***********************W*A*R*N*I*N*G************************ NOTE: This fanfic contains spoilers that pertain to the second Tenchi Muyo! movie, Manatsu no Eve (Midsummer's Eve), or as it's called here in America, Daughter of Darkness. Thanks for reading! ***********PLEASE*C&C,*MST(!),*WHATEVER!*PLEASE!************ Tenchi Muyo! (C) 1998 AIC * Pioneer LDC, Inc. * Tenchi Muyo Committee ------------------------------------------------------------ Presenting- An original Tenchi Muyo! Manatsu no Eve Continuation by: Mark Eymer (saotome@micron.net) Tenchi Muyo! Manatsu no Yume: Chapter 2 ------------------------------------------------------------ In the Previous Chapter: "Mayuka?!" Tenchi's mouth dropped open. "Hi, Daddy! Didja' miss me?" Mayuka practically beamed at Tenchi. She then lunged forward a second time and wrapped her arms around him in a massive hug. "I sure missed you, Daddy!" Tenchi's mouth moved... but no words were forth coming. ------------------------- "H-How?..." It was a safe question after all. Tenchi was just glad he was able to get it out of his suddenly dry mouth. "Washu, Daddy! She grew me back to where I was and gave me my memories back! Isn't that nice, Daddy?" Mayuka's face, as well as the rest of her, lit up with her smile. Tenchi suddenly found himself faced with the problem of trying to carry on a completely innocent conversation with a naked girl in the middle of a giant bath tub. Suffice it to say, he was having trouble. "That's great, Mayuka! Now, let me get a towel and we'll talk about this later, okay?" Mayuka obviously had other plans. "But, Daddy! You were just in the middle of your bath!" That was the main cause of Tenchi's distress. He knew they were in the bath. Together. Sweat began to bead on his forehead as he thought of Ayeka, or even worse, Ryoko catching him in the furo with Mayuka... again. Worry began to show in Mayuka's face as she asked, "Daddy? Why are you turning so pale?... Are you not feeling well?" Sinking into the waters of the furo, Tenchi nodded. "That's about right..." If only he had known what was yet to come... ------------------------- Within the darkness of some nether dimension, a tiny speck of light flared into sudden life, driving back the gloom that permeated the very essence of the surrounding area. Soon, other particles began to flare to life as well, lighting the entirety of the dimension. As the light brightened, the particles began to shake. The gentle swaying eventually subsiding into an erratic movement, until finally, each particle in turn lifted from the floor. Once airborne, each particle began slowly converging on one central point, collecting other particles as they made their way inward, until they all met and merged as one. Finally collected together in a solid mass, the particles flared suddenly, causing a blinding light to fill the area, until it slowly faded away into darkness once more. Within the darkness, two red orbs opened, and a laugh, borne of the purest evil, echoed throughout the area. ------------------------- A gentle breeze blew through the leaves of the trees surrounding the Masaki shrine. Breathing in deeply, Yosho closed his eyes, enjoying the fragrance of the surrounding mountains, and the light of the sun, overhead. Sighing wistfully, the old monk continued to sweep the walk, connecting the steps which lead up the hillside to the shrine. A billow of dust, sent up by Yosho's broom, alighted upon the wind and was whisked away into the sky. A sudden feeling passed over the old man, causing him to pause. Somewhere within the recesses of his mind, he knew that something was amiss. A chill crept up his spine, causing the hairs on his neck to stand on end. Something was terribly wrong, and Yosho had a pretty good idea of what it was. As he slowly set his broom down on the steps of the shrine, Yosho looked skyward in contemplation. Whispering to himself, he began his walk back to the Masaki residence, at the bottom of the hill. His words departed on the breeze, "Yuzuha... you've come back." ------------------------- Dried and dressed, Tenchi and Mayuka sat at the dinner table in conversation. Mayuka had a lot of catching up to do. Her regrowth had taken a few months to complete itself, and she had eagerly asked Tenchi to describe what had been going on lately. Tenchi was more than happy to. He was currently telling Mayuka about how close December, and coincidentally Christmas, were getting. This excited the young girl to no end, sending her into a fit of giggles. How she had waited to spend Christmas with a family, her family, and she would finally get her chance! Her last moments before Yuzuha had rent her life from her, Mayuka had been heartbroken to realize that she wouldn't be able to make it to Christmas. A tear had traveled down her cheek as she realized that her dream of spending the holiday with her friends and loved ones was being shattered by the very being who had created her. And yet, through the aid of Washu, Mayuka was back. Science and inginuity had prevailed, bringing the bright young girl back into the land of the living, and further more, Mayuka was none the worse for wear. Her hair was a slightly different tone, which intrigued Tenchi a tad, but that was the only real difference. He more or less wrote it off as just being one of those things, figuring Mayuka's hair was probably like those of a friend of his at school. During the summer, the hair of his friend lightened considerably, whereas during the winter it took on a darker hue. Mayuka's was exhibiting the same quality. Putting that thought aside, Tenchi continued telling Mayuka of the events she had missed. ------------------------- "What?!" An enraged scream echoed throughout the dark chamber. Yuzuha stood before a screen, heatedly taking in the scene unfolding before her. She had summoned the screen to check up on a hunch. Sure enough, Mayuka was still alive. Confusion replaced the anger, for a period, until Yuzuha's keen mind settled on a thought. "Washu. So... you brought Mayuka back, did you?" Sighing deeply, Yuzuha turned from the screen, disspelling it as she did so. Her efforts to control Mayuka had been for naught. Obviously Washu had made a few choice improvements in the girl while she was regenerating. Such as replacing Yuzuha's DNA with someone elses... Yuzuha's half of DNA that made up Mayuka had been her link to the girl. Through the genetic code, Yuzuha could command the girl to do as she wished. Now that her DNA had been replaced, the control Yuzuha previously had over the girl was utterly and completely gone. An idea suddenly occurred to Yuzuha, one that seemed to present merit. If she could find out whose DNA Washu had replaced her own with, Yuzuha might again be able to control the girl. This new revelation only led to more frustration, though. Knowing Washu, Yuzuha also realized that it would be a task indeed to obtain the information. Yuzuha couldn't have been more right. Washu had encoded Mayuka's new DNA much like Yuzuha had done originally. Yuzuha growled to herself. She would find the mother and exact her revenge. This Yuzuha swore. ------------------------- Kiyone smiled radiantly, her chest rising as she inhaled the fresh, crisp air of the countryside. Her time off from work was much needed and she planned to enjoy it as much as she could. Although she wasn't granted a reprieve of Mihoshi, Kiyone did have a few months of off duty time, a testament to how hard she worked. At the Galaxy Police, personel was granted two weeks of vacation time a year. That time was cumulative, too, so as to promote workers to stay on the job and not take intermitten breaks every now and again, which could throw the company off. If the personel were allowed to amass a goodly amount of time, the Police force had reasoned, then they would probably take a long vacation, allowing the police to prepair for their abscence in advance. The policy on vacations was currently one where if an employee wanted to take a vacation longer than a week, they would have to submit a written aplication to do so. The application had to be turned in a full month before the trip, therefore allowing the force to prepair for the abscence of an officer. This plan suited Kiyone just fine. In fact, until now she had had no real place to spend a vacation. Now, here on this backwater planet, she mused, she had found a group of people who she truly enjoyed being around. Kiyone's mind suddenly alighted, unbidden, on a subject she had tried to dodge many times before... Tenchi Masaki. The boy intrigued her. More than that, she wondered how any one man with so many beautiful girls after him could not have taken advantage of at least one of them. Kiyone didn't put much stock in the male gender, let alone the human race, yet this Tenchi, indeed only a mere boy, was making her reassess her reckoning of humanity. In some dim corner in the back of Kiyone's heart she knew that she had been bespelled by Tenchi's modest charms, as well, something she never thought would happen. Kiyone would vehemently deny that she had any feelings other than sincere friendship for Tenchi, yet she herself knew this to be false. A time would come when Kiyone would finally do something for herself, and not try to help out the others. She had desires and dreams the same as anyone else, and what she desired most was to be loved. For the time being, however, she wouldn't make a big deal out of it. Ryoko and Ayeka were the open competitors for Tenchi's attention, and Kiyone knew that Mihoshi had feelings for him as well. For the time being, Kiyone could just be content with living in the same house and being in the company of Tenchi... for now. Yes, Kiyone decided, things were starting to look good after all. She stared out at the lake near the Masaki home and gasped in awed delight as the sun began to fade behind the trees on the far shore. No matter how "backwater" Earth was, Kiyone had to admit that it had the most beautiful sunsets she had ever seen on any planet, as well as the most beautiful person she had met in a long while... ------------------------- As Tenchi pulled the covers up around Mayuka's form he couldn't help but look at the girl as she slept. Thoughts concerning how peaceful she looked in her sleep danced in and out of Tenchi's head. He gently placed a hand on her cheek and stroked it fondly for a scant few seconds before he stood up and quietly left the room. On his way to his own bed, Tenchi pondered the days varied events. Mayuka was back. The realization came quite suddenly to the humble Masaki, and he shook his head ruefully. Tenchi hadn't thought the impact Mayuka had had on his life had been that great, yet he found himself truly happy to have her back with the family. After all, she was his daughter, beknownst or not, and Tenchi found himself becoming even more fond of the strange girl who called him "Daddy." He also hoped that someday soon his knowledge of her would equal his affection for her, which seemed to be growing in leaps and bounds. Those warm thoughts still fresh in his mind, Tenchi settled into his own warm bed and fell quickly to sleep. He dreamt of his daughter that night. ------------------------- Somewhere, within the boundaries of a seperate dimension, a malevolent being also dreamt of Mayuka. Only in this instance, the being dreamt of when she would control the girl once more, and bring ruin to the Masaki's. Yuzuha turned in her sleep, a devilish grin lighting up her face, as her dream fuelled her passion for revenge. Even demons can dream, sometimes. ------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter Notes: Well, here we go again, eh? This chapter should be a little more well thought out than the last one, seeing as I've actually taken the time to sit down and plan this one out. Here's hoping you all like it. Not much change in this chapter as I plan for future ones. Mayuka is Mayuka... what can be said about that? She's just the same ol' loveable character from Manatsu no Eve, brought back just for you! Isn't it great? (Can you tell I'm a Mayuka fan, yet?) I hope you enjoyed this chapter, just trying to add to the plot a little and do a little character development. Peace. Special thanks go to: -Pioneer Entertainment for releasing this wonderful movie over here in the States, as well as AIC and the Tenchi Muyo Committee for creating this universe. -Anyone who has preread or even read this for that matter. I need the C&C. And to: -White Wolf and Tybalt, Admins of the FFML, as well as all of the good people of the FFML who've put up with my stuff. Thank you for reading, Mark Eymer (saotome@micron.net)