Tenchi Muyo: Friday: Painful Memories
Long before dawn came Ryoko was awake, this time instead of hovering over Tenchi's bed she was laying in it with his head in her lap. Slowly she ran her fingers through his hair as she thought of all that had happened these past few days. "Just last week he would run from me and would be scared of me being anywhere near his bed." Her mind seemed to be running on it's own as she thought of him, "But now, he has given me back all my gems and..." her mind trailed off as thoughts of yesterday replayed before her eyes. Being with him was the most wonderful experience she had ever had.
It was during this time that she received a telepathic message from Washu, "Ryoko?"
"Yes?" She did not feel the need to harass Washu at this moment as she was at peace for once.
"I, I have an important question to ask you." Ryoko thought that her mental voice sounded unsure, but greatly concerned.
"Ok, what is it?"
"I, well, Tsunami asked me to, oh damn it! Look, please come to my lab for a moment, please?"
She was taken aback as she had never heard this type of thing from Washu, never did she remember her mother asking her to do that. At first she wanted to say no, but there was something there that compelled her to do so. Phasing out from Under Tenchi she appeared beside his bead this time dressed to go see her mom, but not before she could give him a quick kiss.
Washu waited in her lab pacing back and forth trying to think of how to ask her daughter this, it did not seem fair to take the gems back after her daughter had just got them back from Tenchi. But Tsunami had asked her to, telling her that this would answer her questions. She laughed again at the absurdity of the thought that she was a goddess, "Hell I look good enough to be one." She mused to herself.
"Washu?" Her daughter's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
"Over here." She called the turned on all the lights so that her entire lab was illuminated. It was the best way that Washu knew to ensure her daughter would not be scared or nervous at being in here. Ryoko floated over to Washu who sat at a small table by a stream flowing through one of her habitats. Once they both were seated Washu tried hard to think of a way to tell her daughter what she needed. "Ryoko, I am not sure how to ask you this, and it is not my idea to do so." Ryoko raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "Look, I have been trying for many years to remember my past, and a few things recently have really had me confused." She hated to admit that, she was the greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe, but this one thing about her self she did not know.
"You, confused?"
"Yes, me. I know nothing of my past before entering the Academy and recently Sasami has been calling me sister, Tsunami has said that your gems hold the powers of her goddess sister and now she is trying to tell me that I am her!"
Washu took in a big breath of air as Ryoko just looked at her strangely, then began laughing. "You! A goddess!" Nearly falling out of the chair laughing Ryoko just allowed herself to float up a little bit to keep from injuring her pride by falling.
"That's what I told her." Washu's voice remained flat. "So she asked me to have you give me the gems to find out for myself." As soon as she mentioned the gems Ryoko stopped.
"What? Give them to you? Do you realize..." She stopped in mid sentence and Washu just sat there. "Are you asking me to give them to you?" Ryoko thought it was strange that Washu was not trying to trick her or take them from he by force, she was just asking. The fact that she was just asking made her wonder if it could be really affecting her this much.
"Yes. I will not take them, not after what has happened this past week. But I would like to know, is it true?" Washu looked up at her, and Ryoko could see the confusion, for once confusion on Washu's face.
"Why, why are you doing this?" She gestured holding out her hands as if trying to find out why this way?
"You may not believe it, and considering how I have acted I wouldn't blame you. But you are my daughter Ryoko, even if I have been a terrible mom. Tat is why I won't take them from you unless you allow me to." Washu then opened up her end of their telepathic link so that her daughter could see for herself that she was telling the truth. She did not force her thoughts to her daughter, but more allowed her to go through them.
Seeing her mother opening up like this was something that Ryoko had always wanted, but never knew she did. She took a moment to look into Washu's mind and found that she did not hide anything from her, she allowed her daughter total freedom to poke around. Sufficiently satisfied she then asked her, "How do I give them back?"
Washu looked up at her surprised, then she held out her hands. "Tsunami said I should call them..." As she spoke the gems glowed and pulled away from Ryoko so that they hovered in the air between them. She looked at them and then her daughter who just shrugged. Pensively he held out a hand to grab them but on contact with them they disappeared. Both Washu and Ryoko looked around for them, for a brief moment before she felt a searing heat on her forehead. Touching her head she felt the gems appear there arranged in a triangle with the point towards her nose.
She had little time to think about them before the heat became hotter to the point she felt her skin was melting. "AHHH!" Clutching her head she fell to her knees as Ryoko tried to catch her. Wave upon wave of heat and memories flashed over her. The memories were in reverse as she relived the past few years with Tenchi then the two thousand years that Kagato had Ryoko, then before then to her days of the academy. Nothing new was here then suddenly the heat became a white-hot heat that caused even Ryoko to stumble back.
Ryoko watched as her mom fell to the floor in pain and she felt her mom's telepathic link break during this time. She had no idea what was happening and she was scared, again. She realized that she had been scared like this twice before. Once when she though she might loose Tenchi and the other suddenly came back to her. She was once scared when she discovered her mom was missing and suddenly Kagato had appeared, it was after he took her away that she became the pirate and demon that everyone knew. As she tried to find out why that memory had come back just then she felt an incredible heat from Washu. Stepping back Washu's body seamed to glow and then started to grow.
Watching from a distance was all she could do as her mom screamed in pain and clutched her head. The heat emanating from her was too much to come close to, but then Tsunami appeared beside her. "Sister, don't fight it. Embrace it."
Ryoko's mouth dropped. Tsunami had just openly called her mom, sister! "It hurts!" She heard Washu's voice but it suddenly took on a strange tone, a sound that seemed to come from everywhere at once and yet nowhere. She watched Tsunami place a hand on Washu and both glowed for a moment and their bodies and countenance seemed to grow beyond the room to encompass all.
"She is a goddess. My mom's a goddess." Ryoko just stared at the two figures before her, and it just seemed too much to believe.
