A Love Before Time
By: Tsuki no Miko


Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and the related characters belong to AIC, Pioneer, and other people.

A/n: The rating I put on here won't need explaination once you read the story, but it bothers me a little posting a R-rated fic on here, its simply for the subject matter. I felt that needed explaining...Enjoy the story.

A Love Before Time: Part 3
By: Tsuki no Miko

"You should have come with me when I asked you to, Ryoko."

"What? Hoshi? What the hell are you doing here?" Ryoko asked frantically looking at her surroundings. "What is this place?"

"What does that matter? I have you where I want you, for now."

"You think you can hold me here?"

"I know I can. And soon all of your energy will be mine."

"What are you talking about?"

"Once I get rid of the boy...you'll have no energy left."

"The boy? Tenchi? You keep your paws off of him."

Hoshi laughed.

"Who's going to stop me? You? You can't even move, can you, Ryoko? Once Tenchi's out of the picture you'll have nothing to direct your energy at and it will be mine. Of course, don't get me wrong. You're not the only one, but its just so much more fun having you go first."

"No, leave him alone!" Ryoko screamed, trying to advance on him, finding herself unable to move.

"Keep trying Ryoko..." Hoshi taunted as he was fading into the darkness behind him.

"Leave him alone!" She shouted as she heard the sound of thunder.

She sat straight up suddenly.

"Ryoko, are you all right?" Tenchi asked.

"Tenchi? Are you OK?" She asked him, making sure that he wasn't bleeding or anything.

"I'm fine, Ryoko. It's you we were all worried about." He explained.

It was then that Ryoko noticed Sasami, Aeka, Mihoshi, and Washu staring directly at her.

"What...happened?" She asked.

"You passed out, Ryoko." Washu explained.

"From what?"

"I don't know yet. You should just lie there for a while though. Just rest."

"I'll go get you some tea, Ryoko." Sasami said, leaving for the kitchen.

"You have to get Hoshi out of her." Ryoko said, leaning back on the couch.

"What are you talking about, Ryoko?" Washu asked her, typing furiously on her holo-laptop.

"He did this to me."

"He was in the lab with me, Ryoko. He couldn't have done anything to you."

"No, earlier this morning. Out near the fields."

"Is that who you saw this morning, Ryoko?" Tenchi asked her.

Ryoko nodded.

"What did he do?"

"I don't know. I couldn't move...he said that he wanted me to leave with him. He said that I wasn't wanted here..."

"Ryoko, you know that's not true." Tenchi interrupted before she could finish.

Ryoko didn't even look at him, she simply continued.

"I saw him in a dream...He said that he was after Tenchi. He said he was going after everyone's energy, that the energy we put into loving Tenchi will sustain him forever."

"That's how he remained alive..." Washu said, thinking aloud.

"What, Little Washu?" Tenchi asked.

"When Ryoko attacked him, he absorbed the energy of her attack, but it the energy wouldn't sustain him for long so he put himself into a coma and slowly used the energy from the attack. Once he was rejuvenated enough, he came out of the coma and immediately sought more energy. That's how he was able to find you, Ryoko. Since it was your energy that sustained him for so long, he obviously wants more. As for Tenchi...his energy is much greater and could easily sustain him for even longer.

"With everyone else's energy, he could easily make himself immortal. This morning, Ryoko, was he drawing power from your gems?"

"No...I can't explain it. I couldn't move, but I wanted to."

Washu nodded.

"What does that mean?" Mihoshi asked.

"That means that Hoshi wasn't controlling her gems. If he had been, she wouldn't have had free thought. When someone controls Ryoko's gems from an outside source, she loses her identity as Ryoko and simply becomes a machine."

"How awful..." Mihoshi said, quietly.

"Either way, stopping Hoshi may be difficult. Especially since he absorbs the energy thrown at him."

"How would we stop him then, Miss Washu?" Aeka asked.

"I'm not sure, but there has to be a way to manipulate the energy so he can't absorb it."

"Why not just use too much energy for him to absorb?" Mihoshi asked.

Everyone turned to look at her.

"I always knew you were a genius, Mihoshi." Washu said.

"Could that work, Washu?" Tenchi asked.

"In theory, yes. If enough energy was combined, he couldn't be able to absorb it fast enough for it to give him more energy and it could possibly destroy him."

"Well, shouldn't we do something about him until you figure out how to do this? He is in your lab, Washu." Ryoko said.

"I'll just work on it...there's nothing we can do about him."

"Why not just combine Ryoko, Tenchi, and Aeka's power?" Mihoshi asked.

"Did you take a smart pill this morning, Mihoshi?" Washu asked.

"Did you take a dumb pill this morning, Washu? You should be thinking up this stuff."

"Shut up, Ryoko."

"Will that work, Miss Washu?" Aeka asked.

"It just might."

"But if he can easily absorb Ryoko's power, who's to say that he couldn't absorb ours just as easily?" Tenchi asked.

"Tenchi, you can generate one of the greatest powers in the universe. That alone might be enough, but with Ryoko and Aeka's help it should easily destroy him."

"Destroy who?"

Everyone turned around.

"So you've figured it out finally?" Hoshi asked, standing in the hall. "I was starting to wonder when it would sink in with you people."

"Shut-up, you bastard." Ryoko said, starting to get up.

"No, Ryoko. You're too weak. You wouldn't stand a chance against him like this."

"She wouldn't stand a chance against me anyway. Would you, Ryoko?"

Ryoko didn't move. She couldn't. Somehow Hoshi had locked her in place again and she couldn't fight it. She could only feel her energy slip away from her as she started to fall again. Tenchi quickly caught her.

"What the hell are you doing to her!?" Tenchi shouted, lying Ryoko on the couch again.

"What I will soon do to you boy." Hoshi sneered. "So you can generate the Light Hawk Wings, eh? I knew there was something about you. Your energy alone could sustain me for eternity."

"I will destroy you." Tenchi said, kneeling next to Ryoko, keeping his eyes locked on Hoshi.

"Oh, well, we'll see about that, won't we?" Hoshi snapped his fingers and suddenly a large ship fell out of subspace. "In the mean time, I'll take her with me and we'll see who shall destroy whom."

Hoshi snapped his fingers again and he and Ryoko vanished.

"Damn him." Tenchi shouted.

"Now what do we do, Washu?" Aeka asked, turning to Washu.

She was gone.

"Her lab." Tenchi said, looking over at Aeka.

They all got up and went into Washu's lab.

"What are we going to do now, Little Washu?" Tenchi asked, seeing Washu standing over one of her computers with her back to the rest of the group.

"Washu?" Aeka asked, trying to get her attention.

When Washu finally did turn toward them, she had shed her childlike disguise.

"Miss Washu..." Aeka said, astounded.

"We're going to get her." Washu said.


Ryoko awoke in a strange ship. No one was around her and from what she could tell, nothing was keeping her there, but how did she get there? She tried to sit up, only to find herself slammed back down on the floor.

"Well, well...it's about time you woke up, Ryoko." She heard a voice say.

Finally, Hoshi's form appeared over her.

"What have you done?" Ryoko asked, fighting the pain in her back.

"I have simply brought you to my ship." He said, waving his hand.

Ryoko felt the pressure lift from her and she was able to stand up, though barely.

"What did you do with Tenchi?"

"He's fine, don't worry about him. I left him on Earth. I'm sure he'll try to come for you though." Hoshi said, stepping in closer to her.

"You think he's going to waste his time coming here for me?"

"Of course he will. Fools in love are them most predictable fools in the universe."

Ryoko forced a harsh laugh.

"You actually think he's in love with me?"

Hoshi shook his head.

"You're in love with him, aren't you? Are you that stupid not to see it in his eyes, Ryoko?"

Ryoko readied herself to fight, but found herself unable to move.

"Look at me, Ryoko." Hoshi said, bringing her face closer to his. "To think that a demon could look like an angel."

Ryoko tried to move away or even look away but somehow he kept her eyes locked on his.

"You're so beautiful, Ryoko. How can you think that a man couldn't be in love with you?" He said, kissing her.

As much as Ryoko tried she couldn't fight him. He had a control over her that no one had before. Was it possible she didn't want to move? Or had Hoshi found a way to manipulate the energy he received from her to use against her? No matter what the case was, Ryoko tried desperately to get away.

"What's wrong, Ryoko?" Hoshi asked, pulling her even closer to him.

Their bodies were pressed closely together, Ryoko's mind fighting any more control that Hoshi was trying to gain as his hands searched her body, tearing off her clothes. Her mind screamed for help, knowing that no one could hear her.


"Can you tell where she is, Miss Washu?" Tenchi asked, not sure whether he could really call Washu "little" anymore.

"No, but if we take Ryo-Ohki Hoshi's ship will be easy enough to spot."

"Don't we need Ryoko to defeat him, Washu? She'll be too weak." Aeka said.

"Don't worry about that, Aeka." Washu said, leaving her lab to find Sasami and Ryo-Ohki.

Aeka and Tenchi only exchanged looks and followed her.

"Miss...Washu?" Sasami and Mihoshi asked simultaneously.

"Mihoshi, stay with Sasami please." Aeka said.

"Sure, Aeka." Mihoshi said.

"Are you going after Ryoko?" Sasami asked.

Aeka nodded.

"Good luck." Mihoshi said.

"Thanks, Mihoshi." Tenchi said as they walked out of the house. "Come on, Ryo-Ohki."

Ryo-Ohki leapt from Sasami's shoulder onto Tenchi's as he walked out of the house.

Once they were onboard Ryo-Ohki, Washu took the controls and they flew into space.

"Where do we go?" Aeka asked.

"Ryo-Ohki, do you sense any other ships in the area?" Washu asked.

"Miao!" Ryo-Ohki responded.

Tenchi and Aeka looked at Washu for a translation.

"Well, what did she say?"

"She said that there's one somewhere around Jupiter."

"Then let's go."

Washu nodded.

"Let's go, Ryo-Ohki."


"They're coming for you." Hoshi said, glancing at Ryoko's naked form on the cold floor of the bridge of his ship.

Ryoko still couldn't move. Hoshi knew that the moment she could move of her own free will again, she'd lop of his head and he'd be a goner, no matter how much energy he could absorb. He could almost feel the anger radiating off of her body. That just made the whole thing worth while.

"I told you that he would come for you. A true man would always risk his life for the ones he loves. Either that or he'd just feel guilty, but somehow I don't think that's the case."

Ryoko squeezed her eyes shut. It was the only part of her body that she had control off. She couldn't even wipe away her tears. She knew that this was all a trap for Tenchi, but she also knew that this was Hoshi's way of getting revenge on her for something she had no control over.

*Washu...can you hear me?* Ryoko tried desperately to contact her mother. She had tried since she had awakened on the cold floor the first time and she hadn't succeeded, but that didn't stop her from trying again.

*Washu, please...* She pleaded again, hoping someone would come and help her.

Ryoko had never felt so much pain in her life before. She had been beaten, shot, stabbed, any variety of things, but this was beyond any pain that those things caused. She had never felt so helpless before in her life. Even when she was controlled by Kagato she wasn't bothered with guilt and anguish. She had never known what they were. But now she'd rather die than continue to lie on this freezing floor with no clothing in the same room with the disgusting creature that had just raped her.

She didn't know what to do. And for possibly the first time in her life, Ryoko knew that she needed someone to come sort everything out for her. She knew she needed Tenchi.


"There's the ship, Washu." Tenchi said, pointing to a large black shape orbiting the planet Jupiter.

"What do we do now? We have to get onboard." Aeka said.

"That shouldn't be a problem. He wants Tenchi's energy now, he knows what type of energy he's capable of producing. He'll invite us over. He will probably have energy reversing shields up at first, but I should be able to handle them with no trouble." Washu said, piloting Ryo-Ohki closer to Hoshi's ship.

*Wa...shu...*

"Ryoko?" Washu asked aloud, picking up Ryoko's faint telepathy.

"What is it, Washu?"

"It's Ryoko. She's trying to contact me."

"What's she saying, Miss Washu?" Aeka asked.

"I can't - I don't know. She's too weak. She can't force her telepathy through Hoshi's shields."

"Is there anyway you can tell if she's alright?" Tenchi asked.

"Well, also as she's contacting me telepathically, Tenchi, I'd say she's alive."

"Well, well, well. It's about time you showed up." Hoshi face appeared on a communication screen.

His deceivingly young looks that he presented on Earth had melted away to show the scarred face of a man who looked not much older than Tenchi himself.

"Where's Ryoko?" Tenchi asked.

"Ah, I knew that's why you came. Ryoko's fine." Hoshi lied.

"Let me talk to her." Tenchi demanded, losing his patience with Hoshi already.

"That will have to wait until later, I'm afraid, but don't worry. I won't let Ryoko die before you get here. Feel free to board the ship whenever you'd like." Hoshi said before his image vanished from the screen.

Tenchi clenched his fists.

"Let's go." He said, looking over to Washu and Aeka.

Together they nodded as Ryo-Ohki advanced on the ship once again.

When the forest turns to jade,
And the stories that we've made
Dissolve away
One shining light will still remain.
When we shed our earthly skin,
And when our real life begins,
There'll be no shame
Just the love that we have made
Before time

==========
~End Part 3~

Coming Soon:
A Love Before Time: Part 4

A/n: I wanted to save the battle for the last part for obvious reasons. I know a lot of you want to see Hoshi die in some way...maybe, maybe not. I'm definitely not telling.

I just want to take the time to thank everyone that's been reading and I hope you've enjoyed the story so far, although this part is very difficult to enjoy. But still, thanks for reading. You're reviews and emails are very much appreciated. ^_^