Tenchi Muyo!
______
Disclaimer: This episode of Tenchi Muyo! is
of my own creation. I do not own any portion of Tenchi
Muyo. "Tenchi Muyo!" and all related characters, names, etc. are
©1992-2003 AIC Inc. and Pioneer LDC. All rights reserved.
Note: This story line is a sequel to 'The Choices We Make' by C-kun. I
recommend reading it, it is pretty interesting.
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The Darkness Within
Chapter 8:
Heart's Desire
______
The accountable Royal Family, Ryoko, Washu and Ryo-Ohki stand completely stunned at the man in
front of them. Tenchi stands before them, wearing all
black clothing. His hands ball into fists as he looks down to
Lady Misaki, who tore off his cloak, revealing
himself to everyone. "Well it looks like my secret's finally been
revealed." He reaches down and pulls up the empress by her collar,
bringing her dangerously close to his face. "Though I
would've preferred doing it a little differently."
His eyes flash for a moment just before he tosses her all the way into the
group in front of him. They all collapse onto the ground when the empress comes
crashing into them. Ryoko is quick to her feet. She
looks at her former husband with pleading eyes. "Tenchi,"
she slowly begins, "W...what happened? Why are you doing this?"
He smiles at her. This smile does not fit him in the way Ryoko
remembers him. Within his malicious smile and cold eyes, she sees nothing but
anger and hatred. The pirate takes a few steps forward. "Tenchi?"
He lowers his head, muttering, "Murderers."
Ryoko takes a few more steps towards Tenchi. "What? What did you say?"
"I SAID MURDERERS!!" he screams loudly at his former wife, forcing
her to cover her ears and back up several steps. "You killed him," he
hisses at them. "You killed my father!"
"We didn't kill your father Tenchi!" Washu shouts. "Nobody killed him! He had a heart
attack, it was all an accident!"
His face twitches momentarily. "No, it wasn't an accident. If only you had
stayed, you could have saved him. You killed him! You're responsible for his
death!"
Washu's lower lip trembles slightly. 'I said almost
the exact same thing to Ryoko just a little bit ago.
It's true, he would still be alive if I stayed.' The
little scientist collapses on the floor and starts to sob uncontrollably.
"It...its true," she whispers so lightly
that only Ryoko hears her.
"No!" the pirate shouts. "What happened happened!
Its nobody's fault!" Suddenly, her face instantly
softens. "Tenchi," she starts in a pleading
voice, "please stop all of this. Please come back to us, back to me."
Tears begin to pour silently down her face.
Tenchi snorts in disgust. "I'm sorry to
disappoint you Ryoko but I am already taken." He
holds up his left hand, showing the wedding ring on his ring finger.
Ryoko squints slightly, examining it. Her eyes go
wide when she realizes that it is not his old wedding ring, the one he wore
when he was married to her. She starts to breath rapidly. 'No,' she thinks to
herself, 'this can't be happening.' The pirate sums up the strength to speak.
"You...you are married...to someone else?"
The former prince smiles evilly. "You bet. And she's a much better wife
than you ever could be demon!" He looks up to the sky. "Please come
to me, my precious wife!"
The air next to him shimmers for a moment. Tokimi
then appears in all her glory. She is dressed in her elaborate gown with her
crown atop her head. She reaches over and puts an arm around her husband.
"It is good to see you again dear. I always miss you terribly each and
every time you leave me." The goddess pulls him into a fierce kiss.
Ayeka and Ryoko are both
crying deeply and shaking. The man they once loved so deeply has now found
solace in another woman's arms. Everyone else stares in shock, too numb to
move.
Tokimi pulls away from the kiss, albeit dejectedly,
and faces the small group of people in front of her and her husband and smiles
deviously. "Well well well,
so this is the rest of the family, am I correct?"
Tenchi scratches his chin lightly. "We are short
two members."
A dawning expression appears on her face. "Ah yes, how
silly of me to forget. Galaxy Police Officer Mihoshi
and my dear little sister Tsunami, or Sasami as all
of you know her."
"Sister?" Washu
exclaims, the interest clearly heard in her voice.
Tokimi directs her attention to the little genius.
Her smile becomes even more sinister. "Washu,
long time no see."
The genius backs up a few steps. "How do you know me?"
The goddess pouts at Washu. "You do not remember
me? You do not even remember your own younger sister?"
"What!?" she asks awestruck.
Tokimi's smile widens. "What is the matter? Do
you not remember your past? Can you remember anything before you were enlisted
at the Royal Space Academy?"
Washu is about to retort, but becomes silent, lost in
thought. 'I...I can't remember,' she thinks to herself. 'How can that be?'
The Goddess of Justice chuckles lightly. "You cannot remember because all
of your memories of your previous life as a goddess were expunged from your
memory the moment you decided to live with the mortals whom you, Tsunami and I had
ruled over for eons."
"I...am a goddess?" the little genius stammers.
"Were," her sister corrects, "you were a goddess. You are not
anymore. Why do you think you need to know everything? Why are you always on a
never- ending search for knowledge? When you were a goddess, you knew
everything. But now your knowledge of the universe and all of the inner
workings that occur in it is exceedingly inadequate, limited to what the
mortals know, perhaps a slight smidgen more. Your old intuition to know everything
is what has motivated you these many thousands of years."
Washu places a hand on her forehead, taken aback by
all of the new information about her past. "So that explains it," she
mutters. "That explains everything." She sits down on the ground and
shakes her head disbelievingly. "I just don't get it though. How come I
have never been able to find anything on you? I have gone through my entire
database back and forth, yet your name has never shown up in any of my
searches."
Tokimi begins to chuckle once again. "Do you
really think you, with your restricted knowledge and abilities, can stand up to
a goddess with immeasurable experience and powers? I made it my personal
business to keep my identity a secret until the time suited me well." She takes
her husband's hand in hers and their fingers intertwine. "And I have
decided that now the time is just proper."
Ryoko finally gets over her initial shock and speaks
up. "But why? Why did you take my Tenchi from me?"
Tokimi gets a disgusted look on her face. "How could I ever take what was never completely yours?
You took his love, you took him for granted. Tenchi
is indeed a very special man. You, none of you, were ever deserving of his care
and love. I, on the other hand, have cared for him and loved him in a way he
rightly deserves whilst you had abandoned him."
"What are you talking about!?" Ayeka
shrieks, "we did no such thing to him!"
Tenchi growls lightly and begins to advance on the
crown princess. Tokimi pulls him back to her and
holds him tightly. She gives Ayeka a look of pure
venom. "You are the one who started all of this. I both despise you and am
appreciative to you at the same time. You caused my beloved so much pain and
suffering. He had longed for death and he would have succeeded had I not intervened.
Though had you not departed, we would never have met and fallen in love with
one another, something I would have sorely regretted."
Azusa snorts in obvious frustration. "Be that
as it may, you still hold my youngest daughter captive and I wish for you to
release her."
"Who?" the goddess asks, "do you mean her?" She snaps her
fingers and Sasami appears next to them, imprisoned
once more in the giant crimson crystal. She is not moving and she has four deep
slash marks on her left cheek.
Misaki shrieks and begins to run to her daughter,
only to be stopped by Yosho, Azusa and Funaho. The three of their powers combined are just enough
to keep the mother from going to her daughter. Ayeka,
Ryoko and Washu stay
completely motionless, their willpowers working as hard as possible to keep
them from trying to rescue the young princess in front of them.
Tokimi lets go of Tenchi
and leans into the crystal prison. "Fear not, the child still lives. She
is only unconscious. She foolishly dared to insult me and I had to instruct
some manners and proper etiquette to her to use when facing greatness."
She and everyone else look to the sky as they hear a roaring sound all around
them. Thousands of Jurai tree ships are descending
down on their location. "Well," she exclaims, "it appears that
this small social gathering of ours is receiving some unnecessary guests. I
think it is time for us to depart." She gives them all a warm smile that
does not meet her cold gaze. "Until next time."
Tenchi gives them a smug look before walking up into
his ship. Tokimi is close behind, followed by an
unconscious Sasami in the crystal floating prison.
Just as soon as they are in the cruiser, it disappears without a trace, leaving
a stunned Royal Family and company behind.
______
Kiyone finishes going through all the files back and
forth, as well as Mihoshi's written reports. Needless
to say, she is exhausted. "She sure has an eye for detail," the GP
officer exclaims out loud while rubbing the back of her neck. She picks up the
small photo of Tenchi and smiles again. 'I must
admit,' she thinks to herself, 'this guy has some willpower! All those
attractive women pretty much throwing themselves on
him and he held back...well he did for a few years.'
She stands up, groaning slightly as she does so. Kiyone
picks up both Tenchi and Ryoko's
files and looks at them thoughtfully. "Mihoshi
did say that those two were married, but he did leave his wedding ring behind.
Maybe that means that there is trouble in paradise. Pity."
An odd smile spreads across her face. "If he is single, then I have a
chance. When Mihoshi gets back, I'll have to ask her
to give me some more personal info on Mr. Masaki here!"
______
Ryoko teleports into her room in the guesthouse and
locks the door. As soon as the door clicks, signifying that it is locked, the
pirate flies onto her bed and begins to cry uncontrollably. She grabs several
pillows from the head of the bed and starts to punch them repeatedly.
"Why?" she sobs. "Why him? Why'd it
have to be Tenchi? You could have any man that you
wanted, but why did you choose my Tenchi!?"
"He is the most powerful man in the universe," answers a voice behind
her. Ryoko quickly spins around to see Washu sitting on the end of the bed, looking very
stone-faced. "And there was a lot of darkness within him. For her, it was
a perfect match."
The pirate sniffs lightly and wipes the tears on her face away. "So you
remember all your old life already?"
The genius sighs deeply. "Bits and pieces. It's
all slowly coming back now. I must have had some sort of memory block on me,
and it is fading away."
Ryoko sniffs again. "What do you remember about
this Tokimi lady?"
Washu's face instantly darkens. "She is not
someone you want to mess with. Tokimi is not truly
evil, she just does whatever it takes to get power. She is so cunning and
masterful, makes me look like a novice," she adds with an angry grunt.
Ryoko looks at her mother with eyes filled with
desperation. "Mom, is there any way we can beat her? Is there any way I
can get Tenchi back?"
The genius lowers her head. "I...I don't know." She opens her arms
and Ryoko flies into her mother's embrace. Both women
begin to cry. "I just don't know..."
______
The door to Ayeka's room
opens. In walks Ayeka, leaning on her brother, Yosho, for support. He carefully directs her onto her bed
and lies her down. The first crown princess barely acknowledges this, she just stays very quiet and nods slightly.
Yosho stands up, looking at his younger sister with
concern. 'She is acting quite oddly,' he thinks, 'not that I blame her. We all
have gone through a lot recently.' He reaches up and lightly touches the side
of his face where Tenchi had punched him a few days
ago. 'He has become so powerful...and evil.' The prince's eyes become downcast
while he thinks of his grandson. 'I trained him so hard to become a great and
resolute man. Where did I go wrong?'
He looks back to Ayeka, who is giving him a
questioning look. Yosho realizes that he has been
standing still next to her bed for several minutes, deep in thought. He clears
his throat. "Are you fine Ayeka? Is there
anything that you need?"
The princess shakes her head slightly. Yosho nods and
turns to leave. Just as he reaches and opens the door, he hears, "Thank
you Yosho." The prince smiles lightly and leaves
his half sister's room. When the door closes, his mood instantly changes. He
leans against the door and slides down to the ground. He covers his face with
his hands and shakes slightly. 'Where did I go wrong?'
______
Azusa sits down on his throne and sighs heavily.
His two wives stand on each side of him, both too stunned for words. A handful of Jurai's best Knights stand
before them. A tall Knight with sharp features and
deep blue hair steps forward. "Is everything alright Your
Majesties?" he asks, a note of concern in his voice.
"Yes," the emperor replies warily, "we are fine. Please leave us
be."
"A...are you sure my Lord?"
Azusa sighs again. "I am sure. Now please
leave, and that means all of you."
All the Knights mutter, "Yes my Lord," as they bow deeply. Within a
few minutes all of the Knights are out of the throne room.
Funaho gently places a hand on her husband's
shoulder. "Whatever shall we do dear?"
"As to that, I have no idea. But I do suggest that we all stay on our
guard. Tenchi and this...Tokimi
woman have clearly made their intentions toward us hostile. I will make sure
that we will have more Knights and bodyguards patrolling the palace and our
planetary defenses need to be improved. Perhaps Lady Washu
can help us in that department." He gazes between his two wives and grasps
both of their hands firmly. "I swear to you that we will all pull through
this." He exchanges small smiles with the two empresses. 'Hopefully,' he
thinks darkly.
______
Washu just left Ryoko's
bedroom, mentioning something about recording her newfound memories of her
previous goddess live and Tokimi into her computer
database, leaving Ryoko alone to her thoughts.
She feels better after talking with her mother, but she is still very
depressed. She longs for Tenchi, his soft eyes, his
gentle words, the way he had once made her feel special, his caring touch that
would send shivers of excitement down her spine.
But the Tenchi she once knew and loved so dearly has
changed so much. He is now a completely different man, a man who has found love
in another woman. "Tokimi," the pirate
hisses. "I will find that bitch and make her pay for what she's done to my
Tenchi!"
Upon saying her beloved's name, her face instantly softens. She sits up and
slides off of her bed. Ryoko makes her way to the end
of her bad, where she has placed a large trunk. She kneels down and opens the
trunk, which once belonged to her former husband. She shifts through all of his
former belongings until she finds what she is looking for, his old training gi.
She pulls it to her face and inhales his scent. Tears begin to well up in her
eyes again as she sobs a meek, "Tenchi."
______
Ayeka lies in the middle of her bed, curled up into a
ball. Silent tears slowly pour down her beautiful face. This is even worse than
the thought of Tenchi being dead. He seems to dislike
her and everyone else, is seemingly being on the verge of despising. The
princess saw the anger and coldness in his eyes instantly be replaced by a
flourish of love and tenderness when that Tokimi
woman appeared. She saw that look in his eyes once before, but never so
powerful. 'That means that he loves her even more than he once did Ryoko,' she thinks sadly.
She rolls over so now she is facing the east wall of her bedroom. Something out
of the ordinary catches her eye. Between two billowing windows that open up
into balconies overlooking the Royal Garden, a large and intricate
dresser sits grandly. On top of the dresser lie Ayeka's
most prized possessions. Several photographs of her family in golden frames, a
beautiful porcelain carousel that moves and makes music, a glass miniature
replica of her spaceship tree Ryu-Oh and her most
favorite possession, an intricate and elaborate music box which her grandfather
had given to her shortly before he had passed away.
It is not the music box that catches the princess' eye, but the item next to
it. A small jet black box, similar in size to the music box, stands oddly out
of place in the princess' dresser. She has no memory of ever receiving such an
item. Ayeka carefully picks it up and examines it
closely.
There is a small crank on the side of it. The princess hesitantly grasps it and
turns it slowly. It begins to emit the classic Jack-in-the-box music. Just
before the part where the small toy pops out of the box, Ayeka
fully extends her arms, incase it is a trap of some sort. She normally would
have given it to one of the Royal bodyguards to inspect, but her curiosity has
gotten the better of her.
The toy comes out of the box and Ayeka closes her
eyes in anticipation, but nothing happens. Confused, she opens her eyes and
looks at the box. Her eyes instantly go wide. The doll that has appeared looks
exactly like Sasami. It even has four small red marks
on its left cheek.
The doll suddenly comes to life. It looks at Ayeka
and waves at her. It then grabs its neck, acting as if it is being choked. It
starts to thrash around violently while the princess looks on in utter horror.
It suddenly stops thrashing and goes limp.
Ayeka begins to reach out towards the Sasami doll when it sits back and looks directly at her. It
puts a hand over its mouth and shakes lightly, as if giggling.
"That was not very nice of you!" Ayeka says
hotly to the doll. The doll holds out its right hand and stretches all five of
its tiny fingers out. Then it curls up its thumb...then its pinkie
finger...then its ring finger...
Ayeka realizes what is happening and quickly puts up
a powerful shield a split second before an energy blast with the force of a
nuclear bomb incinerates her bedroom.
______
Yosho was sitting on the floor outside of Ayeka's bedroom when the blast hit. The blast is so
powerful that he is launched several dozen feet down the hallway. He is on his
feet in an instant and runs as fast as he possibly can to his half-sister's
bedroom.
He makes his way in, only to find utter destruction. What is remaining of the
once pale pink walls is now charred black. Every piece of furniture and
decorations are completely incinerated.
Ayeka lies in the middle of the room, not moving. Her
shield protected her body, to an extent. The blast was far too powerful for her
shield to sustain. There are numerous cuts and gashes and extensive burns
throughout her body.
Yosho runs to her side and gingerly lifts her into
his arms. Her entire body is limp. "Ayeka!
Ayeka!" he shouts, "Please wake up! Open
your eyes!" She does not respond. "AYEKA!"
______
The Vengeance flies silently through space. Though from the outside, it appears
to be just a simple black cruiser, within it holds two of the most powerful and
evil persons in the universe.
Tenchi sits contently on his command chair, Tokimi resting lovingly on his lap. Her left arm is draped
around his neck while the other is gently caressing the right side of his face.
She nuzzles her face into his neck and breathes in gently. The goddess feels
safe and content in her husband's arms. She kisses his neck and lifts her mouth
to his ear. "Do you think Ayeka will appreciate
her little gift?"
Tenchi smiles evilly. "I hope so. We put so much
thought into it." They both chuckle lightly. Tokimi's
Champion suddenly gets a look of concern on his face. "Will the blast kill
her?"
"No," the goddess simply answers. "But she will be gravely
injured, making moving her exceptionally difficult. I do believe that will
delay the efforts of the Royal Family to possibly evacuate or hide."
Tenchi thinks thoughtfully for a few moments.
"Hmm. Guerilla Warfare Tactics, a very clever move. I like it!" He
leans in and kisses her gently on her sweet lips. "You are the
greatest!"
"Of course I am," she replies with a devious smile. She leans into
him again and begins to kiss along his jaw line. Shivers of
excitement course through his very being. She stops kissing him for a
moment and says the one thing he has wanted to hear for a very long time.
"I grow tired of these childish games. I wish to move to the next step.
Let us start disposing of them...one at a time!"
"As you wish, my lovely wife!"
To be continued...
______
Author's notes: Oh yeah, the real
action starts soon! This series is starting to get even darker!
I do not plan to have Mihoshi and Kiyone
make a whole lot of appearances in the rest of the series. Personally, I am a Kiyone fan and don't really want to have something bad
happen to her. Mihoshi is an innocent, but she could
possibly have her comeuppance...possibly -- lighthawkdemon
Questions or comments? E-mail me at: lighthawkdemon@yahoo.com
