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 a 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/

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Thicker than Blood
Chapter 6

Washu rubbed her eyes and yawned. She was quite tired. She hadn't left her lab 
since the night Ryoko had disappeared. Ordinarily, she relished a challenge like 
finding a person who had vanished into thin air leaving no trace on any 
dimensional level. For some reason this time, her heart wasn't in it. 

When her ... friend? Or perhaps companion was a better word. Since Katsuhito had 
died, Washu had started to think more and more about things like life, and 
death. For twenty thousand years she hadn't given them even a first thought. She 
knew without knowing how that she was immortal and would never die. It bothered 
her that she couldn't remember how she came into being alive in the first place. 

Washu had not known a family of her own. Her natural child had been taken from 
her millennia ago. He had grown up, lived his live and died all without ever 
knowing Washu. Washu had created Ryoko as a surrogate, but for most of Ryoko's 
life, Washu had honestly only thought of her as an experiment, an attempt to 
recreate the Jurai power. It was only since coming to Earth that Washu really 
started to experience attachments to other people. There was something magical 
about Tenchi and about Earth. Earthlings lived their lives in the blink of an 
eye compared to beings like Washu, or even the Juraians. Yet they lived so much 
more fully. Even Katsuhito, whom Washu had actually known as Yosho even before 
coming to Earth, was so much more alive here. So much so that Washu at first 
took him to be an ordinary human, before realizing that he was the legendary 
warrior Yosho. The fifteen years that she had lived with Katsuhito on Earth 
seemed longer that the millennia she had lived without him.

And then, he was gone. Washu knew that he was in reality joined with the tree 
Funaho, but for all practical purposes he was dead. And in another hundred years 
or so, Funaho would die, too. Tenchi would be dead, and Ryeka would be dead. 
Ryoko may still be alive, but Washu knew that she wouldn't live forever. 
Although she hadn't told Ryoko, Washu had coded her genes to have a fixed life 
span. It was almost as if Washu were subconsciously trying to give her something 
that she herself could never have: mortality, and all of the earnestness that 
came with it.

Yes, soon, everyone she now cared about would be dead, but she would live on. 
And for once, she wasn't looking forward to it.

The door-crab rattled and she heard the dimensional portal come into being.

"Little Washu," Tenchi's voice, older and deeper, still held the caring, 
respectful tenor that she adored. "There is someone here I'd like you to talk 
to."

Washu had already run Kaji's face through her computer. The search had been 
narrowed since it was clear he was arriving with Kiyone, so Washu of course knew 
all about him. It was nothing for the greatest... well, you know.

"Ah, Detective First Class Kaji, of the Galaxy Police. It's a pleasure to meet 
you." Washu hopped off of her floating cushion and walked over to shake his 
hand.

"The pleasure is all mine, Professor Washu. It isn't every day you meet the 
Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe."

"You can be thankful of that," Tenchi barbed good naturedly as he strode back to 
the portal. "Forgive me for leaving so abruptly, but I have always suspected 
that Professor Washu hasn't finished her experiments with me."

"Quite right, Tenchi," Washu pouted after his retreating back. "I am years 
behind schedule. Once this little mess is cleared up, you can be sure I'll be 
coming for you next!!!"

After Tenchi was gone, Washu returned to her cushion and punched a few keys on 
her trans-dimensional console. A second cushion appeared for Kaji, a rare honor 
in Washu's laboratory.

"Won't you please sit down, Detective? I find you so much more attractive than 
Kiyone, and much less dangerous than Mihoshi. You wouldn't believe the trouble 
she has caused me."

Kaji seated him self politely on the cushion and crossed his legs. He took out 
his data pad and punched up some data. Washu snickered at his archaic technology 
before she caught her self. Kaji pretended not to notice.

"Well, your file states that when confronting the notorious Professor Washu, it 
is best to assume that she already knows what you want to ask, so it is better 
not to waste her time." Kaji lowered the data pad. "In that case, what is your 
answer?"

Washu punched a few keys on her console. A monitor appeared in mid air about six 
feet away, displaying an hourglass shaped object with a female figure inside. 
Next to it, an image of a science beaker, also containing a female figure.

"I figured out almost immediately that she had been kidnapped. That would 
necessitate holding her somehow. You already know of two of the three times is 
has happened before. Kagato and Clay."

Kaji immediately checked his data pad. "There was a third time?"

"Of course. When Yosho trapped her in the cave for seven hundred years."

Kaji knuckled his head. "I never thought of that. How was that done?"

"Yosho captured three jewels that she uses for energy and locked her in the 
cave. She only gained enough power to escape when Tenchi brought the stones, 
attached to the hilt of the sword Tenchi, close enough for her to call some 
power to herself. However, I know absolutely that it is impossible to extract 
the stones from her person without using great amounts of power. Clay was able 
to do it, but I easily detected the energy expenditure on my sensors, although I 
wasn't sure what it was at the time. It lingered for days. No such energy was 
detected this time. Therefore, she had to have been taken with the jewels 
intact. Only Kagato was able to do that."

"How was he able to do that?"

"Kagato had learned to tap into the telepathic wavelength that Ryoko uses. When 
I created both Ryoko and Ryo-ohki, it was necessary to have some form of 
communications with them in case I needed to extract data from them, or to make 
subtle changes to their designs. I used an obscure telepathic frequency for this 
purpose. Since in all of my research I had only rarely discovered other 
naturally occurring telepaths, I had assumed that this would be secure. However, 
just as a computer network can be hacked into, Kagato hacked into my telepathic 
link with them and took control. At the time, this amused me so I didn't take 
any action. Then, when he captured me, it was too late to do anything until 
Mihoshi inadvertently rescued me."

"Is it possible that someone has tapped into Ryoko's wavelength and spirited her 
away?" Kaji asked.

Washu shook her head. "Ryoko somehow broke Kagato's control on her own. After 
that, I conducted a few discrete tests and discovered that she is no longer 
susceptible to telepathic persuasion. Kagato must have felt his control over her 
slipping away, so he imprisoned her inside some kind of crystal hourglass."

"And of course, you know how that was done?"

Washu scowled. "Actually, young man, that answer eludes me. I can't think of any 
element in existence, and even a few unreal ones that could do the trick. It's a 
mystery. But that's not all that happened. From within her prison, Ryoko witness 
Tenchi's destruction at Kagato's hands. Somehow, in her emotional distress she 
was able to summon enough energy to break out of her confinement. That alone I 
might have suspected was within her power, but what she did next is still a 
mystery to me."

Washu leaned forward conspiratorially. "Her gems were something I have always 
had since I lost my memory twenty thousand years ago. Only a handful of them 
exist and she needs at least two to have her full power. Yosho managed to wrest 
at least three from her and stored them in the hilt of his sword. One has been 
completely destroyed. It exploded when Tenchi severed her hand in their first 
encounter. He returned one to her, but it too was destroyed when Yosho severed 
her hand again while she was back under Kagato's control. Somehow, after she 
escaped from Kagato, she was able to call that gem back into existence. That gem 
combined with one she kept hidden as an earring restored her full strength and 
she was able to oppose Kagato."

Kaji shook his head and looked down at his data pad. "Wait, Ryoko had both of 
her hands cut off? The Galaxy Police records make no mention of that."

Washu grabbed his collar and gave him a little shake. "Stay with me here. She 
can regenerate her hands as part of her self-repair process. But, she can't 
regenerate the gems. No one can, not Kagato, not Clay, not even me. I examined 
the gem after she returned. It wasn't a copy of the original. It was the 
original. Somehow the raw, primitive love that she felt for Tenchi opened up 
great enough power to her to somehow bring back a gem that had previously been 
annihilated."

Kaji tapped his data pad for a moment, considering what Washu had said. "You say 
she used the jewels as an energy source. Where did these jewels come from?"

Washu smiled wryly. "That used to be my most guarded secret. So many have sought 
the answer, but I refused them all. Now, for some reason, I just don't care. 
I'll tell you."

Washu leaned even more forward until her lips were just touching Kaji's ear. She 
could feel heat rising in his face as he blushed.

"I don't know!"

She leaned back and laughed. "I have always had them. It took ten thousand years 
for me to realize they contained great amounts of energy. They can absorb energy 
too. But, the most amazing thing I found was that they resonate at exactly the 
same frequency as the Jurai Power, but with a slight polarity shift. It is 
almost as if they were a physical manifestation of the Jurai Power, or something 
like it. That led to my research to attempt to understand and duplicate the 
power. Since the Jurai Power seemed greatly tied to the tree Tsunami, and life 
in general, my research led me to attempt create life in Ryoko."

Washu sighed. "But, it lead me nowhere. I had discovered a way to store and 
extract energy in the jewels, but not how to artificially create the energy 
itself. Because Ryoko is a living being, created partially from my own ovum, she 
generates a natural living energy. This keeps the jewels recharged in periods 
where she isn't expending lots of power. But to create just the Jurai Power, 
mechanically, without using life? I have never done it."

"What about Ryo-ohki?" Kaji inquired.

"Good point," Washu nodded. "Ryo-ohki was my second attempt at mechanically, or 
biomechanically creating the Jurai power. Once again, I had to give Ryo-ohki an 
organic base so that she could create living energy. That is why she must revert 
back to a living form of a cabbit or her present form after long expenditures of 
energy. I was able to synthesize a crystal form similar to the gems that could 
store life energy, but only at a very small fraction of the efficiency of the 
original jewels."

Both Kaji and Washu stared at each other.

"Of course," Washu gasped, slapping her forehead. "The synthetic crystal. It 
absorbs energy at the same wavelength that Ryoko and Ryo-ohki produce it. If she 
were completely surrounded by it, it could contain her!"

"Could Cray and Kagato have had access to this technology?" Kaji asked, 
furiously writing the information down in his data pad.

"Yes, of course. Kagato was my assistant! We developed the crystal together. And 
Cray, the filthy rat, he was the chairman on the board where I presented my 
early works for my degree. He certainly could have developed it on his own from 
my original data. However, in the five thousand years since I developed it, I 
have never heard of anyone else coming even close to pursuing that kind of 
research. The secrets must have died with Kagato and Clay."

But even as she said it, her argument rang hollow. Kaji killed it with his next 
statement.

"Clearly, someone else knew how to do it."

"And, since it the crystal resonates at the same frequency as the Jurai Power, 
it could account for the ambient readings we found around the estate at the 
time. We thought they were left over from Tenchi and Ryeka's search, but it 
could have been from the kind of crystal we are talking about."

"I think we should return to the sites where you recorded the greatest 
concentrations of ambient Jurai Power, and scan again." Kaji announced.

Washu agreed and they went to inform Tenchi of their progress. When they got to 
the dining room, they were surprised to see that another visitor had arrived.

Ryo-ohki was sitting at the table with Ryeka in her lap. Ryeka was hugging Ryo-
ohki as though she would never let her go. Ryo-ohki was talking to Tenchi.

"Of course, Ayeka is most concerned. She dispatched me personally to come here 
to see what we could do. I would have come anyway even if she hadn't. She would 
have come herself except for some matters of state that need to be cleared up 
first. I imagine it won't be too long before she does show up."

"It is still a great relief to have you here. I know Ryeka will probably do her 
best to insure that you never leave. Ah, and here is Washu!"

"Hi, there, Ryo-ohki," Washu chirped up. "Long time no see! You look great!"

Ryo-ohki smiled and nodded to Washu. Unlike with Ryoko, Washu didn't user her 
own ovum to create Ryo-ohki, so Ryo-ohki never considered Washu her mother. She 
was more like her personal physician.

"Well, Washu," Ryo-ohki greeted her, "we haven't heard hide nor hair from you 
for quite some time. Ayeka nearly sent me to check on you twice this year to see 
if you weren't creating some universe obliterating robot or a dimension 
collapsing coffee machine."

Everybody laughed. Washu's malevolent streak was known by most in the room by 
personal experience.

"Ha, ha," Washu stuck her tongue out. "All that schooling and all you can think 
of to do is to belittle your creator? How about a little respect?"

Ryo-ohki shook her head. "Nope, I thank you for creating me, but I like to think 
I have gotten where I am on my own."

"Quite true," Kiyone chimed in. "Despite the objections of some of the Galaxy 
Police, I issued a report listing you as one of the most valuable assets we 
could ever hope to recruit. I know how devoted you are to Ayeka, but if you ever 
find the need to expand into a different line of work, Galaxy Police is starving 
for someone of your intellect."

Ryo-ohki blushed at the complement. Kiyone had become a good friend over the 
past three years. At Ayeka's direction, Ryo-ohki had cultivated the relationship 
to improve her intelligence gathering capabilities. To her surprise, Kiyone 
quickly learned to challenge Ryo-ohki into developing analysis skills. Soon 
after, Kiyone began frequently inviting Ryo-ohki to GPHQ to discuss various 
cases for an alternative point of view. While many other people saw only Ryo-
ohki's cosmic physical powers, Kiyone always seemed more interested in her 
intellectual abilities.

"And who is this handsome individual you are dragging around like a trophy, 
Washu?" Ryo-ohki changed the subject.

Now it was Kaji's turn to blush. He stepped forward and bowed.

"I am Detective First Class Kaji, of the Galaxy Police. I am honored to meet 
such a legendary heroine, Lady Ryo-ohki."

"Mmmm," said Ryo-ohki, licking her lips.  "You can take my statement, anytime."

"Aunt Ryo-ohki, really!" Ryeka scolded. "There are children present."

Once again, everyone laughed. Washu and Kaji seated themselves and explained 
their theories about the jewels and Ryo-ohki's crystals. When they were done, 
Ryo-ohki spoke up.

"I agree, I think we should search again and look for energy traces that could 
be related. Washu, I'll transform to my crystal form. You take readings of the 
residual energy to form a base line. Then, we can compare it to Lord ... I mean 
Ambassador Tenchi's Light Hawk wings. If a slight difference can be found, we 
could calibrate the scanners to pick up on it."

"You are a genius, Ryo-ohki! Lets get back to my lab."

"Ohh," Tenchi moaned. "I really don't like going there. Too many bad memories."



Washu placed the large crystal on the scanning pad. Ryo-ohki's cabbit face 
peered out from the crystal like a hologram.

"Ree-oowww!" She scolded. Her cabbit form lacked the anatomical development for 
speech.

"Yes, yes, be patient. It will only take a second."

Everyone stood around and peered at the crystal.

"Does it hurt her to be in that form?" Kaji asked. 

"No, but imagine I cut off your head using anesthetic. It wouldn't hurt, but you 
would know that you couldn't use your hands and legs. It is like losing parts of 
yourself that you are used to using. Ryo-ohki's most complete form is as a 
battleship. Her sensors give her a more complete view of existence than you or I 
could ever hope to see. She chooses the humanoid form most of the time because 
it gives her the warm intimacy of human contact."

"Mreeow! Mree-oooooow-ry-ow!" Ryo-ohki howled, and the crystal seemed to blush.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Ryo-ohki," Washu soothed. "I stayed on 
Earth for the same reason. You don't think Katsuhito and I were just friends, do 
you?"

"Oh, yuck, Grandma Washu," Ryeka grimaced.

"Yeah," Tenchi agreed, "way too much information."

"I think it's sweet," Mihoshi said.

Washu chuckled and took the crystal off the scanner. 

"There," she said, putting it on the floor. "All finished."

Ryo-ohki morphed into her humanoid form. She was still blushing slightly and 
didn't seem to want to make eye contact with Kaji. Ryeka ran over and climbed up 
into her arms.

"Okay, now you, Tenchi."

Tenchi closed his eyes and held out his hands. Almost instantly, three 
symmetrical bands of light spread out in front of him. The light was so pure 
that everything around him seemed dimmer by comparison. Slowly, the wings of the 
Light Hawk spun in front of Tenchi, like a window fan spinning in a light 
breeze. Washu quietly passed a handheld scanner in front of them.

"Okay, Tenchi, I have it," she whispered.

Tenchi opened his eyes and the Light Hawk wings faded. Everyone seemed to let 
out a breath that they had been collectively holding. Ryo-ohki moved forward to 
assist Washu.

"There, lets run the scans through the filter and remove any ambient radiation. 
Good, now, lets do a comparison of the wavelengths."

"They're the same, but we knew that." Washu countered. "Do a comparison of the 
angular alignment."

"Yes! That's it! Look!"

The others crowded around. But their eagerness gave way to puzzlement. 

"It just looks like gobbledygook to me," Noboyuki groused.

"No, here," Ryo-ohki pointed. "Our energy emissions are at right angles to each 
other. It is like a reflection of light, the photons in the reflection oscillate 
at right angles to each other, that's is why polarized sunglasses can eliminate 
glare. They only allow non-reflected light to enter."

Washu was busy calling up a file. "Let's compare an old scan of Ryoko's to this 
new data. There! Her energy has the same polar alignment as Ryo-ohki's."

Ryeka reached out from Ryo-ohki's shoulder to pull at Washu's shirt.

"What about mine? Is my energy like my mommy or my daddy?"

The group stared quietly at her. Tenchi spoke.

"Go on, Washu scan her. It might help to know."

Washu picked up her portable "Do something small, like levitate an inch off the 
ground."

Ryo-ohki set Ryeka down and Ryeka did as she was asked. Washu passed the scanner 
over her body. Then, she did it again.

"Well, well, how quantum," she said, absently. Shrodinger would have loved to 
see these results."

"What?" Ryo-ohki asked.

Washu called up the data. "Ryeka emanates a juxtaposition of both types. You 
see, I can only detect the polarity by calibrating for it. If I am testing for 
Ryoko's polarity alignment, I find that but not Tenchi's. But if I recalibrate 
for Tenchi's, I find that but not Ryoko's. Her energy oscillates in both 
dimensions at the same time. They should interfere with each other and cancel 
out, but instead, each type remains in opposite phase, becoming more dominant 
when resonating with a similar form of energy. Ryeka, it seems that you exist in 
more than one dimension at the same time. You are a multi-dimensional being."

"Just like Tsunami," Tenchi said.

Ryeka let out a deep breath and sighed.

"So, does all that gobbledygook mean you can find my mommy?"

Washu cackled "Ah-ha! You bet! Now that we know what to look for, it'll be 
easy!!!! We'll first scan the estate for Jurai energy with Ryo-ohki's angular 
alignment."

She called up a map of the estate. Several regions glowed faintly. "Then, we'll 
eliminate energy signatures that have too young a half life and try to zero in 
on residual traces that are about the right age. Two traces were left, one in 
the forest and one on the hillside over looking the lake.

"Eliminate Ryeka's signature," Ryo-ohki said.

"Hey now, who's the scientist here, anyway?" Washu scowled, but she did it.

One blur remained, on the hillside. Washu snapped her fingers and a dimensional 
tunnel opened next to the group.

"That's it, let's go!" and she dove into the tunnel.



The group rolled out of the tunnel on the hillside. After shaking off the 
disorienting trip, they started looking around. Washu and Kaji used their 
scanners while Ryo-ohki transformed into her cabbit mode and sniffed around. 
Mihoshi and Noboyuki poked around in the bushes, calling Ryoko's name, while 
Tenchi and Ryeka stood by helplessly. Suddenly, Ryo-ohki started mewling for 
attention, then shook her head and transformed.

"There is some kind of gel here, Washu!"

Washu hurried over and took some readings. "It's some kind of near silicon base 
semi liquid. But, these readings... Ryeka, can you produce a hand blast like 
your mother?"

Ryeka looked sheepishly at her dad. "I'm not allowed ever since I accidentally 
burned down the tool shed last year."

"It's okay, honey," Tenchi encouraged. "Do as Washu says."

Washu pointed to the ground near Ryo-ohki. "Give me a low power blast right 
here."

Ryeka scowled in concentration and raised a hand. Energy gathered around her in 
a wispy form, and then rapidly formed a glowing ball. With a push of her hand, 
Ryeka sent the ball streaking into the ground near Washu and Ryo-ohki. The 'low 
power' blast knocked Washu and Ryo-ohki off their feet.

"I'm sorry," Ryeka's eyes started to cloud up. "I told you, I'm not very good at 
controlling it"

But, Washu wasn't listening. She scrambled back and crawled around on the 
ground, peering at the scorched earth.

"Yeah! Here it is!!!!" she yelled triumphantly.

Washu picked something up and held it aloft for all to see. It was a tiny 
crystal.

"The gel congealed into this crystal as a reaction to the Jurai Power. Whoever 
took Ryoko must have spray this gel all over her. When she fought back..."