Hi, and welcome to my first fan-fic. (Please be patient!)  This story is after 
Episode 13 of the OAV series.
Obligatory Disclaimer:::  Tenchi and co. do NOT belong to me, the belong to 
Pioneer/LDC.  I own only the story line and a few of the extras.  This story 
is for entertainment purposes only, and cannot be used as a weapon or a 
household cleaner.  If you feel like suing me for using these characters, I'll 
give you all of my money: Two dollars, some nickels, and a couple of really 
cool rocks.  If I have inadvertently used someone else's ideas, and you want to 
pick a fight, you have permission to send me an e-mail with foul language and 
threats of violence.  Umm, sorry, got a little off track for a minute. 
Special thanks go to my numerous proof readers: John for his technical advice 
and ideas, Samm for her enthusiasm, and various family members who've never 
even seen the show for at least pretending to know what I was talking about.

Onward!
		    fsThings Fall Apart: First Piece Removed
				By Cori Jordan


	+++++
The day had not dawned bright and sunny, as it often had, but gray, wet, and 
cold.  It had been raining for three days straight.  That, in itself was odd, 
but what could you do on a planet without climate control?  No one else seemed 
to be bothered by it, but the cold, clammy weather always bothered Ryoko.  It 
was too reminiscent of the cave where she had been captive before.  However, 
the only differences between this day and any other day was the weather.  
Ayeka and Ryoko started off with the usual exchange of words, but no blows, 
and Sasami had made an excellent breakfast.  It was shaping up to be a day for
napping, so Ryoko had headed to the rafters to sit and maybe sleep.  After a 
few volleys of insults about laziness from Ayeka, which Ryoko pointedly 
ignored, the house quieted again.  Ryoko on her rafter, Ayeka and her soaps, 
Sasami and Ryo-Ohki doing the dishes, helped by Washu.  Mihoshi was just 
finishing buttoning her GP uniform as she walked into the living room.  Tenchi 
raised his eyes from his book.
	"Did you get a call, Mihoshi?" He inquired.
	Mihoshi looked up from her struggle with the collar of her uniform. 
"Huh? Oh, yeah, Yukinojo sent me a message just after breakfast.  Probably 
nothing, just some strange radiation traces at the edge of the system...or 
something like that."  She finally managed to get the button through the 
buttonhole and giggled with childlike glee.  "I got it!"
	The only one who didn't have to stop themselves from rolling their eyes
was Ryoko.  Perched on her rafter, she barely managed to stifle a cackle.  Just
then Washu came out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a dishtowel.
	"Mihoshi, did you say that Yukinojo had picked up some radiation 
traces?" Washu asked, folding the towel and tossing it on the table.
	"Why, yes Miss Washu, I did!  How did you know?" The GP detective's 
eyes were wide with surprise and admiration.
	This time no one could stop it, at least not entirely.  Ryoko's laugh 
rang loudly from over head, and even Tenchi and Ayeka couldn't stop a giggle.  
Washu managed not to throttle the blonde and just stood there, shaking her head.  "Never mind."  The greatest scientist in the universe stretched her arms, cracked her knuckles and sighed.  "Well, I guess I found my project for the day!"  And with that, walked into the former broom closet.
	The silence was broken yet again a moment later by Sasami and Ryo-Ohki,
the larger being chased by the smaller in a very comical picture, made more so 
when Ryo-Ohki leapt after the little girl, changing to her humanoid form in 
mid-air.  Sasami and Ryo-Ohki tumbled together on the floor, giggling 
hysterically.
	Ayeka looked up, slightly annoyed but still smiling. "Sasami, do you 
suppose you could play upstairs or play a quiet game?  I can't hear the TV."
	"Sorry, Ayeka," Sasami apologized in a very contrite voice but a 
mischievous grin on her face.  "Come on, Ryo-Ohki, let's play hide and seek! 
That's quiet enough," she added, glancing at her sister, who's attention was 
back on the screen already.  Sasami looked up. "Wanna play, Ryoko?"
	Ryoko was surprised by two things.  First that she had been asked at 
all, and second that Ayeka hadn't immediately told Sasami not to 'consort' with
the 'devil woman.'  Either the soap opera she was watching was so interesting 
that she didn't notice, or the talk Sasami had with her had done the trick.  
Well, they'd find out.
	"Sure, Sasami.  I've never played, though."
	The little princess beamed.  "Great!  It's lots more fun with more 
people."  Then her little face went stern.  "But no cheating," she warned, "you
 can't check Ryo-Ohki's mind to find where I am, or where she is, and Ryo-Ohki 
won't do that either, right?"
	Ryoko raised her hands in a mock defensive gesture.  "No problem kid." 
Then, giggling a little herself, she flew down to join the little girl on the 
ground.  This should be fun, she thought.
	She was right. It was a lot of fun, even with no cheating, and the fact
that she kept losing.  After all, if mental powers were cheating, that meant no
phasing through walls to escape.  Besides, she was a bit taller than the little
girls, making it more difficult to hide effectively. But Ryoko had never 
actually played those types of games before, and saw why they were played so 
often. They played all the way until lunch time, when Sasami reluctantly 
decided it was time to make some food.  Ryoko was slightly relieved. Surely 
an experienced space pirate like herself could not be out-played by a child!  
It was slightly embarrassing.
	After a quiet lunch, Sasami asked if Ryoko wanted to play some more, 
but the pirate had had enough defeat for one day, and placated the little girl 
with a promise that she'd play again another day.  Drifting back up to her 
rafter, she noticed Tenchi smiling at her.  She resisted the urge to rush and 
embrace him, but knew exactly what would happen. As mentioned before, she had 
had enough defeat. So she smiled back and continued up to her rafter to 
remember that smile over and over as she watched the dark haired boy, who had 
returned to his book.
	Ayeka had noticed the exchange but pretended not to.  Even the First 
Princess of Jurai had noticed the pirate's improved behavior and had been 
impressed.  Somehow it made her nervous though, too. She sighed. It was much 
better than the morning attacks and such.  Lord Tenchi seems much more relaxed 
around her now, too, Ayeka thought.  She frowned.  Maybe that was what was 
making her so wary.  Oh, well.
++++++
	Washu, The Greatest Scientific Genius In The Universe, was stumped.  
She had sent out her scanners to find, if she could, the source of the 
radiation traces that Mihoshi had spoken of.  She had found them, but was 
having next to no luck in analyzing it or even tracing it to it's source. The 
data she was getting looked vaguely familiar, but she was completely unable to 
match it to any known type of...well, anything.  Nothing seemed to match up.  
It's elements and atomic structure didn't correspond with anything she had 
information on, solid, liquid, gaseous or otherwise.  That in itself seemed 
impossible, because she had gathered data on virtually every element known in 
the universe; her 'library' was the most comprehensive in the universe, with 
the possible exception of the science academy itself.  After all, it had had 
seven hundred years in which to attempt to catch up and surpass her.  
	In a fit of frustration, Washu banged her forehead on her keyboard--a 
little too forcefully.  Her vision went dark momentarily. Suddenly her mind 
cleared. That familiar trace!  Not one element, but a combination of dark 
matter and a substance she had only recently cataloged, something she had 
picked up around Dr. Clay's home-made black hole.  Her fingers flew across the 
keyboard and she smiled wryly.  Banging her head had never worked before.  
	Suddenly, one of her scanners detected a ship near the pocket of 
unknown whatever it was.  A quick check told that Mihoshi and Yukinojo had 
finally arrived.  The GP ship sent out probes of its own; not as sophisticated 
as Washu's, but adequate.  
	The GP probes had only been out for a few moments when Washu's screens 
started going crazy.  Red lights and klaxons went off all over the lab.  
Instantly Washu saw what had happened: There was another ship out there!  
"What the hell is that?!" Washu exclaimed.
	The ship seemed to be not there!  It only appeared clearly on the 
sight-spectrum camera she had sent out, a kind of space-operational camcorder.  
The others saw only a black nebulosity or nothing at all.  On the input screen 
from the visible-spectrum camera, the new ship was visible, and looked for all 
the world like an Earth sand-spur.  The ship looked to be made up of spikes and 
nothing else.  It seemed to be about twice the size of Mihoshi's ship and 
looked like it was made expressly to scare people.  It was easily the nastiest 
looking vessel that Washu had ever seen and she hoped that Mihoshi would get 
the hell out of it's way.
	She didn't, of course.  Other sensors indicated that the detective was 
attempting to hail the stranger and was getting no reply.  Abruptly, the new 
ship fired three small projectiles at Mihoshi's cruiser.  They didn't seem to 
do much damage, just struck the hull and coated it with something.  Mihoshi 
didn't even return fire. Just prattled that firing on a GP vessel was a felony, and don't make me use force, etc.  Nothing happened for a good long time.  The two ships faced each other.  Washu almost missed it when the stranger started moving; it was heading directly towards Mihoshi's ship!  
	Suddenly Washu knew what the spines and projections were for.  Some of 
them were obviously gun ports, but that ship was built for ramming other 
vessels with minimum damage to itself, and maximum to the other.  Unable to 
prevent the catastrophe that was happening such an enormous distance above her,
the scientist watched helplessly as Mihoshi's defensive fire was ignored, and 
the obviously hostile ship collided with the GP cruiser.  Washu's constantly 
analyzing mind noticed that it was a very controlled crash, not intent on 
destroying the other ship, but almost pushing it in a specific direction.
	The spines that struck Yukinojo punctured the hull in very specific 
places, neatly disabling any maneuvering capabilities Mihoshi had to pull out 
of the course set by the enemy.  We have a very informed enemy here, Washu 
realized, trying to figure out how an unknown ship that didn't seem to belong 
in this galaxy had known so much about the GP cruiser.  Not even the metals 
used in the spiny ship were familiar.
	Washu snapped out of her scientific reverie.  If it had been a 
deliberate push, where had the enemy wanted her ship to go?  Doing some quick 
calculations, she realized that, at current speed, minus what would be lost in 
friction with the atmosphere, Mihoshi's ship would crash at the edge of the 
lake *directly* in front of Tenchi's house in...two minutes forty-eight seconds.  
	"Shit."
*******		
	"What's that?"  Ryoko lifted her head as a sound penetrated her 
thoughts.
	Every head in the house lifted at the sound of Mihoshi's shuttle 
coming in for a hard landing in the lake. . . again.  The sound was different 
this time, however.  Instead of the normal high pitched whine of her ship 
simply coming in too fast, there was the sound of several small explosions as 
well.  Nervous glances were exchanged, and interrupted by Washu slamming open 
the door of her lab, out of breath.
	"Washu?  What's going on?" Tenchi asked.
	"No time!"  She gestured urgently at the door of her lab.  "Everyone, 
into the lab.  Quickly!"  
	The look on the diminutive genius's face was so serious, almost... 
frightened?  That in itself was enough to get the few people in the house to 
rush through the lab's dimensional doorway.  But someone was missing.  Sasami!  
She had been upstairs the last time Ryoko had touched Ryo-Ohki's mind.  
Powerful Juraian princesses may be, but if whatever was happening was enough 
to frighten Washu, the little girl surely stood no chance.  Teleporting into
Sasami's room as quickly as she could, Ryoko cast about for her.  Hadn't the 
child heard the sound?  Hadn't she heard Washu at all?  
	Not immediately seeing the blue-haired girl, Ryoko was about to check 
the rest of the rooms in the top floor when she heard a giggle.  Of course, 
Ryoko thought.  She probably thought it was a game.  	"Sasami?"  Called 
Ryoko.  Another giggle, behind the neat stack of bedding in the corner.  Ryoko 
dove for her, intending to 'port to the hall just outside Washu's door, when 
the screaming sound outside hit a peak.  An earthquake like shudder shook the 
entire house as the ship struck.  A moment after the impact, a massive 
explosion tore through the house, practically shattering it!  Ryoko managed to 
get to the young girl and threw up her shield.  It was almost been too late.  
The air was full of flying debris, and Sasami screamed.  As the shock-wave of 
the explosion hit the huddled pair, the floor fell out from under them and they
fell.  
	The jolt when they hit the ground broke through Ryoko's shield, and a 
jagged shard of metal stabbed through her up-raised arm, stopping just inches 
from Sasami's flesh.  Warmth suddenly spread through Ryoko's back, neck and 
skull, but for the moment, that was the least of her problems.  Heat battered 
at them as the flames of the blast raged from the twisted hulk on the edge of 
the lake.  With great effort, Ryoko raised her shield again, gritting her teeth
against the pain in her arm.  Her healing ability was attempting to close the 
heavily bleeding wound, but the shard remained embedded in her flesh.
	The demoness suddenly remembered the child she had been protecting and 
glanced down.  There was a slight cut above the girl's right eye, and she was 
unconscious, but she was breathing, and nothing seemed broken.  Relieved and 
yet concerned, Ryoko looked around for the others.
	Almost as if her thought had summoned them, she heard a door open 
behind her.  Gasps of shock and horror were heard, and a single scream, but 
they seemed far away.  Ryoko felt something strike her shield, and tried to 
maintain it.  Even though the world was starting to take a gray tint, she felt 
that she desperately needed to keep the sheild up.  She was protecting... 
something.  Then the gray turned darker, and she knew no more.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
	Washu had had only enough time get Tenchi and Ayeka into her lab and 
cut off the connection to the hall door before her displays indicated that the 
ship had made impact.  
	"SASAMI!" Ayeka screamed.  "Washu, Sasami is still out there!"  Ayeka 
was almost beyond hysteria, her eyes wild and her face drained of blood.
	"I know, Ayeka.  My daughter is out there too." Washu spoke through 
clenched teeth, her entire being thrumming with tension.  She couldn't feel 
Ryoko's mind through the link at the moment, and only her scientist's composure
kept her from reopening the portal and finding the others even if all the gods
and devils in all the universe forbade it.  "Ryoko went to find your sister.  
If they're together, they should survive."  Her voice shook.
	Ayeka collapsed on the floor, racked with uncontrollable sobs.
	"We'll go out again as soon as the worst of the shockwave and the heat 
from the blast has passed."  Washu's green eyes stared at her display, wanting 
out just as much as Ayeka did.  
	Tenchi was kneeling beside Ayeka, trying in vain to comfort the weeping
princess.  "What the hell just happened Washu?"
	Washu ignored the question.  Her display had just told her that there 
wasn't any dangerous radiation, and the heat would be just barely tolerable in 
sixty-three seconds.  "I'm gonna reconnect the door, Tenchi.  But we can't go 
through until this bell rings."  The familiar doorway reappeared, and the two 
of them rushed to it to wait for the bell.  Ayeka was able to choke back her 
tears and joined them.  
	"We're gonna have to find the others and get them back in here as 
quickly as possible.  It's likely to be life or death" Washu ordered in a 
barely controlled and extremely hurried voice.  At the word 'death,' another 
choked cry escaped Ayeka.  Then the bell sounded.
	The three of them burst through the door into Hell.
	After only a split second's shocked staring, they all started tearing 
through the rubble.  
	"Over here!" Tenchi cried.  A piece of the front porch had heaved up, 
and a muffled groan was heard beneath it.  With the aid of the others, Tenchi 
managed to get the debris off the battered forms of Ryoko and Sasami.  Ryoko's 
shield was up, and that was what caused the movement of the planking that was 
all that remained of the front porch.  Ryoko was still clinging to Sasami, not 
allowing Ayeka to come near.  The former pirate muttered something and then 
passed out, her sheild dropping at last.  
++++++++++++
	When Ryoko came to her senses, she was on a bed.  Her head hurt 
fiercely, and for a moment she thought that she had a hangover and was in her 
own bed.  But her arm felt as if it were on fire, and it was that which 
reminded her of what had happened.  Ryoko sat up quickly, and lay back almost 
as quickly.  Her head swam and throbbed, and she could feel the blackness 
creeping back into her vision.
	"Decided to rejoin us, huh?"  came Washu's voice.  The spiky red hair 
came into view, and Ryoko cautiously turned her head.  
	"What the hell just happened?"  Ryoko asked without preamble.  She was 
annoyed to hear how weak her voice was.
	"You were seriously injured in the explosion, it seems,"  Washu 
explained.  "Not only blood-loss, and muscle damage from that piece of hull, 
but a damn good knock on the head."  There wasn't a trace of Washu's usual 
humor in her voice.  She lifted something for Ryoko to see.  It was an eighteen 
inch long, three inch wide shard of metal that tapered to a jagged point.  
Apparently, from Mihoshi's ship.  
	"Hmph," Ryoko grunted.  "I thought it would take more than that and a 
bump on the head to take me out of action."
	"As a matter of fact, it did."  Still staying next to Ryoko, Washu 
brought up her holo-console.  After it was safe to leave the lab for more than 
ten minutes at a time, I did an analysis of the shrapnel and the remains of the 
fire.  I detected some previously unknown chemicals both in the smoke and 
coating the metal."  She dismissed the console and again raised the shard of 
metal.  "This was the piece you had stuck through your arm."  Ryoko was a 
little surprised, and lifted her arm to look at it.  On both sides of her 
forearm were barely scabbed over wounds.  She was surprised again.  Normally 
she healed very quickly, and without scars or scabs of any kind.  She could 
even regenerate appendages, if necessary.
	After Ryoko's questioning look, Washu tried to explain.  "The chemicals 
I found on the metal worked somehow to . . . temporarily shut down your healing 
and regeneration abilities.  In fact, it nearly shut down all of your powers.  
It was amazing that you were able to keep your shield up as long as you did."  
A grim smile touched Washu's features briefly.  "It's just as well you passed 
out when you did.  Ayeka was all for hitting you in the head with something 
else, to get to Sasami."
Before Ryoko could ask, Washu said, "And yes, Sasami and everyone else is fine.
  Sasami had plenty of bruises, a small cut on her forehead, and a lump on the 
back of her head, but nothing like yours."
	"What did hit me, anyway?"  Ryoko asked; she didn't like the talk about 
her powers being shut off, temporarily or not.  And her head STILL hurt.
	The smile quirked on Washu's lips again.  "Would you believe me if I 
told you the front porch?  It was actually on top of you when the rest of us 
came out.  It was resting on your shield.  The only reason we knew you were 
under it was the way it rose up when you reactivated your shield."  Washu 
looked at her daughter critically.  Until she knew how the unknown chemical 
would react when mixed with painkillers, she could do nothing for her.  "Sleep 
now, Ryoko.  Rest, and you will heal."  Almost as if it was a command, Ryoko's 
eyelids sagged and closed, and darkness claimed her again.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
	She slept deeply, rising to half-consciousness only occasionally to 
hear voices around her.
	"How much longer, Washu?"
	"I don't know.  It's not just the injuries.  Somehow that chemical 
managed to damage almost every cell in her body, and it is difficult for her 
healing abilities to fight all over like that."
	Then, Sasami's voice.  "Say she'll be all right, Washu!"  Even in her 
sleep, Ryoko smiled slightly at the innocent trust of the little girl.  Someone 
else spoke, but it was too far away, and Ryoko sank down once more.
++++++
	Tenchi was almost frantic with worry and grief.  Grief for Mihoshi and 
worry for Ryoko and for the future.  Washu had explained what she'd seen after 
she knew that Ryoko would recover.  Her explanation had disturbed Tenchi 
greatly.  What kind of person or being would do a horrible thing like this?  
"Who?  Why?" he whispered under his breath.  He was sitting at Ryoko's bedside,
as he had almost constantly since the attack.  Oddly enough, Ayeka had joined 
him in his vigil occasionally, and didn't object that the man she loved was 
sitting at her rival's side.  But then, her rival had saved the life of her 
beloved sister, so that might account for it.  
	Ryoko stirred slightly, and Tenchi sat up quickly.  But Ryoko subsided 
into stillness, and Tenchi sighed, going back to his contemplation of their 
situation.
	In what seemed like the instant after she had gone to sleep, Ryoko was 
awake; wide awake.  She almost sat straight up, but she remembered in time.  
Carefully lifting her head, she sat up a little at a time.  This time there was 
no dizziness, and very little pain in her head.  Just a slight echo of pain, 
and next to none in her arm.  But her shoulders and back were quite sore.  
Looking at her shoulders as best she could, she noticed that they were covered 
in one huge bruise, that, from the feel of it, extended all the way down to her 
waist, and up and across both shoulders.  <Geez, Washu wasn't kidding,> she 
thought.  She *felt* like the porch had been dropped on her, though the bruises 
looked old.  Funny, she rarely bruised.  Then she remembered dimly Washu's 
explanation about the metal shard.  
	She swung her legs around so that she was sitting on the edge of the 
bio-bed.  Besides the bruises, she felt stiff and weak, as though she hadn't 
moved in days.  She realized that she was covered only with a blanket, and 
looked around for something to wear.  Normally she wasn't concerned with 
showing her body, but she felt strange with the bruises and the scar on her 
arm.  
	Scar?
	She looked more closely at her healed arm and noticed that it had 
closed and healed completely, but it had left a thick, white scar on both 
sides.  The muscles felt okay, except for the weakness, but it looked like 
any other long healed scar that she had seen on other people.  It made her 
uncomfortable to look at it.
	She looked around again, but the only light was just above the bed, 
and it only lit the place where she was.  She shifted slightly, and felt cloth 
brush her bare leg.  Reaching down, she found a short, hospital like robe.  She 
looked at it critically, shrugged, and put it on.  Ryoko stood then, and walked 
the perimeter of the small circle of light, trying to see if she could find a 
door or something.  She nearly tripped over a person sprawled sleeping in a 
chair just outside the illuminated circle.
	Her cry of surprise roused this person.  "Ryoko!  You're awake!"
It was Tenchi's voice.
	After a stunned look at him, Ryoko put her arms around him and hugged 
him fiercely.  He also put his arms around her, but gently, so as not to cause 
her pain.  They stood like that for a few moments, then Ryoko reluctantly let 
go.  His breath gasped slightly when she released him, letting her know that 
her grip had been again too tight, but he hadn't pushed her away.  To Ryoko's 
surprise, she felt tears stinging her eyes.  More or less than he cared for 
Ayeka, he did, in fact, care for Ryoko, too.  It was enough, for now.
	"Come on," Tenchi said in a low voice, "Let's join the others."
He took her hand and led her through the darkness.  Usually, the demoness 
detested the deep solid black of Washu's dimensional tunnels and such-like, 
but with Tenchi's hand, she could do anything, it seemed.  After a few minutes 
of walking, they approached another pocket of light, this one resembling the 
living room of the Masaki home as it had been before this catastrophe.  There, 
sat Ayeka, Sasami, and Washu.  	Thankfully, Yosho and Nobiyuki had been in 
Tokyo on a month-long business trip when this had happened.  Suddenly, Ryoko 
realized that a couple of faces were missing.
	"Did Mihoshi... survive?  And where's Ryo-Ohki?"  Her question was 
answered by mournful looks, and a couple of sniffles from Sasami.  "Oh, no..." 
	Washu spoke.  "Ryo-Ohki was hurt badly during the initial explosion, 
and when I found her, she was almost dead.  I brought her in here, and did what 
I could.  She died, three days after.  But," Washu continued, "She will be able
to reproduce.  In fact, the egg is taking shape as we speak.  Mihoshi, on the 
other hand..." and Washu, the greatest scientific genius in the universe, had 
to stop and take a breath to avoid tears, "was not so lucky.  Since the cockpit 
of the shuttle was heavily protected, we found her alive, but only barely.  She 
didn't live long...she died in great pain."  There was a note of self-
recrimination in the genius's tone.
	Again Ryoko felt the tears rise in her eyes.  She had actually *liked* 
that bubble-headed, cheerful, gullible detective.  Dead?  It was crazy.  Things 
like this just...didn't happen, right?  She wiped irritably at the wetness on 
her face.  Then, she sank to the couch next to Sasami.
	Tenchi pulled up a chair and sat it next to Washu's floating seat.  
"Ryoko," he began, "We have you to thank for Sasami's life.  None of the rest 
of us could have done anything."
	"Yes," Ayeka agreed, "You have given me back my sister, when I had 
thought it hopeless."  Ayeka was sitting on the other side of Sasami, and 
caught Ryoko's eye.  There was almost nothing of Ayeka's previous hostility.  
She hadn't even gotten angry when Tenchi and Ryoko arrived hand in hand.  
"Thank you," she said, simply.
	Ryoko looked at the small girl next to her.  Sasami turned mournful 
eyes up to the older woman.  "I'm sorry that you got hurt because of me," she 
said, tears in her voice and her eyes.  "I should have listened...when I 
heard..." she sobbed quietly into her hands, while Ryoko put a comforting arm 
around her shoulders.
"Hey, kid...takes more than a house explosion to hurt me," Ryoko said, giving 
the crying little girl a slight shake.  "Just ask your sister there."  A slight
giggle broke through the tears, and Sasami gave Ryoko a sad little smile.  
"Besides, how should you have known?  Mihoshi..." Ryoko's voice shook for a 
moment, then steadied, "Mihoshi has crashed into that lake so many times, we 
all thought that was how she normally landed."  Even Ryoko thought that the 
humor was a little misplaced, but it *was* true, and it not only brought Sasami 
a little bit out of her guilt and grief, it made the others smile a little, too.
	Their smiles widened a bit when Ryoko's stomach growled--loudly.  
"Anything to eat around here, mom?"
	"Of course," Washu replied with a touch of her old pride in her 
skills returning.  Her holo-console appearing.  With a few keystrokes a small 
table appeared, laden with food.  "It might not be exactly like yours, Sasami, 
but it'll feed us."
	It felt strange to all of them to be eating with so few people.  
Neither Ayeka nor Ryoko felt like arguing, especially without Mihoshi to try 
to break it up.  Sasami felt lost without Ryo-Ohki, and Tenchi and Washu both 
felt they were missing something; something they had lost, but knew would never return.
	"Eat slowly, Little Ryoko," cautioned Washu, "Your stomach has been 
without solid food for a long time."
	"How long was I down, anyway?"  There was silence for a while, as if no
one really wanted to answer.  Puzzled, and a little afraid, Ryoko repeated her 
question.  "How long?"
	"You were unconscious the first time for almost a week until you woke 
up.  Do you remember talking to me?"  Ryoko nodded.  Washu continued.  "You 
went to sleep after our conversation and slipped into a coma...for almost a 
month."
	Ryoko's jaw dropped.  No wonder she felt weak!  Granted, it was nothing 
next to her seven hundred years in the cave, but she had been conscious then. 
It was a big shock.
	Washu saw her expression and nodded.  "We were afraid you wouldn't come
back at all."  The scientist's voice was level, but behind it was a tension.  
Ryoko realized with surprise that Washu cared about her too; and realized with 
less surprise that she had come to care about her 'mother' in return.  The 
tension in Washu's voice revealed how worried she had been when her daughter 
lay motionless and barely breathing.  "Your body was healing, but it seemed to 
have disconnected itself from your mind so that it could heal without too much 
pain to you."  She frowned.  "I had forgotten that I added that ability until 
it happened, but the trauma, both physical and mental were almost beyond hope."
Ryoko was suddenly bothered by all of this talk of death and injury.  	"Well, 
I'm better now. Right?"  When she saw her mother give a reluctant nod, she 
continued.  "Well, I'm alive, and healing still.  What do we do to fix all 
this?"
	"You mean...?"  inquired Tenchi.
	"Well, something made Mihoshi crash like that.  And that chemical.  
It didn't come from nowhere.  Maybe we can't bring Mihoshi back," Ryoko 
declared, "but we can try to avenge her and stop whoever or whatever did this 
to our...family."  Even she was a little surprised at how easily the word 
'family' came to her.
	Ayeka looked at her for a moment, then nodded.  "I agree.  If something 
can be done, I think we should try."
	But Washu was shaking her head.  "Folks, let's just remember how little 
we know about what happened.  The ship that attacked her seems to have 
disappeared and there was no reason for this kind of attack.  Ryoko, you've 
been unconscious for a long time, but the rest of us have been aware of just 
how bad the devastation is."  Washu stood.  "If you're feeling up for a short 
walk, Ryoko, I think you should see what's outside."
	Ryoko nodded, still with a look of determination on her face, and stood 
also.  The group gathered around Washu, and stepped through the portal she 
opened.  Then, they were outside, stepping through the one piece of the house 
still standing: Washu's door.
	They stood on the remains of shattered boards and support beams.  No 
effort had been made to either clear or repair, because it just didn't seem 
like a good idea for the few who remained.  The largest pieces still 
recognizable were the back kitchen wall, now lying flat, almost in one piece, 
and the large piece of the front porch.  From the way it lay, Ryoko guessed 
that it had been lifted by the first part of the blast's shock-wave, to where 
it had smashed into her skull, then been flipped over when Tenchi and the 
others had dragged her and Sasami out of the rubble.
	At the edge of the lake, the remains of Mihoshi's ship still smoldered, 
thin wisps of smoke rising.  The impact had created a new crater which had been 
part-way filled with the water from the lake.  But that wasn't the worst of the 
devastation.
	The Masaki home, which had once stood beside a pleasant lake in a lush 
green forest was now a pile of wreckage in the middle of a burned and blasted 
wasteland.  The trees nearest the blast had been scattered like match-sticks by
 the blast itself and then burned by the searing heat.  For 300 yards in all 
directions, not a single tree remained.  Farther out there were no signs of 
flames, but still, no trees stood.  The ground looked scorched and burned, the 
lake was half it's previous level and covered with an oily-looking substance.  
It looked, in short, like hell.
	Ryoko looked around, unable to comprehend such total destruction.  
In her years with Kagato she had seen plenty of it, but never to a place she 
loved, to people she loved.  Her tears started again.  Always before, when her 
temper or Ayeka's got out of hand, there was always something to build on to, 
something remaining of the original structure.  But not now.  Never again.  
"And Sasami and I survived this?"  She whispered.
	Washu nodded soberly.  "Part of what saved you is the porch that nearly
killed you."  She pointed.  "Sure, it nearly took your head off, but it also 
shielded you from other shrapnel, and from most of the heat."
	Ryoko tried to think back, but the memories were distant, like 
something seen through a veil of fog.  She may have been able to save the 
child's life, but she wouldn't be able to take the shadow from the girl's eyes. 
Sasami lived and Mihoshi died.  Ryoko asked herself if she could have done 
anything for the ingenuous detective, but was unable to come up with any 
answers amid the ruins of her former residence.
	It was a solemn group that walked back through the destruction to the 
door.
+++++++
	

	End of part 1
	
 This is my first attempt at a fic that I actually intend to let people read.  
Whaddya think?  I'd love to hear whatever anyone has to say.  I'm sorry about 
the death of Mihoshi, but it just happened that way, okay?  

Send C & C, flames, death threats, love letters, or hate mail to:
Celtic_Wolf@excite.com

Part two should be coming eventually.  I'll keep going on this story-line, 
though, even if I do get death threats!
	-Cori Jordan