What Might Have Been Chapter One: In Dreams
Disclaimer: This fanfiction is not written with the consent of
Pioneer/AIC. I do NOT own the characters, with the exception of Kei.
Please do not sue me.
Comments, criticism, flames, and death threats may be sent to
Platinum_Dragon@usinternet.com.
!!WARNING!! This is NOT mainline Tenchi. It is an alternate universe,
and the characters at times will be VERY ooc, compared to those in the
series. Please remember that the versions in this story line had very
different experiences.
* * * * *
It was a beautiful day out; the sun was shining, and there were just
enough clouds in the sky to provide occasional shade so it didn't get too
hot while remaining pleasantly sunny. The lake sparkled, disturbed only now
and then by the light breeze that rustled through the leaves. There was a
hint of autumn in that breeze; a hint of cool nights that might need a
comforter or perhaps the warm caress of a lover to get through. Birds sang
softly, almost as though afraid of shattering the tranquility with too loud
a note, and butterflies were lazily flying from flower to tree to flower.
In the far distance, the sounds of the city could just barely be made out,
but even they seemed in time with the day, melding with it.
In the middle of it all was one Tenchi Masaki. He was making his way
slowly down the old, carved-stone path; he had left for the bus early so
that he could enjoy the morning. He was dressed in his school uniform;
black shirt, black pants; held his book bag over one shoulder. Tenchi was
smiling, mouth curved upward and eyes laughing as though at some joke only
he could see. The only sound that he made was the steady clicking of his
shoes against the stone of the path. The morning seemed to demand silence,
beyond the singing of the birds and the sounds of the city, demanded it with
all the authority of Nature.
And yet, as perfect as the day was, somewhere, deep in the back of his
mind, Tenchi couldn't shake the feeling that something was... wrong,
something was missing. That something just wasn't right. It was strange,
as though a voice was telling him... what? He glanced up, at the black sky
with it's purple sun; the sparkling of the light of the lake of boiling
blood; rubbed his hands on his bare arms in a vain attempt to shake off the
howling, icy gale.
Abruptly Tenchi blinked; black sky, purple sun? A lake of boiling
blood tossed by an icy wind? Eyes widening, he looked around himself to
find that he was once again in a peaceful, tranquil forest. After a moment,
he shook his head, dismissing it as a day dream, or rather, day nightmare,
and began walking again. Somewhere off in the distance, he heard the deep
toll of a bell, slowly calling the morning hour. He grinned again. It was
too nice a day to worry about anything, he thought abruptly with a wry
laugh. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a deer sprint along, out across
the path and back into the woods almost before he recognized it. Tenchi
laughed again. Too nice a day to worry about anything.
But now, he slowly became aware of the fact that he didn't feel at ease
anymore, of a strange, creeping, silently whispering chill that started at
the very base of his spine, and ever so slowly began a painful crawl
upwards. The birds soft chirping, before seemingly afraid of being too
loud, began to crowd in on him. It was a quiet, haunting sound; as it fell
on his ears it seemed to change from one of beauty to a sinister, evil song
that made his very marrow freeze. Slowly, he stopped, frowning, looking
about himself warily. That sense of something wrong came back, and for some
reason he found himself looking to the sky expectantly, as if waiting for
something there.
Around him, the trees began to creak, change from ancient, holy things
to twisted, gnarled claws. The leaves turned gray; they fell away from the
oaks and sycamores and birch and cherry trees with a dead rustle. The bark
darkened from healthy reds, browns and whites to dark, drab gray. The once
gentle breeze now began to blow harder, whistling and moaning through the
gnarled behemoths; cold chiller than the arctic winds began to sear Tenchi
down to his very soul. He thought he saw the deer again for a moment, but
even as he did, SOMETHING moved and the deer simply ceased to exist.
A shadow fell over the land; he looked up to see the sun being
eclipsed, turning the sky black. For a moment, he thought that he could see
something, some strange, indistinct kind of mask. Then the sun was fully
eclipsed; a sphere of purple light somehow pushing through in it's place.
Tenchi suddenly felt something hot on his face; with a trembling,
shivering hand, he reached up and touched it lightly. His fingers came away
stained with blood; he went to wipe it away on his clothes and suddenly
realized that he no longer had any clothes. He looked down in surprise, and
then blinked as a hand slowly started to grow out of the ground at his feet.
For a moment, the hand just stayed there, and then abruptly it grabbed onto
his ankle, fingernails becoming sharp talons. He opened his mouth to
scream, but no sound came out, or if it did it was ripped away by the
howling wind. His life's blood sprayed away, somehow reaching the lake, and
as it dropped in the water began to boil, became blood. Another claw sank
into his other ankle, and he felt himself slowly begin to be dragged into
the chill earth; struggle as he might, he could not get free.
The claws pulled him down to his waist; suddenly the wind wasn't
howling, it was laughing, laughing madly at him. Then, abruptly, two golden
spheres appeared before him, and a hand that was stretching slowly toward
him. Desperately he tried to stretch out to that hand; more claws grew out
of the ground and sank into his sides and shoulders. Somehow, he kept
reaching to that disembodied hand and those two golden spheres. Their
fingertips brushed, and Tenchi felt a surge of hope, just before the claws
yanked down hard, ripping their hands apart. Tenchi opened his mouth to
scream as his eyes began to sink below the earth, but dirt poured into his
throat like water, smothering him, drowning him...
"Ahhh!" shouted Tenchi, as he sat bolt upright, gasping for breath.
Heart pounding, he began to panic as he realized that while he could breath
again, he still couldn't see, and frightening as the world had become, it
was sheer terrifying to not be able to see what might be coming after him.
Scrabbling to get away, he found that he was tangled up in something; the
blood pounding in his ears made it seem as though he was standing next to a
thunderbolt.
Abruptly the lights came on; he stopped thrashing about as he realized
that he was in a bed, and that he was only tangled in the sheets. His heart
began to climb back down into his ribcage; as the blood stopped pounding so
loudly, he heard his mother asking him what was wrong. Shaking his head to
clear away the cobwebs, he looked at her.
At thirty-eight, Achika Masaki still looked like she was only twenty.
Her long, black hair was tied back into a pony tail, and it hung just past
her waist. He'd learned to watch for her to unconsciously tug at it when
she got angry or very worried- which wasn't very often, but she had one hand
wrapped about it at the moment. She stood perhaps half a foot shorter than
Tenchi, and had the same gentle brown eyes as he did. Her cheekbones were
slightly raised, and her nose ever so slightly hooked; sometimes, if the
light was just right, you could see something of a hawk there. She looked
at him with concern in her eyes.
"Tenchi, what's wrong?" she asked, coming over to the side of the bed.
Shaking his head again, he smiled at her.
"Nothing, mother, I just... had a really weird dream," he told her. "A
really, really weird dream." The nightmare was already fading away as most
dreams did, yet... it had felt so real. Abruptly Achika gasped in surprise,
and caught his head lightly in her hands. He blinked as she leaned down.
"When did you get this cut, Tenchi?" she asked. He blinked again, and
looked at her.
"What..." He paused, as he felt something hot on his cheek. Blinking,
he reached up and lightly touched it; his fingers came away smeared with
crimson, and he felt the blood drain from his face. Achika looked at him,
frowning slightly.
"Are you feeling well, Tenchi? Do you think you need to stay home
today?" she asked. Shrugging free of her grasp, he shook his head, and
smiled.
"No, I'm... I'm fine, mom. I must have scratched myself during that
dream," he said. For a moment, she frowned at him consideringly, before
nodding.
"Alright." She paused a moment, and suddenly Tenchi's alarm clock went
off, making them both jump. Looking at each other, they laughed, as he
reached over and hit the off switch. "Get cleaned up and ready for school
Tenchi," she told him, stepping back from the bed. "I'll make some
breakfast while you do," she said, smiling, and he nodded, grinning.
Smiling again, she left the room, and Tenchi began to untangle himself from
the sheets. He paused a moment; how had he gotten that cut? Blood on his
cheek had been in his dream... But no, that couldn't be. Probably he had
scratched himself, and it had worked it's way into the dream.
Yeah. That had to be it. He hoped.
"Turn to your partner; study their face a moment, and then put them on
your paper. You have the rest of the period to complete your assignment.
Begin." Pencils descended to paper, as the students in Tenchi's art class
began work on their latest assignment. He waited patiently as Kei lightly
ran her hand over his face, and then looked at her, smiling. She grinned at
him as she began to sketch out his face. Looking down to his own paper, he
touched the pencil lead down, and slowly began to make a line.
Art was one of his favorite classes; usually he had no trouble with any
of the assignments. Usually. But for some reason, today, as he heard the
soft scratching away of the other student's pencils, he just couldn't get
the lines to come together right. Half an hour had already gone by, and
he'd only managed to draw one eye. Even that didn't look right. It was a
perfect eye, he knew; the lashes were just long enough, the curves of the
iris just sloping enough, yet it still looked wrong.
After a moment, he erased the iris lines, and drew them much less
curved, more slitted, like a cat's eye, instead of ovals. Then he added
sharply pointed ovals for the pupils too. Now it was just right; now he
began to recognize the feeling that he sometimes got when he was deeply into
a drawing, when his hands began to draw without him thinking of what he was
doing. It was a feeling that he always got when he was doing his best work,
and he let it take over.
A second eye was added, the same cat-like iris as the first. A petite,
slightly up-turned nose appeared; then a gently smiling mouth. The first
sketch of her hair went in, long and luxurious and flowing; Tenchi frowned,
and erased it all. The second attempt started to take shape; long spikes of
hair, and two long tails that hung down to her chest. He drew in her bangs,
almost curled spikes that partly covered her eyebrows. He added a somewhat
sharp chin, and slightly rectangular shaped ears. After a moment's thought,
he softened the chin just slightly.
Setting his pencil down, his hand hovered over a brown colored pencil
for a moment before settling on a blue so light it was almost silver.
Slowly, he filled in her hair, getting the shade just right; setting down
the cyan color, he blended in just a touch of blue-green. Her skin gained
an alabaster tone. Tenchi stared at the drawing for a moment. Something
was still missing from it; a sparkle caught his eye. Looking, he saw a gold
colored pencil; grinning, he picked it up and shaded in her irises with it.
Leaning back in his chair as the feeling left him, he studied what he'd
drawn. The girl there wasn't Kei... yet he was certain that he knew who she
was. Her face was so familiar; though he knew that he'd never seen it
before. His brow furrowed, as he sacked his mind for a name. "R...
Ryoko..." he said softly, an then blinked as the picture was plucked from
his grasp.
"Well, Mr. Masaki! I must say that this is an excellent effort!"
boomed his teacher, drawing the attention of the other students. "Look
class! See how closely Mr. Masaki has matched the shade of Kei's hair, and
the color and shape of her eyes?" he said, holding up the drawing for them
all to see. Laughter rippled through the classroom, and Tenchi blushed, as
the teacher handed it back to him, grinning.
"I'm sorry sir, I don't know what happened," he said meekly. His
teacher nodded.
"Sometimes you envision something that has to be drawn, and can't do
anything else until you do. This one time, I will accept it and give you
credit, just try not to do it again," he said quietly, grinning again.
Tenchi nodded in relief.
"Yes, Sensei," he answered. The bell rang; his teacher told them that
they were excused, and reminded them to pick up a permission slip for the
next week's field trip. Tenchi packed away his things; after a moment's
thought, he tucked the drawing of the golden eyed girl into his book bag
too. Kei elbowed him lightly in the side as he moved toward the door. He
grabbed a pair of the permission slips and placed one in her hand; she
tucked it into her bag.
"So, who is she?" she asked, grinning. He winced.
"I... don't know. Honest. I was trying to do the assignment, and she
just... you know... kinda appeared," said Tenchi.
"Then why did I hear you say Ryoko? I heard you say it just before
Okai-sensei took it," she countered, with a dangerous glint in her eyes.
Tenchi raised his hands defensively.
"She's probably just one of my mother's old friends. Her skin is too
light to be Japanese; I probably met her when I was just a little kid and
didn't remember her till just now," he said. Kei looked at him skeptically.
"Uh-huh." Tenchi took hold of her hands.
"I swear, I don't know who she is, and I've never seen her before," he
assured her. After a moment, her skeptical look melted into a grin.
"Ok baka, I believe you. So, are we still on for tonight?" she asked.
He grinned.
"Assuming that I can get grandpa to let me out of sword practice," he
said lightly. Kei punched him on the shoulder.
"You told me you had everything taken care of last week!" she
exclaimed, socking him again. He did his best to ward her off, laughing.
"Ok, ok! Ow, I was just kidding!" he said.
"Tenchi no baka!" Kei answered, scowling and looking away. He grinned.
"Are you saying that I would dare forget about our date at the
carnival? How could I, you remind me every five minutes," he said dryly.
"I do not! Anyway, what about that time you forgot we were meeting at
the mall to shop?" she countered.
"Ok, so I forgot one time. At least I had a good excuse, Kei," he
said, grinning again. She glanced at him, smirking, as they stepped out the
front entrance of the school. He reached into his pocket and got out his
sunglasses; the sun was bright today.
"The convenient twisted ankle," she said. He shrugged.
"Grandpa tripped me, what was I supposed to do?
"Not be so clumsy?" she deadpanned. Tenchi grinned, as she sighed in
mock exasperation. "How'd I ever end up with somebody like you, I'll never
understand." He took a moment to look at her. Kei was a full foot shorter
than he was, with reddish-brown hair, pale skin, and freckles spotting her
cheeks. Her eyes were sparkling mirrors of teal; she had a little rosebud
of a mouth. She was an orphan; her parents had just moved to Japan and were
killed in a car wreak that somehow left her untouched. She'd been placed
into the foster system and had been lucky enough to have grown up with the
same two foster parents, rather than having been shuffled around.
Of course, what most people didn't know was that she was also blind,
and had been since birth. The reason that most didn't was that she didn't
act blind; she looked at people when they spoke, and seemed to have some
sort of personal sonar that kept her from running into people and things.
And she could draw! She could draw things from simple descriptions; all she
had to do was touch a person's face once and she could draw it in perfect
detail. He had never once seen her need to erase a line or alter a drawing
because she'd made a mistake on proportioning.
"An uncanny sense of character? He asked. She grinned at him. Lately
they'd had special cause for celebration. Because she could differentiate
between different levels of light, his aunt Washu, a doctor and researcher
at the hospital, thought that there was a chance that she might be able to
cure her condition, that Kei might be able to see. The operation was
scheduled for Friday, two days from today; tomorrow she would go in for
several pre-operation tests and exams.
Her bus pulled up, and he tapped her shoulder. Kei turned to him, and
stood up on tiptoes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. Then she smiled
and hurried over to the bus. As she climbed on, she looked toward him.
"You better be ready at 3:30 Tenchi Masaki, or else!"
First Princess Ayeka, of the royal house of Jurai, screamed as she sat
up in her bed, and curled into a fetal ball, as she had done on so many
nights, and would do on so many more. The sweat on her skin felt like ice;
her bed sheets were soaked with it. She took in several deep breaths, and
calmed herself, as she had had so much practice in. A light came on, as the
Guardians looked in on her.
"Are you alright, your Highness?"
"That same dream again?" She nodded, waving them away. Every night,
like clockwork, she had the same nightmare; every night, reliving watching
the little cyan-haired girl being she had just met in the flower field being
torn apart by a strange, black blob.
So many nights, waking up, screaming, as the blob turned toward her.
Sighing, she uncurled, and stood, making her way to her washroom.
Turning on the faucet, she splashed herself with cold water, letting the
chill wash away the last of her dream. Ayeka looked up at the mirror, at a
miserable looking woman. Her night gown had come partly undone, enough to
show a fair amount of the thick, slashing scar she had received on that
day. It ran from the tip of her chin, along her jaw line and down, over her
right breast and under her left, then terminating after making a sharp turn
and running down her side to just above her waist. It was her other
reminder of that day.
By far, she preferred the scar.
The experience had been a shocking one; she had only survived by the
chance arrival of the guardians. The blob had fled as they fired on it. To
this day, she still found herself very afraid of sounds from dark places.
And every night, that same, terrible dream, over and over. Doctors from
thousands of worlds had tried to dislodge it; psychics to simply erase it,
but without fail, every night it returned.
Some nights, it seemed somehow worse, such as this night; she would
wake up screaming in terror, as she just had. Other nights Ayeka would
sleep through it; it would seem muted, far away, as though she was watching
a grainy recording.
"Princess Ayeka, we are receiving a signal from Princess Sasami," said
Azaka, poking his single electronic eye around the corner. She glanced at
him.
"Thank you Azaka. I will take it in my bedchamber. Tell me, what is
our current position?" she asked.
"We are presently three light years from our meeting place with
Princess Sasami. At our current rate of speed, we will arrive one day ahead
of schedule," he replied after a moment. She nodded.
"Please decrease speed so that we arrive at the appointed time," she
said.
"Yes, your highness," he replied, before floating away. Nodding, Ayeka
reached out and grabbed a towel, drying her face. Straightening, she
composed herself, rebuttoned the nightshirt, and went back out to sit on her
bed.
"Open communication." A wide screen appeared, with Sasami's smiling,
freckled face.
"Hi sis! I'm sorry for calling so late," she said almost before the
screen was done forming. Ayeka shook her head.
"I was awake anyway, Sasami. What is it?" she asked, smiling slightly.
She lost some of her smile.
"I just had the strangest dream... and now I've got this feeling that I
need to be somewhere else... and that you should be there too," she said
slowly. Ayeka frowned slightly.
"What sort of dream, Sasami?" she asked. Sasami sighed.
"It was weird... I felt like I was flying, and I saw this house. There
were people there... the only two people that I could make out were you and
I, but there were seven of us in all, four other girls and one boy. I
couldn't see their faces, but... It felt... happy there." Sasami paused a
moment, looking at her. "And... you didn't have..." Sasami trailed off,
but her hand traced the line of Ayeka's scar on her own chin. Her sister
had always been a little uncomfortable talking about it; Juraian tradition
put physical beauty on a high pedestal, and it was something that she
intended to change. Perhaps that was something she had learned; the silver
lining of that dark day. The ability to see the hypocrisy of the government
she had been raised to one day take over.
"You know that couldn't be Sasami; no one has been able to remove it."
She sighed, but smiled slightly. "After this long, I probably wouldn't let
them do it anyway. It's become as much a part of who I am as my training.
A valuable reminder of a lesson that I was given." Sasami sighed.
"I know, but... It just felt so... real, so..." Sasami sighed again,
and Ayeka smiled, as she got an idea.
"I'll tell you what. How far are you from the rendezvous?" she asked.
Sasami blinked, but looked to the side for a moment.
"I'm about a day ahead, why?" she said.
"So am I. There are a couple of inhabited planets in the area. We'll
go to one and take a look around. Maybe we'll find that house; who knows,
perhaps we'll see the people you saw. How does that sound?" she asked,
smiling again. Sasami's eyes widened.
"Really?" she asked, excitement in her eyes. Ayeka nodded.
"Really. We'll rendezvous, and then take Ryou-oh in, ok?" she said.
Sasami laughed in delight, and nodded.
"I can't wait! This is gonna be great!" she said. Ayeka grinned
slightly.
"Alright. You get back to sleep; I'll see you in a couple hours," she
said. Sasami grinned, and then closed the communication. Ayeka smiled as
it did, and then sighed once it was closed. For a moment, she pictured
herself without the thick, slashing scar.
"Azaka, Kamadake. Return us to our previous speed, and please give me
scans of the nearby inhabited planets. We will be taking short side trip,"
she called; ignoring the confirming "Yes Ma'am!" she sighed, and began to
pick through her drawers for something to wear.
"Hey Mihoshi, what did you do with my hairbrush?" called Kiyone, as she
sleepily looked around for it.
"I think you might have left it in the bathroom, Kiyone. Didn't you?"
came the answer. Kiyone stretched out luxuriously, and then stood, padding
over to the Yagami's bathroom. Sure enough, it was siting next to the wash
basin.
"I'm going to take my bath. Think you can handle keeping watch for a
little while?"
"Yeah sure, Kiyone!" answered the blonde. Kiyone sighed, grinning, and
ran some wash water. Closing the door and stripping out of her nightgown,
she sighed again, this time in pleasure, as she stepped into the steaming
water, and let it cover her to the chin. Closing her eyes, she let herself
soak for awhile.
When they had been assigned to this remote sector, at first, she
thought her career was over. Nothing ever happened beyond the occasional
breakdown of a ship or minor traffic infraction. And she'd been stuck with
Mihoshi! All alone with her... she'd seriously considered deserting. But on
ce they'd gotten there, something had happened. Kiyone wasn't sure if it
was the peace and quiet, or what, but she felt like she - and Mihoshi -
belonged here. It was like they were there to wait for something...
Something important.
The water splashed a little as she started to soap herself up; things
out here were so quiet... She'd never liked keeping still, yet here... She
wondered what it was they were waiting for, wondered when it would happen.
It had to be something important, she was sure of it. Otherwise the feeling
wouldn't be so strong. Sighing again, she rinsed herself off, and stood up,
draining the water and getting a towel to dry herself off.
Stepping back into her room and letting the towel drop, she set about
trying to find her uniform. She wasn't entirely sure where she'd tossed it
all when she'd staggered into her bedroom the night before and dropped onto
her bed almost before tugging on her nightshirt. Bit by bit, it did come
together though. Bra, shirt, pants, socks, panties and her black and blue
vest; she found her shield under a book and pinned it on. Kiyone paused a
moment, in front of the mirror, and took a close look at herself. A young,
healthy woman in a tight Galaxy Police uniform looked back at her. She
looked ready to go conquer all the criminals out there.
Kiyone sighed again. Ready or not, she still had to wait for whatever
that something was. Taking a second to straighten her collar, she walked up
to the cockpit to find Mihoshi in her favorite pink sweater and blue jeans.
"Mihoshi, why aren't you in your uniform? If HQ called with you wearing
that, do you have any idea how much trouble we'd be in?" she asked. Mihoshi
grinned.
"It's our week off silly, remember? They're sending Mitzuki up to
cover for us?" she reminded her. Kiyone blinked, as the blonde turned back
to her console. She sat down slowly.
"I forgot, totally," she said, and then laughed. "They hardly need to
send anybody up. The sector has been even deader than usual this past
couple weeks," she mused. Mihoshi nodded.
"So where do you want to go? I was kinda sorta thinking about the Sol
system..." said Mihoshi. Kiyone looked at her blandly.
"You know we can't go there, Mihoshi, it's off limits to inter-stellar
traffic by the order of Jurai," said Kiyone.
"I know, but it's practically home! I mean, it is the nearest planet
on our patrol route... We could just say we had an emergency and needed to
get supplies!" answered her partner. Kiyone frowned.
"Mihoshi..." The blonde looked at her with huge, blue puppy dog eyes.
"Please Kiyone? Please?!?" she begged. Kiyone sighed; she knew she
couldn't resist that look.
"Oh, alright. But only for two days! Anymore than that, and we might
be picked up by Jurai's scanners," she conceded. Mihoshi grinned.
"Yay!" The blonde pressed a button on her console, and Yagami started
moving. Kiyone frowned at her.
"You already had the course laid in?" she asked. Mihoshi grinned
slightly.
"Well, only kinda sorta. I was practicing plotting courses - you told
me to, remember! - and just... happened to use Earth as a destination."
Kiyone sighed again, and then laughed.
"What am I gonna do with you Mihoshi?"
"Hey mom, dad, I'm home!" called Tenchi, as he opened the door.
Setting his school bag on the table and taking off his shoes, he walked
upstairs.
"Don't forget about the carnival Tenchi!" came Achika's reply. Tenchi
grinned.
"I know mom, I was just about to get cleaned up. Oh yeah, in my book
bag there's a permission slip that I need you to sign for my art class field
trip," he said, before pulling the bathroom door shut, and running some
water. Twenty minutes later, he came back down, dressed in a pair of slacks
and a white T-shirt. Entering the kitchen, he opened the fridge and grabbed
a pop before going into the living room.
To Tenchi's surprise, he found his mother, father, grandfather and aunt
Washu sitting there; the picture he had drawn earlier that day between them.
Achika looked up as he came in, an odd look in her eyes. The mood in the
room was somber; finally, the silence grew too much and Tenchi spoke.
"What's wrong?" he asked. The four of them looked at each other, and
then his grandfather spoke.
"Tenchi, have you seen this woman?" he asked, indicating the drawing.
Tenchi shook his head in confusion.
"No... She just sorta appeared on the paper today in class. I thought
that she might have been one of mom's old friends that I met a long time
ago," he answered. They looked at each other again.
"Do you know who she is?" Tenchi frowned.
"When I finished it, the name Ryoko kinda popped into my head. What's
wrong anyway? You're acting like you've seen a ghost," he said. His mother
smiled, but that strange look wouldn't leave her eyes.
"Nothing, Tenchi... It's... just such a good drawing, we were afraid
that Kei might have some competition. That's all," she said, and then
laughed. "But I know you wouldn't do something like that to Kei." Tenchi
blushed slightly.
"Mom, you know me -" He paused as his wrist watch beeped. "Oh man, I
gotta go, it's quarter after three. Kei will kill me if I'm late!" he
exclaimed, looking at the watch. Nobuyuki dug into his pocket, and pulled
out the mini-van keys.
"Here Tenchi," he said, tossing them to him. "Have a good time."
"Thanks dad!" answered Tenchi, as he spun and hurried out the door.
"I'll be back around ten!"
As Tenchi disappeared out the door, Achika sighed in relief. Her eyes
were drawn back to the picture again. It was perfect; Ryoko in every
detail. She still wasn't quite sure how that could be; Tenchi had never,
and would never meet her, as far as she understood it. She looked at Washu
as she spoke.
"So it's finally starting... I have to admit, when my double released
me, I didn't really believe her, but now there is no doubt. Multi-temporal
dimensional residue; he's picking up images of what should have happened,"
she said. "It would be interesting to find out if they are picking up any
of what we're going through, wouldn't it?" Katsuhito nodded slightly.
"Then if she was right, the others will be drawn here as well."
"And once they arrive, what then?" asked Achika. Washu shrugged.
"If their Washu was right, and since I always am she must be too, we'll
be tugged in the right direction until we can find a way to repair the
damage done by Ryoko's death. Once we do... who knows? We may vanish, or
we may continue on," she said. Achika shivered at the grim pronouncement.
"What is important now is that we are ready when the time comes," said
Nobuyuki, and Washu nodded.
"Right. I've already got things set up in my lab. We'll only have one
chance. I just hope they're ready on their end," she said. Katsuhito
nodded, and then stood.
"If you'll excuse me, I need to go get something."
-----
The Platinum Dragon
"The world is headed for mutiny, when all we want is unity; we may rise and
fall, but in the end, we meet our fate together!" Creed, 'One'
Proud Member of the Ryoko Forever Fan Club