YOSHO! EPISODE ONE By nik, Revised 7-27-99 j.michael@pmail.net DISCLAIMER! The characters you are about to read are property of AIC/PIONEER. This story was not made for profit, so please don't sue me, however this is my story, so please don't plagiarize. Author's notes: What you are about to read is a Tenchi FF set in the OVA universe, it is set 700 years ago, at the time when Yosho had just landed on Earth. The only characters in this FF you should be familiar with are Yosho, Ryoko and Ka...well I'll just keep that last one secret for now. So, without further a do, let the story begin... Y O S H O ! The blade sliced through Ryoko's neck. The brilliant beam of blue energy crackled slightly with an almost electric-like quality, causing Ryoko to jerk and whelp in pain. The Tenchiken's sword pommel lit up as it absorbed the Gems from Ryoko, stealing her strength and finally causing the demon space pirate to collapse. The young Juraian knight closed down the blade of the Tenchi Sword once the final Gem was taken from Ryoko's throat. Sitting down on the grassy earth with a sigh of exhaustion, Yosho looked down at Ryoko's form lying on the ground, and then up towards the stars, twinkling serenely. Yosho paid special attention to one star imparticular. "What now?" Yosho wondered to himself. EPISODE #1 THE SON RETURNS Fire and smoke billowed from the trees as the men of the village desperately tried to put out the fire burning the village. "Someone go get Masaki! NOW!!" Yelled the disrespectful rancher, Hiro. "He'll get here as soon as he can!" Replied the stout fisherman, Yuji, a fish still on the end of his spear from a late night of fishing. < It's not like the old man didn't see the bolts of fire blasting the country-side to bits. > Yuji thought to himself. At that moment Yasunori Masaki, priest of the local shrine and unspoken head of the village arrived, running and accompanied by his two daughters. "Quickly!" The old man shouted. "Get some water to the fire before the winds come up or the whole forest will go up!" Screamed the old, yet powerful looking priest. As the men battled with the fire, Yuji looked down at the foot of the hill where a strange looking young man was kneeling on the ground. He held a blade in his hand which disappeared into the hilt as Yuji watched. "Masaki-dono..." Called Yuji, grabbing the priest's attention. "Who is that?" He asked, referring to the young man in strange robes and a long black pony tail. A small crowd of villagers began to gather at Yuji's discovery. "I saw him!" Cried Hiro. "He was the one who killed the dragon who burned our village!" "It was not a dragon!" Cried a frightened villager. "It was a demon looking like a woman!" "He and the dragon fell out of the sky!" Another villager said. "He saved our village!" Another replied. "Quiet." Called Masaki. "We will go to the stranger, the rest of you continue to put out the fire." The men went back to their task, as Yuji, his best friend Atsushi, and Masaki made their way around the trees towards the stranger. *** The Funaho hovered with a light hum over the treetops, awaiting Yosho's orders. On the ground below, Yosho held the master key in his hands, his eyes shut tight. Suddenly, the Gems began to glow slightly as Funaho materialized as a tree in the ground. The tree levitated Ryoko off the ground and brought the space pirate closer toward the tree until it absorbed Ryoko inside itself. The Gems fell silent as Ryoko became trapped inside the Funaho. Yosho thought to himself. The Funaho asked Yosho a question, causing Yosho to consider it briefly for a moment. "No" Said Yosho. "Don't contact Jurai just yet." He replied. " I need time to think first." Funaho spoke again to Yosho. "Yes, I know that if we stay to long you will take root." Said Yosho almost depressedly. Jurai ships lose their power once they take root. Yosho knew this, and had been thinking about it since he left his planet. Yosho wondered to himself whether or not he should even return to Jurai... At that moment Yosho saw that coming over the hill of the dark forest was a fat earth native with a fish on the end of a stick. He was followed by a bald older man in a robe and a taller, slimmer man with a bad need for a shave. "Hey, Demon!" Said the tall gangly one, trying to appear brave. "We're sorry we made you mad but you need to stop burning our village!" He said in a cowardly voice. "Uhuu..." Yosho said, not quite knowing what to say. "WHUFF!" Cried Atsushi, being back-handed in the stomach by Yuji. "Shut up!" Yuji yelled to Atsushi. "That's not the demon! That's the guy who killed the demon!" Yuji said. "Quiet! Both of you!" Said the old man, yelling at Yuji and Atsushi. Masaki approached Yosho and spoke to him. "Thank you for stopping the dragon, young man." He said. Yuji ran up to Yosho and vigorously shook his hand, "Yeah, thanks for killing that demon mister!" Yuji said to Yosho, still a little surprised. "Umm,,,Thanks." Said Yosho. "I am Yuji, and that's my friend Atsushi." Atsushi waved sheepishly at Yosho. "Hello." Yosho said. "And this is Maski-dono." Yuji said. Masaki nodded at the mention of his name. "What is your name, knight?" The old man asked. "I'm Yosho. I am sorry that your village was burnt, I didn't mean to destroy your land." "Time will heal the village, I am only grateful that you killed the demon." The priest said sternly. "Will you be taking the other dragons away with you now?" "Huh?..." Yosho said. He looked around at the wreck of the Ryo-Ohki, and his ship the Funaho. ""Oh...well actually I was planning to stay here a little while longer before I go..." "Well then, perhaps you will stay at my home while you are here." Masaki said. "Thanks, but I should be okay on my own." Yosho said, politely refusing the generous offer. "I'd offer you a place at my home if it wasn't fried by your demon." Said Atsushi, not realizing the insult in his choice of words. "UUGH!" Yelled Atsushi as Yuji smacked him in the back of the head. "That's disrespectful! Yuji screamed. "This guy just saved our village!" Atsushi, growled angrily. "Would you stop hitting me, you fat idiot!" Yuji punched Atsushi in the stomach and Atsushi bit Yuji in the head. The two began beating each other senseless, leaving Yosho surprised, but not Masaki, who was used to seeing the two fight. "What's going on here?!!" A loud voice boomed from across the hill. The group stopped and looked up, as a young man came over the hill. He was totally bald, except for at the base of the back of his head where a short black pony tail emerged. He held a spade in one hand, a shovel and bucket in the other hand. The man did not look very happy. "Seikou." Said Masaki. "This is Yosho. He killed the monster that attacked the village." Seikou walked up to Yosho and looked at the Juraian, unimpressed and almost angrily, he grunted at Yosho. "He even has his own dragon!" Yelled Yuji, staring at the Funaho still hovering over the trees behond the next hill. "*Ghaaa!*" Gasped Atsushi, just now noticing the ship. "He's got a dragon!" Atsushi yelled covering his head in fear. "It's not really a dragon, it's my ship." Yosho said. Atsushi and Yuji stared up at the marvelous sight and gaped in awe. "Hrmph...well your 'ship' just destroyed my fields!" Seikou said. "It wasn't my ship that burnt your village." Said Yosho, showing no anger towards Seikou's accusation. "But I am sorry for the damage to your land." He offered. "Well you brought it here, so I suggest that you fix what you have burnt!" "Seikou!" Yelled Masaki. "That is no way to treat a guest of our village." He explained. Seikou fell silent, a sour look on his face. Several men fromthe village started their way over the hill to meet Masaki. Seikou went to yell at them while Atsushi and Yuji climbed on top of one of the pillars of the Ryo-Ohki, exploring it's contents. Yosho sighed as he looked around...Seikou yelling at the workers, fire still burning the hill a mile or so away, and Atsushi screaming as he falls down a hole in the wreck of the Ryo-ohki. His mother's planet had not impressed him very much so far. He felt maybe things could go better back on Jurai than here. Making up his mind he decided to go tell Funaho to contact Jurai. "Excuse me Masaki-dono, I will be back in a moment." Said Yosho. He turned to leave... "Father..." A soft voice called. Hearing the angelic voice, Yosho turned back around and felt his eyes widen. "The fire is out, at least in our village, luckily the damage wasn't too bad..." Said a beautiful young girl in a lavender kimono. Masaki replied to the girl. "Good. I'm glad it didn't get as far as the shrine." He said. The girl gracefully made her way down the hill with a group of the villagers. Yosho stared at her intensley. She was the first woman he had ever seen that looked and reminded him so much of his mother. On Jurai no one looked like his mother did. His mother was very beatiful with her long black hair, brown eyes and her beautiful face, which was shaped different from the women on Jurai. He could use the same discription on the woman who stood before him. Yosho caught himself staring at the girl and looked away briefly at the old priest. "Mariko..." The old man said. "This is Yosho, he killed the demon... he will be staying with us for a while I hope, eh, Yosho?" Yosho looked at the priest... and then at Mariko's lovely face smiling at him... and then at the tree Funaho... "Yes!" He replied. "I would be honored!" "Good! I'll have a room readied for you!" Replied Masaki, happy with Yosho's decision to stay. The villagers began to crowd around Yosho asking him questions about his heroic deeds, and marvelling at his ship. Masaki's younger daughter, Naoko, walked up to the crowd, she was only a year younger than her sister and was also very beautiful, she wore her hair in an elegant style for those old days unlike most of the villagers and her older sister, but still she felt jealous of her sister, who was very charming and had caught the heart of the entire village with her smile. Naoko looked at Yosho, staring at the hero who had saved the village, his kind eyes and handsome features definitely did not escape her notice. She listened as the crowd continued with their questions until Masaki quieted their curiosity. "Allright, let's get back to the village everyone, you can ask Yosho everything you want to know when we get back to town." He yelled. "Atsushi! Yuji! Get over here!" Yuji, bending over the hole in which Atsushi fell into, yelled back. "Uh... be there in a second!" Atsushi, trapped in the the pitch black hole, cried to Yuji. "I can't see anything!!!" "Just get up here...FAST before the old man beats us to death!" Yuji cried. Atsushi replied. "But I can't...oh, wait I see something!" Said Atsushi, noticing a peculiar glow in the darkness. "It's a blue sparkling light!" Atsushi grabbed the Ryo-Ohki's main power cord that was giving off the light..."AHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW!!!!!!!!!" Yuji covered his eyes for a moment as the once black room lit up with flashing white light And then the light died out. Moments later, Atsushi crawled out from the pit, extra crispy, blackened, and giving off smoke fumes."Ooooowwww." The burnt Atsushi cried. Yuji cringed at the sight of the scorched Atsushi, then started to laugh at him. Atsushi grabed his chubby friend's neck, choking him, causing Yuji to choke back. "ATSUSHI! YUJI! GET BACK HERE NOW!!" Cried Masaki. The two friends scrambled to their feet cringing at the old man's wrath and started to run back to the village. Inside Ryoko's ship, a red sphere illuminated the darkness... *** Yosho walked back to the village alongside Mariko and several other villagers, including Naoko who stared at Yosho most of her trip back to the village. < She's beautiful. > Yosho thought to himself as he looked at Mariko. "I take it you're not from around here." Mariko said to Yosho. Yosho smiled at her observation. "No. I'm not." He said. "My mother lived here once though." Suddenly a young girl of about 10 years popped her head out from the other side of Mariko. The girl was hiding somewhat behind Mariko's left leg, and was so small, Yosho had not noticed her until that moment. "Did you really ride out of the sky on a dragon?" The little girl asked inquisitively. "Something like that." Yosho replied to the little girl, smiling. "I was real worried that our house would burn down when I saw the village was on fire." Yumi said with a very cute tone in her voice, causing Yosho and Mariko to smile. Stroking the little girl's short hair and face, Mariko explained the girl to Yosho. "Little Yumi here lives with my family near father's shrine." "Is that where I will be staying?" Yosho asked. "Yes." Mariko replied. "Is that where you will be staying?" Yosho asked casually. Mariko paused shortly and smiled. "Yes." She said. "Who else lives in your house?" "Just a few servants, my father and my sister, but often members of my father's family drop by and stay for a while." "And of course there's little Yumi." Mariko said, causing Yumi to look up and smile at the mention of her name. "You don't have a husband living at your father's house." Yosho asked, a bead of sweat forming at the back of his head. "No, I'm not married." Mariko said, grinning. "Although some people would like me otherwise." She added under her breath. Mariko looked off at Seikou, walking in front of her, Seikou noticed that Mariko was looking his way and turned his head around, excitedly giving Mariko a wide-eyed smile. Mariko quickly turned her head away towards Yosho. "Your mother must be a busy woman." Said Yosho. Mariko's voice lowered. "My mother died several years ago." "Oh...I'm sorry, I didn't realize...." "It's okay, my mother is gone, but you can't dwell on the loss of a loved one forever." Yosho, sensing he had touched a painful area, changed the subject. "Uhh... you said you had a sister?" "Yes, my sister Naoko, she's right over there." Mariko said nodding towards Naoko. Naoko, hearing her introduction, quickly walked over to Yosho and Mariko. "I thank you for your help, Lord Yosho." Said Naoko, eagerly. "And am glad you will be staying with us while you are at our village." She added. "Well, I thank you for letting me to stay at your home." Said Yosho. Naoko stared into Yosho's eyes for what seemed like forever, which was fine with her. She wished that she could stare into his eyes forever, but she soon found that Yosho had already turned his head away...towards her sister... Naoko's face saddened, her mouth dropped slightly. Naoko wasn't the only one to notice that Yosho and Mariko were getting along rather well, Seikou watched the two talking to one another. Seikou gritted his teeth and growled, his face growing redder by the second with jealousy. Just then Atsushi and Yuji quickly sped by, panting and running as fast as they could. Yuji ran into Seikou knocking him to the ground. "Hey, watch it!" Seikou yelled angrily, then suddenly realizing he had been knocked into a big pile of horse crap. Seikou thought to himself. The group continued on their way back to the village, Mariko and Yosho talked the entire trip back. *** The village was still smoking by the time the group arrived. As the villagers returning to the town surveyed the damage, none of the townspeople noticed that one house was still billowing black smoke... Atsushi and Yuji walked up to one of the more torched houses that had been reduced to ash. "Well, there goes Dad's house, what's that make, three so far this year?" Said Atsushi, without a trace of humor. "Yep." Replied Yuji, humorlessly. Mariko looked at the scorched pieces of earth where the Ryo-ohki had blasted the village trying to escape capture by Yosho. Mariko looked as a stone house which had stood for one hundred years now, had been blasted into oblivion. Yosho approached her from behind and joined her. Mariko bent down and picked up a stone from the ruined house. "Oh my..." Mariko said. "This will give us something to do for the next few weeks." "I wish I could have stopped this..." Said Yosho. "I didn't intend for her to go this far." He paused. "I'm sorry." Mariko, still kneeling over the broken house of stone, spoke to Yosho. ""You didn't mean for this to happen?" She said. "No." Yosho answered curiously. "And you couldn't stop this from happening?" "No." Mariko turned her head around. "Then this isn't your fault. And there's nothing to forgive." Mariko smiled. Yosho looked curiously at the girl, considering her comments. *** The Seikou house was the fanciest and largest house in the village. It sat in the center of the town and stood three stories high with a large camilla tree. On the left side of the house. The Seikou family were the richest people the town had to offer. The family gained its wealth from the fact that it owned a fourth of the farmland in the village. Although very wealthy, half of the family lived on a farm at the edge of the village, the other half, consisting of Kobayashi Seikou, his wife, the town matchmaker, Rumiko Seikou, their cat chibi, and the eldest member of the family, Grandfather Seikou, lived in the Seikou house in the center of town. Unfortunately for the Seikou family in the big house, all the members of the family slept like logs, and didn't awake with the rest of the village. They also didn't notice that their house was on fire... *** Seikou walked up to Mariko and Yosho, who were still standing over the pile of rocks. "Lady Mariko, no one was killed in the attack." Seikou said. Seikou never called ANYONE by title except Mariko and Shrinemaster Masaki. "Good, did you tell my father?" Mariko said. "Yes, he's coming this way right now..." Seikou stopped in mid-sentence and looked at Yosho. "...to take you back to the shrine." He said almost angrily. "Very well then... oh, and Seikou..." Seikou looked up. "Your uncle does know his horse stable was destroyed, right?" Mariko said. "Probably, odds are he's screaming profanities at anyone unfortunate enough to be around him and getting yelled at by his wife..." Said Seikou. Seikou looked around the village for his uncle and aunt. "Say... where is Uncle Kobayashi?" Seikou said. *** Inside the Seikou house, chibi the cat ran up the stairs and pawed open the screen entrance to the master bedroom. Inside, Rumiko Seikou slept on the floor, snoring loudly, a mask over her eyes so she could get her "beauty sleep". Unfortunately nothing short of a long-term coma would improve her looks. Mrs. Seikou weighed at least 250, and usually wore a large pink dress, which was a cross between a moo-moo and a kimono, to sleep. Chibi the cat came up to Mrs. Seikou and pawed her face franticly, trying to wake her. Mrs.Seikou, annoyed at being bothered by the cat, smacked it across the room, slamming it into the wall. The cat got back up and looked down the hall to see the flames racing up the stairs. The cat growled visciously and climed on top of Mrs. Seikou. Chibi visciously bit the matchmaker's arm. "AAAAAAEEEEEEEEEIIII!!!" Mrs. Seikou screamed. She looked at the cat and grabbed it by the throat, but stopped when she noticed the flames and smoke covering the house. She dropped the cat to the ground and screamed again, only much louder. *** "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" The scream broke through the village filling the townspeople's ears, catching Yosho, Mariko and Seikou's attention. "What was that?" Yosho asked. "EEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!" The scream rang out again. The group looked down the road where the Seikou house was billowing black smoke. Yosho took off running towards the house. "Damnit!" Cursed Seikou. Mariko and Seikou took off after Yosho. The villagers also ran towards the Seikou house. Inside the house, Mrs. Seikou was screaming. "Wake up you fool! We're gonna die!" Mrs. Seikou grabbed her husband by the shoulders and tried to wake him. "Mmm... shut up will ya? I'm sleeping." Kobayashi said. "Kobayashi, you idiot! The house is on fire! Wake up!" Mrs, Seikou yelled. Mr. Seikou woke up at the word of fire burning his house down, he looked down the hall and noticed his wife was correct. His eyes went wide. "WHOAH!" "RUMI, THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE!" "I KNOW THAT, YOU IDIOT!!" Screamed Mrs. Seikou. The couple slammed open the screen window to their bedroom, breaking it against the wall. Seeing villagers flocking towards the house, they screamed to let the town know they were still inside. "HELP US! WE'RE TRAPPED!" Yelled Mr. Seikou. "WATER! GET WATER! FAST!" Ordered a villager. Several of the men ran off with buckets to the creek on the east side of town, including Yuji and Atsushi. Yosho arrived at the waiste-high gate surrounding the Seikou house. A villager had already arrived at the door, throwing it open quickly. As soon as he opened it, a burst of fire shot out from inside the house, knocking the villager to the ground. The yard instantly went up in flames, causing Yosho to sheild his eyes. >From where he was standing he could see the Seikous climbing to the top of the blue shingeled roof. Through the black smoke, Yosho could see the Seikous franticly searching for a way down. "HURRY IT UP! WE'RE GONNA BURN TO DEATH" Yelled Mr. Seikou. Thought Yosho. Yosho looked around for a way to get to the top of the roof. His eyes narrowed as he saw that a gutter ran from the top of the roof to the floor. Yosho jumped through the fire and grabbed onto the gutter, climbing his way to the roof. Mariko and Seikou arrived at the gate. "YOSHO!" Yelled Mariko. *** Atsushi arrived at the creek before anyone else. Looking around and seeing no one in sight, hedipped his bucket into the water and allowed it time to fill. *RUMBLE* The sound of roaring footsteps of the villagers filled the air, Atsushi payed little attention to it. A storm of villagers raced to the spot where Atsushi was filling his bucket one large villager ran right into Atsushi, knocking him into the creek. *AAAAHHH!!" Atsushi screamed. He looked up to see a large group of people filling their buckets, paying no attention to the fact that he had been knocked into the creek. The men filled their buckets and left for the Seikou house. A moment later Yuji came by with his bucket. "Hey, get out of there and start toting water!" Screamed Yuji. "Rrrh..." Growled Atsushi. The two filled their buckets and ran back to the village. *** Kobayashi Seikou watched as the fire crept up the right side of the house and onto the roof. "We're gonna get cooked if we stay up here much longer." He said. Looking down to the ground he saw his father lying in a hammock in the back yard, the flames not twenty feet away. "DAD!" He yelled. The old man didn't wake up, he just continued snoring away. "WAKE UP YOU OLD FOOL!" Said Kobayashi. The old man still didn't stir. Mr. Seikou growled. < Fine! Let him sleep! > He thought. *FWOOSH!!* Mr. Seikou looked back to see the fire growing closer. His wife screamed. "WE'VE GOT TO GET OFF HERE, NOW!" She screamed. *UUGH!* The Seikous heard a small grunt and turned around towards the front of the house. Yosho pulled himself up onto the roof. "ABOUT TIME!" Said Mr. Seikou, shading his eyes from the smoke. Yosho got to his feet and looked at the people who were trapped on the roof, a mean looking middle-aged man, a large poofy-haired woman with a mustache in a moo-moo, and a small cat. Yasunori Masaki arrived at the gate to the house where he found his daughters, looking through the smoke, trying to get a look at the people trapped on the roof. "What happened?!" Masaki yelled. "The house must not have been checked for fire!" Naoko yelled. "Is there anyone inside?" "Yes! As far as we can tell Seikou-san and his wife are on the roof! Yosho is up there now trying to get them down!" Said Mariko. The old man squinted his eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of Yosho and the Seikous. "If they don't get off now, they'll be burned alive." He said grimly. At that moment the village men came and started to throw the buckets of water into the fire, but at the rate the fire was going, Yosho would be dead by the time they had the fire out. "HURRY IT UP!" Yelled Seikou. "THE HOUSE WILL COLLAPSE IF WE WAIT MUCH LONGER!" Atsushi ran as fast as he couldspilling the contents of the bucket as he ran. He approached the flaming house and readied himself. "TAKE THIS!" He yelled. Unfortunately, all the water had sloshed out of the bucket while he had been running. *Huh?* He said. Seikou grabbed Atsushi by the shirt. "STOP BEING SO STUPID AND GET THE DAMN WATER!!" Seikou yelled. *** Shielding his eyes from the smoke, Yosho yelled to the Seikous."Come on, we can go down this drainage pipe!" Yosho and the Seikous ran over to the pipe but when they arrived a wall of fire rose up from the font of the house when it went back down somewhat, the pipe had fallen off the side of the house. They looked down as villagers frantically tried to put out the fire with water buckets. The fire died down somewhat. "YAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!" The villagers cheered. *FWOOOOSH!!!!!!!!!!!* The house suddenly went up, flaming even higher than before. The villagers face-faulted. Yosho and the Seikous formed beads of sweat on the back of their heads. Mr. Seikou looked down as the villagers vainly tried to put out the fire...and then to Yosho looking around for a way out... Yuji went around the back side of the house and held up his arms. "HEY! UP ON THE ROOF! COME'ON! JUMP! I'LL CATCH YOU!" Screamed Yuji. Yosho looked at Yuji as if he were crazy. "Come on, let's go!" Yelled Mr. Seikou as he jumped off the three story high roof. *THUD!* Mr. Seikou fell right through Yuji's open arms, and onto the ground. Yuji still held his arms in the air, as he looked down at Mr.Seikou's bruised form. "OKAY, YOUR TURN!" He yelled. Yosho and Mrs. Seikou looked at each other and sweated. *FWOOM!" The fire spread quickly through the back yard, causing Yuji to scream, and run away, carrying Mr. Seikou with him. *CR-CR-CRACK!!!!!!!!!* Yosho looked as a pillar that held the house up snapped, almost breaking and causing the house to collapse. The villagers panicked and hurried faster that ever before as they knew the house was about to go under. Down on the ground the Masaki family watched in horror. "YOSHOOO!" Yelled Mariko. Up on the roof, Yosho looked around for a way down. He saw that a huge branch from the camilla tree was close enough to reach if they jumped. "COME ON!" Yelled Yosho to Mrs. Seikou. Yosho grabbed her arm and drug her to the left side of the house. "AAAHH!" Mrs. Seikou yelled. "Come on, we'll have to jump." He said indicating the tree. "ARE YOU CRAZY??!! WE WON'T MAKE IT!" She yelled. "Yes we will, but we have to go now!" "UH-UH, I'M NOT GOING!" She wailed. *FWOOM* "IT'S GONNA CAVE IN!" Seikou screamed. The fire raised again, in a few seconds, the house would collapse. Picking up Mrs. Seikou and throwing her over his shoulder, Yosho took a few steps back for a running start. "AAAAH!! PUT ME DOWWWWWWN!" Mrs. Seikou said. Yosho ran as hard as he could towards the edge of the roof, lugging the screaming Mrs. Seikou and chibi, the cat with him, he reached the edge and jumped with all his strength. *HUFF!!" Grunted Yosho as he flew through the air. *CRRRRRRRR-ACKKKKKK!!!!!!* The support beams of the house finally caved in while Yosho flew through the air, causing the second and third floor to merge with the first. Yasunori, Seikou, Naoko, Mariko, Yumi, Atsushi, Yuji, and the rest of the village watched as Yosho leaped into the night sky. "EEEEEEEIIIII!!" Yelled Mrs. Seikou. *UUHN!* Yosho grunted as he landed on the large branch, much to the surprise of the villagers, most of whom thought the two would come crashing to the ground. "Uh... uh, a, ha, ha, ha, ha! WE'RE ALIVE!" Yelled Mrs. Seikou with excitement. "We aren't safe yet!" Yelled Yosho. Looking down to the ground Mrs. Seikou saw that the wreckage of the house had covered the base of the tree...and was still on fire...to make things worse, the fire was travelling up the tree. Yosho and Mrs. Seikou climbed up a few branches to escape the fire. "JUST GREAT! NOW WE'RE NOT GONNA DIE ON THE ROOF, WE'RE GONNA DIE IN THIS TREE!" Mrs. Seikou Screamed. The villagers continued pouring buckets of water onto the fire, almost putting out the fire from the wreckage, but still the fire made it's way up the tree. "THEY'RE TRAPPED!" Little Yumi screamed, She hid her face in Mariko's kimono. Mariko put her hand on the little girl's head. "SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!" Atsushi yelled. Up in the tree Yosho was trying to come up with a way out. "OH GOD... WE'RE GONNA FRY! AAAAAHH!" Mrs. Seikou cried. "We're not gonna die, come on." Yosho took Mrs. Seikou by the hand and led her to the largest branch in the tree. The branch hung over the street, away from the fire, but was far too high for Mrs. Seikou to safely jump from. Yosho could have been able to make it, but was not about to let Mrs. Seikou die in the tree. "Get as far away from the center of the tree as possible." Yosho said to Mrs. Seikou. Mrs. Seikou complied and made her way to the edge of the branch. "Okay! Now what?" Said Mrs. Seikou. Mrs. Seikou looked over to Yosho, who pulled something out of his shirt. Yosho held the Tenchiken in his hand. A blue blade materialized from the hilt. He lowered the blade down to the branch he and Mrs. Seikou were standing on... "Hold on." Mrs. Seikou's eyes widened. The villagers saw the blade in Yosho's hands. "Oh, no, DON'T!" Mrs. Seikou said. Yosho raised the blade over his head... "AAAAAAAHHH! GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!!!!!!!" Yosho brought the Tenchiken down, cutting the tree in half, and slicing the branch off from the body of the tree. *K-K-KRRRRRRRAAACCCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!* "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" The villagers screamed. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" Mrs. Seikou screamed. The villagers down below scrambled to get away as the tree branch came crashing down to the earth,followed by the other half of the tree, smashing the gate high into the air and shaking the ground, the force of which knocked the villagers to the ground. *FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!* The tree made a loud crashing noise as it hit the ground. The wind created by the falling tree instantly put out the fire. For a moment, the entire village fell silent, as a matter of fact, the whole countryside seemed completly silent... The tree leaves covered the place where the house had burned down, hiding Yosho and Mrs. Seikou from the villagers sight. Mariko, knocked to the ground when the tree had fallen, looked back at the smoldering wreck. "Yosho?" Mariko asked. Still, no one could see if they had survived the fall... *Uuhhhg...* A noise sounded from the tree. The leaves rustled as Mrs. Seikou stuck out her head. "Uuuuuhhh..." She groaned with stars in her eyes, her mustache smoking and sizziling slightly. A few seconds later she passed out. Yosho pulled half of his body up out of the mass of tree limbs and leaves. Looking around, he saw the entire village staring at him in silence. "Mmmm...Hey!" Old man Seikou said, rising from his hammock. "Quit making so much noise!!!!" "Kids these days..." *** Yosho found the floor of the Masaki house to be the most comfortable bed he had ever been in. Perhaps it was do to the fact that he had never been so tired in his life. Yosho had had a very busy day. He reflected on the days events, chasing Ryoko to Earth, defeating her in combat, saving two earthlings from death, and Mariko... He thought. END EPISODE ONE. Life is so full of hurry and hustle Sometimes I think it's passing us by The days are like hours, hours like minutes I'm caught up in it 'till I look in your eyes And to my surprise I find there is a heaven Timeless and real, making me feel free and alive You touch me, you kiss me, and time has no meaning I'm on a rocket to some other zone Baby, you thrill me - whatever you're doing Don't think of stopping until we are light-years away All alone... 'cause I want to keep this Treasure for my very own Your talent for love You touch me, you kiss me, and time has no meaning I'm on a rocket to some other zone Baby, you thrill me - whatever you're doing Don't think of stopping until we are light-years away All alone... 'cause I want to keep this Treasure for my very own Your talent for love PREVIEW OF NEXT EPISODE: An unidentified girl with short black hair screaming something. A red glowing sphere of energy in Atsushi and Yuji's hands. The same girl from above, only shocked and naked. Mariko saying something. Yosho, Mariko, the girl, Atsushi and Yuji racing downhill through a forest. Horses carrying several men into a village. A large explosion. A river of trees flowing down a mountain in a landslide. A man in dark clothing, smiling wickedly. *** This was my first time writing TENCHI MUYO! or any other type of fanfiction. I would like to hear your comments and criticism, you can e-mail me at j.michael@pmail.net. I was inspired to write this after reading such wonderful fanfics as RYOKO'S LOVE, so I sat down and wrote a story called ACHIKA! But as I wrote it I realized that for the story to work, you really needed to know what happened to Katsuhito. ( shameless plug ) So maybe one day I will finally be able to tell my story about Achika that was based on the Naoko Hasegawa novels. I wrote this episode because I felt that Yosho got the shaft on the fanfiction side. I also noted that no one ever wrote about what happened to Yosho when he got to Earth. I am trying to make this feel as much like the original OVA as possible, so bear with me. Btw, if anyone was wondering where I got the names for the characters... Naoko- Naoko Hasegawa, writer of the "true" TM! novels, as well as the first 6 OVA and TM! Manatsu no Eve. Mariko- A name on a tombstone I remember seeing as a young lad. Yuji- The US producer of TM! MnE. Seikou- Seikou Nagaoka Composer of many TM! themes including the OVA 1-6 opening. Atsushi- Atsushi Takeuchi, nimation director for TM! OVA Yasunori- The name of a feudal lord in ancient Japan. Yumi- An old friend of mine. Ryoko- Uh...Ryoko, dumbass. Kobayashi- Name of a character from GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN Rumiko- Rumiko Takahashi, name of the wonderful lady who created URUSEI YATSURA