No Need for Apologies

Washu's Lab

"Well," Ayeka asked impatiently. "Do you have any results?" If she was going to suffer the indignity of these tests, the least Washu could do was answer some questions.

"Quite a few actually," Washu said cheerfully. Ayeka blinked.

"Well don't just stand there," Ayeka demanded. "Tell me about them."

"I've been able to isolate at least fifteen separate factors in the Jurai energy field that I had not noticed before," Washu started, Ayeka blinked again. "The structure of the field is exceptionally interesting. Considering the differences between your…"

"Washu-chan…" Ayeka started politely.

"…field now, and your field before. I might be able to refine my Jurai energy generators with this information."

"…Washu?"

"I don't think I'll ever be able to duplicate the same level of complexity that a living being…"

"…Washu…." Ayeka said a little testily.

"….can create in the field. There is a level of evolution and change even in your weakened…."

"…WASHU!!!!!!!" Ayeka shouted.

"Ayeka, you should be avoiding stress as much as possible," the scientist condoned her. "Try to calm down."

"Do you have any information that can help me?" Ayeka asked.

"Not as yet." Ayeka restrained herself from attacking the pink-haired scientist. "Have you actually tried channeling power since then?"

"No, why do you ask?" Washu looked grim. "Is that bad."

"It could be," Washu noted. "After an injury it always helps the healing to work on the injured part. Hmm, let's hook you back up to the sensors and try a few more tests."

"If you insist, Washu-chan," Ayeka said wearily.

The New Miho-Kiyo place

"But do you have to go and leave me here all alone?" Mihoshi whined.

"Rakkan and Karya are here," she fixed the pair with a glare, they had been difficult to convince of that. Both wanted to accompany Kiyone and Rikyu on the trip. "It's a week there, drop off the prisoner, paperwork, report and then a week back, I won't be gone long. And I'm not going for another few days, so you can stop acting like I'm going vanish every time I leave your sight."

"But I can't last that long without you!" Mihoshi wailed.

"You were here for more than a month before I arrived!" Kiyone countered.

"Oh yeah," Mihoshi said cheerfully. "I guess I'll be find."

"Aaghh!!" Kiyone took a moment after voicing her frustration to calm down. "Good, I guess that's settled then."

"By why do you want to go off with Rikyu anyway?" Kiyone turned a faint shade of red and laughed nervously.

"Well, all he's seen so far is the frontiers," Kiyone explained weakly. "So I'm going to give him a chance to see some of the centers of the galactic civilization."

"It's not because you want some time alone with him?" Kiyone's blush deepened.

"How did you figure that out?" Karya asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Mihoshi asked curiously.

"To normal people perhaps," Rakkan commented quietly.

"Well, whatever," Kiyone said. "You're fine staying here, so as soon as Tenchi and Ryoko get here, I can deal with this other situation and then I'm gone."

"Where are Lord Tenchi and Lady Shiroi?"

"Yosho apparently has them sparring."

Yosho's training ground

Ryoko and Tenchi glared at each other across the sparring ground. They'd vocally clashed once or twice since they'd left the Yagami. Nothing quite so volatile as that first outburst, but still somewhat vicious.

"This should be good practice for you Ryoko," Yosho said from off to the side. "Tenchi has been practicing the Jurai fighting arts all his life."

"There's no way that he's going to beat me," Ryoko insisted. She took her stance rigidly.

"Let's just see about that," Tenchi said.

"Remember, this is just a spar," Yosho said harshly. "And a test of your fighting skills, not your powers."

"I don't need my powers," Ryoko insisted. Tenchi narrowed his eyes.

"In that case, begin!"

Ryoko attacked first, as Tenchi expected. He fell back slowly, concentrating on his defense for the time being. Ryoko's execution was near perfect, but he'd learned the same routine nearly eight years ago. Ryoko stabbed forward with an enraged shout. Tenchi coolly sidestepped, letting Ryoko pass along side and past him. He lay the edge of his bokken against the back of her head lightly.

"Damn it," Ryoko snarled as she felt the slight brush of wood against her skull.

"The first round goes to Tenchi," Yosho declared. "You need to calm down Ryoko, that was a somewhat predictable exchange."

"Don't worry about me," Ryoko grunted as she faced off against Tenchi before. The second pass turned out much like the first. A lot like the first.

"Ryoko's better than this, much better" Tenchi thought to himself. "What's she doing?" Looking to his Grandfather he saw that Yosho was also confused. Ryoko generally depended on her powers in battle, but she had to have some experience in melee over the last couple thousand years.

"Shall we try again Ryoko?" Yosho asked. Ryoko grumbled wordlessly and prepared for a third round. Tenchi watched her with some concern this time, and the third pass began.

Ryoko came in hard again, almost flawlessly, but still following one of the practice routines stroke for stroke. She had to know that the counter would be obvious. He dodged to the side and out of her reach. Then he stood and watched her.

"What's the matter Tenchi, pressing a little to hard?" Ryoko asked.

"Are you okay, Ryoko?" Tenchi asked.

"What are you talking about Tenchi, now are we going to fight here?"

"Good question," Yosho interrupted. "Considering you've thrown every round."

"Yeah, I'd almost say you want to lose," Tenchi was confused. He had thought Ryoko was angry with him, but wouldn't that make her eager to win rather than lose.

"Oh forget it, this was stupid anyway," Ryoko snapped and teleported away.

"Ryoko wait!" Tenchi shouted. "Damn it, what's the matter with her?"

"You haven't been paying much attention, have you Tenchi?" Yosho asked.

"What do you mean?"

"She hasn't been around as much recently, has she?" Now that Tenchi thought about, the only times Ryoko showed up at the house was for the soap operas and meals. And she'd been drunk more often as well. He'd been too busy worrying about himself to notice anything wrong with her.

"I'm going to go talk to her." Yosho nodded, and smiled as his grandson walked away. He felt a little silly, meddling in their lives, but it needed to be done.

Washu's Cave

Ryoko snatched one of the remaining bottles that actually contained sake, she was almost through her stock, again. She had almost used up her small savings from the maid job, perhaps it was time to collect some more money. Perhaps time to go back to what she was best at. After all, Ayeka had said it several times herself, she wasn't good for anything but blowing stuff up.

"Yeah, just one more drink and I'll collect Ryo-Ohki and be gone," Ryoko said.

"Why couldn't you stay?" She whirled and glared at Tenchi.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, before taking a swig from her bottle.

"I came to talk," he told her. "To apologize."

"Apologize for what," Ryoko asked, then taking another drink. "That accusation of yours out there?"

"Ignoring you?"

"Well, I don't need your apology," Ryoko snapped the last and teleported away. She sat down, leaning against a tree and took another drink from her bottle of sake.

"Well, that was odd," she looked towards the voice and saw Tenchi standing there looking a little confused.

"How did you get there?"

"I'm not sure," Tenchi started, then Ryoko vanished again. In a split second so did Tenchi, leaving behind a shower of blue-white sparkles that faded out as they drifted down.

This time Ryoko saw him arrive and realized that she wasn't going to be able to avoid him by teleporting. They were deeper in the woods now, but she could see the shrine a little ways down the mountain.

"Stay away from me Tenchi," Ryoko warned holding her hand out, threatening to launch an attack. Tenchi smiled walked forward.

"You tried that once before," he said confidently. "You didn't follow through then, either."

"You don't want to be around me," Ryoko said weakly. "You should be with Ayeka, you're made for each other."

"You were there when we decided otherwise," Tenchi noted. "But you're avoiding the subject. Something is wrong with you, you're not acting normal. What's wrong?"

"What's wrong with me?!" Ryoko yelled. "What's wrong? Can't you see? I'm poison! Al I'm good for is destruction, the universe would have been better off if I never survived."

"In what way is that true?"

"The akuneko wouldn't have invaded if I hadn't been here."

"And the first time they were here?"

"You and Yosho would never have had to worry about Kagato."

"I think he would have found us eventually." Ryoko growled. "And we'd have all died several times over if you hadn't been there."

"I abandoned my own son."

"I can't say much about that, but he doesn't seem very angry with you."

"Ayeka's dying!" Ryoko shouted, then she continued quietly, sitting on the ground. "She's always been there, Tenchi."

"But that's not your fault either." He countered joining Ryoko on the ground.

"Would she have gone along if I hadn't been there? Would she?"

"You're acting like she's already dead."

"Any time," Ryoko said softly. "I can feel it. Any time." She turned away from him and sat staring at a spot on the ground.

"Washu hasn't found anything wrong with her."

"I felt Yosho fall," Ryoko said. "I felt when Caine attacked you, and I felt when Ayeka started burning out"

"You know when we're in danger?" Tenchi asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Ryoko said, sounding quietly amused. "Never had much use for it before. I wish I couldn't." She stopped and Tenchi could see tears welling in her eyes.

"What do you mean by that? Is Ayeka in trouble again?"

"Tenchi, I…" Ryoko's voice cracked. "….I never stopped feeling it." She seemed about to go on when her eyes widened and she teleported again.

Washu's Lab

"Are you certain about this, Washu-s…chan?" Ayeka asked, eyeing the various cables and electrodes attached to various points on her body.

"I'm surprised that I didn't think of it before," Washu answered simply. "Okay, try something simple first." Washu watched the graphic representation of Ayeka's energy field closely. There were gaps and holes in the field, the entire structure seemed unstable.

"Okay," she closed her eyes and concentrated forming a small globe of blue light. As she drew the power she felt a tightness, it was difficult, and painful. It wasn't that burning sensation from before, it was different. A stretching sensation, like she was reaching for something at the extreme of her grasp.

"Ayeka, Stop it!" That sounded like Ryoko, but why would she be here.

Finally, she grabbed the Jurai power that surrounded her and formed it into a small globe. Then she let go and the globe faded away. Ayeka slumped in exhaustion, all that effort for a tiny, short-lived light. This possibility was partially why she had avoided using the Jurai power all this time, not that she used it much anyway.

"Are you crazy Washu?" Ryoko was shouting at the unresponsive scientist who was looking over the readouts with a zeal of discovery. Ayeka felt someone lightly slapping her face. "Ayeka, are you okay, wake up."

"Ryoko what are you doing," Ayeka demanded. She opened her eyes and saw Ryoko release a held breath. A shower of blue-white sparks appeared and coalesced into Tenchi.

"Washu, what are you doing?" Tenchi demanded.

"Hmm, you've learned to teleport," Washu noted as she looked up from her computers. "That is interesting, I wonder if it bears in relation to Ryoko's method of teleporting."

"Washu…"

"Calm down Tenchi, Ayeka's fine," Washu said.

"She is not fine," Ryoko shouted, helping Ayeka, despite protests that she could take care of herself, down from Washu's sensors. "Do you even no what you're doing?"

"Actually," Washu said smiling. "I think this last test has isolated the problem." Ayeka lifted her head up suddenly and fixed Washu with a glare.

"What do you mean by that?" she demanded.

"Well, I have good news and bad news," Washu said. "The good news, I think the damage is reparable, the bad news is that there is no telling how long we have."

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