DISCLAIMER: THE CHARACTERS HEREIN ARE NOT MY CREATION NOR WILL THEY BE MY CREATION NO MATTER HOW MUCH I WISH IT; THEY ARE, HOWEVER, THE CREATION Masaki Kajishima. I ALSO DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS HEREIN, AND REGRADLES OF THE EXTENT OF MY DESIRE THAT THEY WERE MY PROPERTY, I HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF GETTING STRUCK BY LIGHTINING, THREE TIMES IN THE SAME HOUR WHILE I'M STANDING IN A DITCH WEARING A RUBBER WETSUIT AND AM CROUCHING IN A PHETAL POSITION, THAN I DO OF PIONEER/AIC, WHOM ARE THE LEGAL OWNERS OF THE AFOREMENTIONED CHARACTERS, GIVING THEM TO ME. THE Ferrari F50 IS A LEGAL TRADEMARK OF Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. FRUIT OF THE LOOM IS A LEGAL TRADEMARK OF Fruit of The Loom, Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE STORY OF "Tenchi USA" AND ANY THING WITHIN THE STORY THAT HAS NOT BEEN PREVIOUSLY PRESENTED ELSEWHERE IS MY CREATION AND MY LEGAL PROPERTY. DON'T DO ANYTHING TO IT WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT c 2001 Tenchi USA Part I - Light Zone Chapter ? (delta) "A critic is someone who never actually goes to the battle, yet who afterwards comes out shooting the wounded." --Tyne Daly Pirate Ryoko & Little Washu Ryoko had managed to sneak away from the others who were busy contemplating the ramifications of her startling revelation. She was on her way to Washu's lab to speak to her mother who was busily making preparations to dislodge the Yukinojo from Soja's fuselage. Arriving at the door to the scientist's lab Ryoko grabbed the doorknob. Instantly a sub-space pocket opened above her head. A large clay flowerpot planted with a single daisy fell from the pocket and shattered on the pirate's head. A holographic image of Washu's face appeared between Ryoko and the door. "KNOCK FIRST!" it yelled loudly enough to cause Ryoko to flinch. Ryoko, who now had a very sour expression, knocked on Washu's lab's door. The visage reappeared. "Oh, Ryoko, it's you, come in," it said in a very courteous and friendly tone. Ryoko opened the lab's door and entered. "Over here, Ryoko!" Washu's voice sailed across the lab. She headed towards the source of the voice. "There you are," said Ryoko when she finally found Washu typing at one of the many consoles that littered the scientist's lab. "Hi there, Little Ryoko!" Washu greeted cheerily. "Did you come to give your poor little moth-," Washu stopped when she saw Ryoko's serious expression. "What's wrong, dear?" "I decided not to say anything until I spoke to you first. But, that sword you gave Tenchi," she said simply. "What about it?" asked Washu. "I recognize whose sword-or shall I say key-it is." "Was," corrected the genius. "What! What do you mean 'was'?" "It's Tenchi's key now. The person you're thinking of died about a month and a half after Tenchi was born," Washu said obviously holding back tears. "But. Do you realized know what that means?" Ryoko asked angrily. "Yes, of course I do!" Washu yelled in spite of herself as tears began running from her emerald feline eyes, along the edges of her wide cheeks down to her chin and finally dripping down to and soaking into her blouse. "Then why haven't you told Tenchi? Don't you think it's important he knew!" she shot back. "I will tell him!" her mother screamed back. "I just want him to see what Juraians are like first! How. how." Washu drastically scaled back the volume of her voice. "How selfish and pigheadedly pompous they are. I want him to see first hand the kind of self- worshiping, haughty jackasses they are before." she was practically crying now and Ryoko was visibly regretting having yelled at her. ".Before." Washu began sobbing with a visible combination of anger and sadness. Even through her regret Ryoko was still able to feel curious about the reason for her mother's tears. She knew that her mother was just stereotyping them. Definitely not all Juraians were stuck-up; in fact, His Royal Highness the Emperor of Jurai was supposedly a pretty down-to-Earth guy-some of the time. So, why would Washu hate them all? Her mother was smart, Ryoko knew first-hand, too smart, most of the time, to let her feelings keep her from acknowledging someone's-especially an entire race's-talents and positive attributes. So, why did she hate them so much? It was a knowledge that was just beyond Ryoko's grasp. Aside from that Washu's crying also surprised the pirate. Washu wasn't one to cry. Usually the only time Washu would cry was when it was over something in her past, like when her son was taken from her. Is that why? Ryoko asked herself. Could her former husband have been a Juraian? Some stuck-up noble who felt that his parents' wishes and their desire for aristocratic purity were more important than the love he had-according to Washu-felt for his wife and child? Ryoko didn't want to ask Washu. The closeness Washu must have felt toward her stolen son must have been immense and if it weren't the reason for her mother's tears it would only worsen her fowl mood. "Please. Ryoko, please," begged Washu through her tears. "Please don't tell Tenchi. Let me tell him when the time is right." "I don't like it, hiding something that important from him," she confessed. But deep down somewhere Ryoko loved her mother, "But, if it's that important to you. I'll wait for you to tell him." "Thanks, dear," said Washu as her crying lessened and subsided. "You just better tell him soon!" she growled. "Why do you think we're going the tournament on Jurai?" "Hmm, I figured. When exactly do you pl." "Hi there, whatcha doin'?" interrupted Mihoshi's perpetually cheerful voice. "Waa!" screamed the scientist. "How the heck did you get in here?" "Well um. I uhh. came through the door." Washu face faulted and when she got back to her feet she was strangling the officer by her collar. "I know that! But, it was locked, no one but me is supposed to be able to open it!" she hollered. "Umm. well it probably broke?" Mihoshi asked in her normal clueless tone of voice. ".I'll just leave the two of you alone," said Ryoko as she turned for the exit. Little Washu & DSC Mihoshi "See. It was working just fine ten minutes ago," the scientist stated in a flat, monotonic voice after showing Mihoshi a video recording of Ryoko getting nailed with a flowerpot. "Umm. oh?" "Ugh." Washu decided to give up while she was still ahead. "Well, anyway, what did you want?" "Oh, nothing," she said innocently as she wandered around the immediate area looking at all the strange contraptions. "I was just exploring your ship with Kiyone and Tenchi when I got lost and ended up here. Oh my! How Interesting! What's this?" asked Mihoshi like an excited child in a china store as she ran toward the console Washu had been working at earlier. "That's a computer, now get away from it." "Ohh." awed Mihoshi, "What does this do?" she said pressing a single button on the console's QWERTY keyboard. Several panels flew off of the console and some computer chips flew out. "Oh my!" "Ahh! What the heck did you do!" Washu asked as she pushed Mihoshi out of the way. "Umm. I think I pushed this one," said Mihoshi as she moved around to Washu's other side and pressed a button on the opposite side of the keyboard. This time Washu's test platform began to breathe red flames from its surface. "NO! Don't touch anything, you!" Washu screamed as she frantically tried to end Mihoshi's rampage of computer terror. "I said, 'DON'T touch anything'!" Washu yelled just as Mihoshi pressed another button on the console causing it to vomit out more electronic guts. Detective 3rd Class Kiyone & Tenchi "Where did Mihoshi go?" Kiyone asked Tenchi. "Oh, I didn't notice she was gone," replied the young man. "Oh well, I don't think she could get lost on this ship, no matter how big it is." "You don't know Mihoshi that well, do you?" he asked her. "Oh, I wonder what's in there," she said looking at a large door. "Oh, there, that's the gym. Wanna go inside?" "Sure." Tenchi led the young policewoman into the capacious gymnasium. "Wow! This thing is huge!" she said in awe. "So, Kiyone?" asked Tenchi with a sideways glance at the cop. "You any good at sword fighting?" "Well. that depends on what you consider good." "Good enough to compete in the tournament on Jurai?" "Well, in that case. definitely not." "Should've guessed," gripped Tenchi with slumped shoulders. The two of them left the gym and began wandering further into the massive Soja. "So, why did you want to know how good I am a sword fighting?" asked Kiyone. "Well, you see, I'm gonna be competing in the tournament that's coming up on Jurai and, well, Ryoko was my sparring partner but it seems that now I'm way out of her league when it comes to sparring." "You're really going to compete in that crazy tournament?" she said in the same down tone everybody used when they spoke about the tournament. "Yeah, it seems I have no choice in the matter really." "Huh? What do you mean?" she inquired. "Well, I'm an orphan and all I've ever really known about my parents is that they died very shortly after I was born. And now it seems that Washu knows a great deal about them, or at least my grandfather." "I still don't see what that has to do with competing in that tournament." "A few hours before we met you I promised her that I would compete in it in exchange for her telling me what she knows about them." "Oh. Whoa, yes! Reactor II!" she exclaimed when she read the sign hanging from the wall. "Just what I wanted to see! C'mon, Tenchi." "Now why did you want to see this?" asked the young man after they had entered the darkened room. "Tenchi, do you realize how huge this ship is? It's probably the largest ship I've every seen and I don't think I'll ever again see one that's quite this big. I'm just dying see what it takes to power something like this." "Oh." "Now, where's the light switch in here?" she asked no one in particular. "Hell if I know." "Ah! This must be it," Kiyone said as she flipped a switch. "Bingo!" "Huh? What the heck?" asked Tenchi. The room that they were in was simply nothing more than an eight-by-eight-by-eight-foot room. Its walls, floor, and ceiling were all painted in the same dark matte gray color. "This is probably it," said the officer. "Probably what," he asked looking over her shoulder to see what she was talking about. She was looking at what looked like a simple lever in its "up" position with percentages lining its left side. Above the lever were the words "wall transparency control." Kiyone moved the lever all the way down. With her action the lights in the room dimmed slightly and the walls, ceiling, and floor all became transparent to the point that they no longer refracted the visible light. Only the wall with the door remained opaque. "Whoa," they both said in awe. What remained before them was gigantic chamber, probably the largest room on the ship. It was a large enough room that Tenchi couldn't judge its size. In the room's center mere threads held up a gigantic cube of what looked like very finely polished metal. From each corner of the room eight tetrahedral metal spires seemed to longingly reach out to touch the metal cube. Periodically gigantic bolts of white electricity measuring several feet wide would arc between the metal block and the spikes that extended towards it for a few seconds. "I've never seen anything like it," Kiyone confessed after several seconds of silent awe. "I have no clue what kind of reactor this is. And I've seen every type of reactor as a part of academy training." After a few more minutes of staring in awe Kiyone's stomach noisily complained of its emptiness. "Hehe," Tenchi laughed. "I'm getting a little hungry too. What do you say we go check out the cafeteria?" "Sure," she said and turned off the walls' transparency and room's lighting. "You lead the way." "'Kay," he replied and began leading her back in the direction he remembered the gym being so that he would at least have some semblance of familiarity to help him locate the cafeteria. They had been walking in silence for several minutes when Tenchi decided to ask a question just for the sake of conversation, "So, Kiyone, what made you decide to join the Galaxy Police?" "Oh, lots of reasons really," she said guardedly. "Well, there must be one reason in particular that stands out that you can tell me about?" "Ah, well, there is one," she admitted in a voice quiet to the point that Tenchi almost didn't hear her. "And?" "And I don't really like to talk about it. At least not with someone I just met," Kiyone confessed embarrassed and downcast. "Sorry." "Don't worry about it. If it's something you don't like to talk about, I can understand that," he assured her. Preferring a conversation to silence, Kiyone decided to pose a question of her own, "How long have you known Ryoko?" "Oh, I'd say about two and a half days." "Really?" she asked in unconcealed surprise. "She acts like she's known you for quite a long time." "I know," Tenchi stated bluntly. "What she does really confuses me when I try to think about it." "Hmm? What do you mean?" "Well, Washu introduced us, and then not more than half an hour later, she's got this huge crush on me. I don't even know what I did to deserve her attention like that. It's just weird. and somewhat annoying, I think." "Annoying?" she asked in surprise. "C'mon! Didn't you see the way she was forcing herself onto me on the shuttle?" "Well yes, but." she paused for a moment to decide the best way to put what she wanted to say. "Well, most of the guys I've met would enjoy that and probably try take advantage of her if she treated them like that." Somehow, Tenchi was finding it really easy to speak to Kiyone, definitely a lot easier than speaking to Ryoko. "Hmm. I guess I'm just not like most of the guys you've met then. I don't know, I guess I just don't think it's possible for her feelings for me, whatever those may be, to be what she thinks they are after the short amount of time we've known each other. I think that it just a crush. Or that she just wants to get laid," he added very bluntly. "I mean the first time I'd ever heard of her was two 'n' half days ago and all..." The teal-haired detective was surprised once again and interrupted him. "You mean you'd never heard of her before then? Now there's something I really don't believe." "What!" Tenchi said somewhat incredulously. "You really don't believe me do you? Well." Tenchi then proceeded to tell the story of the past two days of his life. As he was telling his story he looked over at Kiyone who was silently listening. Kiyone was walking with her arms crossed behind her head and had her eyes closed. She was obviously following the sound of his voice to keep herself from getting lost or running into walls. Soon, Tenchi found himself examining the tall woman. Her GP uniform was very form fitting and very alluring. She was endowed with a sinfully perfect hourglass figure, her waist really thin but not to the point of looking unhealthy. Not only was her body very nicely shaped but her facial features were also beautifully well proportioned. Tenchi tore his gaze away from the GP woman just as his stomach made its presence known with an easily audible gurgling sound that caused her to open one of her blue eyes to glance at him. She noticed him rapidly turning his head from her, she was about to make a joke about it but quickly decided better of it. Tenchi paused his story to announce their arrival, "Well, here we are at the cafeteria." "Finally!" she griped. After the two of them had selected their meals, sat down together at opposite sides of a table, and begun eating, Tenchi continued his story. "And that's just before we met you," concluded the young man a few minutes later. He looked up from his food and at the GP to wait for her to comment. "Y'know, Tenchi," she began after she finished chewing her food, "some of the stuff Washu did sounds kind of illegal." "Huh? What do you mean?" "Well, she came to Earth, which I'm pretty sure is in a non-interference zone; contacted the local people, you and your parents; did almost nothing to hide the fact that she was not from that planet; and, furthermore, took you off that planet. That's definitely against GU protocols regarding primitive planets." "GU?" "Hmm.? Oh, Galactic Union, it's basically a coalition of intergalactic governments that tries to maintain universal peace. Their job is basically to form treaties and to issue and remove trade embargos all in the name of interstellar peace." "Sounds kinda like the UN." "UN?" she asked. "Umm.Earth equivalent." Kiyone nodded in response. There was a brief silence as the two ate. Tenchi swallowed before speaking, "What are you going to do to Washu then?" "Well. I don't really think I can do anything. There's not really any physical evidence since your current body is not the one you had when you left Earth. So there's absolutely no evidence." "Um. yeah, but, I just told you everything that happened." "So?" she asked him. "Oh yeah, I forgot you're new to the way things work out here. I guess they really do it differently where you come from. Under intergalactic law eyewitness accounts are totally inadmissible in court, Tenchi. Not even if the witness were the victim are they admissible." "That's kind of strange," commented the earthling as he chewed on the contents of his mouth. Kiyone ate another mouthful of her food and swallowed it before speaking, "No, not really. If you consider the fact that eyewitness accounts are the least accurate and most easily corrupted type of evidence known its not really that surprising at all. The mind is a very poor tool for its purpose. You don't even have to be that intelligent to be able to plant false memories, I mean, even a pretty un-skilled public defender is capable of that and even the most intelligent mind is prone to it. You just phrase your questions right and you can get anyone to admit to anything-and they'll believe it too. Don't worry, though, physical evidence is very hard to cover up." "Hmm." Silent Night It was now later that day or night or whatever you want to call it, considering that day and night are very undefined in the silent depths of space. Kiyone, wearing a set of very loose fitting, sea green colored pajamas, was laying in the bed she had been provided by Washu and was staring at the ceiling and contemplating the events of her day. If one excluded the fact that her partner was a total idiot and the revelation of finding out that the organization she was an employee of violated a large number of her moral values, it was, altogether, a pretty good day. Yup, life was pretty good for Kiyone Makibi, best of all was the fact that she had just graduated and was now finally serving as a GP detective. Although she had yet to give even her first speeding ticket, her excitement about her job was growing by massive leaps and bounds, admittedly in a different direction now after Ryoko's morose confession, which had totally changed the way she looked at her purpose in life. But, then again, the only thing in the universe that did not change was the fact that everything changed. Change is the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix, and she was not one to fight change, therefore, she would just try to cope with it the in the best way she could. Originally she had felt that the best way to fulfill her desire to help people was to be promoted to a high-ranking position in the GP but now she no longer felt that way. How could she? She now knew that the highest-ranking member of the Galaxy Police Himself had, so to say, broken the legs of the people he was, supposedly, trying to help. If promotion meant having to do things like that. Kiyone decided she would much rather remain a low-ranking detective and possibly never become desk-bound to begin with. Of course she still wanted to be promoted, but she would no longer envy a promotion above detective first-class or major-promotion to detective special-class was a near impossibility for anyone. She even felt herself at the brink of dreading such a promotion. But, still she was happy. That was, however, not the issue in question. What was keeping her awake was: Why was she in such a good mood today? It made no sense; as far as she could tell there was absolutely no logical reason for it. Maybe it was something to do with one of the people she'd just met. Was it her new partner, maybe? Could it have been Mihoshi's fault? Kiyone knew that she liked the blonde, she did seem to be somewhat of a klutz but she was fun to be around. But, no, it wasn't Mihoshi who was at fault; Kiyone's intuition told her that Mihoshi would certainly get on her nerves in the future. Washu maybe.? Her ship and her intelligence were both beyond words but no. she was not the reason either. Ryoko? Kiyone's first impression of the pirate was that she was smart, granted, she was not as smart as her mother but she was still very smart. That was probably the main reason for her success as a pirate-dumb and piracy don't mix. She was smart, she was fun, and she was an interesting person to speak to, Kiyone had to admit to herself that she liked Ryoko. She even considered Ryoko to be a potential friend. Could it possibly have been Tenchi who was at fault? To say the least, she liked him. He had a great character and was a wonderfully kind person. She thought his personality was magnificent when compared to those of almost every other guy she'd ever met. He had done a lot for her over the previous day. Through her past experiences with men Kiyone had grown to distrust and, whenever possible, avoid all males. It was an aspect of her personality that she did not relish. But, something similar to what psychologists call classical conditioning had taken place and that behavior had become so strongly ingrained into Kiyone's personality that she thought she'd never be rid of it. Today, though, she had been forced by random events to be around Tenchi and to communicate with him. Through their conversations she had found him to be a very likeable and very nice young man and she had also found that rather than wanting to avoid him she enjoyed being around him and enjoy speaking with him. Somehow, whether it be from dumb luck or an in-depth understanding of the female persona, Tenchi seemed to always say the right things at the right time. He was always very kind and always considered what she had to say before responding. It was nice to finally meet a guy who thought with his head rather than his "head". You could say that Tenchi fit exactly what every girl in the universe imagined as the perfect guy. Kiyone liked Tenchi, a lot. She knew that she did not love him, not yet, but over the past twenty-four hours she had felt herself liking him more and more and more. Yeah, it had been mostly Tenchi who had been responsible for her mood. She didn't love him and she couldn't tell whether or not she would fall in love with him but if she were to fall in love with him she knew that she wouldn't mind. I know that this was a short chapter but I planned it that way. I also know that many people don't like the idea of Kiyone+Tenchi even being a possibility but this is MY universe and I can do what I want. Also since this universe has a lot in common with the OVA universe, I'm using a rule that I try to use in all of my OVA-based fics, that rule is what I call the Law of Tenchi. It states the following: If all of the following conditions are true: Condition 1: You are a girl Condition 2: You are not old a wrinkled up like the old lady that runs the hot springs in episodes 4 and 9 of the OVA series and Condition 3: You are not already married like Funaho and Misaki. You WILL, no matter how hard you try to fight it, fall head-over-heals hopelessly in love with Tenchi. It makes sense because all of the girls in the OVA series even Ryo-ohki are all head-over-heals, madly in love with Tenchi. WHY do you think Ryo-ohki's will was to help Tenchi [For crying out loud, read the title of that episode!]? I realize that that probably is unlikely in reality, but it makes good, interesting stories to follow the above rules when introducing new female characters into an OVA-based fic. Also, my statement about Tenchi being the "perfect guy" is probably not true and I don't make any claims to say that I know what women want ('cause sometimes it's just that time of the month) but for the purposes of this story we'll just say that he is. I apologize if my previous statement about "that time of the month" offended anyone; it was purely a joke and was not meant to offend.