u n f o r g i v a b l e   s i n          a tale of ryouko and washuu hakubi
a Tenchi Muyo! Ryououki fanfiction       set immediately after OAV 13.5
written by Navaash Fenwylde              navaash@mail.wsu.edu

----- "Guard your secrets well."

Morning dawned on the Masaki residence, sunlight poking over the mountains
and illuminating every corner of the home with light. The birds chirped in
unison outdoors; the wind began to pick up, its light breeze invigorating the
grass and the trees; and the Guardians, Azaka and Kamidake, stood contently
at the gate, taking in the sights with their usual stoicism. It was a day
much like any other in the Okayama Prefecture in summer; quiet, sunny, and
cheerful.

On an upper support beam in the house, though, there was an unmistakable
cloud of darkness.

Ryouko sat curled up on the beam, her head buried deep between her knees;
she could not bear to let anybody see her like this. The night before, she
had been asked by Washuu to participate in one of her experiments; this
resulted in her, semi-nude, being suspended from a tangle of mechanical arms
and fitted with a mind probe, a cloth tied over her mouth to prevent her from
yelling. Later, when Washuu left, the spirit caller found herself alone in
the darkness, suspended in midair like a fly caught in a spider's web. At
first she was intensely furious, screaming for Washuu to come back and untie
her.

The screaming quickly became worry. Worry evolved into despair, and despair
turned into sadness. Within a short amount of time, Ryouko called out for
her mother, tears flowing from her eyes as the memories of the other enclosed
dark space flooded her mind; that other dark space which had held her captive
for some seven centuries, cut off from everything which she had been before
Youshou had stripped her of her power.

Fortunately for her sanity, Ryouko wiggled herself free of the mecha-arms and
ran as fast as her legs could take her out of the lab; she zipped instantly 
to the support beam that was her territory and wept, her tears streaming
endlessly from her golden eyes. She'd called out for her mother in her moment
of need, and her mother did not come; it was a child's worst nightmare.

Washuu? Her mother?

Despite the neglect she felt Washuu had towards her, Ryouko knew instinctively
that she did have a mother. 

She just wasn't sure who it was.

*  *  *

Sasami was the first of the other girls to awaken; as usual, she was making
breakfast -- Aeka and Ryouko were awful cooks, and nobody wanted Mihoshi
to make anything unsupervised for fear that it would destroy some part of
Tenchi's house... again. 

Opening the fridge, the younger princess of Jurai reached inside and pulled
out a bag of carrots, specially chilled. Today she would make Ryououki's
favorite carrot dish: carrot cake, prepared with care over several hours.
Smiling, Sasami hummed to herself as she placed the bag on the kitchen
counter and moved towards the pantry to retrieve some flour.

The sliding door to the kitchen began to open.

Sasami continued to cook diligently; out here in the virtual middle of
nowhere, there was no danger of being attacked by anyone, whether she knew
them or not.

"Ohayou, Sasami-chan..." came a low voice.

For a moment, a chill overcame Sasami. Ryouko had *never* used the door; she
always teleported in on her own whim. Dismissing it as a fluke, she turned
back to breakfast.

"Ohayou, Ryouko-neechan. I'm making your favorite dish for you!"

Slowly and quietly, Ryouko, now wearing her blue-and-yellow-striped dress,
walked to the kitchen counter and slumped herself onto it with a sigh. The
attached tail was completely limp.

Noticing this out of the corner of her eye, Sasami put down her utensils,
walked over to Ryouko, and tugged on her skirt.

"Ryouko-neechan... what's wrong?"

"I... had a nightmare. I was hanging in the dark, and I was alone," came 
the former space pirate's muffled reply through badly-covered sobbing; 
her mental processes at this point were trying to get her to dismiss the
experience as a bad dream.

"Alone?"

Ryouko nodded her head. "Alone... cold... lonely... I can't stop thinking
about it. My body's so tense..."

"Ryouko-neechan... I think you could use a nice, warm bath. It'll help you
forget all your troubles."

Instinctively, Ryouko knew that Sasami was right. It had always been the way
she'd cooled off in the past anyway.

The former pirate lifted her head off her arms, looking into the pink eyes
of the only other friend she thought she had.

"Arigatou, Sasami-chan."

The blue-haired princess smiled.

*  *  *

Thousands of feet up in the skies over Kurashiki, the builder of the flying
onsen rested in its primary hot spring, clearing her thoughts as she allowed
the soothing waters to loosen up every square inch of her perfect body. ...At
least she considered it perfect, regardless of what Washuu said.

Washuu.

Clearing that thought from her mind, Ryouko slid farther into the soothing
waters, letting the currents reach the base of her neck before she stilled
herself once again. The heat now was intense, but it was a good intense...
with a sigh of half-pleasure, she let herself flex out. She hadn't felt
this hot since she had been blasted aside by the Mass, used as a decoy
by Washuu.

Washuu.

Ryouko's eyes snapped open at the unpleasant memory. She frowned; what was
causing her to think of these things in a place where she came to get away
from it all?

Was it the fact that the vile woman who called her "daughter" hadn't been
there for her like a true mother should? The fact that this woman could
intrude on her thoughts at any time, listen in, and comment on it, while
she could not do the same back to her? The fact that she was cooped up in
her lab all the time, doing nothing, while she herself was at a worthwile
pursuit: the pursuit of love?

Or was it the simple wish that she had been given somebody else for a mother,
and not this red-haired freak named Washuu 

Washuu.

                                           in a child's body?

With a grunt, she laid her head back against the tree at the side of the main
pool, closed her eyes, and tried to concentrate on how to lift herself out of
her blue funk.

*Harass Aeka? No, that isn't fun at the moment. Trick Mihoshi into leaving?
Already did that, and it didn't work anyway. Visit the onsen? Wait, I'm
already here. Find Tenchi? Hell, Washuu's probably harassing him ag-*

Washuu.

Ryouko stood up out of the onsen's waters, beaded drops rolling off her skin
as she headed for the exit.

It was time to resolve everything.

*  *  *

The door to Washuu's subspace laboratory swung open, tripping the crab bell
alarm. Ryouko was far from caring, though; she just wanted to see Washuu.

"Washuu? Washuu? Are you here?"

Ryouko's voice seemed to echo in the massive space of the lab.

"Washuu? Washuu! Listen up! I have something to tell you!"

Still no answer; just the silent humming of gears and electricity.

Deciding firmly to look for the scientist herself, Ryouko stepped into the
lab, shutting the door behind her. As the flow of air behind her heralded
the door's phasing out, she headed straight for the place she had seen in
her dream

           - had BEEN in, she reminded herself -

                                                 going in reverse from the
route she remembered taking while escaping the laboratory the other night.

Within minutes, she was there. Just as she remembered it; cold, dimly lit,
and cramped. Like all the other rooms in the laboratory, however, it was
eerily silent, save for the omnipresent hum of electricity. Ryouko stood in
contemplation for a few moments; where was Washuu? She normally didn't leave
her lab, and if she did leave, it was always to run some tests which she
could easily do in her lab anyway.

As was to be expected of Washuu, everything was neat and orderly... except
for one thing sitting near a console.

A small black videocassette, not unlike the ones used in the Masaki house-
hold. However, this one was unmarked.

Ryouko picked up the fusion of plastic and magnetic ribbon. *Why would Washuu
even need something like this? She probably remembers everything she sees,
anyway.* Then she thought for a moment longer. *Maybe it's so special to her
that she didn't want to risk forgetting it...* Curiosity began to overwhelm
the so-called demon princess. Within her mind, a struggle momentarily raged:
respect Washuu's privacy, or take a peek inside?

It took all of a nanosecond for Ryouko to decide to look.

*  *  *

Exiting the laboratory with tape in hand, Ryouko floated over to the nearby
TV/VCR. With the flick of a wrist, she nearly jammed the VCR's auto-loading
mechanism, but the machine eventually took the tape into its confines.
After checking the adjoining rooms to ensure nobody was sitting around -
she wanted to see this for herself and herself only - she nestled herself
into the couch, took hold of the remote control, and rewound the tape to
the beginning (it took all of seven seconds, which Ryouko noticed as
unusual) before pressing in the PLAY button.

*  *  *

Sasami finished cooking breakfast. With a smile, she began to bring the food
out to the dining table, having well resigned herself in advance to the
fighting that was happening within a mile.

To her surprise, she heard nothing.

----- "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

A blue minivan pulled into its makeshift parking slot next to the Masaki
household, its sliding door coming open almost the moment after it stopped.
Out popped one Tenchi Masaki, would-be heir to the throne of Jurai, and
Washuu Hakubi, self-proclaimed number one genius scientist in the universe.
Tenchi was wearing an indignant look on his face, while Washuu was as up-
to-speed as ever, her hair mostly tucked away in that cap of hers as she 
typed away on her subspace machine.

"Washuu-chan, I really wish you weren't keeping track of the things you
were at the store," groaned Tenchi.

"I think it's my full responsibility to monitor your body processes,
Tenchi-dono," began Washuu. "I'm still trying to figure out what causes
you to generate the Light Hawk Wings, and every little piece of new infor-
mation which I can study helps. ...Even if it is something as trivial as
the number of times your hormones reacted whenever you looked at a woman."

Tenchi flushed red. "Washuu-chan! The others are going to kill me if you
give them that information!"

Washuu winked at Tenchi. "Don't worry, I doubt any of them are smart enough
to understand this information anyway."

"Tenchi, aren't you going to call the others to help unload the groceries?"
said Nobuyuki suddenly, still sitting in the driver's chair as he read a
magazine.

*You mean the 35 bags of carrot seeds?* Tenchi simply replied flatly, 
"What are you reading?"

Nobuyuki panicked for a moment, fumbling with the magazine before he real-
ized that he was overreacting. "Nothing, just the latest issue of Architects
Monthly," he said with a smile as he slipped the now rolled-up magazine into 
a pocket on the inside of his coat. With a bit of flourish he hopped from
the minivan's front seat to the ground just in front of the sliding door.
"Let's get moving!"

Tenchi groaned.

*  *  *

After Tenchi, Nobuyuki, and Washuu had finished unloading the minivan, they
retired to the house for the day - there really hadn't been that much else
to do. Immediately Tenchi headed for his bedroom to lie down, while Washuu
and Nobuyuki headed for the living room to watch television.

("Why do you want me to watch "Baywatch" with you?" asked Washuu, eyeing
Nobuyuki suspiciously.)

(Nobuyuki stumbled for a moment, then came up with a response. "...It
involves the physics of moving objects! You could study that!")

("If you say so," replied Washuu with an imperceptible snort.)

The red-haired scientist plopped herself firmly on the couch, while
Nobuyuki began to sort through a small cabinet of VHS tapes in the corner
of the living room. As the architect began to rummage through the box in
search of his valued prize, Washuu looked up at the wall-mounted television
screen. It was displaying pure static; somebody had left the device on.
*Probbaly Ryouko,* she thought. *She never has remembered to turn it off.*

Nobuyuki triumphantly pulled a tape from the cabinet, labeled "be-i-wa-chu".
With a lustful smile, he walked to the VCR to pop the tape in, only to be
confronted with a similar tape sticking out the entrance. Removing the
cassette, he held it up to Washuu. It was black and unlabeled. "Do you know
what's on this, Washuu-chan?"

Washuu looked up at the videotape. There was some odd familiarity about it,
but otherwise it appeared to be any number of the blank unlabebed tapes which
Nobuyuki had - probably because he kept dirty things on them. "No." Still it
was odd that Nobuyuki didn't even know what the tape contained though...

With a shrug, Nobuyuki replied, "OK, then, I'll set it over here." He placed
the videocassette on top of the television screen - which took some fumbling,
since the thickness of the screen was only five inches - and took his seat
next to Washuu, careful to keep his hands away from her lest he received
another electrical shock the last time his digits had accidentally moved too
close to her. 

Reaching to the spot on the couch where he usually placed the remote control,
he was startled to discover it was not there. Within a moment he started to
panic.

Momentarily relieved that Nobuyuki had been too lazy to just press Play on
the VCR console, Washuu looked up once more to the unlabeled videotape on
top of the TV. Squinting at it, she thought she saw something different
about the tape, as if it was a little different from...

*Oh, no.*

Quickly and quietly, Washuu lept up off the couch and hurried to the labora-
tory door. With a grab and a twist of the knob she discovered that the door
was sealed shut.

*...lock's been changed...*

With but a thought she summoned her laptop computer and hurriedly typed in a
command to restore the door lock to its proper setting. Spiriting away the
interface, she grabbed the knob, twisted it, flung the door open, and looked
inside.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Nobuyuki stopped. "Washuu-chan?"

*  *  *

Tenchi, Aeka, Sasami, Mihoshi, and Nobuyuki, most of whom had been awakened
by Washuu's screaming, stood at the door to her laboratory, aghast at the 
sheer amount of destruction within.

The laboratory had become nothing more than a galactic-sized piece of twisted
metal. Glass laid on the ground everywhere, shattered into innumerable
pieces. Pots and plants that once hung from the rafters were now firmly in
the ground, maimed and broken. There was water damage everywhere from the
rush of liquids that had come from the habitat tubes. Destroyed electronics
still occasionally posed a threat as electricity futilely tried to rush
through the once-vast network.

In the middle of it all, Washuu herself was walking slowly through the
debris, as if trying to disbelieve the reality of it all.

Aeka turned to Tenchi and whispered into his ear, "Tenchi-sama, do you know
what happened?"

"I know as much as you do, Aeka-san," he whispered back.

Washuu had her hands on her head, as if slowly chanting "...this isn't 
real... this isn't real... this isn't real..." over and over. She walked to 
the spot where she had spent many a night computing, at a ledge overlooking
much of this section of the laboratory. The spot where baby Taro had found
her in a contradiction, nearly asleep though she had no need for it...

Summoning her familiar violet cushion, only to discover it was also a pale
shadow of its former self, Washuu sat down on it, facing away from the
others, her head hanging down. In shame or in anger, none of the others
could tell which.

Sasami finally spoke up. "Washuu-neesan? What happened?"

Washuu sighed. In a low voice she began to say, "This... is my fault...",
but trailed off before anybody heard her say 'my'.

In the background, Youshou entered the house, taking his place behind
Nobuyuki where nobody could see him.

Washuu began to speak up again. "I... made a miscalculation. I did something
I shouldn't have, and my failure to monitor what was going on after I did
it... caused this to happen. I have nobody but myself to blame."

"Washuu-chan... what are you talking about?" inquired Tenchi.

"An experiment of mine," she lied between her teeth.

Youshou suddenly piped up, startling everybody except for Washuu, who was
already vaguely aware of his presence. "As a student of science, she knows
that she must see the result of her own work to believe it. We should take
leave for now, as we can't really be of assistance at this juncture."

"Jii-chan..." began Tenchi.

"Please leave..." requested Washuu the next moment, sighing heavily.

Detecting the faint trace of "leave now or I'll slit all your throats" in
her voice, most of the group backed away from the door and went back about
their own business. However, like clockwork one person still stood at the
dimensional portal.

Mihoshi.

"Anoo... Washuu-san..." began the detective, looking downcast.

"I thought I told you to leave, Mihoshi-dono," repeated Washuu in a low, 
sullen voice.

Mihoshi seemed as if she hadn't heard her. "Was this my fault?"

There was an odd pause for a second.

Washuu slowly began to laugh; an empty laugh, but still a laugh nonetheless.
She looked over her shoulder at 'that bakamusume who always finds her way
into my lab' and said, "No, it wasn't. You're much too smart to cause this
damage."

Mihoshi instantly perked up, wearing her usual smile. "Oh, that's good! You
see, I think I left my control cube in here... and I really want some
coffee..."

Washuu eggdropped. "Um... you couldn't have made some yourself?"

*  *  *

On the opposite end of the lake in front of the Masaki residence, things
were relatively calm.

The forest, untouched for decades except by the natural elements, continued
to stand tall, with the evergreens remaining still as a guardian and the
perennials swaying in the wind. The grass rustled softly with the current
of the breeze, but otherwise remained in the ground, where it belong. Leaves
blew around in circles, tumbling over in each other en route to their
inevitable destination.

Ryouko reclined herself against the tree closest to the shore, her hands
behind her head. A small electronic device rested just above her right ear,
emitting an ultra-high-frequency signal for miles.

Next to her was Ryououki, peacefully asleep. A carrot stub laid nearby.

Ryouko looked towards the other side of the shore, at the Masaki residence,
and squinted her yellow, felinoid eyes.

*Washuu... I can't forgive you for this.*

The once unwilling space pirate slid forward until her head was resting on
the earth. She looked to the sky for a moment, then closed her eyes.

*Ever.*

----- "What are you feeling?" "We're going nowhere"

It was a very uneasy time at the dinner table.

Everybody was sitting in their usual places - except for Ryouko and Ryououki,
who were missing. Nobody knew where they were, least of all Washuu, a fact
which bothered her to no end.

Sasami, distraught over Ryouko's disappearance, had cooked less food than
usual. Not that it mattered - at this point, the most anybody had eaten
was equivalent to a piece of toast. They were all spending more time
staring at each other than anything else... as if they were the living
dead.

Aeka broke the silence. "Washuu-sama, I get the feel-"

"*-chan*," interrupted the scientist reflexively.

The Juraian princess shuddered briefly, then began again. "Washuu-chan, I
get the feeling you're not telling us something."

Washuu said nothing; she simply picked up a piece of sushi and began to
nibble on it.

Aeka frowned. *What is it going to take?* "Washuu-chan, if you don't tell
us what's going on, we're not going to be able to understand you."

Angrily, Washuu grabbed her chopsticks and thrust them into the center of 
her rice bowl, ignoring all semblance of cultural significance. With her
eyes closed she warned the princess, "It's none of your business!"

Startled gasps came from the others at the table - except for Youshou,
stoic as usual; Mihoshi, trying to ignore everything and eat okonomiyaki;
and Aeka, who was now even more upset.

"You rude woman! You have no right to take out your frustrations on us! A
simple 'that's the only way you'll understand' would have sufficed!"

"I don't have time for this." Standing up, Washuu immediately headed for
the remains of her lab, flung the door open, and slammed it shut behind
her before Aeka could think of something else coherent to say.

Sasami, who now looked like she was on the verge of crying, looked up at
Aeka with clouded eyes. "Onee-sama... is everything going to be alright?"

"I don't know, Sasami-chan..." began Aeka with a heavy sigh. "I just don't 
know anymore..."

"If it helps any... the last time I saw Ryouko-neechan, she was headed for
the bathhouse this morning."

Tenchi piped up, curious. "What does this have to do with this situation?"

Looking down at the table, Sasami closed her eyes. "She told me this morning
that she'd had intense nightmares the night before... that she 'was hanging
in the dark, alone'..."

Hearing this, Mihoshi stopped idly nibbling at the okonomiyaki that she had
tried to eat amidst the cloud of gloom. Setting what was entering her mouth
down on the plate, she began, "I think I remember seeing Ryouko-san like 
that the other day..."

*  *  *

Fix, fix, fix.

Repair, repair, repair.

Fix, fix, fix.

*This is boring,* thought Washuu to herself as she went about, slowly, trying
to repair the damage done to her laboratory. Square foot by square foot,
cubic inch by cubic inch, she employed the repair tools from the one pocket
dimension undiscovered by the attacker - she was fairly sure it was Ryouko -
to fix up everything. Even at the rate she was going, she knew it was going
to take at least a week to fully complete repairs, not counting the time it
was going to take to recover all the biological specimens released amidst the
carnage.

*At least I haven't lost Tenchi's bio-wave patterns,* she thought.

Turning to her portable terminal, Washuu clicked in a few commands faster
than the speed of the eye. Off in the distance to her northeast, a large
central mainframe began to regenerate.

*Nobody understands me. How can they? None of them know what it's like to
have children ripped from them.*

The sound of hard hitting began to emanate from the laboratory door.

*Of course, they don't even know about what I did. And even if they do?
They can't tell me how to raise my own daughter!*

("Didn't raise me at all," sneered Ryouko as Washuu hefted Taro up.)

Her own daughter's words came back to her with the force of an N2 mine.
Was what she said true? She ran through her memory trying to find any
instance in the past of her raising her daughter, but there was just the
one, where she stood behind the corner, camcorder in hand.

*Heavens... I haven't been doing my motherly duties for millennia...*

The banging sounds on the laboratory door began to seem more insistent.

*All this time I've been concentrating on my science... Ryouko-chan must
think I'm some sort of monster! But then... but then... why did she call
for "mother"? Who was she calling for?*

Washuu's train of thought was snapped when the banging on the lab door
triggered the crab alarm. All of the earlier anger at the dinner table
swept over the scientist; cursing under her breath, she ran up the stairs
to the raised platform and opened the door.

At the doorway stood Aeka; her face was a mask of icy hatred. The others,
minus Nobuyuki and Youshou, stood behind her, with looks which were less 
angry and more worried.

"What is the-" began Washuu, promptly cut off by Aeka rushing forward and
lifting her up by the shoulders, violently shaking her.

"KISAMA!" screamed the princess as Washuu tried to wriggle her way out of 
the crushing grasp she was in. "I may not be the biggest fan of that bake-
mono, but if I'm hearing Mihoshi and Sasami correctly, you locked her in
your laboratory and let her hang OVERNIGHT?!"

"...let go of me..." hissed Washuu, knowing she was going to get whiplash
if this kept up.

"Aeka-san!" yelled Tenchi, snapping out of the shock from seeing Aeka's 
action. He rushed forward and forcibly separating Aeka and Washuu; the 
scientist tumbled to the floor, holding her head, while the princess
still had her arms outstretched, grabbing for Washuu, but Tenchi had his
hands firmly grasping her shoulders, ensuring nothing else would happen.
"Aeka-san! Calm down! Please!"

The princess kept lunging for several seconds, then finally began to fall
limp, breathing heavily in and out. "I'm okay now... but that doesn't mean
I find what *she* did any less repulsive."

Sasami walked in and stood alongside Tenchi and Aeka, with a befuddled look
on her face. "Washuu-neechan... why did you do that to Ryouko-neechan?"

*At least they don't know about the videotape yet. If they do I'm done
for...* "Late at night, I was running tests on Ryouko-chan. It seems that
she and Dr. Clay share one thing - they can't remember details about a
particular person, and I couldn't read her mind about that either."

The others seemed satisfied with Washuu's explanation. "Alright then," said
Aeka. "But you still didn't have to be so cagey about it."

"Can we watch TV now?" asked Mihoshi out of left field, as was typical for
her.

Everybody else eggdropped.

"Uhh... sure!" piped up Washuu with a nervous chuckle. "Let's forget this
happened and relax!"

Everybody straightened theselves out and filed back into the living room,
taking their usual positions on the couch. The remote was still missing;
Tenchi got up to push buttons on the VCR when something black caught his
eye.

He looked up; there was a videotape sitting on the television screen.
"What's this?" he wondered aloud.

Washuu's eyes went wide. *No! NO!*

Curious as usual, Tenchi grabbed the fully-rewound tape, popped it in the
VCR, and hit Play. As he retook his position on the couch, the VCR began
to warm up; giving Washuu a scant few moments to think.

*I didn't want to do this... but since I must...*

Washuu surreptitiously extended her right pinky finger towards the VCR and
quickly charged up a focused electromagnetic pulse. After precious nano-
seconds passed by, the VCR threatening to reveal Washuu's secret, she had 
all the energy she needed, knowing full well the blast might demagnetize 
the tape as well. With a shiver, she let it loose.

The VCR suddenly began to spark up, bolts of energy crackling from its
interior. It flared up and went away as quickly as it came; then smoke began
to pour from the black box as the circuits within all melted to a fine goo.

Everybody perked up and began to curse their luck, includig Washuu, main-
taining her ruse despite the intense rush of pain she was feeling for poten-
tially destroying the only record of her daughter calling her "mother".

Many tears fell from Washuu's ancient eyes, but nobody noticed admist the
complaining that they had to buy a new VCR now, this being the only one in
the house.

*  *  *

Ryouko was gazing at the sky when night fell.

She thought back to earlier that day...

(The image on the television screen flickered, the standard static that
played at the very beginning of a tape flashing before Ryouko's eyes.)

(The faint whirr of a camcorder could be heard, but the sound was already
up to its maximum level. Ryouko could hear herself - raging, pleading,
then crying.)

(The image on the screen, which began at the side of one of Washuu's large
computer terminals, moved forward and rounded the corner. The image now
showed Ryouko, suspended from the air, crying her heart out, calling for
"mommy".)

(Ryouko dropped the remote control. She was in total shock.)

(*What is this?! Why am I seeing myself in pain?*)

(As if trying to disbelieve it, Ryouko picked up the remote with a trembling
hand, hit Stop, then rewound the tape, trying to tell herself that she did 
NOT just see what she did.)

(When the VCR clicked its familiar click, she pressed play, once more.)

(Once again, she saw the same images - of herself suspended in mid-air,
crying with the force of a million children who had just lost their mothers.)

(The cyan-haired "demon princess"'s mouth simply hung open; she was aghast at
what was going on. But then she heard something else coming from the tele-
vision screen, and this time she clearly heard Washuu's voice.)

("So this is what the joys of motherhood are like!")

(All of the blood drained from Ryouko's face. What she had just seen was
being described as "the joys of motherhood". At first, she tried to dis-
believe what she had just seen once and for all. But her mind told her
no. Then she began to cry, harder than she had ever cried in her life,
with the exception of when she had just seen Tenchi die in outer space.)

(This period of sorrow was quickly supplanted by a monsoon of pure, unending
rage. *So... is that what she feels about me? That I'm a toy for her amuse-
ment? No... for her twisted pleasure is what it is! I'll show HER the meaning
of twisted pleasure!*)

(With a hard twist and a shake, Ryouko got up off the couch, leaving the tape
running. She entered back into the scientist's lab, slamming the door shut
behind her.)

Ryouko snapped awake.

She had fallen asleep beneath the blanket of stars. By now it was the dead
of night, and the sounds of the nocturnal population flowed about her as if
conducting some primitive symphony.

She looked down to her left, where Ryououki was still sleeping peacefully.
*Sleep well, Ryououki. I don't wan't to get you caught up in this. It's
between me... and that bitch.*

*  *  *

In the dark of night, Washuu crept into the living room with a screwdriver
and pried open the melted VCR.

With nimble fingers, she removed the videotape, wound it up, and snapped the
lid shut.

Hugging it against her chest, she returned to her lab to continue the 
repair work.

----- "Why are you doing this to me? / Am I not living up to what I'm
       supposed to be? / Why am I seething with this animosity? / I think
       you owe me a great big apology"

The situation was still tense the next day, due to the continued absence of
Ryouko and Ryououki.

A casual observer wouldn't have noticed much, though. Aeka was doing the laun-
dry outside; Sasami was busy preparing lunch; Mihoshi was doing what Mihoshi
did best (she was sleeping on the couch); Washuu was in her lab, continuing
the repair job; and Tenchi was busy tending the carrot fields.

*  *  *

Tenchi wiped his brow, walking in from the fields after a hard day of work.
He had already used a whole bag of carrot seed in planting a new field; sec-
retly he dreaded seeing his work go to waste if Ryououki were to never show
up again. *What motivated Ryouko and Ryououki to disappear?* Wiping his hand
on his pantsleg, he headed for the kitchen to grab a quick snack, all the
while hoping Sasami wasn't there (she generally frowned on people having
before-dinner snacks, because it meant they wouldn't eat as much).

Before he could reach the kitchen, the lab door opened in front of him, and
out emerged Washuu, looking proud of herself. She looked towards Tenchi almost
instantly. "Tenchi-dono!"

"Konbonwa, Washuu-chan," replied Tenchi in kind. Then he frowned. "What happ-
ened to Ryouko?"

Washuu's tone of voice immediately went down. "I know about as much as you do,
unfortunately."

"I wish I could believe you, Washuu-chan..." began Tenchi, startling Washuu.
"However, while we were at the mall the other day, while we were carting back
bags of seed to the van, I felt a sudden feeling of pain. The last time I felt
that was the last time you were running tests on me in your lab, the night of
the Zero incident."

"...and...?"

Tenchi gave Washuu a stern look. "What really happened?"

Washuu sighed. "I'll tell you if you promise not to tell anyone else."

*Forget Ryouko... what's gotten into Washuu?* "I don't know if I can do that,
Washuu-chan."

"Please understand, Tenchi-dono. Until this whole thing blows over, it's best
that as few of you know about this as possible."

Tenchi paused for several seconds in thought.

"Fine."

Washuu looked to the floor. "Ryouko-chan destroyed the laboratory."

Tenchi was taken aback. "You're serious?"

Washuu nodded.

Tenchi steeled his gaze at Washuu while in thought. Everything he had pieced
together... apparently Washuu had placed Ryouko in a suspended position in
the sky while the scientist did experiments on her, that much she had inferred
from Mihoshi... then Ryouko had been left suspended in place in the lab over-
night, that much was from Sasami... Washuu herself said the experiments were
regarding Ryouko's memory...

...then Ryouko went to destroy the lab, and disappeared. *Something is miss-
ing,* deduced Tenchi. *But... what is it?* "Then why destroy the lab?"

"I don't know," replied Washuu flatly, aware that she was digging her own
grave. "I'm still trying to figure it out."

Tenchi looked up at the ceiling, as if gazing at a starlit sky. "Alright,
Washuu-chan. I believe you. I still don't understand a lot of this, but I
believe you."

Washuu smiled. "Thank you, Tenchi-dono." She shut the lab door and turned
towards the stairwell. "Oh, by the way..."

Tenchi looked at Washuu. "Eh?"

The scientist blew a kiss towards Tenchi and winked. "I'm always available
if you want me to be."

Tenchi facefaulted.

Upon getting up, he hurriedly walked past Washuu and into the kitchen, a
large eggdrop on his head. "Um, I think I'll be getting my snack now!..."

Washuu sighed. *Sometimes I wish he would realize how much he would be
getting if he took me...*

Clearing her head, she began to walk to and up the stairway, reaching half-
way up when she suddenly felt herself being thrust upwards from below.


Upon realizing that she had passed through the ceiling without a splinter
of wood flying about, Washuu looked behind herself.

Her eyes went wide. "RYOUKO-CHAN!"

Ryouko, carrying Washuu into the sky by her shoulders, was demonically livid.
"How dare you hit on my Tenchi like that! And you know I have a fear of cold 
and dark places, and yet you didn't care about that! WHAT KIND OF A MONSTER 
ARE YOU?!"

"Listen to me for a moment..." Washuu once again tried to talk to her daugh-
ter telepathically, but again was dismayed to find that the astral link was
ineffective. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a small metallic
device resting on Ryouko's right ear, instantly recognizing it as one of her
specialized telepathic transmission blockers (she had built it long ago, while
she was passing through Archon territory, to avoid telepathic detection).

With a snap of her fingers, Washuu's device flew off Ryouko's ear and descen-
ded to the earth below.

*Ryouko-chan, please listen to me!* screamed the scientist, but even as she
thought those words, a shocking realization swept over her.

The astral link had been completely severed.

"I never thought you were going to be ANYTHING like Kagato!" continued the
enraged former space pirate. "But now that I know of your twisted concept of
parenthood, you're no better than him! All you see me as is some marionette
made for your twisted little amusement!"

Washuu was shocked. "That's not true! Put me down and we can discuss..." The
red-haired ex-goddess trailed off as she saw a glint in Ryouko's eye.

The cyan-haired construct smiled evilly. "I'll put you *down*."

She let go of Washuu.

As Ryouko flew off at incredible speed back towards the direction of the
Masaki residence, Washuu flailed around in the sky like a duck with its
wings blasted off by a double-barrelled shotgun, rapidly descending towards
the lake below.

At the last moment, she straightened herself out and did a perfect head-first
dive into the water, but it didn't make the water any less uncomfortable.

As the scientist resurfaced, taking in a huge gasp of air, she looked to the
Masaki house. 

*Is this it?*

*  *  *

Aeka sat in her room, reading an old Juraian romance novel.

It had been years since she had last read one of the things, and with each
word that passed before her eyes, she was only reminded of how much of a com-
plete joke this one was.

*Who wrote this? Where's the romance? Why hasn't the man sung the praises of
his woman? Where's the dutiful submission? What a joke!*

After reading two more paragraphs, Aeka decided that she'd had it with this
book. Tossing it in a corner, she went over to her log dressers to search for
something else to read when she heard a familiar whoosh behind her.

"Everybody's been looking for you."

Ryouko sneered. "Heh." She floated herself to Aeka's futon and sat on it
crossleggedly.

Aeka continued to sift through her dressers. "I've already told Washuu what
I think of her."

Ryouko was startled. "How did you know...?"

Aeka turned her head. "Know about what?"

"...nothing." Ryouko loosened up and laid herself spread-eagle on the futon,
looking up at the ceiling.

The Juraian princess's search for something to read was getting a bit aggra-
vating for her. "What do you want?"

"How did your mothers treat you when you were on Jurai?"

Aeka paused.

"Hmph, you didn't expect that coming out of me, did you?" said Ryouko with an
invisible grin.

"...no."

Several more seconds passed by in silence.

"W-ell..." began the princess, "since Sasami and I *are* royalty, it's only
natural that okaa-sama and Funaho-sama treated us fairly. I know you saw the
damnable side of okaa-sama, Ryouko-san. I wish she would cut it out, too.
However, in private, she's actually terrific. She's always been nice to us.
She always got us gifts when we were good, and disciplined us when we weren't.
She taught me everything about Juraian bridegroom practices. She tucked us
into bed at night and read us wonderful bedtime stories...

Ryouko sat silently, listening to every word.

"Additionally, she and Funaho-sama got otou-sama off our backs whenever he was
being an overbearing jerk, which you also saw. But most of all... I know she
loves me deeply. I find it very comforting, Ryouko-san... she does everything
for my welfare, protects me even from afar, and would avenge me with that big
Juraian Security force behind her if anything happened to me. That's why I
love her, Ryouko-san... she loves me back the best she can.

"Now, as for Funaho-sama..." Aeka trailed off the moment she heard Ryouko's
choked sobs coming from her backside. Turning around, she saw the cyan-haired
demihuman with her face in her hands, crying loudly and uncontrollably.

The princess reached out a hand. "Ryouko-san...?"

Hearing Aeka's voice, Ryouko ceased her sobbing. Looking at her romantic rival
with narrowed eyes, she forced herself to say with a dark smile, "I wish... I
could have a mother like that."

Aeka blinked. "But I thought..."

Suddenly the door to Aeka's room flew open with a bang. Standing there was
Washuu, with damp clothes and disorganized hair.

"There you are," began the scientist with a concerned tone of voice, walking
towards Ryouko. "How can you show such disrespect to your mother that you-"

With a look of utter contempt on her face that only Aeka noticed, Ryouko stood
up, turned, and phased herself out of the house before Washuu could take ano-
ther step towards her.

Aeka looked towards Washuu, who looked like a wreck. "What's going on?"

The ex-goddess straightened herself out. "She threw me in the lake ten minutes
ago."

The princess steeled her gaze. "Why?"

"Because she thinks I'm a bad parent."

With a growl, Aeka spoke. "And if you are?"

Washuu paused for a moment.

"Well?"

"...Then what do you suggest I should do?"

It was Aeka's turn to pause. For several long, tense seconds she thought,
trying to phrase herself carefully. Finally, she spoke.

"...I don't know. Just... talk to her, or something. Find out exactly what
she's feeling. We have enough trouble around here as it is."

Washuu nodded her head. "Alright, then." She turned and began to walk out
of Aeka's room. 

Aeka frowned. *Sasami's story... Mihoshi-san's story... Ryouko-san asking
about obaa-sama and Funaho-sama... Washuu-san's remark about parenting... I
still don't understand this.*

*  *  *

Washuu felt like she was a slave to her own creation.

Once again, she was in the laboratory, conducting even more tedious repairs.
This time, she had custom-fitted everything she had rebuilt to withstand an
attack at ten times Ryouko's power, which would virtually insure the operation
of her facilities for at least hundreds of millennia. However, she knew that
the repair time was going to be drastically increased. After calculating it,
she frowned.

The repair time had gone up from seven days - to eight.

"Eight days," she muttered to herself. "In the past it would've only taken
an extra hour..."

With a heavy sigh, Washuu continued the repair work, manipulating her keyboard
as fast as she could to keep the automated rebuild in check.

*  *  *

Tenchi was wide awake.

In fact, he was more awake than he'd ever been in his entire life.

The full moon illuminated the countryside, being the lonely figure in the
pitch-black sky. Its lunar glow was omnipresent in Tenchi's bedroom, giving
him enough light to see as if a self-contained lightbulb were hovering in the
center of the room. On any normal night, the soft glow would have been enough
to lull him to sleep, as if his late mother Achika were whispering sweet lull-
abies in his ear...

It went without saying that this night was one of the farther ones from
normal.

Tenchi was looking at the ceiling, his hands behind his head; he wore the same
blank look that he usually wore, but in his mind he was trying to put together
all the pieces of the story into a coherent picture.

*This doesn't make sense... Ryouko doesn't do things without reason. ...except
for the night I met her...* Tenchi shuddered briefly. *There has to be a
reason she destroyed Washuu-chan's lab... but even with everything I know,
I just can't come up with a valid reason... why?*

The crown prince of Jurai continued to idly look at the ceiling.

At least the day had been relatively peaceful.

----- "I'll love you forever... but only if you want me to"

Morning dawned on the Masaki residence, sunlight poking over the mountains
and illuminating every corner of the home with light. The door to the lab-
oratory opened, and Washuu emerged from the gateway, stifling a yawn. The
repairs were on schedule (of course they were; when the number one genius
scientist in the universe was overseeing them, that much was a given), but
Ryouko's continued absence was still on the scientist's mind. Without the
astral link, deducing exactly what was on Ryouko's mind was a lot more
difficult than Washuu had previously thought.

As she continued to wonder about the state of things, Washuu heard a
*thunk* from just off to her left. Closing the laboratory door behind her,
she saw an unmarked videocassette lying upside-down on the floor. On the
lab door was a piece of chewing gum which evidently had been holding the
tape up for quite some time.

For a moment, Washuu panicked. *Did she...? No... I placed it under security
that even Ryouko can't breach...*

Picking up the tape, Washuu headed back into her lab - since the Masaki VCR
was still out for repairs - and made her way to a remote section of her lab,
a viewing room set up to accommodate all types of media from the early
Jurai Shinki era to the present. Tossing the tape into the all-encompassing
media player, she summoned up her now-refurbished cushion seat and watched
the videocassette play.

The screen flickered for a moment, then the image faded from black to the far
end of the lake outside. The camera was apparently being held in mid-air by
something floating - the image was constantly bobbing up and down.

From the left side of the screen walked in Ryouko. She quietly moved to the
center of the screen, then began to talk.

"Ryououki! Hit the red button when-"

Suddenly, the screen flickered, and Ryouko disappeared. The next moment, she
again walked to the center of the screen, with a miffed look on her face.

"This time, Ryououki, wait until I give you the signal before you hit the
red button, OK?"

A very loud "MIYAAAAAAAA!" erupted from Washuu's speakers.

"Heh." Ryouko straightened herself out and looked into the camera; however,
to Washuu, it seemed as if Ryouko herself was looking directly at her.

"Washuu... I hate you. I hate you intensely. How am I supposed to possibly
forgive what you did to me? You know by now that I saw your sick and twisted
little excuse for mothering, watching me cry alone... in the dark..." Ryouko
was showing clear signs of emotionally breaking down. "bound... held in
place... like in the cave..." Suddenly she rebounded. "But then you have the
gall to hit on Tenchi as if it were nothing! You have no idea... how much
that hurts... me..." Again Ryouko looked like she was on the verge of falling
to her knees.

Again, however, with what looked like a colossal force of will, Ryouko
straightened herself out again. "I still might find it in my heart to forgive
you... but you have to do these three things first.

"One... stop pursuing Tenchi as if he were a love toy. He's mine... I can't
stand the sight of my 'creator' making a play at him when I've wanted to be
with him for so long... it pains me to watch you do that..." Washuu closed 
her eyes. *I can agree to that. If that's what she really wants.*

"Two... apologize to me for putting me through that pain in the laboratory,
and don't ever do it again." *That's two things... but I can do that, since
it's what she really wants.*

"Three... destroy the videotape. NOW!" Washuu's eyes opened. *Ryouko-chan...
you still don't understand. I can't do that. The tape is the only hard
evidence that I know you're my daughter. I'm sorry... but I can't.*

"If you agree to all my terms, place the videotape you're watching-" Ryouko
pointed to a tall evergreen. "-on the seventh branch from the top of this
tree, and have it there by sundown. That is all." Ryouko then made a motion
with her hands, and the image was instantly supplanted with pure static.

With a sigh, Washuu stopped the tape and stood up. *I'm sorry, Ryouko-chan...
but I just can't give you everything you want.* 

As Washuu moved towards the exit, she felt a sudden wave of fatigue sweep
over her. Completely caught by surprise, she stumbled backwards and fell back
onto her cushion.

As Washuu laid half-draped over the cushion, she began to wonder if there
was anything she could do to make amends with her daughter.

*  *  *

END PART ONE