DISCLAIMER: Tenchi Muyo! and characters are copyright AIC and Pioneer. We all love you guys for making the series, so please don't sue us for showing our appreciation to them through fanfics. However, the copyrights to this particular story, at least where it differs from the original Tenchi Muyo! series, belong to me. This is my first fanfic ever, so don't be hard on me. (This is my first story in English, too!) After reading so many great fanfics, I felt that I wanted to contribute with my own vision. Since I have only seen Tenchi Muyo! OAV series 1 (sob), I'll stick to that. This series is basically OAV series 1, but with one important exception: Tenchi drops the sword hilt when the mummified Ryoko grabs his wrist. This may not seem as much, but it changes the development of the story a lot. RYOKO FANS will find Ryoko much calmer than in the series. Sorry about that. IT'S THE SMALL THINGS THAT MATTER a Tenchi Muyo! fanfic by Bjorn Brandewall Episode #1: Ryoko Resurrected! ______________________________________________________________________ The young boy Tenchi Masaki ran through the forest, holding the key he had stolen from his grandfather. The key led to the gate in a cave at the Masaki shrine. Tenchi wanted to see what was in that cave. He had heard stories from his grandfather that a demon, slain by a samurai from the sky who was Tenchi's ancestor, slept in that cave. Tenchi had always sneaked up to that cave to play, despite his grandfather forbidding him to go there. Tenchi unlocked the gate and entered the cave. Examining the interior, he found the legendary sword his ancestor had used, the sword that was now guarding the demon. Of course Tenchi never believed that crap about a demon. But he was interested in this cave, maybe just because he knew he wasn't allowed in there. He drew out the sword, to find "a rusty old piece of junk." Tenchi hit the sword against a stone in anger and disappointmant. The sword broke into a thousand pieces, leaving only the hilt in his hand, and the stone split in half. This caused a wall to open, revealing a secret tunnel leading down- wards. When Tenchi tried to examine it, he slipped down and fell into a huge room, with a big glowing light from the water in the middle of the floor. He walked closer to find a mummy in the water. "A demon sleeps here. So it *wasn't* just a legend. Oh well, time to go now." Tenchi thought. The sword hilt slid out of Tenchi's hand, and fell to the ground. He bent down to pick it up, when suddenly, a hand grabbed his wrist. Tenchi dropped the hilt once again due to the chock. He looked up, to find the withered hand holding him tight belonging to the demon, who arose from the water. She, because he could see that the demon was female, looked dizzy as if she had just woke up from a long sleep. She seemed as confused as Tenchi was. Then she realized Tenchi's presence. Her eyes glew a yellow light through the mask she was wearing, and she advanced on him. Tenchi was terrified, but the yellow glim reminded him of something he hadn't seen in a long time. It awoke memories older than he thought he could remember, from when he had newly been born. He stopped resisting, just staring at the face behind the mask, as its wearer approached him to an embrace. The demon moaned as Tenchi put his arms around her, not believing this could be anything but a strange dream. "I know you." he found himself saying. The demon did not move. The memory was clearer now. The memory of who he had seen by the cave when he, just a few weeks old, had been carried there by his grand- mother, flashed before his eyes. He remembered why he had gone to the cave to play, and why he hadn't felt lonely doing so. Although he hadn't ever seen anyone, he had known, somewhere deep inside, that his adventures had been shared by someone, and that this someone had been the reason he had been there. A friend. Someone who was always there for him. And now, he was there for her. Tenchi felt that this demon, regardless of her actions in the past, was a great part of his life, and he realized that he was a great part of hers. She hugged him more tightly, as if he had said it out loud. Tenchi gently pulled her back, and tried to take off her mask, wanting to see her face. Her hand rose swiftly to his and stopped him from doing so. She lowered her head as in shame. Tenchi looked at the hand that had stopped him. The look of that withered hand of a mummy made him understand she didn't want him to see her. Not like this. They were both sitting on the cold and wet floor. The female mummy quietly reclaimed the embrace, and pulled Tenchi along with her as she reclined to the floor. Tenchi did not argue, an option he would really have been tempted to choose if he had been thinking rationally. However, he didn't, and he didn't understand why he wasn't running away in horror either. He just found himself lying in a cold, dark cave, hugging a dangerous demon, and watching the minutes go by. Eventually, he fell asleep. Naturally, he didn't know for how long he had been asleep when he woke up. He remembered the extraordinary situation he was in, without open- ing his eyes. He moved his hands, to reassure himself that they were embracing the demon which he had heard so much about. What his hands encountered felt somewhat different from what he had assumed they would find. Softer. Warmer. So much more full of life. Tenchi moved backwards and looked at the demon's face, the mask removed, and found that the mummy had rejuvenated into a beautiful young woman, about his age. She had also been asleep, but seemed rest- less now that Tenchi had moved. He reclaimed his former position, as he didn't want to wake her up until he had had some time to think over what was going on. "Ryoko." Tenchi froze. The demon giggled. "That's my name." Tenchi moved back, and for the first time, he saw her golden eyes, looking at him in anticipation, as if he was supposed to say some- thing. When Tenchi remained silent, Ryoko's smile lost some of its playfulness. She leaned forward and put her chin on his shoulder, looking past him. She sighed. "Yes, you do know me, Tenchi. I'm the one who watched you play by the cave ever since you were a little boy. And I was so happy every time you came here." "You were locked up here all that time..." Tenchi tried to imagine it. "Yes. And a long time before that." Ryoko looked at him once again. "But you set me free." She put her chin back on his shoulder. "And... and you hugged me, although I looked like a..." She didn't want to finish the sentence. Instead, she kissed his neck tenderly. "Ryoko..." Tenchi noticed Ryoko was crying. "No. That wasn't true. I held you fast. Otherwise, you'd have run away." "I *did* hug you. I recognized your eyes." Tenchi couldn't believe what he was saying. Why was he being so nice to her? She was, from what he had heard, a dangerous villain. But she was also the closest thing to a childhood friend he had ever had. And in a way, he was happy not to have imagined her being with him. Who was he kidding? He was happy to have *had* her being with him, too. "Please don't cry." He thought he kissed her just to be nice, but he understood quickly that it was something he had wanted to do for a long time. She returned the kiss, and continued kissing, more and more violently, as if she had lost control over a hunger she had kept within herself for a long time. With closed eyes Tenchi noticed the air around him getting warmer, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that she had teleported them both to outside the cave. They were now lying in the grass on a hill, by the foot of a tree, facing the sunset. Tenchi was amazed by Ryoko's beauty as her face and hair was coloured orange on the side by the sunlight, giving the illusion of warmth in the chilly summer evening. She felt likewise for him, and they both smiled. They sat quitely by the tree and watched the sun disappear. Ryoko broke the silence. "That was the first sunset I've seen for the past 700 years, you know." "700 years..." Tenchi repeated. Then the rational part of his brain got back from a long vacation, and reclaimed the brain's full attention. "Hiya Tenchi. So watcha been up to in my absence? WHAT?! You've released the demon from its rightful prison?! And now the two of you have watched the sunset? Well, how *cute!* ARE YOU NUTS?! Since it took one samurai from the sky to slain her, don't you think she's kinda DANGEROUS??" "Shuddup brain!" Tenchi objected. "Gimme a break! She doesn't seem that mean at all. And she's already been imprisoned for 700 years! I wanna give her a chance!" The rational part of his brain got furious. "That's it! I'm taking over from here! It's about time you had some serious talk with this Ryoko!" Tenchi cleared his throat and looked at Ryoko. "Ryoko... who are you? Really?" Ryoko stopped smiling for a second. Nervously, she then tried to kiss Tenchi again, as to change the subject. Tenchi avoided her lips. "Please. I need to know." Ryoko groaned to herself. She didn't want this perfect moment to end. Yet she knew this confrontation had been inevitable. She contemplated wether she should lie to him. A lie would certainly be easier. She had lied all her life. But he'd find out the truth, sooner or later. And he wouldn't trust her again. So she had to tell him the truth, and probably lose him. For who could love her after what she had done? And so Ryoko told Tenchi about her past as a space pirate, about how she had burnt and plundered, without showing any objections towards her cruel punishment, and without trying to justify her actions, even for a second. As a matter of fact, she wasn't sure she knew the reason herself. She looked away all the time, not daring to meet his eyes, which she knew would show nothing but contempt for her. When she had finished, she laid her head rather violently on his chest. "Please, don't reject me!" Ryoko thought, but didn't dare say. She grabbed onto him, as if she would try to stay with him by force when he would try to push her away. She was surprised, no, *chocked,* when Tenchi responded by caressing her hair, folding his free arm around her back. Ryoko could not understand this. She gathered the courage to speak. "Don't you hate me?" "No." Tenchi replied while playing with his fingers as they ran through the blue mane of hair which they were caressing. Ryoko spoke again, not thinking of the disadvantage she was giving herself. "But I've done such terrible things!" "But you're not doing them now, and you've *been* imprisoned for seven centuries. That is more time than I will ever live, so I can't even imagine it. I think you've served your sentence." Tenchi was getting a grip of the situation now, and he almost felt confident. "And I don't want to see you locked up again." They were hugging each other. Aside from the critters, there was silence. Ryoko was unsure of what gods to thank for her happiness, and what she had done to deserve something like this. The dreams she had dreamt ever since she had met this boy all those years ago, all were coming true. Tenchi had dreamt, too. But the person he dreamt of had been faceless, and he had never remembered the dreams when he awoke. Now, it was all coming back, a sea of longing and love rushing through his brain. The realization that his love in the dreams was really here, in his arms, released a joy so great that he could burst. And he probably would have, if Ryoko hadn't been holding him so tight. They both held the other in a bone-crushing hug, as tight as they could, never wanting to part again. But it had to end when Tenchi realized that he couldn't breathe, Ryoko being much stronger than he. Instead they started kissing each other, relentlessly, unable to spare any time for tenderness. They kissed and kissed, as if trying to devour the other. After a few minutes, when they were both exhausted, Tenchi sat against the tree, and Ryoko lay on the grass with her head in his lap. The night had fallen, leaving the bright full moon as the only source of light. Tenchi was the first one to break the silence. "I love you." "You don't say?" Ryoko replied sarcastically. She rolled over, and watched Tenchi's confused face from below. She dropped the sarcasm, since he didn't seem to get it. "I love you too." Her voice was soft, and she hardly recognized it herself. She had never used her voice like that. Tenchi thought about the odd turn his life had taken. Yesterday, he had been a boy who had never had a girlfriend. Now, he was together with the legendary demon, pledging his love to her, and vice versa. Or had it been because of her being with him from the very beginning that he had never fallen in love with anyone else? The more he thought about it, the more he felt that he had loved her all his life, al- though not realizing it until now. Holding hands, they went down the hill, to the countryside road, and started walking in the darkness towards Tenchi's house. ______________________________________________________________________ AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hope you didn't find my fantasies too outrageous, this is vaguely based on a dream I had after watching OAV 1 for the first time. So this part wrote itself. I can really not promise that I will be able to write all the way to OAV 6, but I'll try. I'm not a natural writer. I would REALLY appreciate comments, this being my first fanfic and all. friend@sunrise-sunset.com This fanfic series can be found at my homepage: http://surf.to/the.paradox If you think this sucked, then try Aikan Muyo! instead. It's great. http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~andersor/fanfic/fanfic.html Written in December 1997.