Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo and the characters of that show are the property of AIC and
Pioneer LDC.  This fanfic is in no way a challenge to the copyrights and/or trademarks
owned by those companies.  The only thing the author has any claim to is the characters
and writing which he himself composes.  I am not making any money off this so please
don't sue me.  

This story takes place in the OVA universe, shortly after episode 13.  Italics denote a
character's thoughts, while flashbacks will be (hopefully) clearly noted.  Line breaks 
signify a
scene change.

Comments, critiques, and praise are all much appreciated as I then know people actually
read this.  All comments can all be sent to Majingotenks0@hotmail.com

Warnings: As always read at your own discretion.  Possible OOC although I try to be as
true as I can.


Shadow Of The Kutan Episode 3: Carnival

Neither Washu nor Sareno mentioned what happened or almost happened in the lab that
night for a week.  One day Sareno visited Washu's lab to use her biological accelerator 
to
speed up the growth of an experiment regarding the effect of long term exposure of 
Santra
radiation on a epsilon-4 apolipoprotein allele in bacteria.  Washu had been preforming a
similar experiment which required constant observation as every hour a new generation of
bacteria was created.  She had been up the past three days without a break.  Normally 
this
would not have been a problem, except that sleep had been rare before that between the
preparation of the party and reflections on what had followed.

"Little-Washu if you don't mind me saying so, you look like hell," Sareno laughed.

Washu turned her head to give him a baleful look before sighing, running a hand through 
her
hair to reposition her barrette.  "Thanks for your continuously complimentary attitude 
Mr.
Kadreth.  Yeah I guess 	I could use some sleep though.  However, it must wait until I
finish this rotation"

Sareno eyed her critically, "You probably should get some sleep.  That and a day off 
too."

Washu didn't raise her eyes from her work, but replied evenly, "I can't afford another 
day off
Kadreth."

"Maybe, but if you don't, and exhaustion catches up to you, you might make a mistake and
ruin a weeks worth of work."

Washu shook her head, and began a transfer of the bacteria petri dishes, but in her 
haste,
accidently knocked one off the table as she took three others.

Sareno dove to the ground, phasing under the dropped dish, catching it before it 
shattered
against the cold metal ground.  Looking up at Washu, who looked as if she nearly had a
heart-attack over the incident, he said "See?  Go get some sleep Washu.  I can put off 
my
own experiment and finish this one up for you.  There's not much left to do here that
requires anything difficult."

Washu shook her head and slowly handed over the dishes.  Sareno took them, setting
them down and clasped her hand, concerned.  "You're trembling Washu.  Are you ok?"

She snapped back, "I'm fine.  I just need some sleep.  Thank you Sareno." She smirked at
him and took the offensive, "maybe it's just because you're so close and I just can't 
control
myself.  Oh my." Washu brought her hands to her face as if she were blushing.

Sareno rolled his eyes at her sarcastic comment, silently wishing it were true, "Thanks
Washu.  At least I know that there's someone else in this household who can match my
sarcasm."

Washu beamed innocently, "Match it?  Why would I ever be sarcastic?  Oh and could you
call me Little-Washu?"

Sareno laughed slightly, before he cocked his head to the side, "You know, I was 
thinking
that maybe we could take a day off tomorrow.  It's supposed to be nice out and everyone
else is off to Tokyo to follow Tenchi in shopping for a new karaoke machine to replace 
the
one Ryoko and Aeka obliterated last week."

Washu half-turned, "What about the...."

Kadreth interrupted her, waving his hand dismissively "Oh enough with the `work'.  You
know as well as I that a day isn't going to put you behind.  What deadlines do you have
anyway?"

Hearing no answer, Sareno continued, "So let's do something tomorrow.  We can go to the
carnival or something"

Washu thought about it for a minute and was about to say something but her former 
student
had already began taking the petri dishes to the accelerator.

Sareno called out before he disappeared into the depths of the lab, "Go get some rest, 
I'll
see you tomorrow around ten, earth time"

Annoyed by the decision being made for her, Washu called out after him, "Is this how you
treat your students?  No wonder they never get anything done!"
_______________

Sareno arrived exactly six minutes early, knowing that he would catch Washu in the 
middle
of an experiment before they left.

The red haired scientist began analyzing the promising data she had acquired form the 
past
set of trials she had completed, but before the final results were displayed, her 
computer
shut down, "What the...?"

"I thought you were going to get some sleep.  The results can wait `Professor' Washu."
Sareno emphasized the title.  

Washu sighed, knowing she was not going to win this one, "Since when do you of all
people place recreation over work?"

"Since now." 

Washu felt herself being dragged off her seat
_______________

Despite her initial protests, Washu did enjoy the day off.  Sareno had manipulated the
odds of one of the rigged games to win a large stuffed crab for her, much to the 
amazement
of the carnival worker.

As the day rolled on, Washu found herself to be relaxed enough that she wasn't even
attempting to think about her usual research and managed to enjoy most of the rides 
without
thinking about the physical principles behind them.

Towards the end of the day, the carnival threatened to close.  Sareno had other ideas 
and
spotted the ferris wheel which was about to go on its last performance of the day.  
"Let's hit
the Ferris Wheel and then call it a day.  Ok?"

Washu tossed the crab to her former student and ran full speed towards an empty gondola,
"I'll race you there!"

Sareno shook his head and took off after her, but burdened by the bulky stuffed animal 
and
well behind form the start, he reached the seat after Washu had already sat down.

"Well what took you so long you slowpoke.  You almost missed the ride!" Washu laughed.

Sareno tossed the crab back to her as he fastened his seatbelt, deciding to adhere to 
the
policy of the ride after being yelled at by the roller-coaster operator on an earlier 
machine,
much to Washu's amusement.  "So did you have fun today after all?"

Washu nodded, "Yeah this was a good idea.  You were right." She stretched as she
leaned against the side of her seat, overlooking the view as the ferris wheel started 
it's
climb.  

They sat in silence for most of the trip, enjoying the relaxing circular motion.  As the 
ride
neared it's end, Sareno quietly pressed a button on a small device he was carrying with
him.  The ferris wheel ground to a halt just as the gondola with the two scientists 
reached the
peak of the wheel.  Washu looked down towards the ground as the workers scrambled
around the controls, attempting to figure out what went wrong.  

She smiled, "Looks like they're having some problems down there.  Should we help
them?" She turned to see Sareno staring at the sun beginning to set under the hills in 
the
distance, the rays refracting in the atmosphere creating a reddish-orange sky.

He smiled, "Not right now, I'm enjoying the view at the moment."

Washu laughed and turned to look at the sky.  After a few seconds she felt something 
warm
slide over her hand.  Startled, she turned to see Sareno's hand clasped over hers, her
former student staring into her eyes, "Washu..."

Washu blushed for a moment, before recovering, her voice playful, "Oh I see so that's 
it. 
Little girls turn you on huh?  So you rigged the ferris wheel to stop so you could be 
alone
with me and take advantage of me and do all kinds of things..."

Sareno suddenly became very self-conscious as he wondered if he had been a fool to
think that his former teacher would ever feel anything deeper for him.  However, his
experience with her allowed him to maintain his composure, "Well you were right about 
the
ferris wheel, but little girls don't `turn me on'.  Maybe 20,000 year old women who keep
their youthful charm do though." Sareno gained confidence as he found himself
uninterrupted, "And what's with this `taking advantage of' thing?  Perhaps I should be
worried about that more than you as the older professor by a little less than 18,000 
years
takes advantage of her younger student."

Washu thought for a moment, reflecting on everything at a rate surpassing light speed.  
She
thought about what it would be like to truly get close to someone after all this time, 
not like
her flirting with Tenchi to annoy Ryoko, but something more.  The words written to her 
which
she had spoken so long ago, `another time and another place' rang within her mind.

She replied, a devilish smirk on her face, "You're right.  Perhaps you should be."

Sareno, who had completely discounted the possibility of this result was completely 
taken
off guard, "What!?.."

He quickly found himself silenced by Washu's lips pressed against his.

The ferris wheel began moving again, as the workers fixed the burn out in the circuit 
board.

Washu, snuggled up to Sareno, smiling, "So this means you get to be my new guinea
pig."

The blood quickly drained from Sareno's face as he laughed nervously, "Uh what exactly
do you mean by that Washu?"

"Oh you'll see." Washu giggled to herself.
_______________

The dark warlord, silently gripped the cold, black marble arms of the throne he was 
sitting in
in frustration. "Damn him!" The low, menacing voice echoed throughout the empty control
room.  "He didn't complete this ship yet.  All this power.  Enough for me to conquer 
even
Jurai and yet useless now."

The figure rose to his full height, his crimson cape flowing about him.  He adjusted his
gauntlets as a hollow electronic voice rang throughout the room, "Visual proximity of 
planet
Earth obtained."

The warlord turned to face the console, "Excellent.  Initiate the cloaking device and 
maintain a
low orbit over the planet."

"Instructions confirmed"

The shadowy figure turned towards the main viewscreen of the bridge, "Soon Sareno
Kadreth of the Galaxy Academy of Science.  Soon you will complete this ship for me."
_______________

Sareno meanwhile sat in his lab, Washu having fell asleep already in her own room.  His
computer flared to life as the simulation began.  He eyed it critically as he watched 
the small
icon representing his greatest work, explode.  "Computer display results".

The computer complied, "Objective completed.  Probability of Success 86%.  Chance of
error in results 1%.  Casualty ratio 12.5%: acceptable risk"

Sareno shook his head as he slammed his fist into the desk beside him, "No! Not
acceptable."

He sighed, "There has to be another way."
_______________
End Episode 3

Author's Notes: Ok.  Finally, some action coming up.  I've tried to stay fairly true to 
the flow
of the Tenchi OVA series.  Adding seemingly peaceful events before introducing the 
actual
danger.  You may have noticed that I am focusing a bit on certain characters and that is
intentional in order to set up the second section of this story.  I promise all you 
Tenchi,
Ryoko, and Aeka  fans (who want more of these characters) that there will be a major 
shift in
focus in the fanfic as certain plots are continued, but in the background as other 
elements
take the forefront (unless some of you really find that at the end of the next two 
chapters
you want me to continue certain elements more so).  Any questions, comments, or 
critiques
are appreciated.

-Calico Zero