A Very Sad Tale Part 6 - A Foolhardy Escape
Tenchi pulled Ryoko's limp form closer to him as he rested his head on her chest. As he cried he heard Ryo-Ohki again. 'Tenchi! Tenchi, she's fading… I can't hear her anymore.' The grief was starting to overwhelm him and he turned his head sideways as he rested against her. All might have been lost had it not been for one thing. His eyes shot open as he heard a faint heartbeat from her. With the side of his head against her chest he could hear it, though it was slow and faint. She lived, but she might not in a few moments. Racing through his mind for something to do he reached for her hand but ended up grabbing her gem. Suddenly an idea occurred to him, 'If she can transfer her power to me, why can't I do the same?'
Laying her down he concentrated on his Light Hawk Wings and positioning a hand above her body he allowed a wind to appear between her and his hand. He took a breath and said a silent prayer that this will work and slowly he pushed the wing down to make contact with her. On contact the wing wrapped around her form bathing her in a bright light. He rested his hand on her chest hoping to hear a heartbeat when her eyes shot open and her back arched up. The sudden movement scared him but he moved closer not away. With her back arched her head titled backwards so he placed an arm under her head to support it.
As the glow faded he could see that her mouth was open as if she were screaming but no sound escaped and all was still for a moment. 'Oh please live, Ryoko please,' he pleaded mentally to her. He breathed a sigh of relief as her chest rose up and she gasped for air. He pulled her to him crying, 'Thank Tsunami you're all right.'
Ryoko opened her eyes slowly as the feeling returned to her body. She had been unable to tell him that she loved him and as she felt her consciousness slipping away. That all came to a halt as a tremendous burning passed over her body and she felt her side stinging, but quite different than the pain she had felt there before. It almost felt soothing, but she swore she heard him calling her name begging her to live. Gasping for air she tried to get control of herself to look and she what had happened, but as feeling returned to her she felt his arms wrapped around her and he was crying. Weakly she lifted up her arms and placed them around him enjoying the closeness for a moment.
Slowly her strength was returning to her and she tried to speak, but she did not know what to say to him. She felt guilty for what has happened to him so far, yet he had saved her life. Should she say thank you or ask why, or did he do it for some other reason? Pulling him closer to her she hugged him and thought, 'Tenchi, why? Why did you save me after all the pain I caused you?' She did not really want an answer and she was afraid to ask for fear of what he might say.
Her breath caught in her throat as she heard a response, 'Because I need you.' She knew she was hearing things but that made sense, since he lost his sight he needs me to take him home. 'No Ryoko, I need you.' The voice came again and it felt comforting and caring. He pulled away from her so he could look at her and she saw his eyes looking back at her with care and tenderness.
It suddenly came back to her that she was not seeing things earlier, he really could see. "Tenchi, you… you can see?" She brought up a hand and caressed his face as he looked back at her smiling.
"Yes. The wings healed me and you." She threw her arms around him hugging him tightly, as she was extremely happy. What made her even happier was he hugged her back as well. This was not one of her usual hugs where he felt the life being squeezed out of him, it was softer, yet she still held him tightly.
'Tenchi… I'm….' Her fear and guilt returned, but also joy. She felt guilty for him loosing his sight, but she was happy that it had returned. But with her feelings running like they were she could not express it in words.
'I know Ryoko.' He did not know how he knew what she was feeling, but he knew she was feeling guilty. 'You don't need to feel guilty or scared. I'm here now.' She pulled away from him slowly to look at him carefully, as he should not have known how she was feeling. The move surprised him but he let her go gently as she pulled apart slowly.
"Tenchi… how…." She did not even know how to ask how he knew that or even what to say now.
"I'll be here for you Ryoko." He watcher her smile and he thought, 'I'll always be here for you.'
It was in that moment she nearly screamed. She had heard his thought; she had heard what he said, in her mind. But she did not know how. She timidly responded to him mentally to see if it was true, 'Do you mean that? Always…'
He looked at her in shock as he heard her voice I his head. A smile spread across his lips as he responded to her finally, 'Yes. Always,' he told her while brushing her tears away. They moved closer and were about an inch away from each other when a mental shriek was heard by both.
'Tenchi! Ryoko!'
Both jumped to their feet calling out at the same time 'Ryo-Ohki!'
'Help, I'm scared. Some men are here… I'm scared.'
On Earth Mihoshi had told his father and grandfather about what had happened, at least as far as she knew. Both of them though could tell that she was really surprised and quite shaken up over it. Nobuyuki took her to the kitchen to fix her some soothing tea while Katsuhito talked to Ayeka on the couch.
"Yosho, brother… I don't know where to begin or what to think."
"Then perhaps you should start at the beginning. Besides until Washu comes out we have nothing but time."
She nodded her head and took a deep breath, "I'm scared." He raised an eyebrow at that, "You see on the way here I realized that he went on the ride willingly. If he didn't want to go he wouldn't have." He just nodded at her logic. "And I can't think of why he would go, why? I'm a princess, we're related by blood and he should be with me."
"Do you really believe that?" She looked at him sourly. "Do you? Ever since the day you met me in the field I have wondered about our pre-arranged marriage."
"Pre-arranged? I thought you wanted it?"
He chuckled then told her; "I was told by my mother that I was to wed you when you came of age. At the time I was young and did not understand love or marriage. As I grew older I was forced to see things a certain way. I fell in love with a girl on Jurai, but because of our arrangement I was forbidden to see her."
Ayeka gasped and placed a hand over her mouth, "Oh my."
"When Ryoko came and attacked I found myself in a position where I could leave Jurai and no one would come looking for me. Or so I hoped." He regarded her seriously for a moment as he said the last forcing her to smile nervously. "On earth I was just another man, there was no title associated with me other than priest. And so for many years I lived happily until I met a special woman." He went on to describe the woman that became his wife and held his attention for many years. How he rejoiced over his daughters' birth and how she would grow up just a normal kid and not be bothered with titles.
"And then she met Nobuyuki, and I first I was not impressed, but he treated her the way I treated my wife. So he eventually grew on me." Ayeka listened as he told her about his life on earth and how he had been happy and without the title looming over him. It soon became apparent to her that she had been wrong all these years about him. At first she wanted to strangle him for leaving her behind, especially learning that he fell in love with another woman. "The main point Ayeka," he said sternly after noticing her look. "Is that I wanted to love someone for who they were without a title. Ask yourself this, would you be interested in Tenchi if he were not a member of the royal family?"
She felt like he had just slapped her. Jerking her eyes up to meet his she could see the concern there and also a pain. It registered to her that this was hurting him to have to tell her that he did not want to marry her, and he was truly saddened over it. The worse part was his question though, 'Would I like him if he were not related by blood? Also do I want him to love me for just that?' Neither question was one she wanted to face or even consider, but she could not get them out of her head.
In her lab the small scientist was using every thing she could think of to contact her daughter or Ryo-Ohki. But no matter what something seemed to block her. Even her telepathy failed to work. All she could do was pace the floor and hope for everything to turn out. But with him being blind and not knowing if the gem would heal him it seemed hopeless. While waiting she began a few other experiments, the first of which was trying to determine why after giving Tenchi a gem did it hurt her so much. And also if the gem was given to him what powers could he develop. But in the silence that surrounded her during her testing she felt very alone. After a while the silence and loneliness became too much and she made her way to the door. She had only once before been separated from her daughter like this before. And that separation had lasted seven hundred years. She did not think she could endure another minute this way, much less that long again. As she made her way out she also made a vow, 'I promise no more experiments if you'll just come back to me.' With her vow made she opened the door and stepped out.
Ryoko tried to take a step but in her still weakened state she began to fall, but Tenchi's arms prevented her from even falling six inches. "Ryoko, you're still weak from being healed so just lean on me till we get outside." She looked at his quizzically and he did not need any special powers to see what she was asking. "This room is blocking your powers like the room I was in was blocking my powers." She nodded slowly and he led her to the door.
He tried just to open the door but upon finding it locked he summoned his Light Hawk Sword and after just two swipes the door fell to pieces. With a sly grin he helped her leave the small cell. Once outside she felt her strength returning rapidly. 'Ryo-Ohki, can you tell how far away I am?'
'I think, you seem to be….'
"Tenchi, she's about two floors up, I can feel her up there." He nodded and she wrapped an arm around him as they floated up through the floors. Ryoko went up through two floors and then floated with him down the hall a little ways. "She should be in there," she said pointing to a door. 'Ryo-Ohki, can you tell if I am close to you?'
'Yes, very close. But bad men waiting for you on either side of the door.'
Tenchi heard this as well and he silently instructed Ryoko to stand to the left of the door while he stood to the right. 'Ryo-Ohki, when I could to three I want you to close your eyes and take cover if you can.' She nervously told him ok and he started his count but mentally telling them both, 'One.' As he counted he held out his hand and a ball of energy gathered there, so Ryoko did the same. 'Two,' the ball grew bigger and he drew back his arm as did the pirate. When he said three Ryo-Ohki closed her eyes and ducked as both of them threw the energy balls into the wall beside the door causing them to explode into the room taking out the guards that tried to hide there.
They looked at each other and laughed, then proceeded into the room. As soon as she stepped in Ryoko felt her strength draining again. 'Tenchi,' she called out worriedly. He stopped and saw her beginning to stoop over so he wrapped an arm around her and half carried her to the small cage that Ryo-Ohki was held in.
"Looks like this room is blocking both of your powers, so…." He paused as he lifted up his hand and brought his Light Hawk Sword down on the lock shattering it. The cabbit bounced out into their arms as Tenchi then guided them both to the hallway. Again once outside her strength returned, as did Ryo-Ohki's. He smiled as he held both Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki close. The ex-pirate looked up at him and grinned as well. Slowly they leaned closer and just a few inches away from each other a loud voice was heard.
"Don't move! We've got you surrounded." He looked up the hall in both directions and he could see a number of guards advancing on them with weapons drawn.
Sasami was surprised when Tsunami had teleported them away. She wanted to comfort her sister and let her know it was going to be ok. But even the goddess was unsure of how it would all end, but she trusted the goddess. When they left the ship Sasami and Tsunami went to the Jurai battleship also name Tsunami. "Are we going to go rescue them?"
Sadly she shook her head. "No, but we are going to the same place as they. Do not fear for Tenchi and Ryoko they will be fine if they just trust in each other." Sasami just nodded her head and hoped that they could trust in each other. But she knew that anytime they had been close in the past Ryoko was trying to seduce him or Ayeka would come storming in saying that she forbids them from being together. Slowly she turned her eyes towards the direction Tsunami had steered the ship. In an instant it took off in the direction of the center of the Forbidden zone, the center of it was Tokimi's temple.
Tsunami had told her very little of this place or this woman, so she was nit sure what to expect when she got there. What little she was told only confirmed her suspicions from what little she remembered of her dreams. Tokimi was after something, which seemed to be Tenchi, or maybe his power. The goddess had given Sasami back some of the memories of her dreams and they were frightening. In one she was running along only to slip and fall. In the fall she hit her head hard and then landed on something. A pool of her blood then surrounded her. Tenchi was there but before he could help he was pulled away by a large hand.
The meanings of her dreams eluded her and Tsunami. They hoped that what ever she wanted they could find out. But they were worried that this would end in bloodshed. Tsunami was not worried about herself, but being connected to Sasami gave her Sasami's fears for herself and her family. The goddess smiled over the idea that she would actually have a family. In all her existence she had her two sisters there with her and now out of the timelessness of her being she was hit with a family that meant more to her than anything, ad now that family was being threatened.
Tenchi asked Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki mentally, 'Should we fight or run?'
Ryoko considered it and then told him, 'Run, I don't know how much energy I have to fight.'
He nodded and drew back his hands over his head like he was about to strike something down with an invisible sword. "Halt where you are or this place will be destroyed." They just laughed and advanced on them. "Well here goes," he said as he formed a very long Light Hawk Sword and slashed downward so that he held the sword directly out in front of him. All movement stopped for a moment as he did that and a slight hissing could be heard followed but alarms echoing through the hallways.
Tenchi looked at the cut and Ryoko drew a quick breath, "Tenchi, we're in space!" He barely had time to recognize the importance as the air was being sucked out the crack. Metal could be heard moaning and bending as if it was about to break and he realized that he sliced a hole through the side of a space ship. Which meant that all their air was escaping. Quickly he formed a bubble shield around him and the two girls as the guards ran away from them as fast as they could. Just mere seconds after the shield was formed the ship split open and exploded around them. Tenchi thought that there would have been a louder noise considering the size of the ship, but in the emptiness of space the sound was swallowed up in the blackness.
The debris finally cleared from around them and he breathed a sigh of relief that they were still alive and ok. At least until Ryoko pointed to several battle ships that surrounded them. Taking a quick look around he could see hundreds of ships, some of which made the Emperor's ship look tiny. Ryo-Ohki pointed to a planet below them and he guessed by the green and blue coloring that it would be breathable. They started to head for it when a blast from one of the nearby ships stopped them.
'Tenchi, that's a warning shot. They want to capture us again.'
Closing his eyes, he said a silent prayer that he still he had his sword, at least then he might be able to protect them a little longer. Upon opening them out of the corner of his eye he saw a gleam of blue and turning to it he was surprised to see his sword, but it was a good distance away from them. He reached out his hand to it reflexively and he chuckled thinking that he must look silly trying to reach something so far away. He realized briefly that it could come to him as his grandfather had called for it before, so trying again he commanded it to come to him. This time it flew to his hand while he still held Ryoko.
He looked at Ryo-Ohki and she was beginning to tremble, holding the Master Key he felt a surge of strength. 'Over my dead body,' he told them with a smile mentally. They tried to head to the planet again and it did not take long for the surrounding ships to determine his answer; soon energy weapons being fired at them lit up the space around them. Trying with all his might he attempted to avoid the shots, but soon they were caught in the crossfire of ten of the larger ships. They did not even have the chance to scream as the area around them exploded and all went dark.