A/N: Yes, this story IS uploaded on another name - Kabili729. Both this name and that are of my possession, but I was asked to upload all my stories under the same pen name. So here is "Lit like a flame" condensed into one chapter with spelling/grammatical corrections made and things added to make it more understandable than before.
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A beautiful autumn day with a slight breeze ruffling the trees and seemingly whispering exotic things in your ears. The nippy mid-morning air making your skin feel just right. A slight cloud over, casting down shadows on the shedding trees making everything look mysterious, yet intriguing. One of those days you wanted to go out, do new things, meet new people, and spread the joy. Nope. Not for me... Maybe for some lucky guy that I did not know and never wanted to meet (he'd make me jealous and I'd have to kill him).
I knew it right then and there when I awoke, sitting up too fast and slamming my head into a low hanging shelf. The feeling grew even more when I accidentally squirted toothpaste in my eye then managed to stumble out into the hallway and fall down the stairs in the process. And yes sir, I knew it was for sure as I stood there in the pelting frozen rain as I waited for my bus on that horrible winter day that would forever change my life.
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"Masaki, Tenchi?"
I glanced up, shooting a weary glance at my greasy haired, overweight teacher. And even as I looked straight at him, it didn't register in my mind that he had just called out my name. I think I was probably still thawing out from the freezing shower I had unwillingly taken while waiting for the bus that morning.
Then again, there was always the possibility that I had gotten a concussion from tumbling down the stairs earlier in that morning. Or it could have been that wonderful feeling the sting of toothpaste in your eye gives a person. Either way, I continued to stare blankly at the wall as I wallowed in my little reverie of self-pity while he called out my name a second time... then a third. It was the voice of my spouse that brought me back to reality. "Tenchi... sweetie?"
My weary (now tinted with annoyance) glance shifted from my teacher to my purple haired spouse. Purple hair? How the hell did she end up with purple hair? Why can't she just have normal hair like every other person? Why can't I just have a normal life and - "Tenchi? Are you alright?" She cut me off like she always did. Always interrupting everything. How did I end up with her as a wife?
"Er, yeah, I'm fine..." I said off-handedly. Watching her golden eyes study my features, I knew she could tell otherwise. She was so freaking nosy. And how did she end up in my class, sitting next to me? You'd almost think I was in some freakish story or something.
"Are you sure you're okay?" She demanded with a poke at my arm. What gave her the right to poke me? It's a free country- that annoying voice in my head was talking to me again. No it isn't! I live in Japan! I bit my lip in frustration with myself. Not America! She poked me again, awaiting an answer. Yes, of course. I feel down the stairs, hit my head, was nearly blinded, froze to death, and was reminded I had you for a future wife; I'm absolutely peachy! How else would I be?
"Yes, I'm great." I told her. I was not so much as reluctant to say what I was actually thinking; rather the fact that I had no particular interest in hearing her cry during the middle of class. What else was I supposed to say?
"Well," She said, not really looking as though it actually concerned her and twirling a finger in her hair to further contribute to my theory she wasn't paying any attention at all. "The teacher just called your name five times to go up to the front office and you didn't do so much as blink."
"Front office?" I repeated.
She nodded. "The teacher left to tell them tha-"
"That will be all, Sakuya."
Surprised, we both glanced up towards the doorway. There stood the familiar figure of our teacher, but he was accompanied by the secretary...
"Tenchi." She said sweetly smiling - one of those I-Know-Something-You-Don't-Want-To-Know-But-I'm-Going-To-Tell-You-Anyway smiles - "Please come to the front office, we have something we would like to show you."
"Hn." I heard Sakuya say thoughtfully. "I wonder who died." I didn't bother turning around to glare at her. I knew she was too dumb to realize what she had just said could have possibly been offending, and she most certainly did not know - or care - that her commentary was making my bad day worse than it already was.
"Sure." I muttered, pushing myself up out of my seat. Had I know this would be the last time I would see the familiar high school classroom, I would have taken I good look around, said goodbye, let Sakuya cry her eyes out on my shoulder, then left reluctantly, forever stained by the people I had to leave behind. But I didn't know... so I didn't bother.
As I padded over to the doorway where the strange woman stood, I studied her features, wondering why I had never seen the secretary before. But if you've never seen her, how do you know whom that is, you idiot? She had skin so pale it almost seemed white, long arms and bony fingers... one of those people you would expect to have long flowing black hair down to their ankles, sunken features, and be some demonic zombie from hell come to get you from the grave. Though she was not. Her features where not all sunken in and she had the normal gray hair most bony old ladies had. Glancing up at her my eyes met hers and her glance seemed to meet mine for a split second in which I no longer felt alive. I immeaditly diverted my stare.
I waited for her to speak, expecting to hear something like 'Why hello there, Tenchi. I know who you are, where you live, and your darkest secret. Did you know you where supposed to rule the under world with me? Well... now you know. And I'm going to have to stab the living crap out of you with this here pen so you can come and join me. Does that make your day any better?' But instead I got a normal response, mentioning nothing of death or joining her in hell. "Masaki Tenchi?" She asked.
I nodded. I could hear the murmur of my classmates talking about who knows what behind me and I knew I wasn't stuck in some weird horror movie. If I was, a weird hush would have fallen over the room and disgustingly composed organ music would be playing. Of course, it was not. And unlike what I had expected, the woman's voice did not sound like that of a blue-white rotting corpse with holes in it, come to avenge the life it did not get to live.
"Come this way." She said simply, turning and walking from the doorway, into the hallway. My teacher moved from beside her where he was blocking the doorway and towards his desk at the back of the room. 'No, Sir, that's fine. You stand right here while I run for my life because I sure don't want to see whatever I'm about to see,' I was tempted to say, but I decided against it. I had better self-control than that.
I heard Sakuya squeal a goodbye at me as I left the doorway and followed the woman down the hallway, my feet softly thumping on the hard padding of the floor. Oh well... there's one good side to this. I thought as I followed the strange old woman in the business suit. If she is a demon, come to take me down to hell with her... at least I won't have to see Sakuya anymore. That was when it hit me that if I were going to hell, I would probably have a million Sakuya's down there with me. What a wonderful addition to my wonderful day.
I followed Ms.Demon-come-to-take-me-to-hell down the remaining length of the short hallway and into the main office, which just happened to be directly down the hallway from my classroom. This may or may not have been a lucky thing, because had it been any longer of a walk, I would have probably decided I'd had enough of this crap and run off in the opposite direction; I doubt Ms.Demon-come-to-take-me-to-hell had good enough hearing to have noticed it if I did.
The woman took a seat in a chair on the opposite side of a dark wooden desk and spun a quarter turn so she could look me in the eye. 'Hey, Ms.Demon, it really bothers me when you look me in the eye. It makes me think your old corpse like excuse for a body is trying to suck out my soul and make me your special little doll... for who knows what. Could you stop?' It occurred to me that I had been watching more than way too much television.
"Tenchi Masaki." She began; bringing her hands up to rest her chin in her palms. Her thumbs ran across the sides of her mouth again and again as she spoke. I decided to watch the movement of her thumbs rather than look into her eyes. That way you won't be subjected to her horrible hypnotic powers and she can't make you one of her disgusting minions in the bowels of hell. It took all my self-control to keep from laughing. Even that annoying voice in my head can lift my spirit a little sometimes. "Do you know a female by the name of Ryoko?"
Ryoko... The name rung a bell somewhere deep within the depths of my not-currently working mind, but I could not place exactly where I had heard it from. So I decided to do what seemed most appropriate at the time. "No." I answered, not exactly truthfully. But could I really tell this creepy old woman that I thought I had vague memories of someone I was sure to have never met in my life? "I don't think I do."
"Hn." Ms.Demon-Come-To-Take-Me-To-Hell responded thoughtfully. "You know, Tenchi. That's very strange." She gave a slight, stiff nod and let her hands drop from her face. "Because Ms.Ryoko has been quite hysterical. She came into my office early this morning before school started in a fit of tears. Why did she come to me and not to you? I don't know." The woman finally stopped staring right at me and looked away slightly. "Are you sure you don't know her?"
Sure, tell her you don't know. But you know good and well it's just because you think she's going to be able to hunt you down due to the people you know and- I cut the voice off, not particularly wanting to hear anymore. Whatever Ms.Demon-come-to-take-me-to-hell wanted, it sure did not have to do with ruining my already bad enough life. Or did it? "What do you mean... asking for me?" I demanded of her. "And do you know exactly WHY she was in a fit of tears?"
The woman shrugged. She apparently had not really cared enough for my well being to ask the woman if she was some child molester that ended up at the High School instead of the Elementary school or something along those lines. Of course it all fits together. She didn't ask because she was too busy planning your demise. "She was asking for you specifically by name. I think you should go see her, Tenchi. She seemed a lot like she had her heart set on getting to you. Whoever she is, she was very determined."
"Well then..." I started, asking the only thing I could really think of to ask. "Where is she?"
The woman pointed a pale, bony finger past my head outside the windows of her office. Standing in the hallway where I had been, about an inch from pressing her face against the mesh-covered window, was a strange looking young woman. Once I thought about it though, she was actually beautiful. She had and well shaped faced and even through the turtleneck sweater and darkened jeans she wore, I could tell she had a good figure. Her skin was full and vibrant, unlike Ms. Demon's, her cyan hair tied in a bun atop her head. When her golden eyes (which reminded me of Sakura's) met mine, the only world I could associate with her was... mother?
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That's as full a story as you're going to get on how exactly I ended up in the predicament I stand in today. It's sort of a funny thing now that I think about it. The girl called Ryoko; she turned out to be the daughter of another girl called Ryoko. Ryoko's mom was locked in a cave by some `horrible monster' - as she liked to put it - also called Tenchi. Now this struck me as being very peculiar. Why did I have a counter part locking women in caves?
Well, I was surprised to find that I happened to be the successor to the Juraian thrown. Alrighhhtt... this all makes a whole lot of sense now. What the hell is Jurai and what do I have to do with your mother, I had demanded of the smaller Ryoko. She tells me it's Jurai's fault her mother is in the cave. Okay, okay, so how does this concern me...? Hn, well, that's a whole other story in itself...
"I'm what?" I demanded, turning to face the smaller Ryoko. We stood in the mouth of a cave, a large one in the middle of the Okayama backwoods. She'd drug me there when she come to get me out of school. I suppose it was just pure luck that the cave only happened to be a few hundred miles away from my school and my life... that I was forced to leave behind for this brat.
She crossed her arms and glared at me. "You're the current Emperor of Jurai, more or less." She shoved a strange key made of bamboo with a silver ribbon on one end into my hands. "You're going to march your ass into that cave, unlock the tomb, and get me my mother back!" She insisted as she began pushing me into the cave towards a wooden gate that blocked our progress.
"I don't know what the hell Jurai is, who the heck your mom is, why she's locked in the cave, or how to get her out!" I insisted as I turned to look her in the eye again. I really had no idea how this concerned me at all. It all seemed like one really bad joke, her coming to drag me out into the woods hundreds of miles from my apartment. There weren't even any houses out here! Where the heck would we live even if I got the dumb girl out of the cave? And why couldn't she just do it herself?
Ryoko stood there and glared at me, her eyes seeming to penetrate my very soul. Thunder rolled across the sky outside the cave as Ryoko shifted position, waiting for me to take back what I had said and go to find her mother. This girl seemed a whole lot more ignorant than Sakuya and I was damned if I planned to stay here and help her find her mom. And even if we found her and her mom turned out to be a lot nicer than she did, then where was her father?
She shifted position again as rain began to drizzle down around the cave. I knew she was just going to stand there forever even if it meant she shriveled up from lack of food and blew away in the draft, so I decided to break the silence. "Look, I'm going home and you can get someone else to find your mommy for you, little girl." I narrowed my eyes so I was glaring for the most part. "Did you ever think about trying your dad?"
Ryoko ran forward, practically growling, and shoved me into the wall... hard. I suppose that knocked all the sense out of me because I gave in right when she yelled "You ARE my dad, you idiot!" Time seemed to freeze while I processed this information. Had at one point I decided to get drunk and impregnate some lady? Was this the end result of it, the lady had gone and got herself involved with some gang or something called Jurai that had really sick minds and had locked her in a cave so my child could come hunt me down and make my life miserable? ... Was this all some sort of law suit program for husbands who abandoned their wives and left the wives without enough money to hire a lawyer?
Finally I regained my composure and glared at her, but didn't say anything. I turned and began fumbling with the key and the keyhole. Unfortunate enough for me, I soon had the gate opened and was greeted with the musty smell of a place that had been abounded for decades. I handed the key back to Ryoko and brought my hand up to plug my nose. "Just how old IS your mom, anyway?"
"Don't you think that's a rude question to ask a lady?" She demanded, pushing me further into the cave. I wanted desperately to ask her what had happened to the hysterical girl who had come to my school in tears, looking as though she was going to give her life to see me, but I decided against it.
"Not if the lady isn't here." I pointed out in a murmur.
Shortly we had reached a cliff that over looked a large open room and a pool of water. Over the pool of water was what seemed like a large canvas weaved from vines which where old and withered. In the middle was a single rock slate with a wooden box in the middle, which had strange carvings on it. I knew Immeaditly that the water had been sitting still for hundreds of years because of its smell and I turned to glare at Ryoko once again. "Your mom is dead by now, unless this is a really bad joke. No one has been down here for hundreds of years..."
"Yes, and what is your point?" Ryoko asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "Just go down and get her out of the box. I can go back to where I came from and you two can live happily with the others."
I was about to demand just what the heck she meant by `go live happily with the others' and `go back to where I came from', but I was interrupted by a voice directly behind us.
"Put your hands up in the air and drop your weapons! You're under the arrest and you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and well most definitely be used against you in the Juraian court of law."
Again that time freezing thing seemed to take place. So I allowed myself to make an update of my situation. I was rescuing a freak's mother from a cave she had been locked in for no reason, pulled from my life by the ever so caring Ms.Demon-come-to-take-me-to-hell, and was now faced with two teenage girls who looked so young they could not have possibly been to college, that seemingly wanted to play police woman with myself and Ryoko, daughter of the decaying carcass in a box. I would have given anything about here and now to go back to my life of eye squirting toothpaste and horrid little girls named after trees bearing flowers that smelt of cherry.
I opened my mouth to inform them that we had no time to play games, you see we are busy attempting to retrieve a dead body that has been so nicely buried in that box down here, so this lil' girl can have her mum back. Sounds more important, huh? ... No, not really. And at the time being, I would have rather been arrested than spent my remaining days comforting Ryoko when she figured out that a person who's been in a box for hundreds of years just does not make a good parent.
Before I could say anything, Ryoko had ducked behind me in the gloom of the cave where we stood on the edge of the cliff. She slipped her arms around my waist from behind and perched her head atop my shoulder, grinning at the girls who wanted to play police with us. "We haven't got any weapons, but we're not going to keep our mouths shut for you and..." Her grin widened more if possible as she tightened her grip on me. "And we're most definitely not going to hold still for you." She finished as she threw all her weight back wards off the cliff... taking me with her.
Okay, for a moment stop and imagine what this had to feel like for me. I had a perfectly normal life with a not so normal soon-to-be-wife and just happened to be having a bad day. Sure, that was fine. But had I really wanted to come with this stupid girl and rescue her dead mother from a harmless box, then get pulled fifty feet off the edge of a cliff so we could run from some kids who wanted to play police? I decided I really didn't want to think about it anymore and shut my eyes as tight as they would go as I felt Ryoko's grip releasing on me and signifying that we must have reached the bottom.
The murky waters within the recess of the cave had looked incredibly shallow from above, but as we stuck the surface I immeaditly knew they had to have been at least as deep as the cliff was high. As the freezing, stale water pressed in around me, my clothing became water logged and I began sinking to the bottom. I instantly thought I was going to die and every kid makes a promise to himself or herself (even if they don't know it), that the last thing they will do before they die is scream. I mean, it's fun to scream anyway, right?
So on instinct rather than thought - I wouldn't have had time to think - I opened my mouth to take in the air I needed to scream. Oh silly you, Tenchi. There isn't air in a pool of water so how're you going to scream? You're not, are you? You're going to drown silently... If I couldn't scream, it meant I couldn't have my death wish... and if I could not have my death wish... well hell, then I didn't plan to die down there in that cave. As fast as I could in that oddly thick water, I brought my arms up and began clawing at the water, kicking helplessly with my feet. Water poured into my mouth - which didn't seem to want to close - as I wondered why my life wasn't flashing back before my eyes, since I was obviously going to die.
I felt my arm break the surface and debated weather I actually did want to live or not as I felt a strong hand clamp down on my arm and pull me by all the way out of the water so I was dangling above it. My first thought was that one of the girls who had wanted to play police had got me, but my eyes met a familiar pair of golden eyes, which I associated with Ryoko. And whoever this was, it looked a lot like Ryoko. She was about six inches taller than the first had been and her hair was much spikier, seeming to stand up in strange little pyramids on her head. She had the same good figure and creamy skin as the original, though.
I blinked awkwardly a few times as I tried to figure out who she was. My glance shifted to the left where I saw a pre teen girl with brilliant pink-orange hair spiking out in every thinkable direction... and even the non-thinkable ones. She grinned at me and when she spoke I noticed that she had the same voice as the hysterical Ryoko, which had come to my school. "You know, Tenchi." She was saying. I wasn't really paying any attention, however. Instead I was staring at the incredibly tight outfit that perfectly framed the new Ryoko's body and I was trying not to give into the sudden nosebleed that was coming on. "I lied. My name isn't Ryoko; my name is Washu. This..." She said, pointing at the `new Ryoko' "Is my daughter - not my mother - Ryoko."
"Cute one, isn't he?" Ryoko asked, her perfect red lips smirking into a devilish grin. "You aren't going to use him for some experiment of yours are you... because I must say, he would be useful."
I winced and wanted to ask what she meant by `useful' - A minion of hell, Tenchi - but neither Washu nor I had a change to respond before one of the Girls-who-wanted-to-play-police screamed down at us. "Drop that unarmed man this instant and put your hands in the air in the name of the Galaxy Police! We refuse to tolerate you harassing innocent by standers and we command you come with us this instant!"
Ryoko shrugged nonchalantly and promptly let me fall back into the water, only to remind me how quickly the bitter coldness of it numbed my skin... and other things. I groped in the gloomy water for the side and when I finally found it and pulled myself up onto the rock ledge, Ryoko had turned and was facing the police officers. "You're going to have to come catch us if you want us that bad!" At this, my stomach dropped. What exactly did she plan to do? They had guns and she didn't.
Ryoko turned and smiled that devilish smirk at Washu again. "Are we going to continue as planned?"
Washu nodded and was suddenly gone from sight. I didn't even bother trying to comprehend it.
Before I could get done groping for another handhold to myself up with, Ryoko had my arm again and had yanked be all the way out. She levitated momentarily, and then turned to me, the grin no longer on her face and actually looking serious for once. "Get on my back." She demanded. Probably looking like an idiot to any innocent bystanders, - luckily there weren't any... not innocent ones, at least - I ambled onto Ryoko's back and she took off towards the wall.
I somehow knew she planned to go through the wall, but I wasn't quite sure if she knew I couldn't go through it. I soon learned she hadn't known. Time slowed down and everything got quiet as I watched her head, then her shoulders go through the wall, but as she began trying to get me through, I was slipping backwards and she was going forwards. Soon I had slipped off completely and sat on my rear looking at the wall of the cave in a daze.
---
A beautiful autumn day with a slight breeze ruffling the trees and seemingly whispering exotic things in your ears. The nippy mid-morning air making your skin feel just right. A slight cloud over, casting down shadows on the shedding trees making everything look mysterious, yet intriguing. One of those days you wanted to go out, do new things, meet new people, and spread the joy. Nope. Not for me... Maybe for some lucky guy that I did not know and never wanted to meet (he'd make me jealous and I'd have to kill him).
I knew it right then and there when I awoke, sitting up too fast and slamming my head into a low hanging shelf. The feeling grew even more when I accidentally squirted toothpaste in my eye then managed to stumble out into the hallway and fall down the stairs in the process. And yes sir, I knew it was for sure as I stood there in the pelting frozen rain as I waited for my bus on that horrible winter day that would forever change my life.
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"Masaki, Tenchi?"
I glanced up, shooting a weary glance at my greasy haired, overweight teacher. And even as I looked straight at him, it didn't register in my mind that he had just called out my name. I think I was probably still thawing out from the freezing shower I had unwillingly taken while waiting for the bus that morning.
Then again, there was always the possibility that I had gotten a concussion from tumbling down the stairs earlier in that morning. Or it could have been that wonderful feeling the sting of toothpaste in your eye gives a person. Either way, I continued to stare blankly at the wall as I wallowed in my little reverie of self-pity while he called out my name a second time... then a third. It was the voice of my spouse that brought me back to reality. "Tenchi... sweetie?"
My weary (now tinted with annoyance) glance shifted from my teacher to my purple haired spouse. Purple hair? How the hell did she end up with purple hair? Why can't she just have normal hair like every other person? Why can't I just have a normal life and - "Tenchi? Are you alright?" She cut me off like she always did. Always interrupting everything. How did I end up with her as a wife?
"Er, yeah, I'm fine..." I said off-handedly. Watching her golden eyes study my features, I knew she could tell otherwise. She was so freaking nosy. And how did she end up in my class, sitting next to me? You'd almost think I was in some freakish story or something.
"Are you sure you're okay?" She demanded with a poke at my arm. What gave her the right to poke me? It's a free country- that annoying voice in my head was talking to me again. No it isn't! I live in Japan! I bit my lip in frustration with myself. Not America! She poked me again, awaiting an answer. Yes, of course. I feel down the stairs, hit my head, was nearly blinded, froze to death, and was reminded I had you for a future wife; I'm absolutely peachy! How else would I be?
"Yes, I'm great." I told her. I was not so much as reluctant to say what I was actually thinking; rather the fact that I had no particular interest in hearing her cry during the middle of class. What else was I supposed to say?
"Well," She said, not really looking as though it actually concerned her and twirling a finger in her hair to further contribute to my theory she wasn't paying any attention at all. "The teacher just called your name five times to go up to the front office and you didn't do so much as blink."
"Front office?" I repeated.
She nodded. "The teacher left to tell them tha-"
"That will be all, Sakuya."
Surprised, we both glanced up towards the doorway. There stood the familiar figure of our teacher, but he was accompanied by the secretary...
"Tenchi." She said sweetly smiling - one of those I-Know-Something-You-Don't-Want-To-Know-But-I'm-Going-To-Tell-You-Anyway smiles - "Please come to the front office, we have something we would like to show you."
"Hn." I heard Sakuya say thoughtfully. "I wonder who died." I didn't bother turning around to glare at her. I knew she was too dumb to realize what she had just said could have possibly been offending, and she most certainly did not know - or care - that her commentary was making my bad day worse than it already was.
"Sure." I muttered, pushing myself up out of my seat. Had I know this would be the last time I would see the familiar high school classroom, I would have taken I good look around, said goodbye, let Sakuya cry her eyes out on my shoulder, then left reluctantly, forever stained by the people I had to leave behind. But I didn't know... so I didn't bother.
As I padded over to the doorway where the strange woman stood, I studied her features, wondering why I had never seen the secretary before. But if you've never seen her, how do you know whom that is, you idiot? She had skin so pale it almost seemed white, long arms and bony fingers... one of those people you would expect to have long flowing black hair down to their ankles, sunken features, and be some demonic zombie from hell come to get you from the grave. Though she was not. Her features where not all sunken in and she had the normal gray hair most bony old ladies had. Glancing up at her my eyes met hers and her glance seemed to meet mine for a split second in which I no longer felt alive. I immeaditly diverted my stare.
I waited for her to speak, expecting to hear something like 'Why hello there, Tenchi. I know who you are, where you live, and your darkest secret. Did you know you where supposed to rule the under world with me? Well... now you know. And I'm going to have to stab the living crap out of you with this here pen so you can come and join me. Does that make your day any better?' But instead I got a normal response, mentioning nothing of death or joining her in hell. "Masaki Tenchi?" She asked.
I nodded. I could hear the murmur of my classmates talking about who knows what behind me and I knew I wasn't stuck in some weird horror movie. If I was, a weird hush would have fallen over the room and disgustingly composed organ music would be playing. Of course, it was not. And unlike what I had expected, the woman's voice did not sound like that of a blue-white rotting corpse with holes in it, come to avenge the life it did not get to live.
"Come this way." She said simply, turning and walking from the doorway, into the hallway. My teacher moved from beside her where he was blocking the doorway and towards his desk at the back of the room. 'No, Sir, that's fine. You stand right here while I run for my life because I sure don't want to see whatever I'm about to see,' I was tempted to say, but I decided against it. I had better self-control than that.
I heard Sakuya squeal a goodbye at me as I left the doorway and followed the woman down the hallway, my feet softly thumping on the hard padding of the floor. Oh well... there's one good side to this. I thought as I followed the strange old woman in the business suit. If she is a demon, come to take me down to hell with her... at least I won't have to see Sakuya anymore. That was when it hit me that if I were going to hell, I would probably have a million Sakuya's down there with me. What a wonderful addition to my wonderful day.
I followed Ms.Demon-come-to-take-me-to-hell down the remaining length of the short hallway and into the main office, which just happened to be directly down the hallway from my classroom. This may or may not have been a lucky thing, because had it been any longer of a walk, I would have probably decided I'd had enough of this crap and run off in the opposite direction; I doubt Ms.Demon-come-to-take-me-to-hell had good enough hearing to have noticed it if I did.
The woman took a seat in a chair on the opposite side of a dark wooden desk and spun a quarter turn so she could look me in the eye. 'Hey, Ms.Demon, it really bothers me when you look me in the eye. It makes me think your old corpse like excuse for a body is trying to suck out my soul and make me your special little doll... for who knows what. Could you stop?' It occurred to me that I had been watching more than way too much television.
"Tenchi Masaki." She began; bringing her hands up to rest her chin in her palms. Her thumbs ran across the sides of her mouth again and again as she spoke. I decided to watch the movement of her thumbs rather than look into her eyes. That way you won't be subjected to her horrible hypnotic powers and she can't make you one of her disgusting minions in the bowels of hell. It took all my self-control to keep from laughing. Even that annoying voice in my head can lift my spirit a little sometimes. "Do you know a female by the name of Ryoko?"
Ryoko... The name rung a bell somewhere deep within the depths of my not-currently working mind, but I could not place exactly where I had heard it from. So I decided to do what seemed most appropriate at the time. "No." I answered, not exactly truthfully. But could I really tell this creepy old woman that I thought I had vague memories of someone I was sure to have never met in my life? "I don't think I do."
"Hn." Ms.Demon-Come-To-Take-Me-To-Hell responded thoughtfully. "You know, Tenchi. That's very strange." She gave a slight, stiff nod and let her hands drop from her face. "Because Ms.Ryoko has been quite hysterical. She came into my office early this morning before school started in a fit of tears. Why did she come to me and not to you? I don't know." The woman finally stopped staring right at me and looked away slightly. "Are you sure you don't know her?"
Sure, tell her you don't know. But you know good and well it's just because you think she's going to be able to hunt you down due to the people you know and- I cut the voice off, not particularly wanting to hear anymore. Whatever Ms.Demon-come-to-take-me-to-hell wanted, it sure did not have to do with ruining my already bad enough life. Or did it? "What do you mean... asking for me?" I demanded of her. "And do you know exactly WHY she was in a fit of tears?"
The woman shrugged. She apparently had not really cared enough for my well being to ask the woman if she was some child molester that ended up at the High School instead of the Elementary school or something along those lines. Of course it all fits together. She didn't ask because she was too busy planning your demise. "She was asking for you specifically by name. I think you should go see her, Tenchi. She seemed a lot like she had her heart set on getting to you. Whoever she is, she was very determined."
"Well then..." I started, asking the only thing I could really think of to ask. "Where is she?"
The woman pointed a pale, bony finger past my head outside the windows of her office. Standing in the hallway where I had been, about an inch from pressing her face against the mesh-covered window, was a strange looking young woman. Once I thought about it though, she was actually beautiful. She had and well shaped faced and even through the turtleneck sweater and darkened jeans she wore, I could tell she had a good figure. Her skin was full and vibrant, unlike Ms. Demon's, her cyan hair tied in a bun atop her head. When her golden eyes (which reminded me of Sakura's) met mine, the only world I could associate with her was... mother?
---
That's as full a story as you're going to get on how exactly I ended up in the predicament I stand in today. It's sort of a funny thing now that I think about it. The girl called Ryoko; she turned out to be the daughter of another girl called Ryoko. Ryoko's mom was locked in a cave by some `horrible monster' - as she liked to put it - also called Tenchi. Now this struck me as being very peculiar. Why did I have a counter part locking women in caves?
Well, I was surprised to find that I happened to be the successor to the Juraian thrown. Alrighhhtt... this all makes a whole lot of sense now. What the hell is Jurai and what do I have to do with your mother, I had demanded of the smaller Ryoko. She tells me it's Jurai's fault her mother is in the cave. Okay, okay, so how does this concern me...? Hn, well, that's a whole other story in itself...
"I'm what?" I demanded, turning to face the smaller Ryoko. We stood in the mouth of a cave, a large one in the middle of the Okayama backwoods. She'd drug me there when she come to get me out of school. I suppose it was just pure luck that the cave only happened to be a few hundred miles away from my school and my life... that I was forced to leave behind for this brat.
She crossed her arms and glared at me. "You're the current Emperor of Jurai, more or less." She shoved a strange key made of bamboo with a silver ribbon on one end into my hands. "You're going to march your ass into that cave, unlock the tomb, and get me my mother back!" She insisted as she began pushing me into the cave towards a wooden gate that blocked our progress.
"I don't know what the hell Jurai is, who the heck your mom is, why she's locked in the cave, or how to get her out!" I insisted as I turned to look her in the eye again. I really had no idea how this concerned me at all. It all seemed like one really bad joke, her coming to drag me out into the woods hundreds of miles from my apartment. There weren't even any houses out here! Where the heck would we live even if I got the dumb girl out of the cave? And why couldn't she just do it herself?
Ryoko stood there and glared at me, her eyes seeming to penetrate my very soul. Thunder rolled across the sky outside the cave as Ryoko shifted position, waiting for me to take back what I had said and go to find her mother. This girl seemed a whole lot more ignorant than Sakuya and I was damned if I planned to stay here and help her find her mom. And even if we found her and her mom turned out to be a lot nicer than she did, then where was her father?
She shifted position again as rain began to drizzle down around the cave. I knew she was just going to stand there forever even if it meant she shriveled up from lack of food and blew away in the draft, so I decided to break the silence. "Look, I'm going home and you can get someone else to find your mommy for you, little girl." I narrowed my eyes so I was glaring for the most part. "Did you ever think about trying your dad?"
Ryoko ran forward, practically growling, and shoved me into the wall... hard. I suppose that knocked all the sense out of me because I gave in right when she yelled "You ARE my dad, you idiot!" Time seemed to freeze while I processed this information. Had at one point I decided to get drunk and impregnate some lady? Was this the end result of it, the lady had gone and got herself involved with some gang or something called Jurai that had really sick minds and had locked her in a cave so my child could come hunt me down and make my life miserable? ... Was this all some sort of law suit program for husbands who abandoned their wives and left the wives without enough money to hire a lawyer?
Finally I regained my composure and glared at her, but didn't say anything. I turned and began fumbling with the key and the keyhole. Unfortunate enough for me, I soon had the gate opened and was greeted with the musty smell of a place that had been abounded for decades. I handed the key back to Ryoko and brought my hand up to plug my nose. "Just how old IS your mom, anyway?"
"Don't you think that's a rude question to ask a lady?" She demanded, pushing me further into the cave. I wanted desperately to ask her what had happened to the hysterical girl who had come to my school in tears, looking as though she was going to give her life to see me, but I decided against it.
"Not if the lady isn't here." I pointed out in a murmur.
Shortly we had reached a cliff that over looked a large open room and a pool of water. Over the pool of water was what seemed like a large canvas weaved from vines which where old and withered. In the middle was a single rock slate with a wooden box in the middle, which had strange carvings on it. I knew Immeaditly that the water had been sitting still for hundreds of years because of its smell and I turned to glare at Ryoko once again. "Your mom is dead by now, unless this is a really bad joke. No one has been down here for hundreds of years..."
"Yes, and what is your point?" Ryoko asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "Just go down and get her out of the box. I can go back to where I came from and you two can live happily with the others."
I was about to demand just what the heck she meant by `go live happily with the others' and `go back to where I came from', but I was interrupted by a voice directly behind us.
"Put your hands up in the air and drop your weapons! You're under the arrest and you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and well most definitely be used against you in the Juraian court of law."
Again that time freezing thing seemed to take place. So I allowed myself to make an update of my situation. I was rescuing a freak's mother from a cave she had been locked in for no reason, pulled from my life by the ever so caring Ms.Demon-come-to-take-me-to-hell, and was now faced with two teenage girls who looked so young they could not have possibly been to college, that seemingly wanted to play police woman with myself and Ryoko, daughter of the decaying carcass in a box. I would have given anything about here and now to go back to my life of eye squirting toothpaste and horrid little girls named after trees bearing flowers that smelt of cherry.
I opened my mouth to inform them that we had no time to play games, you see we are busy attempting to retrieve a dead body that has been so nicely buried in that box down here, so this lil' girl can have her mum back. Sounds more important, huh? ... No, not really. And at the time being, I would have rather been arrested than spent my remaining days comforting Ryoko when she figured out that a person who's been in a box for hundreds of years just does not make a good parent.
Before I could say anything, Ryoko had ducked behind me in the gloom of the cave where we stood on the edge of the cliff. She slipped her arms around my waist from behind and perched her head atop my shoulder, grinning at the girls who wanted to play police with us. "We haven't got any weapons, but we're not going to keep our mouths shut for you and..." Her grin widened more if possible as she tightened her grip on me. "And we're most definitely not going to hold still for you." She finished as she threw all her weight back wards off the cliff... taking me with her.
Okay, for a moment stop and imagine what this had to feel like for me. I had a perfectly normal life with a not so normal soon-to-be-wife and just happened to be having a bad day. Sure, that was fine. But had I really wanted to come with this stupid girl and rescue her dead mother from a harmless box, then get pulled fifty feet off the edge of a cliff so we could run from some kids who wanted to play police? I decided I really didn't want to think about it anymore and shut my eyes as tight as they would go as I felt Ryoko's grip releasing on me and signifying that we must have reached the bottom.
The murky waters within the recess of the cave had looked incredibly shallow from above, but as we stuck the surface I immeaditly knew they had to have been at least as deep as the cliff was high. As the freezing, stale water pressed in around me, my clothing became water logged and I began sinking to the bottom. I instantly thought I was going to die and every kid makes a promise to himself or herself (even if they don't know it), that the last thing they will do before they die is scream. I mean, it's fun to scream anyway, right?
So on instinct rather than thought - I wouldn't have had time to think - I opened my mouth to take in the air I needed to scream. Oh silly you, Tenchi. There isn't air in a pool of water so how're you going to scream? You're not, are you? You're going to drown silently... If I couldn't scream, it meant I couldn't have my death wish... and if I could not have my death wish... well hell, then I didn't plan to die down there in that cave. As fast as I could in that oddly thick water, I brought my arms up and began clawing at the water, kicking helplessly with my feet. Water poured into my mouth - which didn't seem to want to close - as I wondered why my life wasn't flashing back before my eyes, since I was obviously going to die.
I felt my arm break the surface and debated weather I actually did want to live or not as I felt a strong hand clamp down on my arm and pull me by all the way out of the water so I was dangling above it. My first thought was that one of the girls who had wanted to play police had got me, but my eyes met a familiar pair of golden eyes, which I associated with Ryoko. And whoever this was, it looked a lot like Ryoko. She was about six inches taller than the first had been and her hair was much spikier, seeming to stand up in strange little pyramids on her head. She had the same good figure and creamy skin as the original, though.
I blinked awkwardly a few times as I tried to figure out who she was. My glance shifted to the left where I saw a pre teen girl with brilliant pink-orange hair spiking out in every thinkable direction... and even the non-thinkable ones. She grinned at me and when she spoke I noticed that she had the same voice as the hysterical Ryoko, which had come to my school. "You know, Tenchi." She was saying. I wasn't really paying any attention, however. Instead I was staring at the incredibly tight outfit that perfectly framed the new Ryoko's body and I was trying not to give into the sudden nosebleed that was coming on. "I lied. My name isn't Ryoko; my name is Washu. This..." She said, pointing at the `new Ryoko' "Is my daughter - not my mother - Ryoko."
"Cute one, isn't he?" Ryoko asked, her perfect red lips smirking into a devilish grin. "You aren't going to use him for some experiment of yours are you... because I must say, he would be useful."
I winced and wanted to ask what she meant by `useful' - A minion of hell, Tenchi - but neither Washu nor I had a change to respond before one of the Girls-who-wanted-to-play-police screamed down at us. "Drop that unarmed man this instant and put your hands in the air in the name of the Galaxy Police! We refuse to tolerate you harassing innocent by standers and we command you come with us this instant!"
Ryoko shrugged nonchalantly and promptly let me fall back into the water, only to remind me how quickly the bitter coldness of it numbed my skin... and other things. I groped in the gloomy water for the side and when I finally found it and pulled myself up onto the rock ledge, Ryoko had turned and was facing the police officers. "You're going to have to come catch us if you want us that bad!" At this, my stomach dropped. What exactly did she plan to do? They had guns and she didn't.
Ryoko turned and smiled that devilish smirk at Washu again. "Are we going to continue as planned?"
Washu nodded and was suddenly gone from sight. I didn't even bother trying to comprehend it.
Before I could get done groping for another handhold to myself up with, Ryoko had my arm again and had yanked be all the way out. She levitated momentarily, and then turned to me, the grin no longer on her face and actually looking serious for once. "Get on my back." She demanded. Probably looking like an idiot to any innocent bystanders, - luckily there weren't any... not innocent ones, at least - I ambled onto Ryoko's back and she took off towards the wall.
I somehow knew she planned to go through the wall, but I wasn't quite sure if she knew I couldn't go through it. I soon learned she hadn't known. Time slowed down and everything got quiet as I watched her head, then her shoulders go through the wall, but as she began trying to get me through, I was slipping backwards and she was going forwards. Soon I had slipped off completely and sat on my rear looking at the wall of the cave in a daze.