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ That moment.when my life fell into pieces and blew away in the wind, is the moment I'm forced to live forever. No. That's not it. The memory I carry happened one week after. +_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ "Ha ha! Here ya go Noboyuki! For when the little missus is out!" I didn't even know how the horrid little man got invited to our wedding party, yet there he was, holding a gift wrapped box out to me, I looked to you, but you were busy talking to Tanaka. "Er..Thank you. Mr.." "Moriboshi! Call me Ataru!" "Er.right." "And don't tell her about it, either!" He winked at me, face twisted in a lecherous grin, and he was gone.. I recall, after you were asleep, putting the unmarked tape in the VCR. I don't think I ever ran faster than I did when I ran to eject that tape. I put it away, and forgot about it.until the week after your funeral. I put Tenchi to bed. I opened a bottle of sake, the first of many. I watched that tape, the first of many. I put a wall across my grief, and tried never to think of you again. +_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ Now, here I sit, looking at my hands. The hands you held when we fell in love. The hands you held when the world lost its beauty. The hands I betray you with, night after night. I will not be a coward anymore. Yes, the sink will be cleaner. The world will be cleaner without me. I do not fear hell, for I live it every day. I just hope I can see a fleeting glimpse of you, now and then. My beautiful Achika. I raise my knife over my wrist, as I have done on countless nights. Pain will be the first thing I feel. It will also be the last. I raise the knife, but something stays my hand! What? What is it? I look at my hand and see two small, exquisite hands holding it back, keeping me from striking my mortal blow. I look up to see a vision of. Achika! She is holding my hand once more and crying as she shakes her head. "Please, Noboyuki! Don't! For Tenchi's sake!" "A-Achika! I shake my head, and the vision shatters. Someone is indeed holding my hand, but her eyes shine green in the moonlight. "I know your pain, Noboyuki. I feel it every day. Maybe, we can help each other feel better! Just don't kill yourself!" "But.it won't be love." I explain, even as I put down the knife. "Maybe," she says earnestly as she takes my hand once more and leads me towards the stairs "Maybe someday it will be." I can only hope so. +_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_ I am just about to forget you Once there was a winter of color horizon blue Al I knew, you were there beside me All I saw, our shadows on the path* I love you so, still know I do. I trust you so, yet I know I do I want you so, true like ice, true like fire. * *-Excerpts from "Love Antique", Neon Genesis Evangelion +_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ You wake up where you began. Civ is standing next to you. "So, was it as icky as I thought it'd be? Before you can answer, he says, "Well, I've gotta go! You know the way to leave, right?" He walks into the shadows, rubbing his eyes and muttering, `Stupid author, why does he keep doing this to me? Er.this fog is making my eyes tear up!" You shrug and go home. Well, what did you think? Once again, this is my first fic, and due to the fact that they cost money, I haven't seen the Tenchi OVAs , so every thing I know about Tenchi comes from websites. Well, I DID see TmiL. If anyone seems OOC, chalk it up to inexperience. I'm also sorry if the ending seemed a bit rushed, but, well, it was. Anything you wanna say to me? Mailto:Civanfan@aol.com Thanks again. Vance "Civanfan" Benson 7/2/99 Copyright 1999 Vance Benson.