Hello, readers! Welcome to another of my Tenchi stories. I don't usually like to post chapters before the story is finished, but I decided that this time I'd go for it—so here's the first installment! I don't have a lot of time to write creatively, and the time I do have is split up among a number of projects both original and not, so don't expect updates to happen super-frequently…but I think just knowing that there might be one or two people waiting for the next chapter will push me along.
So here, without further ado, is the story. It's set in the OVA universe, including OVA three, which I loved and hated by turns…so you will see Noike and also Seto in this story, but not Tennyo or Airi, and very little Tokimi. It takes place, chronologically, in between OVA three and GXP. I also drew on a lot of the non-anime back story stuff for this, like the True Tenchi novels, particularly Washu's. If you don't know what those are, you might want to do a little pre-reading before tackling this story—I make a lot of suppositions about Washu's past based on them, and Naja, a main character in that novel, features heavily in this story. You can find English language summaries of them at .com/tatsumingo/world/world_e dot html (sorry for the weird format of that, but FFN files automatically blank out email addresses and website URLs), or get more info on them at www dot astronerdboy dot com /tenchi/.
I also drew inspiration from a cute and intriguing little comic from Kajishima Onsen 5.12 and 6.08. It's in Japanese, but it's also almost entirely wordless, and there were a few katakana I could read, so thankfully I have a pretty good idea of what's going on; the plot is basically that Ryo-ohki (in little girl form) calls Washu "mama," and Washu is so delighted by this that she decides to turn surly and un-daughterly Ryoko into a little girl, too. So she does, and maniacally forces Ryoko to call her "mama." When Ryoko does, though, Washu has a flashback of two little children with the telltale Hakubi spiky hair, which then cuts to an image of Washu and Naja in their academy uniforms standing by what I've taken for a gravestone or cenotaph. This flashback clearly upsets Washu, who pulls little Ryoko into a tight embrace, crying. She quickly recovers her usual composure and the tale ends on a happy note, but that quick flash of two children and a grave made me wonder. If you're interested in seeing the whole thing, or would like to take a crack at translating the few bits of Japanese that I couldn't read, let me know! ;)
Anyway…that was an extremely long intro, but I wanted you readers to have the same information that I did when I came up with the plot, so that you can get the most out of the story. Reviews, constructive criticism and questions are always welcomed. Enjoy!
~o~o~o~
Chapter One – Birth Day
She wakes before the sun, confused; her dreams were strange, and her hair sticks to her neck and back in limp clumps. Slowly the fog of sleep begins to fade, and she turns gingerly over. Her husband is still asleep, his blonde curls clinging around his face. She smiles, watching him until the pressing call of nature urges her out of bed.
She stands awkwardly and half waddles to the bathroom, her hands moving absently over the stretched skin of her belly. The baby is waking too, she thinks, feeling it shift, but it isn't until her bladder has been satisfied that she registers the low throb of discomfort in the background of her body. She presses her hands into the curve of her aching back and smiles at herself in the mirror, a small, secret, nervous smile. "So, then, is today the day?"
"The day for what, Washu-chan?" She turns. Mikamo stands framed in the bathroom doorway, naked and still half asleep. She chuckles to herself, and he smiles lopsidedly. "Washu?"
"Miss Washu?"
A light flickered on above her, and the scientist jumped, blinking confusedly. "What?"
"Oh…Miss Washu, I'm sorry to disturb you…."
Frowning, Washu straightened; the desk in front of her was littered with bits and pieces of the project she'd been working on…was that last night? Still pulling her consciousness out of the dream, she lay a hand across her stomach—it was flat, slender. The dream had been just that.
She glanced over at the doorway and called up a tired smile for Aeka, who stood there hesitantly. "Come on in, Aeka. I must've dozed off."
The princess took a step into the lab, letting the door swing shut and vanish behind her. "Were you up all night working again? You've missed a few meals, Noike insisted that I come and get you for lunch."
"Well, I guess I do get a little caught up in my work," Washu admitted, smiling. "And I could use some food, that's for sure."
Aeka smiled. "I also wanted to remind you that we're having a little surprise party for Mihoshi this evening, it's her birthday. I know you're busy with your inventions, but I'm sure she'd be delighted if you'd join us for cake."
"Oh…Mihoshi's birthday?" Washu sat back in her chair. "No wonder…"
"No wonder what, Washu?"
The scientist shook her head, smiling solemnly to herself. "Nothing. Let's go eat, shall we, Princess?" Washu stood, shaking off the last vestiges of the dream with a toss of her hair, and put on a brave face for the riotous residents of the Masaki household.
~o~o~o~
Lunch was the usual chaotic affair; even Katsuhito had come down from the shrine to join them, so there was barely room at the table for everyone's jabbing elbows and reaching chopsticks. Washu ate little and without her usual gusto, but to her relief nobody seemed to notice; she thanked the heavens, for probably the ten thousandth time, that her link with her daughter only went one way unless Washu was trying to get her attention. Ryoko was in fine form today, crass and energetic, and the scientist was glad of the distraction.
Of course, Mihoshi alone was enough to keep attention off Washu; everything the young detective said caused a volley of furtive glances and stifled giggles around the table. It seemed to the scientist, and probably to everyone else, that the woman had forgotten her own birthday—it would make the surprise that much better.
"Noike, Washu, would you help me with the dishes?" Sasami asked when lunch was over, and the family began to dissipate.
On most occasions, Washu would find a reason to be elsewhere—she didn't mind cooking once in a while, but dishes were not her cup of tea—but today Sasami's eyes betrayed her real purpose. Some party prep, huh? Washu thought to herself, and smiled. "No problem, Sasami-chan."
"Thank you, Washu-sensei," Noike murmured as the three of them carried piles of dishes to the kitchen. "We wanted some help with the cake, and, well…"
"Noike, I've told you many times, just call me Washu." She winked. "I may be a retired professor and a goddess in disguise, but I detest formality."
"Nor are you the only goddess in disguise, oneechan," Tsunami pointed out, flickering into being as Sasami turned from the sink, and flickering away just as quickly. Washu chuckled at Noike's startled expression, and brought the subject back around to baking.
"At any rate, I don't think I could concentrate on my work today, so I don't mind helping—I know Ryoko and Aeka can't be trusted near an oven."
Sasami sighed. "That's the truth. I was also wondering…do you think you could put up a little forcefield, or something, to keep Mihoshi out?"
Washu grimaced. "I could give it a try, but sometimes I think the harder I work to keep her away from things, the easier time she has getting past my measures. She's probably going to be sleeping off lunch for most of the afternoon—why don't we just take our chances?"
"Well, you know best, Washu-chan!" Sasami grinned, but shot her a gentle glance when Noike wasn't looking.
Washu sent a little half-smile back. Sasami knows, from Tsunami, she thought. I guess I'm not the only one who remembers dates.
Between the three of them the baking went on without a hitch, and Washu found herself getting caught up in the process of it—the underlying chemical principles were transparent to her, of course, so much so that she could produce food just by programming her computer with the proper formulas, but the step-by-step act of baking was much more novel. Sasami and Noike took so much joy in it that, after a while, the scientist started to forget the science and relax into the rhythm of icing the cake's many layers as they came out of the oven. It was Sasami who put on the finishing touches, piping little rosettes everywhere and writing "Happy Birthday Mihoshi!" on the top. The three stood back to admire their handiwork, their hair and faces dotted with sugar and flour and icing.
"All right!" Sasami grinned, hands on her hips. "It looks great! Now we just have to make a super-special delicious dinner!"
Washu chuckled, looking down at herself. "Well, if you girls can handle that part yourselves, I think I'm going to take a bath."
"All right. We'll send someone to get you when the food's ready."
"Great."
~o~o~o~
The onsen was empty for once, and Washu scrubbed herself clean with her mind wandering elsewhere, then slipped into the hot water with a grateful sigh. The restful quiet and the heat lulled her for a while, not really to sleep, but into a blank, clear state of mind that her scientific training and curiosity didn't often allow. Images flickered slowly behind her eyes and she let them come; scenes of her life since escaping from the Souja, and scenes longer ago, of laughing faces and tiny hands enclosed in her own….
"Mya ma?"
Washu's eyes fluttered open to find Ryo-ohki in child form, holding out her arms to be helped into the water, her dress in a heap by the side of the bath. "Oh…."
"Mama?" The little girl cocked her head, her ears flopping.
"Of course, sweetheart…" Washu pulled the child down onto her lap, and Ryo-ohki grinned at her and snuggled comfortably against her chest.
"Mya ma."
Washu chuckled softly and kissed her hair. "What a sweet thing you are, Ryo-chan. You know, I'm glad you assimilated so successfully with the Masu. It does us all good to have a little one around the house."
"Mya?" The little girl looked up at her mother, then frowned, and lay a tiny hand against Washu's cheek. "Mya mya mya."
"What?" Washu covered the girl's hand with her own, startled. "Oh…I didn't even realize I was. It's all right, Ryo-chan. Nothing's wrong."
Ryo-ohki solemnly wiped the tears from Washu's face, then smiled. "Mya!"
"Yes," the scientist murmured softly. "Yes, everything's all right."
~o~o~o~
The room is filled with people, the smiling faces of her family and the smell of home-cooked food. She has a candy her cousin made stuffed in her mouth, a sugary, creamy treat on a wooden stick that she sucks on with gusto. Her little brother holds tightly to her hand as they wander through the room, his eyes wide and mischievous, and he stops chewing his own candy long enough to ask what they are looking for.
"Great Grandpa," she replies, tugging him happily between the legs of adults, until she spies the old man seated in the best chair with a party crown perched in his whitened curls.
"Mihoshi-chan!" he cries when he sees her. "Come sit on my lap, it's almost time to open our presents!"
"Me too?" her brother asks, and she looks at Great Grandpa with a pleading expression.
"Of course, Misao-chan. Come, and I'll tell you a story while we wait for present time." The old man lifts the tiny children onto his knees, wrapping his arms around them. "Have I ever told you the story of the Lady in the Snow?"
"No!" they chorus together, eager and smiling.
"Well, when I was just a boy, only a little older than you are, Mihoshi, we had a sudden snowstorm the night before my birthday."
"My birthday too!" Mihoshi cries happily, and Great Grandfather chuckled.
"You weren't born yet, little one, but yes. I was in your Great Grandmother's room—she was my half-sister, you know—and we watched the snow fall through the window. She was sick that winter, and she turned away to cough; just as she turned, out of the corner of my eye I saw a face, a person outside. When I looked again, the face was gone."
"Oh!" The children's eyes widen in suspense, and Great Grandfather smiles.
"The next day, I went outside to play in the new snow in the yard; it was still falling, and suddenly the wind picked up and blew the snow all around me like a fog. A figure appeared, snow flying around her; she was dressed in black and had hair the color of a Jurai sunset—"
"What does that look like, Great Grandfather?"
"Oh…well…it looks almost like…well…" He grabs a fruit from the table behind him, and takes a bite. "It looks pink and red like the inside of this plum."
"Wow!" Mihoshi takes the plum and bites into it, letting the juice dribble down her chin.
"What was most striking about the Lady, though, were her eyes. They were not like your eyes, or Misao's. They were green."
"Like yours, Great Grandfather!" Misao observes, and Mihoshi blinks.
"Wow, you're right Misao! Then what happened?"
"Well, the Lady stepped close to me. She bent down, and I could see in her eyes that I didn't have to be afraid. 'Hello, little one,' she said."
"And then what?"
"Well, Mihoshi…"
"Mihoshi!"
"Mihoshi! It's time for dinner!" The detective blinked, rubbing her eyes and yawning. Someone was calling her—something about…dinner? "Mihoshi!"
"Oh, uh, I'm up here Sasami!" she called, coming to the door of the bedroom the girls all shared. "I think I fell asleep! Did you say it's time to eat?"
Sasami appeared at the bottom of the stairs, grinning. "I did! Come on down, Mihoshi, we're all waiting for you!"
"Oh my! I'll be right there!" The detective ran a hand over her hair to smooth it, and hurried down the stairs to the table. "It's a good thing it's time to eat, I'm getting hungry." She twirled excitedly around at the bottom of the stairs, grinning ear to ear. "It smells delicious!"
"SURPRISE!!!"
"Waahh!!" Mihoshi was knocked off her feet by the enthusiasm, or perhaps by some surge of power from the already-tipsy Ryoko, and Aeka rose to help her upright.
"Happy birthday, Mihoshi!" the princess grinned, leading the bewildered detective over to the table. There were plates upon plates of her favorite dishes, and in the middle, a giant cake with her name written on it. Mihoshi's eyes filled, and she gave the gathered family a watery smile.
"I guess I forgot about it…thank you so much, all of you, this is…well, it's just…" The detective bit her lip, then burst into delighted tears. There were chuckles around the table, and Aeka took Mihoshi's arm, drawing her over into the celebration.
"Now, now…come sit down and have dinner."
"And some sake!" Ryoko added, downing another saucer with a pleased expression.
"And blow out the candles, before the whole place burns down," Washu muttered wryly. In her lap, Ryo-ohki clapped her hands delightedly at the prospect of candle-blowing.
Mihoshi dried her eyes on her sleeve, smiling happily, and was about to sit, when something that had been nagging at her brain finally clicked. "Oh! Oh no! I almost forgot! I'm sorry, everyone, wait here just a minute!" She raced back up the stairs, and from the table, the others could hear her tearing about in the shared bedroom.
"Oh, she's making a mess again," Noike groaned.
Muffled through the walls, they could hear her talking to herself, until finally she shouted something unintelligible in triumph and galloped back down to join the party. She was clutching a small square frame in her hand, and she set it on the table next to the cake, smiling somberly.
"Who's that, Mihoshi?" Ryoko asked, peering at the picture.
"My great grandfather…it would've been his birthday today, too. When I was little, we always used to have our parties together, and he'd tell us stories…ever since he died, I always keep his picture out when our birthday comes around, to celebrate with him."
"That's really sweet, Mihoshi."
"You don't look much like him—where did he get those green eyes? I thought the Kuramitsu family all had blue eyes, like yours."
Mihoshi sat, folding her legs beneath her. "Well, nobody really knows who his mother was, but there was a rumor that she wasn't Seniwan at all, she was from another planet. Someone his father knew before he married my great-great grandmother. Remember the story I told you guys that time, about the Lady in the Snow? Misao and I always thought the Lady must've been Great-Grandfather's real mother."
"Come on, everyone, dig in," Sasami interrupted. "I'll cut slices of cake for everybody, too!" As the usual chaos of chopsticks and conversation erupted around the table, the young princess carefully cut the cake and passed the slices around. "Six, seven, eight! That should be everyone…hey, wait a minute, where'd Washu go?"
Ryoko gulped a fresh saucer of sake, reaching across the table to take the eighth slice of cake. "She probably had to go stir something in her lab. Don't worry, I'll be happy to eat her piece for her."
"Ryoko…"
"You're such a pig, Ryoko, why can't you ever eat like a lady?"
"Oh, you mean like you, Miss Ten-Cucumber-Rolls-in-Thirty-Seconds over there?"
"Ooooh, you…!"
"Aeka, Ryoko, please…."
~o~o~o~
The room is not one she knows; a large bed is tucked beneath bay windows on the far side, and Ryoko crosses the room to get a look through the glass. Before she reaches it she pulls up short, distracted by a cradle at the foot of the bed. The child in the cradle is asleep; he has an angelic face, she thinks, with pale skin and a mass of blonde curls. Ryoko leans down to look more closely, and the child shifts, opens his eyes. They are bright green and curious, and he lifts his chubby arms to be held. Ryoko isn't sure why she does, but she picks him up and sets him on her hip; he feels right there, comfortable. She steps over to the window, pushes back the heavy curtains. It's night outside, but not really dark; spreading out beneath her is a metropolis of buildings, lit and active, and crowds of people as tiny as ants walking this way and that. She still doesn't recognize the locale, but when she looks more closely, she can see that everyone below is wearing a uniform—a surprisingly familiar uniform. The Science Academy? she thinks to herself, surprised. Why on Earth would I dream about— Then her body's reflection in the window catches her eye; something doesn't look right. Her gaze rises up her body to her face, and she steps back, startled. It isn't her face there, but her mother's.
Ryoko woke with a start, looking around. She was home, on her rafter. Weird, she thought, but was too tired to consider it any more than that, and closed her eyes again. She was near to sleep when she heard the lab door open below her, and the quiet footsteps of her mother slipping out into the living room. She was used to Washu coming and going at all sorts of hours, the woman hardly slept, but the strangeness of the dream made her more alert. She opened the link between them just a trickle, and sent a sleepy, wordless question through.
She heard Washu freeze, then sigh. She got a wordless reply in return, a strong desire for privacy, but it had a flavor of sorrow that brought Ryoko further out of her sleep. She twisted, looking down at Washu.
"Please, Ryoko. Go back to bed."
The pirate snorted softly—Washu should know better than to think she would sleep now—and the scientist sighed again, then knelt heavily by the table and pushed aside the mess of sake saucers and leftover pieces of cake from the celebration earlier that evening. Silent, she lay her head down on her arms with her face turned away.
What the heck? Ryoko watched her for a while, confused, until a quiet hitching of breath prodded her to investigate. She vanished and reappeared sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the smaller woman, peering into her face. She was shocked to find her mother's cheeks and arms damp with tears. Green eyes shifted over to meet Ryoko's, unreadable, then shifted away again; the pirate followed their gaze, baffled, to the photo of Mihoshi's great grandfather that still stood propped up on the table. "What—"
"Please don't, Ryoko," Washu murmured, her voice thick and pleading.
Ryoko frowned, for once taking no offense, and let an awkward moment pass. Then she gingerly lay a hand against the other woman's back. Mom?
Washu's eyes flinched closed in pain and then opened again. My son, little Ryoko.
Your…. The pirate looked at the picture again, more keenly, and saw it where she hadn't before—the green eyes were just the same, their lively, intelligent sparkle, and she remembered the dream, letting out a breath. "Oh."
Perhaps it was something about the quiet intimacy of night-time, when nobody else was awake to see; perhaps it was the naked sorrow in Washu's face, or the strange dream that Ryoko now understood must have been projected through their link. Whatever the reason, the pirate let her usual façade slip aside and wrapped her arms around the smaller woman, pulling her close.
Washu stiffened, caught off-guard, but her resistance didn't last long; with surprising strength she gripped Ryoko back, muffling her sobs in the pirate's broad shoulder. They stayed that way for a long time, Washu curled and shaking in her childlike body, Ryoko stroking her hair and her back, rocking her absently. Slowly the older woman's frame loosened, limp and exhausted, and Ryoko rested her chin on top of her mother's head.
"So…does this mean that I'm related to Mihoshi?"
Washu gave an undignified little snort, then sighed softly. "Nearly twenty thousand years ago today…her great grandfather was the only child I actually gave birth to."
"As opposed to all those other children?"
The scientist hesitated just a fraction of a second. "You…Ryo-ohki." She fell silent; then after a moment she spoke again, her voice quiet but without the pain of before. "I know we're not…exactly the way most mothers and daughters are, Ryoko."
"That's for fucking sure," the pirate agreed, half-smiling.
"When Mikumo was taken away…well, it took many years, but I made my way to him, and I intended to take him back. But he was…he was happy, he had a loving family. So I let well enough alone. I did right by him, the best way I could."
"Then, that story about the Lady in the Snow?"
"Yes. That was me."
"Well, considering everything that happened later, I guess he was better off."
Washu smiled a little, her head still nestled against Ryoko's collarbone. "You don't know the half of it. But with you…when you were taken away from me, Ryoko…."
Ryoko shook her head. "We don't have to talk about this now."
"Please, let me…let me just…." Washu sighed softly. "If I had understood and remembered what I was, back then, I would have ripped dimensions apart to get you back. I live every day wishing I could in good conscience turn back the timeline and keep Kagato away from you."
Ryoko was silent for a moment. "Yosho wouldn't have chased me to Earth; he wouldn't have had a family here. Tenchi wouldn't have been born." She smiled. "Maybe it sounds crazy, but…he's worth it. Being here with him is worth it, and being who I am now." Then she sighed, as though giving in. "And being here with you is worth it, too."
Washu smiled softly. "You've grown up into such a strong woman, Ryoko. I'm proud of you. Thank you, for tonight."
Ryoko snorted. "Don't get used to it." But she made no move to let her mother go.