Hi all.  It's been a while since my last post of this fic, and I'm sorry to
all of you who were waiting for this.  I would also like to apologize to
those who wrote me about my last post.  My AOL decided to die, and I ended
up losing all of my saved mail.  So that said enjoy the fic.

Disclaimer:  Tenchi Muyo!, and it's characters belong to Pioneer. Being the
poor college student that I am suing me will get you nothing.

Why Me?
Part 5
By Rose

        Washu was extremely happy.  It seemed that all those hours she spent going
over the data she had collected on the arrival of their guest had pulled
off.  There on the screen in front of her was information that would
hopefully lead her to find the true answer to Rose's arrival and perhaps a
way for the girl to get home.  Now all Washu had to do was find a way to
get Rose to participate in some experiments.  She somehow had a feeling
that the others would make this a bit difficult.

*     *     *     *

        I woke up the next morning with a vague sense of unease.  I couldn't put
my finger to it, but for some reason I felt nervous.  I rolled over and
looked over to the futon where Ayeka slept and saw that she had already
gotten up.  Thinking back to last night I thought, I hope the girl's aren't
too mad at me.  But I really didn't feel like getting into another fight.
Especially one in which I would have been at a bit of a disadvantage.

        Deciding that it was probably time I got moving I picked through the
clothes that had been bought for me the day before.  After putting on a
pair of jeans and a t-shirt I walked out into the hall and down the stairs
toward the kitchen.  I could smell something cooking and immediately felt
my stomach growl.

        "Hey Sasami," I said cheerily as I walked into the kitchen.

        "Good morning Rose," the small girl replied happily, "Did you sleep well?"

        "Great thanks, running away from Ryoko and Ayeka last night really did the
trick.  Say, do you happen to know when they got back in last night?  I was
up for a while after I got back, and I never heard Ayeka come in the room."

        "I don't know, they must have gotten back after I went to sleep."

        I was beginning to see where some of my unease was coming from.  Ryoko and
Ayeka hadn't been too happy after I had refused to help either of them get
the better of the other.  When I had left them following me they had seemed
just a tad ticked off to me.

        "Oh well," I sighed, "I guess I'll get everyone together for breakfast."

        "Thanks Rose-san," Sasami replied.

         As I left the kitchen I began to wonder what would happen when I called
Ayeka and Ryoko to breakfast.  Their mood last night did not give me reason
to believe that I'd be greeted with anything less than hostility.  I began
to regret volunteering to get everyone.

        "Oh well, it's too late now.  Better to get it over with as fast as
possible.  The faster I figure out what's up with  those two the better
I'll feel," I thought as I walked up the stairs.

        Coming to the first door I knocked and heard a muffled, "Come in."

        Stepping in I saw Tenchi sitting at his desk doing a little last minute
homework. He turned towards me with an expectant look on his face and I
told him that breakfast was ready.

        "Oh Tenchi," I said as I reached the door, "have you seen Ayeka or Ryoko
yet today?"

        "I think Ayeka went down to the lake, as for Ryoko, she might be on the
roof."

        Nodding to him in thanks I exited the room, only to bump into Tenchi's
father.

        "Oh!  Gomen, Nobuyuki-san."

        "It's ok, Rose-chan," he answered me with a slight leer.

        Seeing his look, I began to get nervous.  I decided to make this as fast
as possible.  "Sasami-chan has breakfast ready and wants everyone to come
down," I said in a rush.

        With that accomplished the fastest way I knew to leave was to use one of
my newfound abilities.  After a second or two of intense concentration I
found myself floating out by the lake in front of the Masaki residence.  As
I floated to the ground I looked out onto the lake and saw that it was
actually a very nice view.  Something that I had missed while in between my
arrival, my trip on Ryo-Ohki, and running away from Ryoko and Ayeka.

        Movement to my left shifted my attention from the picturesque view to a
figure walking back to the house.  A closer look revealed that person to be
Ayeka.  "Three down, one to go," I thought as I flew closer.

        I landed a few feet behind her and quickly walked to her side while
saying, "Ayeka-san!!"

        She turned to see me and I could see no anger or annoyance on her face.
However, not knowing her well enough, I had no idea whether or not this was
a good thing.  Deciding to play it safe, I smiled hesitantly and said,
"Sasami has breakfast ready."

        "Ara, it's that time already?" She blinked.

        Nodding in answer to her question, I started walking back towards the
house.  When I reached Ayeka she began to walk with me.  I sensed that she
wanted to say something, but I was nervous enough about her reaction to
last night.  The tempers displayed last night gave me no reason to think
that the incident was forgotten.  Although, how someone could get so worked
up over something so trivial was beyond me.

        As we approached the house I looked toward the roof, where Tenchi had said
Ryoko might be.  Seeing a silhouette near other end of the roof I decided
to get the inevitable over with.  I turned to Ayeka and said, "I'm going to
get Ryoko, so I'll see you inside."

        She nodded her ascent and continued on. I thought on how to get up to the
roof.  I knew I could fly but being that high off the ground without any
support still made me nervous. Teleportation also made me apprehensive.  I
stood there debating for another minute before deciding that a more
apparent entrance would be better than a sudden one in Ryoko's case.
Slowly I ascended to the top of the house and reached the roof with a sigh
of relief.  Setting down I walked towards where Ryoko was standing.

        "Ryoko, breakfast is ready."

        At first there was no reaction, and I thought that perhaps I hadn't said
it loud enough.  While I was debating whether or not to speak up, she
turned around.  Seeing Ryoko's expression, an intense glare, made me even
more apprehensive.  Gulping down my fear I tried to appear calm, because it
seemed to me that any weakness show would be exploited.  I repeated my
former statement.

        "Ryoko, breakfast is ready."

        "I heard you the first time," she said as she floated towards me.

        Soon she was floating next to me and my nervousness was becoming harder
and harder to control.

        "Well come on hurry up, if we don't get there soon the food will be cold.
And we wouldn't want to upset Sasami now would we?"

        Dazed at this seemingly normal question I nodded.  Giving a satisfied nod,
she grabbed my hand and started disappearing into the roof.

        "Hold on a second Ryoko, let go of me!!!  What are you doing?!" I said
when I saw that my feet were partially submerged into the slanting red
surface.

        With a sigh Ryoko looked up at me and said, "This is the fastest way back
into the house.  Don't tell me your afraid."

        Hearing the mocking tone in her voice, I shook my head.  But I obviously
hadn't successfully hidden my fear because Ryoko's reaction was to shake
her head and roll her eyes.  Not sparing me another glance she continued to
phase us through the roof and into the house.

        I closed my eyes and waited for us to pass through to the bottom floor.  A
few seconds later Ryoko let go of my hand, and I opened my eyes.  Everyone
else was seated at the table waiting for Ryoko and I to sit down.  Walking
over I seated myself next to Sasami and Washu.

        Breakfast began in a normal fashion, and I concentrated on my meal.  My
thoughts focused on wondering what my parents would be thinking, and how I
could get home.  I looked up and noticed that Ryoko and Ayeka were both
looking at me with a decidedly evil look in their eyes.

        Turning away quickly I started to try to make some small talk with Washu,
only to find her staring at me also.  I was getting tired of the nervous
feeling in my stomach so I decided to find out what was going on.

        "What's wrong Wahsu-chan," I asked.

        "Well, you and Ryoko have avoided my attempts at research at every turn.
I think today that's going to change."

        I was just about to deny avoiding anything, seeing as how Ryoko was the
one that dragged me away every other time, when I saw Ryoko trying to sneak
away out of the corner of my eye.

        "Where are you going Ryoko?"

        The cyan-haired figure froze, and turned slowly.  "Ah…heh…he…well…I have
to…uh…go to the bathroom!!  Yeah, that's it!!"

        "Oh no you don't Ryoko.  You and Rose are going to come to my lab."

        Seeing that Washu was occupied with Ryoko, Tenchi waved in my direction.
Looking over at him I saw him mouthing at my to "Run while I still could."
It puzzled me why everyone wanted to get away from the redhead next to me,
I mean sure she seemed a little strange, but what was there to be scared of?

        Deciding that perhaps, maybe, they had a reason I figured I'd run now and
ask questions later.  So, while Ryoko was stuttering some excuse to Washu I
hurriedly got up and ran towards the front door.

        Ryoko seeing that I was making my escape, wasn't about to be left alone to
face Washu and turned to flee with me.  We both reached the door at the
same time and tried to squeeze through it.  Unfortunately, the door wasn't
wide enough for the both of us.

        "Move over.  I'm not going to stay here and become Washu's guinea pig.
That's what she made you for!"

        "Hey, I don't feel like becoming a lab rat myself, she's had you around
longer so you should be used to it!  So move over and let me through…..and
she didn't make me," I answered.

        While we glared daggers at one another Washu calmly walked up behind us
and took a door out of hyperspace.

        "Come now children, there's no need to fight.  I have plenty of use for
both of you.  No one's going to be left out," she said with a smile.

        This statement put a halt to our staring match, and put a look of horror
on Ryoko's face.  Realizing we were only inches from whatever fate that
Washu had in store for us, we began to struggle harder to get out of the
door.

        Shaking her head at our attempts, Washu calmly opened the door, grabbed
each of us by an elbow and dragged us in.

        "This is all YOUR fault Rose!!  You should have let me through when you
had the chance," Ryoko exclaimed.

        "MY fault, it's YOUR fault!!  You should have gone with Washu like a nice
host and let your guest get away," I retorted.

        "Girls, girls, stop fighting.  Now stay in here like nice kids and I'll be
right back," Washu said with a smile, and activated the force fields in the
examination platforms.

        This is when it dawned on me that we should have been fighting a little
harder to get away instead of between ourselves.  Our fighting had allowed
us to be pulled into Washu's lab, and onto the platforms.

        Sighing I started to put my hand to my head, only to realize that I
couldn't move.  I looked toward Ryoko and found her in the same
predicament.  Glaring at her I said, "This is all YOUR fault.  Next time,
more run and less talk."

        Ryoko's response was to fume and begin to call me every name in the book.
I shook my head and said, "Baka."

        Just then Washu came back.  Ahh there!!  Now that I've finished breakfast
we can get started.  Hearing this I had the strongest urge to fall over.
She had left us frozen here just to finish her breakfast!!

        "Now Rose….tell me exactly what happened again just before you entered the
portal to this dimension," Washu said.

        "There's really nothing to tell.  I was walking to dinner when I saw a
ring on the ground.  After I picked it up I put it on so I wouldn't lose
it, only when I tried to take it off it wouldn't budge.  It started to glow
so I stopped fiddling with it, and the next thing I know I'm in the portal."

        "Hmmm….so the key seems to be the ring.  Where is this ring now might I ask?"

        "Uhh…it's still on my finger."

        Walking over Washu pressed a few buttons on her view screen and my hands
moved up in front of me.  "Now which hand and finger was it on?"

        "My right, the the fourth finger."

        Now that my hands were in view I could see the ring.  It didn't look any
different from the last time I saw it, but I saw Washu looked puzzled.

        "Did you take it off?"

        "No, it's still there.  I haven't thought about it."

        "That is interesting.  It's not visible to me, yet you are saying that
it's still on your finger," Washu stated.

        She reached up and took my hand and reached up towards the hand.  When she
ran her fingers over my hand I could see them go over the ring, a dull glow
resulting, and subsiding the instant her fingers left the ring.

        Walking up behind me she grabbed a few hairs that were on my clothing, and
did the same to Ryoko.  She put them into test tubes and placed them into
some unidentifiable machine.  That done she turned her back to us and began
consulting her computer.

*      *      *

        Washu turned away and consulted the readings that her computer was
displaying.  It seemed that the scanners were skipping a small region by
the girl's hand.

        Frowning, Washu typed in what she had found when she had touched Rose's
hand.  Namely that while she couldn't see it, she could still feel it.  It
was puzzling, and was frustrating, it was just plain annoying.  "How am I
supposed to examine something neither I nor my scanners can see?" she thought.

        Immersed in her thoughts and data she was completely surprised at the
voice that said, "Wow!!  Hey Washu, what are you doing now?  Who's that
girl over by Ryoko?"

        "MIHOSHI!!!" Washu exclaimed and whirled around, her hand at her heart,
"When did you get here?"

        "Oh I came in a little after you left the table.  Sasami gave me a nice
breakfast, and then I decided to come and see what you were up to.  Hey,
what does this do?"

        "Don't touch that!!!"

        Too late.  Mihoshi pressed the shiny red button that so caught her attention.

*     *     *

        From my frozen perch I watched as a blonde materialized seemingly from
nowhere and scared Washu half out of her wits.  I watched as Washu tried to
keep the blonde from touching something when I suddenly noticed I could move.

        Not wasting my opportunity I quickly yelled to a similarly freed Ryoko,
"Which way is out?"

        Not bothering to answer me Ryoko flew past Washu and her computer to a
doorway.  Deciding that now wouldn't be a good time to simply run I
followed suit and flew out.  As I flew out the door I noticed that I came
out right at the base of the stairs, so I made a quick right and flew out
the front door.

        Ryoko I saw had had a similar idea and was now making a fast retreat past
the lake and down a trail.  It occurred to me that I shouldn't stick around
either, and that I'd rather take my chances with Ryoko than Washu.  Looking
quickly behind me to see if we were being followed, I hastened to catch up
to the flying figure ahead of me.

        "Hey Ryoko wait up."

        Turning slightly she smirked, "Catch me if you can."

        I rolled me eyes and flew faster, and faster.  But I didn't seem to be
making any progress getting closer to her.  "This isn't going to work.
She'll leave me behind given half the chance.  Now how can I catch up to
her," I thought.

        A sound startled me out of my thoughts and I realized that it was Ryoko
laughing.  Looking ahead of me I saw that she was flying half backwards so
that she could taunt me.  I found myself wishing she'd fly into a tree, but
at the height we were flying that wasn't likely to happen.

        After a short internal debate I decided that getting back at her was worth
the risk of using my powers.

*     *     *

        Ryoko laughed with glee as she saw Rose try to catch up with her.  She was
trying to fly faster and faster, but because she didn't have the experience
Ryoko had with her powers she was having a hard time trying to catch up.
It was amusing to see a look of frustration settle itself on the
auburn-haired girl's face.

        She'd have to do this more often.  Especially since she still had to get
back at Rose for that wild goose chase she had sent Ryoko and Ayeka on last
night.

        When Ryoko looked back at Rose she saw that the look of frustration was
gone, and a sly smile had taken its place.  Seconds after the figure
disappeared, causing Ryoko to frown.  "What is she up to?"

        Turning to the front, Ryoko scanned the surrounding area for signs of her
former auburn-haired shadow.  When a quick scan didn't immediately give
away her location Ryoko started to turn back around.  Only to be surprised
by me flying at her side.

*     *      *

        Using my teleportation powers to get myself ahead and above Ryoko was
relatively easy.  However, I had slightly misjudged the distance and had to
wait a bit before she actually got near to where I was and I could begin my
drop.

        When she was the right distance away I descended and found myself flying
at comfortable speed next to her.

        "So where do you want to go?  I'm assuming that going back to the house
anytime soon would be a mistake."

        The shock left Ryoko's face and her eyebrows drew together in thought.
"Well we can't go back for Ryo-Ohki, so I guess we'll just go to town."

        With that decided we flew on, and landed in a set of trees near the edge
of town.  A half an hour later we finally ended up in the shopping
district.  It was nearly noon now and we had a lot of time to kill, and
window shopping in town was a good a distraction as any.

        Several hours, and countless shops later, Ryoko and I were very, very,
bored.  There are only so many times you can walk up and down the streets
looking at shops before it becomes sickening.

        "Ne, Ryoko, can we go back now?  I'm sick of this."

        "It's still early.  We can't go back for a little while more.  Let's go
get something to drink," Ryoko suggested, and began to walk towards a bar.

        I sighed in resignation and followed her into the building.  When we were
seated Ryoko immediately ordered some sake.  The bartender turned towards
me to take my order, but Ryoko cut in saying that I was having the same.

        After the bartender left I said, "But Ryoko, I don't want sake.  I don't
like alcohol much."

        Ryoko's answer to this was to look at me like I had two heads.  In a
consoling tone she said, "Don't worry I'll cure you of that."

        Our drinks arrived and Ryoko made short work of both her drink and mine.
I managed not to drink much, but Ryoko kept trying to get me to drink more.
 She ordered more and more sake, and I wondered how she was going to pay
for anything….especially since she was quite drunk at the moment.

        I looked at the clock on the wall above the bar and saw that it was close
to 10 o'clock and groaned.  I couldn't believe we'd been here three hours.
"Hey, Ryoko, I think it's time we got going.  Nothing's going to happen to
us tonight."

        "Wha' yoo talkin' 'bout.  We jus' got here.  C'mon, have 'nother drin'"

        "I don't think so Ryoko.  I want to get back.  We've been in town all
day," I said as I began to walk away.

        "Don' yoo go walkin' 'way 'gain.  'm not gonna go chasin' after yoo 'gain."

        I sighed, "I'm not walking away Ryoko.  We're BOTH going home.  Now hand
over your wallet so we can pay for the drinks."

        "Oh no, yoo don'.  I know wha' yoor up to," Ryoko replied.  Amazingly she
was able to pay the tab, and started walking over towards me.

        I turned away and walked out of the building, then waited for Ryoko to
join me.  Almost immediately a very angry figure walked out the door.

        "I see now.  It wash jus' a trick.  Yoo were gonna leave without me."

        I immediately tried to deny the accusation, but that was when Ryoko
brought up her hand and her energy sword flared to life.

        "Uhhh….Ryoko, we're in the middle of town.  This isn't the greatest of
places for a fight."

        "Excushes, Excushes."

        Not wanting to stay and become shredded I did the sensible thing and ran
away.  Well, more like flew away since we needed to get home.  Ryoko was
hot on my trail, and I flew as fast as I could.  Unfortunately, my violent
shadow was able to catch up, materializing in front of me.

        "Aaaahhh!!!  Ryoko, come on now.  It's late, we're tired, your drunk, why
don't we just go back to the house and get some sleep?"

        Her answer to my question was just to grip her sword harder and fly toward
me.  Now because I wanted to live to go home I began making my way as
quickly as possible back toward the Masaki household.

        All too quickly Ryoko caught up with me and began her attack.  I barely
was able to generate my own sword to block.  Looking into the yellow eyes
of the floating terror in front of me I realized that this wasn't any
playful fight, it was all out war.  I guess she still hasn't forgiven me
for last night.

        It surprised me that I was able to successfully block Ryoko's attacks, my
offensive skills however were not as impressive.  I wondered why I wasn't
performing as well as I had the first time we had fought.  Then I
remembered that I had gotten mad and began attacking her.  Perhaps if I
started attacking instead of just blocking I might have a better chance.

        Just as I was about to test my theory Ryoko decided to let loose an energy
attack.  Needless to say I hadn't been expecting this, and it connected.
The pain surprised me.  It wasn't something that I had experienced the
first time I fought with her.  In my dazed state I crashed into the trees
of the forest we had been flying over.

        "Itai…,"I groaned as I picked myself off the ground.  "Ok, if she wants to
get serious I'll give her a fight."

        Giving myself one last brush off I jumped up and began my ascent to where
Ryoko was floating.  "All right, you want a fight you'll get a fight."

        I brought my energy sword up and began to attack.  Ryoko's drunken mind
finally caught up with the situation and was barely able to block my
thrust.  Halfway through my next swing I saw Ryoko smile.  She was actually
enjoying this?!?  But then again, I thought, she seemed to enjoy it the
last time too.

        Seeing that I was distracted Ryoko took that opportunity to go on the
offensive.  Her arm blurred as she swung at me, but I was able to block.
However, I had had enough of my pseudo-half-sister.  The next opening that
was given I attacked again.  Slowly herding her in the direction home.

        Eventually the house came into sight.  I had a vague idea of making a run
for it so that I could get some sleep that night.  Ryoko and I had been
going at each other for the past half-hour, and I was heartily sick of
everything.  And over the course of that time period I learned that Ryoko
was a very dirty fighter.  But since she hadn't bothered to play nice, it
went without saying that I didn't have to either.

        I wondered what people who had been looking out their windows would be
thinking tonight.  Certainly the light show Ryoko and I had given with out
energy blasts would have been impressive…not to mention the sight of two
figures flying off in the night.

        Ryoko was approaching again, intent on slicing me to shreds I let out with
a nice big, blue energy blast.  I paused to watch the uncontrolled descent
of my opponent into the lake in front of the house.  I chuckled to myself,
"Maybe that will cool her off."

        "Now to get some sleep," I thought as I landed in front of the door to the
house a few seconds later.

        Water dripping on my head caused my to pause and look up.  After seeing
what was there I began to back up, my back pressing against the door.

        "Now Ryoko, it's time to stop.  Fighting anymore won't get us anywhere," I
said nervously.

        Blue energy arced in her hands.  A larger blue ball slowly formed, and her
hand drew back.  Knowing that I couldn't get out of the way in time I
closed my eyes and waited for the impact.

        Only before that happened I fell backwards, and landed none to gracefully
on my rear end.  I looked up towards Ryoko and saw the energy she had
accumulated dissipate, and a look of horror wash over her face.

        "Oh, you're back!!  How nice.  Now why don't you both come back to my lab
and we can continue where we left off."



End Part 5