Disclaimer - Tenchi and the crew are unfortunately not my property.  I 
had no part in creating them, though I am desperately trying to figure 
out how to give myself Ryoko's abilities.  I am not writing this for 
the purpose of making money, though if any kind souls see fit to give 
donations I will not complain.  I am writing merely because I'm an 
obsessive person in general and I really need to get it out of my 
system.  Mayhem is my creation however, and anyone using him without my 
OK will anger the Great Shaven Cat Goddess and cause her to sic her 
elite pack of Killer Llamas on you.  Criticism is welcome, flames are 
ignored, praise will inflate my ego greatly, and make sure I actually 
finish this one-day.  Enjoy.

Many thanks to my talented editor, and fellow fanfic author, for his 
help in making this readable.  THANK YOU DREZ!!!!



Mayhem, Chaos, and General Messes
Chapter 2
Getting To Know You


	Back at the Masaki household several hours later Tenchi and the 
others were all leaning over cups of tea and cans of soda while they 
discussed options.  

	"Washu, are you absolutely sure that you don't have any way to 
track Ayeka?"  Tenchi asked for what must have been the dozenth time in 
the past few hours, worry evident in his voice despite his every effort 
to keep a strong face.

	Sighing tiredly Washu gave the same answer she had given him 
several times already.  "With our present resources I'd need to narrow 
down the search area significantly before any search would have any 
real chance of producing results.  If she still had her key on her it'd 
be relatively easy, but without it her Jurian physiology is simply too 
similar to human to isolate within a large area."  

	"So what can we do then!" an upset Sasami cried.

	"We wait."  Ryoko cut in.   "If he's gone to the trouble of 
kidnapping her off a busy street, if he put himself at that kind of 
risk, it wasn't to simply kill her."  Gathering the crying little girl 
up in a comforting hug the former space pirate continued, "He'll 
contact us, and when he does Washu will track him down and we'll get 
your sister back.  Ayeka's too tough to let anything too bad happen to 
her.  So don't you worry Sasami, she'll be fine."  She gave Sasami a 
quick wink "If I were you I'd worry more about what she's going to do 
to the guy that kidnapped her than the other way around."

	"You really think so Ryoko?"  Sasami asked, wiping her eyes with 
the back of her hand.

	"You bet kid."  Ryoko reassured with a grin, the rest of the 
group nodding their heads in agreement.

	"Yeah Sasami, we'll get her back safe and sound.  No problem."  
Tenchi added.

	"However, for the moment we just have to wait."  Kiyone said.  "I 
suggest we all get some sleep now though.  It's late and we're all 
exhausted."

	"I'll stay up for the first watch."  Washu volunteered.  "It's 
not like I sleep much anyway, and I want to get all my tracing 
equipment set up."

	"All right Washu-chan, I'll take the next watch in about 4 
hours."  Kiyone volunteered, biting back a yawn.  The rest of the group 
quickly decided the order of the watch for the night and went to bed.



	Ryoko couldn't sleep.  This is itself was pretty unusual, she 
could normally sleep just about anywhere and anytime.  But this night. 
she found herself on the roof contemplating the starlit sky.  Feeling a 
bit guilty, she realized that it wasn't really Ayeka's kidnapping that 
was keeping her awake.  At least not entirely.  What she had told 
Sasami earlier was more or less true.  Ayeka was very capable of taking 
care of herself, powers or no powers, and she seriously doubted that 
the guy had nabbed her just to harm her.  No, what was keeping her up 
was, surprise surprise, Tenchi.  Or rather what had happened yesterday.  
'Just one more second and." she sighed, her voice trailing off.

	"And what?"  Tenchi's voice asked from behind her.  Ryoko jumped 
a good 6 feet in the air, her face practically glowing red.

	Settling down on the edge of the roof, right beside the place she 
had just vacated, Tenchi looked up at her floating form with a small, 
if tired, grin.  "Your jumpy tonight Ryoko.  Don't tell me this guy 
actually has you scared."  he teased.  

	"I'm not scared!" she retorted defensively.  "You just surprised 
me, that's all."

	"Sorry."  He said, though he didn't sound all that apologetic.  
"So you couldn't sleep either?"  he asked as she settled back onto her 
place on the roof.  She nodded her head in response.  

	"I swear, sometimes I think that you girls came to Earth for the 
express purpose of raising my blood pressure."  Tenchi joked.  He put a 
comforting arm around Ryoko's shoulders "You were right earlier though.  
She's going to be fine.  We've faced worse than this.  Right?"

	"Yeah, but this IS the first time we've faced someone that we may 
not be able to lure into a direct confrontation."" Ryoko pointed out 
softly.  "Personally I think we should have left the guy alone." she 
sighed.  "Why does it have to be our job to go after every super 
powered nutcase in the universe?" the last part was joined by a rather 
cute pout.

	"I thought you liked adventure Ryoko?"  Tenchi said with a grin.

	She leaned into him, rubbing her cheek against his chest, pouting 
a bit when he stiffened up, but wrapping an arm around him so he 
couldn't lean away.  "I like an adventure every now and then.  But not 
when they always involve putting someone I care about in danger."  She 
mumbled, her eyelids drooping a bit.

	"Oh, NOW you're falling asleep?"  Tenchi chuckled.  "C'mon Ryoko, 
I can't carry you off the roof, so your going to have to either get 
down under your own power or sleep up here."

	"If I fall asleep up here will you stay with me so I don't get 
cold?" she murmured mischievously.

	"How about I bring you a blanket instead?"  Tenchi answered, 
smiling at her antics despite himself.  

	"Nuh-uh."  Ryoko mumbled into his chest.  "Gotta better idea." 
with that she teleported them onto his bed.

	"RYOKO!"



	"I have just the room for you two." the elderly clerk said in a 
jovial tone, giving Mayhem a conspiratorial wink, and looking Ayeka 
over with a discreet, but appreciative eye.  After handing him the key 
and giving them instructions as to how to get to the room he added a 
pleasant good-night and went to start locking up.

	"I can't believe you told that man that we were engaged!"  Ayeka 
raged once they reached the relative privacy of the room.  "There's 
only one bed in here!  And if you think I'm going to share it with a 
monster like you, you must truly be insane!!!"

	"Do I really have to put you out with a tranquilizer Princess?" 
he sighed.  Ayeka paled and shook her head no.  "Good.  You get the 
bed, I'll sleep on the floor.  That all right with you?"  

	"Y-yes" she stuttered, shocked at the show of kindness from her 
abductor.

	"Good."  Pulling a small case from the endless recesses of his 
multi-dimensional pouch.  He quickly set up several security devices 
around the room.  "I'm not going to tie you to the bed or anything, but 
be warned that the doors and windows are all booby trapped, and that I 
set up sound-dampers and a lock on the phone.  Your welcome to try and 
get past them if you want to, but I assure you that you're not going to 
like the results."  Turning to look her over with an appraising eye, he 
added "Your not going to be particularly comfortable wearing that to 
bed, I think I have something you could borrow if you want to."

	"I think I can do without owing a criminal like you any favors." 
Ayeka responded icily, having recovered from her shock, and not 
particularly liking the way he was looking at her.

	"Criminal huh?  Well I guess that's a step up from monster 
anyway."  He shrugged, "Suit yourself Princess.  Though, however you 
choose to sleep, I suggest you take a shower. No offense, but your 
getting kinda ripe, and my nose is pretty damned sensitive." he said 
with a wide grin.

	"W...What did you just say!"  Ayeka stuttered angrily.  

	"You need to take a shower.  You've been sweating from nerves and 
exertion for the past few hours, plus however long you spent looking 
around the city for me... and that Kimono of yours is not exactly 
lightweight." he pointed out in a reasonable tone.  "My nose is about 
as sensitive as a bloodhound's, but I don't have a dogs love of 
anything with a stink."

	"A Stink!"  Ayeka practically shouted, her anger starting to 
overpower the fear that had kept her from trying anything since he had 
captured her.  SLAP!!!  The sound of her hand hitting his face 
practically echoed in the room.  In low angry tones she continued, but 
he could smell the fear starting to creep back in "If you think that I 
am going to willingly disrobe with you anywhere even remotely near me 
you are seriously mistaken."  

	Rubbing his cheek he gave her a devilish grin, his eyes glinting 
dangerously.  "You are taking a shower.  I've had a long day.  I'm a 
bit of an insomniac on my best days.  If you don't take a shower 
your... scent... is going to keep me awake all night.  If you really 
don't feel comfortable taking it the normal way with me in here I'll 
find you a bathing suit to wear and your perfectly welcome to lock the 
damned door.  But you are taking a shower so I can get some damned 
sleep."   He finished the tirade with an annoyed, slightly threatening 
tone to his voice.

	"I will NOT!"  Ayeka shot back, her voice harsh and angry, 
despite the fear in her scent having redoubled during his rant.

	"Fine then... we do this the hard way." With that threw her onto 
his shoulder.  Ignoring her yelp and the blows she rained down on his 
back, he walked into the bathroom and started the western style shower 
up.  That done he dumped her into the stall and strode out, slamming 
the door behind him.  Before she could really recover from the shock 
the door flew open, a towel and terrycloth bathrobe were tossed in, and 
it was slammed shut.  "I'll leave a nightgown on the bed for you" he 
called from the other side of the door, "Goodnight."

	Ayeka just sat under the spray of warm water, letting the tears 
she had been holding back stream down from her eyes.



Tenchi was trying very hard to ignore how good Ryoko felt pressed 
up against him.  Trying hard to not notice how soft her breasts felt 
pressed against his chest, how her slender legs felt tangled with his 
own, how good she smelled.  ""Well so much for that idea"" he thought, 
sighing out loud.  He looked down at the girl lying pressed up against 
him, her arms wrapped around his chest, her face peaceful in sleep.  
She was out like a rock, and she would occasionally mumble something 
under her breath, a content smile making her normally beautiful 
features absolutely breathtaking.  

Tearing his gaze away from her sleeping face with some 
difficulty, Tenchi tried to pry her arms from around him without waking 
her up.  He had tried several dozen times already, but her grip was 
like iron.  Fortunately, this time she had relaxed far enough in her 
sleep that he was able to slip out.  ""Finally!"" he thought in relief.  
"I swear Ryoko, you're going to drive me insane one of these days." he 
whispered as he tucked a thick quilt around her sleeping form, a fond 
smile tugging at his lips.  "Sweet dreams."  With that he turned to 
leave the room.

	His hand had just touched the doorknob when he heard a soft, 
distressed whimper behind him.



	Ryoko was in the cave again.  It was too dark for even her cat-
like eyes to see anything.  From all around her she could hear the 
voice, Kagato's voice, echoing, mocking her weakness.  "Waste product." 
It sneered, "Worthless.  You are what I tell you to be, you don't 
deserve anything more."  She wanted to scream that it wasn't true, that 
he was lying, but she couldn't.  Her voice wouldn't work.  "You 
actually think that you deserve to be loved Ryoko?"  it taunted, "You 
think that that boy, Tenchi, could actually love you?  Don't make me 
laugh."  Kagato's voice assailed her, tearing open wounds that had 
never had a chance to heal, shoving her worst fears in her face.  
"You'll always be alone, you don't deserve anything more."

	""Tenchi"" she thought desperately, grasping onto her memories of 
him, trying to hold back the despair and loneliness that threatened to 
engulf her.

	"Ah yes." The voice laughed cruelly, "the great Tenchi.  Do you 
think that you can really protect him child?"  it mocked.  "If it 
wasn't for the interference of Tsunami I would have killed him that 
day.  And there was nothing that you could have done to prevent that.  
You can't protect him because he will never trust you enough to let you 
protect him."  The voice turned practically gleeful "He can never love 
you Ryoko, he's scared of you.  He sees you for the monster you are." 
it jeered.



	There were tears streaming from her tightly shut eyes, and she 
was whimpering like a lost child.  "T'nchi, no. don' take hm 'way. I 
love hm.Tenchi." the words, mumbled and barely comprehensible, pierced 
the young prince through the heart.

	"Ryoko." Tenchi whispered, sitting down beside her sleeping form 
and gathering up her surprisingly light form in a tight hug.  "C'mon, 
wake up Ryoko" he whispered into her ear.  

	"Tenchi?" she mumbled, her voice pleading even in sleep.  

	"Yes Ryoko, it's me" he breathed into her ear, "time to wake up, 
your having a nightmare."  When she still didn't wake up Tenchi did 
something that he had wanted to do for a long time, even if he wouldn't 
admit it, even to himself.  He leaned over and kissed the sleeping 
girl.  Pressing his lips against hers tenderly.

	Ryoko's eyes fluttered open, looking up at him with a shocked 
expression as he broke the gentle kiss.  "Tenchi?" she asked.  Her 
trembling voice trying to express a dozen different emotions with that 
one word.



	She was crying.  There was nothing in existence that could make 
him feel guiltier than knowing he made a girl or a child cry.  "Well 
this qualifies as one of the dumber things I've done in a while" he 
muttered under his breath in english.  With a sigh he opened up a 
rarely accessed storage compartment in the Multi-Dimensional Pouch that 
hung from his belt.  Reaching in he pulled out a thick woolen 
nightgown, savagely pushing down thoughts of it's previous owner.  
After a moments hesitation he pulled out a white and lavender sundress 
as well, laying them both out on the bed.  "Well, they should fit her 
reasonably well anyway" he sighed.  Knocking quietly on the bathroom 
door he called just loudly enough to be heard over the sound of running 
water "I'm sorry Princess.  I left some clothing for you on the bed.  
If you don't like them I can get you something better in the morning.  
I'm going to get a second room, but I'm leaving all of the security 
systems in place.  Sorry."

	Ayeka was still in the shower, though she had finally shed her 
clothes after they had become almost unbearable to wear from the 
soaking they had received.  She was leaning against the wall, trying to 
figure out what exactly about this man scared her so much.  She had 
managed to get her tears under control after a bit, but her eyes felt 
bloodshot and puffy.  The knock on the bathroom door made her jump, 
though she managed not to yell out in surprise and fear.  The words 
that followed the knock shocked her even more though.

	After a few minutes she crept out of the bathroom, clad in the 
thick bathrobe he had provided her with, to find herself alone.  She 
noticed the items of clothing he had left on the bed almost 
immediately.  "I wonder why he would be carrying around such items?" 
she mused to herself, her fears momentarily forgotten.  "I can't see 
him wearing them, I doubt they'd even fit him," she giggled at the 
image this thought conjured, "and he did apologize to me.  It hardly 
makes up for what he's done, but still." she trailed off.  Gratefully 
slipping into the thick nightgown she climbed into the single bed and 
out of pure exhaustion, quickly fell asleep.



	"Tell me about it?"  Tenchi asked, still holding Ryoko's 
trembling form in a comforting hug.  Ryoko shook her head no violently 
and buried her face back into his chest, fighting back sobs.  Tenchi 
shifted position so that they were lying next to each other on the bed, 
his arms wrapped around her as she cried herself out.

	"Tenchi?" she whispered after had regained a measure of control.

	"Hmmm?"

	"Are you scared of me?" she asked.  "And I want the truth." She 
added, managing to put a bit of her usual brashness into her voice with 
the second statement.

	Tenchi blinked in surprise, looking down at her upturned face, 
her eyes still red and the trails left by her earlier tears still very 
much evident.  "Scared of you?  Of course not, not anymore anyway."

	"But you used to be?"  Despite how it was phrased it wasn't 
really a question.

	"Well you did blow up my school Ryoko." he pointed out with a 
slight chuckle.

	"You ran away in the cave too, and that damned sword of yours 
hurt me." She accused, remembering the old pain of what she had seen as 
a rejection.

	"I didn't mean for it to, and Grandfather raised me on tales of 
the 'demon' that was trapped in that cave." Tenchi defended himself.  
"But I'm sorry I did it Ryoko, and if I could take it back I'd do it in 
a second." He apologized, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead.  

	"Your not scared of me anymore though?" she asked biting her lip.

	"Never.  You just make me nervous sometimes."  He smiled at her 
before adding "After all, half the time I end up right in the middle of 
one of you and Ayeka's fights.  That's enough to make any man nervous."  
Ryoko giggled and he could feel her relax into him.

	"I guess that'll do for now." she murmured. "Goodnight Tenchi."

	"Goodnight Ryoko." 



	He'd been in bed for a good 4 hours, he was weary to the bone, 
and he was still no closer to sleep than he'd been when he started 
trying.  "Crap" he muttered under his breath "I'm not cut out for 
kidnappings."

	Sighing to himself he got out of bed and got dressed.  ""Well I 
guess I have to figure out what to do with the Princess.  Then again, I 
haven't really confirmed her identity yet."" He mused.  "Well that I 
can do fairly easily anyway." He said to himself as he reached for his 
much-abused wallet and pulled out a handful of Jurian bills.  "Lets 
see.  Asuza, Misaki, Ayeka." double checking the picture on the note he 
sighed.  "Ayeka Jurai, first crown princess of the Jurian empire.  
Shit."

	""Well its confirmed.  I have the lousiest luck in all of 
existence.""  He chuckled slightly to the empty room.  ""Well at least 
she's cute.  She wants me dead, but she's cute.""  With this he broke 
down into somewhat hysterical giggles.  "Oh god, if this is this funny, 
I'm even more tired than I thought."  With that thought he walked out 
of his room, heading for the bar he had spotted on their way in.



	Considering the events of the day before, Ayeka slept rather 
peacefully.  Peacefully enough that she was reluctant to wake up.  
Eventually though, the sunlight streaming in through the window into 
her eyes forced her into wakefulness.  With a yawn she sat up. and 
promptly let out a startled yelp.

	"What are you doing there!" she asked angrily, holding the covers 
to her chest.

	"Tryin' ta figure out wha' to do with y're royal butt Princess 
Ayeka"  He slurred.  Looking at him again Ayeka noticed that his eyes 
were bloodshot and rimmed with dark circles.  His clothing was even 
more rumpled than it had been when she had last seen him, and there 
were several obvious stains present.  His hair was rumpled, and even 
his goatee managed to look unkempt.  She could smell the alcohol on his 
breath all the way from his position in a chair at the foot of the bed.  
All in all he looked terrible.

	"Your drunk." She observed.  "And you know my name."

	"Yep."  He affirmed.  

	"Why?  How?" she asked out of morbid curiosity.

	"I'm drunk 'cause I h've dmm'ed good reason t' be.  How?"  to 
answer her second question he threw a Jurian coin to her.  "It's th' 
price of bein' royalty princess."

	"Oh." 

	"So wha sh'd I do Prnc'ss?" he asked again.

	"Let me go perhaps?" she responded, scowling at him slightly.

	"I'd love tah." he answered in a morose tone, "but you'd jus' 
come after me again.  Jus' like ev'rbody else."

	"Maybe you should have thought of that before you killed my 
uncle!" she snapped at him.

	"It was self defense!!!" he yelled back at her.  "If h'd giv'n me 
a choice, I would'n have.  As much as he may'v desr'ved it."

	"You were trespassing in the palace!  You'd broken into his 
quarters!  How is that self defense!" she shouted back, absolutely 
livid.

	Glaring at her through red-rimmed eyes he simply stood up and 
staggered out of the room.



	Washu had just woken up from a short nap and was absentmindedly 
eating the breakfast that Sasami had left for her as she went over 
Mayhem's GP files.  She had noticed several small inconsistencies in 
some of the reports on his actions and was running as many analysis 
programs and searches as she could think of to find out more.  There 
were several trends that had caught her attention already.

	Yawning Tenchi walked into the dining room.  After grabbing his 
own breakfast he sat down across from Washu.  "Find anything yet Washu-
chan?" he asked hopefully.  

	"Nothing useful for finding Ayeka I'm afraid, but I've started to 
notice some unusual things in this guys GP file and in other sources."

	"Like what Washu-chan?"  Tenchi asked, curious.

	"Nothing specific yet I'm afraid, just an unusual amount of 
inconsistencies." she shrugged.  "So how's Ryoko doing?" she asked, a 
devious grin appearing on her face as she asked.

	"She was sleeping soundly when I... umm..."  he trailed off 
nervously realizing what he had been about to say.

	"When you...?" Washu asked, trying hard not to burst out 
laughing.

	Tenchi gulped slightly before regaining control of his voice and 
finishing quickly "when I checked on her a few minutes ago." 

	"Uh-huh... sure..." Washu teased, chuckling softly when Tenchi 
blushed slightly.

	"So where's Sasami?" Tenchi asked, changing the subject quickly.

	"She was asleep on the couch the last time I checked." Washu 
replied, her voice taking on a softer tone, the poor dear is completely 
worn out."  She frowned slightly in frustration before adding "And the 
guy who nabbed Ayeka hasn't made so much as a peep in our direction 
either."  Before she continue the doorbell rang.

	"I'll get it!" Sasami's voice called from the living room.


End chapter Two