A Mosswood Production: Tenchi Muyo!: Tower of Roses By: J. Bond Chapter One: Shattered Lives and Broken Dreams Author's Notes: This may be a different twist with Tenchi and it may not be. For me it's just more of a story that I would have personally liked to see developed in his saga. This story takes place a little farther down the life-line of Tenchi and his fellow friends. Some have left and some have stayed, but all will be back! Tenchi is currently in his mid-thirties and is married (amazingly enough) to our dear friend Ryoko. Ayeka having been shattered by this has left Earth and returned to Jurai with Sasami. If you have any suggestions or would just like to chat (and have AOL for chatting) IM at Reiayanme or send an email to Reiayanme@aol.com. Thanks for reading! P.S.: Pay close attention to that rose!!! Let me tell you it's VERY important in a world sense. Warning: The following contains mature situations and strong language. Chapter One: Shattered lives and Broken Dreams May 23 The darkness pulled inwards and then retracted on itself before finally dissipating in the soft moonlight. Soft beams of heavenly light danced on the ground in serene patterns, cascading over the dew covered grass. Like little ballerina's they rehearsed their concert in the silence of the darkening night. A man sat on a rock, hunched over staring at the ground contentedly. His face was set in that of relaxation, his features soft and only a hint of oldness present. The cicada's began their low musical harmony like a tiny figurine orchestra. A branch cracked somewhere around him. Dim wispy strands of blue light began to caress around his arms and chest. The soft blue aura spread outwards. "It's only me..." A voice said. A slender woman slowly approached him from behind. Her hair was a shade of cyan and two amber eyes stared forward grabbing the landscape with eagle accuracy. The blue roots of light faded gradually and then finally faded back into the darkness that surrounded them. The woman curled her body over his and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Can't sleep again?" "Yeah...something like that." The man let out a deep sigh and leaned his head back into the crevice between the woman's breasts. She leaned her head down and kissed his forehead living a small imprint on him. "It was the dream again wasn't it?" She moved her head down and set it on his shoulder, nudging it slightly. She purred in the dim moonlight and a slow smile spread across the man's face. "You haven't done that in a while. What's the special occasion?" The man tilted his head to look into the woman's eyes. "Why don't you come back to the house and find out?" Her voice was soft and pleasant to the ear. A soft breeze whispered through the shrubs and trees. The grass sang out and then was hushed again. The woman cuddled closer and tightened her grip. The man stood up and intertwined his fingers with her's. They stood for a moment and stared at each other. Both of them locked eyes and something unspoken passed between them. Words didn't need to be spoken and none would. Together they walked off into the darkness towards a house that lay somewhat in the distance. And a night that they would both remember. Somewhere hidden in the trees behind them a shadow danced from limb to limb, breathing in the warm summer's air. ***** Tenchi lay awake in bed, his eyes staring upwards towards the ceiling. The light was turned off but it still held a particular glow to it's opaque cover. The dream, it had come again. Blood, screams, and the shadows...my god the shadows. It was always the same. The dream would come when he least expected it to and he would lay awake for the rest of the night pondering over it. By daybreak he would forget about and that was mostly how he wanted it. It would stay forgotten, lost in his jumble of past experiences and oncoming thoughts, until a few months later when it would reappear just to make sure it wasn't forgotten. That was the way of disasters he told himself. Ryoko was sleepy softly next to him. She had curled up into a ball after they made love and went to sleep. Briefly saying something of get some rest honey. Quietly not trying to wake her, he pushed down the covers and stepped off the bed. His hands were barely visible in the dim light that encased the bedroom. His feet touched the cold floor, shivers ran through his body. Pausing at the door he looked back at his wife and another smile crossed his face. Turning he opened the door and went into the kitchen. The light in here was a little bit better. He could see the counter glistening in the light next too the fridge. Quickly his hands glided over the familiar surface and pulled the door open. A small light clicked on spilling light onto the linoleum floor. His hands snaked inside grasping and cylindrical can of soda. The strained hiss of escaping gasses cracked into the air as he popped the flip tab. Daybreak was near, and the dream was fading. Just like everything else, pain, fear, and a bottle of codeine. ***** Ryoko opened her eyes after Tenchi had left the bed. He always thought that she was asleep after this sort of thing. Usually on normal nights she lay awake for a few hours pondering over her life. It had been three years since the death of their child. Tenchi had felt partly responsible she was sure of it. Part of her secretly blamed him as well. If he had been watching Maya he would have seen the car coming. But he hadn't been, he had gotten distracted and their daughter was crushed under a car. That year had been a bloody one. It was hard for her to talk about, but sometimes, on nights like these when she found him wondering that year came back to her. Haunted her like a ghost in the closet, it was always there, just sometimes it was easier to see than others. They had fought that year, yes, fought was probably a less harsh word. The word divorce had surfaced many times. Multiple `I wish you were dead' and `I hate you' phrases were said. Some of them with meaning too. Tenchi would have those dreams almost two times a month, usually he would only remember one of them. Ryoko on the other hand would lay awake and listening to his screaming, his tears, and his pain. Part of her was happy that he was suffering, happy that he was feeling the pain, happy that he was paying for his negligence. She would feel ashamed after thinking those thoughts, ashamed she would sink that low. But every night he had those dreams, Ryoko would lay there and listen to his pleas. To put it plainly ever since then their marriage had been on the rocks. Not just dull rocks but jagged ones. They rarely made love, they talked sometimes, but most of the time there was silence. They both went through the motions of living, but never really took part in it. Just set their minds to autopilot and went through the same routines day in and day out. Only on nights like these would she lay in bed and ponder about what it could have been. If Maya was still alive, if she was still breathing and not six feet in the ground being eaten by worms. Tenchi wasn't the only one who dreamed though. Ryoko had dreams of her own. Dreams of a field of black roses, and a monstrous Dark Tower. The clouds would circle around it, spiraling in on themselves. The Tower rose into the heavens and it was always impossible to see the top. In Ryoko's dream she would be standing in that field, shins stuck by the thorns of roses, staring up at the Tower. Someone, or something, was inside it, calling to her. Calling her name in a voice that she found so familiar. But she didn't like to think about those things. The Tower was disturbing to her. It had a feeling of immense power, and in the dream she could see that the Tower was beginning to fall apart. To break down and lose it's power, it's hold. Hold of what though? She couldn't really say. That part was never really made clear. Ryoko turned in bed and stared at the ceiling, dawn was rapidly approaching and the night's sleep was rapidly leaving her. This would be the fourth day without sleep now. It had begun to drag at her like a lead weight. It had started off fine, but within the last month she had begun to wake up progressively earlier, and earlier in the day. It came to the point where she only got an hour of sleep a night. This night would be different though, this night she would not even reach the fifteen minute mark. Tenchi knew nothing of this because he slept like a rock. Once his head hit the pillow it was doomed to stay there till day. He had his escape, sleep. Her's was laying awake and trying to delude herself that she was happy. Some nights it worked and others she would cry till it felt like there was nothing left in her. Sometimes life wasn't fair, and sometimes it was outright mean. ***** Daybreak came, as it always had. The world began to come alive again. Tenchi stood on the porch stretching the muscles in his back. A strange feeling had come over him during the night. Nothing that he cared much for. It was more of a dread that had passed over him. Like something very horrible was going to happen. As usual he had woken up, bathed eaten and came outside. Ryoko was inside cleaning up the table. They hadn't spoke, and there had been no reason too. They both knew how each other felt. They just went along as they always had these last few long years. Walking slowly he descended the steps of the house and began to walk towards his silent place of worship. The air moved quickly through the trees overhead making the leaves whistle. Tenchi walked silently, in his own world of contemplation. Everything happens for a reason doesn't it? Well that's what he thought anyway, and for the better part of his life it had been true. Everything that had happened had served a purpose. Until Maya died, that was for no reason at all. It was like someone had decided that he was too happy and so they decided to just rip everything away from him. His daughter, his wife, his family. Everything just began to finally flow in a downwards spiral till he reached a bottomless pit. Before he knew it he was staring down at a set of small graves. His mother's grave was right next to a plaque of the same size. This one was newly polished and the stone was less worn than the other. Maya Masaki was written across it. Tenchi kneeled down and ran his hand across the words. The stone was cold and moist from the mornings dew. Out of habit he pulled a small cloth from his pocket and wiped off the rain. The stone gleamed in the early morning sunshine. Beams of light reflected off the surface and danced back into the air. Tenchi sat cross- legged in front of the monument. His head lowered and he said a little prayer. "Is this hell?" Tenchi asked, tears had formed at the ends of his eyes. "No...but you can see it from here." A voice responded. Tenchi jumped from surprise. His eyes were wide and alert as they scanned his surroundings. A man was sitting on the steps that led up to the shrine. A very odd looking man. A black tuff of hair sat on his head shooting off at crazy angles. His skin was the color of ash, a large scar marked his face, coming down from the bottom of his left eye over his cheek and across the bridge of his nose. One eye was a desolate black while the other seemed void of color, white with a black outlined pupil. A black smile was painted onto his face giving him the appearance of a very sad clown. The smile looked both happy and sad at the same time, something Tenchi found disturbing for some reason. A deep pain resonate from his eyes, as well as and overwhelming sense of tiredness. A black trench coat was wrapped around his body but no shirt underneath. Tenchi could see scars lining his chest with clear visibility. His legs were covered in torn black leather pants that lead down to a pair of beaten boots. "Who are you?" Tenchi asked, his voice wavered for a moment. "I wish I knew." The man leaned his head back to rest on the stone steps behind him. "Right now that is of no importance." A cat suddenly appeared from the other side of his body. It's short haired white body moved with calculated grace as it climbed onto the man and nestled into his lap. "Not now Gabriel, we have work to do." "I'm not following you." Tenchi took a small step back. "What do you want?" "I want nothing, I only wish to help." The man lowered his head and that expression of sadness was present in his face again. "We need a place to talk, you and your wife." "What does she have to do with this?" Tenchi's eyes narrowed for a moment. This wasn't something that happened everyday. He was used to his routine and this wasn't part of it. The habit was beginning to break down. "All will be explained." ***** Ryoko paused and then went forward across the street. Her eyes darter over her shoulder to make sure that no car was coming. Routine, routine, routine. That's all this life is anymore. Just an endless non-stop turning of routines. The purse on her shoulder banged against her body in the same patterns that it always did. Sometimes, just sometimes, on odd days she would feel the urge to pull out that old loved energy sword and slaughter these people by the millions. The feeling would pass and she would shake her head in shame and frustration. Then the thoughts of just flying off into space and leave this void behind would come. Not always but most of the time. She reached the other side of the street and yawned, a long and drawn out yawn. The grocery store loomed off in the distance somewhat. Ryoko had noticed that a light fog had mustered itself into the city, lightly coating the buildings and street lights with a think foam of grey. A strange sensation caressed her lower regions. Almost in her hot spot but not quite. She stopped for a moment and then for some odd reason turned her head to the left. There was a large parking lot that was desolate, strange it being that way at this time of day but it was. That wasn't the only odd thing either. No shopping carts lingered in spaces, there was nothing. It was a barren parking lot. Even the store it bowed down to looked dead and washed away. Her eyes focused more accurately and something odd came over her. In the middle of the parking lot, she was positive, not just somewhere in the middle she could have sworn that it looked directly in the center of the it, was a small rose. It stood upright, almost, the stem was slightly bent and out of form. The petals of the rose were spread in full blossom but Ryoko could see that a few of them had fallen to the ground. The rose was in the first stages of dying. The outer petals were blackened to the color of dried blood. This is your life. No this isn't just your life this is the world. Come next August the rest of the world will be one of those dead petals. Ryoko almost screamed. Where had that come from? The thought seemed to just float out of her consciousness and pile up around her like a sea of evil. That wasn't just it, you believed that thought too. There was something about it, maybe how it sounded or maybe just your nature but you believe it. Ryoko lowered her head but the thought still came pestering like an annoying nat. One last time she looked up at the rose. It stood upright, almost, staring back at her. The grocery store came flooding back into her and she remembered what she had come down for. Have to stock up. Forgetting the rose she left the scene and went towards the grocery store. The rose shook briskly in the wind and from far away one could see that a single petal flew off it's stock and rode the wings of the wind for as far as the eye could see. ***** Tenchi sat down his head lowered into his hands. This wasn't happening. This was some kind of sick joke that was all. The man had left the house and it was damn well time. What he had said wasn't only a shock to the system but a shock to his brain. He went out onto the porch and sat down. Whoever that man had been he wasn't human. There was no way. Tenchi sat down on a chair and looked out over the landscape. A think fog of grey had settled over the land. Something was going to happen. That was the least of what he knew. Something big. Not just a death but many. Billions he had said. But then again everything he had said wasn't exactly right in the head was it? He said that Tenchi would forget soon. Within an hour and already he could feel it draining away in his skull. Like someone had accidently pulled his brain plug and now all the fluid was flying out the drain. All this talk of Towers and Roses. A bunch of gibberish is what it was. But what else had he said? Something of death? Many deaths? Death and Towers? But wait had it been towers? Tenchi closed his eyes and then slept. Miles away a rose in a parking lot lost a leaf and events were set in motion that would change everything forever. ***** The Darkman walked down the beaten path towards a small clearing. His mind was racing and shooting out hormones at rates that shouldn't be possible. He felt wonderful to say the least. His feet clapped down heavily, covered worn sneakers. His jeans were beaten in and in the Darkman's words, "A Perfect set o pants". A heavy canvas jacket covered his shoulders and all inside the pockets were tiny scraps of paper, gum, cigarettes, books, bullets, anything that you could possible imagine was hidden inside that canvas green jacket. His mind jumped back and forth between this and that. Something was going to happen and soon. The road he was traveling on turned sharply and he followed. He had been on the road for...well he couldn't remember. Floating from town to town spreading his philosophy and causing general distress. He was in a sense the tangible sense of evil. The ultimate walking black blob of disgust. When you saw him your heart would quicken a beat and maybe even stop completely. The air rushed around him but his hair didn't move. He was the random chromosome, the birth defect, the alcoholic, the baby- killer, the clan member, the god, the pagan, he was total fear and madness. He was the Darkman. Although everyone seemed to call him Matthew. Everything would happen in his favor but there were still a few factors that wouldn't bend to his will. He couldn't see these things, something had kept him from outstretching that awful evil pyshce and seeking them out. They were the ones that he must find and destroy and then everything would go as planned. The Darkman moved quietly a perverted giggle crossing his face from time to time as he imagined a small twelve year old girl doing what he loved so most. The sun beat high over head and his shadow disappeared. Suddenly he felt something turn inside him. Somewhere, off far away he knew that, the rose lost another petal. The Darkman threw his head back and screamed. Or laughed.... ***** May 25 "Whose covering table six?" "Oh, sorry I am. Just needed a cigarette break." "Fine just pull it together Itsuko." A small woman with dark hair and brown eyes sat down at the nearest table and took a deep breathe. Itsuko Nagami was 21 and on her own. Well that was to say the least. Hadn't these last few weeks been an utter trip of solitude? Her days were summed up with one generic saying. "Maybe God will be a good guy and I won't wake up in the morning." That was a long shot. God had bigger planes for this waitress. Wasn't that what everyone liked to think? She had thought so but things had changed in the last few days. Ever since two days ago. She was laying in her bed, her one day off out of the week, staring at the ceiling. The TV went on rambling over and over with it's incessant gibberish. Then something had happened, not out of the ordinary, just plain weird. She was laying in her bed staring at the ceiling and then something had just left her. Some part of her had disappeared as if the boat of her soul had been popped with a hole and her most valuable contents were spilling out. She had gone to sleep then and had a strange dream, one that she didn't really remember anymore but it had been vivid she knew that. The only thing she could still hold onto was a single image of a rose. A rose in a large parking lot and a single petal had fluttered off in the wind. There were other things, a tower? A castle? Maybe even a hotel? She couldn't remember, it was some kind of building but what she didn't know. That part had slid out of her once she woke up and reality came swimming back. "Are you going to grab table six or not?" Itsuko Nagami looked up at her boss. A beefy woman with flabs of extra skin hanging off her arms and neck. Drop dead. "Yes I'm right on it. Sorry I must have been woolgathering." Itsuko lifted her eyes and peered at table six. A small chill ran through her spine. A single man was sitting at the table, his arms folded in his lap. It was hard to discern his face, something was missing. No matter how hard she tried to look his face just wouldn't appear. It was as if someone had just taken a massive pair of scissors and cut his face out of the fabric of space. She gathered up her notepad and moved across the dinner. The thought of the rose lingering and the strange image of a castle (tower? hotel?) in a field of roses. As she moved on the thought dissipated and she got back to work. ***** The Darkman sat at the table, smiling as usual. He liked to grin, it was such a casual act and yet it had so many different meanings. With a grin one could express sarcastic hate, joy, love, and even a little deviant plot. The latter were his favorite. It was so multi-talented the smile. His eyes set upon the woman and he could feel her soul flickering. In the past few months (years maybe?) he had come to think of people as containers. Containers for souls, everyone's containers were so different. It was strange. People spent so much time worrying about what their containers looked like that they didn't pay any attention to what was inside: their soul. That was the important part. The part he liked most, the part that made him grin. Souls, dead souls, living souls, trapped souls, lost souls. He loved them all. They beat with a light of their own and every light was always different. They all had their own individual flares and charms. This one was no different. It would waver every now and then but it remained strong. The Darkman smiled wider, ear to ear. He would love to fuck this one. Hard and long. Deep and luscious. The sick thoughts danced further and then dwindled as she spoke. "Can I get you something to drink?" She smiled, but faltered, she could feel something. His power maybe? His pants tightened and his testicles curled up. The thought was arousing. She sensed his power. "Water, no ice." His voice was flat. But the grin still remained. "You have a face for movies dear." The waitresses mouth dropped open. "What's your name?" "Itsuko, Itsuko Nagami." She stumbled over the words slightly but that didn't matter. This was his favorite part. He could feel her soul flickering in it's container. Doing what he did best he peered inside it to her most desires. "That's a very beautiful name my dear. Tell me something? Would you like to be in movies?" He grinned, wider yet. Swallowing his whole face in the grin. That twisted grin. Oh he loved it. The joy of watching these people wander around their whole lives looking for meaning. Her eyes lite up. "I've always dreamed about!" He motioned her closer. She leaned over and he began to whisper in her ear. This was his favorite part. "Your never going to make it. At 22 your going to come down with a small lump on your breast. You'll think nothing of it and let it go. Six months from then you'll go to the doctor and he'll tell you that you have breast cancer. You'll try and be optimistic but nothing is going to work. Your boyfriend will leave you when it get's real bad. You'll die alone and afraid, with no children and no family around you. I'll cancel on that water deary." The waitress moved back her hand to her mouth. Tears were welling at the corner of her eyes. Her breathe was coming out in ragged chops and her hands had begun to shake. The Darkman watched in a gleeful displace, dimly aware that he had secreted warm sticky fluid in his pants. The waitress wailed and then ran into the back. The Darkman looked around and did what he always did: grinned. After a second he stood up and left the dinner. In the back Itsuko Nagami examined her breasts through tear- filled eyes. And the image of the rose danced through her mind again. To be continued...