Tenchi Muyo! or any of it's characters are not mine and I am not claiming them to be. They belong to AIC/Pioneer. Bla bla bla... just don't sue me... I have to money to take -_-;;


Koi Mizu



Chapter 3: Requiem


Ryoko could feel the hard and cold floor beneath here. Her whole body ached from having lain in the same position for god knows how long. She was in a sleep so deep that she wasn't aware of her sores. A sleep that she needed so that her body could heal. Suddenly, a single thought broke through to her.

*Wake up Ryoko*

Ryoko stirred just slightly. The change in positions fed more sensations to her mind, lifting it from its long coma.

*Open your eyes Ryoko. Wake up*

The thought came again, but Ryoko still wasn't able to receive it. Finally, it came in loud enough to wake her.

*OPEN YOUR EYES RYOKO*

Her eyes shot open and all she could see was a metal plated ceiling. She stared dumbfounded as if she had been awake for hours. With extreme effort, Ryoko sat up groaning in pain. Taking in her surroundings, she noticed a multitude of things. She was in a room shaped in an exact square. All four walls, ceiling, and floor were gray steel plated surfaces, except for a hose that extended out of the wall that was tipped with a wide funnel. The word "Toilet" was posted above it. She was no longer was wearing her old red tank top and shorts, she now had on a very thin robe that looked as if it was made of bed sheets. And most surprisingly of all, all of her wounds have been healed. Except for her shoulder, where a bandage covered the gash. It was amazingly bright in the room, even though the only light source was coming from the small window that was carved out of what appeared to be a door.

*How is it so bright in here? Aww, don't worry about it*

Ryoko painfully picked herself up onto her feet. She walked weakly towards the door like she was learning the technique over again; all she could see was more gray metal walls. Her vision was blinded as the hallway connected to her door turned out of site.

"Hello?! Is anyone there?!" Ryoko yelled out. But no response came. "Hey! Who put me in here?! I want to know what's going on!" Her pleas where only answered with more silence. "Alright, that does it." Her already wire-thin patience had just been crossed. Ryoko leaned forward attempting to easily phase through the simple physical wall. But just as a bird hitting an invisible window, Ryoko was thrown back from the door with a life threatening electric shock.

"The hell?" Ryoko coughed out while her hair smoked. "...Is that some kind of shield?" She strained her who body in a vein attempt to bring itself back on its feet but she quickly realized it was no use. It could be fatal to try the door again, and just getting up and walking over there would be a chore. She decided to attempt to figure out her situation.

*Okay, lets try to think this through*

The last thing Ryoko could remember was lying on the pavement, watching Nagi. Nothing from what happened during those last few moments of her consciousness made any sense to her. Nagi unable to make the finishing blow, her strange outburst where she mentioned her parents, and how Ryoko reawakened in bandages covering her body all seemed completely impossible. Her jail cell certainly didn't look like Ken-Ohki; and she had been out long enough for most of her wounds to heal. Who knows what happened while she was asleep, for all she knows Nagi could have turned her in to the GP and be half way across the other side of the galaxy by now. But having such experiences with authority figures like the Galaxy Police, Ryoko could guarantee that this room was no GP cell she's ever seen. Giving up hope on figuring out what's going on, Ryoko decided to just wait it out. Until her situation becomes clear, it would be a good idea to get as much rest as possible.

*Wish I had something to sleep on. This hard floor is a drag* Ryoko rested her head on the metal floor. Relaxing herself with pleasant thoughts of her friends, Ryoko drifted off into another sleep, this time much lighter than before.


- --------------- -


Nagi sat on the floor in her room. Her living quarters were quite simple and modest, one futon in the corner of the rectangular room, and a medium size desk with computer built in sat next to it. One of the walls however, was a thick layer of clear titanium alloy running the length of the entire wall and stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Being able to see the wonders of space was one of the few features she liked about this ship. No lights where turned on, but enough light from the stars seeped in so that the features of the room were dimly boasted. Nagi was sitting on the futon leaning lazily against the wall wearing a white silk robe from her recent shower.

Her thoughts kept bringing her back to the moment when her blade cut deeply into the ship, and not Ryoko. She felt so weak ever since then. She never realized how much she was at the mercy of her own memories. Not only was she not able to kill her enemy, but she showed mercy to her when she was fatally wounded. "What are you doing Nagi?" She thought aloud. Just then her cabbit Ken-Ohki entered and bounced his way over to her. "Hi Ken-Ohki." She said meekly.

"Shoa shoa shoa shoa." Ken-Ohki said.

"So, she's awake now?"

"Shoa shoa."

"I see." Nagi started to pet the small cabbit. After a moment, he pulled away from her hand. Nagi looked back at him questioningly.

"What's wrong?"

"Shoa shoa shoa shoa." His tone was serious.

Nagi laughed. "What am I doing by bringing Ryoko with me, you ask? That's a good question. Frankly, I don't know." She laughed at herself. It was a small laugh that someone would normally make towards an ironic comment.

"Shoa shoa shoa shoa shoa!"

"I know I know!" She said annoyed. "I don't care about all that legal stuff. Right now I'm going to hold her so she can't cause anymore harm."

"Shoa sho-"

"I know what it says! But some stupid piece of paper doesn't mean anything to me. I'm going on my instincts here." There was a short pause while Nagi reached out and picked up Ken-Ohki to start petting him again. "All we need to worry about right now is getting the extra food rations for her."

"Shoa."

"Alright then, it's settled." She said nodding her head conclusively. Raising to her feet and stretching, Nagi said, "I'll go get some food, she's going to be hungry- and in pain. If I know Ryoko, she's probably already tested my shield."


- ---------------- -


Ryoko was suddenly thrown out of her sleep as a small metal *clang* sounded in front of her. Her eyes focused quickly and she realized that what appeared to be a food tray had been set next to the door on the inside of the cell. Ryoko looked up to see Nagi stepping back into the hallway and closing the large metallic door.

"NAGI!" Ryoko jumped to her feet and ran to the door. "What the hell is going on?"

Nagi stared at her for a few moments through the window. "Well, for starters you're in a cell." Nagi said offhandedly.

"I already know that. I want to know what happened, how long has it been, and what ship or space station is this?"

Nagi turned her back to Ryoko. "The situation is much more simple than your making it. It's been 2 weeks since you passed out and you're on my ship. That's all you need to know." Nagi started to walk down the hall.

"Wait, come back! Where's Ken-Ohki? Why are you using a different ship? What's going to happen to me? WHY THE HELL AM I STILL ALIVE?!"

"Eat your food Ryoko." Nagi disappeared out of site as she turned the corner.

Ryoko picked up the food tray. "Aww damnit anyway." Ryoko sat down and started munching on the dry brownish gray food pieces. "What is this crap anyway?" Because of her extreme hunger, She bared with the bitter taste and quickly cleaned off the tray.

She leaned down again and rested on the hard floor. But because her resting place didn't reshape itself like most beds and futons, her back began to aggravate her. She turned on her side. This wasn't any better since feminine hips made her sides sore. She flipped around onto her stomach, but the curves on her face didn't match the flat floor. Soon that hurt as well. Ryoko could probably sleep in the air or just get used to it. But she has something else on her mind when she suddenly had the idea to ask for a bed. She jumped back on her feet and walked to the door.

"Hey Nagi! NAGI!"

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?" Came the bounty hunter's voice from an unknown source.

"Can I get something to sleep on here? The floor is rock hard!"

"Oh jeez you're such a baby!" Nagi said, now appearing at the end of the hall.

"Please? Pretty pretty pretty please?"

Nagi fumed shaking her fist at her. "I've never met a bigger baby than you." She walked away, but her voice could still be heard. "Listen that! 'I want something to sleep on!' What a baby! Next it's going to be: 'I want something better to eat!' and then 'I want to get out of my cell.' and then 'I want to call Tenchi and tell him I love him'. What a big baby." She returned with a small sleeping bag rolled up in a small convenient size.

Once she reached the door, Nagi shouted at her. "Hey, back away from the door and don't try anything!" With one hand Nagi unlocked the door and with another she braced her dagger. Then something very surprising happened. The mysterious lights in the room faded for a short period of time as Nagi dropped the sleeping bag into the room. Ryoko's eye's narrowed at this revelation.

*I KNEW IT! There's no way Nagi could have just dropped that food off with the shield up. It may be invisible, but now I can tell when it's on and off.*

"That's all your getting from here on out. I don't want to here you blubbering about anything else!" Nagi shut the door with a little extra push making a loud *thud* sound just to make her point clear.

Ryoko picked up her new bed and examined it. Once her prize was safely secured, she no longer felt threatened by Nagi. "Go shove it Nagi!"

"What was that?!" She turned around glaring at her.

"Uh.. nothing at all."


- ----------------------- -


Nagi walked into the main cockpit and set down a package on the floor. She sat down in the pilot's chair to take a needed rest. The cockpit of the ship was an oval shaped room. On the upper half of the room, computer consoles lined the curved wall while complimented by view screens sitting above. Hallways extrude from the other half of the cockpit. The walkway opposite to the consoles leads to the storage hanger, the hallway to the left branches off to Ryoko's cell and Nagi's room, while the last hallway to the right leads to the exit hatch.

Nagi pulled out an old rusty gun from her cloak and spun in around on her finger like a nervous habit. With the other hand she opened up the square box and pulled out a hollow cube frame. She set it down on the co-pilot's seat and examined it carefully to make sure nothing was damaged. In one of the corners of the cube, a socket connected to a thick gray wire that raveled itself around on the interior of the frame. Nagi allowed herself to smile as the electric twine carved a simple course, meeting with the necessary outlets to perform the object's duty. But then she frowned. The wire split open to reveal several new cables to follow. Each one had it's own color red, blue, white, black... and yellow. Nagi began to loose sight of the purpose of each wire as they twisted amongst themselves randomly and dipped completely out of view behind circuit breakers and gearboxes. Frustrated, yanked at her own hair. "AARGG! I'll just assume it's working. And who cares if it isn't?"

Setting the gun down on the console and punching a few keys in the computer, she checked the ship's status. "Now, where in this ship can I install this thing?" She thought aloud. The computer returned her the location of where she could input this troubled device. Her face paled slightly. It was behind the corridor wall in the hallway that connected to Ryoko's cell.

She still hasn't accustomed herself to having someone else around all the time when she's been alone for so long. So instead of getting used to having Ryoko around, she avoids the situation entirely. Not having seen Ryoko in the last three days and only giving her food when she's asleep has actually helped her feel more 'natural'. Besides, Nagi really didn't feel like chatting with Ryoko and she knows perfectly well that Ryoko is dying to have a round of 20 questions with Nagi. Ryoko always hated being in the dark.

Suddenly Nagi remembered that it had been at least 5 hours since she last gave Ryoko something to eat. She stood up and headed down the hall to Ryoko's jail room. But just as she was going to turn the corner, Nagi stopped dead in her tracks.

"What the hell is that smell?!" Nagi ran down the hall with her nose plugged. She looked through the small window in the door and saw Ryoko who was sniffing the air and making ugly faces.

"Long time no see Nagi. I know your so incredibly busy and all, but if I go any long without some sort of a shower, I could melt the metal walls with my stench alone."

"Well, I guess I didn't take this into consideration." Nagi said in defeat.

"It just goes to show you how unprepared you are." Ryoko snickered.

"No, it shows that the level of body odor you can create is staggering."

"Touché"

Nagi thought for a moment. It wouldn't be long before her smell would drive her crazy. Figuring that she might as well come up with some short-term solution to this until she can compensate, she decided to just let Ryoko use the bath stall in her room.

"Alright Ryoko, for now your going to bath in the shower stall in my room. I'm going to let you out just this once. And if you so much as sneeze in the wrong direct, I'll make you wish I had killed you." Nagi snarled wickedly.

"Got it." Ryoko gulped.

Nagi unlocked the door and the lights inside the room faded. Nagi stood to one side in the hallway and waited for Ryoko to pass. "This way... my room to your left at the end of the hallway."

Ryoko started her way down the hallway but hesitated slightly to get an eyeful of her new surroundings. But Nagi was quick to keep her moving along. She shoved her so hard Ryoko nearly stumbled. "Jeez, I think I liked you better when I was in the cell."

"Just keep moving."

Ryoko entered her room and soon found the closet like bath stall. She pulled off her thin garment and tossed it aside. Nagi stood just outside the door when she hollered in, "I'll be standing guard here... and don't try any-"

"-Anything funny. I know, I know." Ryoko cut her off. As she turned the faucets on and let the warm water pure over here, Ryoko wondered how to get Nagi to lighten up. It was pretty clear that they were going to spend some time together and she didn't want to spend it with a pushy, short-tempered woman.

*I still wish I could figure out why the hell I'm here.*

While grabbing the soap, Ryoko sighed and concluded that being civil with Nagi would be the best thing to do, despite the fact that they weren't the best of friends.

"What do you do for fun around here?" Ryoko asked as politely as possible.

There was a small pause as Nagi considered answering or not. *It is a pretty harmless question.* She thought. "There is a bar that I like to go to when ever I take a break from... 'work'."

"So, most of your friends go there or something?"

Nagi shrugged. "I guess so. The bar tender is nice to me, but he's not considered a friend."

"What about anyone else?" Ryoko said sounding surprised.

"It's usually just Ken-Ohki and me."

"No way... you're a loner Nagi, but nobody is THAT much of a loner. There's gotta be someone that's in your life."

"People only get in my way, there's no reason to have them around."

"People are what make us live on. Friendships and love... you have to have those to experience life to it's fullest."

"Whatever, just finish with your shower already."

But Ryoko wasn't quite done yet. She still couldn't believe that Nagi really lived as she said she did. "Wait a second, what about your family? Don't you have a home?"

Nagi froze, unsure of how to answer. But she soon realized that she didn't have to and took the defensive position. "Why are you suddenly so interested in me?" She snapped back. "Why don't YOU tell me about YOUR family?!"

There was another pause. "Sure." She said offhandedly. "Well, first there's Aeka. She's the princess of Jurai, you may have heard of her. We used to fight a lot but now we get along pretty well. Then there's Sasami, Aeka's little sister. She's a cute little kid who can cook better than all of us combined. Then there is Mihoshi who may seem ditzy but she's really-"

"Yeah, yeah. I don't really care about those supposed 'friends' of yours. What about your family?"

Ryoko tried to ignore the careless tone in her voice. "My biological family? Well that's different." Ryoko let out a heavy sigh. "I don't wont to disappoint you or anything, but I don't remember."

"Huh?"

"The first memory I have is living in an orphan home. I don't have any memory of my parents."

"How lucky." Nagi said quietly.

"You say something?"

"Nothing."

"Anyway..." Ryoko continued, lathering her arms in soap. "All the kids there were a buncha punks. They kept on trying to walk all over me but I showed them! 'Ryoko the punk buster' is what they used to call me." She said proudly. "Eventually I became fed up with the jerks, added to the fact that the home stopped receiving money, and I split to live on my own."

Ryoko finished rinsing off and turned off the water. "Sorry if it doesn't seem like a very interesting past, but that's what happened." Ryoko said as she slid her light thin robe back on.

"But you forget," said Nagi now facing her, "sometimes an... 'interesting' past isn't a good thing."

"That's true." Ryoko shrugged and headed back to her cell, noticing that Nagi wasn't pushing her along this time. Once she reached the door, she stopped and turned towards her. "Now it's your turn. I told you about my friends and family now you tell me about yours."

Nagi stared at her for a few moments trying to form her response. The words would begin to build in her mouth but her fearful mind pushed them away. Keeping them deep in her bitter heart, safe from ever being exposed to anyone but herself. "Just... get in your cell." She said coldly.

*Something is eating Nagi up inside* Ryoko thought, remembering how she screamed for her parents that one dark night. A mix between curiosity and her kind nature made her resolve to try and make peace with her enemy. "Why don't you just talk to me. Tell me about it, and maybe you'll feel better."

"I don't want to talk about it. Get in your cell NOW!" She shoved Ryoko down to the floor inside and closed the door shut.

"FINE! I was just trying to help, but if you want to wallow in your own misery then you can go right ahead and do that!"

"You're not helping anyone! You're only a problem so why don't you just shut up and leave me alone before you make my life any harder!" She turned her back on Ryoko and stormed down the hall out of sight. A moment later she returned with a tray of dried food in hand. "And here's your stupid food!" She opened up the door and threw the tray on the floor, letting the small chunks of Ryoko's meal spread randomly across the entire floor.

"Damnit, I've had just enough of you and your shitty dilemma and I'm tired of you taking it out on me." Ryoko shot back

"Yeah? Well you deserve it! At one point, you even deserved to DIE! So shut the hell up!" Nagi quickly moved back into the cockpit out of Ryoko's site before she could muster a response. There, she began pacing back and forth trying to loose her anger. "Damn Ryoko, why can't she just mind her own fucking business? Why the hell didn't I just leave her to die on that worthless planet? There's no damn reason to bring her along; I should've just killed her! Why didn't I kill her? She's only a worthless trouble maker."

Almost ready to pull her hair out with fury, Nagi suddenly caught a glimpse of her rusted old gun sitting on the console where she left it. She now remembered why she didn't kill her rival and her anger cooled slightly. She walked over and picked it up. Sitting down in the pilot's chair, she looked at the antique and vaguely wondered where she was going.

"Shoa?" Ken-Ohki said, sitting on the console.

"She's probably right... I am miserable."

"Shoa shoa shoa."

"No, I'm not going to go and talk to her." Nagi boiled again.

"Shoa shoa"

Nagi laughed lightly. "No, I'm not going to talk to you either. Just leave me alone, I'll be fine." Ken-Ohki shrugged and hopped off, leaving his master as she wished.

Nagi's attention was drawn over to the box of gears and wires that gave her trouble earlier. She pointed the gun mockingly at the box and said, "My life is too complicated." She pulled the trigger and a loud rusty *CLICK* sounded. "Too bad this thing doesn't work anymore."


- ------------------- -


Weeks earlier, Tenchi awoke to find that his love, Ryoko, was missing...

The silence in the room was deafening and welcome all at the same time as Tenchi sat on his hotel bed while looking at the floor hopelessly. When it was clear that Ryoko was no were to be seen the environment was quite loud and busy.

"I just... can't figure out why she left." Tenchi said meekly.

"It's not your fault Tenchi, there must be a logical explanation for this." Said Aeka, who was standing by Tenchi's side. And another silence fell back into the room. Time had been passing like that for the last hour, Tenchi would say it was his fault and Aeka would tell him it's not. She was definitely stretching her patience for him.

A moment later, Kiyone and Miyoshi made a noisy entrance. "Did you find her?" Tenchi said standing up now.

"No, we didn't." Kiyone didn't even look him in the eye.

"I'm going to search the block one more time." Tenchi said walking out the door. But Aeka held him arm.

"Please Lord Tenchi, you've already walked those same streets 3 times. She's not in this city anymore, she may not even be on this planet."

"But I can't just sit by an-"

"Aeka has a point." Said Washu from the hallway. "Has anyone checked the Yagami? She might have left the planet." Everyone stared at her for a moment as they all realized the last painfully important place they had yet to search. Without saying any words, they hurried out of the room and down the hall.

"C'mon Sasami! We're leaving." Aeka called to her passing their room. Her little sister and cabbit on head was quick to follow along.

"Where are we going sister? I thought we needed to find Ryoko." She said almost as a whimper.

Aeka looked down to her with a smile. "We are! We just are looking where we parked the ship to make sure Ryoko didn't take it."

"Oh okay." Her mood perked slightly.

On the main the floor, the group gathered around the check in counter while Tenchi signed them out. And to his surprise, pay an unknown room service bill. "Room service? Did anyone order some chicken tenders?" Tenchi asked everyone.

"Huh? What are those?" Washu asked.

"I don't believe I did." Aeka stated.

"Does this mean we're getting food?" Mihoshi asked.

"Just be quiet Mihoshi." Kiyone groaned.

"I think I can make those if anyone wants em!" Sasami beamed, "but I didn't eat any."

Tenchi shrugged. "I didn't order any either." He then turned to the clerk at the counter. "There must be some mistake, nobody had any food here."

The clerk was about to dismiss him before Washu spoke up. "Tenchi, basic logic will tell us that if everyone here *didn't* order the meal, then someone who isn't here did. The chances are higher that the missing person ordered the food, rather than the hotel making a mistake."

"Are you saying Ryoko ordered the meal."

"That's pretty much what I'm saying." Washu smiled and winked in the genius type of way.

"And how does this help us?"

"I'm not sure... but if we start asking questions you never know what you might find out."

"Good idea." A surge of hope entered Tenchi and everyone smiled. "Maybe we should split up."

Everyone was about to act on this but the clerk spoke up. "Excuse me sir."

"Yeah?"

"I couldn't help but to overhear you conversation, and I believe I may know something about the person you are looking for."

"YOU DO?!" Tenchi's enthusiasm startled the polite man.

"*Ahem*... Yes, I do. I heard there was a bit of a ruckus last night involving two women. But I didn't see it myself, the people who work during the night shift could help you."

"So, there was a fight!" Tenchi thought for a moment. "Alright, change of plans everyone. We're all going to head down to the Yagami to see if it's still there. Washu, you stay here with our friend and see if you can get some names and addresses of the night shift, preferably the food vender guy."

"Will do" Said Washu affirmatively.

"C'mon everyone!"

"RIGHT!" They all said in unison.

Once they were gone Washu hopped lightly to the other side of the counter. "Please excuse me miss, but you can't be on this side of the counter."

"Don't worry, I'm only interested in your computer. Now, is this thing hooked up to your head quarter's mainframe?"

"Uh-... I wouldn't have the slightest clue."

Washu typed in a few computer commands and a completely different screen popped up. "Ooh... Looks like it is!"

"Hey, don't do that! I don't know how to get back to that other screen, how am I supposed to check the customers in?"

"Don't worry, I'll get you back." She kept on typing while the clerk looked on nervously.

"Hey, you wouldn't know the password to access the mainframe would you?"

"Uh... I'm not sure..."

"I'll take that as a no. Don't worry, I'm sure I can hack it no problem." Washu said with an almost evil grin.

"Hack? I-Isn't that breaking the law?"

Washu bit her lip. "The law is such a fragile thing... You see, it breaks easy."

"Uhh... I'm not sure about this."

"Don't worry, just tell them I forced you to do it."

"Alright."

- ------------------ -


Back at the dock the whole group briskly walked towards the Yagami. As they reached the correct row, they saw the large red ship in the distance. "It's still there." Tenchi said, almost surprised.

"It's a good thing too, that's my ship!" Kiyone said, almost angry.

"Should we go and check it out?" Aeka asked.

"Yeah." Tenchi replied. Everyone headed towards the ship in another brisk silent walk. Upon arriving, they all saw that the door was stuck open. "What the hell?" Tenchi exclaimed.

"Someone broke into my ship!" NOW Kiyone was angry.

"It's okay Kiyone. At least they didn't take the ship." Mihoshi tried and failed to cheer Kiyone up. When the entered the ship they expected to see everything in one big mess and totally trashed as whatever thieves broke in and searched for valuables. But to their great surprise, everything was in perfect condition, as if nobody had even been there at all.

"Strange... What kind of robbers would break into a ship and leave everything alone?" Kiyone ask rhetorically.

"Uh... the kind of robbers that robbed us?" Mihoshi answered and Kiyone just rolled her eyes at her.

Sighing at the false alarm, Tenchi took a step towards the door. "I'm going to get some fresh air." Tenchi leaned against the ship and tried to let him mind take him away from her worries. He hated this feeling of helplessness that consumed him, almost making it difficult for him to breathe. *I hope your okay Ryoko...*

"Damn, would you look at this? The cuts go 6 inches deep!" Tenchi turned as he overheard a man hunched over the ship next to Yagami.

"No shit. Looks like there was a big fight, check out all the blood!" The second man said.

"Man this pisses me off. I just bought this ship and now it has a buncha cuts all over it. What a waste!" The third, younger man said.

Then Tenchi walked up and made himself the fourth. "Excuse me. But what seems to be the problem?"

The third guy turned to him. "Someone hacked up my ship last night when they were killing whatever all this blood came from."

Something in the back of Tenchi's mind began to scream at him, but his fear pushed it away. *No... It can't be Ryoko's blood, I wont believe it!* He started visibly shaking as the very thought was finally accepted into his head. And in an involuntary act, his eyes dropped to the ground and he stared at the bloodstain he was standing on.

Then something finally clicked. His eyes followed as the blood lined below his feet and past him back the way he came. "It's a blood trail." He thought aloud.

The first man noticed him. "Whoa, your right. Looks like it heads way down on the other end of the port. Whatever died was dragging itself up here."

Tenchi turned to him with an angry expression as if to be offended. "HOW DO YOU KNOW IT'S DEAD?"

"What?" The man was baffled.

"Who's ever blood this is, how do you know that she's... I mean they're dead? They could still be alive! I JUST KNOW IT!"

The second guy tried to cool him off. "Look man, we don't really know if something died or not, that's for the GP to decide."

Tenchi stared blankly at the three men suspiciously eyeing him while he just realized his outburst. "Uh... sorry, I'm going through a rough time." Tenchi made an exit so he wouldn't embarrass himself any further. He walked back to the Yagami, and while standing in the doorway, his eyes were caught on the blood trail that led to the port exit. Curiosity finally killed his will power and he started to trek across the ship parking lot, looking for the blood trail's origin.

Tenchi reached the port entrance and was surprised to see it lead down the street. Although it was difficult to make out under the crowd he still effectively followed it. After following the trail blindly for several blocks, Tenchi decided to try and look to see where he was so that he wouldn't get lost. Suddenly something occurred to him. *I'm heading back towards the hotel!* His pace increased slightly as he continued the trail. At each block he prayed that it would turn a corner and lead a path other than the one back to where Ryoko was last seen. But when the trail kept stubbornly barreling forward Tenchi began to shake with fear. He closed is his eyes and in the darkness all he could see was the glowing blood below him, lighting his way towards the fate of his loved one. In the void of his mind he could see images of his love, and they seemed to grow fainter with each step he took. Finally, the trail died. Ending abruptly and plainly. Tenchi opened his eyes to see the hotel doors in front of him. He dropped to his knees. "No... It can't be."

"Tenchi, what are you doing back here?" Tenchi didn't even take notice to Washu who just walked out the doors. "I have some really bad news Tenchi, I found someone who saw the whole thing. Tenchi... Tenchi are you listening?"

"Look down Washu" His voice was barely audible.

"What are you doing? Get off your kn-" Washu cut herself off as she looked down, and saw the blood that Tenchi knelt over. "Tenchi, there's no way to know if that's Ryoko's."

"There's a trail... it leads all the way back to the Yagami... She was trying to run from someone, I just know it."

A cold chill swept over Washu in the blistering heat of the day. She soon dropped to her knees along with Tenchi and hugged him tightly. "I think I know what happened Tenchi."

"What?"

"The man who served Ryoko the food. I called him at his house. He said that there was another woman who started a fight with her." Washu felt Tenchi's body shiver as well.

"No Washu, don't way it." Tenchi said predicting the answer.

"I asked him to describe the woman." Washu was at the verge of tears. "He described Nagi."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Tenchi screamed. "GOD NO!"

"I'm so sorry Tenchi." Washu said with a sob. She could feel him tense up suddenly which made her jump in surprise.

"NO! THIS ISN'T FAIR! I just told how I felt... This can't be happening, not now!" Tenchi then stood up, almost knocking Washu back. "I'M NOT GOING TO LET NAGI GET AWAY WITH THIS!"

"Tenchi WAIT!!" Washu called to him but he was already gone, running down the street towards the Yagami. "Oh Tenchi! You're so mad right now you'd leave without if I'm not already there." With that, she called up her holo computer and opened up a portal to the Yagami. "Good thing I always keep these things hanging around." She stepped through.

On the other side she found Kiyone sitting in the pilot's seat looking at her funny. "Washu, where did you come from?"

"From the hotel. I don't have much time to explain so please listen. Tenchi saw a blood trail on the pavement and thought it was Ryoko's. He started to follow it and realized that it led back to the hotel, right where Ryoko was last seen. And while you guys were here I found out from one of the night workers that it was Nagi who attacked Ryoko."

Kiyone gasped. "Does that mean she's...?"

"I'm not completely sure on that, but Tenchi seems to think so. He's on his way here and he's VERY upset."

"I can imagine why." From down the hall, Tenchi could be heard entering the ship. "My, he sure runs fast when he wants to."

Voices traveled down the hall. "Lord Tenchi, are you alright, you look pale."

"Sorry Aeka, I can't talk now." Tenchi soon entered the cockpit of the Yagami and noticed Washu standing waiting for him. "Washu, how did you get here so fast? Oh never mind. Kiyone, power up the engines, we're leaving."

"Where are we going Tenchi?" A worried Kiyone asked.

"Home."

"For what?" Asked a surprised Washu.

"I need to get my sword."