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Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and the related characters belong to AIC, Pioneer, and other people.
A/n: The song "A Love Before Time" was written by someone who isn't me. I don't remember his or her name at the moment, sorry. All I know is that Coco Lee sings it, Yoyo Ma does some of the cello solos in it, and it's used in the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." I make no claim toward it. Also this story takes place in the Ryo-Ohki OAV.
By: Tsuki no Miko
Tenchi Masaki leaned against a tree that overlooked the lake in front of his house. He should have been on his way to school, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to move. He simply stood there and stared at the water.
Maybe he was simply too exhausted to move. Or maybe there were just too many things on his mind. He kept picturing Ryoko as he more or less told her that he didn't enjoy living in her world with her. He kept picturing the look on her face when he didn't answer, when she looked as if she had been slapped in the face.
Tenchi sighed, not hearing the footsteps creep up behind him.
"What are you doing here, Tenchi?" Ryoko asked him loudly.
The young man jumped, nearly losing his balance and falling into the water.
"Ryoko, don't sneak up on me like that." He said.
"Maybe if you weren't avoiding me I wouldn't have to sneak up on you." She said.
"I haven't been avoiding you, Ryoko." He said. "I've just been busy."
She nodded.
"Of course you have. With school and everything."
He nodded.
"Shouldn't you be heading to school, Tenchi?" She asked, wrapping her arms around him. "Or have you decided to stay home with me today?"
"I, uh...I only stopped for a rest Ryoko. I should get going." He said, wriggling his way out of her grip, running toward the bus stop.
Ryoko watched him go with a frown and teleported back to the house.
"Where were you, Ryoko?" Aeka asked, sitting in the living room folding laundry.
"Out." She said, teleporting up to the rafters.
"You really should help out from time to time, Ryoko."
"I'm not in the mood right now. Maybe later." She said, sipping some of her saké.
Aeka simply sighed and went back to folding the laundry.
Washu had been sitting in her lab all morning staring at her computer screens. She had detected a strange energy flux earlier that morning and she had been spending her time since then trying to locate its origin.
The scientist stretched her stiff arms. She didn't need to be so tense about whatever this thing was. In fact, it was probably nothing, she reasoned. Washu got up and stretched her legs, about to go out of her lab to get something to eat when one of the alarms on one of her computers began to go off.
"What the...?" Washu asked out loud, running back to her keyboard.
She watched the monitors blink and then fail. Everything in her laboratory went black. Everything had simply stopped working.
"What the hell is going on here?" She asked, trying to bring her computers back online. "Something's interfered with the system..."
She tried everything she could and nothing worked. Finally she simply took a break and walked out into the living room and sighed as she sat on a chair.
"Is something wrong, Washu?" Aeka asked.
Washu only nodded.
"What is it, Washu?" Sasami asked.
"Something's interfered with the computers in my laboratory." Washu said.
"It's Hoshi." Ryoko said from the rafters.
"What did you say, Ryoko?" Sasami asked her, looking up at her.
"It can't be Hoshi." Washu said.
"What is Hoshi?" Aeka asked.
"Not what, who. He was the first man Ryoko killed under the control of Kagato. He was Kagato's enemy. They were fierce rivals at the Royal Space Academy."
"But if you killed him, then it can't be him." Sasami said.
"It is. I can feel it."
Washu sighed.
"How could he possibly interfere with my laboratory, Ryoko? Its in another dimension. Besides, I think you're just letting your imagination run away with you."
Ryoko didn't say anything. She sighed audibly and turned on her side away from them.
"Well...Lunch will be ready shortly, if you guys are hungry." Sasami said, walking back into the kitchen. She was followed closely by Ryo-Ohki.
Washu just sat back, thinking, and sighed.
After a long day at school, Tenchi could actually say that he was happy to be going home. The bus stopped where it always did, and once again he was the only one to get off at his stop. The young man sighed and started his long commute to his house in the middle of nowhere.
Tenchi walked along the same path he always did, gazing up at the trees and the newly bloomed cherry blossoms. The spring breeze was still a little chilly, but warm enough to go without a coat and Tenchi found the atmosphere of the lane he walked upon absolutely liberating for those moments that he stayed upon the path.
Suddenly, as he was staring up at the trees, he noticed a large, black shape in the sky.
"Oh, no...not another one..." He said under his breath, picking up his pace.
When Tenchi finally got to the house he found the shape gone. It was as if he had been seeing things. He shrugged it off as a school induced hallucination and walked into the house.
"I'm home!" He said, removing his shoes and putting on his house slippers.
No one answered him.
"Hello? Are you guys here?" Tenchi asked, systematically searching through the rooms.
After Tenchi had searched the house, he sighed and sat on the couch.
"Where could they be?" He asked himself. "I bet they're at Washu's."
Tenchi stood up again and went to the closet door under the stairs and knocked. No one answered, but the door opened on its own.
"Little Washu? Are you in here?" He asked, walking further into the laboratory. It was completely black.
"Tenchi?" He heard a faint voice call to him from the darkness.
"Who's there? Little Washu?" He asked, trying to make his way through the laboratory.
"Tenchi, no! Don't move!" He heard someone shout at him.
He froze in his path.
"Why can't I move?" He asked, doing his best to stand completely still.
"If you take one more step you'll trip a laser that will most likely cut you in half." Someone explained...it was Washu.
"Little Washu, what's going on here?" Tenchi asked, looking around the laboratory. "Aeka? Sasami? Mihoshi? Are you three all right?"
Tenchi saw the three girls tied up and suspended upside down from one of Washu's inventions.
"Washu, what happened?" He asked her again.
"Be quiet Tenchi." Washu said, disconnecting the laser.
When she was finished she stood up and went over to help the others.
"We were attacked."
"What? How? By who?" Tenchi asked, helping Sasami down and untying her.
"Hoshi Aiko." Washu said, finally untying Aeka.
"Hoshi Aiko? Who's that?" Tenchi asked.
"He's the man who attacked us."
"Where's Ryoko?" Tenchi asked, looking around, noticing her absence.
"She followed him." Sasami said.
Washu nodded.
"Who is this person?" Tenchi asked.
"He was in the Royal Space Academy when I taught there. He was a pupil of Kagato's. Once Kagato gained control of me and of Ryoko he had her destroy him...or at least she thought she destroyed him."
"But why would he come here?" Mihoshi asked.
"To get his revenge."
"On Ryoko?" Tenchi asked.
"Maybe...or on me for creating her. I don't know."
"That means Ryoko is in trouble..."
"She can take care of herself for now, Tenchi. All we can do is wait for her to come back. Hopefully she'll bring him back with her and we can find out what's going on here."
Tenchi sighed.
"Well, there's nothing we can do now." Aeka said, moving toward the door.
"Yeah...I might as well get dinner started." Sasami said.
"I'll help you, Sasami." Mihoshi said, following the girl.
"You might as well go too, Tenchi. Nothing can be done until Ryoko gets back." Washu said.
"Do you need some help in here, Washu?" Tenchi asked, looking around at the ruined machinery.
"No, I've got it Tenchi." She said, shooing him out of the lab.
Tenchi walked out of the laboratory and sat in the living room and turned on the TV. Washu said there wasn't really anything else he could do so he sat there, looking at the TV screen.
"Tenchi? Why are you watching a kids' show?" Sasami asked from the kitchen, noticing him staring blankly at the TV.
"What?" He asked, distracted.
"Never mind Tenchi."
Tenchi nodded and turned back to the TV once again not really seeing the images projected in front of him. He couldn't stop himself from thinking about Ryoko. How that guy Hoshi could get into Washu's lab he could easily damage Ryo-Ohki and prevent Ryoko from getting back...or worse.
He shook his head and leaned against the back of the couch and started to fall asleep when there was suddenly a loud explosion and the entire house shook violently.
"What was that!?" Tenchi shouted, surprised.
"It was Ryo-Ohki and another ship!" Sasami said, running out of the kitchen.
Everyone ran out to the front of the house to find Ryoko lying unconscious on the ground, Ryo-Ohki crashed into the lake, and a boy with a laser sword help over Ryoko, ready to decapitate her.
"Don't move!" Mihoshi said, aiming her Galaxy Police blaster at the boy. "Put the sword down."
"You fool, don't you know who this is!?" The boy asked.
Mihoshi didn't answer. Of course she knew who it was...
"This is the most vicious space pirate in all of the universe! I'll be doing a favor to every living organism if I eradicate her now."
"Get away from her, now!" Tenchi shouted, grasping the Tenchi-ken in his fist.
"That sword...That sword belongs to the Crown Prince of Jurai. What have you done with him?" The boy shouted, advancing on Tenchi.
Before the boy reached Tenchi, Ryoko sprang up and held onto him.
"Don't move, Hoshi." She shouted.
"That's Hoshi!?" Everyone asked.
Ryoko nodded.
"What do you want with Ryoko?" Tenchi asked him.
"To kill her."
"Oh, yeah...fat chance of that happening." Ryoko said, pulling the boy's arms further behind him.
"Let him go, Ryoko." Washu said, walking up behind Tenchi.
"Are you crazy?"
"I told you already, Professor Washu...I'm not going to spare her because she is your creation."
"Yes, you will. As long as you're here you will." Washu answered him. "Now let him go, Ryoko."
Ryoko suddenly let go of his arms causing him to fly forward into Tenchi. The two glared at one another.
"Come with me, Hoshi." Washu said, pulling the boy away from the others and taking him inside to her laboratory. Aeka, Sasami, and Mihoshi went back inside soon after them.
"Are you all right, Ryoko?" Tenchi asked, walking up to her.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"What happened?" Tenchi asked, looking out toward the lake where Ryo-Ohki had crashed.
"The bastard rammed his ship into Ryo-Ohki." Ryoko said, picking up the small cabbit who had managed to swim her way to shore.
"Is she all right?" Tenchi asked.
"She's fine." Ryoko said, petting Ryo-Ohki.
Tenchi nodded.
"Um, Ryoko?"
"Yeah, Tenchi?" She asked, walking toward the house.
"Tenchi! Ryoko! Dinner's ready!" Sasami shouted to them.
"All right Sasami." Tenchi called back.
"What did you want to say, Tenchi?" Ryoko asked.
"Oh, uh, never mind. Come on, Ryoko, dinner's ready."
Ryoko watched him walk into the house and slowly followed him inside.
And the mountains disappeared,
If the seas run dry, turned to dust
And the sun refused to rise
I would still find my way,
By the light l see in your eyes.
"Washu, why haven't you turned him into some sort of insect yet?" Ryoko grumbled.
"I was simply explaining the situation to him. He'll be leaving as soon as I can repair his ship."
"Good." Ryoko said.
"How long will that be?" Tenchi asked, trying not to sound as if he was in a hurry to get rid of the guy.
"I don't know yet. Probably about a week. Maybe more, maybe less."
"Get to work then, Washu." Ryoko said.
Washu ignored her and sat down.
"I saved some of dinner for you, Washu." Sasami said, getting up to get it.
"Don't worry about it, Sasami. I'm not that hungry right now. I'll get it later, OK?"
Sasami nodded.
"You still never answered me about the sword." Hoshi said to Tenchi.
"That's probably because its none of your business." Ryoko snapped.
"Anything concerning the Jurain Royal Family is my business."
"How?" Aeka asked.
"I'm have been a protector of the Royal Family for many years."
"We've never seen you." Sasami said.
"Why would you have seen me?" Hoshi asked.
"Aeka and Sasami are Princesses of Jurai." Mihoshi explained.
Hoshi looked confused.
"Aeka and Sasami? I've never heard of Aeka and Sasami. Prince Azusa is the heir to the throne and he chose his wife from this planet...Lady Funaho." Hoshi explained.
"What rock have you been living under?" Ryoko scoffed.
"Lady Funaho is the Queen of Jurai. She's our aunt. Azusa is our father." Aeka explained.
Hoshi shook his head.
"That's not possible."
Aeka and Sasami looked at one another.
"Obviously it is. The Crown Prince of Jurai now is Yosho, although he refuses to go back to Jurai, so that basically leaves Tenchi here." Washu explained.
"You are the Crown Prince of Jurai?"
Tenchi nodded nervously.
"Why don't you remember Asuza being crowned Emperor?" Ryoko asked.
Hoshi shrugged.
"Your attack on him was almost a hundred years before he was crowned emperor, Ryoko. That's probably why."
"So you're saying he's had amnesia for over fifteen hundred years?"
"No, he's been dead for over fifteen hundred years."
"What?" Everyone asked at once, Hoshi included.
"I couldn't have been dead. I remember Ryoko's attack on me and I remember barely escaping from her..."
"You didn't escape from her."
"Washu, is this some sort of joke?" Ryoko asked.
"No, I'm afraid not Ryoko. Hoshi has been dead for the past fifteen hundred years, or at least in a near-dead state. That explains his missing memory. He must have been awakened by something and he automatically sought revenge." Washu explained.
"This is crazy." Ryoko said, teleporting out of the house.
"Ryoko, its the truth." Washu said silently.
Tenchi sighed and eventually everyone went to bed but Tenchi found himself unable to sleep. He walked out on the back porch and looked out over the lake. It was cold, but a crisp spring cold that let everyone know that it would be warming up soon enough.
Ryoko hadn't come back, but Tenchi had a good idea of where she was hiding and carried the ladder to the side of the house and began climbing. Sure enough, Ryoko was sitting on the roof gazing at the stars and sipping warm saké.
"What are you doing up here, Tenchi?" Ryoko asked, never taking her eyes away from the sky.
"I came looking for you. Its cold out here, you know. You should go back inside." He said, sitting next to her.
"Why do you care about whether I'm cold or not?" She asked him. "I'm just a murderer anyway. A toy that anyone can play with if they have the right remote control."
"What are you talking about, Ryoko?"
"These." She said, showing him her wrist. "These things are supposed to give me as much power as I desire, but as soon as I have that power, anyone can come along and control me and use me as some little puppet."
Tenchi didn't say anything.
"I'm not even allowed to have a mind of my own. Someone always does my thinking for me. You know what Tenchi?"
"What?"
"I don't even know if my feelings for you are my own. I don't know what that would feel like. I feel like I've never experienced independent thought before." She said.
Tenchi couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not. One thing he did know was that she was drunk...very drunk.
"That's not true, Ryoko. Everything you say and do is of your own doing, now. There's no one left to control you. There's only you."
"And Washu...and even that bratty kid."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing, never mind. I'm going to bed."
"Ryoko, wait."
"For what, Tenchi? Are you going to take the opportunity to tell me how much you've always loved me? How much you care for me and that you can't imagine your life without me? Are you going to tell me that you think I'm being foolish for saying what I just said?" She asked.
Tenchi didn't say anything, he only swallowed nervously.
"That's what I thought. I'll never hear you say those things. Do you know why, Tenchi? Because I'm not worth it."
Ryoko picked up the bottle of saké and finished it off and then teleported through the roof to her rafter.
Tenchi stayed where he was, unable to move. He stayed there, wrapped in the blanket Ryoko had left until the sun came up.
But you stay.
As the earth reclaims its due,
And the cycle starts anew,
We'll stay, always
In the love that we have shared
Before time.
~End Part 1~
Coming Soon:
A Love Before Time
By: mageofthepeople
The story has been finished...I don't really know how to describe it. Part 3 gets a little dark...so I've given you fair warning. Other than that, I hope you like the story...
Rated: Fiction M - English - Drama - Chapters: 4 - Words: 15,713 - Reviews: 11 - Favs: 1 - Published: 3/11/2001 - id: 226898
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Full 3/4 1/2 Expand Tighten
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