A few days later, Tenchi found himself walking down the stairs and standing in front of the door to Washu's lab. He raised a hand and knocked gently, trying not to cause too much noise in the still sleepy household. Sasami was in the kitchen, making breakfast, while the others were just now stirring.

"Come in," came a faraway voice from within, sounding tiredly cheerful. Tenchi opened the door and took a step in, leaving his house behind and walking back into the marvelous laboratory, where Washu had been staying more as the days passed. He looked around a bit, and saw, where the table and picture had been, now stood some sort of new invention, as though it were trying to cover up any evidence of what she was feeling. She was sitting in front of one of the large, tubular shaped containers, one that held an intriguing creature of unknown origin. She was tapping away at her shadowy computer, her back facing Tenchi.

"Good morning, Little Washu," he said as he walked in, the door disappearing behind him. She turned and gave him a sad smile, and he knew that her cheerful tone had been something that she had been using as a mask in case her visitor had been Ayeka, Kiyone, or the like.

"Oh hello, Tenchi. What brings you here?" she asked, standing.

"Nothing, I just wanted to come see how you were doing. You've been in here more often lately, you know. The others will start to wonder eventually."

Washu shook her head. "After all this time, you'd think they'd learn that I don't often come out of here unless it's completely important." But Tenchi knew better than this, although he didn't say anything. He had, after all, come to cheer her up a bit, not argue about her motives for staying out of sight. He walked closer to where she stood, looking about the spacious extent of her "quarters". Suddenly, as he neared the large tubular aquarium of sorts, a gargantuan creature, like an eel-lamprey, swam by, baring its large, white fangs as it past. Its round fish-like eyes darted around and faced Tenchi as it left, its semi-scaly skin shimmering as it vanished under the large catwalk. Tenchi drew back suddenly, startled.

"Washu, wha-what was that!?" he cried in surprise, his dark eyes wide. He turned to the scientist, who was chuckling a bit. She walked over to him, a small smile upon her lips.

"That would be a Giant Fanged Lantern Eel, from the planet Jurai. Very rare and vicious creature, who also happened to have a common ancestry with the people of Jurai, although they don't often bring that up in conversation," Washu paused and chuckled again. "I guess you could say it's a distant relative of our dear Princess Ayeka...just don't tell her I told you that." Washu winked a bit.

Tenchi laughed a bit, but no sooner had they shared that laugh had Washu's demeanor reverted back to one of gloom. Tenchi decided that perhaps it would be better to try and comfort the somber woman, rather than cheer her up.

Their conversations began to happen more often as a month went by, especially since less and less was being seen of the genius. Soon, Tenchi was visiting her everyday at some point, perhaps not staying for very long at moments, but going in to check on each other and say a friendly hello. Then, around the beginning of July, Washu brought up a pressing matter; so offhandedly that it caught Tenchi offguard.

"July 13.that's the day, Tenchi," she stated out of the blue, her gaze intent and sad. Tenchi looked at her curiously from his seat across from her.

"What do you mean, Washu?" he asked, already guessing at what she was going to say.

She looked at him silently for a few moments, as if she were debating on the right choice of words. Finally, she spoke, her voice clear and calm, but not completely devoid of dispirit.

"That's the day that they were taken from me.I know I shouldn't dwell on it, but I do, and for that I'm sorry. I feel as though I'm only burdening you by dwelling, but this has gone on for 10,000 years, and each year I tell myself that maybe things will be better this year, maybe I'll feel a bit better about it and that it won't hurt as much, but each year, I'm always wrong.one hypothesis that I am never right at guessing.and I have to ask myself, 'Will I be able to make it through the day without completely going insane?'" She stopped and looked at him again, her gaze never faltering. "I'm sorry for troubling you, Tenchi. You have much better things to do that listen to me chatter endlessly over something that happened long before you were even born."

Tenchi shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Washu. I don't mind. I've enjoyed talking to you over this past month, and it feels nice to be able to get to know you better, since you rarely talk about yourself to anyone with this much depth." He smiled. "And besides, how often does a person get a chance to talk with the Universe's top scientific mind?"

She smiled a bit as he stood and began to walk to the door. "Good night, Tenchi."

He turned to her and smiled, suppressing a yawn. "You, too, Little Washu." With that, he vanished beyond the door and into the living room. He quietly closed the door and walked through the dark living room, making sure not to make too much noise.

"July 13.a week from now.if she waited this long to tell me the actual date, then it must be bothering her more than she lets on.I wish I could do something to ease her mind, but I've come up with nothing.I'm just glad that none of the other girls are having conflicts like this; one is hard enough.I'll think of something." Tenchi thought as he walked up the wooden stairs. He passed by Ayeka and Sasami's room and walked into his own, closing the door behind him. He trudged lightly over to his bed, his mind so laden with his own heavy thoughts that it seemed that they were weighing his feet down. He promised himself that he'd find a way to help Washu. He did, after all, have very good reasons, reasons that he did not disclose to anyone, at least, not yet.