Disclaimer: These characters belong to AIC and Pioneer

Waters is made up of two chapters: Red Waters, Black Waters
Each chapter is broken into sections of each characters reflecting on what has
just happened.
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                                   Red Waters
                               Sasami's Confusion

	It's all my fault!  I should've stopped her.  I knew what was happening,
but I refused to act, as if pretending that it wasn't going to happen would stop
it from happening.  I had seen it in a dream, but I dismissed it, and forced
myself to forget it.  Even now, I do not remember the dream, although I know I
had it, and I search my mind for it.
	It all started this morning, but none of us realized that until tonight.

	We were having breakfast as usual.  It wasn't my best breakfast.
Something was troubling me.  Something from last night, but I couldn't, or at 
least wouldn't, remember what it was.
	Ayeka froze, her chopsticks halfway to her mouth.  Without a word, she
stood and quickly walked out of the room.  Tenchi followed her, and I followed
Tenchi.
	Ayeka stood in front of her sapling, Ryu-oh.  The rainbow voice of the
Ryo-oh bounced into the sky.  One beam of Ryo-oh's voice was connected to
Ayeka's crown.  Ayeka did not move, she just stood there, the beams of light
rippling and shifting colors.  We just stood there watching her, afraid to
speak, afraid to do anything.
	After what seemed like forever, the rainbow lights disappeared, and
Ayeka sighed.
	"Ayeka?  Are you all right?" Tenchi asked.  "You look...lost."
	"On the contrary, Lord Tenchi, where I am has never been more clear."
	"What was that all about?"
	"Nothing that you should worry about, Lord Tenchi.  Just a Jurian thing.
Something that had to happen."
	She lied!  It was something that Tenchi should have worry about,
something I should've worried about too.  But she didn't say what it was, so we 
couldn't.

	The rest of the day was quieter than usual.  Ayeka seemed really busy.
First she washed her Princess robes, the very pretty white ones that she wore
when she first came to Earth, but she hasn't worn since, because they're only
for official things.  She made sure they were as clean as possible, washing
them several times.
	Then she washed the floors, and cleaned our room.  Ryo-oki and I tried
to get her to play with us, but she said that she was too busy.
	"Everything must be perfect." is what she said.
	She stopped working to watch our favorite soap.  Something she was doing
was bugging Ryoko, cuz Ryoko kept yelling at her to stop, but I was busy
watching the show.
	After the show was over, we had lunch.  She ate lunch very slowly, but
she ate a lot.  Three whole servings!
	After lunch she did play with Ryo-oki and me.  We played hide and seek,
and tag, and all sorts of games.
	Then she went out for a walk.  She didn't come back until the evening.
We were all watching the news, and looked up when she came in.  She glanced at
everybody, going down the row, looking in each person's eyes.  She stared at me
for a long time.  It made me feel very uncomfortable, although I didn't know 
why.  I know why now, although I still don't know the why behind that one.
	"If anybody needs me, I shall be in my room.  Please, do not interrupt
me unless it is important, I do not wish to be disturbed."
	Slowly she walked up the stairs.  Something about her was wrong, very
wrong.  I listened to my heart pound as she disappeared from sight.
	"Miya?" Ryo-oki asked, after a while.
	"I don't know, Ryo-oki." Ryoko smiled.  "Maybe she's creating a secret
carrot stash."
	Ryo-oki's eyes lit up.  Dropping into her cabbit form, she darted up the
stairs.
	"Shh!" Tenchi hushed with a smile on his face.  We listened, and, sure
enough, a soft thud was heard, as Ryo-oki forgot to phase through the door.
	Everybody burst out laughing.
	"Wait!" Tenchi said through his laughs.  We listened for it again, when
Ayeka inevitably chased her out.
	For a long time, no sound came.  I looked up at Tenchi, who still held
his hand up for silence.  Every muscle in his body froze, and sweat poured down
his face.  Then we heard a loud crack, and Ryo-oki came bolting down the stairs.
	"Ryo-oki!" Ryoko gasped as she clutched her head.  "Slow down!"
	"Ayeka!" Tenchi screamed.  He ran towards the stairs and leapt over the
banister, landing about half-way up the stairs, and taking the rest in a single
bound.
	"Tenchi!" I cried.  "What's wrong?  Is Ayeka hurt?"  I ran up the stairs 
as fast as I could.  He knelt in the doorway to our room.
	"Tenchi?  Ayeka?  What happened?" I asked as I turned to peer into the
room I shared with Ayeka.  
	Everything looked normal, except that the place was cleaner than
usual.  No spec of dust was to be found, and everything was perfectly in place.
Ayeka had really cleaned the place.  I couldn't see Ayeka, but I couldn't see
her futon or most of the room from where I stood.  Something seemed wrong
though.  There was something on the floor.  I leaned forward to get a better
look.
	The next thing I knew I was across the hall in Mihoshi's room. My chest
stung, and the back of my head throbbed with a dull pain.  Tenchi...hit me?
Shaking my head, I stood up and staggered to the door.  But it wouldn't open.
Tenchi had locked it.
	"Tenchi?  Tenchi?  What's going on?  Let me out!"  Something was wrong.
I prepared to dive out the door when somebody came in to talk to me, to see what
was going on.
	"Sasami." Ryoko whispered from behind me.  So much for that idea!
	"What's going on?  Where's my sister?  I want to talk to Ayeka!"
	"You can't." Ryoko said, her voice wavering slightly.  "Not now."
	"When?" I asked, although I think I already knew the answer.  I'm not
sure.  It was all so fast and the voice of my mind and my heart were yelling
and getting all mixed up.  I don't know what I knew then.  It doesn't matter,
really.  I know now.  "When will I be able to see her?"
	"Never..." She cried as tears ran down her cheeks.
	"That's not funny Ryoko." I yelled.  I closed my eyes, willing time to
freeze, so Ryoko would not speak.  So I could pretend it was just a stupid joke,
and that Ayeka was fine.
	"It's true." Ryoko choked.
	"You're lying!" I screamed.  Blue lightning, the power of Tsunami,
flowed from my arms and smashed into Ryoko.  She screamed in horrendous pain, 
dropping to the floor as the energy coursed through her body, but I didn't stop.
If she was dead, then she couldn't talk, couldn't tell me that she was telling
the truth, and my sister would be alive.  It was childish reasoning, but I'm a
child, even if I don't always act like one.
	Through the pain she managed to gasp, "I'm...sorry..."
	I dropped my arms, letting Ryoko breathe in ragged breaths, letting her
live.

	Now I lay on Mihoshi's futon, trying to bring up details of what I saw
before Tenchi hit me.
	Everything looked normal, except that the place was cleaner than
usual.  No spec of dust was to be found, and everything was perfectly in place.
Ayeka had really cleaned the place.  I couldn't see Ayeka, but I couldn't see
most of the room.  Something seemed wrong though.  There was something on the
floor.  Something...red.
	It was blood, Ayeka's blood, flowing across the floor like red water.
	It's all my fault!
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	Shortly after beginning this fic, I read BGlanders's "Gentle Sound of
Thunder."  It is an excellent dark fic and, unfortunately, is in a very similar
format.  It goes through each person's perspective slowly advancing through the
story, while filling in the gaps in the past at the same time.  But the formats
are slightly different.  Most importantly, I want to stress the fact that I came
up with this idea several weeks before reading "Gentle Sound of Thunder" and
started writing it several days before reading it.  So don't accuse me of being
a copycat.
	If you like darkfics, then I strongly suggest "Gentle Sound of Thunder."
If you don't like darkfics, then why are you here?

Send all C&C to lighthawkwings@masakishrine.com