O.K.  here's the second part of my fic.  I was really busy so I'm
sorry this took so long.  Anyway standard disclaimer applies. 
Tenchi and all the related characters belong to AiC and Pioneer. 
I'm not making any money from this so please don't sue me.

Why Me?

Part 2


	The scream seemed to echo in the small bathroom as I
stared at my face in the mirror.  I put one hand up to the glass,
while the other pressed at my cheek in an attempt to somehow
try to deny what was shown by my reflection.  Hair that had
once been thin, straight, and light brown was now deep auburn,
thick, and slightly spiky.  My eyes which had been hazel in color
before were now a greenish yellow with a distinct feline pupil
and tilt.

	Something else was tingling in the back of my mind, but I
couldn't put my finger on it.  My scream had done nothing to
abate my headache and thinking only made it worse.  When I
brought myself back from briefly trying to figure out what else
seemed wrong, a cyan haired figure suddenly appeared behind
me with a distinctly annoyed expression on her face.

	Gasping in surprise I turned around quickly, forgetting in
my startlement, the trouble that I had moving before.  The
abrupt movement was too much for me to adjust to, and I felt
myself begin to fall towards the woman in front of me.  Hitting
the floor was a jarring experience, and did nothing to help my
aching body.  I hastily looked upwards and noticed that the
woman seemed to be floating.

	Finally finding my voice again I managed to croak, "Who
are you?"  Or, at least, that is what I thought I said.  For the
floating woman in front of me looked at me with a confused
expression, and if anything seemed to become even more
annoyed.  She began to move towards me and started to talk.

	"Who.......up......late.......hour.......?"

	There seemed to be something wrong with my hearing
because although I could hear everything she said I wasn't
understanding much.  It was like I understood some of the
words, but I couldn't make out the whole sentence.  As the
woman flew closer I was able to get a better look at the person
who had so startled me.  It was almost like looking into a mirror. 
The woman before me had the full spiky hair and  the cat-like
eyes which I had seen in my reflection just a minute ago.  It was
at this time that the household decided to come rushing in.

*     *     *     *

	Washu was awake in her lab doing tests on the DNA of
the strange girl that had suddenly appeared.  Looking at the
clock she saw it was getting close to four in the morning.  Her
eyes were starting to glaze over and tear from having looked at
her computer screens, with the numbers and information they
had been spewing out for the last couple of hours.  The
information was confusing, to say the least.  It seemed that that
despite having been in the girl's system for almost a day her
cellular structure had still not settled down to a predictable
pattern.  With nothing solid to base her studies on, it would be
almost impossible to tangle out her original DNA structure to fix
whatever damage the absorption of the protoplasm caused.  
	
	Perplexing information coupled with the constant shifting
of the light on the screens was giving Washu a headache  that
seemed to have settled right behind her eyes.  Rubbing them, she
sighed, "How the hell did this happen?  How was it possible for
that girl to appear in the energy sphere?  It was fool proof,
designed so that even Mihoshi would have a heard time
screwing it up."

	Suddenly an idea flashed through the scientist's mind,
"Wait!! How could I have forgotten to check for energy
fluctuations in that time period.  My recording equipment is sure
to have picked up something at that time.  It's not everyday that
some one just appears in the lab."  Then slightly under her
breath, "Unless of course, you count Mihoshi."

	In response to her revelation two puppets popped up on
her shoulders.  The one on the right exclaiming, "You are the
greatest, Washu-chan!"  The other answering with,
"Washu-chan, the greatest scientist in the universe!"

	Laughing to herself, Washu walked over to a terminal and
began typing away.  Soon data began to scroll down the screen. 
At the end one message flashed constantly:

 Energy Type:  Unknown
 Probable Source:  Unknown
Cause of Fluctuation:  Unknown

	"What!?!  How is that possible!?  How could something
like this elude my great mind and machines?," screeched Washu
in disbelief.  "This can't be!  I _must_  find out how she was
able to get through my barriers."

	Intent on doing this Washu began to exit her lab, figuring
that hopefully by this time the girl would have awakened.  Her
haste and excitement making her forget the early hour at which
she was going to go interrogate the girl.  When she reached her
door Washu thought, "And what better time to badger her with
questions than when she's off guard.  The girl will be much
more likely to give information when she's just awake, and
alone, rather than after she's had time to regain most of her
senses.  It won't matter if she's asleep either, it's high time the
girl woke up anyway."

	Washu had just opened the door to exit her
inter-dimensional lab when a loud cry cut through the silence of
the night.  The suddenness of the noise caused her to jump a
little and freeze while she calculated where it was coming from. 
A few seconds later she came to the conclusion, that from the
echo, direction, and most of all the sound of running feet, that
the sound had come from the upstairs bathroom.  Thus, her
analysis concluded,  she hurriedly made her way up to the room
to see what all the commotion was about.  

*     *    *    *

	As I was staring up at the impossible woman before me
several people tried to run into the room.  The first to come to
the door was a young black haired man looking to be of Asian
descent, practically fell over trying to stop before he ran into
some one or something.  I pried my stare from the woman to
him.  When he saw me and then looked at the floating woman
he seemed to be confused as to what was going on.  I could see
that he wanted to ask a question, but appeared very reluctant,
and seemed content to continue switching his gaze back and
forth between the other girl and I.  The next to arrive was a
small light blue haired girl, hair was up in a bun, and a small
rabbit like creature close at her heels.  Her reaction when she
saw me was of intense curiosity, and barely contained questions
as she looked from the black haired boy to the woman.  Close
behind the young girl was a woman with dark purple hair, who
immediately upon seeing the floating woman seemed to fly into
a rage.

	"Ryoko......doing.......poor......bakemono!!!"

	"Hime-chan.....nothing......my........stupid.........her!!!!"

	The argument seemed to go on.  My understanding of
what was going on was slowly increasing as I was able to
comprehend more and more of the argument. While those two
were busy with their shouting match my head continued to
pound, and I almost didn't notice the arrival of a small
red-headed girl and two older men.  However, despite the
overwhelming uncertainty of what was happening and
knowledge of who these people were I was quite fed up with
their shouting.  The headache which had before had almost
dulled to a steady throb, returned in full force.

	And so with equal force I decided to get rid of the
problem.  I lowered my head, clutched my temples, closed my
eyes, and yelled, "URUSAI!!!!!"

	This outburst was sufficient enough to startle the two
rivals enough for them to shut up and glance in my direction. 
With a final glance towards each other which seemed to promise
retribution in the future, both turned around and ignored the
other.

	A hand came down on my shoulder and I flinched from
it's unfamiliarity.  This whole situation seemed strange.  "Where
was I?  How did I get here? Who are these people?"  These
thoughts circled in my mind, buzzing around like flies.

	I looked up the arm that belonged to the hand and
eventually reached the face of the red-headed girl, with the faces
of the boy and older man crowded in on either side.  The boy
hesitantly started speaking to me, concern etched on his face. 
My confusion must have been apparent because he soon stopped
talking and looked at the girl next to him.  Before he could ask
her questions, one of my own popped out.

	"Where am I?"  I asked.  This was met with slightly
confused glances.  It was obvious they had understood some of
what I said, but not all.  I repeated my question, and this time
the older man answered me.

	Speaking slowly and in a way I seemed to understand he
said, "You are in my home.  I am Masaki Yosho, how are you
feeling?"

	Happy that I could finally understand some one it
completely slipped my mind to be wary of these strange people. 
And so I answered, "My name is Rose.....and where exactly is
your home?"

	This time my question was met with complete
understanding.  Yosho sat back, smiled, and replied, "Why,
Japan of course."

	Shocked, my mouth dropped open and then shut with a
click.  "How can that be?  How could I have traveled half way
around the world? ," I cried.

	The red-head whipped out some sort of hand-held device,
and proceeded to point it towards me. 
"Hmmmm......hmmmm......ahhhhhh.......hmmm......," she said,
occasionally typing something on a keypad.  I looked towards
her, and in confusion, asked, "Who are you and what are you
doing?"

	"Hmmm.....oh...my name is Washu, didn't I mention it
before?  And this little device here is checking out your energy
signal.  Want to know where exactly you came from you know." 
After making that statement she went back to working,
muttering to herself about something or other.  As she was
turning away I marveled how I just gone from barely understand
what the others were staying, to having absolutely no difficulty
at all.

	Some one cleared their throat, and when I looked over I
saw it was Yosho.  "Perhaps now would be a good time to
introduce ourselves,  seeing that we are all here."   I looked at
him blankly for a second, still deep in thought, then shook my
head slightly to bring myself back to reality and nodded.

	Shifting himself into a more comfortable kneeling
position he gestured towards a younger man with black hair. 
"This is my son, Nobiyuki."  Who in turn answered, "Hello,"
with a smile on his face.  "The young man next to him is my
grandson, Tenchi."  As he was introduced, with a nervous look
on his face, he bowed slightly.  Turning to his other side Yosho
introduced each girl in turn.  Sasami, the small blue haired girl
with the bun.  Ayeka, the purple haired girl who was Sasami's
older sister, and Ryoko, the woman who had first appeared in
the bathroom.  The first two were very polite, their manners
while being introduced to me were impeccable.  However,
Ryoko, just sat cross-legged in the air, yawned, and waved in
my general direction.

	"Uhhh...well....it's very nice to meet you all."  I said
nervously, not quite certain how to react to this strange,
immediate welcome.

	I was just about to comment on why they were being so
nice to someone that they knew nothing about, when Washu
suddenly spun around and asked, "Exactly how are you feeling? 
No glossing it over either, I need to know so I can determine
your condition."

	I frowned and tried to think of the best way to describe
the aches and pain in various parts of my body.  Deciding it was
too complicated I went with the general description, and so
shrugging, I answered, "My head aches like someone is trying to
break their way out, and I ache all over."  Then adding under my
breath, "The headache which was just starting to go away."

	Washu, intent on inputting her new data, barely glanced
in my direction and said, "What was that?"

	Sighing, and thinking that saying something really
wouldn't change anything, I answered, "Nothing."

	Nodding, she ignored me yet again.  This was starting to
get on my nerves.  I mean she was getting all sorts of
information, of what I didn't know, but it concerned me.  And I
really wanted to know how I had gone from an ordinary looking
brown haired, brown eyed girl, to one with deep auburn, spiky
hair, and greenish-yellow eyes.

	Deciding I'd had enough I pushed myself up, and began to
walk towards the child-like scientist.  Managing to walk to her
without falling over I congratulated myself and leaned on the
wall.  "Ok, now you've been taking readings from me since I
arrived.  Now tell me how in _hell_ I ended up looking like I do
now, when before I looked completely different."

	Looking annoyed at being pried from her work, Washu
replied, "Well, it seems you appeared inside an energy sphere in
my lab, where I was attempting to create a clone.  This clone
was to be made of a mixture of my and Ryoko's genes.  When
you entered the sphere the formation of the protoplasm must
have been triggered.  Your presence was an unknown and the
parameters of the experiment must have thought you to be some
sort of model, thus the protoplasm began to adhere and penetrate
your skin.  Once inside your blood stream the protoplasmic cells
must have bonded with your own, enough of them so that when
replicated they overwhelmed your original DNA structure.  This
new structure caused your physical appearance to chance
because the genes and alleles that had once coded for those traits
were no longer present.  What you look like now is a result of
your changed DNA coding."  Throughout this speech Washu
had become more and more animated.  Her eyes taking on an
excited glint.

	Looking around to see the reactions of the others I saw
that Ryoko had fallen asleep, Yosho continued to nod every
once in a while, while the two sisters and Nobiyuki just looked
on with confusion.  Washu had also taken this time to look
around, snorting with apparent disgust she went back to her
data.  Meanwhile, the more and more I thought about this,
understanding began to sink in.  With this understanding came
anger, anger and fear, because I was in a strange place with
people I didn't know, and a physical transformation I wanted
nothing to do with.  Shaking with anger, I felt a great need to hit
something, do anything to release the rage churning inside of
me.  I decided to follow my instincts and so I punched the wall.

	The resulting cracking sound caused everyone to snap to
attention and look at me....or rather the hole in the wall where
my fist was currently placed.  My eyes wide with shock, I pulled
my fist out of the wall and screamed at Washu.

	"BESIDES MY PHYSICAL APPEARANCE, WHAT
THE HELL ELSE DID YOUR PROTOPLASM DO TO ME?"

	Everyone flinched, my scream echoed in the tiled room,
and my anger was sudden compared to my apparent placid
feelings before.  My rage outwardly covered the intense fear I
was feeling.  No one normal could put their fist through a wall. 
Being strong is a nice thing.  To have such an excess of it, was
something that, at the moment, I couldn't deal with.

	In response Washu laughed slightly, and while scratching
the back of her head, she answered, "Well, as I said the clone
was going to have traits of both Ryoko and I.  It appears that
your physical transformation also includes some of the more
internal ones.  Your DNA must have absorbed more than I
thought it did."
	
	Hearing this the others developed rather large sweat
drops.

	Suddenly I realized something.  Cursing myself for being
such an unobservant fool, I asked yet another question.  "And
how exactly am I able to speak Japanese, because I _know_ that
wasn't one of my former abilities," I asked through clenched
teeth.

	"Oh, well that was probably a result of the information
download that occurred after you had absorbed the protoplasm. 
You see, this would have saved the time of actually having to
teach the language from scratch.  I wanted to have a fully grown
life form that would be able to interact immediately."

	Ryoko seemed about to say something, but before she
could make a sound I cut her off.

	"Anything _else_ you should tell me before it makes itself
apparent," I said, closing my eyes.

	"If it's any consolation, your headache should disappear
soon.  It's just a result of all the information that was crammed
into your head.  As for the general aches your feeling, they
should disappear once the whole transformation has completed
itself."

	Close to crying now, I asked, "Which will be when?"

	Frowning slightly Washu replied, "I'm not sure.  When I
was studying your DNA before it hadn't decided to settle on
anything, it's been constantly shifting since I got it from you
when you first arrived.  It is possible that since you've gained
super strength, you might also get some of Ryoko's other
abilities."

	"Can you change me back?  Send me back to where I
came from?"

	The rest of the group, which had been talking among
themselves before, stopped and began to listen to what Washu
was saying.  This was something they could understand,
something they really wanted to know the answers to.

	Looking at me with sympathy she said, "Your DNA
structure has changed so much, and become so set that it would
be extremely difficult.  I'd have to repeat the same procedure
that caused you to change."  In response I frowned, that was
_not_  something I wanted to go through again anytime soon,
however, if it would work.....  

	Before I could say anything Washu continued, "That
procedure  _would_  work, however, I'd also need your original
DNA structure.  Which because of your change, is impossible."

	Hearing this I was devastated.  My thoughts at the
moment went along the lines of, "When I get back how in hell
am I going to explain my newly changed experience.  If I told
them what happened no one would believe me.....  Scratch that,
they'd have to recognize me first, and then they'd have to be
convinced that I was who I said I was."

	My shoulders slumped, this was not going the way I had
hoped.  "What about my other question?"

	Washu's eyes lit up, her interest and excitement apparent. 
Seeing this I was filled with hope, I began to sit up straighter,
my anticipation showing plainly on my face.  "Your arrival was
_quite_ interesting.  According to my scans the energy used to
transport you here is completely unknown, and your point of
origin couldn't be extrapolated.  This is something I could have a
great time studying.  It seems to be a great challenge to the
greatest scientist in the universe."

	When her statement was done, and I began to slump
down, realizing that finding my way home was hopeless for the
moment, two small puppets seemed to pop up from no where on
her shoulders.  As I watched one said, "You are the greatest,
Washu-chan."  That one finished and the other began to speak. 
"Washu-chan, the greatest scientist in the universe."  The
puppets then proceeded to lean back out of sight.  Eyes wide, I
watched this is disbelief.  I decided to ignore this bit of
strangeness for the moment and concentrate on my problem. 
Maybe later I would ask about the strange puppets.  I looked up
again and saw that Washu seemed to be very excited about her
new pet project, somehow I couldn't bring myself to be as
enthusiastic.

	I was just going to ask if there was anything that could be
done to find whatever energy signal was needed when the small
girl, Sasami, piped up.  "Washu-chan.....exactly _why_  were
you making a clone?"

	Now this was a question that had yet again, didn't think to
ask.  I could see the interest in the answer to the query in
everyone's faces.  It seemed that the group simultaneously
leaned toward Washu in anticipation of an answer.

	It seemed that the scientist was slightly startled at the
question.  "Didn't I mention it when I was explaining before?" 
At the negative head movements her audience made, she
blinked.  "Oh, it must have slipped my mind."  Shrugging, she
began to enthusiastically explain.

	"Well you see, I figured my darling daughter over there,"
she said as she gestured to Ryoko, who immediately made a
face, "needed someone to talk to.  You know the whole sibling
experience.  I wanted my daughter to have all the advantages
you know."  Winking, Washu continued to explain, "How else
could I make a fully grown life able to keep up with this
household without using Ryoko's and my genes?  You wouldn't
want to leave the poor girl helpless now would you?  Especially
with the little spats and pranks that Ayeka and Ryoko have all
the time.  I had also hoped that having a sibling would make
Ryoko have a bit more respect for me.  After all I _am_ her
mother."

	This statement is met with complete disbelief.  I myself
couldn't figure out how this small girl could be Ryoko's mother,
while the others seemed to have trouble accepting that Washu
had made a partial clone, just so her daughter could have a
sibling.  Ryoko, I saw, seemed to be having trouble controlling
her rage.  She alternately glared at me and Washu.  The look in
her eyes made me intensely uncomfortable.  The last thing I
wanted was to get on such an intensely powerful person's bad
side.

	Still talking, Washu then explained, "Of course I made
my traits more apparent, because after all, I am just so cute. 
Besides, I didn't want a Ryoko look-alike, that would make it
impossible to tell them apart.  Seeing as how you are partially
my creation, please call me 'Mom'."  She emphasized this by
pointing to her cheeks and smiling.  Hearing this statement I sat
there gaping, the others had similar expressions on their faces. 
Yosho on the other hand seemed to be taking this all quite well. 
I couldn't figure out why he wasn't as stunned as the rest of us.

	I felt like crying.  I really did.  This had to be a bad
dream, that was it.  It's just a dream and when I wake up, I'll be
back in my room in my bed.  Thus decided, I got up, which
distracted the others from staring at Washu.  I stumbled out of
the bathroom to the room where I had woken up.  My intent to
just get into the bed and go to sleep so I would hurry and wake
up in the real world.  

	"Your balance should return soon.  Your body just has to
regain it's center of gravity."  Washu called after me.  Turning
around I saw a smug look on her face.  Already having enough
of the craziness I continued walking down the hall.  Making it to
the room, I lay down, covered myself, and fell asleep to the
sound of shouting down the hall.