No Need for a Family

The Cave

No one had been down here since they, or Ryoko rather, had released Washu from the stasis crystal. Now there was a simple cot laid out atop the intricately grooved stones. The entire cavern was bathed with a soft bluish white light, it was something similar to Jurai energy but peculiar to Earth. Outside it was already late in the day, but Ryoko appeared to be still sleeping soundly.

Flashback

The world encompasses a small alleyway all the color muted to gray, a defiant Ryoko lay on the ground clutching a bleeding slash in her side. Over her stood a smiling woman, in battle armor that would soon be of no use to her. She was laughing and twirling the energy sword in her hand like an Earth fizzle stick. The woman was saying something, but no words seemed to escape. The same was true for Ryoko's vulgar response. It was as if some silent wind had carried away all the sound from the scene.

The woman stopped smiling as her body shuddered and the energy sword vanished in her hand. She fell over, a burned out hole in the back of her head. Ryoko looked up to see another of the assassins that resembled her. She blacked out as the man reached down to help her up.

A little more than an hour later

Ryoko hoped that Ryo-Ohki could make it to safety on her own, and then laughed at herself for the thought. They were after her, not Ryo-Ohki, and they knew she was with Renshi. No Kuroi assassins this time, just a pair of lucky bounty hunters, almost literally smelling Ryoko's blood. She glanced at the man operating the small fighter ship, not quite trusting him yet. She laid back down on the stretcher, still weak from the most recent assassin's attack. That woman had used powers just like her own, the energy blade was a trick she'd have to work out though. Whatever the case she had no capability to resist right now.

He claimed to be a retainer of her clan, a rebel now, but he still had not explained what any of this was about. She didn't know it yet, but he never would.

Five months pass

It had been a night of released tension and unused adrenaline, just before Renshi had left her on this little dust ball to report her dead. She had had hundreds of such trysts over her eighteen hundred years. This one seemed to have born fruit.

She thought it was funny, those bastards' first appearance had forced her into piracy. She had always been a delinquent, but never anything violent before that first assassin when she was still not much more than a kid. Now she was looking to live a reasonably normal life because of the last of them, things had come full circle.

Five years later

This Japan was exceptionally primitive. A place where someone with Ryoko's talents and experience could make a fair living, woman or no. In addition she had sold most of the equipment she had left from her parents' spacecraft. They served no purpose to her and these hayseeds thought they were some sort of wonderous piece of art. She could live a long time on this world. Maybe Renshi would even return, and they might possibly make something out of that one night of pent up emotions.

Ryoko glanced over at her son with the priests while she practiced summoning her energy blade. Things were almost perfect. She had been planning on visiting a mystic warrior she had heard about in another part of the country. A samurai with strange powers, she suspected it was someone like her. A resident of the galaxy living in self-imposed exile.

That was when Ryoko heard the voice in her mind. Ryo-Ohki's voice approaching through the void warning her about a bounty hunter ship. It wasn't Nagi, not yet, she would come later, but this would ruin her normal life. It took her all of five seconds to decide that it would only ruin hers.

She left the temple and never came back.

The Cave

Ryoko sat up slowly as the dream came to an end, she rose a hand to her cheek and it came back wet. For the second time in the last few days she was crying. The space pirate took a long breath, trying to soak in the power of Earth that seemed to flow through the cave. Now would have to be the time, she was as prepared now as she ever would be. With the Kuroi and their retainers back in her life, later might be too late. Things needed to be cleared up. She floated off the sacred ground and teleported out.

Masaki Residence

Rikyu seemed to be the only one who was yet awake. He paced about the silent living room trying to come to grips with what he should think. Obviously his mother hadn't been killed by bandits as he had been thought had happened over two centuries ago. That left the question of why she had left. The monks Ryoko had left him with had described her as uncouth and a little barbaric, but they also said that she had always treated him like any other mother would treat her son. They had told him that one day she just suddenly became very sad and left to never return.

He was still pacing when Ryoko appeared in the middle of the room.

"Nobody else is awake I guess," she noted.

"Yeah, we have a little space alone it seems," Rikyu agreed. Ryoko nodded and breathed a large slow breeze of air.

"I didn't want to leave," Ryoko said first. "I had found something of a normal life."

"Then why did you?"

"I was a space pirate," Ryoko said. "Most would say I still am. The bounty hunters found me. If Ryo-Ohki hadn't reached me first, then they would have found you as well."

"So you left to draw them off," Rikyu said. "To protect me?"

"To protect us both," Ryoko admitted. "I had, and still have, many enemies, and not all bounty hunters are the most noble of people."

"Then why did you come back?" Rikyu asked holding her stare with his own.

"I never intended to. I've been terrified about this for the last two centuries. I crash landed here about two years ago, Galaxy Police this time. Then I met…someone…everyone…and I had a family again."

"You were going to live here and never come look for me?"

"Do you think I felt happy about it? Everyday I've been here I've asked myself why would you want to see me," Ryoko asked. "Why would you even believe me?"

"The teleporting and energy tricks would have been a clue."

"Yeah, you've learned everything much quicker than I did. The monks told you what I could do didn't they. Thinking of things always seems to be the biggest problem for me."

"Yes and I accidentally flew one day, after that every came quickly. You left me these bracers right?" He revealed the items around his wrists.

"Yeah, I did. I would have left behind more, but I had sold most of them already."

"I know, I think I've found most of them." Ryoko glanced at him, confused. "The monks told me about that, I've spent most of my life hunting down relics."

"Be interesting to see them again," Ryoko laughed. "I took them out of my orphanage's storage, came from your grandparents' ship. The Akuneko…the Kuroi I guess, nearly destroyed it, I was the only survivor."

"What were they like?" Ryoko shrugged.

"I was two."

"My father?"

"His name was Renshi, he claimed to be a retainer of our clan playing one of the Kuroi thugs. Whoever he was, he saved my life."

"A one night stand," considering her lifestyle he wasn't surprised.

"I didn't get a chance to know him any better, he left to report me dead. And that was last I heard of him, until that bastard showed up."

"He's dead then." Ryoko nodded solemnly.

"The only good thing that's come out of them hunting me is you. At least I was right about that, I don't want to know what you'd be now if I'd taken you with me." Ryoko sat down on the couch. "Probably a worthless vagabond, just like me. Ayeka's right I can blow things up and that's about it. Well, that'll be useful pretty soon at least."

"You don't think this is the last of the Kuroi," Rikyu nodded an agreement with her.

"They're coming, and it's not just me anymore. There'll be no running."

"And where do we go from here?"

"I don't know," Ryoko admitted. Mother and son sat across from each other in an uncomfortable silence. From the shadows of Ayeka and Sasami's room an unnoticed figure sat quietly watching through a slightly open door.

"Rei Kuroi isn't the only one who's misjudged you," Ayeka whispered.

The Yagami, extreme Earth orbit, the Washu-Brig

"Detective," Rei spat weakly in greeting. The assassin looked a mess, his battle armor was in shreds, and his flesh was burned and in some places swollen. His arm was still limp and now it seemed that he had a shattered leg as well. Kiyone glanced at Washu, who was smirking viciously, sometimes the detective wondered where the scientist drew the line. Not that she enjoyed hurting people, it was just that Washu never stopped to wonder if something should be done.

"I see it works," Washu said proudly. Rei glared at her with fear and only a little less hate than he held for Kiyone.

"This was not my intention, Kuroi-San," Kiyone said. "But I'd be lying if I said I was sorry."

"Of course not," Rei laughed. "A barbarian like you would never feel shame at hiding behind machines."

"Do you know what the difference between a barbarian and a civilized person is?" Kiyone asked.

"The barbarian is inferior of course," Rei answered. "An ignorant savage with no honor."

"No," Kiyone said. "The difference is that the civilized man is at home, and the barbarian is not. That would make you the barbarian here." Rei snarled and lurched across the brig. He stopped short of the doorway though.

"This will be our home before too long, woman," the assassin hissed. Behind him his tail weaved angrily. That was unusual, when Ryoko was in her armor the tail didn't appear. He smiled at her haughtily "You are harboring fugitives from my government, that is call for war." The effect was ruined by the fact that his one leg couldn't hold him long and he fell to the ground.

"Neither of those 'fugitives' even knew about your government until you came along." Kiyone responded, unfazed by the threats. She knew, from dealing with Ryoko, that the Akuneko would heal fast, but he was hurting now.

"It doesn't matter, what they know," he snapped. "They are Shinku, as long as they live we're the rebels!" He pulled himself up onto his cot again. Kiyone looked to Washu for an explanation.

"The Kuroi claimed that they were fighting the Shinku tyranny when the Akuneko first invaded the border systems." Washu had understood that this was her role in the interrogation the entire time, historian and a little bit of intimidation. She didn't mind, she even relished the chance to study Kiyone's methods.

"So the war you mentioned is only to kill Ryoko and Rikyu?" Kiyone asked, raising one eyebrow.

"That'll be the excuse," Rei admitted. "It adds to my belief that this was a pointless assignment." Rei lay on his cot and tried to ignore Kiyone, she wasn't going to give him that chance.

"And what excuse would they have had if you had succeeded?" she asked, with a hard look in her eyes that even made Washu nervous.

"What do you mean?" Rei had a sense of something he wasn't going to like coming.

"You came across as a tourist correct?"

"Another idiotic command decision," he agreed.

"What would your government do if one of their people were killed over here while sight seeing." Rei glared at her as he realized that he was never intended to survive this mission, successful or not.

"Very clever, detective," he hissed. "I hadn't thought of that. Now perhaps you can leave? I need to get some sleep, after all there's a war coming to your home." It was a hint of revenge against his superiors, only a slice of what he would bring later. Kiyone smiled triumphantly, and it twisted the Akuneko's gut to see the woman win over him once more.

"Thank you, Kuroi-San," Kiyone's gaze eased. "I've got what I need Washu."

"If you'll let me, I wish to examine his wreck," Washu asked.

"Fine by me, excuse me, I have to check on Mihoshi," Kiyone walked up the corridor and around the corner. Washu turned to face Rei with a neutral expression on her face.

"Don't think I've missed your intentions," Washu told him.

"What do you care about whether I wish to kill that barbarian or not," Rei grumbled.

"That barbarian has one of the keenest minds I've ever met," Washu hummed pleasantly. "Her genius might not be in the same direction as mine, but she is the closest thing I've ever had to daughter." Washu leaned close to the invisible wall and smiled at a frowning Rei. "And do you really want me personally against you?"

"We'll see if it is still a problem when the Kuroi have you in your own cell." Washu laughed and walked on to the cargo bay.

Yagami bridge

"Kiyone!! Kiyone!" Mihoshi was yelling with eyes closed. "KIIYOOONEEE!!!"

"What is it?" Kiyone asked trying to rub out her ears.

"I can't find the report forms!"

"That's because I hid them," Kiyone thought to herself, calling up which directory they were in.

"How can I fill out the report if I don't have the forms?"

"I'll handle it, Mihoshi," Kiyone sat down and called up a communication screen to the new Galaxy Police headquarters. "1st class detective Kiyone Makibi reporting in, sir."

"Oh, Makibi," the sergeant answered. "I was just going to contact you. Has the Akuneko arrived there yet?"

"He is in my custody," Kiyone admitted. "It turns out that Ryoko and one other are the last remnants of the Shinku Akuneko clan."

"Oh, did you notice that Ryoko looks like the same kind of species as Rei?" Mihoshi asked, Kiyone rolled her eyes.

"That explains their interest in her," her superior noted. "Who is this 'other' you're talking about?" Kiyone weighed the issue and decided that the truth here would be better for all.

"Ryoko's son, Rikyu," Kiyone told him. "He is mentioned in the demon war." The sergeant looked at her strangely. "I mean case 348502. There's something else sir."

"Rikyu-san is Ryoko's son?" Mihoshi asked and then tried to figure it out.

"What is it?"

"I believe the Akuneko intend to invade," Kiyone told him. "Our captive has indicated that Ryoko and Rikyu's presence here will be construed as us housing fugitives from their justice. I also think that if he had succeeded then Rei Kuroi would have been killed and that would have been the excuse for the invasion."

"Invade? That means there'll be a lot of them?" Mihoshi began to process this disturbing information.

"Is there any clue as to where they will strike first?"

"I think they'll head for Earth first, he said that war was coming to my home."

"Earth! Who's attacking Earth?"

"It makes sense," the sergeant agreed. "If they have spies of any quality they'll know about who lives there. They'd want to be rid of heros such as you first. Speaking of which you have company coming, they should be there any moment."

"Hey, Kiyone," Mihoshi pointed out the window. "Isn't that a Jurai battleship?"

"Who sir?" Another communication screen opened up. On the other side of it was a bandaged Nagi and battered Ken-Ohki, who was still cheerful as only a cabbit could be under such a situation. They were flanked by the knights Azaka and Kamidake.

"Kiyone," Nagi said. "We're coming aboard."

Note: In the TV series (or at least the movie) Kiyone seems to be the one that tries out most of Washu's stuff. At any rate Washu picks on Kiyone in the same way she picks on Ryoko in the OAV series. Also since Kiyone's Yagami seems to be a custom job, I think she shares some of Washu's love of tinkering, even if she doesn't have the skill or lack of restraint.

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