Disclaimer- Tenchi, Ryoko, Washu and all other related characters or things to "Tenchi Muyo" are not owned by me. Neither do I claim to own them. However, additional characters not assoc. with the series are of my own creation. ^-^ Thanx!! Chapter 3: Omen By: Spectre Washu screamed as the pain ripped through her body. You'd think after one child already she might have expected it, but nothing was ever as painful as this. With Ryoko and Minagi beside her, Kiyone helped deliver the baby, for she had some medical training before she had joined the GP. With each push Washu could feel the baby tearing through the birth canal, pushing the word pain to new limits. Sweat poured from her brow and tears streamed down her face, her legs pressing down so hard she nearly bent the stirrups. Ryoko held her hand through it all, even through the crushing last pushes that almost destroyed her hands. "GET THIS THING OUT OF ME KIYONE!!!!" Washu screamed, unable to take the pain anymore. Kiyone looked up from behind the sheet they had placed over her and glared at Washu. "I know it hurts but you were the one that didn't want any drugs!! Now hang on we got one more push and the head should be out, I can see it now." "ARE YOU KIDDING ME I ALREADY PUSHED ENOUGH TO MOVE MT. FUGI?!" "I know and I'm sorry but you got to push for me!" Washu fell back and panted for air, trying to summon the strength to push. "Come on Washu, I know you can do it!" Gripping Ryoko's hand, Washu jerked her head up and pushed with all of the energy she had in her. The pain was unbearable, and as the head slid out she let out a bloodcurdling scream that echoed through the lab. As she fell back Washu could her the echoing scream being drowned by the baby's cries. "You did it Ms. Washu, I knew you could!" Washu didn't even have the strength to correct her, the only thing she could manage was an exhausted cry. "I-Is it a b-boy or girl?" Kiyone continued to clean it off and cut its cord when her face went cold with shock, nearly dropping the child. "Oh my g-god!!" Kiyone set the child down on the bed-rest and backpedaled, knowing over a tray of tools. "What is it? W-What's wrong with my baby?" Washu looked over and glanced in horror at her child. The baby was squirming and screaming in place, with its mouth open she could see that not only was its mouth full of teeth, but sharp fangs, all of them like razors. Its eyes were jet-black, pupil and all, and on the edge of its fingers were talon like claws dripping with Washu's blood. Washu screamed and burst into tears, nothing could have prepared her from that horror. As Kiyone scrambled for the door, a haunting voice echoed above Washu's head. "What's the matter 'Mom,' I thought you liked babies?" "Ryoko? W-What." "You like babies, you said so yourself. Don't you want to hold it?" Ryoko's eyes flashed with an almost evil light as she picked up her sibling. "Ryoko! No!" But Washu's cries were left unheard and the "child" was dropped into her arms. Washu screamed in terror as the thing tore into her, its only instinct at the time, ripping up her neck and chest with its long talons. Washu screamed as the blood spattered onto her face, crying for Ryoko to help, only answered by an evil laughter that haunted her ears and pierced her soul. "WUHH!!" Washu shot up in her bed, the sheets wadded around her, the fan bellowing in her face. Washu clutched the sheets to her chest and looked around the dark empty room, the nightmares were coming more frequent now, even with her pills. Tears began to stream from her eyes as she buried her head into her arms, holding her knees up to her chest. Nothing had ever terrified her like that before, the earlier dreams started off the same, but she had never gotten that deep before. Each and every night her spine shivered and her skin would grow pale as she pulled up the sheets to her neck, dreading the inevitable dreams that would haunt her that night. Most of the time she would try to shrug it off with a little sake to calm her, but no matter what, they always came. She just couldn't bare it anymore. KNOCK KNOCK "Hello, Miss Washu? *Yawn* Are you all right? It's me, Kiyone." Washu looked up and dried the tears from her eyes, she shouldn't have to do this but she didn't want them to see her cry. "Yeah Kiyone, I'm fine, just a little nightmare." Kiyone cracked open the door and peered in. "You sure? Do you want to talk about it?" Washu shook her head and pulled on a pink, silk robe. "Really, I'm fine, I'm just going down to my lab to get myself one of those pills." "Ok." Kiyone slid the door open and let Washu pass before slid it behind them and walked beside her down the hall. "Oh by the way, those pills worked great Miss Washu, Kiyone and I haven't had a nightmare since. If they can work on Mihoshi, I guess they can work on anyone." Washu laughed nervously, the irony of it all, her own pills work for everyone else but her! "Yeah I guess so." She was about to head down the stair when Kiyone stopped her. "Wait, Miss Washu." "Yeah?" "I did a background check on our 'guests' at headquarters." "And?" Kiyone scratched her head in puzzlement. "That's the weird part, they say they work for the government but they have no history at all!" Washu cocked an eyebrow and stepped completely off the stairs, putting her full attention on Kiyone. "What? Impossible! Everyone has some kind of history on the computer databases, even Minagi has one, and she's a duplicate!" "I know, that's what I said. Every form of government logs all of their officers on the computer databases. Even the operation they claim to be from, so they can't be who they say they are." "Hmmm, couldn't there be some kind of mishap in the database?" Kiyone shook her head. "The operations computer may have a problem, but the GP database is updated almost everyday. If a computer from anywhere has a problem on the other end, the GP computer receives the data and filters out the problem. The only was these people not to exist in the database is the fact that they don't exist at all!" Washu grabbed her chin and thought hard before sending a sudden smile to Kiyone. "Come with me, let's have a chat with our new 'friends!'" "Wakey, Wakey!" Washu tapped on the force shield encasing the four visitors, all asleep. "HEY! WAKE UP!" Washu bellowed into the intercom system set up in the shield, jolting all of them out of their peaceful slumber. Ichiro shot up, startled and looked around until his eyes fixed on Washu angrily. "You know, sleep deprivation is a for of torture. When we get out of here I'll be sure you are arrested for." "I don't think you have that kind of authority 'Ichiro.'" Washu crossed her arms and entered the shield, passing through the green light forced around the steel platform. "Try anything stupid and I'll turn you into nothing more but a small group of particles!" Ichiro shook his head and stood up to face her, still in her pink robe. "I wouldn't dream of it. Besides, it seems to me you have something urgent to say, unless it would have been suitable to cover oneself more completely." ** WHAP ** Washu sent her hand sailing across Ichiro's left cheek sharply, leaving a rose-red mark where it had contact. "I'm in no mood for games! Now I'm going to ask you what I want to here and you are going to tell me, got it?" Ichiro rubbed his cheek and smiled, not exactly an evil one, but a smile of one who sees humor in another's anger. "Fine, what do you want to know?" Washu pulled some files out of and astro pocket and threw them at Ichiro, scattering the papers across the platform. "Why you don't exist in any of the GP or government database files." Ichiro cocked an eyebrow as he bent over to scan through the scattered files. Then his eyes grew wide with fear as his shuffling became more frantic, slipping papers through his hands as he did show as if desperately trying to find something. "NO!! They can't do this to us!! DAMMIT!!" Ichiro shot up and slammed the papers against the wall, startling his accomplices. "What is it sir?" Jiro looked up at him from his place on the floor his eyes darting back and forth from the papers back to Ichiro. "They cut us off!!" "What?!" Jiro shot up as the girls scanned through the papers themselves with shocked faces. "They somehow hear of our capture and they cut us loose those bastards!!" Kiyone placed her face up against the shield, almost puzzled. "What do you mean cut you loose?" Washu turned back to glance at her and folded her arms once again. "It's standard government policy for them. Whenever an agent or agent gets into any form of trouble, to protect the security of the program, the government deletes all form of information on them.destroying their identity. This was thought to confuse the captors, but instead it made the agents easier to find. Despite the high risk, it is still used in some certain groups." "Exactly, now we are on our own. But, unless we kill the vacuum, they will send more agents after you." Washu grabbed Ichiro by the scruff of the neck and slammed him against the wall, her eyes deep with anger. "Now listen to me! I've just about had enough of this shift phaser bullshit!! You are going to tell me the truth right now Ichiro!" With each hate-filled sentence, Washu slammed Ichiro harder and harder against the wall, banging his head sharply against the cold steel. Even cooler than the wall, Ichiro's face failed to show emotion as this continued on, not even saying a word. "I have told you all we know about the truth you hold so dear." Washu's eyes began to tear as her teeth clenched harder together. "BULLSHIT!! Tell me now, why are you trying to kill my baby!" Washu continued her ranting, slamming Ichiro even harder, as blood began to trickle down his forehead and back of his neck. Kiyone just stood there in shock, her hand covering her mouth, unable to comprehend what was happening before her. As for the rest of the agents, they were as shocked as Washu, unable to move or even understand what was going through her mind. Washu looked into his eyes as tears poured from her own, with each silence he gave her, she slammed him harder, making the blood spurt faster down his head, some even splattering on her cheek. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, she was emotionally and physically drained, she collapsed onto her knees, weeping uncontrollably. "Why do you want to kill my baby?" The cool night breeze rustled the leaves around her, sending some into flight out in the dark abyss. The tree was one of the tallest in the forest and was fall enough from the house for her to be alone. Well, not all alone, Ryo-oh-ki sat on her lap purring happily as she was stroked gently on the top of her head. The wind blew her flowing blue hair across her face, gently tickling her cheeks. The dark was so continuous, no lights were seen anywhere, the dense forest blocked those from the house. The only light in sight was the moon and stars, and endless canvas of black and white engulfing the earth and drowning the sun. She couldn't tell just how long she had been out here but she didn't really care either. The past few months had been hard on her, she wasn't herself at all, and this whole thing with Ichiro worried her. She has seen a lot of unexplainable things since becoming the ruthless space pirate she had been for thousands of years before, but nothing could get her believe a form phaser acting as an energy vacuum. But, what if they were telling the truth? What would be more dangerous, murderers, or a form phaser? Considering the terrible things she has seen in her travels, she could only hope they were lying. "So there you are Ryoko! I've been looking for you, we haven't seen you all day!" Ryoko didn't move, nor respond. 'This has to be serious,' she thought to herself, 'I don't even want to talk to Tenchi!' Just as the thought entered her mind Tenchi called up again, this time his voice was more of a softer, more concerned tone. "Ryoko? You alright?" "Just go away, I don't feel like talking right now." Ryoko buried her face in her arms and pulled her knees to her chest, nudging Ryo-oh- ki off her lap and onto the branch. Tenchi glanced up and down the tree, looking for a way up, but the side was barren and all the branches thrust out of the top, where Ryoko was. Just the way this tree was formed suggested Ryoko picked it for this reason. "Not even to me?" Ryoko shook her head, she didn't know why; she was too high for Tenchi to see it anyway. As her mind began to wonder around, trying to make sense of the present situation her eyes began to tear, and a voice inside called to her. "What's wrong sis?" Ryoko moved her head up slightly, just so her eyes could make contact with Minagi, but as her eyes cleared her arm, she could not see a trace of her sister/daughter. "What ever it is I'm sure he can help." With that an unseen force sent Tenchi from the ground immediately up to the branch. "Whoa! What the.?" As Tenchi settled himself on the branch he looked around, darting his eyes, searching for what sent him up there. "Did you do that Ryoko?" Ryoko didn't respond, instead her eyes once again sink into her soft skin. In the distance, Minagi gave a small smile, knowing that if anyone could help her sister/mother with the current happenings, it would be Tenchi. She knew, Washu had tried to talk to her about it, but she also knew the way Ryoko's emotions revolved themselves. "So, um.uh." Tenchi sought for the perfect words to say, the perfect way to get Ryoko to talk. "How long have you been up here?" No reply, Tenchi hung his head down and searched for something more, there had to be a way to. "Eight hundred years as a space pirate, and this is how I've toughened up. I-I don't know what's wrong with me Tenchi." Tears began to pour from her eyes, but as much as she tried to hide it, Tenchi could see her pain, empathy took over. All these years that they had been together, he had never seen her like this, and not once did he understand her feelings. He always thought she was nothing more but a troubled girl that had always made the wrong decisions. But now he could see her, as she really was, not a ruthless space pirate, but a resilient young woman who had overpowering feelings and emotions she had shut away from the world and herself. All his life with her, she had made sure to protect and comfort him whenever she could, now it was his turn. "Ryoko, it's alright, everything is going to be fine." Tenchi scolded himself; that was probably the worst thing to say at this time. For one thing he didn't even know what worried her, and just saying that could make her think he didn't care what it was. He knew himself it wasn't true, but he had to make sure she did as well. Tenchi leaned over and wrapped his arm around her, she was cold, the night breeze had chilled her skin and stiffened her clothes. The night dew from the trees had sent tiny droplets forming on the leaves above her falling onto her skin, sending chills down her back with each drop. "I know things have been tense for you lately, and I know I really haven't tried to ask you why either, for that I am sorry." Ryoko unclenched her grip on her knees and slowly folded out, drifting deeper into his arms. "No, it's my fault. Instead of letting people talk with me about how I really feel, besides Washu, I just turn away from them. Like tonight, before anyone could even start with me, I hid up here. I guess I really don't know what to tell them." Tenchi gentle held her closer. "Washu told me what you said to her." Ryoko's head jerked up and looked at him with frightened eyes. "Do you think there is a connection with them and." Before Tenchi could finish Ryoko pulled away from him and turned her back, letting her legs dangle off the edge of the branch. "Of course not! That's ridiculous! If I think anything, it is that we should send our 'friends' back to the government in pieces! I." Ryoko paused, she did it again, once more she had separated herself further from the others emotionally. But she really couldn't tell him what she really felt, because the truth was, she really didn't know what was going on. At this point, she didn't quite know what to believe anymore. Her speech stumbled, trying to find the best thing to tell him, without hiding herself further. "I.I." Her mouth had opened, her mind was primed, but nothing had come. The speech that she once had, was taken from her, right now, there was only one thing that came to her mind. The only thing that could take he mind off the staggering emotional pain that paralyzed her. "I don't know." Quickly she turned back, and fell into his strong arms, pressing her face against his chest. This took Tenchi by surprise, at first he didn't quite know what to do, all he had on his mind was keeping his balance so they would be sent crashing down to the grass. As she clung to him, he wrapped his arms around her, unsure and gently at first. But soon, after empathy took over, his embrace tightened, ever so slightly, giving her the security and comfort she deeply needed. ".Tenchi." She felt warm in his arms, but a different sort of warm, a soothing glow inside her, as he held her tight. As they cradled in each other's embrace, the night passed by, bringing the eternal peace of sleep, but not before a single tear fell down Ryoko's warm, soft cheek. "Washu.I got something here I think you might find interesting." Kiyone looked over her shoulder from her place at the computer console and motioned her over. Washu looked up, after she collapsed in the shield, she could barely remember when things got back to normal. All she could remember up this point was wrapping a bandage around Ichiro's bloody forehead, unable to look him in the eye. "What is it?" "I've been checking out the update files from the GP database since yesterday." Kiyone clicked through several smaller screens until she settled upon a full-sized screen baring the seal of the Galaxy Police. "All the files updated into the GP database are synchronized based on the origin. Unless the entire sync is changed, no singular database can change its sync time without GP authorization." Kiyone scrolled down a list of all the update sync times for different databases until she highlighted the sync time for GTDF. "The Galactic Threat Defense Force." "That's where Ichiro and the rest are from right?" "According to their story, yes. Now look at its scheduled sync time for the GP database system, 197.30 right?" "Yeah, so what did you find?" Washu was not seeing where this was going. Kiyone motioned her closer and switched to a similar screen baring the FP seal. "This is the list of database updates from yesterday. Notice something strange?" Kiyone fell back in her chair as Washu leaned in closer for another look at the screen, her eyes scrolling down the long list until they fell on the sync time for GTDF, 195.30. "GTDF's sync time is early by approximately two time units." "A little eager to update their GP system aren't they?" Then it hit her; Washu stepped back and looked over to their prisoners in the cold cell by the corner. "Like they had something they wanted to get rid of." "Like the profiles and mission reports of captured agents?" "Exactly. Hey, there just might be two geniuses in this room." "Well, I guess that clinches it, they're defiantly from GTDF." "WHOA! Not so fast, oh presumable one! Unless we can find solid proof linking them to GTDF, it can only be logged as a coincidence." "Well, how do we find that? Their files were all deleted from the system. There's nothing left to go on less than someone with a photographic memory!" "Au contraire! Deleted files are just like memories in the human mind. They aren't lost, just forgotten, scattered into several pieces in the system. Now if we can find those pieces and link them together, we could have at least some of those files." Washu pushed Kiyone aside and sat down into the chair, crossing her arms while scanning the present options of the situation. "But, unfortunately, in order to find those files we have to crack into the GTDF system itself." Washu leaned back into her chair and closed her eyes, letting her mind and speech mix together and work for each other. "You see we can only search for those files in the place they were created and deleted. Anywhere else, and we would spend a whole lot of time searching for a whole lot of nothing!" Kiyone leaned over from her place beside the small genius and looked down at her unsure of the task at hand. "Can you do that?" Washu opened one eye and glared at her, almost to say 'Baka-na!' "Of course I can!! Hey, you're talking to the number one genius in the universe here! I can crack the GTDF system and play computer solitaire at the same time if I wanted to!!" Washu leaned forward and started tapping against the keys on the console, her fingers moving lightning fast, her eyes barely moving from their place fixed upon the screen in front of her. Kiyone stood back in amazement and looked at her watch resting on her wrist, almost six a.m., everyone should be up soon. "Well, I'm going for a shower Miss Washu, I'll be back soon. Just let me know when you're." "All done!!" Her proud, sharp voice rang out from her place at the computer. Washu, sitting proudly in her place folded her arms across her chest with a wide smile across her face. "WHAT?!" Kiyone nearly stumbled to the floor, still in her nightclothes; she managed to collect herself and scramble over to the computer console where Washu sat, arms still folded, but with a wider smile than before. "You shouldn't be surprised by now!" As Kiyone approached her from behind, Washu promptly brought up the encrypted files she found hidden amongst many other scattered files in the government system. With a single keystroke, the files began to fix together like a computer jigsaw, several text and graphic files fusing together to form four separate files. As the files began to appear onto the screen, Kiyone simply stared in amazement. "S-So, these are the files you were able to find?" "Uh-huh. Now, they're not complete mind you, I could only find eighty percent of most of the original files so we might have a few words or sentences missing, nothing to worry about if they confirm our 'friends' story!" Washu looked over and saw Kiyone standing next to her, yawning. "Here," with a wave of her hand a cup of tea appeared in the GPO's hand, warming it up with the first touch, "drink up, it's going to be a long day!" The darkness swirled around her, a black spinning abyss drowning her in the cold, unknown obscurity. She turned her head to each side, searching for something definite, something absolute in origin, something she could recognize as a solid memory. Nothing that she could recognize surrounded her, nearly suffocating her in an atypical void in her mind. Fear choked her, paralyzed her, making her doubt a return from this hell she was thrown in. As she was sent tumbling end-over- end, Sasami opened her mouth to scream. At this point, screaming was the only reaction she knew of, unsure of her present location, and her destination. As her lips parted, the choking fear gripped her throat, preventing her from gathering the strength to speak. As she looked down past her dress flowing in the speed at which she was plummeting, a blinding white light began to manifest below her. Sasami shielded her eyes as best she could, still allowing gaps for her to peek through her hands. As she fell closer to it, the light expanded from a small white dot, to a long thing rectangle, recognizing the light of a sun clearing the horizon. As the light expanded, it grew brighter, piercing through the eternal darkness that seemed to have consumed the young princess. Fear gripped her even tighter than before, but somehow, in this overpowering emotion, Sasami found the strength to cry for help, that which this point, she knew was useless. "Tenchi!! Sister Ayeka!! Someone help me, please!!" With that, she stopped. Somehow in the great speed at which had propelled her for so very long, she had stopped. The light below her had completely shut out the darkness that had once covered her in fear. She hadn't slowed, neither was she jerked violently to a stop instead it seemed that her surroundings had stopped themselves besides her. All became quiet, no longer was she choked with fear, like the darkness, the fear was somehow swept away as soon as her cry rang out of her mouth. Then, a soothing female voice echoed out from the light surrounding her, a voice that she had known all too well. "Do not be afraid young Sasami, I have no intent to hurt you. I have brought you here for a matter a great importance." Before Sasami could reply, the light strobed around her until it once again grew more brilliant, blinding her to the destination. As the light subsided, Sasami looked around and drank in the surroundings. All around her, a cavernous garden of trees, surrounded by water and light with a bluish hue. As she glanced down into the water a drop of dew fell from a large tree in the center of the garden. The water began to ripple, sending tiny waves cruising through the water, but somewhere in between them a human form began to manifest, taking shape into a beautiful female with blue flowing hair. "Tsunami?" Sasami blinked as the brilliant colors of Tsunami's robes reflected off onto the water. Slowly she lifted her head and faced the astonishing beauty that was Tsunami. "Yes Sasami, it is I. I have brought you here to warn you Sasami. To warn you all." The fear began to slowly return to Sasami as Tsunami's words reached her ears. "W-Warn us? Warn us about what?" Tsunami smiled softly down at her as Sasami slowly drifted back, away from her. Gently, Tsunami walked up to her and kneeled down, and smiled at her, trying to soothe her. As she placed her soft hands gently onto her temples, Sasami tried to pull back, unsure of what to think. "Do not be afraid young Sasami, I am not going to hurt you." Once again, Tsunami closed her eyes and placed her hands on each side of Sasami's head and leaned forward. As she did so, her small green accent dots on her forehead began to glow in a soothing pale light. At the same moment in time, Sasami's own accent marks began to glow in the same pale light, soothing her with an unheard of peace. The two were now connected with the power of Tsunami, in total peace. But as the two foreheads touched, a flash of light and ghastly images began to fill Sasami's mind. Flashes of bloodshed and war screamed through her mind. Then, the choking fear returned in full force as Sasami was given images of bloody mangled corpses, not just any corpses, but the cold bodies of Tenchi, Ryoko, Ayeka, Minagi, and Washu strone across the debris of the Masaki ranch house. Her eyes darted this way and that, trying to escape the horror of it all, the violence, the utter and inescapable violence of the scene overpowered her, filled her with the choking fear that paralyzed her so. "What's going on Tsunami?! Why are you showing me this?" As she spoke her eyes glanced around the horrifying scene, darting from one body to the next, mangled and torn apart by an unseen terror, an unknown nightmare that hade plagued them all. "Please make it stop!! PLEASE, DON'T SHOW ME ANYMORE!" The images faded as the face of Tsunami came back into focus in front of Sasami's tear-filled eyes. "Why? Why did you show me that?" "I had no choice Sasami. I needed to show you that because it was the only way I could warn you." "Warn us about what?" "The unborn child that Washu carries. These will be the images of the future if they are not warned. Please Sasami, warn the others, it is the only way to escape the horror of the future." "TSUNAMI WAIT! PLEASE HELP US!!" Sasami shot up, screaming from her cot on the floor, her accent marks glowing a pale green light, her hair fallen out of her night covers, draping down to the floor, resembling that of Tsunami. "Sasami! Calm down, are you all right? Did you have a bad dream?" Ayeka threw away her own cover and went over to Sasami's side, placing a hand on her shoulder. Sasami looked up at her with blank eyes, Ayeka watched as the glow emitting from Sasami's accent marks diminished before her eyes. "Sister Ayeka, we have to warn the others, Tsunami told me." "Hold on a second, calm down, warn them about what?" "Warn them about." Before she could finish Mihoshi came bursting through the door panting, trying to catch her breath before delivering the urgent news. Her chest heaved up and down as she drew more into her lungs, desperately trying to catch up. "Mihoshi? What's wrong? And next time please kno." "Washu is starting to get contractions! The Baby's coming!!" Special Thanks To: My good friend Mel Clare Lauren, and all the rest of you who have supported me with you mail