Copyright 2002 by Steve Robinson, All existing Tenchi characters are copyright Pioneer AIC. The character Ryeka is copyright 2002 by Steve Robinson (me) Disclaimer - Look, it's a fan fic, so don't get bent out of shape. I thought up this idea a while ago, so I'm unabashedly pirating the Tenchi universe and bending it to my own nefarious purposes. I haven't read the millions of lines of existing fan fic, so I can't say for sure that no one else has written this story line, but if so, well great minds and all that. I am sure that if Pioneer and company refrains from suing me, so should you. Besides, I wouldn't be listening anyways, la la la.... This fic is posted in its entirety at http://www.viciousbunny.net/ ------------------------------------------------------------- Thicker than Blood Author's Notes Early on I made the risky decision of completely abandoning nearly all of commonly accepted ideas that exist about Tenchi and his pals. I was planning to write a story line twenty-five years in the future, so I had to adjust their personalities accordingly. Think how much you may have changed over the last twenty years. Would it be reasonable to expect that Tenchi and company wouldn't have? I also have included zero Japanese-isms like I know some of the other author's do. All I know about Japanese culture is what I see in Anime, and I would hate to pretend that I know enough to write about it. So, I simply wrote the story as I envisioned it, which is naturally from a 'me' centric perspective. Finally, let me say that this story is unnecessarily soppy. There are a lot of teary eyes, hugs, tender moments and such. In my third editing pass, I removed nearly half of the "tears in her eyes" bits, and even still there are a lot. Please forgive me. For some reason, I always cry during the heavy orchestral parts of the anime episodes, TV shows and movies I watch. I have been conditioned by years of having Disney push my emotional buttons to cry on cue. Writing this was a little bit of therapy. I even found myself starting to get teary eyed in one of the readings before I came to my senses and slapped myself around a little. The rest of these notes contain spoilers for the story, so don't read this unless you have read the story and really want to know why I did the horrible things I did to the characters. Afterward there is a little bit about me. If you feel the need to despise me, I felt it best that you have proper information to do so. spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection spoiler protection Kay, first I had to decide who Tenchi's wife would be. Although I am not an AHRLI, I did put Ryoko with Tenchi, but for a couple of reasons. First, Ayeka, despite caring about Tenchi, is the crown princess of Jurai. She is destined to be Empress, and therefore can never marry Tenchi. Tenchi can't be emperor of Jurai because he would suck at it. He has not a royal bone in his body. Plus, I have always felt that Tenchi was emotionally weak, like Ryoko. Ayeka, for all her whining is clearly the strongest of the young people in the household. I felt that Ryoko and Tenchi eventually would end up together because the have the same emotional needs. Besides, Ryoko looks more like his mother than Ayeka. Finally, I feel that Ayeka only has a crush on Tenchi in the series, that after spending an extended period of time with him alone, she would really start to get tired of him. Ryoko on the other hand is so simplistic; she probably wouldn't get tired of Tenchi during his lifetime. But, that is enough about that. Second, I had to decide where everyone would be twenty-five years later. It was too much to expect that they would all still be together. Ayeka was easiest; she would be the Empress. Tenchi and Ryoko naturally would be together at the Masaki residence. Then it got sticky. Because Tenchi needed to be his own man, and not rely anymore on Katsuhito's help, I wrote Grandfather out of the story (through natural causes). Because I felt from watching Tenchi in Tokyo that Washu and Katsuhito may have had a thing going, I left Washu at the Masaki house so she could be near her late lover. Twenty-five years would clearly be too long for Mihoshi and Kiyone to stay together. Kiyone was obviously a lifer when it came to the GP, so I made her the Chief Commissioner, since that was clearly where her personal ambition would take her. Mihoshi obviously could never survive in the GP without Kiyone, so I had to find somewhere to stash her. The solution presented itself in the form of the lonely Noboyuki. The best possible personality for him was Mihoshi and vice versa. So, Mazel Tov! Then I started get to the dregs of the case. Sasami would have grown up and merged with Tsunami by this time. Since I wanted the characters to have vastly different personalities than they had in the OVA, I need to concoct a story line to explain them. I imagine that merging two personalities into one young girl would be very traumatic. Throw in a plot to use her as a pawn to seize power and you have a seriously traumatized Sasami. After this, she would naturally want to withdraw into seclusion, which provides a convenient way to have her eventually save the day, Deus Ex Machina. The story of the merge is not included in this story, but if at least two people like this story, I may write it as a prequel. And, what about Ryo-ohki? At the end of the OVA, she was transformed into humanoid form and starting to learn to walk and talk. After twenty years, I would expect her to be pretty well developed as a humanoid. But, Sasami was gone, Tenchi was married, and Washu was mourning. Where is a cute young cabbit to go? To the lonely empress who feels similarly abandoned. It made perfect sense to me to make Ryo-ohki a confidant of Ayeka. Both would have needed someone to be with. I write a slightly romantic side of their relationship because I feel it would be a natural progression for the emotionally inexperienced Ryo-ohki to become attached to the person she trusts most. Ayeka, of course, is married to the Empire. But honestly, such a strong woman, so self-confidant... she could potentially be perfectly comfortable in a relationship with another female. I know a lot of people (okay, all of them) might disagree. Many might see Ryoko in a lesbian relationship due to her sexual overt ness. But I disagree. I think Ryoko only loves Tenchi and everything else is just a show. Ayeka on the other hand believes in love and tenderness, and may surprise herself to find it somewhere she might not expect it. Finally, I needed a catalyst to separate everyone in the past, so that the story could be written to bring them together after not having seen each other in a while. My timeline provides a war about five years after the OVA, where Jinnai invades Earth then the Galaxy and finally Jurai after finding a way back from El Hazard. During this war, Ayeka has a moment of truth when she is all alone and she is transformed from a girl to a woman. Also, during this war, conceivably, Ryoko and Tenchi go through battle together and bond firmly as soul mates. (Another prequel I am considering) About five years later, when Sasami would be firmly in her late teens or idealistic twenties, she would be most vulnerable to persuasion by forces determined to abuse her power. This is the time where I set the potentially disastrous merge with Tsunami, during which Sasami nearly kills her sister and destroys Jurai. Implied, but not mentioned, Yugi is brought out of her cocoon to try to reach Sasami and talk her down. After Sasami recovers, she and Yugi head out into the galaxy into seclusion so Sasami can get her head together. Washu and Yosho continue their quiet life on Earth while Tenchi and Ryoko try to have a family. However, spitefully due to her own bad experience with motherhood, Washu neglects to create Ryoko with the ability to have children. Ayeka selflessly donates tissue to help out and someone donates a large amount of Jurai power. Around this time Yosho dies of old age. Finally, I had to give some thought to the Jurai power itself. I decided to completely ruin the story by making the Jurai power the power of love. I am sorry, but I am just that kind of guy, I love love stories. I noticed in the shows and movies, that no one who really uses the Jurai power escapes unscathed. Yosho uses tremendous amounts of power to defeat Ryoko and begins to age much faster than other Juraians. Achika uses her tremendous power to defeat Cain, and she loses immortality and dies at an early age. The first emperor who defeated Cain died during the attempt. Based on this, I conceived that true Jurai power isn't granted without a price. I recalled from some Asimov stories and other sci-fi that immortals are afraid of death. So, since Juraians are near immortals, I decided that the Jurai power was granted to those who had decided to give their lives for others. Thus, the use of Jurai power, to different degrees, strips the user of immortality. That is why Ayeka ages in the story. SO, everyone in the story is older and wiser, if scarred. The one exception is Mihoshi and even she displays uncharacteristic intelligence. I felt it was necessary to leave Mihoshi the same to provide a little continuity with the original Tenchi storylines. So, I am sorry that this story doesn't match up with common Tenchi-isms, and I shamelessly take aspects of different versions of the series (I mix Yugi with OVA version) but I had a wonderful time writing this. I really, really tried to make it exciting and rewarding. I hope you like it. And, if you don't, I'm not listening anyways (la la la...) About the Author... My name is Steven Robinson; I am thirty years old and live in Burlington, VT. I got hooked on Anime again about four years ago when I discovered that Anime DVD's could be had for a good price on e-bay. I like writing, playing guitar and video editing. This is my first fan fiction and the longest piece of writing to date. So far the only writing I have ever had published was a series of Columns in four issues of "Tri-County Business Magazine", Hernando County, Florida, and a piece on shopping at the Juma Bazaar in "The Nation", Islamabad, Pakistan. Other than writing, I like spending my time driving an M-1 Abrams tank for the Vermont Army National Guard. I recommend it; it's very soothing. Peace. Peace and Love Steve Robinson