Disclaimer: Pioneer owns these characters. I don't. ==-==-== Ukime Brian Burke Tenchii@hotmail.com ==-==-== It was the end of my world. The man I had been searching for an eternity for was gone. Even after seven hundred years of waiting, I could not be with the one I love. ~I think he died along time ago. That's what the legends say.~ I did not want to believe him. It could not be true. My brother ~Half brother, you mean. And you came all this way just to find him.~ It mattered not. I would find him. If he were dead, I would visit his grave. If alive, I would marry him. And alive he was. Right in front of me, and I didn't even notice. How foolish I was. At one time, I even looked directly into the man's eyes and saw the trademark red of Juraian nobles. I should have realized it right there. But, I was upset and my judgment was clouded. ~This is so typical! You're all making fun of me!~ I realize now that I should have watched my actions. After all, I seem to have a tendency to act before I think. Now, my brother is alive. But, my heart has found another. What shall I do? What can I do? ==-==-== Seven hundred years. For seven hundred years, I was trapped in that cave. That cold, damp, dark cave. I was ready to go insane. I couldn't move. I couldn't talk. I couldn't even sleep well. Then, one day, I learned something. I was able to move. At least, in spirit form. My body was still dead, but I could move out of the cave and see the sun for the first time. The first thought that came to mind was to haunt the man that put me here. After a short distance from the cave, though, I felt sick. I was robbed of my chance to have fun. At that moment, I swore I'd find a way out of the cave. Two hundred years later, my luck started to run out. I knew there was no way to break the seal. Yosho did too good a job for that. That's when I first saw the baby known as "Tenchi." At first, I saw nothing in him. Just another Earth boy at the cave. He saw something in me, though. Me. Not a monster. Not a destroyer of worlds. Not a space pirate. Me. He saw my astral form. Nobody in the past seven hundred years has been able to do that. I'd look at kids, and they'd see nothing. ~Tenchi, boy! Why do come here time after time when you know it's not allowed?~ ~But, why is that, grandpa?~ ~I'll tell you why, my boy. A demon sleeps here.~ That jerk. That old man told him to stay away from here. My only chance to get out of this prison, and he wasn't allowed in. That didn't stop him, though. Twelve years later, I got out. After I was out for awhile, I realized how much Tenchi meant to me. So, I decided to play a little game with him. I only kinda burned down his school in the process. But, that's no problem. Once I get Tenchi, nothing will ever be the same. ==-==-== Someone once said that the it's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end. That almost happened to me. I was falling towards the planet. I knew it was the end. Someone once said that in a case like that to "put your head between your knees and kiss your butt goodbye." Well, I couldn't quite reach my bottom in that particular position. I tried though. I really did. Maybe that's why I survived. Because I couldn't kiss my butt. For some reason, I was thrown out of my ship. I really didn't know what happened after that. I remember only waking up to a room of alien people. Two of them I recognized, but I couldn't remember where from. Something big is all that I remembered at the time. Later, I found out that they were royalty from Jurai. After everything calmed down, I found out that it was a boy named Tenchi that saved me. Maybe he was the one I was destined to be with. My knight in shining armor. He saved me from that horrible fall. Then, later, he saved me again. He defeated Kagato and saved me from the reverse world of Soja. Now, I know he's the one for me. Now, all I gotta do is wait. If he's the one I've been waiting for, I'm sure that someday, we'll be together forever. ==-==-== My daughter thinks that seven hundred years of imprisonment was bad. Try five THOUSAND deary. Five thousand years of motionless sleep in that crystal. Even if I did get out, where would I go? I rigged it so one would be trapped there. The one time I made a mistake. I wanted to trap him in that world, and then go about my business. That's what Soja was really for. Imprisonment. Imprisonment of Kagato. No other jail would ever hold him. I had everything perfect. That's when he turned on me. He trapped me in crystal, in hopes of keeping me there. Two seconds later, I was free. Then, he did the unthinkable. He threatened my daughter. I had no choice but to comply. I still kept a link to my daughter. It was my only way into the outside world. My only eyes in the universe. Then, three thousand years later, my perfectly built daughter attacked Kagato. She escaped the binds he had put on her. She fought valiantly against him. Then, he did the unthinkable again. He erased her memories for her entire life. Me. Ryo-Ohki. Our bond. All of it was erased from her mind. Then, the monster did the same for Ryo-Ohki. Two of my creations were vandalized in a brutal way. He turned my creation into nothing more than a machine. A machine bent to his will. He gave her the same name, but for nothing more than identification. He had no intention of treating her as a sentient being. Ryo-Ohki wasn't reintroduced until much later. But, only after extensive and cruel training. Kagato couldn't remove the gems, so I knew what was happening. After every punishing hand, I cried as I realized that she was changing from what I originally created her for. I swore I'd escape and make him pay. And escape I did. With Tenchi defeating Kagato, I was free. But, the damage was done. My daughter was forever changed. There's nothing I can do about that. Now I find that Tenchi has the ability to create Light Hawk Wings. Before, only Juraian tree ships were able to create them. The only other sentient being I know of that can create them is Tsunami, my sister. But, Tenchi is who I'm interested in. ~My name is Washu. Thank you for saving me from Kagato. I like you. Would you like to become a guinea pig for my experiments?~ With the ability to create Light Hawk Wings, he's the perfect example of evolution of Juraians. Even though I kidnap him from time to time, I won't take him away from Ryoko. She's lost too much already to lose him. ==-==-== I once heard that it's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end. I remember a fall. I don't remember the stop. After a fall like that, you'd think I'd remember. I don't. I DO remember what happened later. I remember that clearly. I was standing in front of a ring of water. I must have been six feet tall! That's a big difference from the two feet that I was before. But, I died. Didn't I? After a long fall like that, I must have. Then, who am I? I can't be the real Sasami. She's gone. But, if anyone else finds out, what'll happen? I found out. Nothing. Nothing changed. They still love me like they loved Sasami. Sure, I might be a little different. But, I don't think they mind. I'm still Sasami to them. And, I will honor her memory the best I can. And, someday, I will be Tsunami. But, what will become of Sasami? Some say I'm more mature for my age. It's the only way to hide my confusion. The confusion of my identity. ==-==-== She doesn't understand. And, she may not for some time. Sasami doesn't understand the truth of who she is. I know not where she got the idea of being a copy, but there's nothing I can do to tell her differently. ~She is still young.~ She will just have to find out when she's older. When she's ready, I will explain it to her. I will explain how she is the original. For now, she is still young, and would not understand. One day, however, we will be one. Mind. Body. Soul. We will be one. What the future holds after that is something even I cannot guess. ==-==-== So I'm shorter than Sasami. Big deal. I can blast you to bits. So I'm covered in fur. No problem. It's just that much better when I cuddle with people. So I sound different. So do you. So I am very much different from everyone else. Does that mean you're not to me? I have a human form. Sometimes. And, when I'm in that form, I have the same wants and desires as any other human. Or, at least I can express them better that way. Who's to say they weren't there? Who's to say I didn't want to help. To care. To lo-like others. Everyone thinks of me as a pet. An extra. Does that make me less? I have a heart, mind, body, and soul. I have needs, wants, and desires, just like anyone else. So, when you give me carrots and appreciate me, do you see me any more than a cabbit? -fin- Why? Why did I do that? For one, it just came to me. I had to put it down. As for Ryoko's memory loss, I know it never happened. But, how else can you explain Washu creating Ryoko while in the crystal? ^_^ As for Sasami, I don't like that line from OVA 9. But, I expanded on it nonetheless. Am I crazy or what? The last part was inspired pretty much by OVA 10 "I Love Tenchi"