Given the Chance

-My catharsis. Please C&C to the list, if you bother.

"Ryoko, could you come to my lab for a moment?" Washu, 
the Greatest and Cutest Genius in the Universe, beckoned to Ryoko, 
Space Pirate Extraordinare, from the door to the closet under the 
stairs.
	"Why?" Ryoko was suspicious. Washu was unpredictable, 
eccentric. It would be just like her to trick someone into her pocket 
dimension and perform bizarre experiments, or volunteer that 
someone as a test subject for some completely off-the-wall 
invention. 
	"I need you to help me extract a sample from Tenchi. He's 
not being cooperative." 
	"Sample?"
	"Sperm sample. He's resisting me."
	"He won't resist me! He loves me!" Ryoko was in the air, 
headed for the closet door. "And you stay away from him, you 
little..." She turned, suddenly, as she felt the door slam shut behind 
her. 
	"Ryoko?" Ryoko looked at the empty space where the 
door should have been, then turned back to face her mother.
	"Whatever this is, I want you to let me out right now."
	"Be still, Ryoko." Washu was tapping carefully away at a 
console. "Your mother intends to give you a present."
	"What?"
	"Well, I've missed an awful lot of birthdays, wouldn't you 
say? At any rate, here you go." Washu touched a final key, and a light 
went on about a dozen yards further into the lab. It illumined a metal 
slab, upon which lay a simple yet elegant blue-toned robe, and in the 
robe, struggling against a number of energy clamps on her arms, 
legs, torso and head, lay Aeka. The bond over her head had a little 
give, and using that, she was able to just turn her head enough to 
catch sight of Ryoko. Her struggling became more of a desperate 
strain, and Ryoko could see her teeth champing down hard on the 
gag she wore.
	"What... what is this?"
	Washu spoke, her voice flat. "That, my daughter, is your 
arch-rival, Aeka of Jurai. She has been completely restrained, her 
powers temporarily banished, shielding shattered. She's as weak 
and vulnerable as any other human. You've said often enough that 
you'd like to teach her a lesson. You've said you'd like to kill her. I 
can dispose of the body, Ryoko. Jurai would never know you did it, 
nor would Tenchi. A space accident, or even a mundane one... it 
doesn't take the greatest genius in the universe to cover it up."
	"She's the real thing?"
	"Absolutely. As I said, this is your birthday present, even 
though it isn't quite your birthday. I'm making up for the lost ones by 
giving you a chance at your greatest desire."
	Ryoko walked forward, and her energy sword flashed into 
existence in her hand. Washu stepped back, watching.
	"I hate you, Aeka. I hate you with all my heart. You're an 
arrogant bitch who's trying to steal the only real happiness I've ever 
had."
	She reached the table, and held the sword over Aeka's 
face, about half a centimeter from her nose. The princess froze, her 
eyes very, very wide. "I hate you, and with this blow, I should send 
you to Hell, where we both belong."
	She lifted the sword gracefully, as if the tip were being 
lifted by a giant and her arm merely following behind. It hovered 
there for a second, and then descended, faster than even Washu's 
eyes could follow, the trail generating a brief blaze like a camera 
flash. The scientist closed her eyes, not wanting to look...
	...at a blade which hovered a millimeter above the flesh of 
Aeka's neck, reddening it in the heat but not actually cutting.
	"I won't." Ryoko closed her eyes, visibly pushing the urge 
back. She opened them again and looked down into Aeka's huge, 
frightened eyes, at the tensed muscles of her neck, and finally at the 
sword, which she dissipated. "I won't, Aeka. Mother, thank you for 
your present, but I'm afraid you'll have to send it back. It's not my 
size." Grinning widely, Ryoko turned and walked back the way she'd 
come, not at all surprised to note that the door had reappeared, and 
opened as she approached. She strode through it, vanishing into the 
light, and it shut solidly in her wake.

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