Wow, I'm absolutely flippin' speechless…Well, not really I s'pose, but I am pretty stunned because exactly twenty-one minutes ago, I finished my very first story. Now don't get me wrong, I've been writing for a ridiculously long time, but not once have I actually finished a story! So here I am, eighteen days after I started, twenty-seven pages later, and 14,889 words down with my very first completed story! Needless to say, I'm pretty darn excited at the moment.
Anyway, as the brief plot summary implied, this is an extremely (scratch that—entirely) Kiyone-centric fan fiction, mainly because she's underrated and, quite frankly, a rawkin' awesome character. (XD) I doubt that you're curious in the least, but regardless I'm gonna inform you as to why I started writing this story…Well honestly, there's not much to it. I was just very bored three weeks ago, so I randomly started watching the Tenchi Universe series over again. Anyway, after a tidal wave of nostalgia hit me, the idea for this story came rushing back from all those years ago…so voila! XD --is pelted with rotten fruit.
As a forewarning, I want to apologize in advance for any OOC-ness, liberties taken with the original plot, and/or contrivances/clichés. I'm not sure if there's any of the above in there, but I did that just in case…X.x Also, I'm sorry if the pairing in here isn't your particular cup of tea. Oh, and one last thing (I promise!): I really want to apologize for my experimental writing style. Basically, there are hardly any descriptions and extraneous details thrown in here, mostly because they're not vital to the plot. Furthermore, I don't waste any time at all with getting the plot moving, much unlike my past attempts at writing.
Sorry, I lied; there is another thing! I didn't take any chances of posting this story as I went along, only to lose focus and forget about it while it languished incomplete. So since I've already completed the whole dang story, I'm going to post a new chapter after every five reviews. I'm really sorry for sounding like a complete review nazi, but I figured that would be the easiest way to do it… --is lying again; mostly just wants the reviews. --
Disclaimer: I honestly don't see the point of these things, but I might as well stick to tradition: I do not own Tenchi Universe; it's the property of Pioneer and its associates. All I own is the box-set, a very cool Tenchi computer wallpaper, and this story.
Thank you very much if you suffered through that ridiculously long author's note. XD And now, without further ado, I present to you: Lost and Found!
(Fan fiction started on March 18, 2006; finished on April 7, 2006 at 5:50)
-1-
"Damn it, Mihoshi; put the gun down!" Kiyone bellowed with a shaking fist and a throbbing vein on her forehead as her partner continued to giggle incessantly. She was not about to put up with her idiotic partner's antics this morning, seeing as she had already gotten them fired from yet another part-time job after she had pushed the snooze button on their alarm clock four times in a row that morning. Mihoshi ignored Kiyone's cry and continued to wave the gun that she had filched from Washu's lab around with a goofy smile plastered on her face.
"Oh, c'mon Kiyone," she laughed, "I feel like I'm on the Space Police Police Force!" It didn't help matters that Washu had gotten the inspiration for said blaster from an episode that she had caught Mihoshi watching and soon used the design for a weapon of her own.
Through gritted teeth, Kiyone growled, "Don't be ridiculous, Mihoshi; you're going to end up hurting someone with that thing, namely me. Give it here!" She stalked towards Mihoshi quickly and grabbed it by the barrel. Her scatterbrained partner stopped her giggling and pouted her lips as her eyes welled up with tears.
"C'mon, Kiyone! Let go!" She pleaded while still holding onto the gun. It was at that moment that Tenchi came through the screen door from his early morning sword lesson with Grandpa. Mihoshi turned her head to face him, promptly forgetting about the gun as she cried, "Good Morning, Tenchi!" She waved with one hand as she inadvertently pulled the trigger with the other.
The sound of the blast reverberated throughout the household. The powerful beam of yellow light hit Kiyone squarely between the eyes, throwing her back against the wall, where she fell still. Looks of horror graced the faces of Tenchi and Mihoshi as they stared at the motionless police officer slumped against the wall.
The sound of quick footsteps coming from upstairs penetrated the silence, and Ryoko and Ayeka growled indignantly at the top of the staircase as Sasami peeked out from behind them.
"What is with all of this racket out here? Don't you realize that some people are trying to sleep up he—?" Ayeka cried before stopping short as she caught sight of Kiyone. Silence pervaded throughout the room, as the three standing at the top of the stairs looked from Tenchi's horrified face to Kiyone's still form, before finally resting their eyes on Mihoshi's horror-struck face and the gun she still held in her hands.
Ryoko was the first to break the silence when she remarked with wonder, "Well, here I was always thinking that Kiyone would be the one to shoot Mihoshi."
Finally willing his legs to move, Tenchi dashed forth to Kiyone's side while growling, "Now is not the time for this, Ryoko." He kneeled down next to the prone woman, grabbing her wrist with one hand while brushing the stray hands from her face with the other. "Her pulse is fine, and there doesn't seem to be any marks on her forehead. So, what's wrong with her?" he murmured almost to himself as all of the other girls crowded around him.
"Kiyone!" Mihoshi suddenly bawled, "Oh no, what have I done?" The distraught officer fell to her knees and started wailing as Sasami placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
All of a sudden, the door to the closet flew open, and a distressed Washu came screeching out with a panicked expression. "You all, have you seen the gun from my lab—?" The pink-haired scientist also came to an abrupt stop as she caught sight of the blaster in Mihoshi's hand and Kiyone.
"You moron!" She cried as she snatched it from Mihoshi's hands and checked over some knobs protruding from its side. "Oh this isn't good; this isn't good at all. It's on the highest setting," Washu muttered as she looked back and forth from the gun to Kiyone.
Tenchi stood up and pushed his way through the girls towards Washu. "What is it, Washu? What's wrong with Kiyone?" He asked with a frightened look in his eyes.
"Well," Washu explained calmly as she closed her eyes and crossed her arms, "Kiyone's memory has most likely been completely erased."
"What?" All of the girls shouted at once as they stared at Washu, horrified. "Why in hell did you create a gun like that, Washu?" Ryoko cried with disbelief.
Washu coughed with embarrassment and looked away. "Well," she began, "on low settings, the Memory-Zapper erases short-term memories." The girls continued to gape at the pint-sized professor, waiting for her to continue. "I was planning on using it on you lot after I had used you as test subjects for my inventions. Y'know…so you wouldn't complain." A collective face fault occurred amongst the girls as silence fell upon the room once more.
Tenchi was the first to break the silence as he tightened his fists and growled, "Well, what can we do about it, Washu?" He looked back at Kiyone softly before reverting his gaze to Washu with a determined expression. He'd do whatever he could to help her.
Washu placed her arms out, signaling him to stop and calm down. "Alright, Tenchi, alright; just calm down already. Bring her to my lab and I'll see if there's anything I can do." With that, she turned on her heel and headed back to her lab.
The girls watched Tenchi as he gently picked up Kiyone in his arms and made his way to the lab as well. Ryoko shrugged and floated after him, and the rest of the girls followed suit.
Once inside, they all watched as Tenchi softly placed her down on a flat metal table that had risen out of a trapdoor in the ground. Wires fell down from the ceiling, and Washu placed the nodes attached to their ends on Kiyone's temples, forehead, and arms. The genius scientist then turned and began rapidly typing on a keyboard that appeared at her fingertips.
Washu shook her head and muttered without looking away from her holographic computer screen, "Guys, I hate to tell you that this isn't looking good. She's as clean as a slate, I tell ya." Ryoko and Ayeka's faces grew worried, and Mihoshi and Sasami's eyes welled up with tears. Tenchi averted his gaze and stared at the floor.
"Washu," Ayeka beseeched, "surely there's something you can do." The girls stared down at the pale, motionless Kiyone with sickened stomachs. How could something like this happen? They all thought to themselves.
Washu continued to shake her head and mutter to herself, typing away at the keyboard determinedly. She suddenly stopped, turned to face everyone else, and said with an astonished expression on her face, "I, I think I found something!" She unexpectedly jumped up on her seat and began laughing maniacally with her hands on her hips, "I'm not a genius for nothing, y'know!" Beads of sweat appeared on the heads of all of the girls as Washu turned back to her computer and continued to type as immediately as she had stood up.
"Way deep down in her subconscious, I found a repressed memory. I don't know what it is or what it contains, but maybe it can jump-start the rest of her memory," she declared excitedly without turning her head. "It's a serious long-shot, but hey, it's all I've got to work with."
With a dramatic flourish, Washu raised her pointer finger up and brought it down to strike a key. After she issued one more cackle, a projector screen unfurled from nowhere, and Washu yanked down the node wires from the ceiling and hooked them up to a projection device. The gadget immediately sent out light that filled up the screen, and Washu continued to type.
Ryoko whistled innocently, twiddled her thumbs momentarily, and suddenly phased out of the room. After a brief pause, Ayeka careened out of the lab with a screech and bolted out of sight. More beads of sweat appeared on the heads of Sasami and Mihoshi as the space pirate abruptly reappeared with the over-stuffed pink couch held up high above her head. She casually let it fall to the ground in front of them with a thud as Ayeka came back with a large bowl of popcorn. They both immediately sat down, and Sasami and Mihoshi followed suit with a shrug.
Tenchi gritted his teeth and remarked with irritation seeping into his voice, "Now girls, do you really think it's appropriate to watch a private memory of Kiyone's, especially since she's repressed it for who knows how long?"
Ryoko phased behind Tenchi and floated behind him while drawing circles on his chest with a finger. She purred coyly, "Don't be ridiculous, Tenchi. Here, come take a seat next to me."
Ayeka sent the bowl of popcorn flying onto Mihoshi's head as she stood up and cried indignantly, "Ryoko, don't you dare mess with Lord Tenchi! I'll have you know—"
"Quiet down, you lot!" Washu shook a fist and shouted. "I can't concentrate with all of your yammering!" Ryoko and Ayeka returned to their seats cowed, and Tenchi resignedly took a seat between the two of them with a sigh as he looked at the unconscious Kiyone once more.
"Ah-hah; I got it!" Washu cried with success. She smirked as she leaned back in her seat with her arms crossed and her eyes closed. Then all of the girls looked up as the large screen was filled with a view of the stars as seen from outer space. Tenchi took one last worried glance at Kiyone as she slightly twitched and frowned before gazing up at the screen as well.
After a few moments had passed, the star-filled screen was still the only thing visible on the projector screen. Ryoko tapped her foot impatiently and began to remark, "Washu, I don't think the thing's work—" when a man's stern voice filled the room, "Kiyone Makibi, did you hear a word of what I just said?"
The confused girls looked around the room for a second until they noticed that a change had occurred on the screen. The view swiveled from the star-filled sky that seemed to be seen from a window to rest on a strict-looking man who stood in front of a blackboard, apparently at the front of a classroom.
A voice that sounded remarkably like a younger version of Kiyone replied apologetically, "No sir, I haven't." The screen shook back and forth slowly as if someone was moving the projector to pantomime it shaking its head.
"Ah, I get it; we're seeing this from Kiyone's eyes," Tenchi remarked softly as realization hit him.
Washu turned her head back to face him and flashed him a devious smirk. "You got it!"
The speakers that had risen from trap doors on either side of the crowded couch blared to life once more. "Kiyone, you are one of our best and brightest," the slightly grizzled teacher began, "and I don't want to see all of your talent go to waste."
"Yes sir," the young Kiyone replied softly. Her small hand came into view as she rested her chin on her fist and sighed. She said nothing more as the teacher returned to his lesson concerning Galaxy Police ethics.
Ryoko crossed her arms and commented loudly while she was still chewing on a large handful of popcorn, "Now what the hell is wrong with this? Why would Kiyone try to forget this memory so badly?" Immediately after she said that, the sound of a door opening caused Kiyone's gaze to shift towards it. Standing in the doorway was a much younger Mihoshi. "Oh," the space pirate laughed uproariously as bits of popcorn flew from her mouth, "now I get it."
"I remember this!" The older Mihoshi exclaimed excitedly as she punched her hand. "This is when I first moved to the main Galaxy Police station! This is when I first met Kiyone!"
The stern teacher on the screen spoke once more, "Ah, better late than never, I suppose. This is the new transfer student from the Zeta Galaxy Station." The young Mihoshi scratched the back of her head and giggled, "Sorry, I got lost."
"Well," the teacher commented severely, "What do you want me to do, cry you a river? Stop standing there and go sit down; next to Kiyone is fine." He jammed a thumb towards Kiyone and Mihoshi nervously made her way to the unoccupied seat next to her.
"Hi, Kiyone! My name's Mihoshi!" she cried eagerly when she sat down. Kiyone simply nodded slowly before turning to face the teacher without saying a word.
The rest of the class period went by uneventfully, and the girls on the couch were beginning to get bored when the sound of a loud bell blared from the speakers, jarring them out of their dazes. Kiyone's fellow classmates got up and talked animatedly amongst themselves as they headed out the door.
Kiyone picked up her books and was slowly making her way towards the door when her teacher stopped her. "I want you to show the new girl around, alright? Is that understood?"
The young girl said nothing as she glanced over at the annoyingly exuberant girl. After a moment, she sighed and replied, "Yes, of course, sir." Her eye twitched slightly when Mihoshi giggled gleefully and clapped her hands together, but made no other gesture as she listlessly made her way out the door.
Mihoshi walked behind Kiyone dutifully, and after a moment she cried, "Oh wow, I am so excited, Kiyone! I can tell that we're gonna have so much fun!"
Kiyone stopped in her tracks, turned towards Mihoshi slowly, and quietly responded, "You can stop following me now, you know. I have places to be."
The blonde girl blinked confusedly and asked apprehensively, "What do you mean, Kiyone? You can't leave me!"
"I just did," she replied curtly as she promptly turned on her heel and walked away as her teal-colored hair swished behind her. The young quickly got lost in the crowds of adult police officers and younger students as she sped through the halls.
The older version of Mihoshi on the couch laughed in delight and spouted, "Yup, Kiyone and I were best friends, right from the start!"
Everybody in the room felt beads of sweat form on their heads, and Ryoko commented snidely, "Yeah, I bet."
"Really though; what's bothering her so much?" Ayeka asked aloud. They all turned their eyes to the motionless Kiyone lying on the metal table, but there was no sign of a change in her expression to indicate a clue.
As the sound of a door slammed, everybody turned back to the screen. It appeared that Kiyone had entered the living room of the place she must have stayed in, which was evident by the overstuffed blue couch in the room, as well as the clutter strewn all over a table and the floor.
The young Kiyone threw her books aside, flopped onto the couch with a sigh, and stared up at the nondescript ceiling. Nothing happened for a few moments, but then the sound of a television being switched on caused her gaze to shift to the flat-screen occupying the wall across from her.
Kiyone immediately sat up with an intake of breath as the image of a smiling young woman graced the screen across from her. The lady appeared to be sitting in a chair in the bridge of a Galaxy Police cruiser, and she was indeed in a standard police uniform. Her eyes were a deep, crystalline blue, and her hair was chocolate brown. In all, she looked like a Kiyone slightly older than the one lying before them all.
"Mom!" The young girl on the screen exclaimed breathlessly.
The corners of the woman's eyes crinkled as she laughed melodically, "Don't sound so surprised, Kiyone! As if your father and I would forget our little girl's tenth birthday!" With that, the woman reached an arm out and yanked a man into the television screen's view. The man had the same teal-colored hair that Kiyone had, but it seemed to defy gravity as it stuck up untidily in random directions.
"Ow," the man complained, "geez, Megumi, you don't have to dislocate my arm, do you?"
Both the woman called Megumi and Kiyone laughed at his whining, and the young girl replied, "Ah, quit your complaining, Dad!"
"Alright, enough of this," he groused, "I'm always being pushed around by you women. Anyway, look under the couch, Kiyone."
The girl promptly looked down between her legs, and let out a cry of delight. Quickly, she pulled out the two small boxes from underneath the couch and giggled at the wrapping paper adorned with cabbits.
"They're really not much, Kiyone," her mother began apologetically, "but we were called away on this mission on such short notice that we didn't have any time to go shopping before we left. We'll all go shopping together when we get back, 'k?"
Kiyone nodded once energetically, and her father waved his hand as if to shoo Megumi away. "Ah, just let her open 'em, will you?" He grumbled. The woman playfully punched him in the shoulder, and they both turned towards Kiyone expectantly.
The young girl giggled once more as she tore the paper off the first package without hesitation. Lifting the lid and tossing it aside, she gasped at what was inside.
"But it's just that orange headband," Sasami commented wonderingly at Kiyone's obvious excitement. Tenchi couldn't help but smile as he threw a quick glance at the same headband that rested on the comatose police officer's forehead.
"Your mother wasn't kidding when she said it wasn't much," her father explained, "but you've been stealing the darned thing off of my forehead for so long that I figured I might as well curb your thievery now and just give it to you!"
Kiyone laughed delightfully as she tied it around her head and answered, "It's perfect, Dad! It really is."
"Oh, quit showing off, Kensuke! Go on dear; open the one from me already," her mother encouraged impatiently. The man earned another punch to the shoulder when he lowered an eyelid with his finger and stuck his tongue out.
Once more, Kiyone didn't hesitate to tear of the cabbit-covered wrapping paper. She opened the lid on the small box more slowly this time, and drew in a sharp intake of breath at what she saw. Lying delicately amongst some tissue paper were two bright red earrings that glittered in the light.
"Oh, Mom," the young girl began breathlessly.
Megumi quickly interrupted her daughter as she said proudly, "Your father said you were much too young to get your own pair, but I got mine when I was your age, and I was way more irresponsible than you when I was ten!" She put a finger behind each ear and showcased her own set of identical red earrings with a smirk on her face. Kensuke just rolled his eyes.
"Oh, but don't you dare use them yet, young lady!" Kiyone's mother warned sternly. "I don't want to come back seeing that you rammed my beautiful Yagami into the side of the blasted space station! Wait 'til we come back and I'll teach you how to call the ship properly, 'k?"
Kensuke smirked and laughed, "As if that's gonna happen, Megumi! Did you forget that our Kiyone has our genes? I bet she's gonna take your 'beautiful Yagami' out for a joyride the second we end this transmission!"
Kiyone growled indignantly and was about to reply when her father said with surprise and slight apprehension in his voice, "Oh damn! Megumi, we got too distracted; an unidentified ship is heading towards us. Turn the com-link off, 'k?"
"Sorry sweetie, but we've got to go! We should be back in a couple of weeks though, so be good 'til then!" Megumi said lovingly. The projector screen began to blur as Kiyone's eyes welled up with tears.
Her mother began reaching towards the control panel to turn off the transmission, but a flash of light and a loud explosion rocked the ship dangerously.
"Oh no, it's him," Kensuke's said breathlessly as panic seeped into his stunned voice. "Turn the com-link off, Megumi!" A succession of blasts made the ship rock back and forth and flung Kiyone's mother out of her seat.
"Kiyone—!" Both her mother and father cried before one tremendous explosion caused the television screen to abruptly go blank and fuzzy with static.
The girls on the couch gasped with horror, but otherwise, the room stayed silent. Tenchi's eyes widened, and he looked back and forth from the projector screen to the Kiyone lying prone on the table in front of him.
The speakers blared to life after an unbearably long silence as the young Kiyone questioned with terror creeping steadily into her voice, "Mom? Dad?" Then suddenly, the voices of the young and old Kiyone coincided as the officer's eyes snapped open and she bolted upright, sending nodes flying and causing Washu's machine to smoke while she screamed.
Kiyone's piercing cry filled the room as her heart broke all over again.