I don't own Tenchi Muyo.
The Prodigal Son
By The Great El Dober
This is a sequel to "For Reasons That Escape Me". All you
really need to know is that Ryoko and Washu were reunited on the Souja under very
different circumstances and their relationship has been solidified by their battle
together against Dr.Clay. Zero is no longer a part of Zero but Ryoko now has all of the
emotions that Zero had. How this happened isn't really important as they themselves have
forgotten but you can find all previous stories on my profile page.
Chapter One
A man reluctantly steps into a crowded bar full of space pirates and
ruthless criminals. He walks quick and restless steps but is relieved to find that he
passes untouched. If only they knew who he actually was then things would be very
different but his plain clothes allow him to blend in and pass through safely. However he
still felt extremely nervous as he snaked his way through the crowd to the designated
spot. Among the swarm of tattered appearances he soon spots his target.
The tall man sits alone at his table. He is unnaturally serene and
seemingly independent of his surroundings. His long, unruly blond locks fall over his
shoulders and drape onto the lavish fabrics of his intricate robes. Nice to see he
made the effort to fit in, the man thinks to himself in annoyance as he approaches
the table.
"You're late detective Barlaro," the blond man chides, calmly
sipping another drink from his glass.
"Shut up you fool!" the detective whispers harshly, not
wanting to attract any more attention, "I'm risking enough meeting you here as it is.
I'll end up dead if you continue like that."
"Clam down, as long as you are with me then you're safe," the
blond man replies calmly, paying no attention to the drunken brutes that mingled in swarms
around him, "That is of course, assuming that you have what I want."
On this cue the detective fumbles about in his pockets and eventually
produces a slender display tablet. He activates it and scrolls through the contents for
his acquaintance to see.
"These are the classified Galaxy Police files relating to a planet
named Earth," he explained, "According to the reports it contains exactly what
you are looking for."
The blond man takes the tablet and carefully examines the details but
his moments of inspection are moments of tense fear for the detective. He had heard of the
reputed ability of this man sitting across the table from him. He was definitely not a man
to be taken lightly.
"Very well," he finally accepted, "Here is your payment
as agreed." He hands over another tablet only smaller than the other. The detective
takes it graciously and activates it to read the . . .
"Wait!" he exclaims, "This isn't what we agreed. This is
almost twice as much!"
"I know," the blond man replies, calmly going back to his
drink, "but money is no longer important to me. You have given me what I really want
and I am grateful for it."
The detective just sat there, dumbfounded. Generosity? In a place like
this? In return for illegal services? What kind of man was this? Maybe the rumours were
true, maybe he really was . . .
"You should leave now," came a solemn but friendly warning,
"there is a group five tables away that are getting suspicious of you."
The galaxy police detective turned his head in the specified direction.
Indeed there was a group and they looked more infuriated than suspicious. Maybe they
recognized him, he had better leave now. With a quick bow he rose from the table and made
a sharp exit to the door, leaving the tall man alone once more.
He glanced over the data once more and a satisfied smile formed across
his lips.
"Soon Ryoko. Soon I will finally get the chance to meet you."
Earth
"Am I really one of those?" Ryoko asked as she sat crossed
legged in front of a huge water tank with an enchanted look of fascination on her face.
She cocked her head to the side trying to follow the swirling movements of the aquatic
mass creatures. Washu chuckled to herself as her daughter leaned a bit too far to one
side, tipped over and landed sprawled out on the floor.
"Depends what you mean," Washu replied from her post on her
floating cushion as Ryoko clambered back up, "The masses do make up elements of your
body but you are not a mass, you are far more than that."
Ryoko's shoulders slumped as her spirits tumbled slightly. She had kept
the link open but her mother still failed to notice what she had really meant. Now she
would have to opt for a far more awkward, direct approach.
"Yes, but am I still . . . you know . . ." Ryoko began to
falter before summoning enough courage to finish, " . . .a person?"
Washu sighed a heavy, exasperated sigh as she backed away from her work.
"Not this again," she muttered as she stood up and walked towards her sitting
daughter.
"Yes, you are still a person, just the same as everyone else,"
she assured softly, kneeling down at Ryoko's side, "I even have your birth
certificate if you want to see it."
"Can I?" Ryoko asked in a timid voice.
"Of course. It's over there," Washu directed while pointing to
a framed document on the wall, "I posted it on the wall after you asked to see it
four times in one day."
I had really hoped we were past this stage, she thought
inwardly, She shouldn't have to go through this all the time. It's not fair, she
deserves far better than this.
As her thoughts continued the subject of those thoughts stood in front
of the certificate and read it with a gleeful eye. It was true . . .
Certificate of Birth
Name: Ryoko Hakubi
Mother: Washu Hakubi
Father: N/A
Nationality: N/A
Race: N/A
Okay, so there were a lot of N/A's, that didn't matter. It was a birth
certificate, not an experiment report, not a property deed, a birth certificate. It wasn't
just what her mother said, it was official, she was someone.
Thanks, she said tenderly across the link to her mother.
Thanks for what? Washu asked in a tone of
confusion, I haven't done anything.
I know, her daughter replied with a smile, but it just
feels like the right thing to say. It means a lot to me. Thanks.
Washu accepted with a nod before closing her thoughts off. With her
thoughts disconnected from her daughter she began to think more freely once more. It
shouldn't mean a lot to her, she should be able to take it for granted. Everyone else
does, why should it be different for her? Still, at least she's happy.
"But aren't you forgetting something?" Washu asked, trying to
purge all emotion from her voice and sound unphased, "Tenchi will be back from the
fields soon, in two minutes to be exact."
"Oh sh. . ." Ryoko managed to cut herself off before she said
something vulgar. It was a habit that Washu was encouraging her to stop and she was trying
hard. She wanted to please her mother, she wanted to be someone that her mother could be
proud of and in her own eyes Ryoko still had a long way to go. So she tried to avoid that
one habit but there was another small habit that had developed and it was one that Washu
was most definitely encouraging.
"Aren't you forgetting something else?" Washu asked as Ryoko
hurried towards the door. Despite trying to sound neutral her voice was laced with
expectation and eagerness.
Ryoko stopped, thought about it and when it finally sunk in she turned
around and ran back, stopping inches away from Washu.
"Bye Mom," she said swiftly, laying a small peck on Washu's
cheek. Then she was off again, racing towards the other important person in her life.
Washu sighed as she sat down to her work once more. She let her
happiness and contentment overrule her previous unrest. Her mind slowly eased into a
comfortable cosiness as her thoughts rested on her renewed relationship with her daughter.
It may not be conventional but it was definitely rewarding.
Masaki Home
"I'm home," Tenchi announced as he walked through the door and
inwardly began to count how many seconds it would take for . . .
"Hi Tenchi," Ryoko responded as she appeared by his side,
"Did you miss me?" Normally Tenchi would shout, or get annoyed or just simply
turn and run but recently things had been different. It was all to do with Ryoko's body
language. She didn't drape herself around his neck or grope him or even shove her face as
close to his as possible. All she did was take a hold of his arm and trace invisible
circles on his chest. Tenchi found this far more manageable and could finally feel more
comfortable around her.
"Why do you do that anyway?" Tenchi laughed as he watched
Ryoko's fingers dance lightly over his skin. It wasn't an angry hint to leave him alone
but rather just something to say, as he couldn't think of anything better. However Ryoko
had an answer anyway.
"Can't a pirate play with her treasure chest?" she asked him
with a playful bounce in her voice.
"Treasure chest?" Tenchi asked, completely confused.
"Yes," she replied with an amused smile, "this is your
chest isn't it?"
"Well yes," he answered.
"And it does contain treasure doesn't it?" Ryoko continued but
at that point all understanding fell from Tenchi's face. He knew about the treasure chests
of pirates but he was certain that Ryoko had completely misunderstood the meaning because
this made no sense to him.
"I mean it contains what I treasure the most," she re-phrased
but still Tenchi's face was completely silent and blank. He wasn't getting this at all.
With a delicate finger she gently jabbed on his chest, roughly where his
heart was and slowly it began to click. She had been talking about his heart. She did that
a lot now, she would use imagery and word play to make her feelings easier for Tenchi to
digest but such implications still made him uneasy.
"You can't say it's yours," he reminded her, his voice
carrying a note of sorrow as he had to let her down once again. "You can't say things
like that if I'm not even sure if . . ."
"That's okay," she replied brightly, "You see, it's
hidden treasure Tenchi. You might not know it's there but I do and I'll be patient enough
to wait until it's dug up. But don't worry, I won't try anything until then."
"You really believe it's you," Tenchi stated, with a mixture
of disbelief and admiration for her unwavering self-confidence, "There's no doubt in
your mind is there?"
"No there isn't," she replied calmly, "I know how there
can be feelings hidden under the surface, feelings so strong and true but you just don't
see them properly. But they always shine through in the end and then everything works out
. . ."
"Just like you and Washu?" Tenchi asked, beginning to
understand where Ryoko's thinking was coming from. She gave him a satisfied nod, pleased
that he seemed to understand her. He just smiled warmly in return, pleased to see such
progress in his friend.
"You've really come a long way you know that," he told her,
his compliments full of approval and fondness. "Ever since Washu came back you've
changed. You're more controlled and polite and you seem much happier. I like it, everyday
you seem to get more . . ."
Silence.
Tenchi never finished that sentence. He just cut himself off and let his
intended words fall into a lost silence. Ryoko watched him, her head buzzing with
possibilities, some realistic, some fantasies, but all of them centred on the words that
he had restrained himself from saying. It might have been nothing, just poor word choice
or a sudden lapse in memory but the possibility of what it might have been set Ryoko's
imagination alight.
Tenchi just stood there and gazed guiltily into Ryoko's eyes as they
glistened with expectation but he knew he couldn't say the words that he had halted on the
tip of his tongue. Why had he thought them? Did he even mean them? He was so confused,
what would she think?
"I understand," she assured while firming her grip on his arm.
Part of her didn't want to say that, part of her wanted to demand he finish his sentence
but part of her was his friend and that part won out. He would finish someday, not today,
but she was sure that someday it would happen and that it would be her that he would say
it to. But for now she would save him the awkward embarrassment and just bask in the
satisfaction of his warm compliments.
He had been right, her life had changed. Everyday was now worth living
and she felt a natural joy dance inside of her. She had everything she would ever need.
She had a loving mother, difficult but supportive friends and she had Tenchi, not exactly
the way she would like, but he was an part of her everyday life and that was enough for
now. Yes, in comparison to her tragic life so far, she had everything. Things couldn't
possibly get any better for her.
Which unfortunately meant that things could only get worse.
Days Later
"Erm, Washu, I don't see anything," Mihoshi chattered in the
frosty night air.
"Just wait, there's definitely something out there," Washu
replied with her sights locked firmly on the shadowed clouds above. She searched the skies
for a sign, a trace of what she knew was there. They couldn't let themselves be caught off
guard.
"And you're sure it's heading for us?" Ryoko asked with her
doubting eyes also searching the skies, but with far more accuracy than any of the others.
She was trained for this sort of thing, if something had been out there she should have
seen it by now.
"Yes, I'm sure," Washu's irritated voice answered, "I
wouldn't have called you all out otherwise."
"Well Miss Washu," Ayeka spoke up from inside her various
layers of heavy but warm garments, "I don't mean to sound . . ."
"Wait!" Ryoko interrupted, her golden eyes straining with
concentration, "I see it! There!"
Her slender finger pointed to an empty space in the night sky but with
time the vacant darkness slowly gave way to a faint dot. It soon became clearer and more
definite and began to grow in size as the object approached them. Eventually the faint dot
had become a mighty spacecraft slowly descending towards the earth, towards them.
It halted its descent, still lodged high in the heights of the cold
night sky. The group stood poised, vigilantly awaiting whatever would happen next. Ryoko
bravely positioned herself at the front of the group should a fight break out and they
needed her protection. In turn Tenchi produced Tenchi-ken and summoned its blade while
Ayeka quietly called her guardians.
Suddenly a vibrant, dazzling light appeared in a patch of air. It wasn't
close by but the contrasting brilliance of the light startled them as their attention was
torn from the distant ship and thrown towards this curious disturbance occurring only feet
away from them. The light soon faded leaving the shadowy outline of a tall man. Someone
was there.
"Excuse me," the mysterious figure began, "but I have
travelled far to meet you."
"Who are you?" Tenchi demanded, holding his weapon steady in a
defensive position.
The figure stepped forward slowly bringing himself into the light. He
wore extravagant attire, elaborate robes seasoned with ornate ornaments. He had long, wild
blond hair that flowed behind his back and slumped over his broad shoulders. He stood
tall, strong and rather formidable.
But there was something else, something that Washu couldn't quite put
her finger on. The facial features, the hair, the colour of his eyes they all seemed to
echo something in her mind but she couldn't quite grasp what it was.
"My name," he replied, "is Hono Hakubi. . . ."
That name streaked through Washu's mind, tearing free her faded memories
and bringing them back into the vivid light. Her whole body recoiled in a stunned gasp as
the alarming recognition shook her frame. It was him, after all these years she was
actually seeing him again. The young man shifts his gaze and sent his potent eyes to rest
upon the shocked expression of Washu.
". . . . your son."
End of Chapter One
Next Chapter - What's going on here? How's this possible? What will
Washu's reaction be and more importantly how will Ryoko react to this?
Note - Okay, hopefully this is the first of many parts (probably about
seven) but there is no point in continuing if no one cares so could I get a show of hands
for anyone who's interested? I would appreciate it.
