No Need for a Demon Imposter, part one: The First Adventure

By Elemen the Bard

section: regular

blurb:

OAV episode one, this time Ryoko isn't the first demon to arrive.

Disclaimer:

Don't want to spend to much time on this so: Tenchi Muyo is owned by 
AIC/Pioneer, I do not even act like
I own them, so leave me alone, and please don't sue me. Oh yes, and all you 
Ryoko fans, Ryoko acts and
thinks a //little// //tiny// bit different in this fanfic than in many 
others.

<(word/sentence)> =English
*(sentence)* =Chinese
*(word)* =sound
//(sentence)// =thoughts
//(word)// =emphasis

Story:

"Ite! Stupid rock!" Kai yelled at the thing he had just stubbed his toe on. 
"Now where'd Tenchi go?
Granddad wanted me to get him but where is he?" the eldest Masaki asked 
himself. He walked up out of the
forest and stood up and looked around.

"That you Kai?" Tenchi yelled down from a rather tall rock in front of the 
cave he liked so much for some
reason.

"Tenchi! Get down from there! Grandpa wants to talk to you!" Kai yelled up 
to his younger sibling.

"Okay! I'll be right down," and he was, he jumped right down off the top of 
the rock and stood back up
again.

"Now go and talk with Grandpa, or else you might get more sword practice," 
Tenchi visibly shuddered. "Go
now and he might not force you," Tenchi ran off at a speed higher than mach 
two. "I wonder how he runs so
fast," Kai remarked to noone in particular.

Suddenly Kai felt the hairs on the back of his head stand on end, as if he 
was being watched.

~|.

Far away, across millions of star systems, the Soja floated slowly in the 
direction of earth. The owner of the
ship was lucky, both of his servants were there on this planet. He smiled to 
himself, turned, and went deeper
into the ship to mock the only other passenger on the ship.

~|.

Kai brushed it off and walked back in the direction of the house, he 
couldn't shake the feeling of being
watched. He brushed a lock of dark blue hair out of his eye and sighed, 
seven short weeks until school
started, and he would be bored out of his skull for another year.

When he was almost back to the shrine he heard the klack of bokkens. 'Tenchi 
wasn't quick enough
apparently,' he thought, and walked over to the direction of the sounds. 
Halfway to the training clearing, he
realized that the sounds weren't coming from there, they were coming from 
near the lake, not too near the
lake, but still a good twenty meters further than he expected.

When he got to where the sounds were coming from all that was there was one 
man in a very elegant dress
hitting a bokken against a wooden training post. Then suddenly, the man 
faded, as did the sounds, and most
of the post, now all that was there, was a rotten log, sticking out of the 
ground.

"Wha?" Kai said, turning to look right into the face of a beautiful woman, 
holding an energy sword that
seemed right out of star wars. Well, not right out of Star Wars, for one 
thing It had no handle, and for
another no sword from Star Wars would ever be pointed at his face.

"You will Die Yosho!" she cried out. Suddenly Kai realized she wasn't 
looking at him, but Past him, to the
man in elegant dress. He had reappeared, but now he looked a little older, 
and he was holding a sword that
looked a lot more like a light-saber than her's.

Then quite suddenly he heard someone call his name, and everything around 
him snapped into focus. The
rotten log sticking out of the ground, the trees around him, and the fact 
that neither of the two people he had
just seen could not possibly be real.

"Kai!" Tenchi yelled from the top of the hill.

"Hey, Tenchi! What is it?" Kai asked turning to face the younger sibling.

"Come up here! I've got something you //have// to see!" Tenchi yelled.

"'Kay, I'll be right up!" Kai said, turning away from the ancient training 
grounds. From the rotting bokken
lying on the ground near the post, with the name inscribed on it: Yosho.

-|.

"Okay Tenchi, spill it, what do you have that's so important?" Kai said, 
when he reached the top of the hill.

"Well, ya know the old keys Grand-pa always keeps with him?" Tenchi asked, 
sounding thoroughly
overjoyed about something.

"Yeah, those are the keys to the demon's cave…. You didn't…" Kai trailed 
off.

"I did, I have 'em right here!" Tenchi said, pulling out an old rusted pair 
of keys from his shirt pocket.

"Tenchi you know we're not supposed to go up there!" Kai exclaimed.

"SHHH! Keep it down! I don't want Grandpa to hear us!" Tenchi hissed.

"You mean Grandpa doesn't know you have those keys?"

Tenchi nodded in affirmation. Kai's lips curled up into a smile.

"Well if he doesn't know… I guess he can't stop us…. And what he doesn't 
know won't hurt him right?"
Tenchi nodded, beginning to grin widely. "Then what are we waiting for? Lets 
get going!" Kai finished
grabbing the keys from Tenchi, and running down the steps in the direction 
of the cave.

"Hey! Wait for me Kai!" Tenchi called out, running after him.

~|.

Her spirit floated above the two boys, she giggled lightly. They had been 
silly since before they could talk,
and now was no different. She heard their shouts and the wildlife around 
her, and saw everything that was
happening. But she could not feel it, she could not smell the sweet air 
around her spirit, for she was really
trapped under a mask in a chamber full of water, hidden by a rock that had a 
ward on it.

But these boys… she wouldn't be a prisoner much longer, she would be free, 
free to destroy! Free to
ravage!… but the years she had spent trapped had changed her.. Now she 
thought about what she had done.
She had realized her error. The destruction she had caused now tore at her 
soul. She wished to be free again,
but not to do as she had done all those years ago. Back then she was merely 
a demon, good for nothing but
destruction, now she wished to atone for her transgressions.

She had developed a growing affection for these two boys. They were silly, 
smart, kind, and even caring.
When their mother died, she comforted them, when the snow fell lightly on 
the ground, and the tears had
come just as readily she had projected herself, and had comforted them. She 
had watched them grow in size
and knowledge, and skill. The younger, Tenchi, was in training with his 
grandfather in how to use a sword.
The older one, Kai, needed very little help, he took to it like a fly to 
sugar, it was almost like he already
knew everything his grandfather was going to teach him.

But now things would be different. Now she wouldn't have to watch them from 
afar, like so many others.
Now she would be free to walk with them, talk with them, be with them as 
they grew into men. She would
live much longer than they would though, they would come and pass like the 
dust in the wind, but she would
treasure them when they were here.

They were closer now, they had already reached the cave, and she could hear 
them opening the gate with the
keys they had borrowed. She would be free….

~|.

Kai turned the keys in the large rusted lock, he probably could have just 
broken it off on his own and he
might not have even needed the keys. Tenchi came running up behind him, 
huffing and puffing. Kai
unhitched the lock and dropped it on the ground with a loud "Clang!" Tenchi 
flinched.

"What took you so long Tenchi?" Kai said, smirking.

"You aren't the slowest of people around you know Kai…" Tenchi trailed off, 
huffing and puffing.

"Yes well…" he opened the gates, and motioned for Tenchi to go in. "Ladies 
first" he said smiling broadly.

"Hey!" Tenchi exclaimed.

"I was just kidding." Kai said, walking into the cave. He suddenly felt a 
wave of heat, then a wave of cold
wash over him. He collapsed as he suddenly felt like a thousand needles were 
being driven into his skin.

"Kai!" Tenchi ran over to his brother, his shirt caught along the way. 
Tenchi turned to see what it had
caught on, it was an old ward, the ink had almost worn away on it, but it 
was still there. Tenchi freed his
shirt, but tore half of the ward off the wall in the process.

Suddenly, the needling pain ended. It was almost like a hand had brushed the 
pain off of him like snow, or
rain. Kai got up and rubbed the back of his head.

Tenchi ran over to him with part of the ward still stuck to his shirt. "Are 
you okay?!" he asked in a worried
tone of voice.

"Yeah I'm fine… It's just something that happened when I walked into the 
cave… hey, what's that?" Kai
finished the last part pointing to something that looked like and old sword 
case, with a ward on it too.

"Not sure... could it be the sword from the legend?" Tenchi asked.

"Only one way to find out." Kai walked over to the case and reached out to 
grab one of the handles.
Suddenly his hand reached a resistance of some kind. It wasn't like a wall, 
more like the material that
balloons are made out of was in the way, and he couldn't quite reach the 
case.

Tenchi watched his brother reach out an arm to the case, when his hand 
stopped it looked to him like his
brother was hesitating. Tenchi walked over to him, "What's wrong?" he asked.

"There seems… to be something in the way…" Kai said, straining himself, 
pushing against the invisible force
with his hand.

"I don't see anything…" Tenchi replied, reaching out his hand to grab the 
handle of the case. Nothing
stopped his hand. There was nothing in his way when he opened the case, 
exept for the stiff paper ward that
was over the center of the case. When Tenchi opened the case he ripped the 
ward in two. "Oh great,
Grandpa's gonna kill us for this," Tenchi groaned when the ward ripped.

Kai was just about to push with all his might when Tenchi ripped the ward. 
Kai pushed, and fell forward his
forehead impacting with the case, as the resistance suddenly disappeared. 
"Ite…" Kai said, rubbing his
forehead.

"You okay Kai? Are you hurt?" Tenchi said putting a hand on his brother's 
shoulder.

"I'm fine, it's just my pride…" Kai trailed off, still rubbing his head, and 
got up.

"Woah! Kai take a look at this!" Tenchi said, looking into the case.

"What is it?" Kai asked looking around the edge of the case to look inside 
at whatever was in there.

It was a sword. But it didn't seem to be your ordinary sword though. Its 
hilt was wrapped in cloth, like they
normally are, it was sheathed, but it had three gems embedded in the pommel 
of the sword. Plus the sheath
and the hilt looked like brand new, like someone was coming in here every 
week and polishing them.

Kai grabbed the hilt around the part that was cloth. "I wonder if the blade 
is just as new…" he said, thinking
about the thing. "Why not check!" he grabbed the sheath with all his might, 
and pulled it off.

Kai, and Tenchi, were both //very// disappointed. The blade actually showed 
it's age and was so rusty you
couldn't tell it was even a blade originally. "What a piece of junk." Tenchi 
said, grabbing it out of his
brother's hands. "I can't believe this is the sword that cuts through 
stone." He said, lazily letting it fall on a
rock that had a ward on it.

When the blade impacted with the rock three things happened. First, the 
blade shattered into a thousand
rusty pieces. Second, the rock split in two, including the ward that was on 
it. Also third and finally, the wall
behind the rock split down the center, and moved aside, revealing a passage 
that was otherwise hidden
before.

"Holy…" Tenchi gawked at the passage.

Kai recovered quickly. "Are you going to sit there all day? Or are you going 
to explore it? Let's go!" Kai
charged into the passageway, and almost instantly disappeared down it.

"Hey wait for me Kai!" Tenchi Yelled, getting up from where he had collapsed 
into a sitting position, and
charged into the passageway.

Tenchi immediately found out why his brother had disappeared so quickly, the 
passage was on a deeply
sloped incline, and had water up to his ankles between the wide cracks in 
the floor design. Tenchi slipped
almost immediately, and lost his grip on the hilt of the sword. As he 
reached for it, he only slid down further,
and then lost his grip on the passage entirely, he slid all the way down to 
the bottom, and when he landed the
hilt found a way to land on his head, and then in his hands. Tenchi rubbed 
his head as he looked around.

The chamber was huge. The area around him was just like the passage, stone 
walls, and the gapped floor
design, but there was a sunken portion further in. Kai was standing 
practically in the center, up to his knees
in the water, staring down at something under the water, that was beneath a 
giant green crystal that was
suspended from the ceiling by a lot of cables.

"Hey Kai!" Tenchi called out, getting up off the ground and walking on the 
stones so he wouldn't get any
more wet than necessary. Kai didn't respond, he seemed to be in a world of 
his own.

When Tenchi got there, he saw what Kai was staring at. Kai was looking at a 
girl, who seemed a little older
than they were, who was wearing an old mask, and a long kimono-like-thing 
that floated slightly in the
water. What's more, she had curves in all the right places, and it seemed 
like she was starting to move.

"Kai… d'you suppose that this, could be the demon that all the legends 
talked about?" Tenchi asked, staring
at the girl.

"Could be Tenchi." Kai replied.

"I think we'd better get outta here Kai." Tenchi grabbed Kai's shoulder and 
started pulling him back
towards the passage.

Quite to Tenchi's surprise, he felt a cold, wet, skinny hand on his. It was 
far to slender to be Kai's, so it
must have been… Tenchi gulped and turned to look. Sure enough, there 
attached to the other end of the
hand, was the girl from the pool, a soft yellow-brown glow coming from 
inside the eyeholes. This was too
much for Tenchi, he tightened his grip on his brother's arm, and ran up the 
passage, tied the rock back
together with a handy vine, ran out the gates, closed them locked them, and 
ran up towards their house. He
did all of this without letting go of Kai's arm.

~|.

She sensed their presence in the cave. She knew that she should return to 
her body soon. And she //felt// the
pull to return as one of them, probably the younger one, broke the seal to 
her chamber. She returned to her
body, and felt all those things she had felt many years ago, including… 
Water? She was completely
submerged in a pool of water.

She started to regain focus and the ability to control he limbs, just as one 
of the two, obviously Kai from his
hairstyle. Walked over to the edge of her little pool. Even as far away as 
he stood, which was at least a
couple of yards; it was still knee deep.

The other boy walked up soon after, and she began to sit up. She saw the 
younger one turn away and grab
his brother's arm. She stood, and placed a kind hand on that of the younger 
boy's. She got a reaction that
she had hoped never to see again from the boy. A look of absolute terror 
flooded his features. Her heart tore
to see him like that.

His brother had a very different reaction, it was almost, joy? Anyway…

He took his brother and ran up the passageway. From the slam of rocks 
together she guessed that he had
temporarily restored the seal to her chamber. She could barely feel the 
tears go down her cheeks, and even
when she did she could not distinguish when they were tears, or just water.

She took off the hideous mask that had been placed over her face while she 
was sedated, and slowly stalked
up the passage into the rest of the cave. She remembered how the ward would 
block her teleporting, or
phasing through the rock wall, but this time only half the seal's effect 
would work. She phased easily
through the wall, and walked out of the cave. She looked around and started 
to fly in the direction that she
remembered the house was in. she then decided against it, and went to find 
someplace to eat.

~|.

Tenchi burst in the door huffing and puffing. Kai pulled his arm way from 
the terrified Tenchi, and rubbed
his shoulder.

"Just rip my arm off why don'tcha. What's your problem Tenchi?" Kai said, 
circling his arm, trying to work
the feeling back into it.

Tenchi face-faulted. "What's my problem?! That demon! The thing in the 
ca--!" Tenchi was yelling before he
was cut off by Kai's hand over his mouth.

Kai said nothing but just pointed in the direction of the living room. 
"Hello boys…" Their grandfather trailed
off. Kai took a sadistic pleasure in feeling his younger brother Tense 
suddenly, turn to stone, then crumble
under his hand.

Nobyuki looked at the pieces of his son on the ground. "What's wrong with 
him?" Nobyuki said, absolutely
oblivious to the fact that he had just screamed where he had been.

"I have no idea, *Slurp*" their Grandfather Katsuhito said, taking a slurp 
of his tea.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Kai said calmly. "You know how easily Tenchi goes 
to pieces, right dad?"

"Right, well you'd better get him to bed, you two both have school tomorrow 
remember?"

"Right dad." Kai picked up the pieces of the catatonic Tenchi and carried 
them to their room.

-|.

The next day at school Tenchi had nearly forgotten about the incident at the 
cave, apparently his grandfather
either didn't notice that they had been in the cave, or didn't care. He and 
Kai arrived at school with time to
spare. He sat down at his desk and Toni walked up to him.

"Hi Tenchi, how was your summer?" she asked, standing next to Tenchi's desk 
and leaning on it.

"It was fine, how was yours Toni?" Tenchi replied. Toni was from a family 
who moved to Japan because of
business, she and her family were the closest people to the remote shrine up 
in the wilderness that Tenchi
called home. She had been over several times in the summer, his dad 
embarrassing him, but Kai making up
for his fathers, um, unique attitude.

"Same as usual, pinned as a 'Gajin,' learned how expensive things are in 
Japan, found out that I did have a
couple of friends even though everyone else alienated me, that sort of 
thing." Toni was from another
country, and people here in Japan don't like "gaijins" or foregners.

"Heh, sorry about that, it's just how some people are, luckily my family is 
more tolerant than most." Tenchi
said sweat-dropping.

"Oh don't worry about it Tenchi, it's not your fault that people don't like 
me, you and your brother are
some of the nicest people I've met, and I'm including people in America." 
Toni replied, trying not to agitate
Tenchi. "Well, anyway.. did you meet anyone new over the summer?"

"Oh! no, not really, no one new," Tenchi just remembered yesterday at the 
cave, and somehow, her
comment made him think she knew. His mind fell back to the sword hilt he 
forgot to put back in the case. It
was now sitting in his backpack.

"Oh really?" she said sarcastically. "You aren't hiding something from me 
are you Tenchi? Another woman
in your life? I must know!" and with that she was about to start tickling 
Tenchi, when the Teacher walked
in. Toni muttered something in English it sounded like 'shaved my the beds' 
or something. Tenchi had no
idea what that meant.

"Hello class, and welcome back. Your useless frolicking over the summer has 
wasted precious time of the
year so let's jump right in. Turn to page 47 in your science booklets…" The 
teacher continued on after that,
but Tenchi zoned out, and was very lucky that he wasn't caught. He couldn't 
get his mind off of the girl
from the cave, and if she really was the demon.

Eventually lunch-time came along, and Tenchi walked along with Toni and a 
couple of other friends. They
met up with Kai and sat down to have lunch under a tree. Toni sat closest to 
Tenchi, while his other friends
sat next to Kai, who had a friend of his own.

"So Kai, was your Teacher as sour as ours was this morning?" one of Tenchi's 
other friends asked, trying to
start up a conversation.

"Actually, your teacher was only sour because he has a reputation to keep 
up, our teacher was downright
nice." Kai said, leaning back against the tree.

"Damn, why do we get all the bad teachers?" the other friend of Tenchi's 
cursed.

"It's just our lot in life Soju, deal with it," Tenchi's first friend said, 
lying back on the grass, a piece of sushi
stuck in his mouth.

"Who asked you Toji?!" Soju snapped.

"You did that's who!"

"I did not!"

"Yes you did!"

"It was a rhetorical question!"

As the two of them continued to fight Toni got up holding onto Tenchi's arm. 
Tenchi gave her an inquisitive
stare, and she crouched down. "Come on, let's leave these bozo's to each 
other," Tenchi had no idea what
'Bozo's' meant, but he got up and went with her anyway.

Kai's friend was stepping in to try to calm Tenchi's two friends down, and 
Kai noticed Tenchi and Toni
sneaking off. Kai being the curious person that he was, he got up and went 
off to follow them. They walked
up the stairs, and exited onto the roof.

Tenchi followed Toni as she took him out onto the roof. She walked with him 
over to the railing, and looked
out over the school grounds. Tenchi leaned on the railing and noticed that 
her brow was furrowed. "What's
wrong Toni?" Tenchi asked.

"Hmm? Oh nothing, I was just thinking about something.." she trailed off. 
This did not answer Tenchi's
question so he pressed onward.

"Well what were you thinking about?" Tenchi pursued.

"Well… actually I was thinking about you." at this point Tenchi 'urked' and 
stood stock-still over the
railing. Toni noticed, and giggled. "It's nothing like that Baka," she said, 
slapping him on the back, "it's just
that you're the only person who's been nice to me since I got here.

"Think nothing of it, I know how it feels to be an outsider as well…"

"Really, Tenchi?"

"It's nothing really, it's just that for a couple of years when I was young, 
my family and I took a long
business trip to the US."

"Really? Why haven't you ever told me about this?"

"Well, it never really came up."

"How long did you and your family stay in America?"

"About two years, Dad's company had gotten a rally big office building 
project, and they sent him to
oversee it."

"Wow…" Toni trailed off, she stared at him. "Well…"

"Hmm?" Tenchi turned to look at her.

She looked as if she wanted to say something, but couldn't. She sighed.

"I'd better be getting back to class. Talk to you later Tenchi."

"Yeah, bye Toni."

She walked away. Tenchi sighed and leaned on the railing…

He sighed and sat down against the railing, thinking about it. Two things 
happening in one week was far too
much for him….

~|.

He must have fallen asleep because when he opened his eyes again it was 
dark.

"Oh real smart Tenchi, you're really gonna get it now." Tenchi said to 
himself.

He wandered towards the door, but stopped short when he heard a faint mewing 
sound. He turned around
and saw a cat. "Hey kitty, what are you doing here?" he wondered walking 
over to pick up the cat.

Unfortunately for Tenchi's nerves, the cat disappeared into thin air, 
running towards something that was
behind him. Tenchi turned around, but almost immediately regretted it. For 
there, sitting on top of part of
the building was the girl from the cave, still in the same garb, except 
without the mask. She held in her hand
the small collar with bells that the cat had been wearing.

She tossed it to him. "I am Ryoko." She said softly, and simply.

Tenchi looked at the bells in his hand, and they disappeared as well. He 
looked back up to the girl.

"Could you be kind to a lost cat who has gone astray?"

"Huh?" Tenchi said, he didn't understand. "What do you mean."

"You would be welcoming to a cat wouldn't you?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess…"

"And yet to something just as nice, but hidden behind a mask you feared and 
ran from." The girl floated
down level with Tenchi.

"Umm." Tenchi at this point was getting quite uncomfortable, partially 
because the distance between them
was small and getting smaller.

"Why did you run from me Tenchi?" Her face was mere inches from his, he 
could feel her breath on his face.

"I-I I was-ss-s a-afraid…" Tenchi stuttered.

"Why Tenchi?"

"I…"

"Tenchi…" she looked as if she was about to say more, but she didn't have 
the chance.

A light flared above their heads. It streamed down and impacted with the 
cement below them. Tenchi was
thrown back and landed on the ground, Ryoko was slammed into a wall, making 
a slight dent.

"The space pirate Ryoko! I never thought you would fall for someone from 
such an underdeveloped planet
such as this!" A floating figure said, a billowing cloak hiding and masking 
all of himself, he was also
obviously masking his voice.

Tenchi tried to lift himself up on one arm, but pain lanced through it. The 
shoulder had been dislocated when
it impacted the roof. The figure floated down, and with a covered hand 
lifted Tenchi up by the chin.

"He isn't much of a catch now is he? Small, skinny, weak, and prone to 
injury, look one fall and his shoulder
breaks…" the figure twisted Tenchi's body from side to side, holding him by 
either the neck or chin.

"Put him down!" Ryoko's shoulder impacted with the figure, knocking him back 
several feet,

It dropped Tenchi and Ryoko grabbed him before he landed on his shoulder 
again. The figure got back up
and extended something that looked like a glowing shortsword. He flew at 
Ryoko, Pushing Tenchi aside,
without damaging him, and slashed at Ryoko's stomach. Ryoko Jumped out of 
the way, and back to the
point where she appeared.

"Who are you?"

"Someone." The person slashed downward, missing Ryoko again, but making the 
block uprising in the
building two very nice pieces.

"Stop it!" Ryoko dodged another strike from the guys sword, which left a 
long thin crater in the building
roof.

"No." the figure prepared to slash again when Tenchi said:

"Hey what's that thing in the sky!?" then he whispered: "There's absolutely 
no way that worked."

Tenchi turned around, the figure was scanning the sky. "What's going on? I 
don't see anything. Are you
sure you saw some… thing." The figure had turned around to the sight of an 
empty rooftop. "Hey!"

~|.

Tenchi Ran down the stairs with Ryoko's hand in his, her trailing behind 
him.

"We have to get out of here before that… //thing// shows up again." Tenchi 
stopped and turned around
"You're a demon aren't you? Can't you do something?"

"I'm //not// a demon! And I don't want to fight anymore!" Ryoko replied.

"Fine, fine. But can't you at least get us out of here?"

"I can try--" again she was cut off by an explosion, it game from down the 
hall from them.

"Get back here!! You aren't supposed to run!" the thing was running towards 
them.

"Do something!"

"I can't!"

Further conversation was cut off by one of the weird short light-saber 
things flying cleanly between them.
Tenchi decided that against the wall would be the best place for him to be.

"Now, now Ryoko, come on, don't make it so hard on yourself. Give it up!" 
the man rushed at her, but she
wasn't there. He looked behind him, a little to slow. A beam of orange-ish 
energy had situated itself inside
where the person's forehead would be. The figure rolled back and the beam 
dissipated, the hood fell away
revealing a quite featureless metal face. A cracked glass plate with a hole 
in it revealed where the visual
sensors had been, also where the beam had penetrated.

It was a robot.

And it was beeping slightly (never a good thing).

The realization hit Ryoko like not quite a ton of bricks but an approximate 
weight somewhere around a ton.

She grabbed Tenchi and teleported him out of the building. They both stood 
in the street outside of the
building as nearly half the thing exploded. Ryoko once again teleported 
before the various large bits of
falling debris crushed them kind of like the realization that hit Ryoko 
earlier. (I. E. a weight of bricks not
quite a ton, but almost.)

-|.

Tenchi stood frozen solid. He just saw his school building explode. He took 
a step forward. It //looked// like
he was in front of his house. He pinched himself. Yep, it hurt. He wasn't 
dreaming. He opened the door,
maybe the school exploding was just a dream.

"I'm home!" Tenchi called out. After all, where was the girl if it was real?

"Tenchi where have you been? Why were you missing in the afternoon?" Kai 
called from where he was
watching TV in the living room. Okay, maybe he did sleep the afternoon away, 
but he must have taken a late
bus home or something right.

"I think I fell asleep." Tenchi replied. Then something shattered all his 
illusions. The news broke in on the
channel Kai was watching.

"We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for this late breaking 
story!" the news caster said.

"What?" Kai said, sitting up.

"Tonight there was a devastating explosion at Hokkidore high school. Luckily 
no one was present in the part
of the building that was destroyed by the detonation, but nearly half the 
building was taken out by the
explosion. Police are baffled and have found no evidence of the bomb that 
caused the explosion…"

"That's our High School! Tenchi?!" Kai turned to find an empty entryway 
behind him.

~|.

Tenchi closed and locked the door to his room. It was impossible. There was 
no way that was real…

Wait a minute.

There was something wrong with the room. And it wasn't the mini-squid 
scuttling on the window sill.

The bed was a bit more lumpy than it should have been. Tenchi gulped and 
walked slowly over to the bed.
He slowly slipped the covers down, and found just what he was hoping not to 
find.

There was the girl.

~|.

Katsuhito was very intrigued when he heard an interestingly high pitched 
yell echo through the valley where
the shine and his son in law's house were. It sounded much like a mini squid 
going through a paper
shredder….

To be continued…

----------

Authors notes:

Done! Done! I'm Done!!! I finally finished this! It's my first work since 
"Visions" two or three years ago!!
If you like it! Tell me!! I would be overjoyed to hear that someone actually 
liked one of my stories.
If you want more! Tell me!! That might be the only way for me to actually 
get moving on another part of
this story!
I am also working on a Street fighter fanfic called "Daylight in the night" 
part one out soon, prolog done,
but not up yet. And now I can get to work on an original work I call 
"Soldier Red" or "Secret Mana"
Tell me which one of those titles you like better, Please!

Anyway. This has been in the works for a while, it just went on the back 
burner for a //long// time.

But before I bore you too much, I'll stop talking, remember, e-mail me with 
your suggestions!
(If you want to se what I have on either of the other mentioned stories, 
e-mail me and ask.)

Elemen the Bard.
ICQ# 58465662
E-mail: king_elemen@hotmail.com
Homepage: www.geocities.com/elemen_the_bard/
© 06/08/2001